Rainbow's Gift (Avatar The Last Airbender Fanfic)

61. The Painted Lady

I was bored. Appa was swimming in filthy water, so the water stank. I couldn't understand how Aang was able to swim in it. While Toph and Katara had zoned out, I was sharpening some of the few daggers I got from home. Sokka had been trying to fish. Aang finally came out of the water, and  I covered my nose.

"Hey guys, I  think this water's polluted." Before I could say anything, he air-bended all the disgusting water on us. Toph tasted it and spit it out. Then Aang removed all the dirty water with more air.

"Well, that explains why I can't catch a fish around here. Because  normally  my fishing  skills are," he removed his hook from the water and  held it in front  of our faces, "off the hook!" He saw our looks of confusion, and then he continued, "Get it? Like a fishing  hook!"

"No, we don't," I said, and he frowned.

"Too bad your skills aren't on the hook," Toph said, and we all laughed while Sokka glared at us.

"It looks like we need to go somewhere else to get food," Katara said as she looked into the water. Then, we watched Sokka's long schedule unfold. "Assuming  that can fit into Sokka's master schedule."

I sighed. Sokka made this long schedule so we wouldn't delay on the day of the black sun. I felt like I was back at my dad's Harbour. I had a schedule, too. "Hm.....it's doable. " Sokka said as he looked at it. "But that means  only  two potty breaks  today."

"Hey, maybe we can  get food there!" Aang said as he stood up and pointed at a village on the water. We got onto land and made sure Appa and Momo were well hidden. I watched as Aang spoke to them. It made me miss Kiki, but I knew she would never come back until  I got rid of the darkness in me. We walked to the edge of the land.

"Where's this village? I can't  feel  a thing." Toph said.

"It's in the middle of the water," Sokka told her.

"Sure is!" All of our attention went to the man with a boat below us. " My name's Dock. Do you mind if I ask who you are?"

"We're  from the Earth Kingdom colonies." Katara looked at us to make sure we agreed with her lie.

"Wow, colonials. Let me give you a ride into town." Dock offered. We got into the boat, and  Katara started to ask questions.

"Why do you live on the water?"

"Because  we're  a fishing  town." He said as his long stick flew over us, and we all had to duck. "At least that's  how it was before  the factory  moved  in." We looked at the factory from a distance. I  frowned. The Fire Nation hurt everyone,  even their own. "The army makes their metal there. They moved in a few years ago and started gunking up our river. Now our little  village  is struggling  to survive." I looked at Aang and could already tell what he was thinking. He was wondering how Firelord Ozai could hurt his people.

"Thanks for the ride," Aang thanked him as we started to walk away. Katara and I walked side by side, passing sick and hungry people.

"Look at this place. It looks so sad. We have to do something to help them," Katara said. I looked around. It was true that this fishing village was poor, but I didn't think we had the time to help them, and I didn't feel like it either.

"No, we can't waste our time here. We have a bigger mission that we need to stay focused on. These  people  are on their own." I nodded to Sokka's words. We continued walking away, but Katara approached him and grabbed him by the arm.

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

"I'm not turning my back; 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 Firelord!" Sokka told her a little bit too loudly.