Kidah's POV

I fell asleep up on my ledge. I rolled onto my back and looked up into the sun. How was I supposed to process all of these things? I counted each problem on my hands… 1. My Tribe's troops were in prison, 2. our invasion had failed, 3. I had fallen in love with the enemy, 4. That enemy betrayed me, 5. He shows up out of nowhere to 'be good'... 6. I punched him in the face.

"Yeah, that's all logical…" My eyes shut tightly, and I cover them with my hands. "I don't deserve this crown… They should have picked someone else." I sit up quickly, "I have no honor, no pride…" The anger dissipates to sadness, "no future."

Suddenly, an explosion rocks the ground around me. We're under attack! I leap into action and begin running across the balcony to see where the blast came from. Combustion Man is on his knees holding his head, and Zuko stands a few feet away from him.

Without thinking, I jump from the banister to land on a ledge a few yards away from them. I bounce from ledge to ledge, trying to get to them as quickly as possible. Panting, I hear Zuko's voice over the pounding in my ears, "Stop! I don't want you hunting the Avatar anymore. The mission is off. I'm ordering you to stop!"

I land on the other side of Combustion Man silently. He pushes Zuko down and aims back down to my friends. I take water from my canteen and send a torrent towards his chest, making him miss again.

Zuko blasts a fireball, "If you keep attacking, I won't pay you!" He goes to punch the assassin in the face, but he grabs Zuko by the shirt. "All right, I'll pay you double to stop!" I water whip his hand, and he drops the firebender to the ground.

He charges at me, but I use my water to flip myself over him. Landing in between Zuko and Combustion Man, I fall back into my stance. He inhales to blast me, but I raise a wall of water to protect myself. It breaks through and I feel a blow to my shoulder. I land harshley on the rock ground.

Zuko steps over me, firing blasts towards our attacker. He recipricotates the strike aiming for the ledge, causing the ground to crumble beneath us. Zuko jumps to stable ground. I pull myself up and try to crawl towards safety. My hands reach for pure air, and I begin to fall. "Zuko!" I yell, but there's no response as I plummet through rubble. All at once all of the hatred, insecurity and fear leave my body. All I want is to take everything back. Back to the way things were.

As the wind swirls around me, I let my eyes close. Here I come, Yue… I've missed you.

Zuko's POV

"Zuko!" Kidah screams for me. I turn just in time to see her hand disappear as the ground below her crumbles. For the first time in my life, I made a leap of faith. I dove down into the clouds after her.

I see her just below me, and jet flames from my hands to reach her quicker. I pull her body close and hold her. Kicking fire through my feet, I push us to the rock wall and grab a vine. My hand begins to slip, struggling to hold both of our weights. "Kidah… I kind of need your help here."

As if just now noticing she is alive, her eyes shoot open taking in her surroundings. Her arms wrap around me, and I'm able to use both hands to hold us to the wall. Kidah's small frame is pressed against the rock, trapped by my body. If I didn't still feel her left hook from yesterday, I'd be able to appreciate her form against mine.

"Zuko, did you jump?"

I look into her teal eyes, hoping to convey all of my feelings for her. "Yes."

She turns her head away from me, "you're an idiot."

"Really?" I scoff. "You literally scream my name, and I jump to my death to save you… And I'm rewarded with 'you're an idiot'?" I mimic her voice sarcastically.

She sighs dramatically, "we need to get back up there… My friends still need-" Her words are cut off by an explosion above. Rock falls around us, and I press myself further into Kidah to protect her. She yelps and holds me tighter.

"Kidah, I'm sorry," I whisper.

"I know," she says into my neck.

The world stops shaking and the dust begins to clear. I pull back to look her in the face. "We're going to be okay… I know you got hit, but can you climb?"

She nods her head to me. I wrap a vine around her waist, so she can twist around to climb. It takes us a few minutes, but we reach what's left of the ledge. I climb up first and hold out my hand to help her. She takes it, and I pull her up to me.

We stand there embracing for a moment, just looking at one another. It'd been months since I'd seen her. I drink in every feature, memorizing the details of her face like its the first time I've seen it. A flush rises to her cheeks.

"Zuko… I-" She pulls away from me abruptly. Tucking a rogue strand of hair behind her ear, she murmurs, "thank you." I bow my head. Maybe I still have a chance… She inhales deeply and grasps my arm. "Looks like Combustion Man is dealt with. Let's get back to the others… I think we all need to talk again."

I follow her up the cliffs, and down into the temples. Flashes of Uncle walking these halls leaves me melancholic. When we reach Kidah's friends, they gather in a semicircle around us.

Aang's head falls, and he crosses his arms, "I can't believe I'm saying this... but thanks, Zuko."

Sokka waves his hands around in the air, "Hey, and what about me? I did the boomerang thing."

I take a deep breath, "Listen, I know I didn't explain myself very well yesterday. I've been through a lot in the past few years, and it's been hard. But I'm realizing that I had to go through all those things to learn the truth. I thought I had lost my honor, and that somehow my father could return it to me. But, I know now that no one can give you your honor. It's something you earn for yourself, by choosing to do what's right. All I want now is to play my part in ending this war. And I know my destiny is to help you restore balance to the world."

I bow slightly to Toph with my hands in front of me, "I'm sorry for what I did to you. It was an accident. Fire can be dangerous and wild. So as a firebender, I need to be more careful and control my bending so I don't hurt people unintentionally."

I rise to see Aang looking at me with genuine surprise, "I think you are supposed to be my firebending teacher. When I first tried to learn firebending, I burned Katara. And after that, I never wanted to firebend again. But now, I know you understand how easy it is to hurt the people you love." He bows to me, "I'd like you to teach me."

A warm smile spreads across my face, "Thank you. I'm so happy you've accepted me into your group."

"Not so fast." The Avatar puts up a hand, "I still have to ask my friends if it's ok with them. Toph, you're the one that Zuko burned. What do you think?"

Toph tilts her head to the side in thought, "Go ahead and let him join. It'll give me plenty of time to get back at him for burning my feet." Her smile makes me uneasy as she punches her hand menacingly.

He turns to the southern teen, "Sokka?"

Sokka closes his eyes and hangs his head a second, then shrugs. "Hey, all I want is to defeat the Fire Lord. If you think this is the way to do it, then I'm all for it."

Aang nods to Sokka and turns to Katara. "Katara?"

She looks at me and frowns. Anxiety swirls in my stomach making me nauseous. Katara closes her eyes, then looks to Aang. "I'll go along with whatever you think is right."

He turns to Kidah, "and, last but not least, Princess Kidah." He bows dramatically.

Her laugh eases the tension. She walks up to Aang and puts a hand on his shoulder, meeting his eyes. "You can stop the theatrics… You already know my answer." She turns to look at me, but I can't read her. "He just saved my life. I vote yes."

Butterflies fill my stomach, "I won't let you down, I promise."

The group turns and walks away, Sokka carrying Toph. I smile as I watch them leave. Kidah stays behind. "Let's go get your things and get you set up in one of the rooms here."

"Sure," I nod still bewildered by their acceptance of me.

On the trek towards my balloon and campsite, I steal glances at Kidah everytime I think she's not looking. She walked with the same sway of her hips, but her shoulders seemed straighter, making her look taller. Even though we were silent, I felt extremely comfortable. I had missed the Northern girl so much more than I had realized over the past few months.

Something had been eating at me since yesterday, "you know I would never let Azula hurt you, right?" Her steps falter for a second before she continues. "I told her to take you as a hostage, and then I was going to let you go on the way to the ship…" I reach out and grab her arm, stopping us. "Kidah, you have to believe me. I didn't break my promise to you. She would die before she ever laid a hand on you."

She turns to me with confusion, "but you chose her, Zuko. You could have stayed with me, stayed with Iroh."

I pull her closer, "I will never leave you again."

She smiles wearily, "I wish I could believe you… I want to, but it still hurts. Whether or not you intended it, you still hurt me. I need time."

I want to scream, pull her to me, ravage her until she says my name. But, I pull away and bow my head. For the first time in my life, I was going to have to learn how to not take something by force, but let her come to me.

I inhale deeply and close my eyes, "my camp isn't far. Its just through those trees."

Kidah's POV

We get back to the temple, and Sokka shows Zuko to his room. I follow behind them, observing the art on the walls.

"So here you go, home sweet home." Sokka waves his arm through a door. "I guess, you know, for now. Unpack... lunch soon. Uh...welcome aboard? Yeah." Zuko smiles at him, before he turns to walk up to me.

"Ok, this is really, really weird," Sokka whispers, bumping my shoulder.

I shrug, "you get used to it." He walks away, and I watch Zuko unpack the few items he owns. He pulls out a picture of Iroh. My heart breaks.

I walk into the room and lean against the wall, "Where is Iroh, anyway?"

His sight doesn't leave the picture, "he escaped during the eclipse. I don't know where he is, but I know he's safe and that's all that matters."

"Good," I murmur.

I start to leave, but Zuko's voice stops me. "Would you like to, I don't know, hang out or something? I've missed talking to you."

He sounds so sincere that I give in, "its not like I have anything else better to do." I'm rewarded with another genuine smile.

Zuko laughs uncontrollably, "So- did you- did you ever find out if Aang had actually shit his pants?" We had been sitting on the ground in his room for about an hour talking like old friends that hadn't seen each other for years.

I throw my hands up, "no! I was too scared to ask!" I shake my head, "everyone just completely brushed it off."

He quiets down. "I've got to tell you about Ember Island," he covers his face in embarrassment. "Azula tried flirting with someone at a party, and I'm pretty sure her exact words were, 'That's a sharp outfit...careful, you could puncture the hull of an Empire-Class Fire Nation Battleship, leaving thousands to drown at sea... because it's so sharp'." He mimics her voice with crazy eyes.

My stomach hurts and I turn to my side from the cackle leaving my body, "Oh, spirits, you've got to be kidding?!"

He laughs again, "I know growing up in the palace kind of screwed up our conversation prowess, but damn, it was the most pathetic attempt I'd ever seen."

I pull myself together, "is that how you see yourself?"

He looks down at the ground between us, "all of that time with Uncle, especially in Ba Sing Se, really taught me most of my people skills… Grant it, they're still not that great. But, I can imagine how much worse I would have been if I'd stayed with my father…" He meets my gaze, "my father sending me away was the best thing he could have done for me."

I pull my lips to the side in thought, "we definitely would have never met."

He smiles, making me blush against my will, "and that would have been the worst! I mean, where would I be without you? My jaw probably wouldn't hurt this bad." He places his hand pitifully against his face. "You've got quite the left hook for a Princess."

I sit up, trying not to giggle at his puppy dog eyes, "oh, come on! I didn't hit you that hard."

He crosses his arms, "but, you never apologized."

Sighing, I roll my eyes. "Please, dear Zuko, forgive me for my transgressions." I bow my head dramatically with a wave of my hand.

"You'll have to make it up to me somehow," his eyes turn dark.

My breath hitches in my throat as we stare at each other. I drag my eyes away and clear my throat, "maybe…" I pull my legs up to my chest and lean my head on my knees, suddenly aware of my teachery. "I've done things, you know. Things that will change the way you see me."

Zuko crawls over and sits next to me. He bumps my shoulder, "I guarantee nothing you could ever do would change how I feel about you."

I turn to look at him. "Why does the Fire Nation kill waterbenders and not take them as prisoners anymore?"

His jaw clenches. I know he knew why. I wanted him to say it. "It was deemed too dangerous."

I continue to watch him, "why are we 'too dangerous'?"

"What are you getting at, Kidah?"

I close my eyes tightly, "its because of bloodbenders, isn't it?"

I hear him inhale sharply. He leans in closer to me, and I feel his warmth against my arm. "How do you know about that?"

"I've done it. I've used it on someone." A tear escapes. Surprisingly, he was the only person I wanted to talk to about this. I had held all of this in for days. I couldn't look at him. Zuko stayed silent at my side. "I didn't have a choice… This woman was using bloodbending to try and kill Sokka and Aang. Sokka was going to spear Aang through the heart with a sword… I didn't think, my body just moved on its own."

His warm hand gently caresses my back. "Just like you jumping in front of Uncle or coming to my aid with 'Combustion Man'." He cups my cheek, "look at me." I pry my eyes open, filled with shame. "You save people, Kidah. That's all it was. You were saving your friends."

"Its dark and evil, Zuko. That art is tainted and unforgivable. I could have formed an ice wall in between them, or torrented Hama to the ground, breaking her hold…" My eyes flooded. "How am I supposed to lead my tribe? I don't deserve this," I pull away from him and gesture to the crown still atop my head.

"You deserve it more than anyone else I know," he replies earnestly. He takes my hands in his, "you're not broken, Kidah. These emotions, you're allowed to feel them." My eyebrows raise at his tender words. They reminded me of what I'd told Yue so long ago. "Its actually good that you feel these things so deeply. It hurts, I know, and it sucks. But, there's nothing wrong with you. You are still the same strong, independent, intelligent… beautiful woman that saved my uncle. That will never change in my eyes."

I smile beside myself. Zuko reaches forward and wipes the tears from my face. I lean into his touch. "I haven't been able to talk to anyone about that."

"But, you told me…"

I laughed quietly, "guess I do still trust you." He leans toward me, bringing our lips inches apart. I want to kiss him. I really, really do. Yet, the fear of betrayal still lingered. I don't know if I could handle him pushing me away again. "Zuko, I- I still need more time." His hand slightly burns the skin of my cheek in frustration.