Man, I'm so, SO dead. So much stuff to keep in mind while writing this...

When nightfall comes, silence reigns. The only sounds carrying around the campsite are the crackling of the dying fireplace and the faint snoring reverberating through Appa's body. Not the kind of sounds to disturb a good night's sleep. And yet, I'm wide awake.

I left my family behind. I went to buy dinner and then... I disappeared on them. I never had a chance to say goodbye, and there is no telling how much time will trickle away before I see them again.

I can picture them so clearly... My mum, sitting at the dining table in the living room, face buried in her hands, shaking and sobbing. My dad next to her, holding her in his arms and whispering encouraging words he doesn't believe himself. And Mimi, oh Mimi! He doesn't cry, he denies it himself. He paces inside his room like a caged tigerdillo and promises havoc on everyone who dares lying a finger on his sister.

I'm feeling so unbearably guilty for worrying them. They must assume I've been kidnapped! Well, in a way, I was. But it's my fault, mine alone. It has been my own decision to jump after Appa, setting up the dilemma for Aang of either killing me or taking me with them.

I feel guilty about that as well. As far as the group is concerned, I'm a liability. While everyone seems to defer to Aang's decisions, trust is another matter. I can't blame Sokka for being paranoid. My presence alone causes tensions in the group, and the last thing I want is standing between them.

But neither do I want to turn back now. Even if they'd be willing to let me go, which I don't see happening in the near future, I already know that I'd be regretting it for the rest of my life. Learning airbending from a master means I won't need to be afraid of accidentally revealing myself anymore. Traveling with Aang also means breaking free of Hide, and that counts for something. And I feel comfortable with the little Avatar, and with Katara. It's like... actually having a chance to make friends. With the enemy. Oh, the irony.

Being so torn doesn't help me feel any better. I'm just one person, there is only one place I can be at a time. And even if I actually wanted to sneak off, I have no idea which way to go, or how far it is. No chance.

It's a bit of a relief, though. I don't have to choose, because there is no choice to make. It's only straight forward from here, and it's up to me to make the best of it.

Repeating that thought over and over in my mind, I curl up on Appa's tail. It only gets me so far, and after a while, I'm back to feeling terrible. But in the end, I pass out anyway.

I sleep fitfully, and I'm not surprised to find that I'm the first one to wake up. It's twilight, with the sun still in the process of rising. Disoriented at first, I wonder where I am and what I'm doing here. The memories wash over me like a powerful wave, sweeping me from my feet.

I'm with the Avatar. I promised to teach him firebending. He promised to teach me airbending. I'm a traitor. If anyone finds out, I'm dead meat. My family is gone. I have no idea what I'm doing!

Okay Kami, calm down! First things first: That my family is unreachable is something I can't change. It's cruel, but that's the way it is. No use crying over it. Crying is weakness. And weakness invites bullying.

I'm part of this group now. Which means I have to observe how they operate, find my place in it. And then I'll see. I can't make any plans without a clue what's going on.

Seeing how overthinking things doesn't help my case much, I resort to watching the sunrise. It's beautiful out here, with no houses to obscure the view of the pink spectacle slowly bleeding into orange, then blue. I can't tear my eyes off it, and for a moment, I forget my problems.

After a while, the urge to find myself a nice bush hits me. I have to leave the camp for that and walk a couple yards. Too close would be a bit disgusting.

But I didn't expect to be gone long enough for the rest of the group to get up for the morning. Once I set foot back into camp, Sokka drops the bedroll he is in the middle of folding.

"Where have you been?" he demands, obviously not pleased with my disappearance.

I cross my arms. "Relax, I was just following the call of nature!" I tell him, half explaining, half challenging. "Want any details?"

He doesn't, I can see that more than clearly.

"Told you, Sokka!" Aang announces, tugging at the reins fixed to Appa's horns. Then he pauses and floats to the ground. "While we're at it, I gotta go!"

And with that, he swishes off. Sokka stares after him with a funny expression, then he groans.

"Hey, don't even try to convince me you're above it!" I protest, and as a consequence, I draw Sokka's attention to myself. He's not amused.

"This talk is gross," he declares dryly and picks up his sleeping bag. Behind him, Toph laughs.

"You guys are hilarious!"

Katara on the other side cups her forehead tiredly before opening her arms and raising her voice.

"Alright everyone, we're just getting used to each other, but I'm sure we can work through this without fighting. We just need to keep calm!"

I heave a deep sigh, realizing the truth in her words. Sokka has every right to be wary when the group wakes up and I'm not around. I shouldn't have provoked him. Besides, as far as I can gleam from his demeanor, Sokka is older than me, and thus a person of respect.

As my upbringing asserts itself, I find myself putting my hands together and bowing to the teen.

"I apologize for my disappearance and my following words. I hope you can forgive that slip of the tongue."

What little of my pride survived the last couple years screams at me to desist from such an act of deference towards a Water Tribe savage. I tell said pride to shut up.

I feel a hand on my shoulder and look up to meet eyes with Katara. She smiles mildly.

"No need to apologize. My brother is behaving like a jerk."

At that, she sends a pointed look Sokka's way, who seems thoroughly taken aback. But not by his sister, no – by me!

"It's okay, Katara." I smile at the girl, who has been nice to me since the very second we met. Sokka just can't be a jerk when he grew up with someone like her. I step up to the boy and look squarely into his eyes. Or at least I try as much, I can't hold the gaze. Before I know it, I'm already looking elsewhere, nerves all aflutter. But now that I made my move, I can't back out. I don't want to, either. It has to be done for this nonsense to end.

"Listen, Sokka," I begin, trying to sort out words. "I understand why you don't trust me, and I don't blame you. I won't ask for your trust, I can't do that. I just..." I rub my arm, still looking anywhere but ahead. "I just ask you to consider that I'm a human being with feelings."

I finally manage to gather the determination to look up, and it's encouraging to find that Sokka's gaze has softened a little, eyebrow raised. He appears intent rather than hostile.

I take a deep breath. "Aang is my friend," I state with utmost sincerity. (And boy Agni knows I have too few of those.) "No harm will come to him as long as I can help it, I promise. And believe me when I tell you that there is nothing us Fire Nation folks take as seriously as our honor. We never go back on our promises."

Sokka holds my gaze for another second or two, studying me closely. This time, I force myself to stand my ground and refrain from averting my eyes. I have nothing to hide.

In the end, it's Sokka who gives in. "Alright, can't argue with an honor-obsessed fire monster."

"What?!" I take offense. Obsessed? Seriously?!

I hear chuckling, and I feel there is some sort of joke going on whose punchline went right over my head.

A smirk creeps onto Sokka's face. A small one, but a smirk nonetheless. I can barely contain my joy. I broke through to him! Oh Agni and the High Dragons, I broke through to him!

"Let's call it truce, okay?" Sokka offers, and I'm just about to jump him and fling my arms around his neck. But, well, I guess I should refrain from that. No hugging people who don't trust you. Terrible idea.

So I stick with nodding and grinning hugely. "Yeah!"

A weight on my shoulders catches me by surprise, but I don't mind. "Hey, little guy!" I call the lemur, having forgotten his name, and pet his head. But the rush of bliss wears off soon enough. It's a start, but the goal is still way out of reach.

I'm about to ask Katara if I can help around camp when the girl herself speaks up, "Where is Aang? He should be back by now."

"Maybe he just went a good way off," I try to placate her worry. "I took about this long myself."

But now that she mentioned it, I can't keep a lingering doubt from my mind. What if something happened to the little Avatar? No, he can take care of himself, right?

I pet the lemur on my shoulder again when he suddenly squawks and spreads his wings. A scratching sound reaches my ears and I find Aang sliding down the wall of the trench.

"Aang!" Katara calls out for him. "What took you so long?"

"I almost ran into a Fire Nation patrol," the boy explains, "and I had to hide until they were gone. I guess the strip mine isn't abandoned after all."

That makes sense. They wouldn't guard it if it were.

"So we have to walk," Sokka groans.

"At least until we're out of sight," Aang responds, equally unmotivated. Toph on the other hand looks very pleased.

"No flying?" she cheers and drops to her back, sighing contently. "Alright!"

"At least someone's happy." Myself, I'm not sure what to expect. Maybe it'll be fun? "Anyhow, I vote for breakfast. Who's with me?"

"Me! Me!" Aang raises a hand, causing me to smile at his enthusiasm.

"Then you better free our food, Master Icy Earth Pyramid," I giggle, while Katara announces that she'll take care of the bowls. Which are still floating in the other pot, as I realize.

But the Water Tribe girl makes an awesome dish-washer. She fills the bowls up with water, freezes it and bends the ice out, together with any stray grain.

"Nice!" I compliment her, watching the process with wide eyes.

"It's a good way to clean quickly, but it doesn't replace a good scrubbing," Katara explains.

"Well, it's fine for now," Aang states pragmatically, sitting down on the ground. It's the return of the maybe-healthy-maybe-not chopsticks. I sit next to Aang and pick them up, scrutinizing Katara all the while. Nothing happens. Maybe I did imagine that death glare yesterday after all?

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Katara wants to know, but she sounds confused rather than suspicious.

I hastily turn away. "Uhm, sorry," I apologize sheepishly. "I just... Never mind. I'm being an idiot." With my attempts at looking anywhere but Katara, my gaze lands on Aang, who looks at me quizzically.

"Are you alright?"

"Sure."

Another voice comes from across the circle we automatically sat ourselves down in. Although the campfire has died overnight, somehow we still sit around it.

"You're not really good at keeping eye contact, are you?" Toph comments.

I frown at the blind girl. "How would you know?"

"Your weight is shifting around. All the time!" she rants, raising her arms, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"You see, if you look into a certain direction, the rest of your body follows," Aang pipes up. "You can even use that in a fight. A good way to stop an enemy's charge is making them look elsewhere."

"Are you sure? It sounds so... simple."

"Simple, but effective!" he asserts with a huge grin.

"Listen to Aang," Sokka agrees. "He's pretty much the master of non-physical butt-kicking."

"Sokka!" Aang grumbles, but the Water Tribe teen in question remains unfazed. He raises his hands and shrugs, looking about as nonchalant as you can get.

"I'm just saying."

I chuckle. Sokka is funny. And I'm pretty sure he's right, seeing how Aang dodge-beat Hide in the school yard.

"Alright everyone!" Katara chimes. "Breakfast is ready."

Cold rice isn't exactly THE breakfast, but I don't complain. If we have to walk for a while, I'm not going to do it on an empty stomach.

"Where are we headed, anyway?"

"You'll see it once we get there," Sokka replies before anyone else can.

My shoulders slump. "Alright..." I sigh. "I'll see it once we get there."

Truce and trust may sound similar, but there are still miles to go...

Opinions please. As in PLEASE!

I feel it might have been a bit ambitious to create such a difficult character for my first Avatar fic. I mean, it's not the first time I write a chara with a rough background, but Kamina feels different somehow. Must be the interaction with new kinds of characters. You know, as in WAR kinds of characters? That's harsh! It's amazing that the creators managed to pull it off as a series suitable for children without killing the quality. I mean, seriously! I tip my non-existent hat, I do.

EDIT: Once again, a review to help me out. This time, it was from zezily. Thank you!