"AGAIN," ZUKO ASSERTS. He sits, arms crossed, in the corner as he guides Kida through firebending forms. As is the case during all of their training sessions, Zuko's expression is unreadable, leading Kida to think that he is truly and utterly unimpressed.

"I'm tired," Kida groans. She flops to the ground, the flame she was trying to control dying out as she falls. Part of Kida just assumed that she would suddenly become a firebending master after she could produce a flame; but, it's been weeks since her falling out with Mika and her first unofficial training session with Zuko, and it still seems as though she has a long way to go.

After that night, Iroh woke up the next morning, confused to find Kida and Zuko finishing a set of hot squats in the middle of his living room. He was even somewhat confused, yet even more delighted, to find that Kida could actually produce fire on her own.

"Sometimes all it takes is the right teacher," he said humbly, proudly looking towards his nephew. Zuko just nodded awkwardly.

Then, Kida explained her situation and Iroh immediately offered to have her stay with them. Right away, Kida could tell that Zuko wasn't too happy about the arrangement, which, she thought, was fair enough. One night of (kind of) being friends wouldn't change what happened in the past. Did Kida want to work, train, and live with the guy who left her to freeze to death and wanted to hurt her friends? No, not really. But Iroh was kind and welcoming and made a great pot of tea, so Kida was happier to stay with them than alone in the streets. Iroh also suggested that Zuko take over Kida's training; they both agreed, because Uncle had bigger things to worry about (like the offer he got to open his own tea shop), but Kida was not prepared for the level of dedication Zuko showed.

Kida thought that she was tough during training, but Zuko was on another level. After each session (which are two hours, every day after work) Kida is always out of breath and her muscles feel as though they are on fire. Sometimes, they would practice dueling, which would increase these feelings tenfold. Plus, Zuko would always win, and losing never leaves Kida in a good mood. Training with Sokka was so much easier compared to training with Zuko. Then again, that was sword fighting, something Kida has always had a talent for; this is firebending, something Kida never imagined she would have the chance to learn, much less accept as a part of herself until now. And this is with Zuko, the Fire Nation prince who was her literal rival before and turned out to be the cousin she never particularly wanted; that was with Sokka and that...that was different.

"Do you want to be a master firebender or not?" Zuko snaps.

"How mad would you be if I said not?" Kida jokes.

Zuko rolls his eyes. "Again," he repeats. "Control your breath this time and widen your stance. You're getting better, so don't give up now."

Kida's ears perk and she sits up. "Really?"

"I said better, but not good enough."

Frustrated, Kida blows a stray hair away from her face. Then, she stands up and resumes position.

»»---------------------►

ALTHOUGH HE'S STERN DURING TRAINING, Zuko seems to be warming up to Kida. And, if Kida was being honest, she's warming up to him as well. It was nice to have someone to rant to about annoying and rude customers, and to have around when eating dinner or running errands, even in comfortable silence. Kida notices that, as much as Zuko is angsty and closed off, he is also surprisingly caring (in his own way) and extremely driven, which she admires. Another thing she notices: Zuko is, at times, completely oblivious.

"Hey, Kida," Zuko whispers during their shift one day. Iroh took the day off — Zuko mentioned something about a birthday — so Kida and Zuko were left to deal with the crowd of customers. "There's someone who's been here almost every day this week. I think she knows something. We might have another Jet situation."

Kida looks over, discreetly, to the girl in question. She seems about their age, with a gentle demeanor and kind smile. Her gaze lands on Zuko, and she quickly looks away once she notices Kida staring at her. "You're kidding," Kida laughs. "Zuko, she's totally checking. I bet she's here because she thinks you're cute."

Zuko whips his head towards the boy and then back to Kida. "What? She is not —"

"Then why is she coming over here?" Kida whispers playfully.

"Hi," the girl greets with a shy smile.

"Hi," Kida replies, smiling back. "I have to go clean that table over there, but Lee here is more than happy to help you with anything you need." She leans in and whispers, "Good luck," before walking away.

»»---------------------►

"SO, WHAT HAPPENED WITH THAT GIRL?" Kida asks after their shift is over and they're back in the apartment, getting ready for training.

"Nothing," Zuko replies nonchalantly. "We're dueling today," he informs. He moves to close the windows and puts down the blinds to avoid any neighbours suspecting anything.

Kida rolls her eyes and starts moving the furniture around to make space for their training session. "Did nothing actually happen or are you just saying that so I'll get off your back?"

"She asked but I said no, so yeah, nothing happened."

"Why'd you say no?" Kida inquires. She starts following the usual routine, doing twenty fire fists and thirty hot squats as a warm up. "She seems to really like you."

Zuko follows, the two side by side as they complete their exercises. "I'm not interested. Can we stop talking about this and focus?"

"How about if I win this duel, you go on the date?" Kida suggests.

"I just said I'm not interested."

"Fine. Then if I win, can we at least talk about you potentially going?"

Zuko sighs. "Fine. Whatever, you're probably going to lose, anyways."

Kida scoffs. They bow to each other before getting into a battle stance.

For a second, the two remain at a stand still, facing each other and locked in an intense stare down. Then, Zuko sends a fire blast towards Kida; she quickly rolls to the side to avoid it, then steadies herself to send one back before standing back up and returning to a firm battle stance. She forces herself to steady her breath. As she does this, Zuko edges closer, firing short, but powerful, fire fists so he can close in. Most of the time, Kida would become disoriented by this, giving Zuko the opportunity to get close enough and end the fight, but this time Kida is determined to make things different. She dodges one blast, then kicks low, in hopes of disorienting Zuko this time. He's caught off guard, so this actually works; he almost falls to the ground, but Kida catches him by the shirt. She raises a fire fist in front of his face, not to actually fire anything, but to demonstrate a threat instead. This was usually how the duel ended, except the roles are reversed, so Kida is much more satisfied.

A small smile spreads across Zuko's face — the closest he's ever seemed impressed — and he raises his arms in surrender. Before Kida can declare her victory, Zuko manages to use Kida's balance against her, rolling over so that their positions are reversed and Kida is trapped, forced to look at his fist and the smirk on his face.

"Spirits!" she yells in frustration. "I really thought I had it this time."

Zuko gets up. "You were close," Zuko assures. He reaches his hand out to help Kida up, which she begrudgingly takes. Once standing, they bow to each other, signaling the definitive end of the duel, with Zuko as the winner once again.

"I guess you don't have to go on your date then," Kida grumbles. She sits back down, her legs crossed. Zuko mirrors her position.

"Yeah, I guess not," he states. After a minute though, he asks: "How do you know she likes me?"

"I don't know," Kida shrugs. "I just know."

Zuko scoffs and rolls his eyes. "That's helpful."

"I don't know how to explain it!" Kida defends. "It's a feeling that I get."

"You sound like Uncle," Zuko groans.

"I take that as a compliment," she counters. Kida leans back on her elbows and stretches her legs in front of her, sighing. "Are you just scared to go on a date with someone? If that's the case, you shouldn't be. It's going to be fine."

"And you would know?"

"Actually, yes. Kind of."

"Kind of?"

"Yes. It might have been awkward at first, and ended in heartbreak, but it was nice at the time. And since everything is, you know, the way that it is, it's nice to have moments like those. Plus, you deserve it for having to train me."

This gets a chuckle from Zuko, which makes Kida smile. "Was it that water tribe kid? Sokka?"

Kida blushes and clears her throat. "I, um, wasn't thinking about him actually. It was the Northern Watertribe princess, Yue. While Aang was learning waterbending, we stayed there for a while, and Yue and I went out a couple times."

"Oh," Zuko replies. "What ended up happening?"

"It got complicated and she turned into the moon."

"That's....tough."

"Yeah. I'm still glad we did go out though."

"Really?"

Kida nods. "As someone who's spent a good part of her life trying not to get close to people, I understand the urge to push people away. Trust me, I do. But I find that, either way, there's some element of heartbreak, so why not have fun? And maybe one time, it will actually last."

"Wow that was....actually good advice."

"Thanks," Kida replies, surprised herself at what she just said and trying really hard not to think about Sokka. "So, will you go on the date?"

»»---------------------►

ZUKO ENDS UP GOING ON THE DATE, leaving Kida alone in the apartment. She settles down with a cup of tea (after a few lessons with Uncle, she's practically an expert) and looks out at the night sky, tiring, but not tired enough.

Ever since her falling out with Mika, Kida hasn't been able to sleep restfully. The guilt, the heartbreak, the anger, the helplessness of it all was too much and there were no other distractions that could keep these feelings away. She would look at the moon, and imagine her friends, Katara, Aang, Suki, and Sokka and where they were and what they were doing. It was a sort of game, like how she used to make up stories from the stars for Hiro or Aang, except this time, there was no doubt that the characters were real.

Kida would also try to imagine settling down in Ba Sing Se. Here, it seems so easy to forget the war, and just move on, working at the tea shop during the day, spending time with Zuko and Uncle at night. Maybe she'd meet a nice girl or guy and they would fall in love and raise a family together. Everything would be normal and Kida could forget the pain and suffering from her past. But then her mind would travel back to the war, and the chaos, and all the lives lost. And Kida grew restless, knowing that there was nothing she could do, because every time she tried, it seemed to make things worse.

After finishing her cup of tea, Kida decides to go out for some air and stretch her legs. As she exits the apartment to walk along the cobblestone paths of Ba Sing Se, Kida allows the warm spring air to engulf her. She takes a step out the door, only to hear the sound of paper crunching beneath her shoe. Confused, Kida picks up the flyer, noticing that in the dim lighting of the street lamps, there are others like it on the ground. She brings the paper closer into the light of the apartment.

And Kida is shocked to see that it's a picture of Appa.

»»---------------------►

author's note!  

dear readers, 

thanks for sticking around, even with the slow updates! my plan now is to update once a week (on saturdays). i would like to do more, but realistically i have a busy couple of weeks so i don't want to put pressure on myself or to let you guys down if i end up not being able to keep up with the schedule. so, for now, we're sticking with saturday updates!

i've also been struggling to find not only time, but motivation to write. i have a lot of ideas of fics that i want to write or update, but i just end up feeling sort of stuck. because of this, i've been reading my drafts or unfinished fics as inspiration. weirdly enough, re-reading the riverdale fic i wrote when the show first came out has been really fun. it's kind of cringe, but not terrible and honestly the kind of teen drama romance i live for. i know it's kind of an old show and i don't know if people still watch it or are interested in reading a fic about it, but if you are, please let me know. it's essentially complete up until season 3, so i'll be able to publish chapters regularly.

anyways, that's it for now. i hope everyone is doing well and staying safe. i appreciate you all!

thanks for reading!