Chapter 29 - The Dissonance
"Hey Twinkle Toes! What gives?" grumbled Toph as she kicked open the door to Aang's room on the ship. "You slept through morning practice." The little earthbender stomped over to the airbender's bed as she reached to throw off his blanket. "Since I had to come wake up your sorry butt, I'm doubling the amount of rocks I throw at you during afternoon training."
Toph frowned as she quickly realized that Aang was not in his bed, oversleeping. Grumbling some more, Toph explored the rest of the ship as she scoured the mess hall, the bridge, the open front part of the deck they had been using as a training area, and then the supply room. Nothing.
A few days ago, after Aang had realized that Toph had been using her earth sense to locate him through the metal of the ship, the airbender actually had a brilliant idea for once. He had started using his air scooter to remain airborne and his presence hidden. Unfortunately for him, and fortunately for Toph, it took a lot of concentration from Aang to maintain the air scooter for long periods of time. When he eventually grew tired, Toph would ultimately figure out where he was.
'Twinkle Toes only ever gets good ideas when they allow him to avoid training,' complained Toph to herself as she checked the mess hall a second time. Which was definitely to search for Aang. The fact that the mess hall was serving pudding today was just a lucky coincidence.
The little earthbender was growing more and more annoyed. No one had seen the young Avatar all morning. And Aang usually tired out of maintaining his air scooter by now. If she hadn't found him yet, then maybe he had...
An unfamiliar sense of dread ran down Toph's features as she dropped her finished bowl of pudding and sprinted towards the makeshift stable they had set up for Appa. Empty. Appa's stall was empty.
A hapless Water Tribe warrior was in the middle of cleaning out the stall when he was beset upon by the little earthbender. "Where did Aang go?!"
"What? Whoa!" replied the Water Tribe warrior as he took a hesitant step backwards. "I don't know! I was taking care of the livestock on-board when the Avatar showed up early this morning and said he had been given a scouting mission from Chief Hakoda."
Toph could scarcely believe what she was hearing. The fool in front of her wasn't lying, but there was also no way that Hakoda would have done that. "And you didn't think it was strange that Hakoda would assign Aang a solo scouting mission?"
The Water Tribe warrior shrugged. "It's not my place to question the Avatar or my Chieftain."
A loud resounding echo of a fist punching into metal echoed throughout the makeshift stables as Toph left a small indent on the metal wall. The Water Tribe warrior wisely made a hasty retreat from the fuming earthbender.
"Aang, you idiot," snarled Toph. "You're going after the others, aren't you? And you left me behind? Oh... that was a mistake you airhead. It was because of the intense training, wasn't it? You were afraid that I'd make you keep training during the trip to find the others." The fierce earthbender cracked her knuckles. "If you thought that novice level training I was putting you through was tough... oh boy, just wait until I find you again."
"Ok, everyone remember their jobs?" asked Zuko as the group of friends walked into a coastal town on the far side of the island.
"Course of we do," griped Sokka in return. "We just talked about what we needed to do this morning."
"I'll get the fresh water," answered Katara with her hand raised.
"And I'll track down some meals we can take on the road," replied Jin as she scanned the modest village of thatched roofs and palm trees.
"I knew that you two remembered. I just wanted to hear it from Sokka," stated Zuko. "We all know how he likes to get easily distracted."
The three of them glanced over at the Water Tribe boy, who was currently examining the side of a fishing canoe. "Hmm?" managed Sokka when he eventually noticed everyone looking at him. "What? This thing's got paddle mounts built right into the side of the canoe! Why didn't I think of that?!"
The Fire Prince facepalmed. "I'll get some spare leather to replace the saddle strap that Sokka broke when he was 'fixing' it. And I'll do Sokka's job as well and check to see if I can't find us a more detailed map. Why we didn't check to see just how outdated the one Sokka was using earlier was, I'll never know."
"Hey! It's your fault for adding all those new villages and towns to your country during the last decade!" defended Sokka, feeling slightly aggrieved.
Ignoring the Water Tribe boy, Zuko grumbled, "I swear, it's like we're always cleaning up after his ideas or inventions."
With a sympathetic smile, Katara offered, "At least this gives us a chance to find some better meals. Foraging for nuts and berries never really seems to fill anyone up."
"That's true," agreed Zuko as he nodded his head. With that, the group broke off to complete their assigned tasks as the waterbender walked over to the seaside market and the earthbender proceeded to where the delectable smells of cooking were wafting from a nearby eatery. The firebender took the opportunity to drag a yet again distracted Water Warrior away from examining the fishing nets that apparently had more tightly woven knots.
As Katara finished purchasing enough fresh water to refill the entire group's canteens, she turned away from the water vendor only to take an abrupt step backwards as several villagers raced across the street towards the docks. Intrigued, the Water Tribe girl decided to go and take a look.
Several small fishing vessels were approaching and the men and women navigating those crafts did not appear happy. From the small amount of fish in their nets and in their coffers, the waterbender easily surmised that the fishermen did not have a great morning catch to bring in. The other villagers on the docks had similar grim expressions as they helped to bring in the fishing vessels and secure the boats to the wooden piers.
One of the fishermen threw down his cap to the ground as he disembarked. "Again! That's the fifth time this week now!" The man sighed. "It's no use. All the regular spots are basically empty."
"I thought you were going to head out past the Chatham Bar?" asked one of the younger apprentices.
"That was the plan. But even in calm seas, it's tricky to navigate in our small fishing vessels. When shallow waters meet deep drop-offs, it's no joke." The fisherman indicated to their meager catch. "And even then, this is all we managed. The danger trade-off wasn't really worth it."
Interjecting herself into the conversation, Katara asked, "What's going on? Is something scaring the fish away?" Her habit of wanting to lend a hand to those in need was in full effect.
"Eh? Who are you miss? Can't say I've seen you around these parts before?" replied the fisherman as he noticed the newcomer.
"Oh, umm... I'm Luna. I'm just passing through town with my friends. We're on our way to visit my friend's Uncle," answered Katara quickly.
Accepting the answer, the fisherman grumbled as he pointed up towards an industrial-looking building off to the far side of town. "It's all that damn factory's fault. Ever since it was built a year ago, its waste products keep getting dumped in to the sea and wrecking the coastal fish breeding grounds. It was bad at first, but now... there's hardly any decent fish left. Basically everything's departed the island waters except for mudfish. And they're bottom feeders. No one likes those things."
The Water Tribe girl observed the industrial factory with dismay readily apparent on her face. "It seems that factories are causing havoc all over the Fire Nation. There was another one polluting the waters of a river town we came across earlier."
The fisherman scoffed. "The young'uns say them factories are the mark of progress and the future. But they're really just wrecking everyone's way of life." The man rubbed the back of his neck as he glanced over his meager catch of fish. "This is getting to be the last straw though. And I'm not the only one angry about this."
Before Katara could ask what the fisherman intended to do, a crashing sound echoed across the pier as an apprentice dropped a wooden crate, shattering the wood. The fisherman stomped off, shouting at his worker, the man's ire already in a sour mood due to the poor morning catch and having to talk about the source of his woes.
"Looks like we've got another factory to deal with," muttered Katara to herself as she glanced back over at the distant workshop.
"This jerky is divine!" exclaimed Jin as she tried the free sample of preserved meat being offered by the meat vendor. "What did you say it was again?"
"Hippo cow jerky," replied the meat vendor as the shopkeeper pulled back the free sample tray. The bubbly customer in the vendor's shop had already had a couple of pieces actually.
Placing several coins onto the counter, Jin took the hint. "Don't worry. I'll take several bags of jerky. My friends and I still have a ways to go on our trip."
Beaming at the sight of the money, the meat vendor slid the free sample tray back into place as Jin naturally took another piece. As the meat vendor wrapped up the order, the Earth Kingdom girl sorted through her other bags of food supplies. "There's a lot of meat shops in town," the earthbender commented off-handedly.
"That's because of the hippo cow trade that came to the island a little while back," replied the meat vendor as the two exchanged small talk. "This town used to just be known for its fishing, but now those cows are putting us on the map as being one of the biggest providers of beef in the Fire Nation."
"That's impressive," stated Jin as she admired the various cut of meat within the shop. "I come from a family of ranchers myself. It's always good to see the business thriving. And from judging by that jerky, this town has some high quality beef on its hands."
Piling Jin's purchase onto the shop counter, the meat vendor indicated towards the industrial factory outside the front window and a ways down the street. "It's all thanks to that factory that was built last year. The place processes feed for the hippo cow population. That's why the beef business was able to expand so much here. Without the factory, we wouldn't be able to keep the cows feed."
"And what about places to roam?" inquired Jin. "There can't be that much space on an island."
"Other than our town here, this island's fairly empty," replied the meat vendor. "Not too many trees either. The center of the island is mostly open fields. It's actually a great place for livestock."
Sliding the bags of hippo cow jerky into her other food supply bags, Jin prepared to exit the shop. "I would definitely love to check out some of the island ranches around here. Maybe my friends will have some time to spare before we continue our trip."
"Safe travels!" called out the meat vendor with a wave before collecting the money on the counter.
Zuko and Sokka were sitting around the campfire, each competing with the other on who could make a better replacement to the leather saddle strap that needed to be replaced on Edel's saddle. The Fire Prince had been confident going into the challenge proposed by the Water Tribe boy. It was just a simple repair job, right?
Honestly, Zuko was a little bit surprised at himself. If it had been the Zuko from just a couple of months ago, then he would have never even considered attempting to do this job himself. He would have just paid someone else to do the task for him. But after learning to be more self-reliant all summer, the Fire Prince was willing to give it an honest try.
The firebender glared at the mess of scrap leathers in his hands. No wonder Sokka had messed up the first time the Water Tribe boy had attempted to fix the saddle strap. The process was far more complicated than the firebender had initially realized. On second thought, maybe he still should have just paid extra for the leatherworker in town to do the job. But the tradesman had want an extra silver piece, and it had seemed like such a minor task.
"Got it!" declared Sokka as he held up a functional repair job to the leather saddle strap. "I realized there was a trick to it."
"Want to tell me what that is?" grumbled Zuko as he gave up on his own attempts.
Sokka crossed his arms as he childishly stuck out his tongue. "Nope!" He walked over to Edel and started to replace the broken saddle strap with the new one. "And you all were making fun of me earlier. I told you it wasn't an easy fix. But I figured it out."
"Yeah, yeah," gripped the Fire Prince. He hated to admit it, but it looked like Sokka was right about this one. Leatherwork was tougher than it seemed.
"Don't forget! I get first pick of tonight's dinner!" called out Sokka as he finished fixing the saddle.
Zuko rolled his eyes. Even without the silly bet, Sokka probably would have grabbed the first pick of whatever they cooked for dinner anyway. The Water Tribe boy always hovered around the cooking fire like he half expected the food to disappear if he wasn't watching it constantly.
Hearing footsteps approaching across the rocky sand, the firebender looked up to spy Katara returning to the campsite. "Welcome back," he greeted as Zuko helped the Water Tribe girl put away all the water canteens she was carrying.
"We've got another problem that we need to deal with back in town," asserted the waterbender sharply, her brow already furrowed in concentration, thinking of ways to resolve the issue.
"What's going on?" asked Zuko, his attention focusing at once. "The village seemed pretty peaceful to me and Sokka."
"It's a factory again," answered Katara as she pointed back at the town. "This one's polluting the waters too. It's ruining the seas for the fishermen."
"That's not good," agreed the Fire Prince. "At least the townsfolk don't seem to be too poor off. The place doesn't look like the river town from before."
"You all want to deal with another factory?!" rebutted Sokka as he joined into the conversation. "We're already behind schedule as it is. We only have so much time until we need to start thinking about heading to the rendezvous point."
"I know," stressed Zuko as he agreed with Sokka too. 'So much for Father always bragging that we're the greatest nation ever. We seem to have just as many problems as every other country. We'll never get to Uncle at this rate,' the firebender fretted to himself.
More footsteps impacted the beach as Jin made her way to the campsite. "Ah man, I'm the last one back?" complained the earthbender. "I knew I shouldn't have checked out that last shop with the desserts."
Sokka's ears perked up at the mention of confections. "Desserts? You have sweets?" He rushed over to help the Earth Kingdom girl with her bags. "What'cha got in here?"
"Chocolates," replied Jin as she swiped the dessert bag away. "And they're for after supper. Here," she handed the Water Tribe boy all the rest of the heavy bags. "Put these away and maybe I'll let you have one piece before dinner."
With a grumble, Sokka got working on his new task. Zuko and Katara walked over to their friend. "Seems like your shopping trip was successful," noted the firebender.
"I'll say," returned the Earth Kingdom girl. "Turns out there was a lot of meat for sale at great prices."
Off over near Edel, a loud whoop of joy erupted from Sokka as he heard what Jin had said and opened one of the bags to dig into the hippo cow jerky sitting on the top. The rest of them shook their heads at the Water Tribe boy's antics.
"There's a couple of ranches outside town that I was hoping we could check out if we have some extra time," continued Jin. "I'm curious about how the Fire Nation takes care of their livestock in comparison to how we did back at my Grandparent's ranch."
The Fire Prince shook his head. "Sorry Jin, but I don't think we'll have time. Sokka reminded us that we're running low on travel days and there's another issue in this town that we're likely going to have to deal with before we leave."
Before the earthbender could ask what it was, Katara spoke up with, "Did you hear about that big factory while you were in town? It's causing a mess here, just like the one back at the river town."
Confused, Jin replied, "What? That's not what I heard. The people I talked too in the marketplace didn't seem to have a problem with the factory. They actually seemed thankful it was around."
Now it was the Water Tribe girl's turn to be bewildered. "Hold up. Do those people know that the factory is polluting the nearby coastline and scaring away the fish? The fishermen are having a difficult time. That place has got to go."
"Slow down a minute now," countered the Earth Kingdom girl. "You tend to act hasty in these kinds of situations. I'm sorry to hear about the fishermen, but did you even consider the situation of the ranchers and the townspeople who work in the factory?"
"What do some ranchers need a factory for?" pressed Katara. Then, with some indignation, she added heatedly. "And what do you mean I act hasty?"
"That place makes feed for the hippo cows. Did you know that?" educated Jin with just a smidge of a patronizing attitude. "If not for the factory, then lots of livestock might starve."
"How does that make sense?" retorted Katara. "They're cows, right? They can just graze on the grass. The factory is destroying the fish ecosystem." Then, the waterbender demanded, "And you didn't answer my question."
The Earth Kingdom girl didn't back down. "I'm just saying that you have a track record of jumping into things without looking. Remember how blowing up the factory last time put the river town in danger?"
"We saved that town!" defended the waterbender defiantly. "You helped!"
"Things worked out in the end, sure, but the entire river town wanted that other factory gone. Things are different here," reasoned Jin. "And I don't like the possibility of putting all those cows in jeopardy."
The Water Tribe girl didn't stand down either. "Alright, fine. So what if I am a bit hasty? At least I'm going to do something about the problem. The fish have already been chased away from the island because of pollution. They should take priority."
"But those same fish have probably already found somewhere else to go," argued Jin. "And it's not like the town itself is suffering. There's plenty of food and money to be made in livestock to support everyone."
"Not everyone," rebutted Katara, her voiced getting spirited. "The fishermen aren't faring well thanks to the fish leaving. What are they supposed to do?"
"Not to sound callous, but they could always move to wherever the fish mitigated to," answered the earthbender, her own tone getting a little bit heated as well.
"Uh, maybe we should all take a minute to breath and think this though," reasoned Zuko as he attempted to soothe the growing tensions between his girlfriend and the team's earthbender. However, neither girl seemed to hear him.
Closing the distance between the two of them, Katara got a tad closer to Jin, her voice just as impassioned as the Earth Kingdom girl's. "So families that have lived here their entire lives are just supposed to pack up and move? How is that fair?"
"I didn't say it was fair. I said it was pragmatic," tossed back Jin as she matched the Water Tribe girl verbal blow for verbal blow. "How does it make sense to stay here and complain about a declining fish population when the town is becoming a beef industry?"
"I can barely believe what I'm hearing, Jin," admitted Katara. "How can you side with a factory that polluting the waters and ruining people's livelihoods?"
"Don't go trying to guilt trip me, Katara," returned Jin. "I know your tactics. I'll admit that there's probably something to be done about the factory waste, but making feed for all those hippo cows is just as important. And there's a lot of other people's livelihoods who rely on that factory running too."
The two girls glared at each other for a minute longer before both turning with a "hmph!" and stomping to far opposite ends of the campsite, out of view of the other. Zuko and Sokka were left standing in the middle by the small campfire.
"Uh, what just happened?" questioned Zuko cluelessly. One minute, everything had been just fine in the camp. And now, there was a clear discord.
"No idea," acknowledged Sokka. "But in my experience, I find it best to just stay out of it. Picking a side is way more troublesome than it's worth." The Water Tribe boy tossed another hippo cow jerky strip into his mouth.
"Right... and how many times have you been in this exact situation?" pressed Zuko.
Sokka simply shrugged in response before Edel snatched the remaining jerky out of the Water Tribe boy's grasp, much to Sokka's chagrin.
The back door of an apothecary shop opened as an intern walked outside carrying a bag of garbage to be thrown away. All the other stores on the market street had long since closed for the night. Lucky him for having the one boss in town who liked to work late and keep his employees there, mixing medicines into the small hours of the evening.
Lifting the lid of the nearby trash can, the intern heard a dog barking up at the rooftops from across the street. Glancing up, there was nothing out of the ordinary.
"Quiet, you!" grumbled the intern as he turned back inside the apothecary, closing the door behind him with a disgruntled sigh.
A shadow rose from the edge of the apothecary rooftop before continuing on its way. The dog's barking grew softer in the distance as the shadow made a straight dash towards its target on the far side of the village.
Using waterbending to propel herself from building to building, Katara landed with a soft thump each time. Fortunately, most of these stores were empty now. The apothecary had been an oversight, but at least no one had noticed her. But even if they had, then they would have been greeted by the sight of a veiled lady with red painted markings.
Tonight would mostly be reconnaissance. The Water Tribe girl wanted to get a better view of the factory. Since the manufactory building was centralized in the town, it would be much more difficult to get rid of than the previous factory back in the river village. So, the waterbender needed to figure out a weak point to exploit.
Landing on the roof of her target, Katara glanced over the edge. 'Looks like there's not much in way of guards,' she thought to herself. But since this was a civilian factory instead of a military one, maybe that made sense. Supposedly, all that was being made here was animal feed.
Taking a couple of steps, Katara realized that her feet were brushing across sand. 'Sand? On a rooftop?' was the only thought that the waterbender was able to think before a plume of dust rose up to cover the entire area.
Katara immediately dropped down into a defensive waterbending stance. The thin white veil of her costume was only making it harder to see in combination with all the dust, but at least the veil was acting as a sort of air filter as well.
A glimpse of golden yellow dashed across the edge of her vision and the waterbender swirled around to get a better view. But whatever that movement had been wasn't there anymore. The crunch of sand echoed off to her right this time, but again, nothing was there when Katara looked closer.
'This dust is in the way,' she complained to herself as the Water Tribe girl spread of a cloud of water from her canteen and with a flick of her wrist, unleashed a fine water vapor that mixed with the dust in the air, condensing the powder into mud as it collected on the rooftop.
With a proud smile at her success, Katara looked around to spy a figure wearing a golden yellow fox mask on top of a nearby catwalk. The Water Tribe girl's eyes widened in realization as she recognized her friend's mask from the Fire Festival.
"Greetings Painted Lady," announced Jin from her vantage point with a slight bow. "I figured that you couldn't help yourself and would sneak off to check this place out tonight." The earthbender raised her hands. "Too bad that you're very predictable."
Casting her arms down, Jin triggered a series of pre-positioned earthen columns that fell into each other like dominoes as the crashing sound could be heard all across the village. Candle lights began glowing in windows as villagers woke up, flinching in surprise at the booming noises echoing from the factory rooftops.
"I'd skedaddle, if I were you," teased Jin with a taunting wave of her hand as she used her earthbending to slide off the roof and away into the night.
There was no chance of conducting any reconnaissance anymore. Not with all the racket stirring up the townsfolk and all the lights heading to the factory to check out the situation. Begrudgingly, Katara created an ice slide to withdraw from the roof as well, being sure to melt the ice behind her.
Zuko recalled this one time, several years ago as a kid, when he once woke up abruptly to the sounds of Azula setting off firecrackers underneath his bed. That might as well have been songbirds chirping peacefully in comparison to the shouting match that greeted him this morning.
"What was that, Jin?!" screeched Katara. "You nearly got us both caught last night!"
"There was plenty of time to escape! What I did was keep you from making a hasty and ill-thought-out decision," argued back Jin.
"I was just going to check out the factory! That's all I was going to do!" claimed the Water Tribe girl.
"Oh really? And if you saw the opportunity to sabotage it a little, then you're telling me that you wouldn't have acted?" accused the Earth Kingdom girl.
The waterbender had the decency to at least look a smidge guilty. "Well, I mean, if there was a chance to halt production for a bit, then we would have more time to figure something better out."
Jin rolled her eyes. "That's what I'm talking about. If you did that, then the factory workers and cattle ranchers would be in a bind too!"
"But the fishermen would be better off!" defended Katara quickly.
"Hey, hey, hey, what's this all about?" interjected Zuko as he walked over in-between the two arguing females.
'Brave man,' thought Sokka from his vantage point as he watched the firebender haphazardly intrude on the growing quarrel. The Water Tribe boy munched on some less-than-spicy fire flakes as he shook his head. 'Brave, but also stupid.'
Grabbing the arm of the Fire Prince, Katara asserted, "Zuko would agree with me! Tell her that getting rid of that factory would help restore this coastal fishing town to its former glory and save all the fish and fishermen."
"Uhh..." wisely stated Zuko.
"Ha! Zuko's smart enough to know that more people rely on that factory for their livelihoods than those that want it gone," disputed Jin with her arms crossed. "Just think of all the hippo cows and ranchers that would be in trouble if their animal feed was gone."
"Umm..." Zuko sagely continued. He was rapidly realizing that he had jumped into the middle of this squabble without an actual plan to diffuse it.
However, neither girl seemed to really be waiting for a proper answer from the Fire Prince. Instead, Katara pointed to the golden yellow fox mask with black tipped ears and a round black nose that Jin had fastened to her belt loop. "And what was with that mask last night?" the Water Tribe girl pointed out.
The Earth Kingdom girl lifted up the fox mask. "You get to parade around as the Painted Lady to obscure your identity as a waterbender. So I figured I needed a disguise to hide the fact I'm an earthbender," reasoned Jin. "It seems you don't know about Keatons though."
"What?" returned the Water Tribe girl.
"Keatons," answered Jin as if that answered the question. "There's an old Earth Kingdom story about ghost foxes that play tricks on naughty children. Kind of like how I outmaneuvered you last night," finished the earthbender with a crafty grin.
That got the waterbender fuming again, but before Katara could start shouting once more, Zuko attempted to calm everyone down. "Whoa now! We're all friends here. Let's just calm down for a minute. You both seem to be very invested in this. We can talk this out."
"I've tried talking to Jin!" claimed Katara with her arms crossed. "She's just not listening to me!"
"That's rich!" defended Jin. "Whenever Katara makes up her mind, she digs her heels in and refuses to let anyone else tell her that she's wrong."
"That's it! I'm going back into town!" asserted the waterbender as she already started walking in the direction of the village. "I'll get some proof that not just the fishermen would be better off with the factory gone."
Jin started jogging towards the coastal village too. "And I'll prove that the factory does more good for people than harm!" Both girls began to compete with each other as they each ran faster.
As Zuko watched them race off, he felt Sokka poking him with a stick. Swatting the tree branch away, the Fire Prince grumbled with an exasperated sigh, "What are you doing?"
"I'm just amazed that you're still in one piece," commented the Water Tribe boy.
Extinguishing the campfire, Zuko looked towards the town. "Come on, we've got to figure something out to get them to stop fighting."
Sokka pulled out his map and marked off another tally on a running list of days they had spent distracted. "I'll just count off another day of us not heading towards the Magma Slags."
Zuko's expression soured a bit, but he couldn't argue with Sokka. It didn't seem like they would get to their destination anytime soon like this. Not to mention, this wasn't exactly how the Fire Prince pictured his morning going. However, this village had a major issue and as Fire Prince, Zuko did feel a royal duty to help his people resolve this problem somehow. Especially since two of his closest friends were arguing strongly about their given sides to the conflict.
"And here's where you two will be working, the disassembly line," announced a factory worker as he made space on a work bench covered in animal carcasses and a mix of dry and wet blood.
Leaning over to his friend, Zuko whispered, "How did I let you talk me into this again?"
"Because, you had no idea what to do and my plans always work one hundred percent of the time," whispered back Sokka as he adjusted the hard hat he was wearing.
"Hey! Are you two newbies listening?" interrogated the shift manager.
"Yup!" smiled Sokka. "You just want us to skin and cut up these small game animals, right?"
"Think you can handle that?" asked the manager with a raised eyebrow. "Most of the new hires get squeamish at this part. If you throw up, you're cleaning it up. And you'll be fired."
Placing the rubber elbow gloves on his arms, Sokka confidently strode forward with a cocky attitude. "No problem. I've skinned rabbits countless times before. I'm a pro at this."
The Water Tribe boy worked his way through separating the animal meat from the bones and skin using the skills that he had begrudging learned from Jin as the shift manager observed with a critical eye. "I doubt you've done this countless times, but you're doing a passable job. Much better than the other talent that we get anyway," commented the factory worker.
As Zuko started working at this table, he asked a question. "How come we're cutting up all this game meat? Isn't this a animal feed factory for the hippo cow ranches?"
The shift manager laughed. "You don't know much about hippo cows, do you? Well, don't fret. Most people don't. Everyone thinks that all cows are herbivores and just graze on grass and hay. Not hippo cows. They're actually omnivores. We produce a balanced mix of meat and plants to make food pellets for them."
Both Zuko and Sokka appeared surprised to hear that. That was a fact that neither boy knew. Thinking about it some more, the Fire Prince assessed, "So that's why the factory's here. This island doesn't have enough small game running around to feed all the hippo cows otherwise."
"You're pretty quick, ain'tcha?" approved the shift manager. "With those kind of smarts, you probably won't be on the line for long before you move up the ladder. Plus, with the factory, it's easier to domesticate all those hippo cows because we can source all the food here for them." A frown grow on the factory worker's face. "There's still a problem though."
"And what's that?" asked Sokka as he struggled with a particularly stubborn piece of game meat that refused to separate from the bone.
"Shipping costs," answered the manager. "It costs money to ship all the small game meat in to feed the hippo cows. If we could locally source somehow, then that would help out exponentially."
"What about the fishermen?" offered Sokka. "Do hippo cows like fish?"
"Hippo cows will eat just about any kind of meat that's offered to them," noted the shift manager. "However, the fishermen around here can't even fish enough to supply the village, much less our factory."
"Isn't that because this factory is dumping it's animal waste into the sea? That's messing up the fishing habits around the island," articulated the Fire Prince.
The shift manager waved his hand dismissively. "We've got to get rid of the animal waste and byproducts somehow. If you can think of something better, then we're listening."
When neither boy had a response, the shift manager shrugged and left them to continue working. The sounds of cutting and chopping echoed across the work floor as the Fire Prince and Water Tribe boy continued to work alongside the other laborers.
Eventually, Zuko leaned over to Sokka again and asked, "I still can't think of a solution to this. Hasn't Aang been in these kind of situations before? The Avatar's supposed to be some sort of wise mediator, right?"
"Pfft," laughed Sokka. "Maybe the Avatars of the past, but Aang's not that enlightened yet. There was this one time, back in the Earth Kingdom, when we came across two feuding families arguing about some sacred orb or whatever. Well, we couldn't really figure out how to resolve some century old problem, so in the end, Aang just told a bald-faced lie by making up a fake story and got away with it!"
"He w-what?" stuttered the Fire Prince in shock.
"I know, right? I never would have thought the kid had it in him. But hey, he had been traveling around with me and Toph for a while, so maybe he finally learned some street-smarts from us," concluded Sokka.
Zuko groaned. "I doubt a white-lie is going to help us out here. I'm going to need real solutions to fix this problem."
A silence rolled back over the two boys as they continued to work for a couple more minutes. Then, suddenly, Sokka exclaimed loudly, "Oh! That's right! There is a way!"
"A way for what?" pressed Zuko as he glanced around at the other laborers who were looking at the noisy Water Tribe boy oddly. "And maybe keep your voice down a bit."
Sokka seemed to pay the firebender no mind as he continued excitedly, "Talking about Aang reminded me about composting!"
"Composting?" parroted Zuko, perplexed.
Nodding, the Water Tribe boy continued, "Yeah, it was something the monks did after their sky bison and other animals passed. Since they didn't eat meat, they collected the animal remains together, burned the bones, and that would become a fertilizer they used to enrich the soil. Aang told me all about it."
Sokka made a wide sweeping motion with his arm, using hand gestures to elaborate his explanation with movement. "You'd think they'd just bury their animals or something like that. But nope, Aang said something about completing the chain of life or some weird monk-thing like that. Animals eat the plants, animals pass away, and then the animals feed the plants. Crazy, right?"
Before the Fire Prince could ask if Sokka could figure out how to recreate that method, a loud ruckus reverberated from the front of the workshop. Several of the employees rushed out of the front doors. Zuko and Sokka hurried up the metal catwalk and to the large window panes overlooking the courtyard entrance to the factory.
Out front, there stood a large gaggle of fishermen and other disgruntled villagers with picket signs and angry voices complaining about the existence of the animal feed factory. They were amassing outside the fence line as factory laborers and foremen stood at the gate, attempting to calm the aggrieved masses down.
"That's not good," muttered Zuko as he took in the sight. "Tensions must have been higher than we thought."
Sokka was staring sharply at the discontent crowd. "Please don't tell me that's Katara right there amongst the protesters," he stated as he spied his Sister.
Whipping his head around to see a Water Tribe girl standing on top of a wagon and being one of the more vocal voices of the mob, Zuko sighed. "She has the biggest heart of anyone I know, but sometimes, she just goes overboard..."
"She's not the only one," added Sokka as he pointed down the street. Opposite to the group of fishermen amassed outside, another group of protesters were marching towards the factory. However, this group appeared to be comprised of ranchers and shop owners. And at the forefront, walked a familiar-looking Earth Kingdom girl.
"You have got to be kidding me..." grumbled Zuko as he observed the two groups approach one another outside the factory gates. The angry, accusatory voices from each group only increased in volume.
The firebender started down the steps of the catwalk as he called out to his friend. "Go find the foreman again. Tell him about your idea of adjusting how this factory deals with its animal waste byproducts. I'm going to go see what I can do about these two mobs."
As Zuko saw Sokka nod and dart off to find the shift manager who they had been talking too a short while ago, the Fire Prince couldn't help but wonder to himself, 'How is Sokka the most mature one of my friends right now?' Shaking his head clear of the idle thought, Zuko set a determined scowl on his face. First things first. He had to figure out how to be diplomatic and mediate this volatile situation outside.
"Listen up you industrial peons, we've had it with this factory wrecking our fishing lanes!" shouted one of the disgruntled fishermen amongst the gaggle of dissenters.
"Shut this thing down!" called out another.
"I can't put food on the table with the catches we're bringing in now!" cried out a third.
Not to be outdone, the ranch supporters dug their heels in as well as one of the meat shop owners fired back with, "There's plenty of fishing communities in the Fire Nation! Just go somewhere else! This town's a beef town now!"
"My husband found work at that factory when no one else was hiring!" defended a defiant homeowner.
"You'll have to get through us if you want to shut this place down!" asserted yet another staunch supporter of the factory.
The two groups were a short distance apart, and the back and forth between them was only growing worse by the second. Anything might set them off and the verbal threats had the potential of become something more. That was the situation the Fire Prince found himself walking into.
"Hey kid," interrupted one of the factory workers at the gates as he attempted to halt Zuko with a hand on the boy's shoulder. "What are you doing? Isn't this just your first day on the job? No need to be a hero."
Shaking the man's hand off his shoulder, Zuko muttered, "Trust me, I'm not trying to be a hero. But someone needs to quell this powder keg before it blows."
As the firebender opened the metal gate of the factory courtyard entrance a crack, just enough for him to slip through, a rock spiraled overhead and struck one of the ranchers in the shoulder. Several eyes zeroed in on the fisherman who clearly was done talking and had thrown the stone.
Zuko could sense the dam breaking as several expressions in the crowd grew fierce. Apparently Katara and Jin also belatedly sensed the personality shifts rippling throughout the crowd as both the waterbender and earthbender ineffectually started to shout at their respective groups to not get violent.
As several fists raised high in the air, rocks in their hands, a rush of fire tore down the middle of the opposite groups and separated both sides again before anyone else could act rashly. At the beginning of crowd, closest to the factory, was Zuko, knelt down in a crouch, having just finished a forward flip that arced into a vertical fire stream.
Extinguishing his flames, Zuko stood back to his feet. He had lost his work hat in the confusion, but still had the factory coveralls on as he climbed up the side of the gate and towered over the assembled protesters and defenders, standing high on the brick wall surrounding the factory.
"Enough!" boomed the Fire Prince authoritatively as he ensured that he had everyone's attention. With over a hundred sets of eyes on him, Zuko's introverted nature flared and he felt a little hesitant to talk. Clenching his fists tightly enough that his thumbnail drew a small bit of blood, the pain helped the firebender to recall all the public speaking training he had underwent from his lessons with the Fire Sages.
'At least those old bats were useful for something,' thought Zuko as he grit his teeth and ignored all the people focusing on him as he instead picked out two people within the crowd to talk to instead, namely a certain dark haired waterbender and earthbender duo.
"What are we doing? We're all friends here. We're all citizens of the Fire Nation," started the Fire Prince. "There's a solution to this problem we're having with one another. We just need to talk to each other and listen."
"Hey brat," called out one of the ranch hands. "We've tried talking, but these stinky fish-for-brains can't seem to hold a conversation without accusing us of poisoning their fishing lanes. So who are you to speak for us?"
"Yeah," echoed one of the fishermen. "And you're clearly working at the factory, with those coveralls on and everything. So you obviously don't give a damn about us fishermen. Otherwise you'd have nothing to do with that blasted factory."
A keen eyed shop owner added to the dissent. "You're not from around here, are ya? We'd remember a burn scar like that." Several other people murmured in agreement to that.
"Who I am doesn't matter," dismissed Zuko as the Fire Prince swiftly avoided that particular topic. "But I do care about what happens to this town. I'm a proud citizen of the Fire Nation. We can figure this out. Aren't we supposed to be the greatest nation? Let's act like it."
That patriotic call-out seemed to placate some of the crowd enough to begin to make them willing to at least hear out the firebender up on the factory wall. "Alright kid," grumbled one of the ranchers. "If you're so smart, then what's the solution?"
Scanning the courtyard, Zuko breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed Sokka running towards him with the shift manager at his side. "A process called composting," answered the Fire Prince as he attempted to assert himself as a subject matter expert on a process he had just learned about five minutes ago.
When Sokka gave the Fire Prince a thumbs up to signal that the factory had agreed to look into the new process, Zuko continued with, "It's a process that will stop the dumping of animal waste into the sea and will instead convert that resource into a fertilizer. I can't say that the fish will return anytime soon, but we can work to restore their environment so that they can return eventually."
Unconvinced, one of the fishermen argued back, "Well, what are we supposed to do in the meantime? If the fish don't return immediately, then we fishermen are still in the same boat. All we've got around here now are mudfish, and no one likes those things!"
"Wait, there are still fish around here?" pressed Zuko.
"I just said that they are mudfish, kid," declared the fisherman. "Bottom feeders. They're edible, but they taste terrible, no matter how you try and cook them."
Zuko looked over at the shift manager and Sokka as the two of them approached the gate from the interior of the factory courtyard. Kneeling down for a moment, the Fire Prince asked the factory foreman, "Can hippo cows eat mudfish?"
A light went off in the head of the foreman as the man connected the dots. "Yeah, we've fed them mudfish before on occasion. That shouldn't be a problem. Are you suggesting...? Oh, that's good. That could solve our problem of locally sourcing feed for our cows." The foreman was already running the numbers in his head.
Zuko stood back up as he turned to address the disgruntled fisherman. "In the meantime, go ahead and fish for those mudfish. I have talked with the leadership here at the factory. They are interested in purchasing the mudfish you catch."
That seemed to appease the fishermen gathered around the area as their murmuring turned favorable to the shifting situation. The tense atmosphere that had been prevalent just mere moments ago began to dissipate as small talk broke out amongst those gathered around the factory.
Hoping to disperse the protesters and defenders before anything else could potentially re-incite a new conflict, Zuko proclaimed loudly, "Let's have the leaders of each group meet up later this evening to talk. In the meantime, everyone should return to their homes and cool down. It's been a stressful time, but I think we've reached a new way forward."
Agreeable mutterings joined in with the Fire Prince's plea as the assembly of people slowly began to break up and disperse. The same keen-eyed shop owner from earlier was still staring at the scarred boy up on the factory wall as the others walked around the observant on-looker.
"I know I've seen that face before..." muttered the keen-eyed shop owner as the recollection of an old news flyer played in the person's head. "Wait a minute, that's..."
The shop owner didn't get a chance to finish that statement when another shopkeeper from a different store interrupted that thought with a nudge. The second shopkeeper put his index finger to his mouth and shook his head.
The original keen-eyed shop owner stared at the other man for a moment before realizing the potential consequences of calling out the exiled Fire Prince for all to hear and know. It could bring the wrath of the Fire Lord down on their out-of-the-way coastal village. And just after the problem with the factory had been resolved. The keen-eyed shop owner silently nodded at the unspoken understanding of the others among the two groups who had come to the same realization without saying anything else.
Zuko was hopping down from the top of the factory fence line when both Katara and Jin sheepishly approached the Fire Prince. "We've both been sort of foolish, haven't we?" admitted the Water Tribe girl apologetically as the Earth Kingdom girl at her side nodded in agreement.
"Childish is more like it," asserted Sokka as he leaned on the firebender's shoulder. "Luckily, old reliable Sokka was here to save the day."
Katara and Jin each flinched under the Water Tribe boy's sharp criticism, but neither could really dispute that they had in fact been acting a tad childish. Their discourse had been somewhat juvenile after all.
"It's just that when I see people who are downtrodden, my heart goes out for them, and I get very defensive for them," acknowledged the waterbender of her character flaw.
"And I have a sensitive spot for the plight of ranchers and livestock," divulged Jin gently. "I know how tough it can be taking care of cattle and I have a soft spot for farm animals, you know that. I got pretty worked up when I thought Katara was ignoring that."
"I wasn't ignoring that, I just know how hard it can be for people who rely on the sea for food," stated Katara. "Back in the South Pole, the sea provided essentially everything for us to survive. So when I heard that this factory was polluting the sea, I just knew we had to put a stop to that problem somehow."
"And you have me to thank for that!" beamed Sokka proudly as he puffed out his chest. "It was my idea to use composting to fix the problem with the factory."
"But didn't you get that idea from Aang?" asked Zuko with mock innocence.
Both Katara and Jin giggled a bit as Sokka defended himself with, "But Aang's not here! And I was the one who remembered it and brought it up! Things wouldn't have wrapped up so nicely if not for me!"
Patting his friend's back with a hearty slap, Zuko recognized, "You're right. Without your knowledge, this wouldn't have worked out. I certainly didn't have a way to fix this problem. And I'm supposed to be resolving issues like this in the future." The Fire Prince appeared stressed about that particular prospective thought.
"And that's why a clever leader surrounds himself with smart people," declared Sokka offhandedly. "Which in my case, is tough. Because I'm already so intelligent and quick-witted."
Allowing Sokka to have his time in the sun, Zuko merely smiled as he turned back to the waterbender and earthbender. "So, are you two good now? No more yelling at each other?"
"I'm sorry about my actions, Jin," confessed the Water Tribe girl. "I overreacted and I should have listened better to you."
"I'm sorry too, Katara," replied the Earth Kingdom girl. "You weren't the only one who didn't listen." With that, both girls gave each other a warm hug.
The Fire Prince breathed a sigh of relief at the site of his two friends making peace with one another. Conflict management had never really been his forte, but it seemed like things worked out for the best today, both for the village and for his friends.
As Sokka, Katara, and Jin started talking amicably about the upcoming resolution meeting later that night, Zuko heard a faint whistle coming from a side alleyway near the factory. There was a cloaked figure standing there for a moment before disappearing from sight.
"Hey Zuko, let's go check in with foreman again. I want to make sure that I explained the composting process right to him and that he understood what I was talking about," stated Sokka. Then, awkwardly the Water Tribe boy added, "I mean, I know I explained it perfectly, but just in case I may or may not have left out a step that I just remembered, we should probably just go make sure."
Waving his three friends to go on without him, Zuko replied, "You all go on ahead. I'll catch up. I just want to make sure that the entire crowd has dispersed first and no one's still hanging about."
As the Fire Prince watched his friends head into the factory, the firebender moved to head down the alleyway where he had seen the hooded figure disappear. Entering the backstreet, Zuko found the cloaked individual simply waiting for him to arrive.
"You could have brought your friends," commented the cloaked figure.
"Who are you?" demanded Zuko, on guard.
"A fire ferret," answered the hooded figure with an amused tone. The person produced a sealed letter in their hands before flicking the note towards the Fire Prince, who caught it deftly.
"What's this?" asked the Fire Prince sharply, not thrilled at the answers he had received thus far.
"An update from our mutual friend," replied the cloaked individual. As the person made to leave, they paused and looked back once more. "Magnificent work, my Prince. Today's efforts will reach further than you might expect. Your quality will be known among your people, before ever you meet them."
Zuko didn't get a chance to press the mysterious figure about what they meant by that. Instead, the cloaked individual slammed a smoke bomb to the ground, obscuring the alleyway in a deep haze. As the mist cleared, the self-proclaimed fire ferret had predictably disappeared.
Deciding to not give chase, Zuko raised the letter in his hand eye-level to get a better look at it. 'Whoever that was, they seemed to be on our side,' observed the Fire Prince as he cracked the waxed seal.
The note itself was brief. 'The old eagle hawk and the daring ice wolf sail as one. The hearth swells.'
Zuko checked the back of the letter, but that was the entirety of the note. 'This has got to be from Chey. Jeong Jeong said he was a scout, right?' thought Zuko to himself. 'But I never would have imagined that Chey's information network extended this far into the Fire Nation.'
Reflecting on the message, Zuko continued to inwardly assess, 'Jeong Jeong and Hakoda have successfully met and it seems that they didn't kill each other, so that's a win.' The Fire Prince sighed in relief. Actually that was a huge victory in and of itself. It may have been the best plan at the time, but Zuko had been seriously worried about how that particular meeting would turn out ever since he sent Jeong Jeong to seek out Hakoda.
The second part of the message was a little more vague, but Zuko assumed that meant that Jeong Jeong had been at least somewhat successful in assembling the force of sympathetic Fire Nation supporters that the old Admiral had stated he could amass. Whatever help Jeong Jeong could muster would inevitably be invaluable.
With a snap of his fingers, Zuko ignited a spark of his firebending to burn the letter in his hands to ash. No reason to leave the written message around now that he had received the information. He could just tell his friends what had been written there later.
As the last of the note burned away, Zuko kicked the ashes across the dirt before turning to find his friends and tell them what he had just learned.
Aang studied the map of the Fire Nation he had taken with him. He had never been great with maps. They required too much focus on tiny, complex details and precise measurements. He had always liked to wing it and allow himself to travel wherever the winds blew. But right now, the airbender needed to reach his destination. So for probably the hundredth time, Aang wished that Sokka was here to read the map for him. Sokka loved maps.
He had overheard Jeong Jeong talking to Hakoda about some place called the Magma Slags. Apparently that was where Katara, Sokka, and the others were headed. So that was where Aang needed to get to as well. Unfortunately for him, even though the distance on the map didn't look too terribly far, this trip was taking forever. And it was only about the distance of one and a half of his hand lengths on the map too! Or at least Aang thought it was. A lot of these islands were blurring together. It was difficult to get his bearings with all this ocean around. The water looked the same in every direction.
Aang scratched his head underneath the Fire Nation headband that he wore. His first stop upon his entry into the Fire Nation had been to some small coastal town to get some clothes in order to help himself bend in. The problem was, he didn't have any money. Being the Avatar, Aang had never needed to worry about money before. People in the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom had always been willing to just give him free stuff all the time. But even he realized that the Fire Nation people probably weren't going to do that.
So, like a little thief, Aang had stolen an outfit from a clothes line on the outskirts of that coastal town he had first visited. He only hoped that he wasn't putting out some small family out by stealing their clothes. His next problem, however, had been when he was grabbed by Fire Nation soldiers in that same town who thought he was some kind of delinquent student trying to skip out on school. Apparently the outfit he had stolen was a school uniform of some sort.
So for that morning, Aang had spent most of his efforts trying to sneak away. He didn't have time to waste in school. But the teachers there were like falcon hawks and, despite his best efforts, the airbender couldn't seem to get away. Even the old monks of his monastery hadn't been this difficult to slip away from!
It was later that afternoon that the airbender met a reason to stick around the schoolyard. Her name was On Ji and she had been pretty and smart and inquisitive. When Aang had started to challenge the teachers on the parts of the history lessons that he knew were wrong, On Ji was the only person to actually listen to his side of the story. Not to mention, she actually laughed at his jokes! Instead of just calling them silly or just not getting them like his other friends.
A couple of things lead to another and Aang ended up organizing a secret school dance to try and shake things up with the stuffy Fire Nation children. The dance night itself had started quite slow, but eventually the airbender got most of his fellow students to open up and embrace the fun part of their forgotten culture that the school had been denying them for some reason. He even got to dance with On Ji several times that evening. It was almost enough to distract him completely from his personal mission. Almost.
Still, as Aang flew on Appa, in what he was mostly positive was the correct direction, he found his mind drifting back to that dance night and the kind, caring smile of the Fire Nation girl he had met there. Again, Aang found himself wishing that Sokka was here with him. Sokka would have known what to do and what to say when it came to girls. The Water Tribe boy could have given Aang great advice on the subject.
But then Aang shook his head as he attempted to remember the face of Katara. Which admittedly, he had not actually seen in months, and the waterbender's features were getting a little blurry if he was being honest with himself. Still, the Water Tribe girl's lovely face had been the first thing Aang had the pleasure of seeing when he had emerged from the iceberg and it had belonged to the prettiest girl he had ever met.
The young airbender was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he never bothered to check the skies around him. Otherwise, he might have noticed the continuous dispatch of messenger hawks from the Fire Nation scouts down below that were observing the Avatar flying around on a giant sky bison over their homeland. Black ribbon priority messages logging the Avatar's route and presence raced towards the Imperial Fire Palace. If Sokka had in fact been there, then the Water Tribe boy would have never flown so low beneath the clouds within enemy territory on Appa without any sort of camouflage.