The Avatar's Angel (Avatar the Last Airbender: Book 3: Fire)

The Painted Ladies

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

"Momo!" Aang called before he ducks his head again and pops up seconds later. "Oh Momo!" He ducks again and resurfaces again to have Momo find him. "Ah! Ha ha, you found me, buddy." Aang laughs and pets the lemur before he airbends himself up into the saddle. "Hey guys, I think this river's polluted."

Aang was covered in sludge and I grimaced.

"What makes you say that?" I asked with sarcasm and Aang gives me a playful grin.

He bends the sludge off himself and this unfortunately slimes the rest of us. Bubbles chitters when the sludge touches her fur. Aang quickly airbends us clean, leaving our hair a mess.

"My hair..." I whined, brushing it out. Aang kisses my cheek, sitting down next to me.

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

The four of us stare at Sokka unamused and you could hear crickets chirping.

"Too bad your skills aren't on the hook."

Katara, Aang, and I laugh at Toph's joke but Sokka scowls.

"It looks like we'll need to go somewhere else to get food." Katara suggested and Sokka rolls out a long scroll in front of us.

"Assuming that'll fit into Sokka's master schedule." I add with a scowl, leaning into Aang's side.

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

"Hey, maybe we can get some food there." Aang points ahead and we look to see a small village in the middle of the sludge-invested river.

We got off Appa when we reached the waterfall and Aang decided to cover our bison friend with a grass blanket, while Bubbles and Momo were hiding under a smaller one.

"Now you look just like a little hill with horns." Aang smiles. "Bye buddy!"

The five of us stand on a cliff that gave us a view of the village.

"I don't feel anything. Where is this village?" Toph asked us.

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

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

"We're, um, from the Earth Kingdom Colonies." Katara informs him.

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

We all hoped into his boat and he brings us to the village. I sat next to Aang with my arms wrapped around his arm.

"Why do you guys live on the river?" I asked him curious of the location of the village.

"Because we're a fishing town. At least that's how it was before the factory moved in." Dock explained as we passed by to an ominous-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 at this. We arrive the town and Aang waves goodbye to Dock.

"Thanks for the ride!"

We explore the village but it was so sad and devastating to see. Every villager looked sick and sad, it was so hard to see them like this.

"Look at this place." I said with sorrow. "It's so sad."