Azula ran her fingers over the polished sea rock. The river's waves had smoothed its surface long ago, and way better than any jeweler could have hoped to. She set it at the corner of her beach towel with an assortment of other gems and rocks she had collected. She glanced over at Tylee, sitting there in her ripped shorts, playing with her flower crown. A little way away, Mai bent over her suit case, fumbling through it in search of her camera. Azula imagined that she was hoping to get a picture of she and TyLee and then probably one of herself and Zuko.
Azula scanned their campsite and came to conclude that he was probably still dozing off in the tent. Azula adjusted her own headband and sat up, but not before Mai had snapped a picture. She frowned to herself—it was probably a good picture, one with her laying down, the sun warming her back—but she still wasn't ready for it. TyLee on the other hand had time to give a lopsided smile, but no time to put her hands down, for her fingers had gotten tangled up in hair and flower crown. Azula tossed her shawl-shirt back on and moved in to help TyLee untangle herself.
"I like your necklace." TyLee remarked, nodding to her golden arrow. "Can I borrow it?"
"If I can take yours?" Azula bargained. Upon finding freedom, TyLee tossed Azula her crystal necklace. The girl had borrowed Mai's dreamcatcher one yesterday, and Zuko's shark tooth the day before. Azula had come to conclude that TyLee either liked everyone else's stuff better than her own, or that this was another TyLee way of feeling closer to everyone.
Azula couldn't fault her for that, the entire goal of their road trip, after all, was to do just that. The trip was her idea. They would be stuck in a car or tent together for days. Either they'd have time to share stories and re-connect, or they'd piss each other off beyond repair.
So far it was going quite well, save for Mai getting her hammock caught in a tree many forests ago. She tried to untie it for about twelve minutes before shrugging and surrendering it to nature. Other than that they were having a pretty wholesome time. Zuko had brought a long a packet of sparklers; on one of the first nights their camp was set on a beach, the four of them had kicked their shoes off and lit the sparklers at the shoreline. It was during that sunset that she and TyLee had gathered up an unreasonable amount of shells. That was also the day she found the shark tooth and chucked it at Zuko, under the impression that he'd like it. Mai got a great many shots at that beach—including the sparklers. One of her favorites was a snapshot of the footprints they had left in the sand. She mentioned something or another about the symbolism of footprints on the beach.
The day after that was spent in a field with waves of grass similar to the beach they'd just left. Lilies, daises, dandelions, and some lavender. All of it made for a warm smelling night. That was where TyLee had made a real flower crown to match her fake one. The girl made everyone a flower something that day. She got a bracelet, Mai revived and anklet, and Zuko got a simple hair flower.
Azula unrolled her map and checked off their current location. In a few moments she would pass the map to Zuko and he'd take over her job as the navigator and she would take her turn behind the wheel. TyLee had since been banned form driving after getting them completely and utterly lost for an hour in the middle of nowhere.
"So, where to next?" Zuko asked.
Azula chewed on the pen for a moment, "I was thinking we could try one of the desert canyons. Or a cave."
"I do like caves." Mai cast her vote.
"But those are so dark and creepy." TyLee shivered.
"I kind of want to go stargazing in the desert." Zuko declared.
"Alright, desert it is." Azula folded her blanket up and tucked it neatly in her suitcase. As opposed to TyLee who just stuffed her belongings in there. At least Zuko had some semblance of organization, the problem was that he had over packed. He ended up sharing a suitcase with Mai who had packed way too little.
"The cloths on my back and one or two other outfits will do just fine, and as long as I have a book and a camera, I'll be fine." She had stated.
Azula tossed her suitcase in the trunk and climbed behind the wheel. "I'm ready whenever everyone else is." She looked up, the day was still young, the sun dipping low through the trees. Things continued to look promising. For the next few hours it would be nothing but road and singing along to the music on the iPod of whoever's turn it was to choose the tunes.
Azula started the car.