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"How could it be that tiny serendipitous events 

could change everything?"

- Aditi Khorana

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KIDA WAITS UNTIL THE OWNER OF THE TEA SHOP LEAVES BEFORE CONFRONTING ZUKO. Sorry — she waits to confront Lee. That's the identity he built for himself, but Kida recognizes him and whatever he's up to, she's not going to let it slide. She can't imagine continuing to work and pretend everything is normal knowing that someone so dangerous could be planning something terrible.

Kida waits for the tea shop to be relatively empty, and for his uncle, who's going by Mushi, before pulling Zuko into the storage closet and closing the door behind them.

"Hey!"

"What are you doing here?"

"What?"

"Don't you recognize me?" Kida demands.

"Why would I? My uncle and I just got into the city."

"I know who you really are, Zuko," Kida scoffs. "Don't you remember leaving me to freeze to death?"

Recognition flashes in Zuko's eyes and his eyes narrow in suspicion. "You're that firebender travelling with the Avatar. Does that mean he's in the city?"

"I'm travelling alone. I thought I was escaping the Fire Nation and the war, but apparently not. And, I'm really not happy about it," she warns. "So, I'm going to ask you this one more time. What are you doing here, Zuko? What do you want?"

"What I want is to be left alone," Zuko states monotonously, as if he couldn't care less. He moves towards the door.

Before he can leave, though, Kida moves fast and pulls out the knife she hides in her belt (a habit she's yet to shake), using it to pin one of Zuko's sleeves against the wall opposite the door. The force of it causes the shelves to shake and a few canisters of tea fall to the ground. "Give me one reason I shouldn't go to the Dai Li right now and tell them that the Fire Nation prince and his uncle are in the city."

"Go ahead," Zuko scoffs. "I'm sure they'd believe you."

"I can be pretty convincing," Kida retorts.

"Like convincing the Avatar and his friends that you aren't a firebender?" Zuko challenges. When he notices Kida clench her jaw, he smirks, knowing he struck a chord. "That's the reason you left, right? Because they found out that you're everything they hate, everything they've been fighting again since the beginning. It hurts, doesn't it? Being banished from the people you consider your family."

"I have no family," Kida states, but her voice wavers slightly. "I just want a fresh start and that's not going to happen if I don't stop you from whatever you plan to do here. Trust me when I say that you're the last person I would want to run into. I'm only asking nicely one more time: what are you doing here?"

"Lee!" someone calls from outside the closet. Suddenly, the door bursts open. It's his uncle, Iroh. "I heard something fall. Is everything okay?"

"Answer the question," Kida demands, ignoring Iroh. Her patience is running out.

Iroh looks back at her, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Do I know you from somewhere? Your eyes look very familiar."

"She knows who we are, Uncle. We have to get rid of her." Zuko rips his sleeve from the wall and settles into a battle stance.

Kida laughs, removing her knife and mirroring Zuko's body language. "I'd like to see you try."

"I won pretty easily last time," Zuko snaps. "An untrained firebender is no match for one who's had the training I've had."

"You're a firebender?" Iroh asks. He seems unbothered by the impending duel between Kida and Zuko, his mind trying to sort something out.

A few beats of silence pass between the trio. Kida calculates whether or not to attack first. It's true, the odds aren't on her side. Two against one. But, Iroh seems distracted so he might not be much help. Zuko makes a good point, too, unfortunately. Kida won't be able to beat him if he uses Firebending — it's no question he has the upper hand in this situation. Still, Kida can't let more innocent people get hurt because of her actions, or lack thereof, in this case. There has to be another way.

Kida analyzes Zuko's stance, looking for potential weak spots. She can tell that Zuko has experience and training because weaknesses are hard to spot: his feet remain firmly planted on the floor, his arms positioned to protect his upper body from any attack. Then, Kida spots something that forces her to break out of her thoughts.

"You're the one who took my ring," she growls, now engulfed in a wave of anger. Before, it was a matter of protecting the lives of others, but now, this just became personal. Kida's father gave her that ring, and Spirits be damned if she lets the prince of the Fire Nation take it from her.

Zuko stares back at her in confusion. His eyes look briefly to his left index finger, and then back to Kida. "What are you talking about?"

"My ring," Kida repeats. "I lost it at the North Pole. So I guess you robbed me after leaving me to die."

"Only the last part of that statement is true."

"Zuko..." Iroh stops, but is interrupted by Kida, who scoffs.

Kida scoffs. She drops her stance and steps closer to Zuko, grasping the knife in her hand. "Look, I know my father's ring when I see it. Stop lying and if you give me the ring, I'll leave you and your uncle alone. Promise."

"I'm not giving you my mother's ring," Zuko growls.

"Your mother's ring? You seriously couldn't find a better lie than that?"

"You're the one who's lying!"

"He's not lying," Iroh interrupts. He remains calm and his soothing voice seems to remove some of the tension out of the room.

"What?" Zuko and Kida reply simultaneously.

Iroh rubs his chin thoughtfully. "It's possible you both have the same ring," he continues. He tilts his head towards Kida. "You look like him. It's the eyes. You know, some say they are the window to your soul. I say that you say that they are an insight into your family tree."

"This isn't the time for one of your proverbs, Uncle," Zuko groans.

"It's not a proverb," Iroh points out. "It's the truth. Am I correct to assume that you were Kazuya's daughter?"

Kida nods slowly. "Yes. Did you work with him or something?"

"Well, yes, for a short while before he ran away. I knew him because his sister married my brother, the Fire Lord."

Kida swallows. "What are you saying?" Her heart beats faster, fearing that Zhao was right. She doesn't know how deep her Fire Nation roots run. And Kida isn't sure that she wants to. How ridiculous would that be? Trying to have a fresh start and working at a tea shop, that so happens to be the same one in all of Ba Sing Se that Zuko also works at. Zuko having the same ring and Kida noticing it. The fact that Kida is not only a firebender, but directly related to the most evil family of firebenders that lived in the Four Nations. 

Iroh points to Kida. "Your father." He then points to Zuko. "And your mother were twins."

"What?" Zuko and Kida reply once more. They look to each other and to Iroh in confusion.

"You can't be serious!" Kida shouts. She can tell that he's serious, though.

"Oh, I am," Iroh muses. He actually seems happy about the whole thing. Kida doesn't know why he would be, but part of her wonders if she should be. That won't come for a while though because, for now, Kida remains frozen in disbelief. Shock. Denial. What the actual fuck?

"You're..." Zuko trails off. "We're..."

"Cousins," Kida finishes.

"Funny, how fates intertwine," Iroh muses. He throws one arm around Zuko and the other around Kida. Iroh doesn't seem to notice how uncomfortable and confused both teens are about this new revelation.

Thankfully, the owner of the tea shop shouts for them to get back to work. Kida offers an awkward goodbye before doing so. 

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author's note!

what did you guys think of this chapter? i hope you enjoyed it! 

sorry about not updating more, school is stressful af and it doesn't help that i have lots of story ideas but so little time/energy. i think that, for now, i can manage with updating this story once a week, hopefully more soon! i do have other story ideas,, i know that i have some other works in progress (i plan on updating those soon) but im also drafting a dead poets society? these are all just maybes bc i am very tired but lmk what you guys think! both about the potential new stories, and what other stories you'd want me to update besides this one.  

thank you for reading <3