~The Blind Water Bender~

Chapter Twenty Two

Cara and Toph were currently separating the dirty water using their bending, as the water was separated, Cara handed it to Katara as she bended it into a boiling pot, Sokka got out his big time table "out little detour into town today has completely thrown off our schedule" he said examining the long peace of paper.

"it's gonna take some serious finagling to get us back in track" he said as he got a cup of water from the clean pot "finagle away, o schedule master" Toph said as the group walked closer to Sokka's time table.

"well, for starters, it looks like we all need to wake up 43 minutes earlier every day" he said earning a surprise ld face from Katara "43 minutes?"

"why so precise with the minutes, round it up to a sweet 45, I hate numbers when they don't go up in fives" Cara said as she drink some clean water.

"look, we only have a few weeks to get to the fire lord in time for the invasion and the eclipse, which by the way, only lasts 8 minutes, and we just lost a whole day, so if we want to make up the time and stay on schedule we have to wake up 43 minutes earier then we normaly do" Sokka said, getting closer and closer to Cara's face the more he spoke.

"well, I'm not waking up early" Toph said laying down "me neither" Cara said as she pushed him away from her face.

He then crossed his arms "or we could just cut out all of our eating breaks"

The rest didn't agree with his new idea and he thought for a moment again "I got it, how's this from now on, we'll take food breaks and potty breaks at the same time"

The rest of the children then spat their water out in disgust "are you even civilised?" Cara asked disgusted as she wiped her mouth with her sleeve "hey, it might be gross but its efficient" he said and then picked up his time table.

"either way we have to leave here first thing tomorrow morning" he said, he talked about it for ages before the gaang went to sleep, bedsides Katara and Cara who got up and got some food for the villagers from the factory.

As they were walking back they thought about how Sokka wanted to leave in the morning, and that this would be their only chance to help them "it's a shame we can't help even more" Cara said quietly as they approached the camp.

"I know" Katara said sadly as they tiptoed back to their sleeping bags and got in them.

Cara's sleeping bag was right next to Toph's and as she layed down, as if by instinct, Toph cuddled into Cara, wrapping her arms around the water bender, placing her head on her chest, close to her neck "where'd you go?" Toph asked sleepily not opening her eyes "just helped the village, I couldn't leave them like that" Cara said quietly, Toph yawned.

"don't worry, you'll be able to help them more tomorrow" Toph breathed out with a little smile "what have you done?" Cara asked

"fed Appa some berries that turns your tongue purple, and asked him to play sick" Toph laughed lazily before kissing Cara's neck, sending sparks down her spine and blush to her face "now go to sleep, I've being waiting for my pillow to come back" Toph then cuddled deeper into Cara's neck, the water bender cuddled up to Toph and wrapped her arms around her, as they both fell to sleep.

In the morning, Appa was groaning and holding his stomach, Cara was stroking his belly trying to make him feel better "Appa, my poor baby, what's wrong?" she asked in a soft voice pretending to not know what Toph did, while Katara was near Appa's head trying to find out what was wrong "what's the matter?" Aang asked coming from behind a boulder.

"I think Appa's sick" she said and immediately got Sokka's attention as he jumped up from his sleeping bag "what, Appa's sick? That's awful" he said running towards the sky bison.

"wow, Sokka, I didn't realise you cared so much" Toph said monotony

"of course I care" He said getting out his big time table "I might as well just throw our schedule away now" he said looking though it, he then looked back up to see the 4 others looking at him angry, he then rushed to towards Appa and began cuddling upto him "and I'm concerned because my big furry friend doesn't feel well"

Cara rolled her eyes "he probably got sick from going though the polluted water" she reasoned as she began to stroke Appa again, Aang looked at Appa closely "he doesn't look sick, you ok, buddy?" Aang asked and Appa opened his mouth, Aang dragged the tongue out and it was purple.

"his tongue is purple, that can't be good" Aang said as he looked towards Katara and Cara "can you two heal him?" he asked, Katara examined the tongue "it looks like he needs some medicine, maybe we can find the right herbs in town" she said and they made their way back to the fishing village.

They got on the platforms and noticed a sudden cheerfulness from the people of the village "is it just me or does this place seem different?" Toph asked as her and Cara walked side by side.

"yeah, are the people happier?" Aang asked as a child kicking a ball ran past them, Katara and Cara smiled to themselves as they walked towards Shoe's shop.

"hey, Shoe, what's going on with everyone today?" Sokka asked as he approached the counter "something amazing happend last night" he said with a smile.

"food was delivered to our village by mysterious and wonderful people, The Painted ladies" he said getting confused looks from the Gaang.

"the painted what's now?" Katara asked as Shoe placed two tiny wooden statues on his counter one white the other black "The Painted Ladies, they're apart of the towns lore, people say they're River spirits who watch over our town in times of need, I always thought they was just a legend, until now" he then gestured to the happy people.

"see, we don't need to help these people, they already have people helping them" Sokka said as he turned back around to face Shoe "all we need is medicine for our sick friend" Sokka said to Shoe but he shook his head "sorry, all the medicine we have goes to the factory, that's why there's so many sick people in our Village"

Cara and Katara smiled a little, knowing they could help the sick people of the village "gosh darn, looks like we have to stay untill Appa gets better" Cara said in a fakeish disappointed voice, Sokka sighed as he placed his hands on the counter "you got any more food to sell?" he asked Shoe, who grabbed two fish, but one had two heads.

"would you like the one-headed fish or the two-headed fish?" Sokka instantly went for the two headed fish grabbing it and showing it to the rest of the Gaang, who recoiled "what, you get more for your money that way" he reasoned as the others ran off back to camp.

When others were focusing on something else, Cara and Toph went up to Appa "thanks, Buddy, I promise I'll give you a good treat" Cara said stroking the sky bison as Toph fed him more berries.