Wow, I finally understand why it takes so long for people to update. Life can really get in your way, can't it? So anyway heres the next chapter. Thanks in advance for reading it and hope you enjoy it. I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender.

The Painted Lady

The sun was shinning brightly in the sky, as Appa slowly trudged his way through a sludge-invested river. Toph and Katara were sitting in the middle of his saddle looking down at the polluted water below, while Sokka was fishing near the back. Zuko had taken a seat on Appa's head and was just looking up at the clouds above. For a reason that the others were unable to fathom, Aang had decided to jump off Appa and play with Momo in the putrid water.

"Momo" Aang called as he ducked his head underneath the water, while the lemur began to fly overhead searching for Aang. He spotted Aang as he resurfaced and quickly latched onto his head. Aang laughed when Momo caught him, clearly enjoying their game. It was only then did he look down at the water and seemingly realise that he was swimming in filth. Aang spun himself using airbending, to jump out of the water and slowly descend onto Appa's saddle, now covered in the disgusting water.

"Hey guys, I think this river's polluted," he said, as if the others hadn't already taken notice. He clapped his fist together, creating an air bubble around himself and blowing away the sludge. He then saw that he had inadvertently blown it onto the others and quickly cleaned them off before they had a chance to complain.

"Well, I guess that's why I can't catch a fish around here" said Sokka as he pulled in his fishing reel. "Because normally my fishing skills are...off the hook!" He held up the empty hook of his reel to complete the punch line. "Get it?"

It seemed as though everyone else did not get the joke as they remained silent or it was more likely that the joke simply wasn't that funny.

"Too bad your fishing skills aren't on the hook", said Toph. Both Aang and Katara laughed at Toph's much more sassy sense of humour, while Sokka gave them his usual annoyed scowl. Katara took another look at the water below, as it slowly dawned onto her that, without any fish to catch they would have no dinner.

"It looks like we'll need to go somewhere else to get food," she said. She turned back to look at the long scroll of paper that was unrolling across the saddle, taking up nearly the entire length of it. "Assuming of course that it will fit into Sokka's master schedule".

"Hm…it's doable," said Sokka after going over the scroll intently. "But that means only two potty breaks today!"

"There's a town down the river. We can get food there" said Zuko, who was now pulling on Appa's reins to lead him out of the water. The others looked ahead to see the small village that Zuko was indicting to, that was just visibly at the very end of the river.

Once they had found a secluded area in the cliffs, the kids set up their camp and covered Appa'e entire body in a blanket of moss. Momo moved beside Appa and tried to mimic his disguise.

"There you go buddy!" said Aang after going over his camouflage. "Now you look just like a little hill with horns". Appa gave a loud grumble in response, as the kids went on their way.

They stood at the top of the cliff side, to get a better view of the village. It sat in the middle of the river, surrounded by the polluted waters. They could see from here that it was a very small village and looked slightly run down. Toph frowned in confusion at the location of the so-called village.

"So where is it? I can't sense anything".

"It's in the middle of the river," Sokka explained. It was understandable that Toph wouldn't be able to sense the village's location. It was probably held up in the water by planks of wood that stretched down to the river bed, with no earth or stone anywhere near it.

"It sure is!" replied an unknown voice. The group looked down to see an old man in a small boat at the bottom of the cliff.

"My name's Dock" he called, introducing himself. "Mind if I ask who you are?"

The kids, save for Toph, exchanged some quick glances before they answered. Up until now they hadn't really thought of a convincing cover story that they could give to other Fire Nation citizens. Zuko instinctively pulled his hood down further to his face, so he wouldn't be recognised. Remembering what had happened to Aang, Katara decided to reply first.

"We're, um, from the colonies".

"Wow...colonials!" Dock said, impressed. "Come on down, I'll give you a ride into town".

Soon the group was huddled together in the small boat, as Dock rowed them across the river to his village. The gang had been to many different towns on their travels, but they had never been to one that floated in the middle of a river. Much less a polluted river.

"Why do guys live out on this river" Katara asked Dock out of curiosity.

"Because we're a fishing town," he replied cheerily. "At least that's how it was before the factory moved in". He pointed up to a large and ominous looking Fire Nation factory that stood within a gap between the cliffs. Dark fumes emitted from it into the sky and large metal pipes sprouted from it down to the river below.

"The 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 now spoke in a sadder tone, though for some reason he still held quite a happy demeanour. When they finally reached the dock of the village, Zuko helped Toph out of the boat and let her hold onto his arm as she had much more difficulty at feeling vibrations on wood than actual earth.

The group bid farewell to Dock and started to make their way through the village. As they walked they soon saw for themselves what a terrible state it was really in. The buildings looked old and were falling apart. The villagers themselves didn't look any better off. They appeared malnourished and filthy. They were obviously living in poverty since their main source of income was now gone. It didn't even look as though they had much to do anymore. Most of them were just lying around the village, with out any work or entertainment. This bleak sight sent a sharp pain into Katara's chest.

"Look at this place. It's terrible. Maybe we should do something to help".

"No, we can't waste anytime here," said Sokka, raising his hand to dismiss her suggestion "We have a bigger mission that we need to stay focused on. These people are on their own"

"These people are starving!" said Katara angrily at her brother, "but you would turn your back on them. How can you be so heartless?"

"I'm not being heartless, I'm being realistic!" he said, as he stopped walking to face her. "We can't go around helping every run down little town we wander into. We'll be helping them all by taking out the Fire Lord!"

Following the sound of Sokka's voice, Toph quickly moved over to him and roughly slapped her hand to his mouth, as he said that last part in a little too much enthusiasm.

"Hey, loudmouth! Maybe we should be a little quieter when we talk about taking out the Fire Lord".

After she removed her hand, Sokka decide to follow Toph's advice and now spoke in a much softer tone.

"Come on, Katara, be reasonable about this. You know our mission has to come first".

Katara however still held an unhappy expression and was not ready to back down yet. She turned to Zuko who had remained silent during the argument.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" she asked, hoping to get some support. "These are your people. Don't you care about what's happening to them?"

Zuko looked out across the river, trying to avoid Katara's stare. He shifted his gaze up to the factory that was causing all the pollution. He then closed his eyes and let out a small sigh.

"Sokka's right" he said, while still not looking at her. "We should be focusing on the mission". Katara now looked a little disheartened at his answer and reluctantly decide to agree with them.

"Let's just get what we need and go," said Aang, who had also stayed quiet during the discussion, as he didn't want to add anymore to the arguing and knew that the best way to end would be to the leave the village. The kids continued to explore the village until they finally found what looked like a market stall where they could buy their food. They moved up to the counter and saw that Dock was working behind it, now sporting a different hat than before.

"Hey, Dock" said Sokka. "You work here too?"

"I'm not Dock" he replied as he turned to face them. "I'm Xu. Dock's my brother".

The kids were completely baffled by his statement, as he looked and sounded exactly like the man they met on the river.

"But we just saw you" said Aang. "You're even wearing the same clothes. The only difference is you have a new hat".

"Dock works on the docks" the old man replied, trying to explain more clearly. "That's why they call him Dock, and I work in the shop, that's why they call me Xu".

The kids still didn't know what to make of his story, as it now made even less sense to them.

"I don't get it" said Aang.

"Me neither" said Xu. He then quickly pulled out a crate filled with rotten seafood."What can I getcha? I'll give you special deal. If you buy three fish, I'll throw in a clam for free".

Sokka took a long look at the foul smelling and revolting fish. The best he could say of it was that it looked better than the clams.

"We'll just take the fish," he said finally. After they made the exchange, Sokka spoke again.

"Mind telling your brother we need a ride back to shore?" he said, deciding to play along with the act. Xu ducked down beneath the counter and reappeared now wearing the same hat as when they first met.

"Hey, colonials. My brother says you need a lift". Dock jumped over the counter and started to lead the group back to his boat. As Katara began to follow them, she stopped when she felt something pulling at her robe from behind. She looked down to see a small urchin boy, smiling up at her.

"Can you spare some food?" he asked politely.

Katara bent down to give him one of the fish they had bought and watch them run off to give the fish to an ill-looking woman, presumably his mother, who was lying against a wall. Katara slowly made her way back to join the others, wishing that she could have done more for that poor boy.

Back at the campsite the group began to prepare their dinner, which consisted mostly of rotten fish. Zuko lit a fire, while Katara and Toph used a combination of their bending to separate a large amount of pollution from the cooking water they had collected. Once the meal was ready, they all took a bowl of the rotten fish stew and ate what could from it. Sokka continued to ponder over his schedule as he ate.

"Our detour into town today has completely thrown us off" he said as he took another sip of stew. "It's gonna take some serious finagling to get us back on track".

"Finagle away, O schedule master" said Toph sarcastically, not even sure what the word finagles meant.

"Well, for starters" replied Sokka as he went over the schedule, "it looks like we'll need to wake up forty-three minutes earlier every day".

"Forty-three minutes?" repeated Katara.

"Look, we only have a few weeks to get to the Fire Lord in time for the eclipse" he said, trying to stress his point. "Which by the way, only lasts for eight 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 early!"

Toph lay back on the ground and shrugged her shoulders in mild defiance. "Well, I'm not waking up early".

Sokka crossed his arms, angry at their attitude. "Or we could just cut out all of our eating breaks" he threatened.

Toph quickly sat back up, and along with Katara and Aang, voiced her objection to his idea, all of them now getting very tired of Sokka's authoritarian treatment of them.

"Ooh I got it," said Sokka in a moment of inspiration. "From now on, we'll take food breaks and potty breaks at the same time". He smiled to himself for coming up with such a clever idea, while the others merely thought it was disgusting. Zuko, who hadn't said anything since they left the village, let out a tired sigh at their arguing.

"Look lets just leave here tomorrow morning, before something else happens" he said.

"That's the plan," said Sokka, glad to finally get some support. "At least someone around here is focused on our mission". Sokka rolled up his schedule and prepared for bed, while the others got up to do the same. Katara however, stayed seated, still unable to get the villagers plight out of her mind.

The group was awakened the next morning by a loud grumbling sound. Katara was standing beside Appa, who appeared to be the cause of the noise. He was lying on his side and was groaning in pain. Aang got up and moved over to him in concern.

"What's wrong with Appa?" he asked Katara.

"I think he's sick" she replied.

"What?"shouted Sokka as he jumped out of bed and ran over to them. "Appa's sick? This is awful".

"Wow, Sokka," said Toph in a surprise voice. "I didn't realize you cared so much about him".

"Of course I care!" he said. "I might as well just throw our schedule away now!" He once again pulled out his precious schedule and went over it with a critical eye. He soon stopped when he noticed the anger glare the others were giving him. He quickly changed his attitude and rushed to Appa's side.

"And I'm concerned because my big furry friend doesn't feel very well". He began to rub his face in Appa's fur affectionately.

"He must have gotten sick from being in that polluted water" said Toph, making an educated guess.

Zuko rose out of his bed to join the others and was now looking over Appa for himself. "He doesn't look that sick. You sure he can't fly?" he asked Aang.

Aang gave Appa a pat on his head and in response a large tongue fell out of his mouth. They could see that nearly half of it had turned the colour purple. Aang desperately lifted the tongue to examine it better. "This can't be good. It must be infected," he said. "Katara can you heal him?"

"I'm not sure" she said. "Maybe he needs some medicine. We could get some herbs in town".

Once the group had returned to the village they began to notice how something about it felt different from yesterday. It was as though the entire village had undergone some sort of change overnight. The people were now much livelier and proactive. They seemed to be moving around the village with a greater sense of purpose. Katara smiled as she saw the urchin boy who had asked her food, run past them, flying a kite.

They managed to find the market stall from yesterday, with Xu standing behind it. They could tell it was Xu based on the hat he was wearing.

"Hey, Xu, what's going on with everyone today?" asked Sokka.

"Ah, something amazing happened last night" he replied in an almost mystical sense. "Food was delivered to our village by a mysterious and wonderful person...the Painted Lady".

"The Painted who now?" asked Katara.

"The Painted Lady" he repeated. From underneath the counter he pulled out, a small wooden statue of a women. The kids bent down to get a closer look at the statue. They could see that the women wore a long cloak that covered her body from her shoulders to her feet, and a wide-brimmed conical hat. Underneath the hat they could see the women's face. She wore some elaborate red and yellow face painted, similar to that of the Kyoshi warriors. This made her appear both beautiful and elegant, but at the same she also held a very caring and generous look on her face, giving her the appearance of some one who sought to help others.

"She's part of our town's lore" Xu continued. "They say she's a river spirit who watches over our town in times of need. I always thought she was just a legend. Until now".

"See?" said Sokka to Katara once they stood back up. "We don't have to help these people; they already have someone to help them". He turned to look at Xu again. "All we need is medicine for our sick friend".

"Medicine?" said Xu. "Sorry, all the medicine we have goes to the factory. That's why there are so many sick people in our village". Like his brother, Xu didn't seem to show any signs of bitterness toward the factory that was causing the village so much pain. Zuko, who stood with his back to the counter looking over the town, cringed as Xu spoke and lowered his head down.

"Looks like we need to stay another night so Appa can rest" said Katara, now that there was no chance of them getting any medicine.

"I guess you're right," said a disappointed Sokka, unable to think of an alternative. "You got any more food to sell?" he asked Xu, hoping to get something out of their trip. Once again Xu pulled out a crate of disgusting seafood, ready to do business.

"Would you like the one-headed fish, or the two-headed fish?"

Sokka took another look at the crate full of fish, which did indeed include some two-head ones. After mauling it over he made his decision and picked up a two-headed fish to buy. The rest of the group took a step back from him in revulsion, as he held up what was supposed to be their dinner. He turned back to them in surprise, while still holding the fish in his hand.

"What? You get more for your money this way".

The others just moved further back from the mutated fish, not wanting to even touch it. Katara put her hands to her mouth feeling like she would be sick.

Zuko sat at the edge of the campsite looking out over the river. Once again he shifted his gaze up to the factory on the cliff side that was still churning pollution even in the middle of the night. Every time he thought about that factory and what it was doing, he felt nothing but guilt and shame. He hoped Appa would get better soon, so that could leave this place behind, but at the same time he wished that there was something he could do to help the villagers. He was brought out of his thoughts when he felt something at his leg. He looked down to see Momo who had come out to join him. Zuko let him climb up onto his lap and lightly scratched his head.

"Hey Zuko" yawned a tired voice from behind. Zuko turned to see Aang walking over to him. He rubbed his eyes as he sat crossed legged beside them. Momo jumped out of Zuko's lap and onto Aang's head.

"What are you guys doing up?" he asked.

"I couldn't sleep" replied Zuko. "I can't help it but I keep thinking about what's happening to those villagers. About how much they're suffering". Zuko tilted his head back to look up at the sky. "When I was travelling through the Earth Kingdom, I saw how the war had such a negative impact on the people over there, and now I can see that it's had just as a big of an impact over here as well".

Aang looked down to the ground unsure of how to reply. "I know things are bad right now…. but I'm sure they'll get better soon" he said with optimistic smile. "The villagers seemed pretty happy today, after the Painted Lady helped them out".

"They shouldn't have to rely on some river spirit to solve their problems," said Zuko in frustration. "The Fire Nation should be taking care of its people, and not treating them like this. I'm the Crown Prince, but I had no idea that things like this were happening here". Zuko now held his head down in shame. "And now there's nothing I can do to help them".

Aang looked over at Zuko in sympathy, understanding his dilemma. He now began to feel guilty himself. It was his duty as the Avatar to keep the world in balance. That included the Fire Nation.

"Zuko…I promise" he said with a serious and genuine face, "when the war is over, we're going to help rebuild the Fire Nation, along with rest of the world, together. We're not gonna abandon you guy". Aang placed his hand firmly on Zuko's shoulder to emphasise his promise. Zuko looked back at him with a smile, grateful for his words. The two of them, including Momo stayed up a while longer to talk, until they decide to go back to bed, after Zuko pointed out that Sokka probably wouldn't let them sleep in. Had they stayed where they were a little longer they would have seen the unusual fog that was moving onto the village.

The mist was unnatural, both in how it appeared and how it was moving. It slowly began to cover the entire village. Within the mist was a woman, who greatly resembled the statue that the group saw earlier. She glided along the water, while the mist was obscuring her presence from anyone who might be out. She reached a large building near the centre of the town. She entered to see a large number of villagers sleeping on the floor, many of whom appeared sick. The woman walked to each of the villagers in turn and bent over them. From her hands emitted a bright blue glow whenever she touched them, which seemed to heal them of their afflictions. After she had gone through each of the patients, the woman went back outside to the dock. Just before she stepped onto the water, she heard a small voice come from behind.

"Thank you, Painted Lady".

Katara let out a small gasp when she heard the urchin boy's voice. He had come out to thank her for healing his mother. Katara gave the boy a small nod in acknowledgement, while still not turning to face him. She then stepped back onto the water and gilded into the fog.

For the third time in a row, the group walked through the village up to Xu's market counter, intent on buying some fish. This time however it was Dock behind the counter, polishing the statue of the Painted Lady.

"Hey Dock" said Sokka. "Is Xu around?"

"Let me check" he replied. Dock quickly ran around to the back of the shop, where he ducked his head down to switch hats and then ran back to the counter.

"Hey there!" greeted Xu. "Back again, are ya colonials"

"We need more food" said Toph, as she slapped some money down on the counter. "Our friend is still sick and we can't leave until he's better".

"Oh, well, that's too bad" said Xu, as he pulled out yet another crate of unappealing seafood. "Maybe if you guys are lucky, the Painted Lady will visit you in the night, and heal your friend".

"Oh yeah" said Sokka sceptically. "And maybe she'll cook us a midnight snack, and we'll all have a sing-along."

"Yeah, may be!" agreed Xu, with enthusiasm. It looked as though he was oblivious to the sarcasm. "You know, last night she visited us again and healed most of our sick folks."

"Is that why this place seems so festive?" asked Aang. The group looked over to the town square to see some villagers erecting up a much larger statue of the Painted Lady. Once it was standing up right, everyone around it began to cheer and applaud, in gratitude for what she had done for them.

"Yep" replied Xu. "And it's all because of the Painted Lady."

"Can you believe how much an entire village can be affected by one lady I mean...spirit" said Katara. She was looking up at the statue with her hands clasped together in a pray like fashion and a hopeful expression on her face. She was beginning to feel relieved, thinking that the town was finally starting to turn itself around.

"Well, I hope she returns every night or less this place would go right back to dumps again" said Sokka in a rather callous manner.

"How can you say that" asked Katara, with an indignant look." Look how much better off these people are."

"It doesn't really matter if their better off now" said Zuko. "As long as this river stays poisoned, the villagers will always have to face hard times."

"Exactly" added Sokka. "Without the Painted Lady, these people wouldn't be able to fend for themselves. If she really wanted to help she would use her spirit magic to blow up that factory". Sokka now began to wave his arms around to demonstrate the kind of magic he would expect.

"Ooooooh….boom!"

"Spirit magic doesn't work like that Sokka" said Aang in a disapproving manner. "It's more like... Woooooo". Aang now began to do his own dance beside Sokka. Katara let out an angry growl as both Aang and Sokka started comparing sound effects of spirit magic.

Katara waited until she was certain everyone had fallen sleeping before she got out of bed. As she got up, she quietly placed some dried grass under her covers to hide her absence. She moved out to the edge of the camp to put on her outfit. She placed a large and ragged purple gown over her shoulders. She then froze a puddle of water on a nearby stone, to create a makeshift mirror. Using the mirror, she applied some face paint that mimicked what she had seen on the actual statue. Finally she donned a wide conical hat, just like the real Painted Lady, only this hat also had a large white veil, which would keep her face covered.

Once she was ready, Katara made her way to the river. She tried to move as quick as she could, but in her haste she failed to notice Momo had woken up and spotted her. Momo flew over to Aang and started tapping his head to wake him. Aang groaned as he opened his eyes to see Momo's staring directly at him.

"What's the matter, buddy?"

Aang looked past Momo to see what had awoken him. Out in the distance, fading into some fog, was a woman wearing a purple robe and a large hat with a veil. Aang let out a small gasp, as he realised that it was the Painted Lady herself.

"It's really her!" he said excitedly. He jumped out of bed and ran out to catch up with her. When he got close enough he called out to her.

"Hello, Painted Lady spirit!"

Katara froze when she heard Aang's voice. She turned her head back to see Aang was just a few yards behind her. She couldn't risk being discovered yet, not until she had finished what she set out to do. She ran down the landscape as fast as she could to get away from him. When Aang saw what she was doing he quickly chased after her, easily able to keep up with her due to his enhanced speed. He didn't know why she was running away. He had only wanted to ask her if she would heal Appa. Thinking that it was a misunderstanding he yelled at her while he ran, to try and explain himself.

"Excuse me, I don't mean to bother you, but my friend's sick and we're on kind of a tight schedule!"

Katara only quickened her pace, until she finally made it to the river. She knew she would be faster on water than Aang was on land. She stepped into the river and used her waterbending to surf almost effortless over the surface of the water toward the village.

Although Aang was surprised how fast she could move on the water, he figured it made sense since she was a river spirit. He used his airbending to jump as high as he could into the air. When he was about to hit the water, he froze a small puddle of it to form a sheet of ice. He landed with one foot on it and jumped once again into the air, creating more ice to hop across.

"Wait, but I'm the great bridge between your world and mine" he called to her, trying to introduce himself properly. "I also know Hei Bai. You know? The big bear. We're close personal friends."

By now Katara had made it into the village and began to weave her way in-between the buildings. However Aang was determined and now ran across the rooftops, so that he wouldn't lose sight of her. He was about to call out to her again when he ran straight into a roof poll and fell flat on his back.

When she saw that Aang was distracted, Katara moved as fast as she could over the water. She finally reached the opposite bank and hide behind a rock to catch her breath. She looked back around the rock to see that Aang had stopped following her. She let out a sigh of relief, thinking that she was safe and could continue her mission. However as she turned around, she received another fright when, somehow, Aang had miraculously appeared right in front of her, suspendered upside down.

"I'm Aang" he said respectfully. He then lifted up his headband to reveal his arrow. "I'm the Avatar."

Katara was initially afraid about Aang seeing her in her Painted Lady outfit, but it look as though he hadn't figured out it was really her yet. She pulled her hat down further, to keep her face hidden.

"Well, hello, Avatar." she said, in kind of raspy voice that resembled an old women. "I wish I could talk, but I am very busy." She tried not to look directly at him, instead giving him some hand gestures to empathize her point.

"Yeah, me too. I hate that" he complained. Now that he was looking at her up close, Aang noticed how she seemed different from the other spirits he had met with. The most obvious difference, of course, was that she actually looked a lot like a regular person. Aang took a quick peak under her hat to get a better look at her face, before she pulled it down even further.

"You know, you're really pretty for a spirit." he said. "I haven't met a lot of spirits, but the ones I do meet are not very attractive." In his mind he remembered when he had come face to face with Koh, the face stealer. Now that was something that kept him up at night. Katara chuckled nervously at his comment and at the same time she felt her checks become redder when he said she was pretty.

"Thank you, but I really should…"

"You seem really familiar" he continued after he went over her again. As he tried to take another look at her face, he kept getting this strange feeling that he had seen her somewhere before. It wasn't from the statue he had seen in town. She worn the same face paint, but the statue of the women he saw looked a lot older. And for some reason he only thought of that statue as being good looking. But the women standing in front of him right now, to Aang she looked very beautiful.

"A lot of people say that" replied Katara, now feeling desperate to get away.

"No...I mean like…. we've met before kind of familiar." Aang moved closer to her and gave her a suspicious stare. It wasn't just her face; it was also how she simply appeared in general. The way she talked, the way she moved. Even the way she sounded. She seemed almost…human.

"Look, I really should get going" Katara said finally. She turned back to the river, planning to sneak back to the camp and to do this tomorrow night. As she began to leave, Aang decided that there was indeed something wrong with this so called spirit and he was going to prove it. He sent a quick gust of air underneath the women, blowing her hat upward, so her face would be revealed. She frantically tried to pull it back down, but it was already too late. Aang had seen who she really was.

"Katara!"

Katara took off her hat and hung her head down in defeat. "Hi Aang"

"You're the Painted Lady!" he said, in shock. "How?"

"I wasn't at first" she began, "I was just trying to help the village. But since everyone thought that's who I was anyway...I sort of became her."

"So you were sneaking into the village at night to heal them" he said slowly. Another thought suddenly came into his mind.

"Wait a minute. Is Appa even sick?"

Katara gave a feeble shrug of her shoulders and look away from Aang. "He might be sick of the purple berries I've been feeding him, but, other than that, he's fine."

"I can't believe you lied to everyone so you could help these people." Aang had to admit, he was surprised by Katara's actions. He knew that Zuko wanted to help the villagers too, but even he hadn't been willing to go this far to do it.

"I'm sorry" said Katara with regret. "I know I shouldn't have"

"No, I think it's great!" he said in excitement. "You're like a secret hero. Now that's cool"

Katara was a little taken back what he had said, but she was nevertheless happy to know that Aang supported her.

"Well there's one more thing I have to do. And I could use your help."

Aang followed Katara to the sight of her objective; the Army's Factory. They crouched down low behind some rocks so that wouldn't be spotted. They could the toxic sludge that that was endlessly coming out of the factory's pipes into the river.

"You really want to destroy the factory" he asked hesitantly.

"Yes. Sokka was just kidding, but he was right. Getting rid of this factory is the only way to help these people permanently."

Though Aang was a little uncertain if this was the best course of action, he decided that the factory had to be shut regardless. When it looked like there were no guards stationed anywhere, both he and Katara ran inside the factory.

The first thing that registered to Aang was the intense heat that came from the molten steel. He could see that there were hug drums of it everywhere he looked. He and Katara both shared a quick look before they split up and headed to a different side of the factory. Katara sent a quick shot of water that cut straight through the metal hooks that held up the molten steal, sending the crashing to the floor below her.

Aang jumped down to stand in the middle of some large pipes, before he lifted up a huge mound of stone from underneath him that pulled up the pipes, causing them to break. Katara now moved over to the window and using as much concentration as possible to pull in a huge wave of water that poured over the steel, hardening it quickly. After a few more feats of incredible bending, the factory was utterly ruined. Katara and Aang quickly made their exit before the army would arrive.

Once Katara had changed out of her outfit, she and Aang quietly made their way back to camp. It was already dawn, but they were hoping the others were still a sleep. Aang was making sound effects to imitate the explosion that they had caused, until beckoned him to stop

"Shhh, we don't want to wake Sokka" she cautioned. It was already too late for this. When turned around a rock into the camp, they saw Sokka, Toph and Zuko waiting for them. Katara immediately tried to act innocence, hoping that they didn't know too much already.

"Oh, hi Sokka. We were just...out on a morning walk!"

"Oh, really. A morning walk?" he said with enough scepticism to verify that he had indeed found them out. As a finishing touch he pulled out Katara's sleeping bag and dumped out the dried grass.

"I know you're the Painted Lady. I know you've been sneaking out at night, and I know you've been lying about Appa and feeding him purplizing tongue berries!"

He pointed to Toph, who held up some berries in her hand and stuck out her now-purple tongue as further evidence.

"What were you thinking?" Sokka shouted at Katara.

"I was thinking that those people needed my help" she replied in an equally angry voice.

"What you did was dangerous" said Zuko. "You could've put the entire invasion plan at risk."

Katara looked gave Zuko an annoyed glare and crossed her arms. "Well since no one else around cares about what happens to those villagers I had to do something."

"That's not true!" he said defensively. "I do care about them"

"If you really did then you would have been the one to do this not me" she said accusingly. Zuko looked like he was about to argue back at her but Sokka stood in between them.

"Both of you stop it!" he demanded. He then gave Katara a very angry glare. "We have been through this enough times. We have a more important mission that comes first. We are leaving right now!"

Katara looked away from Sokka and just walked back into the camp. Aang moved to follow her when Sokka gave him a suspicious stare.

"And how long did you know about this?"

"Hey, I just found out this morning" replied Aang. He then hurriedly ran ahead as Sokka didn't seem like he was in the mood for any more nonsense.

General Mung walked through the ruins of his destroyed factory. It would take months to rebuild it. His superiors would be furious. Fire Lord Ozai had been ordering more and more metal for his war machines, ever since Ba Sing Si had been taken. Mung was probably going to lose his rank because of this, but before that was going to catch the scum who did this.

He looked down from the cliff's to that worthless little village that been here since they arrive. He was amazed that those villagers had survived this long. He scowled menacingly, knowing that it wouldn't be there much longer.

The kids were almost finished packing the last of their things. Katara and Sokka were avoiding each other's gaze, clearly not wanting to talk. Suddenly a strange noise began to fill the air. It seemed to be coming from the river. The kids moved up the cliff to get a better view. They saw a small number of Fire nation soldiers on some kind of metal ski machine, racing down to the village.

"What's going on?" asked Toph.

"Fire Nation soldiers are heading to the village" replied Aang in a worried voice.

Sokka turned to Katara, with an anger glare, knowing she was somehow responsible for this. "What did you do?"

"I...kind of destroyed their factory" she said in a guilty manner, without looking at him.

"You what!" he shouted.

"It was your idea!" she shot back at him.

"I was joking. I also said to use spirit magic and make funny noises." Sokka slapped his head in agitation. "Did you even think this through? The army thinks the villagers did it. Now they're going to get revenge"

"I did what I had to do" Katara said firmly.

"Well what do we do now huh? You tell me! Are you and Aang gonna go down there and just waterbend those soldiers away. That'll be great except you'll only end up exposing all of us and the invasion will be ruined"

"Hey… what's Zuko doing?" asked Toph. The others looked around in surprise to see that he was gone. They moved back down to the camp and found him. He was changing into some darker clothing.

"What are you doing?" asked Aang.

"I'm going down there to fight the soldiers myself" he said, while pulling a glove onto each hand.

"You can't go! Not on your own" said Katara.

"I have to" he said. "Ever since we got here, I've been trying to ignore what's been happening to those villagers. I kept thinking that we had a more important mission to focus on, but now I realise that helping those people is my mission. You were right; I should have done something before now."

From his bag he pulled out a small blue mask with a kind of demonic design and placed on his face.

"What is that?" asked Katara.

"You're not the only one with a secret spirit identity" he replied. "Besides, this way you guys won't end up revealing yourself".

"I'm not letting you do this alone" said Katara as she moved forward to go with him down to the village.

"Katara stop!" said Sokka, grabbing her by the shoulder. "Zuko's right, he's the only one of us who can do this without jeopardising the rest of us. Look, just stay here and do nothing!" For a moment Katara shook with angry and decided she couldn't do this any longer.

"No!" she Karata shouted, as she spun around to Sokka and looked him dead in the eye. "I will never, ever turn my back on people who need me!" She spoke with so much force and determination that it didn't look like there was any way of dissuading her.

Katara now started to make her way to the village on her own. Sokka could only watch her go and he now began to finally understand why there was no point in stopping her. Katara was just being herself. He couldn't ask her to change that. But he could stand by her no matter what. He quickly caught up to her and placed his hand on her shoulder once again. This time however he did it as an act of affection.

"Wait. I'm coming too." Katara turned around to give him an annoyed look.

"I thought you didn't want to help."

"I know I said that, but you need me, and I will never turn my back on you. No matter what"

Katara felt her eyes water a little, as she listened to what her brother was trying to tell her. Despite all their arguing and all their disagreement over the last few days, Sokka was still willing to give her, his complete support. She then embraced him in a deep hug. "Sokka, you really do have a heart."

Aang and Toph stood back and watched as the two siblings reconciled and reach a deeper understanding between each other. Aang rubbed his eyes with shelve, overcome with emotion.

"He really does have a heart, doesn't he"? Aang turned to Toph for conformation. Toph however had zero tolerance for this kind of sappiness. She made sure to remind Aang of this by punching him right in the chest, knocking him to the ground. Zuko, who had also remained standing, decided to bring everyone back to reality.

"Well this is all real touching and everything" he said, with a slight hint of contempt. "But it doesn't change the fact that the Avatar can't just go down there and save the day".

"Maybe not the Avatar" said Sokka, breaking away from his hug. "But maybe the Painted Lady can".

General Mung had gathered all the villagers together in the centre of the town. He was going to deliver justice on all of them for their crimes. Most the villagers had pleaded innocent, but he wasn't going to be fooled. In his opinion anyone, even a citizen of the Fire Nation, who goes against the Fire Nation Army, was a nothing more than a traitor to their country and they would not be missed by anybody.

"I thought we could all live peacefully, as neighbours" he said, addressing the gathered villagers. "But I guess I was wrong. You steal our food, our medicine and then you destroy our factory."

Suddenly the general saw that eccentric mad man pop out of the crowd. Ever since they had brought him to the square he had been rambling on about some river spirit.

"We didn't do any of that" he said. He quickly moved back inside the crowd and appeared again, wearing a different hat.

"Yeah" added Xu. "The Painted Lady brought us food. She's the one that healed our sick, not your medicine." The other villagers didn't even react to Dock or Xu's performance. All they could think about was what the soldiers were about to do to them.

"Oh, right, the mysterious Painted Lady did it" the general replied in a sceptical voice that would have done Sokka proud. "And I suppose she drew the army emblem on your containers, too. " He pointed over to a metal container of food that bore the flame emblem of the Fire Nation. In angry, the general threw a ball of fire at the container, destroying it.

"This is nothing but a town of thieves and liars! And we're going to cure the world of this wretched place."

At his command the soldiers began to demolish the village. The ones who stood on the docks set fight to several buildings, while those still on their jet ski's attacked the support pillars that held up the village, causing sections of it to fall into the water. Two more soldiers stood beside a large flammable bomb perched on a buoy in the river. They lit the bomb, preparing to stand back from the explosion, when suddenly the flames were blown out be a mysterious gust of wind. The soldiers were initially confused as to how this happened, until the general order them to light it again. They once again lit the bomb, but another gust of wind quickly put it out.

The soldiers looked back to the general in uncertainty. Mung now started to eye the terrified crowd with suspicion, thinking that this must be one of their tricks, when he heard an eerie sound fill the air. The solders turned their heads in surprise, trying to pin point the source of this noise, which seemed to resemble a kind of music.

"What is that?" said one solider, who pointed out to the river. Everyone now looked to where he was indicating, to see an enormous blanket of fog slowly come out from the cliffs. The soldiers were beginning to feel afraid as they heard a strange growling noise that sounded like it was being made by some kind of monster. The villagers were also beginning to feel worried and uncertain of what was happening.

"It's the Painted Lady!" said the young urchin boy. He looked at the fog in excitement, knowing that the soldiers were trouble.

"There is no Painted Lady!" growled Mung in defiance. He didn't believe in such things as spirits and he was prepared for whoever or whatever was coming out of that fog. Now there was a large, repetitive thudding sound, as of footsteps, coming from within the fog.

Across the river, hidden inside the blanket of fog was Toph, levitating a huge boulder into the air and dropping it onto the ground. Appa stood behind her and continued to growl as loudly as he could. Sokka sat on the ground, playing the flute, which provided the eerie music. The plan was going well. They had provided the atmosphere. Now it was time to deliver the performance.

By now the soldiers were feeling completely terrified, while the villagers began to relax, thinking that they were saved. They were all watching the fog intently to see what was going to happen next. Suddenly the fog parted itself dramatically, revealing a women in a robe standing on top of the water. Katara paused for a moment, to add some more theatrical effect, until she rushed toward the village in a burst of waterbending. She slowed herself, as she came up to the dock of the town and jumped into the air, to land a few feet in front of Mung and his soldiers.

Mung was speechless at what he was seeing. For a few seconds he was overcome with fear, but he tried to regain his earlier bravado. He grabbed two of his soldiers and threw them forward, to stand between him and the Painted Lady.

"Do something!" he ordered, almost desperately.

The two officers both drew their weapons and timidly walked forward to the women. Katara was certain she could have taken them herself, but part of Sokka's plan was that Katara wasn't supposed to do any obvious waterbending or the soldiers might see through the act. She couldn't attack them directly herself, so that's why she had back up.

Aang and Zuko, who was still in his Blue Spirit disguise, were hidden underneath the planks of the dock. They were able to see what was happening by looking through the cracks of wood. When the soldiers were close enough, Aang drew his breath a shot a blast of air up at them from below, knocking their weapons and helmets into the air. Both soldiers ran back behind the general in fear.

"Stand your ground" Mung ordered as nearly every one of his men looked as though they were about to run away. Katara smiled as the plan was almost complete. If they could fool the soldiers into thinking she was too powerful to fight, they would definitely retreat. All she had to do now was add the finishing touch. She raised her left hand upward, creating a pillar of water underneath two jet skis, hurling them into the air. After the ski's had crashed into the side of the cliff, Katara simply raised her hand once again to the soldiers, as if to wreck further havoc upon them.

The soldiers ran as fast as they could to the remaining jet skis and raced across the water, wanting to get as far away from the village as they could. The only one remaining was Mung, himself, who refused to back down.

"I'll take care of you myself" he said confidently, while taking a fighting stance. Aang looked up from below and for the first time, felt worried. He was concerned for Katara's safety and wasn't sure of how he could stop the general from attacking, without running the plan.

Mung spun himself around in a circle and as he rounded on Katara he prepared to let loose a horizontal arc of fire at her. Katara was about to instinctively use her waterbending to defend herself, when suddenly the general's attack shot off in the wrong direction. Mung wobbled for a moment as he felt something burst through the planks of wood and grab him by the leg as he spun. It happened so fast that he couldn't see what had it was, but he rationalised that it was more of the Painted Lady's magic.

Zuko had been silent enough to move underneath the dock without being noticed, to stand directly below the general. When he was about to attack Zuko thrust his hand upward and pulled his leg down. Aang let out a sigh of relief when Zuko had saved Katara. He watched as Zuko jumped into the water, leaving Mung with his leg still stuck in the wood. As he desperately tried to free himself, Aang took advantage of this opportunity to send a powerful blast of air at the general, which knock him into the air as well as destroying a small section of the dock.

Mung throw diecrtly into the river covering him in his own sludge. As he foundered in the water, he looked up to see Katara rising out of the polluted water, with her arms rasied thearteningly.

"Leave this village and never come back" she commaned. Mung swam desperately away from her, until one of his men returned on a jet ski for him. He clambered onto it and just zoomed down the river. Once it looked like the danger had passed, Sokka rowed himself and Toph back to the village to join the others. Katara moved back to stand on the docks of the town, while the villagers appulaed her for saving them. Dock walked fowrad to her thanks on behalf of the entire villagers.

"Thank you. Me and my brothers really owe you a lot." He paused for a moent as he looked at her up close and then has a shock of recognition. "Hey, wait a minute! I know you! You're not the Painted Lady, you're that colonial girl!"

Katara let out a small gasp, as she touched her face and reaslied that most of her face paint had washed away. Some of the villagers shouted out that she must be a waterbender. There eariler appluse now turned to angry. It seemed as though they didn't like the idea of someone pretending to be their Painted Lady. However Sokka ran forward to intervene before things got too ugly.

"Maybe she is a waterbender" he said over the villagers shouting. "But she was just trying to help you. 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." Sokka was about to continue until Katara said it was alright. She then moved to address the villagers herself.

"I'm sorry. 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."

The villgeras previous anger began to fade, as they listen to Katara's speech.

"She's right" said Dock in realization, "but what should we do?"

Toph had hidden herself within the crowd and poped her head out to make a suggeston.

"Maybe we could clean the river" she said in a gruff voice.

"Hey, maybe we can clean the river!" said Dock, when the thought came to him from out of nowhere. The crowd now cheered at the idea, happy to have the chance to restore their village to its proper state.

"You know, you're not so bad for a waterbender" said Dock to Katara, as if it was some kind of complenment.

"You wouldn't mind keeping that a secret, by the way, would you" asked Sokka quickly.

"No problem" Dock replied. "Keeping my mouth shut is a personal specialty. My brother Xu, on the other hand. He's a blabbermouth."

"So, Dock, are you ready to help us clean?" asked Katara.

"No, ma'am. I'm going to get my other brother, Bushi. He loves cleaning rivers". At that moment Dock pulled off his hat to reveal another one hidden inside.

"Alright, I'm Bushi!" said this newest brother. "Let's get some river cleaning done".

"Aha, I knew it!" said Aang triumphantly. "I knew you were then same guy. You're the shop owner and the boat guy."

"Oh, you must be talking about my brothers, Dock and Xu" said Bushi.

"No, I just saw you!" said Aang in exasperation. "You just switched hats and called yourself a different name!"

"Oh, you know who does that. My brother Dock. He's crazy!"

Aang was beginning to fume in frustration, while Katara and Sokka gave Bushi a quizzical look. As Bushi went to get his boat ready, he noticed Zuko, still wearing his mask. They stared at each other for moment, until Bushi gave him a smile.

"Nice mask!"

Zuko looked at the others and they all gave each other tired shrug.

Once the river was finally clean, the group bid farewell to Dock, Xu ….uh Bushi and all the other villagers who agreed to keep their secret, in return for all that they had done for them. That night the kids took a good and long rest, exhausted from all their hard work. Katara stayed up for a while longer and took one last trip down to the river, knowing that she probably would never see it again. Sokka had been pretty adamant about leaving in the morning. Of course Katara didn't feel like disagreeing. The villagers were now safe and the river was restored, so she could think of no reason for them to stay any longer.

As Katara looked out over the gleaming water, she couldn't help but feel very proud of herself. As a reward for her achievement, she decided to take some of the river water, which was now safe to drink. She bent down to fill her water sack, when all of a sudden she began to noticed a strange fog appearing over the water.

Katara looked up from the water, to the fog and felt her mouth literally hang open at what she saw.

It was the real Painted Lady, in the flesh. So to speak. She looked almost exactly like the statue in the town square. The only difference was that she appeared ghostly white, with the exception of her red face paint and jet black hair. The spirit floated over the water to stand directly in front of Katara. She smiled at her and gave her a small bow of her head.

"Thank you" Her voice echoed in Katara's ears and carried with it nothing but the deepest gratitude.

The spirit now moved backwards into the fog and faded away into the night. Katara was left standing where she was, her mind still reeling over the fact that the Painted Lady was indeed real. For a moment she wondered if she should wake the others and tell them of her encounter, but quickly decided not to. The Painted Lady's message was meant just for her and in that moment Katara smiled to herself in satisfaction, knowing that she done the right thing.

Please review and tell me what you thouht. Don't know when I will update agin, but I'll keep at it.