Sharing the Vagabond 》Desna x OC x Eska

Chapter Two: Encounters

The Northern Water Tribe. At one point, which felt like a lifetime ago, that was one place that Kaida had yet to visit. From what she'd heard, they were fairly conservative and old-fashioned, and picky about who they let in. Didn't seem like her cup of tea vacation-wise, but now that an enemy of the Fire Nation was supposedly hiding out there, with a colossal reward on his head, Kaida decided it was time to pay the North a visit.

She arrived on a large, old ship, bringing coveted fruits and vegetables to the North, as such goods didn't grow there. The captain was an alright guy, but she'd had to bribe him to let her aboard. It was cheaper than hiring a ship to take her, but the downside was that she couldn't convince the captain to let her shirshu tag along, which meant she'd be locating the criminal on her own. This wouldn't be too much of a problem, considering she'd heard from a reliable source that he was definitely there, and she had a pretty recent picture of the guy.

When the ship docked at the Northern Water Tribe, Kaida wasted no time in getting off that ginormous hunk of junk, and heading straight into the heart of the city. Ideally, she'd be able to find the criminal within the next few hours, and she'd then be able to catch a ride home on the ship that brought her. She scanned the crowd thoroughly, searching each face that passed by and comparing it to the wanted man's photo that she'd memorized. When she didn't get anywhere, Kaida began perusing the streets of the city, eventually passing by the palace.

It was incredibly tall and elaborately designed, with a couple of guards stationed out front. They saw Kaida staring at the building, and she saw their eyes narrow at her, evidently trying to decide if she may be a threat. She opted to just keep walking. Man, they really were stuck up around here if she got a stare down just for admiring the palace for a few seconds.

As Kaida weaved through the streets, still searching for her prize, she found herself in a questionable alleyway, with an even more questionable-looking group of men at the end of it. They stared at her like a piece of meat, clearly trying to determine if she was worth robbing. Her appearance didn't scream 'wealth'; just a pair of black trousers, black leather boots, and a long-sleeved, form-fitting, hooded black tunic. She had a small leather satchel strapped to her left hip by a belt, which held her cuffs for criminals, a small amount of cash, and a change of clothes. A set of twin broadswords were strapped to her back, a whip attached to her right hip, and a set of throwing knives on her thigh, just underneath the tunic – but they couldn't see any of that from where they were standing. So, Kaida just stared right back at them, only for the sake of determining if any of their faces were familiar. She didn't need any unnecessary trouble distracting her from her current objective. When she decided that none of them fit the bill, she wordlessly turned to leave, only to find another man having come to join them, now blocking her exit.

"Pardon me, I was just leaving," Kaida said coolly, but the man didn't budge. He only cracked his knuckles, glowering at her. "I would suggest you move, before I move you."

"Relax, lady," a scrawny, dirty guy behind her chimed in. He wore a sly, conniving smile, revealing that most of his teeth were missing. "We were just curious to know if you happen to have anything of value on your persons."

"I do not. And I would highly suggest you take my word for it, otherwise things are going to get ugly very quickly."

The burly man blocking her exit took advantage of the fact that she'd turned her head to speak to his companion, and reached out to grab her satchel. Before he had the chance, Kaida grabbed his wrist with lightning-fast speed, and twisted his arm, which caused a sickening, loud crack to sound from somewhere in his wrist. He cried out in pain, dropping to his knees and cradling his wrist against his chest, which gave Kaida the opportunity to run. She could have easily taken care of the lot of them, but it simply wasn't worth the time, and she didn't want to tire herself out with a fight in case she ran into the fugitive shortly after.