THE LAST PLACE KIDA WANTED TO BE IS IN A FIRE NATION TOWN, surrounded by fire and firebenders, during their annual "Fire Days" festival, but Aang was persistent, and he needed to see some firebending up close; that is, when it's not used as an attack against him. Kida knew from the moment they stepped into town that there would be some sort of trouble caused by their group.

Long story short: she was right, which was why Kida, Aang, Sokka and Katara are now running away from a group of Fire Nation soldiers.

"Follow me!" a voice says from out of nowhere. It belongs to someone wearing a cape, their face covered with a bandana. "I can get you out of here!"

"Can we trust him?" Kida asks her friends. She grabs the wall to steady herself; after a week, the injury to her ribs is starting to heal, but in moments of exertion like this one, the pain flares up again.

"We trust you, didn't we?" Sokka counters, referring to the first time Kida met the group.

"Point taken," Kida replies. Aang and Katara nod as well.

They manage to evade the soldiers, until they are led down a dead end. Desperately, Aang uses his bison whistle to call Appa, who shows up soon after. The group flies away, but not before their mysterious guide throws one last firebomb down for good measure.

Once safely in the air, Kida leans back against the saddle and tries to catch her breath.

"Are you okay?" Katara wonders, looking at Kida with concern. Kida nods, but Katara doesn't seem convinced. "I wish there was a way you could heal faster."

"You and me both."

Their conversation is interrupted when a flurry of fireworks go off in the air.

Aang looks back to the traveller, who by now has taken off his hood. "Nice touch setting off the fireworks."

"You seem to really know your explosives," Sokka notices.

"I'm familiar."

"You're a Fire Nation soldier!"

"Was," he corrects. "My name's Chey."

»»---------------------►

ONCE THE GROUP SETS UP CAMP, CHEY BEGINS TO EXPLAIN HIS STORY. For a fleeting moment, Kida scolds herself; this is exactly what she should have done when she first met the team: tell her story — the real one, all of it — and be honest from the start. But there's no point in looking back, Kida tells herself. Only now, and only forward. The rest will fall into place naturally. Or fall apart. Maybe I should just —

"I serve a man," Chey explains. "More than a man, really, he's a myth, but he's real. Jeong Jeong the Deserter. He was a Fire Nation General. Or, wait...was he an admiral?"

"He was very highly ranked, we get it," Sokka groans, wanting Chey to finish his thought.

"Yeah! Way up there!" Chey exclaims. "But he couldn't take the madness anymore. He's the first person ever to leave the army and live."

He wasn't the last, Kida reflects, thinking about her father.

"Jeong Jeong's a firebending genius," Chey continues. "Some say he's mad, but he's not. He's enlightened."

"You mean, there's a firebender out here who's not with the Fire Lord?"

Kida sighs internally. Look to your left, kid. I mean, I don't even know if I could still do it, after all these years, and I'm far from being a master, but — Is there really a point in telling you, then?

"We've got to go see him!" Aang says, his excitement growing by the second. "He can train me!"

"No way," Sokka declares. "We're not going to see some crazy firebender."

"He's not not crazy!" Chey protests. "He's a genius. And, he's the perfect person to train the Avatar. That's why I followed you to the festival."

"Look, thanks for the help, but we're leaving for the North Pole in the morning."

"Sokka, this could be my only chance to meet a firebending master who would actually be willing to teach me."

"It can't hurt just to talk to him," Katara adds.

Crossing his arms, Sokka looks to Kida, who is the only one still sitting down. "What do you think?"

Kida sighs. "If Aang thinks it's the right thing to do...then, I agree." Sokka's face falls, as though he expected a different answer. "We should see if he'll train Aang."

Out of nowhere, a group of men ambushes them, leading them to the man in question.

Seems like the universe made the decision for us, Kida thinks.

»»---------------------►

WHEN CHEY RETURNS FROM HIS MEETING WITH JEONG JEONG, the odds of Aang finding a firebending master seem slim.

"He won't see you," Chey informs solemnly, sitting down with the team. Katara and Sokka are laying down and resting, while Kida and Aang stayed awake. "He's very angry that I brought you here. He wants you to leave immediately."

Beside Kida, Sokka turns over and joins the conversation. "Finally! Let's hit the road."

"Why won't he see me?" Aang asks.

"He says you're not ready, that you haven't mastered waterbending or earthbending yet," Chey explains.

"Wait, how does he know that?"

"He saw the way you walked into camp. He can tell."

Determined, Aang gets up. "I'm going in anyway." As Aang and Chey leave, Kida tries to follow.

"Aang, wait —" Someone grabs Kida's hand and stops her. It's Sokka.

"Let him go. You need to rest."

Kida huffs. "I'm fine." She lays back down next to Sokka, anyways.

Sokka turns around so they're face to face. "No, you're injured."

"I'll still kick your butt in training," Kida says.

"Wanna bet?"

"Would you two stop bickering so I can sleep?" Katara exclaims.

Kida laughs, then turns to look up at the stars.

»»---------------------►

"IF YOU WANT TO STOP, I WON'T SAY I TOLD YOU SO," Sokka says. Kida raises her eyebrow in disbelief. "Okay, I will, but at least your injury won't get worse."

Kida shakes her head, moving into a battle stance, her sword at the ready. She makes a move forward to attack, but stops because of the ache in her side. She sighs and braces herself against a nearby tree, sliding to the ground. "We'll take a five minute break."

Sokka smirks and drops his club, sitting down next to Kida.

The sound of voices approaching breaks their comfortable silence. Getting to her feet, Kida peeks around the tree to see a group of soldiers approaching.

"Fire Nation soldiers," she informs. Sokka gets up as well. "If they see us out here, training with our weapons, we'll look suspicious."

"And we can't lead them back to camp, because we'll lead them right to the Avatar."

Kida weighs their options, and none of them look promising, but one of them seems more practical. "Kiss me."

"What would that do?" Sokka blushes and steps away from her.

"It would make us seem like normal teenagers, sneaking away from our parents to make out, which is much less suspicious than why we're actually here. Plus, it would make them uncomfortable, because, well, you know, so they'd probably walk away and leave us alone," Kida says in a rush. "You need to decide, like, right now, because if not, we're gonna have to run and I probably won't be very fast, so it's better if we have a head start."

Sokka stares at Kida, and the next thing she knows, Sokka is directly in front of her, placing his lips on hers.

Although it was her idea, Kida is taken aback at first, but only for a second.

It has to be believable, she realizes, so she closes her eyes and lets herself melt against him. Sokka presses her against a nearby tree, placing his hands on Kida's hips — gently though, so he doesn't hurt her.

Kida wraps her arms around Sokka's neck to bring him closer. Their noses bump against each other as they briefly break for air, and Kida swears that Sokka giggles before kissing her again.

Something that Kida has realized about Sokka is that he's always cold. She thinks back to every time they've shaken hands to seal a bet or brushed against each other during training. And right now, Kida can't stop thinking about how cold Sokka's lips are again hers, and how it feels like a cool, winter breeze is running through her body, waking her up from head to toe. She moves her hand up to the back of Sokka's head and spirits, how can someone's hair be this soft?

The sound of someone clearing their throat brings Kida back to reality. She breaks from Sokka to see the Fire Nation soldiers standing beside them awkwardly.

Right, that's why we were kissing, Kida remembers.

"Uh, you kids be careful out here," one of the soldiers says.

"Why, is it dangerous?" Kida asks, trying to sound as clueless as possible. "It must be, if they sent soldiers out."

"We're on patrol, looking for the Avatar and his companions, but everything looks good here, so we'll, um, let you get back to...yeah."

Without another word, the soldiers turn around and walk away.

"Well, that worked," Kida says, with an awkward chuckle. She slides away from Sokka and picks up her sword.

"Yeah, it did," Sokka replies. He rubs the back of his neck nervously. "Let's just go back to camp, I guess." They walk for a little while before Sokka suddenly says: "I can't believe I just kissed someone who kissed Jet."

"The kiss with Jet meant nothing," Kida replies honestly. "It was a stupid dare. If it makes you feel any better, you're a much better kisser than him."

"Obviously," Sokka scoffs. "Does that mean I'm the best kiss you've ever had?" he teases.

"Okay, I need to sit down," Kida sighs, feeling an ache growing in her ribs. She sits down, cross-legged, on the floor of the forest, and Sokka sits down across from her. "If you don't count the Jet kiss — which, I don't, by the way — I've only kissed two people and one of them's a girl. So, I'd say you're the best kiss from a boy I've ever had."

"Ha, I've kissed one more person than you," Sokka brags. Distracted, he looks at Kida's sword, which is next to him, and asks something that's been on his mind for a while: "Were you a Kyoshi warrior? I recognize the sword."

Kida hesitates. "No, my mother was," she replies. "I was training to be one, though, but I ran away before anything was made official."

"Why did you leave?"

Again, Kida hesitates. She starts drawing patterns in the dirt. Her instinct is to lie and change the subject, but for once, she goes against it. "I guess I was scared. After I left the Freedom Fighters, after I lost my brother, I went to Kyoshi Island to learn more about my mother and to maybe follow in her footsteps, but I...met someone. A girl, who was in warrior training with me. We got close and fell for each other and...I panicked. I had lost everyone I loved, and didn't want to risk it again, so I left." That was as much of the truth as Kida wanted to share; it wasn't much, but it was more about her past that she'd ever revealed.

"I know what that's like," Sokka admits.

Kida looks up. "What do you mean?"

"My best friend. We grew up together. And, well...he was my first crush."

"What happened?" Kida asks. She moves to sit next to Sokka, instead of across. Sokka closes his eyes, as if he's reliving the memory.

"I told him how I felt, and he felt the same way. We kissed but...I got scared. Mostly about how it would change everything, but part of me was freaked out about what others would say, or that I made a mistake. I sort of stopped talking to him after that. He was a year older than me, so eventually he left to fight in the war, and I haven't seen or heard from him since."

"I'm really sorry that happened," Kida whispers, causing Sokka to open his eyes.

"I've never told that to anyone before," he says. "The story, or that I'm —" he stops, as if the word is stuck in his throat.

"Bi?"

"Yeah, bi," Sokka repeats.

"Well, it sounds like you are. And that's perfectly okay," Kida assures, standing up. "It just means we have more options, right?" she jokes. She offers a hand to Sokka and helps him to his feet.

This makes Sokka smile. "Right."

"I think we should get back to camp," Kida suggests. "And if you ever need someone to talk to..."

"I know. Thanks, Kida."

"Why are you thanking me? I was going to say, I heard that Momo gives great advice," she teases. "But, seriously, you can talk to me."

"You can talk to me too, you know," Sokka says. "About anything, I guess. Your life or your brother, if you want."

"I think that would bring us into friendship territory," Kida points out, attempting to sound lighthearted.

"You're right, that's too much of a risk," Sokka jokes, playing along. The two are silent, walking in between the trees before: "You must miss him, though," he adds, shifting to a more serious tone.

Kida sighs. "I do. Every day."

She leaves it at that.

»»---------------------►

WHEN THEY GET BACK TO CAMP, IT'S MORE CHAOTIC THAT THEY EXPECTED.

Katara is on the ground, crying, while Aang is apologizing to her.

"Katara!" Sokka calls, running to his sister. "What's wrong?" He looks up to glare at Aang. "What did you do?"

"It, it was an accident!" Aang stutters, in a panic.

"Aang, what happened?" Kida asks softly.

"I was, uh, Katara, I'm so —"

Sokka jumps on Aang, interrupting him mid-sentence. "I told you we shouldn't mess around with this! Look what you did; you burned my sister!"

"Hey!" Kida shouts. She pulls Sokka away from Aang. "Get off him! He said it was an accident."

Overwhelmed, Katara runs away, still crying.

"I don't care!" Sokka yells. Seeing Jeong Jeong in the distance, Sokka decides to direct his anger towards him. "This is all your fault."

"I know," Jeong Jeong states. "You must all pack your things and go," he informs, although Aang, Kida, and Sokka are occupied in their own conversation.

"I'm sorry," Aang chokes one more time before Sokka walks away. Jeong Jeong leaves too, which leaves Kida alone with Aang. She crouches next to the boy and puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "I didn't mean to."

"Fire is dangerous," Kida explains. She finds herself repeating the words her father told her years ago, when she first started firebending training. "You need to be patient because fire is unpredictable. It can be hard to control, and if you're not careful, it will consume."

"I'm never going to firebend again."

I know how you feel. "But you have to," Kida says. "Right now, fire seems like anger and destruction, but it's also energy and life. You just need to learn how to control it, so you know the difference."

"How do you know all this?" Aang wonders.

There is it — an opportunity to come clean. To tell the truth. To finally be honest about who she is, and the reason she decided to join the team. Kida's reason to stay, that was different (but, more on that later).

Aang wouldn't be angry, Katara would, but only for a little while. And Sokka...well, at least part of him would be happy that he was right to not trust Kida in the first place.

Kida could practically hear the universe telling her to just do it.

It was the perfect time; but Kida, once again, let time slip through her fingers.

»»---------------------►

author's note: this chapter was MUCH longer than i originally planned, so there might be some typos/spelling mistakes and i apologize in advance! thanks for reading!

also, i just kept thinking about this scene from season 3, episode 4:

when piandao is like "you added a rainbow" and sokka's is like "is that okay?"....idk i just think about that a lot