A/N:

Hello all!

It's been years since I've wrote a new story, so bear with me for the first couple chapters, it's going to take a bit for me to get back into the swing of things. I also have not written anything from this universe before, but I am absolutely in love with the Gaang and their adventures, so here we are!

This is set right before the Painted Lady episode (3x3) but some things happen prior and during this episode that send the usual canon plot a little off course, so I suppose this could be considered an AU. The first few episodes will also be setting up the story and getting Katara's Painted Lady actions started before Zuko and the Blue Spirit come into the picture, so be patient for our fire prince's introduction.

I'll add another A/N at the end of the chapter explaining some more things that I feel might need some more details. I may even go back and reword bits of this first chapter once I've wrote another chapter or two.

Let me know what you all think!

Kim

9/1/22 Hello again! Rewrote some, changed some minor wording. :)

Katara cursed under her breath, darting down the alleyway to her right.

Surely that was fast enough, she thought to herself. I've got to lose them, or Spirits know what'll happen.

The young water bender stumbled to a halt as she reached the end of the alleyway.

Sokka and Aang just had to explore the weird metal factory...

Footsteps thundered, alarmingly close, and she scrambled to take in her surroundings. She was desperate to find something that she could use to fight off her pursuers.

She reached out, searching for any trace of her element.

The smallest amount of water called out to her from inside the building to her right, though she could tell it was badly polluted. The river that ran nearby was just out of reach.

I need to start paying more attention when we're flying on Appa...she thought to herself.

Katara could have sworn that they were somewhere past Crescent Island where Avatar Roku's temple was located, but she wasn't sure.

She pulled what little water she could from the source, watching it come out a small pipe sticking out of the roof. She formed it into a ball and held it close to her.

The steps grew even louder and she pushed herself close against the wall, hoping the crates would be enough to hide her from the soldiers.

What good would this small amount of water do anyway? she thought forlornly.

It was barely enough to form a water whip, assuming she could prevent a fireball from evaporating it.

Seconds passed and her heart beat violently in her chest, waiting for the men to call out in victory from discovering her hiding place.

Seconds became minutes and it was then she realized, she had been so caught up in her anxious thoughts that the soldiers must have passed the alley and continued further on.

~0~

A week had passed since Katara had become separated from the others. She'd spent the first few days in a panic, searching the surrounding woods and staring out over the open air above the water, searching for any sight of Appa or her friends. It was at the end of the third night that she'd given up, deciding they were long gone or captured by the Fire Nation.

In the beginning, she had attempted to head east as to not put herself deeper into the Fire Nation, but that seemed to only put her in close proximity to more soldiers and ships. So, she had made the decision to head back to where she had originally gotten separated from her group.

Katara slung her pack over her shoulder, having just picked up the camp. She was running low on supplies, having only enough to last her up through the next day or so. Perhaps she could find another town and pick up some odd jobs.

Adjusting her new Fire Nation clothes - a deep red top that only had one thick strap and bared her midriff and a matching red skirt that fell just below her knees - she retied the darker red, triangle shaped cloth around her neck to hide her mother's necklace. Since she was separated from her group, she did not want to risk taking it off and losing it.

She headed through the woods, thankful that they weren't thick like the woods leading into the swamp where she and the others had met the swampbenders. The thought of her friends sent a tightness through her heart.

I wonder where they are...she mused to herself. I hope they were able to escape.

It's too close to the solstice and the comet for Aang to be captured.

Katara continued to trudge through the forest, deep in thought.

After fifteen minutes had past, she felt something pull at her bending.

A river, perhaps?

Something was different though… the water didn't feel...normal.

A small creek came into view.

Can that even be considered a creek?

The "creek" in question was a small path of trickling water. It flowed down the hill, emptying out close by, she assumed.

Surely that wasn't enough for her to sense…

The wind stirred and Katara crinkled her nose at a strange smell.

What is that?

She followed the creek further down the slight hill.

Eventually, she discovered where it went.

The trickle emptied into a massive river…if you could even call it that anymore.

It was filled with odorous thick sludge, so much in fact you almost couldn't tell it was water.

Katara stared out across the river, marveling at the pollution.

A factory across the way had massive clouds of thick, black smoke coming out of its chimneys and two large, metal pipes pumped what she assumed was waste from whatever the factory was producing.

She frowned, feeling bad for the fish in the river and any people that lived near it.

No wonder she hadn't been able to find any sign of animals when she'd scouted the area. It was good to know that her scouting wasn't as poor as she'd thought.

Sokka had always been a bit better at that kind of stuff.

She turned her gaze to the left, finally noticing a village standing in the middle of the filth.

A small dock was stationed a ways down the steep shoreline, and Katara decided it was as good as a chance as any to restock on supplies.

Not that she had much choice, anyway.

Katara made her way down the river, seeing a mass of... something... anchored to the village's tiny dock.

Once she arrived, she saw an older man rustling around in a barrel.

The mass she had seen from a distance appeared to be two long rafts fashioned with stalks of bamboo and woven together. A few dirty bamboo poles laid on the dock and she wondered if that was how they moved them.

"Well hello there!"

The man popped his head up, hands reaching to adjust his bright red hat. It was so precariously balanced on top of his nearly bald head, it was a miracle he was even able to keep it on in the first place.

"What can I do for you, deary?" He grinned, showing a wide gap between his two front teeth. "Are you a colonial?"

Katara fidgeted a bit nervously under his gaze, used to her elder brother or Aang doing most of the talking.

Remembering she was in Fire Nation red, she bobbed her head.

"Yes.. I've seemed to lost my friends and family that I was traveling with."

"Well, my name's Dock," he hopped onto the raft, not seeming to mind as it swayed and bobbed in the water. "I can give you a ride to our village if you'd like!"

Dock was definitely a quirky man, noting the irony of his name. Katara forced a smile to her nervous expression.

"Yes please," she stepped gingerly onto the raft, cringing at the stench of the water.

"Believe it or not, we're a fishing town!"

Dock began swinging the long bamboo pole from one side of the boat to the other, flinging bits of sludge around as he prodded the water to slowly move them closer to the platformed town.

"Or, we were before the Fire Nation factory moved in," he grunted as he moved the pole back to the other side. "They use that one to produce their metals and all the byproduct gets pumped into our river."

Dock gestured with a bony finger to the building she'd noticed earlier.

Katara stared across at the large metal plant, wondering why they would be so careless. Surely the people that worked in the factory would live nearby.

Dock and Katara reached the small fishing village after a minute or two and as Katara disembarked, Dock tipped his red hat to Katara with a toothy grin.

"If you need anything, be sure to check out our village's market!" He said cheerily. "We have a little bit of everything!"

Katara smiled politely at the man. "Thanks again for the ride."

Katara took in the small fishing village around her. The entire village was on a wooden platform, with many long stilts supporting a variety of stalls for businesses and shops. The main area of the village was set up in a rather strange way, as if it had been added to little by little as an after thought. Small houses surrounded the village in a half circle, with narrow walkways connecting them to the main portion of town. The wood looked waterlogged and slimy, probably from the polluted river.

Despite it's disarray, Katara had to admit she was in awe, as she hadn't seen anything like this in her travels.

The next thing that drew her attention were all the stares from the townsfolk. She figured it wasn't often they had visitors, especially ones that looked like her. They looked just as rundown, if not worse. The children and elderly looked dangerously thin and malnourished. Young adults seemed to be a scarcity in the town.

Forcing herself to ignore the curious stares, she walked down the narrow walkway to the main portion of the shops. She stopped at a small stall first, seeing a few clothes hanging up, the rest laying in heaps around the shop.

"Hello?" She called tentatively, not seeing anyone.

A frail older lady made her way out of the back of the shop, surprised to see her.

"Hello," she shuffled to the front, eyeing Katara suspiciously. "Can I help you with something?"

The girl offered the elder lady a smile. "Well, my name is...June, I'm a colonist from the Earth Kingdom. I seem to have lost my family that I was traveling with, and I wondered if I could help you for a few copper coins."

When the lady didn't seem interested, Katara continued. "I'm pretty good with a needle and thread!"

"I'm sorry my dear," the woman said. "I don't have the money to pay for any help right now."

"Could you offer me a room to stay in for the night instead? I'd be more then happy to sew or fix whatever you need me to."

After a few moments, a slight smile crossed her face. "I'm Akira. It sounds like we have a deal, Miss June."

Katara and Akira chatted a bit more before Akira decided to put her to work.

"I'll have you run a few errands first. I don't like leaving my shop unattended during the day and lots of other vendors have been closing earlier than usual to tend to their sick children, so if you wouldn't mind."

"Of course," Katara said, taking the satchel Akira was holding out for her. She felt a bit strange, giving the lady a fake name, but she knew Katara would have been a dead giveaway for her waterbender heritage.

As if my olive skin isn't a dead giveaway already…

"There is a note inside with what is going where. You can ask around if you aren't sure where to go. Everyone knows everyone around here."

With that, Akira turned and went to take a seat in a rickety rocking chair seated in the back half of her shop.

Katara dug through the satchel, shifting through a few various sized tunics and pants, finally pulling out the note in question.

Tunic with red trim...Noa

Tan and red vest...Xu

Children's tan and red tunic...Pepper

The list went on, occasionally having small symbols scrawled next to the names, and Katara wondered if the symbols corresponded with the person's job.

Tucking the list back into the satchel, she put the strap over her shoulder and began to walk around.

Noa was the easiest to find, as the thin middle aged man called out to her the moment she got a stone's throw away from Akira's shop.

"You there! Do you have my tunic?"

Katara walked over to him with a small, hesitant smile. "I might, what's your name?"

He told her his name and was kind enough to point her in the direction of Pepper, the mother that lived close by, also a stop on her list.

After delivering Noa's tunic, she walked down the next pathway to the second groupings of houses.

After approaching the third house, she knocked on the door.

"Pepper? My name is June, I have Akira's tunic to deliver to you."

She fidgeted uncomfortably after a few moments had passed and no one came to the door.

"Okay..." she called, mostly talking to herself. "I'll leave your child's tunic right here..."

She placed it down on the cleanest part of the porch and had began to walk away when a small boy opened the door, peering outside with wide eyes.

"Hi," she said gently, from a safe distance away. "Is your mommy home?"

The boy opened the door a little further and stepped out onto the porch to grab the tunic. Katara decided he didn't look older then perhaps six. His frame was tiny from malnourishment and his dark brown hair was getting long and wild.

"Yes, but she's very sick. Do you got medicine?" He asked, staring hopefully at the elder girl.

The sorry state of the boy -and apparently his mother - sent a pang through Katara's heart.

"No, I'm sorry sweetie, I don't have any medicine."

His face fell and it left him looking even younger then before, if that was even possible.

"Do you have any food?"

Katara's stomach grumbled at the mention of food and she fished through her own small pack she had been wearing with the satchel. She only had a few pieces of jerky left and a couple handfuls of nuts.

"I have some I can give you, but it's not much."

She fished out two strips of the jerky and a handful of nuts and offered it to the boy, who took it eagerly.

"Thanks, lady!"

He poured the food into his tunic and scurried back inside, calling out to his mother gleefully.

Katara's heart broke for the young boy, it was a shame she was in such a bad state. The whole village seemed that way...

~0~

After a few more deliveries, Katara decided that the town's shops were in fact, organized into groups. The fresh vegetables- what little they had at least- the fish, the grains and rice were on one of the larger platforms, while all the clothing, antiques and other odds and ends were situated on the other platform.

Katara approached the stand, noticing a little bell stationed on the middle of the table.

"Dock?" Katara asked, noticing the familiar tufts of hair and vest. "You work here too?"

The man spun around, a grin plastered on his face.

"I'm not Dock, I'm Xu. Dock's my brother."

"Really? You're wearing the same clothes, the only difference is your hat..."

"Dock works on the docks, that's why they call him Dock. I work in the shops, that's why they call me Xu!" he explained with the same grin. "Are you here to buy some fish? If you buy three fish, I'll throw in a clam for free!"

Xu pulled up a tray and Katara had to resist the urge to cover her nose. The clams all looked and smelled sickly and were oozing that same gunk from the river. The fish that were situated next to them looked even worse, if it was possible. One fish even had two heads!

"Uh...no thank you, Xu," Katara said politely. "I have your vest here from Akira."

"Okay! If you insist!" Xu had just began to turn back around when it seemed he realized what else she had said.

"Oh! My vest!"

Katara set it down on the table, watching the man curiously. She wasn't sure what to think about the strange old man. She assumed it was possible that they were twins, but for some reason she didn't think this was the case.

Perhaps Akira would know about Dock/Xu.

Xu had picked the vest up off the table with a flourish, managing to knock over something in the process. He didn't seem to notice, holding it up to inspect it.

"It looks perfect! Now I can give my brother this old one! Payback for all the hand-me-downs over the years!" He grinned maniacally. "Thank you..." he trailed off and Katara realized she hadn't told this 'brother' her name.

"June," she shouldered the satchel with a introductory nod. "I'm just helping out Akira as I pass through."

"Ah, a traveler?"

Katara rubbed the back of her arm, not sure how to explain her predicament.

"Something like that."

She glanced down, suddenly noticing the small figurine that had been knocked off the table. Katara stooped down to pick it up.

"Ah, you found my Painted Lady statue, thank you," he said.

"Painted Lady?" She asked curiously as she stood back up. Katara turned the figurine face up in her hands and studied it.

The figurine was a lady in a long, tan shaw with a matching tan hood. A thin strand of cord decorated the outfit, bordering the top of the shaw and coming together in the front to wrap around a scallop shell. Long, tapered scarlet lines ran horizontal across both her shoulders, under her cheekbones and above her jawline. The same red color was painted across her eyelids and followed the natural curve of her browbone, sloping down the sides of her nose, stopping just before the tip. The color continued on her lips and spread out to evenly coat her chin. A large, wide brimmed hat, similar to a conical hat, covered the majority of her face when looking at her from above. A crescent moon glowed on her forehead, the points pointing towards her hairline.

After a moment, Katara set it back down on the table and Xu scooped it up, beginning to polish it with a piece of cloth.

"She's a river spirit that protects and helps our town in times of need. She's a part of our town's lore, too."

"Hmmm," Katara murmured quietly. "I haven't heard of her before."

Xu shrugged before placing her back down on the table. "I wouldn't expect you to, she hasn't been seen in almost a century! After the Avatar disappeared and the war began, people thought she abandoned all the towns here on the Jang Hui river."

Katara thought about what Xu said for a few moments.

"Thank you for telling me about her," she readjusted her satchel. "I probably should get back to Akira now. I'm sure I'll see you later to pick up some more supplies."

Xu waved at the girl before going back to doing...whatever it was he was doing before.

Katara made her journey back to Akira's, glancing back over her shoulder once to see Xu having a full blown conversation with thin air.

Katara cocked an eyebrow before turning back, shaking her head.

Interesting…

"Akira?" She looked around at the merchant's stall, surprised to see woven bamboo walls rolled down blocking three of the four walls of the building. Katara peered around to the backside of the stall, noticing a small plank-pathway laying between her stall and what she assumed was her house.

After a moment's hesitation, Katara had walked between Akira's stall and the empty one on it's right and took a tentative step onto the long plank that connected the two buildings. The wood beneath her foot bowed and Katara gulped as she noticed that the three boards were fasted to each other, but weren't fastened to the wooden platforms that supported the town.

Katara quickly strode across the platform, attempting to stay light on her feet.

Once she had reached the other side, she allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief. Perhaps the elderly lady would let her fix that in the morning.

"Akira?" She called out for a second time, this time knocking on the door into the home.