The Moon fell for the Sun -Zutara fanfiction [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter 6 (The Painted Lady)

KATARA'S POV

The team and I are on Appa as we trudged through of sludge infested water. It was disgusting and it was even more gross when Aang decided to jump in and play with Momo.

"Momo!" Aang called before he goes back under again and pops up a few second later. "Oh, Momo!" He ducks again and resurfaces again only to be found by Momo. "Ah! You found me buddy." Aang laughs and pets the lemur before air bending himself up into the saddle. "Hey, guys, I think this river is polluted." Aang was covered by thick mud and I grimace.

He bends the mud off himself and it covers the rest of us. Aang quickly airbends us clean, leaving our hair in a mess.

"Well, that explains why I can't catch a fish around here." Sokka complains from the back of Appa holding a fishing hook. "Because normally my fishing skills are off the hook. Get it!? Like a fishing hook?"

"Too bad your skills aren't on the hook." Toph remarks. Aang and I laugh while Sokka scowls.

"It looks like we'll need to go somewhere else to get food." I suggest. Sokka rolls out a long scroll in front of us. "Assuming that'll fit into Sokka's master schedule."

Sokka studies the scroll intently. "Hm... it's doable. But that only means two potty breaks today."

"Hey, maybe we can food over there." Aang points ahead to see a small village in the middle of the river. We got off Appa when we reached a waterfall while covering Appa and Momo with a grass-like blanket.

"Now you look just like a little hill with horns. Bye, buddy." Aang smiles, Appa growls in response.

"I don't feel anything. Where's this village?" Toph questions.

"It's in the middle of the river." Sokka answers her.

"Sure is!" We look down to see an elderly man in a boat. "My name's Dock. Mind if I ask who you are?"

"We're, um...," I try to come up with a lie, "from the Earth Kingdom Colonies." I inform him.

"Wow, Colonials." Dock smiles warmly. "Hop on, I'll give you a ride into town."

We all hop onto the boat. I sit next to Aang while Toph and Sokka sit in front of us. Toph holds on my brother's arm. Dock is behind us pushing the raft forward with a long stick.

"Why do you guys live on the river?" I ask in curiosity.

"Because we're a fishing town. At least that's how it was before the factory moved in." Dock explains as we pass a dingy-looking Fire Nation factory. "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."

Aang and I share a look of sorrow when he said this. We get to the village and hop off.

"Thanks for the ride." Aang waves goodbye to Dock. We go explore the village, it looked so devastating. Every villager looked so sick and miserable. It broke my heart.

"Look at this place." I say with sorrow. "It's so sad. We have to do something to help."

"No, we can't waste our time here!" Sokka counters. "We have a bigger mission that we need to stay focused on. These people are on their own."

I glare and march up to him, turning him around angrily. "These people are starving, but you turn your back on them? How could you be so cold and heartless?"

"I'm not turning my back. I'm just being realistic!" Sokka exclaims as Aang and Toph join us. "We can't go around helping every rinky-dink town we wander into. We'll be helping them all by taking out the Fire Lord."