ABOUT TWO WEEKS LATER, THE TEAM STOPS NEAR A VILLAGE ON THE RIVER TO BUY SOME FOOD. The river in question was too muddy, so neither Kida nor Sokka could catch a fish, meaning that they had to find a market to buy their food instead.

"We're already behind schedule!" he complains to Kida while Aang and the others try to hide Appa. "We've been stopping way too often."

Kida rolls her eyes. "Sokka, we need to eat, okay? That village is our best chance of not starving to death." She moves in closer. "And, uh, maybe we can even sneak in a training session later tonight?"

Sokka tries to keep a straight face, but Kida notices that the ghost of a smile starts to spread across his face and can't help but blush happily. He clears his throat, looks briefly to the rest of the group to make sure they can't hear, and leans closer to Kida. "Fine, but I will point out that the village is in the middle of the river."

"Sure is!" a voice responds. The man standing on a ferry by the edge of the river. "My name's dock. Mind if I ask who you are?"

"We're from the Earth Kingdom colonies," Kida answers without skipping a beat. Aang, Toph, and Katara join the conversation as Dock continues to grin expectantly at all of them.

"You need a ride?" he asks.

»»---------------------►

ONCE IN TOWN, KIDA FEELS SOMETHING PULL AT HER HEART.  Anger, frustration, sadness. Those same feelings that would engulf her back when she was travelling alone, that pushed to want to do something to help these people who are hungry, sick, and tired. The feeling that something needs to be done to change their lives for the better.

And, it turns out, Kida isn't the only one. After they buy some gray looking fish from a guy who looks suspiciously similar to Dock, the group walks back to the ferry dock to ride back across the river.

"Look at this place," Katara sighs, gesturing to a young boy taking care of his mother. "It's so sad. We have to do something to help."

Before Kida can respond and agree wholeheartedly, Sokka jumps in.

"We can't waste our time here," he asserts.

"It wouldn't be wasting our time," Kida scoffs. She looks around before leaning in and whispering: "We can't claim to be saving the world and then turn our back on people who are suffering."

"You said it yourself, Kida. We have a bigger mission that we need to stay focused on: saving the world. These people are on their own."

Kida stands up straighter and suddenly feels a bit defensive. "That is definitely not what I said ---"

"These people are starving!" Katara interrupts. "How can you be so cold and heartless?"

"I'm not being heartless, Katara," Sokka scoffs. "I'm just being realistic. We can't go around helping every rinky-dink town we wander into. We'll be helping them all by taking out the Fire Lord."

"Hey, loud mouths!" Toph interrupts the trio. "Maybe we should be a little quieter when we talk about," she leans in. "taking out the Fire Lord. Let's just go, okay?"

"Toph's right, and so is Sokka," Aang reluctantly agrees. "I'd love to help these people, but we have to focus on the bigger picture and a schedule to keep. We've got what we need, so let's just go back to camp."

"See?" Sokka grins triumphantly. "Even the Avatar agrees with me!"

"Only because you've brainwashed everyone on the importance of your dumb schedule," Kida grumbles. If there was a place nearby, the least they could do was get some real food and bring it back for the villagers. Maybe some medicine for their sick as well.

Sokka frowns, eyes focusing in on Kida. "Well, excuse me for wanting to keep us organized! If it were up to you, we would be running around in disguises stealing from people."

Suddenly, Kida is hit with a sharp pain in her heart, because the fact of the matter is that the last time she went down this path, someone died. Yoko died. "On second thought," Kida adds after clearing her throat. "We should just go. We're helping these people in the long run, right?"

Again, Sokka smiles triumphantly, but Katara's face falls before she reluctantly agrees.

»»---------------------►

"WHAT'S UP WITH HER?" Sokka wonders, pointing to his sister, who has moved to sit far away from the group, where the water meets the shore.

By now, night has fallen, and the team sat down to eat dinner while Sokka goes over the schedule with everyone. About halfway through, Katara gets up and walks away without a word.

Aang looks to her, concern painted across his face. "I don't know, but I'll go talk to her."

"Actually, Aang," Kida stops. Finally, she looks up from the fire she had been tending. "If you don't mind, can I go instead?"

"Oh." Aang sits back down awkwardly. "Yeah, sure."

Kida gently approaches Katara, trying to think of what should be said. Or, rather, what needs to be said to help Katara feel better about the situation, if that's even possible.

"Hey, Katara, can we talk?" Kida asks gently as she reaches her friend.

Katara stays silent, eyes not leaving the village across the river. Still, Kida sits down next to her.

"Look, I know exactly how you feel," Kida confesses.

"Then why did you agree with Sokka back there?" Katara wonders, her voice softer than Kida has ever heard it.

"Because...." Kida loses her train of thought. "I guess I kind of understood where he was coming from," she lies, but instantly regrets it. Right now, Katara needs the truth. Kida takes a deep breath and adds: "Or... I guess I know where these things can end. Sometimes, doing something makes everything worse. It can end badly."

"So, we just don't help anyone!" Katara suddenly bursts in frustration. The water suddenly starts to get rougher, waves threatening to crash against the shore. "We have all this power and we don't bother helping anyone because it could end badly?"

Kida feels her defenses building back up, this time instantly regretting her act of honesty. Maybe Katara has a point, but Kida just isn't willing to risk it, not after last time. There's guilt eating at her chest, and Kida isn't sure if it's because of this conversation, or because she can't get that image of Yoko out of her head after finally having gotten rid of it. Either way, she has to fight the urge to leave this conversation, but she knows it's a battle she'll probably lose.

A moment of tense silence passes between the girls before Kida abruptly stands up.

"I didn't think things through when I was the Hood," Kida admits, her voice shaking a bit. "I didn't think that helping people would end up....hurting others. And I'm not talking about the people I stole from. I mean innocent people. Good people can still get hurt. So, I'm not going to stop you from doing anything. But, please just remember what I said if you do."

With that, Kida leaves to go back to camp. When she gets there, Sokka, Aang, and Toph have already pulled their sleeping bags around the fire, which is dying down. It reinvigorates once Kida gets close and Momo jumps back in surprise, quickly flying to Aang, who smiles tiredly.

"How did it go?" he yawns.

As if to answer his question, Katara suddenly appears, offering the team a soft smile before pulling out her sleeping bag as well.

Even as everyone is snuggled in and the fire is finally turning to embers, Kida can't bring herself to sleep.

Instead, she grabs her bow and walks away from camp once more.

»»---------------------►

FINDING A TARGET WAS HARD, GIVEN THE BARREN LANDSCAPE. Eventually, Kida just gives up, dropping herself and her bow to the ground. Without anything else to do, she lies down to look up at the stars.

After who knows how long, she feels someone lie down next to her.

"See anything cool?"

"I'm not in the mood for talking, Sokka," Kida states.

"I can think of something else we can do," Sokka teases.

Before he can lean in, Kida sits up, hugging her knees to her chest. "I don't want to do that, either. Just go, Sokka."

Sokka sits up, crossing his legs. "Look, is this about what I said earlier? Because I really didn't mean to say---"

"It's not that," Kida declares. "Okay, fine, maybe a bit. It just got me thinking, I guess." She shifts further away from Sokka.

Kida notices that Sokka stays where he is and doesn't move closer. She can barely see him since clouds are shielding the normally bright moon, but Kida can still feel his presence.

"What are you thinking about?" he asks softly.

The words get stuck in Kida's throat. This is someone she completely and utterly trusts with her life. Someone she loves, even if she hasn't admitted it out loud. It should be easy to tell him about what happened, about Yoko, but that would mean having to relive it all over again. But, would that be worse than replaying in her head, over and over, trying to turn it into a dream? If Kida said the words out loud, if she revealed the truth and told the full story, it would be real. A dream is easy to forget; the truth isn't. What if the truth changes the way Sokka sees her? The way the whole team sees her? And then things will be worse, and they'll hate her and Kida will end up alone again and---

And she just isn't ready to face any of that right now.

"I'm fine, Sokka," Kida finally answers. "I'm just not really tired."

Sokka tilts his head to the side. "Do you want to train, then? Hand to hand combat?"

As tempting as that sounds, Kida simply lies back down. "Not tonight."

At this, Sokka settles down next to Kida. After a few moments, she shuffles in, resting her head on his chest. He wraps an arm around her and pulls her closer.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Sokka whispers.

"I'm fine, Sokka," she insists. "Can we just, I don't know, look at the stars? There's this story about a dragon and a wolf I think you'd really like."

"If that's what you want, then yeah." Sokka places a gentle kiss on Kida's cheek, as though to reassure her that he'll always be there for her.

Kida lets out a sigh of tentative relief before starting the story.

»»---------------------►

author's note!

hi readers! it's been a while....honestly much longer than i expected/wanted. sorry this update took so long! 

im hoping to post more chapter regularly, but i've also got other stories that i want to work on, too... but if you're still reading and keeping up with this story, THANK YOU! it means so much and you are very much appreciated <3 i hope you enjoyed this chapter!