War was not so easy on travellers, that much Sozin knew.

The borders between Ishida and Tamura were highly contested and constantly shifting with the flames of war. If Sozin was travelling by himself, penetrating the Tamuran defensive line wouldn't have been much of an issue for someone with his skillset, but he wasn't alone anymore as he now had to worry about the safety of the samurai. Unfortunately, she didn't have the benefit of his training in stealth. Crossing the border was a lot like trying to navigate a minefield of people. It would be a remarkably simple procedure if some of the more obvious but lesser-known routes through the countryside weren't riddled with the prying eyes of soldiers—sentries, scouts, and shinobi hunters alike—but in times of conflict, all of them most certainly were. If the pair were spotted by any of those soldiers, the Tamuran military would be alerted and then quickly descend upon the area to root them out like they were a bad case of rebellion.

If that was the case, then main roads and byways were off limits because they were hotzones for attention, and he would probably get caught if he tried to go through one of them with Kira. But what did that leave him for his options? On the bright side, getting across the border was the only hard part of this initial phase in Sozin's grand plan to topple the Tamuran regime, because once they were on the other side, they would be home free and could blend in with the populace as they needed to. No one would be looking for them.

Since Kira was tagging along and she didn't know how to sneak around or blend in all that well, there was only one way to get across without having to worry about being seen by the Tamuran army or anyone else for that matter, and that was through Bodhisattva Valley. The Valley used to be entirely within Ishidan territory, but the borders had been pushed back far enough to mean that it stopped over the edge of Tamura. The Valley was mainly meant for messengers with critical information for Kyuden—Ishida's capital city—but determined souls and brave individuals were also known to use it as a way to escape the threat of bandits and being robbed. Through the Valley, a few weeks worth of travel on foot was reduced to a several days at most.

Sozin would've preferred not to take this route, but the Valley was the only choice they had. Neither the Ishidan nor Tamuran army wanted much to do with it and for good reason. Most of the wildlife was dangerous, but in particular, the Shiroi mountain range that the Valley was a part of were home to giant apes so large that not even an ogre could hope to survive if it ran into one. Even worse than that was the fact that the mountains themselves, not just the wildlife, were also deadly—home to many natural dangers like poisonous swamps, steep dropoffs, and harsh weather—which was why a span of bridges had been built through the Valley in the first place as a poor attempt to create a safe path through its depths. From outcrop to outcrop, rickety bridges stretched on for miles throughout the many chasms of the Valley, so narrow that they were barely wide enough for single-file traffic.

Some would say all of that paled in comparison the worst part of Bodhisattva Valley. There was something far more sinister than anything else lurking in its depths because the Valley also had another name that it went by. Sozin remembered seeing it on a crude sign at the start of the very first bridge.

"Serpent's Pass..." Sozin mulled to himself. "You think we'll run into the Great Serpent?" he wondered as Kira and him made their way across yet another one of the precarious bridges making up the Valley. The long, gangling bridge wobbled with every whistle of the breeze, no matter how slight.

Humored by the man's childish imagination, amusement slipped onto Kira's face, and she shook her head. She was only a few steps behind Sozin. "Is that what you're thinking about?"

Sozin shrugged his shoulders, trying to get the straps for the basket of provisions he was carrying into a comfortable position on his back. "Eh..." he grimaced apathetically. "Yeah, it's probably a bunch of horseshit, but you never know."

Kira gazed into the dusky sky. The chilling breeze was starting to bite harder into her skin as the sun descended upon the land, taking any morsel of warmth along with it. The great stone cliffs boxing them in from either side were acting as a channel for all the currents of cold air. "The sun's going down," Kira said. "I'd say we have bigger things to worry about... like finding somewhere to rest. I'm tired of staring at the back of your head."

Sozin chuckled. "Sure, but I don't want to sleep in this wind unless we have to. Keep an eye out for someplace sheltered."

Kira blew a stray strand of hair away from her face only for it to fall back in front of her vision again. "Oh, my eyes are peeled..." she said with half-lidded enthusiasm.

There wasn't much else to do besides walk, talk to each other, and take in the scenery, so Sozin's wandering eyes found themselves falling upon the face of Buddha. Not too far away, a colossal statue had been carved into the rock that dwarfed everything around it. The Great Serpent was thought to be an angry spirit from the animal realm which was the why the Valley was called Bodhisattva because many sculptures of Buddha had been carved into the great cliff walls making up the Valley to appease it. They were so big and towering that they even rivaled Kyuden's massive pagodan skyscrapers which were a source of national pride. The sculptures had been built in an effort to quell the spirit's restlessness so that the land could finally be conquered, but Sozin couldn't attest to their effectiveness.

Sozin's eyes traced down the statue and then back to his waraji-clad feet. He stared through the gaps between the shabby planks of the bridge. Far down below, there was a raging river of water that seemed to be waiting for something to eat. It looked like it wanted to swallow them up whole, but if they fell, it would first pulverize them against the spires of rock jutting out from the surface before devouring anything that remained.

"Hey, you see all that water down there?" Sozin said. "It looks pretty deep, doesn't it?"

Hesitant, Kira glanced downwards. "Don't remind me—I can't swim."

"What? Are you serious?" Sozin looked over his shoulder scoldingly. "I've been swimming since I was three. You know, three-quarters of the Earth is covered in water, right?"

Kira smiled back with pure confidence bursting at the corners of her lips. "That's three-quarters that can kill me. I'll take those odds."

As he stepped from plank to plank, Sozin turned and wagged his finger at the woman. "You play a dangerous game," he said. "It kinda reminds me of when I used to gamble, except, I never gambled with my life."

"You—a gambler? You don't seem like the type," Kira said.

"I know, I know. I never thought I'd be that guy, but it happened," Sozin said. "I'm not too proud of it, but you'll never find a better hold 'em player than me. It's a funny story, actually. That's how I ended up meeting you."

Kira wanted to laugh at how stupid that was. "Because of poker?" she said like he couldn't be actually be serious.

"Yeppers..." Sozin said breathily. "I bet a lot of money on this one game and lost to some asshole in a backroom. To this day, I swear he was cheating. I think he had a literal ace up his sleeve, but I ended up having to pay him back because I couldn't prove it."

"Sounds like your luck ran out," Kira said.

"Yeah, it kinda did. Well, what can you do, right? If I lose a game of poker, it's because Lady Luck deemed it so," Sozin said, accentuating his words with the raise of his pointed finger. "And it seems she did that day. I've never been that lucky of a guy—I mean, just look at my life," Sozin chuckled morbidly. "But I am skilled, and skill is how you make your own luck."

"Uh huh..." Kira rolled her eyes at the man's wisdom.

"Whoa, what the hell happened here?" Sozin said as he stepped off the bridge onto a stretch of rock. A wide ledge extended out to the side from where he stood but came to a dead end in front of one of the great cliff walls that formed the Valley's ravine. Their only way across the large gap of air in front of them, the next bridge, had been completely shorn in half. Across the gap, Sozin could see the other end of the bridge clear as day. From the overhang it was anchored to, it was draped like a ladder down the side of the rock face. Walking over to the edge, Sozin peered into the chasm and saw that their half of the bridge had also decided to transform into a ladder. At the bottom of the chasm, he could also see the river of murky water and the rocks that were still waiting for a fresh meal.

"Looks like the bridge is out," Kira said as she drifted next to Sozin. She gripped the straps of her own supply basket, tugging on them gently.

"These bridges were constructed hundreds of years ago," Sozin said. "I'm not surprised one of them isn't standing anymore."

Kira gave two quick pats to Sozin's shoulder with the bottom of her clenched fist. "Think you can get us across, shinobi?"

"Yeah, this'll be a piece of cake," Sozin smirked. "It's the perfect opportunity for me to test out my new gear."

Sozin's new gear had felt strange ever since he'd gotten his hands on it. He supposed it was only natural since he was stepping into uncharted territory. If he was being honest with himself, he had never truly been a shinobi in his own right, instead having chosen to carry on his master's legacy by wearing the Ikijo's battle-worn outfit everywhere he went. There was nothing wrong with that, it was how Sozin honored his master, but in a way, maybe this change was a good thing. A silver lining of some sort. It'd taken around a week to have the new gear tailor-made to fit his person, and aside from the colors—now blacks and grays instead of blacks and purples—the gear was virtually identical to his master's standard Ministry attire. Sozin had picked the colors out with careful intention. They were neutral colors, belonging to none of the countries on the Miuran continent. If he was going to make a statement by ending the war, not as an Ishidan but as a lone man going down his own path and doing what he thought was right, he figured that was one fine method of doing it.

Sozin glanced down at his forearm. He double-checked to make sure his grappling hook was loaded properly.

Stained thick with grease, the grappling hook attached to Sozin's left forearm was a fairly discreet and ingenius device for its size. It's invention was relatively recent. Concieved mere decades ago at the start of the Iron War by a mechanical mastermind, the design was fairly simple when you broke it down—it was nothing more a spring-loaded kunai attached to the end of a long rope. There were a variety of kunai that existed in the shinobi world and each one had a specific purpose. Some were for stabbing, others throwing or even farming, but the kunai in Sozin's grappling hook was made from wrought iron that had been molded into a long, narrow blade. It was sharper than other kinds of kunai. Sozin always carried two extra trios of its kind, above his ankles on the outside of both his lower legs, so he could replace the kunai as the tip got worn down and became ineffective for grappling. The sharpened tip of the kunai combined with backwards facing serrations at the base of its blade made it perfect for penetrating into objects and then gripping them securely. The device itself was also easy to reset. At the press of a small button, the kunai could reel back in like a yo-yo and be ready to use again with no downtime.

Sozin had a particular affinity for the device. If he ever needed to, he could use his windbending skills in combination with the grappling hook to soar all over the place if he wanted to, and he did enjoy doing that from time to time. As a young man who only wanted to be free, there were few things better to him than the rush of wind in his face and the rippling of his clothing.

Kira leaned in towards the grappling hook to take a look at it. "Curious device you've got there," she remarked.

Sozin twisted his forearm back and forth with a sense of display in mind. "Indeed, it's a marvelous invention..." he said in a low voice of awe. "Most Ishidan ninja prefer the kaginawa out of tradition—and because this thing can be a bit unreliable—but I'm not afraid of technology."

"Fun facts..." Kira's lips perked into a gleeful smile.

The grappling hook seemed to be in working order as Sozin's eyes inspected it. Turning his attention in front of him, Sozin aimed across the gap at one of the wooden posts that acted as an anchor for the other half of the bridge. At the push of a button, the kunai shot out serpentine, like a striking cobra, and embedded itself into the wooden post. Pulling on the length of the rope, Sozin felt some heavy resistance as he tugged. That was a good sign— it meant the kunai was secure enough to hold his weight and the weight of his supplies, and if it could hold him, then it could probably hold Kira as well since he assumed he was heavier than her. But you could never be too sure though. He decided to ask anyway despite the lack of encouragement from his more well-mannered persona.

"Hey, Kira," Sozin said as he pulled more cordage out of the grappling device with his other hand. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but how much do you weigh?"

Kira grinned and planted her hands on her hips. "You can be pretty blunt, huh? 'Bout eleven stone. Why? Do you think I'm too heavy for the rope to hold?"

Sozin grinned back. "Well, I'm a little more than twelve, so if it works for me, it'll work for you too. The rope feels like it'll hold my weight, so here's hoping." A few moments later, Sozin finished pulling out the extra length of rope that he needed from the device. He held a piece out for Kira to cut. "Can you unsheath one of your swords for me?"

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Oh, yep!" Kira realized, having turned her attention elsewhere. "I didn't know I was needed."

Kira shuffled closer and exposed her sword-bearing hip to him. She partly unsheathed one of her twin katanas with a rasp, and Sozin used its sharp edge to sever the rope from the grappling device. Kneeling down, he began to fasten the rope to one of the nearby posts for the half of the bridge that was on their side.

"You're very needed," Sozin said. "You're the only one staving off my boredom out here."

"I can't be that interesting," Kira replied.

Sozin raised his eyebrows like she was talking crazy. He shrugged, saying, "Maybe I'm just easy to entertain, but you'd be surprised..." When he finished tying up the rope, strumming it with his finger, he stood up and dusted off his hands as he backed away to admire the handiwork. "There we go... Now all we have to do is shimmy across."

Sozin promptly retrieved one of the kunai had been fixed to the shin wraps on his lower legs. He tied the kunai to the end of the rope in his grappling device and then reloaded it so that he could use it again if he had to. Turning back to look at Kira, they exchanged a knowing gaze. His smirk for her smile.

"You first," Kira said with an open gesture of her hands. "You're the monkey."

"Right," Sozin chuckled, shaking his head with a grin. "I'm the asshole that's gotta make sure it works. What do I got to lose?"

"If something happens, I'll always remember you," Kira said in a positive tone.

"Oh, yay..." Sozin uttered with zero excitement.

At those words, with great skill and grace, Sozin hopped onto the tightrope, intensely aware of how it dipped down as he did so. The rope held his weight as he expected, and he began to walk across it with supreme balance. The breeze was eager to push him off into the chasm below, but he maintained his posture like he was performing a delicate circus act, daring and bold. "Hey, this is actually pretty good!"

"That's not what I was expecting you to do," Kira said.

Sozin glanced behind him at the woman. "Why do you say that? Did you think I was going to clamber across like a monkey?"

"Yeah..." Kira said frankly. "That actually looks really dangerous."

"Not for someone like me. I could sprint across if I wanted to!"

"Now you're just bragging," Kira said.

Sozin took several more steps. It quickly became apparent that walking straight across the rope was almost too easy for his level of experience. His confidence got the better of him, and he flipped around. Sozin thrust his chest out. He sashayed backwards along the rope, stretching his arms out like a swan about to take flight, and proclaimed with the magnificence of a diva, "Look at me, Kira! This is that ninja swagger!"

"Ugh," Kira facepalmed. "You're so cringe..." Averting her eyes from his buffoonery, Kira inspected her trimmed nails with a jaded, almost completely deadpan face. "I hope you die," she said, dry and flatter than a board.

"What?" Sozin blurted out in high-pitched confusion.

"Nothing, nothing," Kira quickly said, grinning and raising her voice so she could hear him better. Her features softened at his idiocy which was somehow endearing to her in a strange way. "You look like a retard. And a showoff..."

"I know! But you're stuck with me!" Sozin said. "Y'know, I could do this for money—I don't, but I could!"

Sozin finished walking across the rest of the tightrope, practically frolicking upon the small sliver of threading that was keeping him from death and holding him in the air for his only spectator—the dignified samurai who was too proud to properly and fully enjoy his performance. With a feathery bounce in his step, Sozin pranced off the rope, his waraji finally meeting the safety of the ground with little more than a quiet, stony tap from the balls of his feet. He was as light as a ballerina.

"Bravo! You're a fucking acrobat!" Kira cheered dryly, clapping with excessive enthuasiasm. Her head joggled like a fanatical audience member.

Sozin flashed Kira a shenanigous expresssion. "Is that an encore I hear?"

"Oh, no, please, no..." Kira stuck the flat of her hand out.

"Then it's your turn!" Sozin shouted across the gap. "Come on over!"

"My turn?"

"Yeah...! You aren't gonna stay over there, are you?"

"No, but..." Kira peered over the edge of her comfort zone. She took a generous look into the deep chasm. It was a long and perilous way down into the river. She wondered if they were high enough for water to kill her instantly. If she didn't die on impact, she would suffer a slow and horrible death from drowning. For a brief moment, she imagined how painful it would probably be to have cold, foul water filling her lungs as she struggled to stay above the surface, and the mere thought of it forced a slight grimace onto her face. Would Sozin jump in after her if she fell?

"Well...?" Sozin said.

Kira let out a sigh from the back of her nose. "Yeah, I'll... be right over..." she muttered, her voice trailing off with concern.

"Don't worry!" Sozin said. "You don't have to walk across it like I did! Just climb over on all fours—y'know, like a monkey on a vine or something."

Kira threw her arms out to her sides. "Do I look like a monkey to you?" she shouted.

"You technically are one! Great ape, actually, but close enough!"

"Yeah, that's really reassuring! Can you stop talking?"

"If it makes you more comfortable...!"

Without another word, Sozin shut his trap. Kira took the opportunity to mentally prepared herself, steeling her nerves for what was about to come. When she thought she was ready, she lowered herself down onto her hands and knees. She clambered onto the the rope, more awkward than a fish on land as her legs left the edge of the cliff. Although she wasn't a shinobi, she could immediately tell how bad it looked from Sozin's point of view.

In an instant, Sozin had already burst out laughing. He cackled like a hyena at how forced and mechanical her gait was. His booming laughter echoed throughout the ravine.

"Oh my god..." Kira muttered like she was about to throw up from the sheer embarrassment. She could feel her cheeks turning beet red as the chilly breeze kissed their warmth. She hadn't anticipated this outcome in any shape, way, or form, and it had taken her completely off guard.

"You move like a fuckin' action figure!" Sozin guffawed between crazed laughter. His hands were on his knees as he trembled in delight from the sheer rowdiness that had been ignited inside his bones.

"Fuck this shit," Kira spat under her breath. "I'm gonna turn back!"

"No, no—don't!" Sozin returned with vigor. Breathily, he took a hand off his knee to brandish it in disagreement. "You're doing great!" he assured her.

By some miracle of divine intervention, Kira managed to work up the courage to keep going. She shimmied along the rope, all the while enduring the full and unbridled torment of this man's wretched laughter for the entirety of her journey across the chasm. "Look at you go!" he said, so patronizingly. She emerged on the other side, unharmed and no worse for wear. Well, at least on the outside, that is.

Sozin extended a hand to Kira to help her up as she clambered onto the rocky overhang.

A petulant glower washed over Kira's face and she swatted his hand away. "Don't touch me," she said. Standing up, she dipped her chin down and looked past him, trying to hide the rosy redness that had invaded her pink cheeks.

"Oh, come on, Kira..." Sozin sniffled as the last few bits of laughter died down from his voice. He licked his lips to moisten them, ignoring her spiteful words as he put a hand on her shoulder. "Man, I really thought I was gonna die. You had me shook there for a moment."

"Whatever..." Kira said. "Let's get moving again."

"Yeah, yeah..." Sozin let out a slight giggle. "Let us..."

It was ladies first, so, with a smirk on his face, Sozin gestured with his hands, as a proper gentleman would, for her to take the lead. Begrudgingly, Kira obliged, and they continued on their voyage from bridge to precarious bridge. Eventually, at some point, somewhere high above the river that roared down below, within the ravine, and along one of the rocky strips of ledging that interspersed the bridges, the pair of warriors happened upon an alcove—a large nook that shortly ended after it recessed into the cliff wall. The nook wasn't very deep, but it seemed to offer an adequate amount of seclusion from the wind and any of the other elements that might plague them at this time of year. It was winter after all.

Moonlight bled into the nook at an angle, dimly illuminating the rugged interior as Kira sauntered inside with Sozin following close behind. Sozin let the basket of supplies he was carrying slip off his shoulders onto the ground, and he heard Kira follow suit. The hard rock floor of this cozy retreat seemed to smooth enough to sit down on at least, but the walls were another story. They would have to put up with it, he supposed, since they were both exhausted from a day's worth of travel, and this place was the best thing they had. Glancing to the entrance of the nook, it seemed Buddha would be accompanying them to sleep tonight as another one of the large sculptures had been carved into the cliff face on the other side of the ravine.

Sozin let out a pleasurable sigh of langour. They had made good progress today, but now it was time to eat. Sozin sat down and leaned against the rough wall. The cold stone sapped the warmth in his body straight through his clothes. He didn't feel like eating much, just something small to sate his appetite until the morning when he could binge, so he rolled his basket of supplies closer to him, unsecured the lid, and began rummaging through its contents. After a little bit of searching underneath all the clutter—vegetebles; a wok; small bags of rice, beans, and noodles; and a few other sundries he'd packed with careful prudence—he found the candy bar he had planted inside specifically for this moment. The candy bar was a little smashed from the weight of everything else, and he probably should've put it at the top of the pile on second thought, but it was still good enough to eat. Sozin undid the blank paper wrapper and opened his mouth to dig in.

"Is that a candy bar?" a feminine voice chimed in from beside Sozin.

Softened by a drowsy weariness, the voice was more mellow than usual, buttery smooth like melted chocolate and sounding just as sweet. Mouth still agape, Sozin eyes darted over to Kira, his singular source of company on this otherwise lonely journey and also the very person who he'd completely forgotten about in his tongue-tingling anticipation of finally being able to eat something. His mouth shut, and he said, "Yeah... Why?"

Kira leaned in closer from where she sat, teetering on her propped-up arm. "Can I have a piece?" she said innocently, like a little kid that was pestering their parent at a candy store.

"Didn't you pack any in your rucksack?"

Kira revealed the bottle of sake in her other hand and gave it an audible swish with the shake of her hand. "I brought... other... necessities," she chuckled with a cheeky grin. "Anyways, can I have some?"

"Uh..." Sozin hesitated, glancing to the candy bar and then to Kira.

"Wow..." Kira murmured in disbelief. Her grin had faded into a smirk. Low-key offended, she shook her head with subdued disapproval. "You selfish bastard."

"What?" Sozin exclaimed with a flustered grin. He shoved the candy bar in her face. "Take it then!"

Kira crossed her arms and turned away. "Oh, so now you offer, as soon as I say something."

Retracting the candy bar, Sozin's eyes locked into the upper corners of his vision, frozen with displeasure from her curt stonewalling of his concession. Slightly annoyed, both at himself and at Kira, the man let out a long, long, exhale. He wasn't sure why he had hesitated to give her the candy bar in the first place, but found himself relaxing a little, regardless. "Sorry..." Sozin chuckled. He scratched the back of his neck. "I don't know why I hesitated," he said as his brows creased in pensive consideration. "I guess I'm... just not used to sharing things with anyone."

"Mmm..." Kira hummed in mock agreement. She didn't quite understand, and the tone of his voice drew concern out of her own. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Just take the candy bar..." Sozin said in a low voice.

"No, it's fine," Kira said with no particular tone. Her eyes mindlessly traced the air as she looked away. "You brought it for yourself, and if you don't want me to have any-"

"Take the fucking thing, Kira!" Sozin implored again, firmer and louder this time, not quite yelling, not quite angry, but having raised his voice far enough to get the point across. In less than a second, Kira was already staring at him, surprised by his insistence. Within a heavy silence, they exchanged a tense gaze.

"Fine..." Kira conceded.

Sozin presented her with the candy bar again. This time, instead of turning away, Kira leaned down into a slump, parted her lips, and then, in awkward realization, slowly bit off a sizeable block of it with her teeth as her mouth enveloped the chocolatey exterior with more sensuality than she had intended for. Unwittingly, Kira had trapped herself into an unsteady eye-contact with Sozin the entire way through as she kept her hands planted on the ground and stiff arms glued uncomfortably to her sides. Kira had realized her mistake when she'd already leaned in and it was too late to back out. That stupid part of her brain had gone off again, and instead of using her hands to grab stuff like a normal person would, for some reason, she'd decided to reach for the candy bar with her mouth. The pain was excruciating in the moment, almost unbearable and downright torturous, but she maintained frame, and followed through with her actions.

Meanwhile, Sozin stared with a mostly blank expression on his face. His eyes were quivering like they had the curse of a thousand yards. His blankness wasn't because he wasn't feeling anything—quite to the contrary; he was feeling a lot of things in many different areas—but his face had been frozen from every part of him trying to process what had just happened before the awkwardness managed to cave his butterflying insides in. An avalanche of anxiety had erupted within his person.

They both stared at each other.

Kira chuckled nervously, shrinking into her shoulders a little.

Sozin's eyes flickered to the candy bar for a split second. Amongst the rigid features of his face—solid as a rock as any professional man could be under extreme pressure—the corner of Sozin's mouth trembled, desiring to burst into a blazing grin like a hatchling of an emotion trying to break out of the egg it was locked in. "I thought you were going to grab it with your hand..." he spoke up in a murmur.

"Me too..." Kira garbled. Blowing the whole thing off, she started laughing as she chewed her piece of the candy bar. She swallowed, and said in a much clearer voice, "Sorry, that was weird."

"I don't judge, so I'll just pretend that didn't happen," Sozin said. "I've been judged far too many times by others that it would make me a hypocrite to be judgemental myself."

"Of course..." Kira said.

"Yeah, okay, ah... I think I'm gonna go to bed. Here—you can have the rest of the candy bar if you want," Sozin said, forcing it into the grasp of her free hand. He just wanted a way out of this situation as fast as possible.

"Thanks..." Kira said uneasily.

Kira looked at the bottle in her other hand. Goddamn, did she need a drink right now.

Shifting around into a comfortable spot against the wall of the nook, Sozin threw his hood over his eyes to escape the anxiety that was bearing down on him from her direction. The metal headpiece at the front of the hood had been engraved with the kanji for his favorite word:

風

Wind.

In literal terms, the kanji said wind, but to Sozin, it really meant freedom. That was all he could ever see every time he looked at it.

Sozin ran the pads of his fingers over the engravings before resigning himself to slumber. He fell asleep to the relaxing sound of swigs and swishes of alcohol. Part of him had trouble sleeping because his mind just couldn't forget about what had transpired , and in the middle of the night, he gave a few muffled snickers that resonated off the walls of the nook no matter how much he tried to silence them. They came out whether he wanted them to or not. Curled up into a ball nearby, Kira heard him, and she buried her face into her arms with a groan. He was still thinking about it, and his low, sporadic giggles kept her awake.

After a couple more suppressed laughs here and there, Sozin's laughter managed to fully die down. In the silence, he could hear the lullsome churning of the river far down below in the ravine. "Hey, Kira... You still awake?" Sozin murmured. "It's okay... We all do weird shit."

Kira's dignified eyes fluttered open to meet the ninja's shadowed gaze from underneath his black hood. In the dark lighting, her eyes glowed a dull orange and his a dull red. "Go back to sleep, Sozin," she said, rolling her back to him. "You're a real thorn in my side."

"Yeah, and you say you're boring."

Kira snorted. "I stand corrected."

Sozin decided not to say anything else back. He merely observed the outline of her curled up form for a few, tranquil moments. Then he crossed his arms, shut his eyes again, and slumped further against the rock wall.

And that was that for the day.