The next chapter is here. Enjoy
Chapter 3: The Painting Lady
After the battle of great nut peak our heroes travel through the misty mountains in search of… (Writer looks at the script) Oops sorry readers wrong story. (Throws the script away hearing a distant cat screeching and pulls out the script for this chapters story) Ah here we go now. (Clears throat)
After their escape at the fire nation city the group ride on Appa as he is swimming through a river that appears to be very mucky and polluted. Zian is playing on a lute that was able to "obtain" frim the city they were at as he plays some music. Mizu is reading a book which she "borrowed" from the school library. Toph and Katara are relaxing while Sokka is fishing. Lastly Aang is swimming around the river playing a game of marco polo with Momo. "Momo" Aang calls the lemur as he dives into the river.
The lemur flies to where he heard him as he doesn't find him. "Oh Momo." Aang says again this time behind the lemur before diving back in. Momo heads to that location as he sees that he is not there. Aang pops back up again away from Momo as he goes to call again. Before he can do that Momo is this time quicker as he flies to Aang quickly and lands on his shoulder. Aang chuckles at this. "You found me buddy." He says.
He then flies out of the river and onto the saddle as he stands there and looks at his muck covered body. "Hey guys, I think this river is polluted." He says. "Gee you don't say." Zian says sarcastically as he rolls his eyes. Aang uses he air bending to blast the muck off of him as the muck splatters onto the others. "Thanks." Zian says giving Aang a deadpan face.
Toph gags at tasting the muck as Aang blows wind on them and the muck comes off of them. Sokka looks at them. "Well that explains why I can't catch any fish around here. Because normally my fishing skills are…off the hook." He says showing his fishing hook to extend the joke. No one laughs however. "Get it? Like a fishing hook?" He explains as still no one laughs.
"Too bad your skills aren't…on the hook." Toph says as everyone laughs but Sokka who looks at them with an irritated look. "Looks like we'll need to go somewhere else to get food." Katara says. Sokka unrolls a very long schedule as it stretches all the way to the end of the saddle. "Assuming that will fit into Sokka's master schedule." She says. Zian grabs the end of the schedule as he looks at it. "Mmmm, it's doable. But that means only two potty breaks today." He says. Mizu looks at the schedule. "I still can't believe you made this ridicules schedule." She says dumbfounded. Sokka looks at her. "Hey, it efficient and necessary if we want to be with our allies in time when the solar eclipse happens." He says.
"Still think it's ridiculous." Mizu says as she rolls the list back up. "Hey, maybe we can get food there?" Aang says as everyone looks to what he is pointing at. They see that he is pointing to a small village that is coming into view as they pass the rocks blocking their view. The village is resting on the lake as beams are supporting the foundation and houses.
They decide to make camp just some ways from the village so that they aren't seen. Aang decides to cover Appa in a green blanket to look like grass as he covers Appa with it as to disguise the bison. "Now you look just like a little hill with horns. Bye buddy." Aang says as he runs to the others leaving Appa and Momo, who is also covered in a green blanket.
They walk a little high up the small island as they look at the village in front of them. "I don't feel anything. Where's this village?" Toph asks. "It's in the middle of the river." Sokka explains.
"Sure is." The group suddenly hear someone say as they look down and see a man wearing an orange folded hat and an open vest who looks to be around thirty or forty as he is looking up at them in his small boat with a smile. "My name's Dock. Mind if I ask who you are?" He says.
Zian thinks for a moment as he looks at the man. "We're from the earth kingdom colonies." He says. Dock looks at them amazed. "Wow, colonials. Hop on I'll give you a ride to town." He says. The group nod to each other as they climb off the edge and get into the boat. As they are in Dock uses the long pole he has with him to push the boat forward.
"Why do you guys live on the river?" Katara asks. "Because we're a fishing town." Dock answers as he swings the pole over the group's heads as he pushes from the other side. "At least that's how it was before the factory moved in." He says as they move through the river as they look to their right and see a giant factory build on top of the mountain some distance away from the village. Zian looks at the factory and growls.
The factory emits smoke from its chimneys clouding the sky in black fog. Zian sees that on the factory is a huge fire nation insignia on it. "The army makes their metal there. Moved in a few years ago and started gunging our river. Now our little village is struggling to survive." Dock says. Upon hearing all this Zian gets even angrier as so does Mizu. "They think they can have their way and believe there will be no consequences." Mizu says. Katara places a hand on a shoulder of the two. "Calm down you two. We're not here to fight." She whispers to them.
Zian and Mizu look at each other and then back at Katara as they nod. They arrive at the village as Dock stops near the foundation and they climb out while Sokka helps Toph out. "Thanks for the ride." Aang says to Dock as the group waves to him before they leave him and walk around the village.
As they pass through they see a lot of sick people both young and old who are suffering from both sickness and hunger. "Look at this place. It's so sad." Katara says sadden by the state that these people are in. "We have to do something to help." She says. After she says that Sokka moves behind her. "No we can't waste our time here. We have a bigger mission that we need to stay focused on. These people are on their own." He says as he walks.
Katara runs to him as she grabs his shoulder and spins him so that he faces her. "These people are starving. But you turn your back on them? How can you be so cold and heartless?" She asks him angrily. "I'm not turning my back, I'm just being realistic. We can't go around helping every rinky dink town we wander into. We'll be helping them all by taking out the fire lord." He says.
As soon as he says that Zian quickly grabs him as he has Sokka in a hold while covering his mouth. "Shut up loudmouth! Do you want everyone to know of our mission? Don't blow our cover." He says. Zian than let's go of him as Sokka stands up right and looks again at Katara. "Come on Katara be reasonable about this. You know our mission has to come first." He says. "He's right, even though I don't much like leaving the people in this state I believe we should just stick to the mission." Mizu says.
"Katara looks a little bit away from Sokka. "I guess so." She says trying to accept this. "Let's just get what we need and go." Aang says. Zian's stomach growls. "Yeah I'm kind of hungry myself." He says as they walk. They keep walking until they come to a shop that has a shark like jaw on the top of the stand. The owner has his back to the group as Sokka rings the little hanging bell as the owner turns to them with a smile.
They see that it is Dock smiling at them. "Hey Dock. You have two jobs?" Zian asks the man. "I'm not Dock, I'm Shoe. Docks my brother." Shoe/Dock says. The group look at him confused by this. "But we just saw you; you are even wearing the same clothes. The only difference is your hat." Aang tells him.
Shoe/Dock looks at him still smiling. "Dock works on the Docks, that's why they call him Dock. I work at the shop, that's why they call me Shoe." Shoe/Dock explains. Everyone looks at him even more confused.
Zian shrugs. "Makes senses to me." He says. "Well I don't get it." Aang says. "Me neither." Shoe/Dock says as he sinks behind his stand and rises back up to pull up a crate of fish and clams. "What can I get ya?" Shoe/Dock asks as he places the crate on the stand. The group (besides Toph) look at the crate as they see a bunch of disgusting and rotten yet edible fish.
"Hey I'll give you a special deal. If you buy three fish I'll throw in a clam for free." Shoe/Dock says. Sokka squishes the top of the clam's heads as some of the disgusting sludge that is in the lake comes out of it as they all groan in disgusts. "We'll just take the fish." Sokka says as he takes three fish out of the crate as Shoe/Dock wraps it up for them. "Mind telling your brother we need a ride back to shore." Sokka says as Shoe/Dock hand him the wrapped fish.
He then sinks behind his stand as he rises back up wearing the hat he wears when riding his boat. "Hey there colonials. My brother says you need a lift." Dock/Shoe says as he jumps over his "brother's" stand and walks to the docks.
Mizu looks at Dock/Shoe walking to the Docks. "You guys sure do meet some weird people." She says. "You have no idea." Zian says as they follow Dock/Shoe. They walk to the docks as Zian stops and sees Katara giving a young boy some food. He sighs as he looks all around the people and is saddened by how much struggle they are in.
He then feels a hand on his shoulder as he looks to see that it is Mizu who also has a sad look. "I know how you feel." She says before walking to the others. Zian looks at the village as he gives one last sigh before walking to the boat.
At night
After the sun has set on them. The group decide to make camp here for tonight. Zian uses his bending to make the top part of a tunnel longer so as they won't be woken up by the heat of the sun. Mizu uses her fire bending to light a fire for them while Aang and Toph use their bending to pull the clean water and the muck apart so that they can use the water to cook.
"Our detour in town today has completely thrown us of schedule." Sokka complains as he takes some water from the pot and pours it into a cup while looking at his "full proof" schedule. "It's going to take some serious finagling to get us back on track." He says as he unwraps the large schedule.
"Finagle away oh schedule master." Toph says as they all walk to him as he places the schedule on the ground. "Well for starters it looks like we'll have to wake up forty three minutes early every day." He says as Katara looks at him confused. "Forty-three minutes?" She says. "Sounds insane, but okay." Mizu says to him.
Sokka looks at them. "Look all I'm saying is that we only have a few weeks to get to the fire lord in time for the eclipse, which by the way only lasts for eight minutes and we just lost a whole day. So if we want to make up for the time and stay on schedule then we have to wake up early." He says.
Zian lies on his back as he looks up at the sky. "Yeaaaaah, sorry but waking up early isn't going to work for me." He says not really liking Sokka's whole idea. Sokka crosses his arms as he pouts. "Or we can always cut out all of our eating breaks." He says. Immediately after he said that everyone starts complaining.
Sokka smiles as an idea flashes in his mind and he turns to the others. "I got it. From now on we'll take food breaks and potty breaks at the same time." He says sounding so sure of himself. At that moment he receives a face full soup as it is thrown by Mizu. "You are so disgusting." Mizu says at Sokka's idea. Sokka wipes his face of as he looks at them. "Hey it might be gross but it's efficient." He says as he picks up his schedule. "Either way we have to leave first thing in the morning." He says as he takes his schedule and walks to his sleeping bag.
Zian sighs as he hears that. Mizu places a hand on his shoulder as he looks at her. She smiles at him. "Don't be sad. I'm sure that the village will be fine. We'll come back when we are done with this whole war thing and help these people." She says. Zian looks at her and although he doesn't feel completely at ease with the idea of helping these later than now he can at least feel comfort in knowing that he will help them. Zian stands up as he walks to his sleeping bag as he climbs into it and shuts his eyes.
The next morning
As the sun rises over the mountains Zian's eyes open as he as he sits up straight and stretches his arms before letting out a loud yawn. He stands up as he looks at Mizu, whose sleeping bag is close to his, wake up as she also yawns. She rubs her eyes as she looks up at him. She looks at him confused. "What?" She asks as he just chuckles. "Nothing." He says chuckling before walking over to Katara who is looking at a not so well Appa.
Aang jumps off the rock he is sleeping on as he looks at Katara. "What's the matter Katara?" He asks walking over to the bison who is groaning. Toph, Mizu and Zian walk over to them while Toph stretches her arms. "I think Appa is sick." Katara says.
"What?! Appa's sick?! That's Awful!" Sokka yells out as he jumps out of his sleeping bag and runs to the bison. Toph is a little surprised by this. "Wow Sokka I didn't realise you cared so much." She says. "Of course I care." Sokka says as he pulls out his schedule. "I might as well throw our schedule away now." He says as he looks at his schedule and then at the others who look at him with scowls. "You want to rephrase that?" Zian says to him.
Sokka immediately hugs Appa. "And I'm concern because my big furry friend doesn't feel well." He says now showing concern for Appa's wellbeing. "He must have gotten sick from the polluted water." Toph says. Aang inspects the bison. "He doesn't look sick." He says. "You okay buddy?" He asks Appa who responds by groaning I discomfort. Aang notices something as Aapa opens his mouth as he grabs Appa's tongue and pulls it out.
"His tongue is purple. That can't be good." He says as they all see that the tip till halfway to Appa's tongue is covered in a purple colour. Everyone faces to Zian who is looking at Appa's tongue as he then looks at the others in confusion. "What?" He says.
"Can't you cure Appa?" Aang asks him. Zian looks at him. "Just because I'm able to understand animals doesn't mean I'm some sort of animal doctor." He says. Aang looks to Katara. "Katara can you heal him?" Aang asks her. Katara examines the bison's tongue. "It looks like he needs some medicine. Maybe we can find the right herbs in town." She explains. "Good idea." Mizu says as they walk to the town.
As they arrive at the town they start to notice something different about the village. Yesterday the whole village looked miserable and were struggling; now it looks like the village is happy and filled with a little more joy. "Is it just me or do the people here seem…happy?" Mizu says. "Seems like it." Zian says as they walk on to Shoe/Dock's shop.
"Hey Shoe what's going on with everyone today?" Sokka asks the fishmonger who is slurping on some water as he looks at the group with a smile. "Ah something amazing happened last night. Food was delivered to our village by a mysterious and wonderful person." He says sounding hopeful. Mizu turns her head a little to Zian as he notices this. "Don't look at me I'm neither mysterious nor wonderful." He says as Mizu looks back at Shoe/Dock.
"It was the Painted Lady." Shoe/Dock explains as Sokka looks at him with a disinterested face. "The painted who now?" Katara says not following. Zian grins. "You know, the Painting Lady. I hear she makes some great artwork." He says as Mizu just rolls her eyes. "Very funny Zian." She says as Zian snickers. "Anyway, who is this Painted Lady?" Mizu asks Shoe/Dock. "She's part of our town's lore." He says as he pulls out a small wooden statue figure of a woman with a flat circular hat with a crescent shape moon on her forehead. She is wearing scratches of makeup and a tan robe.
"The say she is a river spirit who watches over our town in times of need. I always thought she was a legend. Until now." Shoe/Dock says as everyone turns to looks at all of the villagers are filled with life. "See we don't need to help these people they already have someone to help them." Sokka says while Zian looks at the villagers curiously. "But why help them now rather than sooner?" He wonders as he ponders on the thought.
Sokka looks back at Shoe/Dock. "All we need is some medicine or our sick friend." Sokka says. "Sorry, all the medicine we have goes to the factory. That's why there's so many sick people in our village." Shoe/Dock explains. Zian looks at Mizu as he sees that she seems to be clearly upset. "Are you are alright?" He asks her. She grinds her teeth in anger. "How can my people be so cruel to this to these people?" She says. Zian places a hand on her shoulder as she looks at him. "There's no point in getting angry over this. It won't help." He says as Mizu calms down as she sighs. "Yeah I guess you're right." Mizu says.
"Looks like we need to stay another night so that Appa can rest." Katara says. Sokka responds by groaning and sinking his head. "I guess you're right." Sokka says as he looks at Shoe/Dock. "You got any more food to sell?" Sokka asks. Shoe/Dock quickly sinks under his stand as he rises back up holding a fish in each hand. "Would you like the one headed fish…or the two headed fish?" Shoe/Dock asks as he rotates the fish in his right hand to show that the fish has two heads adjacent to each other.
Sokka and Zian look at the fish as they think. Zian stops thinking as he smiles. "The two headed one please." Zian says as he quickly grabs the two headed fish. Everyone excluding Sokka looks at him with digusted faces as he and Sokka looks at them all confused. "What it's something new." He says. "And you get more for your money that way." Sokka adds as everyone just responds by groaning in distaste as they don't like the smell of the fish as they run away from them. Zian and Sokka are still confused by this as they run after the others.
The next morning
The sun shines ones again on the village as the group return to the village and go to the stand where they see a happy Dock/Shoe polishing the small of the Painted Lady he showed them yesterday. Sokka walks up to Dock/Shoe. "Hi Dock, is Shoe around?" Sokka asks. "Let me check." Dock/Shoe says as he throws the cloth he was using to polish the statue over his shoulder.
He runs around to the back of his stand as he sinks behind it and pops back up wearing the same hat when he is Shoe. "I can't believe we are just accepting this?" Zian says baffled by this. Shoe/Dock runs to the front of the stand as he leans on the counter giving them a smile. "Hey there, back again are ya?" He asks. Toph walks in front of Sokka as she shoves him away.
"We need more food." Toph says as she places money on the counter. "Our friend is still sick and we can't leave until he is better." She says. Shoe/Dock takes the money and places for clams on a plate as he places them on the counter. Sokka and Zian look at the clams as the sludge in the clams mouth starts to run down the mouth like someone drooling as Sokka and Zian shiver at the thought of eating those things.
"Oh that's too bad. Maybe if you guys are lucky the Painted Lady will visit you at night and heal your friend." Shoe/Dock says. "And maybe she'll cook us a midnight snack and we'll all have a sing along." Sokka says sarcastically. "Yeah maybe." Shoe/Dock says not really noticing Sokka's sarcasm. "Yeah I still don't really believe that this whole Painted Lady spirit is real." Zian says as Mizu gives him a smirk. "Says the one who can hear them and talk to them." She says. Zian gives her a deadpan look. "Shut up." Is all he can say while Mizu giggles.
"You know last night she visited us again and healed most of our sick folk." Shoe/Dock says as everyone looks at the whole village bustling with joy. "Is that why this whole place seems so festive?" Aang asks. She/Dock nods. "Yep, it's because of the Painted Lady." She/Dock says as the group sees the villagers erecting a statue of the Painted Lady in the middle of the village as they cheer.
"Can you believe how much a whole village can be affected by one lady? I mean spirit?" Katara says as she looks at the statue with hope. "Well I hope she returns every night, otherwise this village will go right back to the way it was." Sokka says always speaking his mind.
Katara looks at him a bit annoyed. "Why would you say that? Look how much better these people are." She says. "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." Sokka says as he starts making some weird woo sound followed by a mimic explosion.
Aang looks at him offended. "Spirit magic doesn't work that way Sokka. It goes more like this." He says as he makes his whole body do some wiggly motion. Annoyed by their behaviour Katara marches off away from them.
Zian stretches his arms. "Whelp I'm beat, I'm going back to the island." He says as he walks to the Docks while Mizu and Toph follow him. "I think we should take down the factory. Think about it, if we do so the lake will stop being polluted and it will help these people a great deal." Mizu suggest the idea. "Yeah but it will also anger the fire nation that are working in the factory and guess who will be put the blame on? The villagers." Toph says.
"She's right and if the fire nation of this place decides that the people have to rebuild the factory, which I'm sure they will, we'll also be in trouble due to the village ratting us out." Zian says. Mizu looks a little disappointed as she sighs. "I guess you're right. So that means we'll have to just wait until Appa gets better and leave." She says. "Why do I get the feeling he is not actually sick." Zian says pondering at the thought.
The next day
"And that feeling of mine was true." Zian says as he has wakened up to see that Katara is not in her sleeping bag as he sees that it filled with nothing but straw so that it looks like she is sleeping in it. Zian turns to Aang's sleeping bag and see that it is also empty and he is not in it. Everyone stands there as they wait for the two other members to return.
After a few moments they see the two coming out from behind a rock. "Hi you two." Zian says looking a bit mad as he has his arms crossed. Aang and Katara recoil back in shock. "Uh…Hi you guys. We…were just out on…a morning walk." Katara says sounding nervous. "Oh really? A morning walk?!" He asks sounding very annoyed. Zian holds Katara sleeping bag as he flips it upside down and shakes it as straw comes out of it proving Katara's story to be false.
Katara and Aang look ashamed. "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 feeding him purplelysing tongue berries!" Sokka says pointing to Toph you stick her tongue out which is completely purple while holding a small bag of the berries. "In all honesty we only discovered all this, this morning." Mizu says.
"Katara what you did put our whole mission in jeopardy. We're leaving right now." He demands as Katara walks past him feeling very ashamed while Aang walks behind her. "And how long did you know?!" Sokka says to Aang stopping him. "Hey I just found out this morning." Aang says as he quickly runs away not wanting to deal with any more of Sokka's anger.
As they are busy packing the suddenly hear buzzing sound. They turn to look at the lake to see that it the sound of vehicles that are being driven by fire nation soldiers that are heading towards the village. The group hide behind the edge of the hill as they look. "What going on?" Toph asks. "Fire nation soldiers as heading to the village." Aang explains.
Sokka looks at his sister furiously. "What did you do?!" He yells. Katara can't help but look at the ground. "I kind of destroyed their factory." She says. Zian looks at her shocked. "YOU WHAT?!" He shouts. Katara looks at Sokka. "It was your idea Sokka!" Katara says to him. "I was joking. I also used spirit magic and funny noises to emphasise it." Sokka says as he face palms. "Did you even think this through!? The army is going to blame the villagers. They're heading their right now to get revenge!" He says.
"Well what was I supposed to do?" Katara asks him. "Leave! Do nothing!" He shouts. Finally that's the breaking point for Katara as she looks at her brother in rage. "NO! I WILL NEVER EVER TURN MY BACK ON PEOPLE WHO NEED ME!" She yells as she stands up. "I'm going down to the village and I'm going to do whatever I can." She says as she starts walking down the hill.
She walks down to the shore. "Wait!" She hears her brother say as he grabs her shoulder and stops her. "I'm coming too." Sokka says. Katara turn to him with a confused look. "I thought you didn't want to help?" She says. "You need me and I will never turn my back on you." Sokka says to her as this makes Katara smile. "Sokka you really do have a heart." She says as she hugs him.
"He does? I always questioned that." Zian says. Mizu looks at him sternly. Zian grins at this. "I'm only kidding." He says. Mizu smiles as she looks at Katara and Sokka. "Probably." Zian says. Mizu punches him on the shoulder. Zian rubs his arms as he chuckles.
After some time (cause I want to get it done already) the group use the Painted Lady thing as a way to scare the soldiers away from the village as the leader is swimming in the polluted lake due to him getting thrown in it he looks up to see the Painted Lady (aka Katara) floating above him while fog swirls all around her as she looks down at him with a serious look. "Leave this place and never come back." She says. The leader swims as fast as he can away from her as one of the soldiers rides towards him as the soldiers picks him out of the lake and they ride off as they disappear behind the mountains.
Zian, Mizu, Toph and Sokka ride on a boat to the village as they have orchestrated the whole fight from the behind the scenes. Cheering and joy can be heard from the villagers as they cheer for the Painted Lady who lands on the docks in front of them.
"Thank you." Dock/Shoe says as he walks to Katara. "Me and my brothers really owe you a lot." He says as he looks at her and is a bit surprised. "Hey wait a minute, I know you. You're not the Painted Lady. You're that colonial girl." He says. The fight had been quick and due to this caused Katara's make-up to mess up and come off. "Yeah, you're that lady that gave me a fish." A kid says.
Shoe/Dock becomes a little angry. "You've been tricking us. You're a water bender." He says. "How dare you act like our Painted Lady." A villager says. Soon the entire village starts ranting and booing her.
Zian growls at this as he looks at the villagers angrily. "Shut up!" He shouts as this causes the village to become silent. "Are you all so helpless and blind that you can't even see help when it's been offered to you?!" He says.
Sokka nods at this. "He's right. Because of her that factory won't be polluting your river and the army is gone. You should be down on your knees thanking her." He says. He feels Katara's hand on her shoulder. "Sokka it's okay." She says as she takes off her hat and looks at the villagers.
"I shouldn't've acted like someone I wasn't and I shouldn't've tricked you, but I felt like I had to do something. It doesn't matter if the Painted Lady is real or not because your problems are real and this river is real. You can't wait around for someone to help you. You'll have to help yourselves." She says. Dock/Shoe sighs after she is finished with her speech. "She's right, but what can we do?" He asks.
"Maybe we can clean the river." Toph says in a deep voice from behind the crowd. Dock/Shoe's face lights up. "Ahh, maybe we can clean the river." He says acting like he came up with the idea on his own. The crowd cheers at this as they walk to their boats.
Dock/Shoe walks over to Katara smiling. "Thank you. You know you're not so bad for a water bender." He compliments her. "You wouldn't mind keeping that a secret by the way, would you?" Sokka asks.
Dock/Shoe smiles at them. "No problem. Keeping my mouth shut is a specialty of mine. Now my brother Shoe on the other hand…woo he's a blabber mouth." Dock/Shoe says. Sokka faceplams while Zian and Mizu cross their arms. "Dually noted." They both say in unison as they then look at each other surprised.
"So Dock, are you going to help us clean?" Katara asks him. Dock/Shoe waves her no. "No ma'am, I am going to get my other brother Bushy. He loves cleaning rivers." He says as he proceeds to take off his hat as another one unfolds under it into a flat circular hat. He smiles at them. "Alright, I'm Bushy. Let's get some river cleaning." Bushy/Dock/Shoe (Fun typing that) says as he puts his hands on his hips.
Aang walk to the front as he grins while pointing at him. "Aha I knew you were the same guy. The Shop owner and the boat guy." He says feeling confident. Bushy/Dock/Shoe just smiles as he tips his hat. "Oh you must be talking about my brothers Dock and Shoe." He says. Aang looks at him perturbed. "No I just saw you. You switched hats and called yourself a different name." Aang argues with him.
"Oh, you know who does that? My brother Dock." Bushy/Dock/Shoe says as he leans in close to Aang. "He's crazy." He says as he starts laughing before walking away. Aang looks at the him walk away he stands there while steam comes out of his ears. Mizu places a hand on his shoulder as she sighs. "Let it go Aang. Just accept and move on." She says not wanting to make a big deal out of this.
After some time maybe even a lot of hours the whole village along with the group help to clean the river by removing the muck and sludge in it and disposing it. As time passes the river becomes clearer and clearer until it starts to sparkle. After the hard work is finished and the river is clean and healthy again the group decide to say their farewells and head back to their camp.
That night
With the moon shining high in the sky, everyone is in their sleeping bags fast asleep and having sweet dreams. Everyone except for Zian who is staring up at the night sky while lying on his back in his sleeping bag. "Seems like a nice night, isn't it?" He says. "It sure is." Tui says who is lying next to him.
Zian smiles. "Tell me. Is the Painted Lady real?" He asks the moon spirit. "Maybe or maybe not. Either way life is better when it is filled with mystery." Tui responds vaguely. Zian rolls his eyes. "Alright then." He says as he goes to sleep. Tui looks at Zian as he smiles. "He really is proud of you." Tui says as he fades away.
Hey guys sorry for the long delay in this chapter was busy with exams and so I had to focus but don't worry I'm back and ready to write so be prepared for new existing chapters. As always thank you all so much for reading I really as always truly appreciate it. Thank you so very much hope to see you all in the next chapter. Bye.
