𝑯𝑰𝑫𝑫𝑬𝑵 𝑫𝑹𝑨𝑮𝑶𝑵, 𝒂: 𝒕𝒍𝒂

➳ 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦: 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦

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"Only the brave and the broken are kind in this world."

-Nikita Gill

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KIDA DECIDES TO GO BACK TO KYOSHI ISLAND. She could finish her training, join the warriors, and reconnect with Suki. Whatever love was between them in the past seemed like the forever kind, whether romantic or not, so Suki would welcome Kida back in a heartbeat. The question was how Suki would react when Kida told her the truth about who she is, and frankly, Kida didn't have an answer.

What she did have was plenty of time to think of a solution. Kida was (literally) sick of travelling by sea, so she asked the captain to drop her off at the North edge of the Earth Kingdom. Her destination was at the opposite end of the continent, and it would take Kida a few weeks at least to get there on foot, but she always felt more confident on solid ground, which made it worthwhile.

Time moves differently now that Kida is alone.The hours seem slow, yet the days fly by, melding together so much so that Kida almost believes that she's living the same day, over and over.

Before, Kida had spent two years fending for herself — hunting, foraging, camping. She had gotten used to a certain routine and eventually found comfort in it.

After spending all that time with the team, though, things felt different. Her body is trained for this type of survival, but her brain keeps wandering to what she's missing. Kida misses the energy and the laughter, the endless stories shared over dinner and the security of knowing that there are people around who have her back. She misses the exhilaration of flying on Appa, and frankly, the practicality. Walking seems so boring now; Kida climbs the tallest tree, but even then, she doesn't feel that rush. Kida definitely misses Katara and Aang, even Momo and Appa, but it's Sokka who she thinks about the most. Maybe that has to do with the fact that Sokka hates her now, so all the memories they shared, all the feelings they had for each other, all the possibilities of what they could have been, are reduced to nothing because Kida is just a worthless firebender in Sokka's eyes. Still, she misses training with him. She misses his voice, his dumb jokes, his sarcasm. She misses the way he braided her hair; she found one of the blue strings Sokka uses to tie his hair, and she braided it into her own, the white stripe of hair now intertwined with blue, but it wasn't the same. None of it was; and Kida was left alone with her thoughts, which made it worse. Well, technically, Yue was with Kida every night as she looked up to the moon, though Kida wasn't sure if that offered comfort, or made her even more sad about all she's lost.

Weirdly, though, there was something familiar and calming about wandering alone across Earth Kingdom territory. There were so many places to explore: forests and rivers, valleys and mountain ranges. In a sense, Kida didn't feel the same weight on her shoulders that she did the first time around, the pressure to save the world and honor her family's memory; she knew that Aang and the team were out there doing the former, without her. Which was okay, but it wasn't, but it had to be.

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AFTER A WHILE, Kida stops in a town to sell some extra fish she caught at the river, hoping to find some other food. The town is familiar, but she doesn't remember the Fire Nation having occupied it. That must have happened recently. She notices that some smaller buildings are crumbling or have scorch marks on them, while others, larger buildings, appear to be brand-new. On her way to the market, Kida passes the largest house, with a red door detailed with intricate gold patterns and guards stationed out front.