Hiccup and the others were making their way to the rendezvous point to meet up with the invasion force, but with the sun now they had to swim through a river in order to avoid detection. Unfortunately, the river they were on was heavily polluted, but that didn't seem to matter with the twins.
The twins were playing in the murky river without a care in the world and Fishlegs and Hiccup were attempting to capture some fish with no luck.
Eventually the twins climbed onto Barf and Belch, completely covered in muck.
"I think this river is polluted," said Tuffnut.
"But muck is good for the skin," Ruffnut smiled.
Astrid shook her head. "It's not muck its mad that's supposed to be good for your skin."
"It certainly explains why we have been able to capture anything," said Fishlegs.
"Looks like were going have to go somewhere else to get food," said Heather.
"We may be to get food over there," Ragnar pointed.
All of them looked up and saw a village in the distance, it looks like that it was say river town though why they would build a town on a polluted river was beyond their comprehension. Instead they focused on finding a place to hide their dragons, but that still left them with the problem of reaching the town.
"So how are we going to get to the other side, because there is no way am going to swim through that muck?" Snotlout asked.
"You all can just come with me," said a voice below them.
They looked over the cliff and saw an old man standing close to a boat. On top of his head he was wearing a red hat and he looked a little eccentric.
"My name is Doc, mind if I ask who you are?" he asked.
"We're from the Earth Kingdom colonies," said Astrid.
"Wow, colonials, hop on, I'll give you a ride into town," he said.
They soon got on his boat and began to sail towards the town.
"So why do you guys live on the river?" Heather asked.
"Because we're a fishing town," Doc answered as he moved his pole, forcing them to lower their heads to avoid getting struck by it. "At least that's how it was before the factory moved in."
They all turned their heads and saw a factory built into the side of a cliff and it was churning out smoke and muck into the river.
"The army makes their metal there, moved in a few years ago and started a gunk up our river," Doc explained. "And now our little village is struggling to survive."
They all looked at one another and the only one among them who wasn't surprised was Astrid. Hiccup especially can believe what he was hearing, the empire he used to know would never damage the environment of their own Empire like this.
Once they reached the town they immediately hopped out of Doc's boat.
"Thanks for the ride," said Hiccup.
They then began to make their way into town and found that things were far worse than they believed. They saw a lot of sick people sitting outside, mostly children and elderly.
"Look at this place, it's so sad," Heather whispered. "We have to do something to help."
Astrid looked at Heather. "Heather, I want to help these people as much as you, but we have a bigger mission to stay focused on."
Heather then marched up to Astrid. "These people are starving, but he would turn your back on them? I thought you were better than the rest of the Empire."
Astrid looked at her. "I don't want to turn my back, I'm just being realistic. We can't solve every problem in every time we come across. Besides, taking down the Emperor and could very well solve all these problems."
"Will you two keep it down," Ragnar hissed gesturing to the village. "Remember where we are?"
"I'm with Astrid," said Snotlout folding his arms. "Our mission has to come first."
"I guess," Heather sighed.
"Let's get what we need and get out of here," Hiccup suggested.
They then made their way to the nearest convenience store and rang the bell. To their surprise they found Doc standing there, but he was wearing a different hat a yellow one.
"Hey, Doc, you work here too?" Astrid asked.
"I'm not Doc, I'll Sho. Doc is my brother," he explained.
All of them just stared at him blankly, because apart from the hat he was wearing the same getup as Doc.
"But we just saw you, your even wearing the same clothes," Hiccup frowned. "The only difference is your hat."
"Doc works at the docks, that's why they call him Doc. And I work at the shop, that's why they call me Sho," Sho explained.
Hiccup shook his head. "I don't get it."
"Me neither," Sho shrugged. He then bent down below the counter and then pulled out a crate. "Now what can I get ya? I'll give you a special deal, if you live three fish I'll throw in a clam for free."
They looked down into the crate and looked a bit disgusted with what they saw. They examined the clams, saw that flies were flying around them, muck was coming out of the mouths and they smelled something terrible.
"We'll just take the fish," said Astrid as she picked out three of the freshest fish in the batch. Sho took the fish from her and placed them in a parcel. "Mind telling your brother that we need a ride back to shore."
Sho gave the parcel to Heather and then immediately bent down over the counter. A split second later, Doc emerged from out of nowhere.
"Hello, colonials," he said with his arms outstretched. "My brother says you need a lift."
He then jumped over the counter the stared at him as he walked off towards the docks. They shrugged and began making their way to the docks, but a young boy with a bad rash on his arm approached her.
"Can you spare some food?" he asked.
Heather bent down and open up the package, giving him one of the fresh fish they just bought. "I wish I could help more."
The child smiled at her and then ran off to one of the nearest houses. That's when Heather saw that he was giving the fish to his sick mother she smiled at him.
Later that night, everyone was gathered around a campfire. Hiccup and snotty were working together to remove to clean the polluted water for them to drink.
Astrid was going over the plans for the invasion, in fact it almost looked as if she was obsessed.
"Is something the matter," Hiccup asked as he gave her a cup of clean water.
"I'm just concerned that we will be able to reach the rendezvous point with the invasion in time," said Astrid shaking her head. "The eclipse will only last for eight minutes, which doesn't give a whole lot of time."
"The sooner we kick the Emperor off his throne are happier I'll be," said Snotlout as he leaned back.
"I think everyone will be happier when he's knocked off the throne," said Fishlegs looking back at the town. "I mean, how could the army do this to their own people? The Earth Kingdom hasn't done anything as close as this."
"I'm willing to bet that he just making it out is a small sacrifice," Hiccup assumed as he drank. "Besides the town is virtually small so who's going to know about it?"
"If we want to help these people, the best thing we can do is to get to the rendezvous point as quickly as we can," said Astrid looking up from her notes. "That means we have to leave first thing in the morning."
Heather just remain completely quiet and her thoughts turn to the village.
The next morning they discovered that their dragons weren't feeling too well.
"What's the matter Heather?" Ragnar asked as he approached her.
"I think our dragons are sick," said Heather.
"This is horrible," said Snotlout.
Fishlegs looked generally surprised. "I had no idea you cared so much for our dragons?"
"Of course I do, without them were going to have to walk all the way to the rendezvous point," Snotlout pointed out. Everyone then gave him dark looks. Snotlout then smiled at them innocently. "But I am also concerned for their safety."
"They could have gotten sick from being in the polluted water," Fishlegs concluded.
"They don't look that sick," Hiccup noted as he could tell they were breathing normally. He then looked at Toothless, looking slightly concerned. "You okay, bud?"
Toothless opened his mouth and they saw that his tongue was purple and soon the other dragons were opening their mouths and they were suffering from the same affliction.
"They're tongues are purple, that can't be good" Ragnar noted. He then looked at Heather. "Heather, can you heal them?"
"It looks like they need some medicine," said Heather examining the tongues. "We might be able to find the right of herbs in town."
Soon they returned back to the town and the place completely changed since yesterday. Everyone was on their feet working and the children were playing.
"Is it just me or does this place seemed different?" Ruffnut asked.
"Same town sitting on the polluted river," said Tuffnut.
"I think she means that everyone is a bit livelier," said Fishlegs.
"They're certainly happier," Ragnar agreed.
They then made their way to Sho's shop and approached the man.
"Hey, Sho what's going on with everyone today?" Hiccup asked curiously.
"Something amazing happened last night, food was delivered to our village by a mysterious and wonderful person," said Sho with a large smile. "The River Spirit Eir."
"Who?" Heather blinked.
"Eir," said Sho as he held out a small statue of a woman wearing a silk robe and her face was completely covered by a veil. "They say that she is a river spirit, who watches over our village in times of need, I always believed that she was just a legend until now."
"Well, this town certainly doesn't need our help," Snotlout smiled. "I mean they've got someone to help them out for them."
Astrid looked at Sho. "What we really need is some medicine for a few sick friends."
Sho eyes fell. "Medicine? Sorry, but all the medicine we have goes to the factory that's why there are so many sick people in our village."
"Looks like we have to stay another night so our dragons can rest," said Heather.
Astrid groaned in annoyance. "I hate it when you're right." She then looked at Sho. "You've got any more food to sell?"
Sho then immediately bent down beneath the counter and pulled out two fish.
"Would you like the one headed fish of the two-headed fish?" Sho asked showing a fish with two heads.
"Two-headed!" said Tuffnut grabbing the fish before anyone could stop them. Everyone else looked disgusted at him. "What? You'll get more for your money that way."
He then held out the fish towards them and the immediately grossed out, because flies were flying around it and it was spitting muck out of both of its heads.
Later that night at town, and mist began to pass over the village and the red robed woman with a veil began to glide over the water. She then stopped at one of the huts which contained many sick people.
She placed a hand on the first one she could reach and a ghostly glow covered him, she then began to do the same to the others healing them of their inflections. The young boy from the village was sleeping beside her mother when the strange woman healed his mother. With her job done and she began to make a way outside, but the boy couldn't help but follow her outside.
"Thank you, Eir," he said gratefully.
The woman turned out not to be Eir, but Heather in disguise. Then without saying a word she jumped into the river and vanished into the mist. The boy immediately rushed towards the edge the pier, but when he got there he found no trace of her.
Next morning Hiccup and the others found the town even livelier than they did that on the day before. They found Doc at the convenience store and he was busy cleaning the statue of Eir on the counter.
"Hi, Doc, is Sho around?" Astrid asked.
"Let me check," he said hand made his way to the back of the shop.
A split second later, Sho approached them. "Hey, there back again are ya?"
"We need more food," said Fishlegs placing a few silver pieces onto the counter. "Our friends are still sick and we can't leave until their better."
"Oh well," said Sho as he placed a few clams onto the counter, which was still covered in muck. "That's too bad. Maybe if you guys are lucky Eir will visit you in the night and heal your friends."
"And maybe she'll cook us a midnight snack and we'll all have a singalong," Snotlout scoffed.
"Yeah, maybe," Sho nodded. "You know last night she visited us again, healed most of our sick folks."
"Is that why this place seems festive?" Hiccup asked as he watched the townsfolk erecting a statue of Eir in the middle of the town.
"Yep, it's all because of Eir."
"Can you believe how much an entire village can be affected by one lady… I mean spirit?" said Heather in astonishment.
"I just hope that she returns every night or this place will go right back to the way it was," said Astrid dryly.
Heather looked at her. "Why would you say that? Look how much better off these people are."
"For now, but without her they wouldn't be able to fend for themselves," Astrid pointed out.
Ragnar nodded. "I hate to say it, but she's right. This is mostly a respect, if she doesn't come every single night that the town is going to end up back where it started."
"If she really wanted to help she could use her spirit magic to blow up that factory," said Snotlout.
Hiccup scratched the back of his head. "It is a bit strange. Normally when someone destroys the environment of the spirit, they usually demand vengeance. Yet the factory seems completely untouched."
Heather made her way towards the pier and looked on towards the factory which was still spewing smoke and dumping muck in the river.
It was late at night, and Heather waited until everyone was asleep. Once it was the middle of the night she got out of her sleeping bag and placed some leaves inside to make it look as if she was asleep. She then grabbed her costume and wore it, one she was all sorted she began making her way towards the river.
However, Ragnar stirred in his sleep and awoke, he looked up and saw Heather in the distance believing her to be Eir.
"It's her," he gasped.
Immediately got to his feet and covered his arrow with a headband. "Spirit Eir!"
Heather immediately grimaced and quickly ran off not wanting Ragnar to capture her. However, Ragnar used his Airbending in order to close the gap between the two of them.
"I don't wish to bother you, but our dragons are very sick and we're on a tight schedule!" Ragnar called.
Heather kept on running until she finally reached the river, but Ragnar was not giving up so easily.
"One of my friends is the great bridge between the spirit and the mortal realm!" Ragnar yelled.
With very little choice began forming his air scooter and began to skim across the river. Heather soon reached the village hoping that she could lose Ragnar in the streets, but he was proving to be quite stubborn.
She then decided to go beneath the floating river in order to lose him and it appeared to have worked. She finally reached the other side of the river and hid behind some cliffs. She took a moment to regain her breath, but then Ragnar landed directly in front of her and she quickly covered her face.
"My name is Ragnar and I'm an Airbender," he said revealing his arrow tattoo.
"Well, hello, young Airbender," said Heather trying to disguise her voice as best as possible. "I wish I could talk, but I'm very busy."
"Same here and that's why I'm talking to you," said Ragnar. He then looked at Heather suspiciously trying to get a good look at her beneath her veil and she did everything she could to deny him a look. "You know you are really pretty for a spirit. I don't get to meet too many spirits, but the ones I do meet not very attractive."
Heather's face immediately blushed, but she quickly regained control. "Thank you, but…"
"And you seem familiar too," Ragnar continued.
"A lot of people say that."
"No, you really do seem familiar," said Ragnar getting more curious.
"Look, I really should get going," said Heather and began to walk off.
Ragnar immediately suspected something and waved his hand unleash a powerful gust of wind. The wind went to beneath Heather's veil and blew it off. She then quickly tried to grab it, but Ragnar had already got a good look at her face.
"Heather?" Ragnar stared.
Heather sighed. "Hi, Ragnar."
"You're Eir? But how?"
"I wasn't at first, I was just trying to help the village," said Heather as she removed her veil. "But since everyone believed that was who I was anyway, I guess I kinda became her."
"So, you've been sneaking out of night," said Ragnar and then a thought appeared in his head. "Wait, are our dragons even sick?"
"They might be sick of the purple berries I've been feeding him, but other than that he's fine," said Heather innocently.
Ragnar shook his head. "I can't believe you lied to everyone so that you could help these people."
"I'm sorry, I know that I shouldn't have."
"I'm not saying what you did was wrong, but tomorrow we have to leave."
"Then it's a good thing there's one more thing that I have to do and I could use the help," said Heather.
They soon made their way over towards the factory and Ragnar was a bit dubious about the plan.
"You want to destroy the factory?" he questioned.
"Yes, Snotlout was just kidding, but he was right. Getting rid of this factory is the only way to help these people permanently."
They soon enter the factory and then to the place where they melted the metal. Heather started things off by slicing chains of containers of molten hot metal with her waterbending. Ragnar also assisted with dumping hot molten metal down into the facility and then he unleashed a powerful burst of air through the vents causing a slight rupture across the facility.
Heather made her way towards the windows and immediately began to bend the water outside, it smashed right through the windows and poured right into the facility. In no time at all the massive explosions erupted across the entire factory and soon everything came to a stop.
With their work done Ragnar and Heather ran outside before any of the guards could figure out what had happened. They then started to make their way back to the campsite feeling a little pleased about themselves.
"Remember we don't want to wake Astrid and the others," Heather whispered.
However, when they turn round the corner and saw that everyone was awakened looking at them accusingly.
"Hi, guys," said Heather awkwardly. "We were just out on a morning walk."
Astrid looked at her dubiously. "Oh, really? 'A morning walk?'" Astrid then immediately pulled out Heather's sleeping bag and dumped the leaves out of it. "I know that you're Eir, I know that you've been sneaking out at night and I know you've been lying about our dragons and been feeding them purple berries."
Hiccup then immediately pointed to the twins who stuck out their tongues revealing their purple tongues and they held out the purple berries.
"Heather what you did put our whole mission in jeopardy," said Astrid. "We're leaving right now!"
Heather then argue and walked off Hiccup then looked at Ragnar.
"So, how long were you on this?" Hiccup asked.
"Hey, I only found out this morning," said Ragnar honestly.
However, unbeknownst to them, the foreman in charge of the factory was walking out of the wreckage and was glaring down at the town. He believe that it was then that caused the destruction of the factory and he was about to make them pay.
Hiccup and the others were starting to pack when they heard something river water. The immediately looked over the cliff and saw soldiers and workmen from the factory riding on speedboats towards the town.
"What's going on?" Fishlegs asked.
"It looks like Empire soldiers are heading to the village," Hiccup noted.
Astrid narrowed her eyes at Heather. "What did you do?"
"I kinda destroy their factory," Heather winced.
"You what?" Astrid stared.
"Hey, it was Snotlout's idea," Heather pointed out.
"I was joking," said Snotlout.
Hiccup shook his head and looked at Heather. "Did you even think this through? The army is going to blame the villagers, they're heading there right now to get revenge."
"Well, what was I supposed to do?" Heather questioned.
"Leave," said Astrid strongly. "Do nothing!"
Heather then immediately turned towards her and looked at her firmly. "No! I will never ever turn back on people that need me! I'm going down to the village and do whatever I can."
Heather then rose to her feet, but a few seconds later everyone else did the same thing.
"We're with you," said Hiccup.
Heather smiled and nodded.
The soldiers soon reached the town and immediately round up everyone and the foreman was glaring at them.
"I thought we could live as neighbours in peace, but I guess I was wrong," he said. "You steal our food, our medicine and then you destroy our factory!"
"We didn't do any of that," said Doc poking his head out of the crowd, before lowering it.
"Yeah, Eir brought us food, she is the one who healed our sick not your medicine," said Sho doing the exact same thing as his brother.
The foreman looked at them sceptically. "Oh, right." He then held out one of the small statues. "The River Spirit, did it." He then turned to a container filled with food which hadn't army emblem on it. "And I suppose she drew the army emblem on your containers too."
He then tossed the statue smashing the container to pieces.
"This is a town of thieves and liars!" He then fired a fire blast burning down a house. "Where is your River Spirit now?" Everyone was now utterly terrified as the foreman glared at them all. "Were going to cleanse the world of this wretched village."
Then a few of the soldiers on the speeders immediately wrapped chains around the foundations of the houses pulling them into the river. They had also pulled several explosive barrels near to the port and immediately set them alight, but then a gust of wind blew them out. The soldiers were confused and immediately lit again only for the wind to blow it right out.
"Light it again!" the foreman demanded.
The soldiers lit on fire once more, but another gust of wind blew out the flames.
"Look at that," said a female soldier. "Where is it coming from?"
"I don't know," said a male soldier. "Something strange is going on here?"
Then they saw a massive cloud of mist coming from the mainland and they heard the sound of a roar. Slowly the mist began to consume the entire town with an eerie feeling. They also heard the sound of a flute being played.
"It's the River Spirit, she's coming," the young boy smiled.
The foreman immediately turned on him. "There is no River Spirit!"
The mist began to thicken and now they heard the sound of massive footsteps. Hence roof the sounds were actually Snotlout Earthbending and the dragons roaring from inside a cave. Fishlegs was just outside the cave blowing on a flute.
"What is that sound?" the female soldier asked.
"Maybe it is her."
Then suddenly within the mist they saw flames been unleashed and the mist began to part. The flames were being caused by Hiccup from within the mist and Heather herself was controlling the mist. When the mist parted Heather stood there wearing her Eir costume and then suddenly she began to skim across the water towards the town.
She then launched into the air and landed on the port and immediately began to advance towards the soldiers.
The foreman turned to two soldiers pushing them towards her. "Do something!"
The soldiers immediately drew their swords and carefully approached Heather, but unbeknownst to them Ragnar was clinging onto the bottom of the port. He then suddenly unleashed a massive burst of wind from the gaps blowing their headbands of and causing them to run off in fear.
"Stand your ground!" the foreman commanded.
Heather then began to approach the villagers and the soldiers immediately closed ranks. Heather then immediately came to a stop and moved her arms Waterbending the water beneath the speeders launching it into the air. She then sent them flying and they slammed into the cliff face opposite the town and then she began to raise a hand towards the soldiers.
The soldiers immediately ran off in fear leaving the foreman to deal with Heather completely alone.
"I'll take care of you myself," said the foreman as he took on a fighting stance.
The foreman and Heather had just stood there waiting for one of them to make the first move. The foreman then immediately spun around unleashing a wave of flames towards Heather and then spun around unleashing another wave of flames from his leg.
Ragnar quickly took in a deep breath and unleashed a powerful gust of wind beneath Heather launching her into the air and avoiding waves of fire. Ragnar then thrusted his hand forward unleashing another burst of air which destroys the port and set the foreman flying into the river.
The foreman quickly resurfaced and he turned around and saw Heather emerging from the river. "Leave this village and never come back!" she yelled dramatically.
The foreman immediately swam away as quickly as he could. One of the soldiers rode up towards him and lifted him onto his speeder they soon disappeared off into the distance.
Hiccup and the others were making their way to the town and they could hear the cheers of the villagers.
Heather then immediately jumped onto the port and Hiccup and the others soon climbed onto the port as well.
"I knew you'd come," said the young boy.
Doc then approached Heather. "Thank you."
"Eir you're the best!" a villager cried.
"Me and my brother Sho really owe you a lot," Doc smiled, but then the smile vanished. "Hey, wait a minute. I know you." Heather had failed to realise that during a little confrontation with the foreman that her veil had been ripped apart revealing the majority of the face. "You're not the River Spirit, you're that colonial girl."
"Yeah, you're the lady that gave me a fish," said the young boy.
"You've been tricking us," said Doc furiously. "You're a Waterbender."
"She's a Waterbender."
"How dare you act like our River Spirit!"
The villagers were now starting to get angry and was advancing towards Heather, but then Astrid placed herself between them and her.
"Maybe she is a Waterbender, but she was just trying to help you," said Astrid. "Because of her that factory won't be polluting your river and the army is gone. You should be thanking her, not criticising her."
Heather placed a hand on Astrid's shoulder. "Astrid, it's okay," she said as she removed what remained of her veil. "I shouldn't have acted like someone I wasn't and I shouldn't have tricked you, but I felt like I had to do something. It doesn't matter the River Spirit is real or not, because your problems are real and this river is real. You cannot wait around for someone to help you, you have to help yourselves."
"She's right," Doc agreed. "But what should we do?"
The twins had snuck into the crowd and began yelling from the back.
"Maybe we can clean the river," said Ruffnut.
"Yeah, then we can eat fresh fish every day," Tuffnut added.
Doc nodded. "Yeah. We can clean the river and then eat fresh fish."
The entire town looked at one another and then started to agree.
Doc then approached Heather. "Thank you. You know you're not so bad for a Waterbender."
"You wouldn't mind keeping that secret by the way would you?" Astrid asked.
"No problem, keeping my mouth shut as a personal specialty," Doc smiled. "My brother Sho on the other hand, he's a blabbermouth."
"Wonderful," said Hiccup.
Heather then looked at him. "So Doc are you going to help us clean?"
Doc shook his head. "No, ma'am. I'm going to get my other brother, Cle, he loves cleaning rivers," Doc smiled. Then suddenly he removed his hat and a straw hat replaced it. "All right, I'm Cle. Let's get some river cleaning done."
"Ha-ah, I knew it," Hiccup announced as he stepped forward. "I knew you were the same guy. You're the shop owner and the boat guy."
"Oh, you must be talking about brothers Doc and Sho," said Cle.
"No, I just saw you. You switch hats and call yourself a different name," Hiccup stared.
"Ooh, you know who does that my brother Doc," said Cle he then leaned in towards them. "He's crazy."
He then laughed and walked away leaving everyone completely bewildered.
For the rest of the day they began clean the river using their boats, nets and poles in order to get the gunk out of the river. Heather, Hiccup and Snotlout speeded up the process by using their Earth and Waterbending separating the muck from the water.
Later that night, while everyone was sleeping, Heather made her way towards the river which was now crystal-clear and smiled. She then looked up and to her amazement she saw a woman wearing a veil appearing in a thick mist.
Heather couldn't believe her eyes, because facing her was none other than Eir and she was looking at Heather with untold gratitude.
"Thank you," she said before she melted away into the mist.
Heather just stayed motionless for a few seconds and then smiled and decided to keep this little encounter her little secret.
