bluebluegoose: Thank you :) I hope that you'll continue to enjoy it!
It is different now she isn't sure how but somehow it just is. The air still swelters but she doesn't feel so sapped and spent by it. The sun is no brighter than before, but it kisses her skin with more pleasantry. Azula stops and uncorks her waterskin. She has a small sip, enough to alleviate the dryness in her throat without draining it completely.
"We only have a few miles to go." Seicho notes.
Azula nods. She thinks it bittersweet that their journey is coming to an end just as she is starting to see the worth of embarking upon it. But then, it is just as well, they are running low on supplies and she would like to sleep on a bed again. Would like to wear some clean clothes.
She is also back to speaking through snapped twigs and fire now that she has used up all of the parchment. Mostly this is okay, but there are some things that are significantly harder to convey without it. Things such as, 'look out for that spider-wasp'. Usually by the time she gets the message across, the sting has already happened.
She can also do without having sore feet and red, blistered ankles. Seicho sits her down and purses her lips, "you have your shoes laced way too tightly."
'I was tired of dirt getting into them.'
"Yes, well now your ankles are swollen. Look at this!" She gestures to Azula's throbbing ankles. "I already carried you down the side of a volcano and then some, don't expect me to carry you anymore."
Azula shrugs and carefully rolls her ankles, trying to work out at least some of the knots.
"We can take a break."
She doesn't leave any room for protest, not that Azula has any this time around. Her ankles aside, she still finds herself somewhat hazy and disoriented. She hasn't exactly had a moment to process the events of this hike. She supposes that the time will come when she is lounging in the beach house. Even still she isn't sure of how she should be feeling. There is relief sure and a refreshing helping of euphoria. But it is still there, the stresses and the sadness of a loss that she hasn't quite accepted yet. Two of them actually and she doesn't know which stings more the absence of her voice or the absence of TyLee.
That isn't true. She misses TyLee terribly.
But, Agni, if she doesn't feel somehow lighter regardless. Especially when she hears Seicho laugh. She isn't sure what the woman is laughing at, but it takes some tension out of her.
Azula stares at the sky, it is cast in a haze of orange and gold with splashes of pink just on its fringes, where the clouds linger. Likely they will make it back to the beach just after nightfall.
.oOo.
The atmosphere around Azula has changed notably, it is less tense, if only a little and she is significantly easier to talk to. Less hostile and standoffish. Seicho thinks that she must have burned herself out on resentment and is now left with a bizarre sense of peace. Albeit, a fragile sense of it.
She is more willing to talk now. If only that hadn't wasted all of the parchment. So Seicho does most of the talking.
Several times, the woman stops to frown and massage her ankles.
"Do they hurt that much?"
'I'll manage'.
Seicho sighs, she supposes that they don't have that far to go and if she can carry the woman down the side of a volcano then she can manage this. She scoops her into her arms, ignoring gestures and facial expressions of protest. "It's probably better if you don't push your luck, it takes a while to heal broken ankles. I'm assuming that you like being able to walk."
Azula nods and settles into the woman's arms with no further qualms. She closes her eyes, leaving Seicho to drink in the flutter of the palm fronds and the squeaks, squaks, and chitters of the jungle critters as the hastily make way for the night dwellers.
"It's a beautiful night." Seicho notes. She feels Azula nod her head affirmatively.
Without the ability to scrawl messages in the dirt and too close to Seicho to make any fire without hindering their hike, the woman is once again as silent as ever. So Seicho fills it for the both of them, "Maybe I can spend the night at your house? I think that it might be closer than mine."
Azula doesn't answer in favor nor in protest.
"I'd like to keep talking to you, if you don't mind." She still isn't sure how the woman feels about her. She does know that she has taken a shine to her though. "I can introduce you to my brother. I can also show you some of the pottery I made." Every now and then, Azula meets her gaze. "I can teach you to make pottery too if you don't mind getting clay on your hands."
Azula gives another nod. Seicho isn't sure if it had been an agreeing one or a disproving one.
The next time that she makes an attempt to speak, it is to direct Seicho to her beach house. It is only when she stands before it that she finally connects the dots that she probably should have connected right when the woman scrawled her name down.
"It's huge." She remarks, mouth agape. Huge and fancy, standing out like a gleaming candle under the freshly risen moon.
Azula, princess Azula, gestures to be put down. She winces slightly when her full weight is shifted back onto her ankles, though she makes her way up the stairs anyhow and beckons for Seicho to follow.
Her head is still reeling with the seemingly sacred knowledge that the crown princess, at the very height of her power, had used her head as a cupholder. Seicho chuckles to herself as she follows the woman into her vacation home.
"Do you need me to call out and tell Zuko that you're home?"
Azula shakes her head. Apparently she has a much funner way of doing so. She wanders up to the decorative gong at the far end of the room and gives it a very sturdy strike. Seicho hears a thud overhead followed by a string of curses and a very self-satisfied smirk from Azula as she fixes the mallet back in place.
The Fire Lord emerges from the stairwell. "Ravaa's tendrils, Azula! What the hell!?"
'I'm home.' She spells plainly in flame.
"Clearly." He grumbles and rubs the back of his sleep tousled hair. Alright, so it was several hours into the night when they emerged from the jungle. A little later than Seicho had anticipated. "Where the hell were you?"
'Jungle.'
"I thought that you told him you left." Seicho frowns. The words leave her mouth before she recalls that the woman wasn't planning on coming back at all. She stares at the Fire Lord. He doesn't know how close he had come to leaving Ember Island by his lonesome.
Azula shrugs. 'I did.'
"I thought that you were just going for a day-long hike."
'Your assumptions are your own fault.'
Zuko exhales.
The gravity of bringing the princess home is accentuated by her brother pulling her into a tight embrace. Her cheek smooshes against his chest, the rest of her face bunched up in disapproval as though the hug were a minor inconvenience to her brooding. He would probably hug her tighter still if he did know how close he had come to losing her.
.oOo.
Azula breaks away from the embrace and gestures to Seicho. Zuko gives her a small wave, "who are you?"
Seicho sticks her hand out. "I'm Seicho. Azula and I went on a...camping trip."
Azula breathes a sigh of relief. For as chatty as she is, at least the woman knows what things to leave unsaid. She isn't sure when or how she will tell Zuko of her unfinished intentions. She isn't sure that she will tell him at all. It hadn't come to fruition, so really there is no sense in brining it up at all.
She wanders her way to the nearest chair, flops down, and tugs off her boots. The relief is almost instantaneous, though she knows very well that her ankles will still be swollen and sore in the morning.
Zuko takes notice. "What happened."
"She was wearing her boots too tight. Apparently swollen ankles are better than dirty feet."
Azula gives a haughty and dismissive sniff.
"Nothing some ice can't fix."
'Good luck finding ice on Ember Island.' Her statement dissipates in a curl of smoke.
"I've been living here my whole life, I know where to find ice." Seicho shrugs. "We'll have to wait until tomorrow though."
Azula doesn't have any qualms about that. She is tired. Extremely so. She can already feel herself drifting out. Though she isn't sure if the exhaustion is physical or mental. She thinks that it might be a combination of both.
"Do you want to spend the night here?" Zuko offers.
"That would be great." Seicho replies. She spares Azula a glance. The princess isn't sure what to make of the look. "You going to walk yourself to bed?"
Azula shakes her head, she will just sleep here. She is too sore and spent to do anything else. Seicho leaves her no room for protest before picking her up again. "Which way to your room?"
"Her room is the third door to the right." Zuko fills in.
Seicho sets her down on the mattress with a foreign sort of gentleness. And she pulls the covers up to her shoulders with a cheerful smile. It is surreal to be on the receiving end of such care-to be so suddenly and fully struck by the realization that she has been for a while. It is just one more thing that her mind has to catch up to and process.
Someone cares for her.
Enough to tuck her in.
Enough to put up with her moods.
Enough to carry her so far away from her own dark ambitions.
At least this realization, though just as jarring as every other thing that still has to settle in her mind, is pleasant. Soothing. Something that she can cling to and fight for.
"Good night, princess."
She mouths a good night in return.
"I'll show you to the guest room." Zuko offers. He lingers in the doorway for a moment. She thinks that he wants to say something. Though, ultimately, he decides to let her get to sleep.
Her dreams are kind.