𝑯𝑰𝑫𝑫𝑬𝑵 𝑫𝑹𝑨𝑮𝑶𝑵, 𝒂: 𝒕𝒍𝒂

➳𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘯: 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘴

NOTE (23/07/20) : i changed the ending of the previous chapter a bit, so you might want to check that out first! otherwise, enjoy and thanks for reading :) 

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"SOKKA, I DON'T WANT TO LEARN HOW TO USE YOUR BOOMERANG," Kida says. The two are walking through a forest, trying to decide what to do while Aang and Katara practice waterbending.

"Oh, and you think that I wanted to learn how to shoot arrows?" Sokka scoffs, kicking a small pebble in his path.

"No," Kida admits. "But, I wanted to prove that archery is not as easy as it looks."

"Which it is."

"Says the guy who almost shot an arrow through the Avatar's leg," Kida points out. "Just because a girl can do it, it doesn't make it easy."

"Fine," Sokka concedes. "I'm just saying, you decided what we did during our last training session; it's only fair that I choose this time. Aren't you the one who's all about equal rights?"

Kida sighs. "Okay, okay. You kind of have a point."

Sokka, who isn't paying attention to his surroundings, doesn't get to take pleasure in his win. Instead, he trips and stumbles, his body about to tumble down a small cliff. As a reflex, he grabs onto Kida's shirt and pulls her down with him. They land on the ground with a THUD! .

"That could have been worse," Sokka muses, after doing a quick scan of his body that revealed no injuries from the fall.

"Maybe for you," Kida groans. What Sokka didn't realize before is that he had fallen directly on Kida, his body having slammed into her ribcage, which softened the blow of their fall. Kida tries to sit up, but is stopped by an ache in her side.

"Aw, did I crush your delicate little ribs?" Sokka wonders with fake concern. He helps Kida up from the ground as she narrows her eyes and sticks her tongue out at him.

"Hey! Are you guys okay?" Katara asks, with genuine concern, as she and Aang slide down the hill to find the source of the commotion they had heard.

While Kida explains what happened, Sokka's eyes wander to land upon a stray knife. Instantly, he recognizes it as a Water Tribe weapon. He instructs the team to looks for anything else; their search leads Sokka to determine that a group of Water Tribe warriors must have ambushed some Fire Nation soldiers, and a battle occurred.

The trail leads them to the shore — and a boat from a Water Tribe fleet.

"Do you recognize it?" Kida asks.

"Yeah," Sokka says, entranced by the boat. He turns to smile at Katara. "Dad was here."

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THE TEAM DECIDES TO CAMP OUT NEXT TO THE SHIP. Katara and Aang fall asleep easily, but Kida has trouble because the pain in her side seems to intensify over time.

Out of the corner of her eye, she notices Sokka poking at the campfire and looking gloomier than usual. Kida decides that a conversation with him is probably less painful than the bruises on her ribs, even if it's only by a little. She moves to sit across from Sokka, the fire burning bright between them.

Sokka flicks his eyes to Kida, then back to the fire. "What do you want?"

"A distraction from the overwhelming pain I feel every time I take a breath," Kida says. "Which you caused, by the way."

"Sorry," Sokka mumbles.

As a silence starts to overtake them, Kida suddenly realizes something.