Balance | Old Version

Chapter 91

Elua's POV.

The soldiers had started to burn and tear down the village, but we had a plan. Toph bends some of the earth up and down, making a thumping sound while Appa growls, I bend fog over the water, and Sokka sits on a rock playing the flute as Katara waterbends herself onto the bridge in front of the soldiers. The soldiers look at her in shock and fear as they back away from her.
"Do something!" The General tells the soldiers as he pushes them forward. They start to walk over to Katara but, Aang, who is hiding under the docks, airbends at them and they runoff, shouting in fear. More guards start to walk towards Katara, but she bends some of the water and sends their boats into the cliffside, making them explode and scaring the rest of the soldiers. The last two soldiers get into the last two remaining boats and speed away.

"I'll take care of you myself," The General says in anger as he sends a wave of fire at Katara. But, Aang quickly airbends her into the air and sends The General flying into the water.
"Leave this village and never come back," Katara orders The General as she holds her arms out threateningly. He looks at her in fear and begins swim, desperately trying to get away from her. As the villagers cheer, Sokka, Toph and I get into a boat and sail over to the now happy town.
"I knew you'd come," The little boy from a few days ago says smiling up at Katara.
"Thank you!" Dock says smiling.
"Painted Lady, you're the best!" A townsman shouts happily.
"Me and my brothers really owe you a lot," Dock says as he walks over to Katara smiling. 

"Hey, wait a minute! I know you! You're not the Painted Lady, you're that colonial girl!" Dock says as he gets a closer at Katara.
"Yeah, you're the lady that gave me a fish," The boy states.
"You've been tricking us. You're a waterbender!" Dock says in shock.
"She's a waterbender! How dare you act like our Painted Lady!" Everyone begins to shout in anger as they all suddenly become hostile.
"Maybe she is a waterbender, but she was just trying to help you," Sokka tells the people in front of us as he jumps in between the people and Katara. "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," He tells them in passion, and the people seem to calm down.

"Sokka, it's okay," Katara tells him as she walks in front of him.  "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," She tells them.
"She's right, but what should we do?" Dock asks.
"Maybe we can clean the river," Toph suggests from within the crowd.
"Yeah, we can clean the river!" Dock says smiling as everyone cheers. "Thank you. You know, you're not so bad for a waterbender," Dock says as he walks over to us.

"You wouldn't mind keeping that a secret, by the way, would you?" Sokka asks him.
"No problem. Keeping my mouth shut is a personal specialty," Dock states. "My brother Xu, on the other hand, hoo! He's a blabbermouth," He says laughing, making Sokka hit his own face. 
"So, Dock, are you gonna help us clean?" Katara asks him.
"No, ma'am. I'm going to get my other brother, Bushi. He loves cleaning rivers," Dock says as he quickly changes his hat. "Alright, I'm Bushi! Let's get some river cleaning done," He says, acting like a different person.
"Aha, I knew it! I knew you were the same guy. You're the shop owner and the boat guy," Aang says with a smug look.

"Oh, you must be talking about my brothers, Dock and Xu," 'Bushi' says.
"No, I just saw you! You switched hats and called yourself a different name!" Aang exclaims.
"Oh, you know who does that? My brother Dock. He's crazy," Dock whispers with a quiet laugh as he walks away with the other villagers. Aang's expression turns to one of annoyance as he goes to follow the annoying man, but I grab his shoulder and stop him.
"Just...let him be," I tell him with a sigh. After hours and hours of removing all the goop from the river, it's finally clean and we all can go back to the campsite, getting some rest before taking off again and continuing our crazy journey.