"Tell me, how is it you came up with such ideas? The physical recording of sound. Truly, it is unprecedented."

"You ever watch water ripple or - grains of salt dance on a table, when something makes a loud noise?"

An immaculately groomed eyebrow lifts. "I have not taken more than passing note of the phenomena."

"Oh, well, I thought about it a lot, and you can make things that move easily, and watch how they move, or make them move through things that they'll leave marks on - and then it turns out you can make that process go backward! But it would have just been a lot of messing around with string and wax if it hadn't turned out that way."

"And the sewing machine?"

"Well, first I thought a lot about how you could get a machine to make the motions a person does, sewing, but I didn't get anywhere at all! And then I was like, what if we'd never had hands or needles, and had to invent sewing."

"An unusual thought."

"So I've been told."

"What of the most recent, the... typewriter?"

"It's a curiosity, really, there are too many characters for it to be useful for anything but writing down sums."

"The accountants are quite excited about the efficiency gains that the standardization of records can offer."

"I'm glad to have been useful to the accountants, then!"

They come to the base of the mountain. The road takes a right turn to climb perpendicular to the slope. The incline is manageable, but the path is quite long in compromise.

Tromp tromp tromp tromp.

Once they crest the summit, they see the city laid out in the caldera below. It's laid out on a regular grid, with wide streets and gleaming buildings, dotted with open plazas and greenery. In the center is the palace and grounds.

"What a lovely city."

"The capital is the pride of the Fire Nation. I would be pleased to show you around, once you have recovered from your journey."

"I'd like that!"

"Good." They descend into the city.

A small villa has been reserved for her use during her stay.

"Gosh. How long am I going to be here? Should I have packed more stuff?"

Smile. "Your needs will be seen to."

"Sure, but what about my wardrobe? I often make my own clothes, you know, what with the sewing machine, testing it out."

"If you find yourself missing something, you can send back for it."

"Suppose so. Gosh."

"I will return in two hours. Please, refresh yourself."

Her belongings are deposited by the door, and her escorts leave.