Balance | Old Version

Chapter 90

Elua's POV.

We had been here for two days now, and Appa was still 'sick'. We had come back into town to get more food, and the people were even happier than before.
"Hi, Dock. Is Xu around?" Sokka asks the man who cannot pick a name.
"Let me check," Dock says as he runs behind the shop, then comes back with a different hat on.
"Hey there! Back again, are ya?" 'Xu' asks us.
"We need more food. Our friend is still sick and we can't leave until he's better," Toph says as she puts money on the counter.
"Oh, well, that's too bad," Xu says as he sets a plate of gross looking clams in front of us. "Maybe if you guys are lucky, the Painted Lady will visit you in the night, and heal your friend," He says.

"And maybe she'll cook us a midnight snack, and we'll all have a sing-along," Sokka says sarcastically.
"Yeah, maybe!" Xu says, not catching the sarcasm. "You know, last night she visited us again. Healed most of our sick folks," He tells us.
"Is that why this place seems so festive?" Aang asks as we see the villagers setting up a statue of the Lady in the town square.
"Yep, it's all because of the Painted Lady," Xu answers happily.
"Can you believe how much an entire village can be affected by one lady? I mean...spirit?" Katara asks us as she looks at the statue in awe.
"Well, I hope she returns every night. Otherwise, this place would go right back to the way it was," Sokka states.

"Why would you say that? Look how much better off these people are," Katara tells him.
"Yeah, now, but without her, they 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 states. "Oooooo...pow," He makes 'spirit noises' as he waves his arms around.
"Spirit magic doesn't work that way, Sokka. It's more like...Woooooo..." Aang says waving his arms and making strange noises with Sokka. Katara glares at them before she turns around and storms off in anger.
"Hey, have you ever heard of this 'Painted Lady'?" Toph asks me.
"No, but it's not like I know every spirit," I say shrugging my shoulders.

The Next Morning.

I yawn as I wake up and stretch as I stand up, everyone else was asleep but this was normally what happened anyway. I look down at everyone else, but I don't see Aang or Katara. I squint my eyes as I see something in Katara's sleeping bag. I walk over and look inside it, only to see a bunch of hay.
"Oh, you've gotta be..." I trail off as I walk over and I kneel down beside Sokka. "Sokka, Sokka! Sokka wake up!" I say as I shake him awake.
"Ah! What? What!?" Sokka shouts in surprise as he sits up and looks around confused.
"Calm down, It's just me. Look," I say as I show him Katara's sleeping bag.
"Where did she go?" He asks me.

"What's going on?" Toph asks as she wakes up too.
"Katara and Aang are missing," Sokka tells her as he stands up.
"I think, I know what they did," I tell them.
"What?" They ask in confusion
"Katara has been acting as the Painted Lady," I tell them as Toph eats some of the berries.
"What!?" Sokka shouts in anger.
"And she's been feeding Appa those berries, look at Toph's tongue," I tell him.
"What's wrong with my tongue?" Toph asks as she sticks out her tongue, which is now purple.

"So Appa's not sick!?" Sokka shouts in anger and annoyance.
"Nope. He's perfectly fine," I tell him.
"And you knew about this!?" He asks in annoyance.
"Yeah...sorry," I say with a shrug as we hear footsteps behind us. I turn around and see Aang and Katara walking into camp, laughing as they walk.
"Shhh, we don't want to wake Sokka or Elua," Katara tells Aang, but as she looks up she sees us and freezes. "Hi! Sokka, Elua! We were just...out on an a...morning walk!" She lies unconvincingly.

"Oh, really? A morning walk?" Sokka asks as he holds up her sleeping bag filled with hay.
"We know you're the Painted Lady. We know you've been sneaking out at night, and we know you've been lying about Appa and feeding him purplizing tongue berries!" Sokka shouts at her. "Katara, what you did put our whole mission in jeopardy. We're leaving right now," He tells her as he crosses his arms and glares at her. She looks down in shame as she walks away from us.
"And how long did you know about this?" Sokka asks Aang with a glare still on his face. Aang holds up his arms in surrender and looks at Sokka innocently.
"Hey, I just found out this morning," Aang tells him as he speeds away.

Later That Day.

We were all packing up everything and getting ready to leave when we hear a strange sound coming from the river.
"What's going on?" Toph asks as we walk over to the cliffside and see Fire Nation soldiers speeding towards the little town on the water.
"Fire Nation soldiers are heading to the village," Aang states, not seeming surprised. I turn to Katara, a not so happy look on my face.
"What did you do?" I ask her with a soft glare.
"I...kind of destroyed their factory," Katara says guiltily.

"You what?!" Sokka shouts in shock.
"It was your idea!" Katara tries to justify it.
"He was joking!" I tell her as I throw my hands in the air.
"I also said to use spirit magic and made funny noises. Did you even think this through? The armies gonna blame the villagers. They're headed there right now to get revenge," Sokka tells her as he points out to the water.
"Well, what was I supposed to do?" Katara asks him.
"Leave! Do nothing!" Sokka states.

Katara looks away from him. But, quickly turns back with a look of confidence and anger.
"No. I will never, ever turn my back on people who need me!" Katara yells at him as she stands up. Sokka looks at her in shock. "I'm going down to the village, and I am gonna do whatever I can," She tells us as she starts to walk away. I look over to her and sigh as I stand up. I couldn't just let her get herself killed, and she did have a point.
"What are you doing?" Sokka asks me.
"What Katara did was not the brightest idea, but she is right. We can't turn our backs on people who are in danger," I tell him as I turn around and start to follow Katara.

"Wait," Sokka sighs. "I'm coming too," He states as he walks over to Katara.
"I thought you didn't want to help?" Katara asks him with a glare.
"You need me, and I will never turn my back on you," Sokka tells her, she smiles at his words.
"Sokka. You do have a heart," Katara says as she hugs him happily.
"He does have a heart, doesn't he?" Aang says as tears roll down his face. Toph's face holds no emotion as she punches him in the arm, he groans in pain as he almost falls to the floor.
"You all are so dramatic," I say shaking my head with an amused smile.