Eye of the Storm

Page Seventeen

Appa was swimming along through a wide muddy river. It was slow-moving and fairly disgusting. Quila was fairly certain that nothing could live in water so contaminated, but that wasn't stopping Sokka from trying to fish. And she also wasn't sure how Aang and Momo could be playing around in that water. Soon the young airbender realized how gross the water he was swimming in really was and airbended himself up onto Appa's saddle. "Guys, I think this river's polluted." He then tried to airbend himself dry "Ugh! Aang! Watch where you're bending!" Quila complained as mud was flung in all directions. "Sorry." he apologized before sending another whoosh of air at them, getting the rest of the mud off them, but messing up their hair in the process. "Well that explains why I can't catch a fish around here, because normally my fishing skills are... off the hook!" Sokka tried to make a joke, but everyone just stared blankly at him. He tried to explain the joke, thinking that they just didn't get it, but to no avail. "Too bad your skills aren't on the hook." Toph made a play on Sokka's joke, and they all laughed at his expense. "It looks like we'll need to go somewhere else to get food," Katara began as Sokka unraveled his absurdly long schedule. "assuming that it'll fit into Sokka's master schedule." the young waterbender said, lacing annoyance and a hint of mockery into her tone. "Hmm... It's doable, but that means only two bathroom breaks today!" Sokka announced, looking over his scroll. "Maybe we can find food there!" Aang pointed to a village in the distance that looked completely made out of small wooden shacks sitting on boardwalks above the river.

After they covered Appa and Momo up with large blankets of moss, they looked for a means to get across the river and to the village. "I don't feel anything, where is this village?"

"It's in the middle of the river!" Sokka exclaimed. "That's so crazy, a village in the middle of a river." Gopan said, to no one really in particular. "Sure is!" They looked down the cliff to see an old man standing on a wooden ferry. "My name's Dock, mind if I ask who you are?"

"We're uh... from the Earth Kingdom colonies." Katara lied, "Wow colonials. Hop on, I'll give you a ride into town."

They all crammed onto the ferry and he slowly paddled them into town. "So, why do you guys live on the river?" Gopan asked the old man as he waved the paddle over the boat. "We're a fishing town, at least we used to be before the factory moved in." He pointed to a metal factory with a large fire-nation insignia on it. It had drain pipes leading out to the river, spilling out filth and gunk. "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." Quila and Gopan exchanged a sad look.

They arrived at the village and they all got off, Aang thanked him for the ride and they all took a look around. "Look at this place, Gopan." Quila whispered to her friend, looking sympathetically at the villagers. Everyone was just sitting around, and they looked so skinny that Quila could see their bones under their skin. "Yeah, this is worse than the lower ring." Quila just nodded, then turned her attention over to Katara who said, "We have to do something to help."

"No, we can't waste our time here. We have a bigger mission that we need to stay focused on. These people are on their own." Quila frowned at Sokka. "These people are starving, but you turn your back on them?! How could you be so heartless?"

"I'm not turning my back, I'm just being realistic! We can't go around helping every rinky-dink town we wander into. We'll be helping them all by taking down the Fire Lord!" Quila tensed and Toph slapped her hand over Sokka's mouth. "Hey, loudmouth! Maybe we should be a little quieter when we talk about taking down the Fire Lord." She hissed and removed her hand. "Come on, Katara, be reasonable about this. You know our mission has to come first."

"I guess so..." Katara relented, and Quila placed a hand on her shoulder. "I feel the same way, Katara, but Sokka is right."

"Let's just get what we need and go." Aang smiled sympathetically at Katara.