The Fire Prodigy {ATLA}

{27}: The Painted Lady

"Aang, get back here before you become sick!" Katara called out to him, as we watched him swim in the river below.

"What's so wrong with letting him swim for a bit? He's just having a little fun," I asked her.

"Hey guys, I think this river's polluted," Aang said, as he hoped back onto the saddle and airbent the trash off himself and onto us.

"Ugh!" We all complained in unison.

"Well that explains why I can't catch a fish around here, because normally my fishing skills are off the hook!" Sokka said, expecting everyone to laugh, but meeting our silence. "Get it? Like a fishing hook?"

"Too bad your skills aren't on the hook," Toph teased, making all of us laugh.

"I could teach you, if you want," I offered Sokka.

"What? You know how to fish?"

"Why do you sound so surprised?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Sokka doesn't believe girls are capable of doing 'manly' things," Katara said, smiling mockingly.

"Is that so?"

"I mean... It used to be like that, but I've learned not to underestimate girls anymore," Sokka said, glaring at his sister.

"I guess it was a bad idea anyway. There's no way we're going to get any fish from this horribly contaminated waters," I said with a sigh.

"It looks like we'll need to go somewhere else to get food, assuming that'll fit into Sokka's master schedule," Katara agreed with me.

"Mmm... It's doable," Sokka said, as he scanned a long scroll he had been carrying around during our entire journey. "But that means only two potty breaks today."

"Hey, maybe we can get food there!" Aang said, pointing to a small village in the distance.

And we did just that. After hiding Appa and Momo nearby, we headed towards the village. However, there was a slight problem we hadn't accounted for: the village was located in the middle of the river, which we had no way of crossing without Appa.

"I don't feel anything. Where is the village?" Toph asked with a frown.

"That's because its in the middle of the river," Sokka replied.

"Sure is!" A man suddenly joined the conversation. "My name's Dock. Mind if I ask who you are?"

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

"Wow... Colonials. Hop on, I give you ride in the town," Dock offered, gesturing to his small ferry.

We decided to take him up on his offer and get ourselves onto the boat. Dock began paddling towards the village slowly.

"Why do you guys live on the river?" Katara asked him.

"Because we're a fishing town. At least that's how it was before the factory moved in. 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," Dock said, as he pointed to the factory as soon as we passed it by.

"We're sorry to hear that," I said sadly.

We didn't waste any time getting off the ferry as soon as we got to the village. Aang was the first to thank our new friend.

"Thanks for the ride!"

We walked deeper into the village, and it didn't take me long to notice just how sick the people looked. It was evident that the poor quality of the water was starting to deteriorate their heath. As a healer myself, it was hard to watch.