𝑯𝑰𝑫𝑫𝑬𝑵 𝑫𝑹𝑨𝑮𝑶𝑵, 𝒂: 𝒕𝒍𝒂

➳ 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘦: 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺

ONCE YOU'VE BEEN ON THE RUN AS LONG AS KIDA HAS, you develop a certain set of rules.

The first rule: never stay in one place for too long. Move from village to village every couple of days and stay mostly out of sight. Don't be too talkative or too aloof when interacting with others - the perfect balance between the two is what makes you forgettable.

The second rule: be ready for anything. Always be aware of your surroundings and have a way to defend yourself at all times. If someone's life is in danger, help, but wear a disguise to protect your identity.

That brings us to the third rule: find trouble before it finds you.

It's easy to tell when someone doesn't know their way around. Case in point: three teens, a girl and two boys, being coaxed onto a pirate ship, seemingly unaware of the potential dangers of bartering with them. Normally, Kida wouldn't pay much attention to a situation like this, but she notices an arrow tattoo on the shorter boy's head, meaning he's an airbender, and most likely the Avatar. A voice flashes in her mind.

It's your destiny. You can't run forever.

The tarnished gold band on her pointer finger briefly glows, revealing an engraving of a dragon. The ring, along with a woven bracelet made by her brother, are her most prized possessions.

Finding a good vantage point on a rooftop, Kida waits. By the time she's done attaching smoke bombs to some of her arrows, the group of teens disembarks the ship. They walk a few feet before realizing that a few pirates were moving in on them. That's when they start running; Kida follows.

Kida jumps from rooftop to rooftop, keeping with the chase. She notices that the Avatar uses airbending and the girl uses waterbending to try to keep the pirates from catching up. This keeps them safe for a while, so Kida bides her time for when to directly intervene. It happens once the group is cornered in an alley by three of the pirates. Kida shoots an arrow nearby, the smoke bomb that came with it exploding on impact with the wall. Then, she jumps down, swiftly replacing her bow with a sword.

With the pirates disoriented in a cloud of smoke, Kida easily disarms the first pirate, using her elbow to jab the second pirate in the face, effectively knocking both of them out. The third pirate doesn't go down as easily, but after parrying for a few seconds, he falls like the rest. As she notices the cloud of smoke clearing, Kida turns to the group, who stare back at her in awe and confusion.

"Follow me!" she shouts, her voice muffled by the bandana she wears to cover her face.

Kida starts climbing the closest building, which thankfully wasn't too tall, but notices that the teens don't immediately join her. They glance at each other, sharing a silent conversation that Kida imagines has to do with whether they could trust her or not. Thankfully, they decide on the former, much to the dismay of the blue eyed boy, who is the last to start climbing. When the girl, who Kida assumes is his sister, glares at him, he gives in, muttering under his breath in annoyance as he does so. Just as he's about to reach the top, something pulls him back. One of the pirates had latched on to his foot, and while the boy successfully kicks the pirate away, he stumbles in the process. Thankfully, Kida stayed near the edge and is there to catch his hand before he can fall.

She helps him regain his balance so he can complete the climb. Once he's standing at the top, Kida points in the direction for him and his friends to run in. She looks back and sees another group of pirates about to turn the corner into the alleyway. Kida sends another smoke-bomb-arrow their way to cause a distraction before sprinting forward to catch up with the teens, leading them to safety.