Thanks :) I hope that you will end up enjoying at least one of the two routes this fic will take!

Salt and fish. Sand in her toes. The sun glaring in her eyes. She can't say that she is enjoying the beach sensory so far. Seicho, on the other hand, absolutely lives for it. The woman is beaming from ear to ear as she holds up another shell.

"Come on, gather some shells with me." Seicho offers.

She thinks about doing just that, but she also considers the sensation of sand under her nails. She shakes her head and writes in the sand, 'U dig, I watch.'

Seicho rolls her eyes. "Come on, just one shell or two?"

Just one shell or two is more than enough to get sand under her nails.

"You can dig them up with your stick." Seicho points out.

Azula looks from her stick to the sand and back to the stick. She supposes that this is true enough. Reluctantly she finds a shell and jabs her stick at the sand until the shell comes loose. Seicho snatches it up before the waves can take it.

"A respectable start." She remarks after inspecting the shell and tossing it into a bucket. "Now find another one."

Azula frowns. 'I am your princess, I tell you what to…'

Seicho quirks a brow and an absolutely devious smirk lights her face as she kicks the sentence away. Azula blinks at the sheer audacity of the woman. She smiles brightly, "Come on there are lots of them over this way!" She snatches Azula's arm before the princess can protest and pulls her down the beach.

Azula scans the ground for any shells that stand out. She is growing tired of the powder-white ones and the dusty tan ones. She nudges at a few with her stick and, to Seicho's distress (the woman scrambles to pick them up), she pushes them aside. She wiggles shell after shell free, but none of them strike her fancy. She wants only the best shells for her collection. She finds herself stooping down several times to take a closer look at their shapes, sizes, and textures.

She hears Seicho snicker, "for not wanting to go shell hunting, you sure are taking it very seriously."

Azula frowns, set on telling her to shut up. But she happens upon a lovely looking shell. It is a vivid orange with spots of either darker orange or red, she can't tell from this distance. She wanders closer to it.

Not wanting to risk breaking it, she carefully wiggles it from the sand. It is like holding a sunset in her palm. She can't help but smile at least a little. She tries with everything she has to not crack even a slight one-she can't give Seicho the impression that she actually enjoys this.

She holds the shell up, proud of her work. But Seicho doesn't look so excited. In fact she looks a touch concerned.

"Azula, put that down it's a…"

The turtle crab thrusts it's little claw out first. She might have noticed it if she weren't looking at Seicho. It gives her hand a decent pinch and she gives it a silent yelp before dropping it. The creature offers her toe another pinch for good measure before scuttling back into the water. She has half the mind to storm after it but how foolish would it be to start quarrels with small sea cretins.

Seicho's face is red with laughter. She can hear Zuko's laugh clear across the beach. Seicho clutches her sides, nearly doubling over with it. "That's…" she says between laughs, "why you only pick up the white ones." She takes Azula's hand and inspects it. "They use the colorful ones to attract mates."

Azula snatches her hand back and folds her arms over her chest.

"Luckily for you, that was a friendly crab."

She isn't sure that she wants to meet the vicious ones.

"It isn't even bleeding."

Zuko is still laughing. Seicho holds Azula's hand up and gives it a gentle little kiss. It is the wrong spot, but the sentiment is nice. It doesn't quite settle in that she has received a kiss until Zuko asks her about it several hours after.

.oOo.

In walking away, she feels lonely. With six sisters in her life and heaps of attention, TyLee can't remember the last time she felt lonely. But the feeling is potent today and she wishes that she could shake it off.

Mai hadn't told her that she no longer wanted to talk to her but she hadn't called out as TyLee saughterned away either. Not even when she deliberately slowed her pace. But then, Mai had never been one for dramatics.

She thinks of Azula. Of those silent screams.

Those tears.

It is such a stark contrast.

Azula had called out for her but she had continued walking.

TyLee shakes her head. As bad as she feels, she can't let her sympathy extend too far. It is time to move forward. It is time to find someone who hasn't toyed with her so much. She promises herself that she won't' go back this time. No matter what pretty words Azula speaks, no matter how lavish the gifts, she won't go back.

The princess will have to accept friendship or nothing.

Because she. Won't. Go. Back.

As if to seal the deal, she binds her letter and sets it towards the poles. With any luck she will get to show Tuya the beauty of the Fire Nation.

.oOo.

"It was just a little pinch, you can pack your own bags." Zuko proclaims.

She stubbornly shakes her head and then points from her clothes to the suitcase. If he wanted to laugh at her for her troubles, she will pretend like she had been gravely wounded.

"You can do this yourself."

Azula shakes her head again and writes, 'I can't.'

"Why not?"

'It pinched one of my chi points and I can't use my hand.' She informs him as she writes with said hand. 'You will have to do it for me.'

She thinks that Seicho may be laughing so hard that her eyes are watering.

"You're using it right now!" Zuko stammers.

'I am not.' She insists as she continues to use that hand.

Zuko pinches the bridge of his nose. Seicho peels herself from the chair and comes to Azula's side. "I'm all finished with my packing, I can help you with yours."

Azula shakes her head once more. 'Zuzu's job.'

She can see his eye twitching and decides that she has pestered him enough for one evening. Anyhow, she has a particular way that she'd like her luggage to be arranged. She allows Seicho to squeeze in and help. She would like to get a decent night's rest before they take to the boat and the mainland. She would like to get some sound sleep before they venture from the mainland into the jungle.

She touches her fingers to the base of her throat.