𝑯𝑰𝑫𝑫𝑬𝑵 𝑫𝑹𝑨𝑮𝑶𝑵, 𝒂: 𝒕𝒍𝒂

➳ 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵: 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴

KIDA HASN'T SLEPT FOR EIGHT NIGHTS. Or was it nine? She's lost track, anyways. Falling asleep meant nightmares; or worse, flashbacks. And after the ones she'd had when she was sick... well, Kida isn't particularly interested in imagining horrible futures or reliving the past and being reminded of her so-called destiny and everyone she's lost, and everything she's had to do to survive. So, yeah, she's perfectly okay with staying awake.

She doesn't need to rest; what Kida needs is to forget.

It was good, then, that she and Sokka had agreed to train together whenever Aang and Katara practiced waterbending. Yes, it was only because each of them wanted to prove that they were the better warrior, but it gives Kida an outlet for her fear, her anger, her guilt — whatever combination of feelings are threatening to overtake her at any moment. She constantly finds herself in fight or flight mode, and with the training arrangement, she can focus on the former. Even if her body aches and her head feels fuzzy and it feels like every breath she takes threatens to drain all the energy out of her. Spirits, Kida's so burnt out.

During training, Sokka was challenging and argumentative amongst other qualities that annoyed Kida to a fault. There were other things, too: the spark of determination in his deep blue eyes and the confident smile he sometimes flashed. The sincerity of his laugh (even at Kida's expense) and sarcastic comments that kept Kida on her toes. The blush that crept to his cheeks, tinting his light brown skin pink, whenever he knew he'd lost an argument, but refused to back down and admit it. All of it, this training thing, whatever it actually was — it kept Kida awake.

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"YOU NEED TO USE YOUR OPPONENT'S FORCE AGAINST THEM," Kida instructs after managing to overtake Sokka in hand-to-hand combat once again. She offers him a hand so he can get off the ground, then realizes her mistake: Sokka uses the gesture as an opportunity to pin Kida to the ground.

"Gotcha." Sokka smirks. "Never let your guard down."

"Fine," Kida replies with a sigh. "You win this one." Sokka looks down at her, clearly confused.

There was an unspoken agreement between the two: play nice when Aang and/or Katara were around, and act normal whenever they weren't. It had been established that Sokka and Kida's normal involved lots of bickering and showing off, paired with pettiness, eye rolls and offhand comments.

So, Sokka wonders: where's the smirk before turning the tables and proving that she (in her eyes) is the better warrior?

Up close, he notices things about Kida he hadn't before: a scar that runs across the bridge of her nose, twine that is carelessly braided into a front piece of her hair, and dark shadows forming underneath her eyes.

"Think again," Kida suddenly states. She does, in fact, smirk before switching their positions and pinning him down. "You should know by now; I never let my guard down."

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BACK AT CAMP, Katara and Aang have also finished their training.

"How was waterbending today?" Kida asks, but before anyone can respond, Sokka says:

"Oh, you are so gonna be dinner," he declares, pointing to a fish swimming in the stream. He runs to pick up the fishing pole, but realizes that the line is gone. "Hey, where's the fishing line?"

"Oh, I didn't think you would need it, Sokka," Aang replies innocently, before showing a woven necklace he had made.

"Ah, it's all tangled," Sokka complains.

"Not tangled, woven. I made you a necklace, Katara. I thought since you lost your other one...."

Katara takes the necklace from Aang, smiling. "Thanks, I love it."

"Great, Aang. Maybe instead of saving the world, you could go into the jewelry making business."

"Who says he can't do both," Kida remarks, causing Aang to smile and Sokka to roll his eyes.

Suddenly, the fish starts to splash in the water again. Sokka throws his spear, which misses its mark completely. Frustrated, he runs towards the water with his blade swinging in the air. An arrow flies through the air, nearly missing Sokka, but successfully pins the fish down to the bottom of the shallow lake. Sokka looks back to shore and sees Kida, who is smiling triumphantly.

"You almost shot me!" Sokka exclaims.

"But, I didn't," Kida counters. "And if I wanted to, you would have an arrow in your shoulder right now." Sokka scoffs in response.

Behind them, Katara shows Aang models her new necklace ,which literally causes the boy to become speechless.

"Smoochie smoochie," Sokka taunts. "Someone's in love."

Kida elbows him in the ribs, even though she had to resist the urge to laugh. She thought it was cute, how flustered Aang got because of his crush on Katara.

Suddenly, a growl in the woods catches the group's attention. Quickly, they run to see the source of the noise: a platypus bear, who is trying to attack a man, although the man seems surprisingly calm. He doesn't listen to any of the advice the group shouts at him, and the platypus bear keeps approaching, until Appa scares it away.

Afterwards, the man explains why he was so calm: because of a fortune that someone named Aunt Wu gave to him.

"Awful nice knowing your future," he adds.

Yeah, right, Kida thinks.

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author's note: sorry that this chapter is kinda short! the one i planned got pretty long so i decided to split it up...next chapter out tomorrow. thanks for reading!