𝑯𝑰𝑫𝑫𝑬𝑵 𝑫𝑹𝑨𝑮𝑶𝑵, 𝒂: 𝒕𝒍𝒂

➳ 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯: 𝘧𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴

FOR THE ENTIRE TIME THAT KIDA HAD BEEN ON THE RUN, she hadn't gotten sick. Then again, she hadn't ever been out on a fishing boat in the middle of a storm, only to be saved by the Avatar and his flying bison.

Sokka took a job helping a fisherman out at sea, but Kida didn't think it was fair that the responsibility fell onto the oldest boy of the group, so she offered her services as well. Despite a nasty storm interrupting the fishing expedition, they earned enough money through the job to supply the team with food for a few weeks; that was the good news. The bad news: they both caught a nasty cold, as a result.

Not even a day after, Kida finds herself shivering, while Sokka seems to be running a fever. The team had to pause their journey and find refuge in a cave.

"I feel fine," Kida insists as Katara urges her to lie down next to Sokka. The boy in question is delirious, shouting random statements in a daze.

"Well, you're not," Katara counters. "You need to rest."

Kida's eyelids do feel heavy, and every muscle in her body aches and, even though she was freezing a second ago, now it feels like her entire body is on fire. So she gives in and snuggles into Appa's fur and allows herself to rest.

»»---------------------►

IN HER DREAM, Kida is eight years old. She and her mother are sitting by the stream near their village, dipping their feet in the water. It's late evening and the sun paints everything in a warm orange glow.

"I was your age when I first started training to be a warrior," Kida's mother says. At least, it looks like her: she has the same brown skin as Kida, with green eyes, sharp features and a scar on her cheekbone that Kida always thought looked like a lightning bolt. Her hair is braided with golden thread and falls softly against her back. It definitely looked like Kida's mother, but something about her voice was different, wrong. "Now, your father isn't entirely on board with this, but since he's already teaching you how to shoot with a bow and arrow, I thought it would only be fair if I taught you something, too."

She hands Kida a long, thin sword in a dark green sheath decorated with a gold insignia.

"We used fans mostly, but I thought I could show you how to use the katana, first. Swordfighting is a useful skill, but it takes lots of practice and discipline. Are you up to the challenge?"

Kida nods enthusiastically and her mother laughs, which is strange because Kida could

"That's my girl," she gushes, ruffling Kida's hair affectionately.

Suddenly, her mother is gone and Kida's father is the one sitting next to her. The sunset makes his gold eyes brighter, but other than that, he looks just as Kida remembers him. Without thinking much of it, Kida asks about the ring he always wears on his left index finger.

"This ring is very important," he explains. "My grandfather gave it to my father, and my father gave it to me. It's to be passed down to the eldest child, so one day, the ring will be yours."

Kida simply looks down at the ring, mesmerized when she notices how an intricate engraving of a dragon suddenly glows.

"What was your grandfather's name?"

"His name was Roku," Kazuya replies. "Avatar Roku."

Then, Kida hears her parents arguing. Their disembodied voices are a little distorted, even more so than before, almost as if they're getting further away.

She hides behind the screen that separates the living space from a makeshift bedroom. Her brother is fast asleep on the sleeping mat beside her.

"You told her?" Kida's mother shouts. Kida can tell that she's trying to keep her voice down so that Hiro doesn't wake up.