Splash
"Momo!"
Splash
"Oh Momo!"
Ruby watches in idle amusement as Aang dips beneath the murky water, evading his lemur once again. Hanging her legs off of the side of Appa's saddle, she glances back at Sokka, his line cast into the river. "Anything biting?" She asks, her stomach beginning to faintly protest the lack of food today. Beyond all the culture shock, that was by far the biggest adjustment. She was used to three meals per day, three Beacon Dining Hall meals per day. The food was good, and there was plenty of it, served in ample supply to keep the huntsmen and huntresses-in-training fed.
"No dice" Sokka says, pulling his line out of the water "I think the river's polluted, because otherwise my fishing skills are of the hook!" He exclaims with a grin "Get it? Like a fishing hook?" The rest of the group groans, including Aang as he climbs back on.
Everyone that is, with the exception of Ruby, who can't help but laugh.
Katara feigns a look of horror. "Did someone just laugh at Sokka's jokes?" She asks with put-on shock.
"Sorry, sorry" Ruby says, regaining control of her breathing following her laughing fit. "It just reminded me of something Yang would say. She likes stupid puns too."
Sokka pouts "I thought it was a pretty good joke." He mutters under his breath.
"Well anyway, it looks like we'll need to go somewhere else for food, assuming that fits into Sokka's master schedule" Katara states quite simply, and a near collective rumble from the group's stomach seems to confirm it.
Drawing out his comically large schedule, Sokka hems and haws over how much time they could spare, and suddenly finds Ruby peering over his shoulder. Their reading lessons hadn't been going well, persay, but she had picked up just enough of their writing to get by, when she wasn't receiving snarky comments from Toph that is. Something about being a traitor to the "can't read club". Ruby shakes her head, she was getting distracted again, and as she studies the schedule she finds that despite his obsessive allocation, it could actually be far more relaxed. "This is like when I tried to plan our perfect day out" She mutters to herself. With lessons learned from that fiasco, Ruby goes about quietly advising Sokka, careful not to injure his pride in front of the group. When all is said and done, they'd actually managed to free up around a day and a half, as long as they got up a little bit earlier that is.
Something told Ruby that in the end the schedule wouldn't be all that important though...
After setting Appa down in a clearing, the Gaang heads down to the docks with Ruby in tow, pleasantly surprised that the odor that had been hanging over the river was noticably clearer the closer they got to the village. As they approach the water, a boat approaches and Ruby can't help but find the man paddling it familiar, as he carries the same energy as the old man in Vale who seems to work a dozen different jobs.
"Howdy folks!" The man's voice rings out as he paddles up to shore "Name's Dock, you looking for a lift into town?"
With sidelong glance to Katara, who simply shrugs, Sokka is the one to answer "A lift would be great" He answers.
As they all climb aboard the rickety boat, Dock begins to paddle towards the floating village. They all keep their eyes on the town itself, save for Toph of course, and strangely enough, Aang. The Airbender is in fact hanging halfway off the boat, and nearly falls in until he's yanked back in by Katara, who raises a confused eyebrow. "What was that about? Did you see something in the water?" She asks.
"That's just it!" Aang replies, eyes wide "Look at the water!" He exclaims with a point.
"It's just water" Ruby replies in confusion, looking over the edge herself. "I don't get what the big deal is."
Katara however, picks up on it fairly quick "It is just water!" She realizes, looking into the nearly crystal clear depth. "But, just upstream it was filthy, how is it so clean?
"That's because of the Painted Lady" Dock answers, a proud smile on his face. "Yessiree she's our guardian spirit! Been really helping us this last week."
Aang looks to Katara, a brilliant excitement in his eyes. Another friendly spirit! And not one like Hei Bai he'd have to calm! Katara offers an encouraging smile in response, she knew how much angry spirits had discouraged him, seeing another aspect of the world fallen out of balance in his absence. "So what's this Painted Lady like?" Aang asks, eager to learn more about this mysterious patron of the town.
"Well the stories say that at night she walks across the river on a cloud of fog, she brings food and medicine, and cleans the gunk from the factory out of river with her spirit magic. We've got old statues of course, but some of the local kids think say they've seen her. They say her dress flows in the wind, and that her veil hides the most beautiful face you've ever seen, like it was sculpted from porcelain" The old boatman lets out a dreamy sigh.
Ruby can't help but chuckle at how enraptured Aang is, almost too caught up to notice when the boat pulls up to the dock. The bump of wood against wood shakes him out of his little revery, and they all thank Dock profusely as they climb up onto the decking. "So..." Ruby begins after a moment, a tone of genuine confusion in her voice, "Spirits are really real?" Although she came from a land where people unlocked the manifestation of their souls, spirituality was a little out there to Ruby.
"Of course they are" Aang answers readily, surprised that she didn't already know that, even if he should have known better than to be surprised by anything she says anymore. "Are they not real where you come from?"
"No, they aren't" Ruby answers before pausing thoughtfully "Or at least, I don't think they are?"
"The world must feel so lonely." Aang notes sadly. Ruby falls silent at that. If she had to pick between bloodthirsty Grimm or guardian spirits, she would certainly pick the latter.
After buying some fish, and learning the extent (or so they thought) of Dock/Shoe's eccentricity, Team Avatar made their way back across the water to the clearing where they had set up camp. According to the schedule, they probably should have kept flying. However, the information that they had learned posed a new topic for debate. Aang had a plan.
"I think we should stay the night, try and meet the painted lady."
Sokka wishes he could say he was surprised, but he couldn't. "Aang we don't have time, we need to keep moving, the invasion is coming in just a few weeks, we need to be ready and waiting."
"Actually" Ruby pipes up "We do have time, remember?" Rebalancing their schedule and optimizing their route had bought them some extra time.
"We shouldn't rely on that, there could still be a storm, or we could run into trouble" Sokka counters "Those could delay us too much, we need the buffer."
"But she's a spirit Sokka, and a good one at that!" Aang protests "I haven't been able to access the Avatar State since Azula struck me with lightning, what if she can help me get back in touch with it?"
"I think Aang is right Sokka" Katara finally weighs in. "We have some spare time, and who knows how much this could help? At the very worst, it's a night wasted, but that's still more rest for Appa, and that means he can fly longer tomorrow."
"Hate to agree with Sugar Queen, but Twinkle toes is right" Toph cuts in "I'm not into the whole spirity thing, but he's gonna need to be on his A-game for the invasion, and if that's something this Painted Lady can fix, then we need to stay."
Desperate for someone to take his side, Sokka looks to Ruby, pleading, but is only met with a shrug. "Sorry, don't know much about spirits, and if this Avatar State thing is so important, isn't it worth trying?"
Knowing he'd been beaten, Sokka grumbles and returns to his schedule, starting work on back-up plans. Feeling as though she'd betrayed him in some way, Ruby sits down next to him, and looks over the maps. "So tell me about this invasion plan."
Sokka's mood instantly brightened.
Later that night, long after the sun had set and the village had gone to sleep, Team Avatar stayed up, eager to meet this guardian spirit, this Painted Lady. Aang and Katara were waiting in the village while Sokka and Ruby waited on the far coast and Toph held down the fort.
It's around midnight when Sokka finally sees something. She was stood on the coast, and true to Dock or Shoe or whoever's description, the figure was certainly pretty, even from the back. A long, flowing black dress and a farmers hat with a veil, no doubt this was the spirit they were looking for. As Sokka approaches, the figure turns to him, and their eyes lock.
Sokka is many things, a brilliant analyst, a talented planner, a dependable leader. But in his heart, he's also a lovesick boy who's had two very promising relationships taken from him. And as he takes in the features of the woman in front of him, he can only see two things, the only two things that matter to the irrational part of his brain. Blue eyes, and white hair. Despite the fact that he'd held her in his arms when she gave up her mortal life. Despite all the physical differences besides her hair and her eyes. Despite the fact that it's ridiculous and impossible, Sokka looks at her and her name comes to his lips.
"Yue" He whispers, eyes wide, before rushing to embrace her.
Imagine his surprise when he finds himself on his back a moment later, a foot on his chest and sword pointed down at him. "What did you just call me?" The voice asks, icy cold, and most certainly not the warm tone he'd come to associate with Yue. As he struggles to regain his bearings, her eyes lock with his again, and he can finally see her face beyond the veil. Her features, beyond the obvious of course, couldn't be more different from Yue's. She's too pale, her face too round, and her eye is streaked with an old scar.
"I-i um" Sokka stammers, trying to find some way to talk himself out of this, especially out of the sharp end of that sword, but nothing comes to mind.
Imagine his surprise when Ruby comes to his rescue, tackling the girl to the ground.
Better yet, imagine his surprise when rather than pinning her down, or trying to hit her, Ruby instead pulls her into a crushing hug.
Or even beyond that, imagine his surprise when the hostile face he'd just been staring into melts into a warmth and sort of happy resignation as the woman wraps her own arms around Ruby.
"I missed you too, you dolt"