THE NEXT MORNING, APPA IS SICK.
The group ends up going back to the village because it looks like Appa would need some medicine. Compared to yesterday, though, the village seems brighter and the villagers happier.
"Is it just me, or does this village feel different?" Toph wonders, vocalizing Kida's thoughts.
"Yeah, people seem...happier," Aang notices.
Once the team reaches Dock's food stall, Sokka leans against the counter and asks: "Hey, Dock. What happened here?"
Dock smiles widely. "Something amazing happened last night. Food was delivered by the Painted Lady!"
Katara tilts her head. "The Painted- who?"
"The Painted Lady is part of our town's lore," Dock explains. He reaches under the counter, then places a small statue of a spirit lady, wearing flowing red robes and paint marking her face. "They say she's a river spirit who watches over our town in times of need. I always thought she was just a legend. Until now."
The spirit looks serene yet powerful; something Kida has only ever seen in Katara.
"See, these people don't need us. They already have someone to help them," Sokka says pointedly towards Katara. Then, he turns back towards Dock. "We need medicine for our friend."
Dock's face falls. "Sorry, all of our medicine goes to the factory. That's why we have so many sick people." He brightens again. "But I can offer you some food. Would you like the one or two headed fish?"
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"THIS SUCKS!" SOKKA EXCLAIMS LATER THAT NIGHT. After a minor freak out over the schedule and lots of convincing, Sokka reluctantly agrees that they should stay another night so that
He and Kida snuck away from camp again after the rest of the team fell asleep.
Kida rolls her eyes from her spot close to the small fire she lit earlier, playing with the embers that fly into the air. "It's fine, Wolftail. One day won't ruin everything."
"It might!" He flops to the ground next to Kida, crossing his legs. "Then this would all be for nothing!"
Resisting the urge to roll her eyes once more, Kida turns to Sokka. "Sokka, it's going to be okay." She takes his hand in hers and squeezes it, before turning back to continue playing with the fire.
"You know, I thought you of all people would want to defeat the royal family. Aren't you worried that you won't get to do that with all these detours we've been taking?"
Kida sighs, and the fire dulls as she exhales. Her anger towards Zuko for betraying her and siding with the Fire Nation hadn't faded yet, but it had morphed into something else. Kida was hurt by what Zuko did to her, to Uncle, to the world. She wants to confront him, challenge him to an Agni Kai. How poetic would it be for Zuko to have taught Kida how to firebend, only to lose to her in battle? Deep down, though, Kida knows that she isn't anywhere near that level, and probably will never be. Maybe a swordfight? She'd stand a chance, a good one, if she had a sword. That left Kida with her bow and arrows, like it had always been. Regardless, that wasn't the priority. The priority was getting Aang to defeat the Fire Lord, restoring balance and ending the war.
A world without war.
Underneath the relief of that idea, was an impending fear Kida's , who has always gone through life fighting one war or another. If they don't make it, if...if they lose, what happens next?
But, she doesn't tell Sokka any of this. Instead, Kida asks him to braid her hair; it would be therapeutic for both of them.
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ANOTHER DAY PASSES, AND APPA IS STILL SICK.
The team goes to the village once more. The villagers are even happier than yesterday, if that was even possible. Children are running around, their parents gazing at them happily.
When Sokka explains their situation to Dock, the villager says cheerily: "Maybe if you're lucky, the Painted Lady will visit you in the night and heal your friend. She healed all our sick folks!"
"The Painted Lady healed everyone in the sick bay?" Kida wonders. Dock nods as he wraps up their food. Kida looks briefly at Katara, who is smiling widely. Yesterday might have been a coincidence, but two nights in a row? Pride blooms in Kida's chest as she starts connecting the dots, but she stays silent, knowing the value and importance of a secret identity.
"Can you believe how much one lady can make a difference?" Katara gushes, looking around at all the villagers in high spirits.
"It is great," Aang agrees.
"Well, I hope she returns every night, or this place would go right back to where it was before," Sokka suddenly interjects.
Katara turns her head towards him sharply. "Why would you say that? Look at how much better off these people are."
Sokka shrugs. "Yeah, now, but without her they wouldn't be able to fend for themselves. If she really wanted to help, she would use her spirit magic to blow up that factory." He makes a gesture to indicate a tiny explosion of spirit magic.
"No, Sokka, spirit magic is more like this," Aang interrupts, showing Sokka how it's done.
As the two laugh and continue their antics, Toph joining in, Kida notices that Katara starts to storm off. She stops her before Katara gets too far.
"Hey, don't worry about what Sokka said," Kida assures, resting a comforting hand on Katara's shoulder. "The Painted Lady is doing the best she can."
Katara meets Kida's gaze and offers a small shrug before walking away.
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THE NEXT MORNING, AANG AND KATARA AREN'T IN THEIR SLEEPING BAGS WHEN THE REST OF THE TEAM WAKES UP.
"Where did they go? Why aren't they here?" Sokka asks, pacing back and forth while examining the schedule.
"Maybe they've been doing what we've been doing," Kida mumbles. At this, Sokka looks up from his schedule to find Kida smirking back at him. Before he can respond, Sokka notices something out of the corner of his eye.
"Toph!" he exclaims. "Your tongue is purple."
"So what?" Toph replies. "Doesn't matter to me."
"Yeah, but it's possible that you've caught whatever sickness Appa has and that will throw our schedule off even more....wait a minute." Sokka leans down and picks up the berries Toph's been eating. He turns to Appa, then back to the berries, then to Katara's empty sleeping bag.
"Oh, hey guys!" Aang greets awkwardly as he and Katara walk into camp, clearly not expecting for everyone to be awake now.
"We were just out for a morning walk," Katara explains, her voice higher than usual.
Kida decides it would be better to play along, stepping between Sokka and Katara to say: "That's nice! Well, we really should get going. We have to keep the schedule on track, right Wolftail?"
Sokka furrows his eyebrows, ignoring Kida entirely. " Oh, really? A morning walk? I know you're the Painted Lady, I know you've been sneaking out at night, and I know you've been lying about Appa and been feeding him purpleising tongue berries!" Sokka exclaims. " Katara, what you did put our whole mission in jeopardy. We're leaving right now!"
Just as Sokka is about to storm off, a buzzing sound brings him back. He joins the gang, staring down at the river as a group of Fire Nation soldiers race across to the village on jet skis.
"What did you do?" Sokka demands.
Katara, guiltily, replies: "I kind of blew up the factory."
Kida stares at Katara in anger and disbelief. "You did what to the factory?" Kida exclaims. "I warned you to think things through, Katara! You have no idea how those Fire Nation soldiers are going to react and what they're going to do now." Even as she says it, Kida feels her heart tug at the hypocrisy of her yelling at someone else for not thinking things through.
"Wait." Sokka turns to Kida, hurt written across his face. "Did you know about this?"
"It's that really what's important right now?" Kida shouts. She and Sokka can talk about this later. Right now, Kida is more worried about what will happen to the villagers. Kida never stuck around long enough to see what happened to the people she stole for, but she was there when Yoko was killed. Kida couldn't get over the thrill of it; over time, the vigilante thing became more about her than it was about helping others.
When Kida looks at Katara though, she doesn't think that Katara has gone down the same path. The determination in Katara's eyes is clear; she won't turn her back on these people.
"We need to do something," Kida finally says, breaking the tense silence that had engulfed them all. "Katara, this started with you. What do you think we should do?"
"I don't know," Katara admits, still looking out to the village. "But I'm going down there and doing whatever I can to help."
Before she can walk away, a hand is placed on her shoulder. "I'm coming with you," Sokka adds.
Katara scoffs. "I thought you didn't want to help."
"You need me," Sokka states. "And I'll never turn my back on you."
Katara's face softens and she quickly engulfs her brother in a hug. "Sokka you really do have a heart!"
Kida can't help but smile at the scene before her. Beside her, Aang wipes a tear from his eye, so Kida puts an arm around his shoulder to pull him into a side hug.
Then, out of nowhere, she's suddenly hit with the reality that her own brother is gone. It's strange. Kida can go for days without thinking of them; her brother, her parents, Yoko. And then one moment, seemingly insignificant, brings her right back.
Toph clears her throat, and everyone is brought back to the issue at hand.
"Seriously though, what are we going to do?" Sokka asks
"Well, Sokka, you said it yourself," Katara declares. She grabs her Painted Lady costume from the bushes. "We need to use some spirit magic. Or, at least, we need to make it seem like we are."
Understanding passes amongst the team. They spend a few minutes planning before preparing to get into position.
"These Fire Nation soldiers won't know what hit them," Kida muses, strapping her knife to her belt, just in case. She looks up to Katara, who is now in full costume. "We'll follow your lead, Painted Lady."
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author's note!
i hope you enjoyed this chapter! i'm super excited to write the rest of book three, but especially the next chapter....!
anyways, thanks for reading <3