27

Kagemi rested her head on her knee as she sat on the roof of one of the outdoor hallways in the palace. Her eyelids were lowered slightly as she hugged her knee closer to herself. Her other leg was flat against the roof tiles. She closed her eyes as she sighed. She reached up a clawed hand to her face, her fingers going to the strange crack-like veins that were beginning to form around her dark eyes. When she pulled her hand away, she was able to bend a little bit of shadow out of it, removing part of the darkness that had formed on her skin. She stared as she turned the shadow into a small, harmless black ball, turning it over and over in her hands. She released the shadow from her hold and let it dissipate in the sunlight as she jumped down from the roof and going into the hallway.

As she reached the end of it, she went into the first room she found, and looked around for an object with a reflective surface. The room she was in was full of dust and old books that had no title on their covers. She didn't care enough about the books as she went past them towards the well-made bed that rested on the wall opposite the door. She went over to the nightstand next to the bed and pulled out a small, hand-held mirror and held it up so she could see her face.

She reached up with her other hand and used her shadow bending to get rid of the black, crack-like veins that had formed around her eyes. Once the blackness was gone, she looked her face over in the mirror, seeing no remnants of it. She smirked at her success and put the mirror down on the bed, walking out of the room. She paused for a moment, sniffing the air, recognizing an odd scent that was an old brand of perfume. She looked around and saw that, on the bedroom's vanity table, there was a small, glass bottle of the very substance she had smelled. She looked curiously at the old, title-less books resting on a desk on the wall opposite the vanity and went over to it, picking up the red-colored one and opening it to the first page.

—Monday, May 13th, early morning

My baby woke me up again this night, or, maybe I should say very early this morning. I got up, waiting for him to stop kicking, but the night air was chilly, so I simply decided to go to the library until he stopped. I reread one of my favorite stories, The Man and the Sun. I don't know how often I've read that particular tale, or how much I can't wait to tell the story to my baby, but I know I've read it enough to memorize every word.

Kagemi quirked an eyebrow at the diary entry. She flipped through a few pages until she saw a clue as to who the person was that had written this.

—Thursday, February 4th, late afternoon

Today, we celebrated Zuko's first birthday. Iroh and I worked hard to throw the most extravagant party for him, and he seemed to be the most delighted with the candles we had put on his cake. I wish I could plant that picture of his smiling face into my memory forever, he's such a sweet boy. Ozai was, unfortunately, too busy to attend, but he made sure to get Zuko a present, it was—

Kagemi shut the book, having no interest in reading the diary of the former Fire Lady. She put it back down and left the dusty old room. In the back of her mind, but not far back enough to be Hoshiko's thoughts, she curiously wondered what that room was, and why Fire Lady Ursa's belongings were in it. She shrugged it off as she walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Kotaro looked over the side of the saddle he, Sokka, Katara, and Toph rode in as Appa trudged through a murky, and very mucky river. Aang was in the water of the river, playing a game with Momo. He would call out the lemur's name, and dive under the water before the lemur could get to him. Kotaro held his nose the entire time, for the river smelled of every pollutant he could ever name, and maybe some he had never heard of. It smelled terrible.

He grimaced as Aang jumped up, covered in the disgusting water into the saddle. "Hey guys, I think this river's polluted." He used air bending to get the muck off of him, and it flew off onto everyone else. Kotaro groaned, and almost retched at the way his clothes now reeked of the pollutants. Aang quickly blew the muck off of them, but the scent still remained.

"That might explain why it smells so terrible." Kotaro said, covering his nose.

"It doesn't smell that bad." Katara said.

"Your sense of smell isn't ten times stronger than the average human." Kotaro said with a small glare.

"And it explains why I can't catch a fish around here." Sokka said as he fished off the back of Appa's saddle. "Because, you know, my fishing skills are," He pulled up his fishing hook, "Off the hook! Get it? Like a fishing hook!"

"Too bad your skills aren't on the hook." Toph said, everyone let out a small laugh. Sokka scowled and put his fishing hook away, not bothering to fish anymore.

"It looks like we'll need to go somewhere else to get food." Katara said, she gave her brother a dry look as he rolled out a large, multi-colored schedule scroll. "Assuming that'll fit into Sokka's master schedule."

"Hmm…" Sokka looked over the schedule thoughtfully, "It's doable, but that means only two potty breaks today." Kotaro rolled his eyes.

"Hey, maybe we can get food there." Aang said, pointing to what looked like a small village on the water.

Once they found a good place to hide, Aang had Appa crouch down and he pulled up a grass camouflage over his head, but his horns still stuck out. He smiled.

"Now you look like a little hill with horns." He said, "Bye, buddy!" He went back to the others, not seeing how Momo climbed under his own grassy camouflage beside Appa.

"I don't feel anything." Toph said as they approached the shore of the river, "Where's this village?"

"It's in the middle of the river." Kotaro said, pointing it out.

"Sure is!" A voice said, they turned to see an old man on a gondola, "My name's Doc. Mind if I ask who you are?" The man, Doc, seemed genuinely friendly towards them, and not intimidating in the way they expected.

"We're, um, from the Earth Kingdom colonies." Katara lied.

"Wow, colonials!" The man said, he turned his head slightly and laid eyes on Kotaro, "And a Shinjun, too! We don't get too many of your kind around here." Kotaro shrugged, "Hop on, I'll give you a ride into town." They took him up on his offer and stepped onto his gondola, letting him bring them into town.

"Why do you guys live on the river?" Katara asked as they rode along.

"Because we're a fishing town." Doc said, bringing his pole that he used to guide the boat over their heads to bring it to the other side.

"That's actually how a lot of fishing villages are, Katara." Kotaro said, "They live on the water so they don't have to go too far from home to get the fish they need."

"That's right!" Doc said, impressed by the Shinjun's knowledge, "That's exactly how it was, at least, before the factory moved in." As he spoke, they looked to see a Fire Nation factory off in the distance, with tall, black smoke stacks rising up from it. "Army makes their metal there. Moved in a few years ago and started gunking up our river. Now, our little village is struggling to survive." Aang and Katara shared a sad glance as they came up to a small, empty dock and they were dropped off. Kotaro pulled Toph up onto the dock, and she groaned slightly at the wooden surface she stood on. She could see on wood just fine, but she just wished she was on earth instead.

"Thanks for the ride!" Aang said to Doc, waving goodbye as they walked through the village. Everywhere they turned, they saw people who were miserable. They lied around the outside of their homes, with horribly pale looks on their faces. There was no exception among the people in their conditions, every place Kotaro turned, he saw elderly couples, young men and women, even children, who looked like they were waiting for death to come.

"Look at this place…" Katara murmured, seeing everything Kotaro saw, "It's so sad…" She turned to her friends, "We have to do something to help."

"No, we can't waste our time here." Sokka said, "We have a bigger mission we need to stay focused on. These people are on their own!" Katara scowled at her brother, angered by his words as he walked away. She went up to him and grabbed his shoulder to get his attention.

"These people are starving!" She said, "But you turn your back on them? How can you be so cold and heartless?"

"I'm not turning my back!" Sokka retorted, "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!" Kotaro inhaled a sharp breath through his nose and covered Sokka's mouth with his hand.

"Hey, Blabbermouths!" He hissed at them, "It might be a good idea to be a little bit quieter when we talk about taking out the Fire Lord." Sokka moved Kotaro's hand away from his mouth and looked at his sister.

"Come on, Katara, be reasonable about this." Sokka said, "You know our mission has to come first."

"I guess so…" Katara said reluctantly, looking away from him.

"Let's just get what we need and go." Aang said, smiling at the resolved conflict.

"Yeah, the sooner we get out of here, the better." Kotaro said, covering his nose with his hand. They walked around the village, and finally, they came to a place with a pair of fish skeleton jaws at the front of its grassy roof. As they came up to the front, they saw a man whose back was turned to them. Aang rang a small bell on the desk and the man turned around, and they saw a familiar face.

"Hey, Doc." Sokka greeted, "You work here, too?"

"I'm not Doc." Doc said, "I'm Xu. Doc's my brother." Kotaro gave the man an odd look.

"But we just saw you." Aang said, "You're even wearing the same clothes. The only difference is your hat."

"Doc works on the docks," Doc/Xu said, "That's why they call him Doc. And I work in the shop, that's why they call me Xu." He smiled at them.

"…I don't get it." Aang said.

"Me neither." Doc/Xu said.

"I think this river's water has gone to his head." Kotaro whispered to Toph, who nodded in agreement.

Doc/Xu dove under the table and came back up with a box filled with disgusting fish and clams. "What can I get you?" Kotaro grimaced, holding his nose at the foul odor of the fish and clams, "Hey, I'll give you a special deal! If you buy three fish, I'll throw in a clam for free!" Sokka, wary of the clams, reached down and pushed on one, watching as brown gunk spilled out of it. He shuddered in disgust.

"We'll just take the fish." He said, picking up three fish and handing them to Doc/Xu to have them wrapped up, "Mind telling your brother we need a ride back to shore?"

Doc/Xu handed the fish to Kotaro, then dove under the table again, coming back up with his Doc hat.

"Hey colonials!" He greeted, "My brother says you need a lift." He jumped over the counter and they followed him. As they left, Kotaro felt someone pulling on his pant leg and looked down to see a little boy with a big scar on his shoulder.

"Can you spare some food?" He asked in the politest tone he could manage. Kotaro looked down at the young man sympathetically, and then took out a fish from the ones they had bought.

"Here." He said, he handed it to the young boy, who smiled at him, "I wish there was more I could do." The boy said nothing, thanking him with a deep bow, then running off to a small hut away from the shop. Kotaro saw that the fish wasn't for him, but for his mother, who lay sick in bed. She smiled at her son, putting a hand on his shoulder when he showed her the fish. Kotaro looked at the two sadly before walking away, following the others.

"Ach! Hey!" Kotaro held his nose as Toph purposely brought the gunk she had bended out of the water to help purify it near his nose. "Get that disgusting goop away from me!" Toph laughed as she brought over to a pile where she was placing the pollutants while the clean water was being sent to Katara from Aang and into a pot where they were purifying the water further and boiling it as they were cooking the fish they had brought. Kotaro glared at Toph and got up, walking over to Katara to get some water to drink. Sokka also came over, going over his schedule as he got his own water.

"Our detour into town today has completely thrown off our schedule." Sokka said as he went over it, "It's gonna take some serious finagling to get us back on track." He rolled out the schedule completely and laid it on the ground to get a better look at it.

"Finagle away, O schedule master." Toph said mockingly as she went over to Katara to get some water for herself, as did Aang.

"Well, for starters," Sokka began, "It looks like we'll have to wake up forty three minutes earlier every day."

"Forty three?" Kotaro asked, why so specific?

"Look, we only have a few weeks to get to the Fire Lord in time for the invasion and the eclipse!" Sokka said, he pointed to the end of his schedule, "Which, by the way, only lasts for eight minutes." He pointed to a spot further up on his schedule, specifically to the day they were on now, "And we just lost a whole day, so if we wanna make up time and stay on schedule, we have to wake up early!"

"Well, I'm not waking up early." Toph said, linking her fingers behind her head and laying down on the ground.

"Or we could just cut out all of our eating breaks." Sokka said pointedly.

"What?" Aang whined.

"No way!" Katara said.

"Not happening." Kotaro said.

"Forget it." Toph said, jumping up to a sitting position. Sokka hummed thoughtfully.

"I got it!" Sokka said, "How's this: from now on, we'll take food breaks and potty breaks at the same time!" Everyone grimaced at his idea, "Hey, it might be gross, but it's efficient. Either way, we have to leave here first thing tomorrow morning." He picked up his schedule and rolled it back up.

Kotaro lay on his back, looking up at the night sky, one hand behind his head, the other resting on his chest. He should have been asleep a while ago, but since he lost his Hoshiko, he had suddenly become an insomniac, and he found it difficult to sleep.

"Kotaro…?" A voice whispered, Kotaro turned to see Aang was still awake, "Are you awake?"

"Yeah," He said. Aang turned so he lay on his side, looking over at the wolf Shinjun.

"Do you remember when we were talking on the Fire Nation ship about Hoshiko?" Aang asked, Kotaro's face darkened slightly at the mention of her name, but he nodded.

"Yes, I remember." He said, "What about it?"

"When I told you about Kagemi coming out, you said something." Aang said, "I'm not sure, but I thought you said she might not be dead."

"That's what I said." Kotaro replied, "Aang, have you ever met Kagemi?" Aang shook his head.

"No, I don't think so, at least." He said. Kotaro turned his gaze from the young avatar to the sky above him.

"Kagemi and Hoshiko are two completely different people." He said, "It's very rare for them to agree on anything, so, naturally, their beliefs are completely different. Where Hoshiko's pride would sooner make her cut her own throat, Kagemi would cling to the chance of life. She would do whatever she could to survive, even be a Fire Nation prisoner." Kotaro smiled slightly, "And if Kagemi's alive, then Hoshiko is definitely alive."

"Do you really think that?" Aang asked, Kotaro looked over at him, "What if that's just empty hope?"

Kotaro shrugged, "Any hope is better than none at all." Aang seemed to contemplate his words, then rolled onto his back. Kotaro rolled onto his side so his back was facing Aang, and closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep.

The next morning, Kotaro looked to see Katara petting Appa's cheeks as he groaned, laying on his side. Kotaro got up and out of his sleeping bag and went over to the big beast just as Aang was getting up.

"What's the matter, Katara?" Aang asked, going over to the bison.

"I think Appa's sick." Katara said.

"What?!" Sokka cried, jumping out of his bed in Appa's saddle, "Appa's sick?! That's awful!" He dashed over to the bison's side.

"Wow, Sokka." Toph said, "I didn't realize you cared so much."

"Of course I care!" Sokka said, pulling out his schedule from under his shirt, "I might as well just throw our schedule away now!" When he heard silence, he looked up and saw everyone was glaring at him, and he went over to Appa, petting his face affectionately, "…And I'm concerned because my big, furry friend doesn't feel well."

"I bet you he got sick from being in that polluted water." Kotaro said.

"He doesn't look sick." Aang said, "You okay, buddy?" At his question, Appa groaned again, opening his mouth and letting Aang see his tongue, which was now a strange shade of purple. Aang grabbed it and pulled it out, falling on his behind when his grip slipped. "His tongue is purple! That can't be good! Katara, can you heal him?" Katara went over, looking at Appa's tongue.

"It looks like he needs some medicine." She said, "Maybe we can find the right herbs in town."

As they walked through the town, everyone noticed a significant change in the people who lived there. Adult couples were chatting pleasantly with each other, while their kids ran around, playing games with each other.

"Is it just me or does this place seem different?" Toph asked.

"Yeah, are the people… happier?" Aang asked, seeing all the activity. They went over to the shop and saw Doc/Xu standing there, polishing something.

"Hey, Xu, what's going on with everyone today?" Sokka asked.

"Something amazing happened last night!" Doc/Xu said, "Food was delivered to our village by a mysterious and wonderful person! The Painted Lady!"

"The painted what now?" Kotaro asked.

"The Painted Lady!" Doc/Xu repeated, he put the thing he had been polishing down on to the counter and they saw it was a statue of a woman covered in face paint, "She's part of our town's lore. They say she's a river spirit who watches over our town in times of need. I always thought she was just a legend! Until now."

"See?" Sokka said, turning to Katara, "We don't need to help these people. They already have someone to help them." Sokka looked back at Doc/Xu, "All we need is medicine for our sick friend."

"Medicine?" Doc/Xu echoed, "Sorry, all the medicine we have goes to the factory. That's why there's so many sick people in our village."

"Looks like we need to stay another night so Appa can rest." Katara said. Sokka sighed unhappily.

"I guess you're right." He said, he looked back at Doc/Xu, "You got any more food to sell?" Doc/Xu dove under the table and came up with two fish.

"Would you like the one-headed fish, or the two-headed fish?" He asked, presenting them both to Sokka. Sokka thought about it for a moment.

"Two-headed!" He said, taking the fish from Doc/Xu. Everyone grimaced and groaned in disgust at the sight of the fish. Sokka turned around, "What? You get more for your money that way!" Everyone groaned again and ran away from the disgusting fish while Sokka ran after them, still trying to prove his point about the fish.

Kotaro's eyes opened as he heard the sound of rustling and he looked up to see someone was walking near their campsite. Growing suspicious, Kotaro got out of his sleeping bag and went over to the person. He was surprised when he saw the Painted Lady only a few feet away from him, but something seemed off about her. Normally, he was pretty sure that water spirits didn't need to put paint on their faces every day. He got a little closer, and his nose picked up a familiar scent. One he had learned belonged to a certain someone not too long ago.

"Katara, what do you think you're doing?" Katara jumped at the sound of his voice, and he quirked an eyebrow at her as she jumped up.

"K-Kotaro!" She said in surprise, "I-I… I was just… um…" Kotaro crossed his arms and leaned against the rock, waiting for her excuse, "I-I… was…"

"You were…?" Kotaro egged, Katara sighed.

"You saw those people in the village!" She said, "They need help! They're all so sick, and…!"

"I know, I know." Kotaro said, he took in a deep breath, "And the Painted Lady get up is for what reason?"

"In case anyone catches me." Katara said, "It'd be pretty weird for a girl from the Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom to be a water bender, don't you think?" Kotaro shrugged.

"True." He said, he looked over at her, "So, Appa's purple tongue is…?"

"My fault." Katara said, "I've been feeding him these berries that make his tongue purple, so…" Kotaro nodded. He looked back over at the others, then back at Katara.

"We can't stay here forever." He said, "You know that, right?"

"…I know." Katara said, squirming like a child would when they were being lectured by their parents, "I won't be too long. Just a couple more days."

Kotaro stared at Katara, then sighed, "Fine. I won't say anything. But only a couple days."

"I won't make us stay for too long, I promise." Katara said. Kotaro nodded once, getting up from the rock he was leaning against and turning around, "Um…" He looked over his shoulder at her, quirking an eyebrow, "Could you… not tell everyone about this?" Kotaro nodded.

"Yeah, don't worry about it." He said, he turned back to his front and gave a lazy wave as he went back to his sleeping bag to try and get some sleep.

The next morning, after giving Appa another diagnosis and deciding that he was still too sick to travel. So they headed off to the shop to get some more food, where they found Doc/Xu polishing his Painted Lady statue with his Doc hat on.

"Hey, Doc," Sokka said, coming up to him, "Is Xu around?"

"Let me check." Doc/Xu said, he whistled as he ran away from the shop in a semi-circle, ducked down, and came up with his Xu hat, coming back to the shop. "Hey there! Back again, are you?" Toph came up and pushed Sokka aside.

"We need more food." She said, "Our friend is still sick and we can't leave until he's better." She slammed down some Fire Nation money on the counter and turned away. Doc/Xu took the money and put out a plate of nasty clams.

"Oh, that's too bad." He said, "Maybe if you guys are lucky, the Painted Lady will visit you in the night and heal your friend." Sokka, who always preferred the logical, scientific version of everything, was a little irritated at the idea of a fictional spirit coming to heal Appa, which she probably wouldn't do anyway, if she were real.

"And maybe she'll cook us a midnight snack, and we'll all have a sing-a-long!" He said sarcastically as he picked up the plate.

"Yeah, maybe!" Doc/Xu said, oblivious to his sarcasm, "You know, last night, she visited us again? Healed most of our sick folks."

"Is that why this place seems so festive?" Aang asked, watching as some kids ran around with kites and people cheered as they pulled up a statue of the Painted Lady.

"Yup! It's all because of the Painted Lady." Doc/Xu said.

"Can you believe how much an entire village can be affected by one lady?" Katara asked happily, "I mean… Spirit?" She smiled at the sight of the statue.

"Well, I hope she returns every night," Sokka said, "Otherwise, this place would go right back to the way it was."

"Why would you say that?" Katara asked, whipping around to face her brother, "Look how much better off these people are!"

"Yeah, now!" Sokka said, "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 lifted up his hands in an odd waving motion and went, "Ooooh~!" Before imitating the sound of an explosion. Katara scowled at her brother irately.

"Spirit magic doesn't work that way, Sokka." Aang said intelligently, "It's more like…" Aang raised up his arms, keeping his hands together as he waved them around going, "Oooh-Woooh~!" Then imitating the sound of another explosion. Katara clenched her fists together angrily, and then stalked off from the two boys as they laughed about spirit magic. Kotaro sighed, rubbing the back of his head before following her over to the docks, looking at the factory that belonged to the Fire Nation.

"Katara," He said in a warning tone, making her turn to him, "I know what you're thinking. Don't do it. It's stupid, and for Gods' sake, you could get yourself killed."

"I know it's stupid." Katara said, "But they have a good point!" She glared at the factory, "That factory caused all these problems, and if it was destroyed, they would all stop."

"It's not that simple." Kotaro said, coming up beside her, giving her a stern look, "Katara, every action has consequences. Just like when they decided to build that factory, it destroyed this river, and ruined this town. If you destroy the factory, there's a good chance that will hurt the town, too."

"Oh, how would you know?" Katara asked, "You were just some slave in someone's house. You know no more about the Fire Nation than I do."

"Katara!" He exclaimed in offense, shocked that she even brought up his past that way. She stormed off from him, and he sighed, seeing how stubborn she was being about this. He looked up at the sky, his eyes turning sad, "What would you do in a situation like this, Hoshi…?"

Kotaro woke up with a yelp and a jolt upwards as a piece of earth jabbed into his side. He rubbed his ribs, glaring at Toph.

"What?!" He demanded angrily.

"Aang and Katara are gone." Toph said. Kotaro rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"So?" He asked.

"So, Katara's sleeping bag is filled with grass!" Sokka said, holding up a clump of the green plants in his hand, "She doesn't want us to know she's gone!" Kotaro sighed angrily to himself, knowing that Katara had done exactly what he had told her not to do.

"Damn it all." He muttered under his breath as he got up from his sleeping bag. He went over to where Katara kept her things, and Toph and Sokka looked at him curiously.

"What are you doing?" Sokka asked. Kotaro said nothing as he kept going through her things and found a small bag with a drawstring. He opened it, and found a large amount of purple berries inside. He stood up and walked over to Toph, holding out the bag.

"Toph, eat this." He said, Toph stepped back.

"Why?" She demanded, wary of the sudden fruit he was giving her.

"Because it will explain exactly why Katara is gone, and why everything has been happening down in the town." Kotaro said, he shoved the bag of berries at her, "Now eat." Toph took a small handful and put them in her mouth, chewing them, then swallowing.

"They don't taste that good." She said.

"Toph, stick out your tongue." Kotaro ordered, Toph did as he asked, and they saw the berries had turned Toph's tongue…

"Purple!" Sokka exclaimed, "Toph, your tongue is purple!"

"Like Appa's." Kotaro said, Toph pulled her tongue back in and they both looked over at him, "I didn't say anything earlier because I thought she was doing a good thing, but now, I think she's taken it way too far."

"What are you talking about?" Sokka asked, suddenly suspicious of what Kotaro had to say.

"Katara's the Painted Lady." Kotaro said, Sokka's eyes widened, "She's been using those berries to make Appa look sick so she could have a little bit longer to help out the town. She's been dressing herself up and sneaking out in the middle of the night to get them food, or medicine or something like that."

"What?!" Sokka cried angrily. Toph's head turned as she felt the vibrations of two familiar pairs of feet walking towards them.

"Guys, they're coming!" Toph hissed. Kotaro heard them as Aang laughed, imitating the sound of an explosion before Katara shushed him.

"We don't want to wake Sokka." She whispered. They came around the corner, and saw Toph, Sokka, and Kotaro standing there, glaring them down like a parent would a guilty child. Katara jumped before nervously greeting him, "…Hi, Sokka! We were just… out on… a morning walk."

"Oh, really?" Sokka asked dubiously, "A morning walk?" He bent down, picking up her sleeping bag and shaking it, making all the grass that was hidden inside it fall out. Katara and Aang grimaced guiltily, "Kotaro told us everything, Katara. 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 purplizing-tongue berries!" The last part of his speech was slurred because he had stuck out his own tongue to make a point before gesturing to Toph, who stuck out her purple tongue. "Katara, what you did put our whole mission in jeopardy! We're leaving right now!" Katara hung her head ashamedly, and walked away to pack up her things. Aang walked a little ways behind her, and as he passed by Sokka, he snapped, "And how long did you know about this?"

Aang jumped at his sudden accusatory tone, "Hey, I just found out this morning." Sokka turned back to Kotaro.

"You should have told me about this the minute you found out." He scolded, Kotaro scowled.

"Well, excuse me for thinking that what your sister was doing was a good thing!" He snapped, going over to where his things were.

As everyone was packing, they suddenly heard the revving of engines and they all looked up. They went over to a cliff that over looked the village and saw a large group of soldiers going to the village on Fire Nation water skimmers.

"What's going on?" Toph asked as she went over to the others.

"Fire Nation soldiers are heading to the village." Aang said as she squatted down beside him.

"What did you do?" Sokka demanded of Katara.

"I, kind of, destroyed their factory…" Katara mumbled.

"You WHAT?!" Sokka yelled.

"It was your idea!" Katara quickly retorted.

"I was joking!" Sokka said, "I also said to use spirit magic and made funny noises!" He slapped his forehead with his hand.

"Katara, this is exactly why I told you not to do that!" Kotaro said, scolding her as if she were a child, "Didn't you think this through? The army is going to blame the villagers for what you've done! They're heading there right now to get their revenge!"

"Well, what was I supposed to do?" Katara asked.

"Leave!" Sokka said, "Do nothing!" Katara clenched her fists.

"No!" She said fiercely, turning to her brother, "I will never, ever turn my back on people who need me!" Sokka looked at his sister with wide eyes as she stood up, "I'm going down to the village, and I am gonna do whatever I can." She walked away from them. Kotaro looked over at Sokka, who seemed to waging a mental battle before he stood up and went after his sister.

"Wait," He grabbed her shoulder to make her stop, "I'm coming, too."

Katara turned to face him, "I thought you didn't want to help."

"You need me." Sokka said, "And I will never turn my back on you." Katara's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, before she smiled softly at her brother.

"Sokka, you really do have a heart." Katara cooed before embracing him. Kotaro internally rolled his eyes at the cheesy sound of her line.

The five of them hid out at the shoreline, eavesdropping on the words the general in charge of the factory said to the villagers once they had all been gathered before him.

"I thought we could live as neighbors in peace," The general said loudly, making sure his words were heard by all the villagers, "But I guess I was wrong. You steal our food, our medicine, and then you destroy our factory!"

"We didn't do any of that!" Doc/Xu said, wearing his Doc hat. He ducked down and reappeared again in his Xu hat and said, "Yeah! The Painted Lady brought us food! She's the one that healed our sick, not your medicine!"

"Oh, right." The general said, picking up a small figurine of the Painted Lady, "The mysterious Painted Lady did it." He looked over at a container filled with rice, "And I suppose she drew the army emblem on your containers, too!" He threw the figurine at the container, shattering them both when he did. "This is a town of thieves and liars!" He lifted up his hand and, in a rage, used fire bending to destroy one of the villager's homes. "Where's your Painted Lady now?" The villagers cowered at the sight of his glare, which was only intensified from his rage towards them. "We're going to rid the world of this wretched village." With the wave of his hand, a few of the soldiers took off, riding on the water skimmers and swinging long, metal hooks around and attaching them to the posts that held up a couple of the houses and, using the power of the skimmer's engine, brought the houses down into the murky water.

"This is bad…" Kotaro muttered, seeing the damage they were doing.

"What do you think we should do?" Toph asked, even though she couldn't see anything the soldiers were doing, she could hear the sound of the houses collapsing into the water.

Sokka turned to his sister, "Katara, hurry and get into that Painted Lady costume of yours. I have an idea." Katara nodded and ran off, going to put on the costume. Sokka turned to Toph, "Toph, go find a big boulder and get ready to bend it when I tell you." Toph nodded once and went over to where she knew a nice, big boulder was waiting, Sokka looked over at Kotaro, "Go and get Appa, and get my bag when you get to camp." Kotaro nodded once and ran off, going to the camp. Sokka turned to Aang, "I need you to bend up some mist, and stop any fires they try to start with your air bending." Aang nodded, using water bending to create a small mist. A moment later, Katara and Kotaro came back, Appa not too far behind them, and Katara in her costume. Kotaro handed Sokka's bag to him, and watched as he pulled out a small flute.

When the soldiers brought out some bombs, Aang used his air bending to put out the fire they had made around it to prevent it from blowing up. The soldiers shared a confused glance and used fire bending to light it again, but Aang used air bending to put it out once more.

"Light it again!" The general commanded, the soldiers did as he ordered, but before the fire could even stay lit, Aang blew it out.

"Look at that! Where's it coming from?" One of the soldiers asked aloud.

"I don't know…" The other muttered, he looked out at the large mist that Aang had bent up, and was now using as a cover as he silently traveled across the water and under one of the docks in the village. Kotaro had Appa growl loudly in the following silence, where Sokka played soft, yet creepy tunes on his flute, while Toph lifted the boulder up, and slammed it down, making it sound like giant footsteps.

"What is that sound?" The first soldier asked fearfully.

"Maybe it is her." The other said. When the mist cleared slightly, the army's eyes widened as they saw Katara in her Painted Lady disguise. Using water bending, she traveled across the water with a powerful wave and landed on the docks in front of them. The general pushed some of his soldiers forward towards her.

"Do… something!" He commanded. Two soldiers, both of them terrified, approached Katara with swords raised. Katara lifted up her hat, showing them her eyes, which was also a signal for Aang to use his air bending to make the swords fly from their hands, as well as their headgear. They ran away from her in fear, and the other soldiers began to shake.

"Stand your ground!" The general shouted. Katara took a few steps forward, then stopped. Suddenly, using her water bending, she lifted two Fire Nation water skimmers up high and threw them into the cliff side of the nearby shore. When she looked back at the faces of the scared soldiers, she lifted her hand threateningly towards them, and they took off running, except for the general, who stayed put as the other soldiers got on the remaining two water skimmers and fled. The general glared at Katara and took a fighting stance, "I'll take care of you myself!"

The two had a stand-off for a moment, then the general created a wave of fire with his bending. Aang, thinking quickly, used air bending to make Katara jump up high so she would avoid the flames, and used a second blast of air to send the general into the murky river water.

The general came up from the water, gasping for air. Katara went over to him and towered over him threateningly as she used her bending to stand on the water.

"Leave this village and never come back." She commanded. The general swam away from her, fearing for his life, and another soldier went to him, grabbing him and helping him onto the water skimmer that they used to get away from Katara and further down river. The villagers cheered, hooted, and hollered happily at her victory as she came back, landing on the docks in front of the villagers as Aang crawled out from underneath the dock and Sokka, Toph, and Kotaro came to the village in a small boat. They carefully moved in so they would be a part of the crowd and no one would notice them.

"I knew you'd come." A child said happily when he saw Katara.

"Thank you!" Doc/Xu said, wearing his Doc hat.

"Painted Lady, you're the best!" A man cheered in the crowd. Doc/Xu walked up to Katara with a smile on his aged face.

"Me and my brothers really owe you a lot!" He said happily, suddenly, his smile disappeared as recognition flashed across his face, "Hey! Wait a minute! You're not the Painted Lady! You're that colonial girl!" Katara, wondering what had happened, reached up and touched her face and came back with red paint on her fingers. She mentally scolded herself for not being more careful in the mist and water, because the paint on her face was still wet, and easy to wash away. "You've been tricking us! You're a water bender!"

"She's a water bender?" One of the villagers exclaimed in shock.

"How dare you act like our Painted Lady!" Another shouted angrily. The villagers all began shouting things at her, quickly becoming an angry mob. Sokka, seeing where this was going, ran out in front of Katara, holding his arms out protectively.

"Maybe she is a water bender, but she was just trying to help you!" He shouted at the villagers, getting them to stop, "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!" Katara reached out and put her hand on her brother's shoulder.

"Sokka, it's okay." She said, she took off her hat and looked at the villagers, "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 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 have to help yourself." The villagers seemed to sober up at her words, letting them sink into their minds.

After a beat of silence, Doc/Xu said, "She's right. But… What should we do?"

Kotaro, hiding his mouth behind his hand and putting on a phony voice, said, "Maybe we could clean the river!" Sokka gave him an odd look as he put his hand down

"Yeah! We can clean the river!" Doc/Xu said happily. The villagers cheered in agreement and dispersed, going to get the proper equipment to clean out their river. Doc/Xu walked forward to Katara, "Thank you. You know, you're not so bad for a water bender."

"You wouldn't mind keeping that a secret, by the way, would you?" Sokka asked.

"No problem!" Doc/Xu replied, "Keeping my mouth shut is a personal specialty! My brother Xu, on the other hand, ho! He's a blabbermouth." Sokka groaned, smacking his forehead with his hand.

"So, Doc, are you going to help us clean up this river?" Kotaro asked.

"No, sir," Doc/Xu said, "I'm going to get my other brother, Bushi. He loves cleaning rivers!" Doc/Xu reached up and pulled off his Doc hat, revealing a straw one that had somehow been tucked underneath, "Alright! I'm Bushi! Let's get some river-cleaning done!"

"Does this guy have a brother for everything?" Kotaro asked in a whisper to Sokka, who shrugged in response.

"Ah-ha!" Aang said, pointing at Doc/Xu/Bushi, "I knew it! I knew you were the same guy! You're the shop-owner, and the boat guy." Aang grinned, planting his hands on his hips in a victorious stance.

"Oh, you must be talking about my brothers Doc and Xu." Doc/Xu/Bushi said.

"No, I just saw you!" Aang said, "You switched hats and called yourself a different name!"

"Ohhh!" Doc/Xu/Bushi said, "You know who does that? My brother, Doc!" He leaned closer to Aang and said, in a rather loud whisper, "He's crazy." Then he laughed boisterously as he walked away. Aang gaped at his back.

"But-! I just-! A-And he-!" Kotaro sighed, coming up behind Aang and putting his hand on his shoulder.

"Just let it go." He said, Aang looked at him for a moment, and then sighed, hanging his head in defeat.

The time it took to clean the river was actually a much shorter amount than they had first anticipated. With everyone in the village participating in the best ways they could, the river was cleaned in a few hours, and by sundown, the river had been completely cleared of any remaining pollutants and was the original, beautiful, clear blue water that it once was.

Because they had finished so late, the gang decided to stay for one last night before heading out the next morning.

As Katara went to the river's shore to get some water into a canteen for her bending later on that night, a mist suddenly enveloped her. She looked up and saw a woman dressed in a long, white, flowing gown, with a large straw hat on her head covered with a veil. Her face was covered in red paint, in the same design Katara had seen on the Painted Lady statues.

"Thank you." She said, her voice soft and melodic. Then she drifted away with the mist into the darkness, away from Katara with a grateful smile. Katara smiled to herself, proud of her accomplishments.

Kagemi woke up with a yawn, stretching her limbs before she swung her feet over the side of her bed, placing her feet on the floor. She slouched as she trudged out of bed and headed towards the bathroom to prepare for the day. As she passed by a mirror, something caught her eye, and she ran back to it. She gasped when she saw the crack-like veins around her eyes had returned overnight, and grown in length, but that wasn't even the worst part about it. The ends of the cracks were tipped with white, the very color Hoshiko's shadowy form took.

She screamed in anger, bringing up a fist and punching her reflection in the mirror, then using her shadow bending to quickly erase the cracks from her face. She panted harshly as she glared at the broken mirror before punching it again.

It didn't matter how hard she fought, or how hard she tried. Kagemi would never, ever relinquish control of this body. Hoshiko would never break through her defenses and release herself from her prison.

She would make sure of it.

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So sad, that I might not be able to finish the next chapter.

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