"Why do you guys live on the river? And what happened here?" Katara asked worriedly as she scanned the muddy waters of the river. The elderly boatman, going by the name Dock, let out a sigh.

"Because we are a fishing town," he explained. "Or at least, we used to be. Then the army moved in ten years ago and started gunking up our waters to produce their metal in their factory. And now our village is struggling to survive."

Katara, who was sitting at the back of the boat, shared a glance with Aang when they heard Dock explain his village's story. The Team had chanced upon the man in the search of the nearest village for food when they realized that fishing in a polluted river was less than ideal. The elderly boatman was eager to help them after hearing that some Earth Kingdom Colonials were visiting.

They came to a stop at a small dock. A village that sat in the middle of a waterway was a new concept to her and it intrigued the waterbender to no end. But it was the state of the village and its inhabitants that broke Katara's heart.

"Look at this place," she said forlornly as she took in her surroundings. Her eyes landed on a young boy tending to an old man. "It's so sad. We have to do something to help."

"No!" Sokka objected immediately. " We can't waste our time here. We have a bigger mission that we need to stay focused on. These people," he spread his arms to point at the villagers around them "they're on their own."

Sokka turned to leave, and Katara's azure eyes twitched at the dismissive tone her brother used. She marched towards him and grabbed his shoulder, halting him in his tracks.

"These people are starving! And you're just gonna turn your back on them?!" She argued, perhaps more hotly than she had expected of herself. Placing her hands on her hips, she gave Sokka her best impression of a disappointed adult. "How can you be so cold and heartless?"

"This isn't me turning my back" Sokka pinched the bridge of his shoulder. "This is me being realistic. We can't go around helping every rinky-dink town we wander into. The best way we can help is by taking out the – hmmph!" His excitement was cut off by a hand clamping over his mouth.

Zuko gave the Southern Water Tribesman a deadpan look. "Let's not go around announcing to the world that we're planning to bring down my fa– you know what I mean." He turned his attention from brother to sister. "Sokka's right, Katara," Katara opened her mouth to protest, but the firebender was quicker to interject. "Listen, our main goal is to put an end to the war, and that won't happen as long as he is in power. Try to be reasonable about this?"

Katara knitted her eyebrows in thought and took a deep breath. Eventually she exhaled, some of the tension leaving her as she nodded silently. She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, and she turned to see Aang giving her a reassuring smile

"Let's just get what we need and go," he remarked softly, and Katara felt her own lips crawling upwards just so slightly as the quintet made their way towards a small market stall in the middle of the village. There, they noticed a familiar figure manning the counter.

"Hey, Dock!" Sokka greeted, "You work here too?"

'Dock' turned around, his friendly smile not faltering as he addressed the five teenagers before him. "I'm not Dock, I'm Xu! Dock's my brother!"

Aang raised an eyebrow while his friends shared looks of confusion with each other. "But we just saw you. You're even wearing the same clothes." The airbender-in-disguise pointed at the yellow hat with a red stripe that the stall owner wore. "The only difference is your hat."

"Dock works on the docks. That's why we call him, 'Dock'," Xu proceeded to explain, "and I work in the shop, that's why they call me, 'Xu'!"

Aang could only stare in bafflement as he processed Xu's words. "... I don't get it."

"Me neither," was the happy reply, as if well aware that his not-explanation only served to confuse his listeners. Xu grabbed a tray from behind the counter and displayed it for the five teenagers. "What can I get ya?"

Aang, Katara, Zuko and Sokka spared a glance at the tray of fish and recoiled from the repulsive smell, though the reaction didn't seem to faze Xu. In fact, it seemed to encourage him further as he offered, "Hey, I'll give you a special deal. If you buy three fish, I'll give you a clam for free."

Sokka spotted said mollusc lying atop a fish and poked it with his finger, watching with unease as mucus splashed out of it. Seeing the faces both his sister and Aang were making, he decided to not take the offer.

"We'll just take the fish," the teen said as politely as he could, taking three fish that didn't look like they were marinated in a garbage disposal then paid the old man. "Mind telling your brother we need a ride back to shore?

Xu wrapped the fish and handed it to Katara, before he disappeared behind the counter. Dock popped up, wearing his red hat and smiling brightly at them. "Hey colonials, my brother said you need a lift!"

The teens followed Dock back to the dock when Katara was stopped by a small hand on her arm. Azure eyes darted downwards to see a little boy looking at her with pleading eyes. "Can you spare some food?"

The question crushed Katara's heart. Kneeling down, she handed him one of the fish in the wrapping. The boy's eyes lit up at the kind gesture, bowing down gratefully and darting towards a small hut.

"I wish I could help more," she spoke wistfully before joining the rest of Team Avatar on the boat back to shore.

By the time they reached Appa's hiding spot, the sun had begun to set. Deciding that it was better to get some rest before continuing their journey, the Team set up camp. Aang and Toph set to filtering the water from the gunk, while Zuko and Katara were tasked with boiling the cleaner water.

Sokka, on the other hand, had more urgent matters to tend to.

"Our detour into town today has completely thrown off our schedule," he whined as he studied the scroll that was designated "Team Avatar's Invasion Schedule". "It's gonna take some serious finagling to get us back on track."

"Is that even a word?" Zuko heard Aang ask as they both shared a look. Unsure of the answer himself, he only gave a shrug, before slapping Sokka's hand that was reaching for the water in the boiling pot.

"The water isn't properly boiled yet," he chastised upon seeing the Southern Water Tribeman's disgruntled look.

Toph, unaware of the small exchange, quipped, "Finagle away, oh 'schedule master'."

Sokka turned his attention away from glaring at Zuko back to his ridiculously long scroll and placed it on the ground. A few minutes later, he spoke up. "For starters, it looks like we'll need to wake up forty-three minutes earlier every day."

"Forty-three minutes?" Katara questioned as she began handing out bowls of water to everyone. "That's pretty specific."

"Look," Sokka began gesturing at his scroll, "we only have a few weeks to get to the Fire Lord in time for the invasion and the eclipse, 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!"

"Well I'm not waking up early," Toph commented.

Sokka's eyebrows twitched at the earthbender's dismissal of his recommendation. "Why not? Even Zuko's waking up earlier than the rest of you," he pushed down the urge to huff before turning to face away from the listening group. "If that's the case maybe we should remove our eating breaks altogether." The new suggestion drew more disgruntled protests.

Then, a devious thought came to mind. "I got it!" he smiled mischievously, "How about this: from now on, we'll take food breaks and potty breaks at the same time."

Katara froze at the suggestion, Aang spat out his water in disgust, while Toph stuck her tongue out and pretended to hurl.

"Hey! It might be gross, but it's still efficient," Sokka argued.

Zuko sent Sokka a look that was drier than the Si Wong Desert. "I'd like to see you try doing that."

The Water Tribesman thought of it for a moment. "Okay, maybe let's not do that. Either way," He pointed at the group. "we need to leave this place first thing in the morning!"

As Sokka turned to leave, he failed to see his sister's face twisting deep in thought.

oOo

"Azula?... Azula!"

The Princess of the Fire Nation felt her mind snapping back to the present, the fog that clouded her gaze clearing to reveal that she was in the War Room.

"Azula," Fire Lord Ozai asked, his tone low in an obvious showing that his patience was being tested. "What would you suggest?"

She ignored every pair of eyes that were staring at her to turn her head around and see that her father's eyes were narrowed slightly.

Slightly. But narrowed nonetheless.

Azula fought her eyes from widening and the feeling of scrutiny she found herself under. Her mind scrambled to remember the discussion the generals were having moments before her attention fleeted. The old farts were debating on how they should deal with the remains of the Earth Kingdom rebellion.

Her mind raced in search of an answer, and for a brief moment, it drifted towards the treacherous Zuko. Azula chided herself internally for straying off, but then she realised that her forsaken brother had spent time amongst its people. She too had blended in with the Earth Kingdom during her short time there.

"The people of the Earth Kingdom take pride in their strength and ability to withstand adversity," the words came rolling out of her mouth as she recalled her separate meetings with Kuei and Long Feng. The Dai Li, who now pledged their allegiance to her also came to mind. "But they bow to power. I say we show them power that they cannot withstand."

The generals nodded and started muttering with each other as they appeared to agree with Azula. But the Princess noticed that one, General Shinu, was studying the map with concern etched on his face. He looked up, and Azula knew he had a question on the tip of his tongue.

"Princess, you must consider that our troops are spread thin as it is," Shinu sounded like he was choosing his words carefully, "How do you suggest we manage that?"

"Our airships will complete production by the time Sozin's comet arrives," She brought a hand to her chin in thought. "We can use it to show the rest of the world the might of the Fire Nation. Any spark of fight left in the rebellion will be crushed upon seeing our true strength."

"But that would only work on the assumption that our troops in the Earth Kingdom can withhold the rebellion until the day of the comet with the resources that they currently have," Shinu countered. "It's less realistic. I say we send more domestic forces into the Earth Kingdom to support our soldiers there. It is the more pragmatic solution."

Golden eyes narrowed dangerously at Shinu, causing the general to shrink under her gaze.

"Are you questioning me, General?" Azula growled as she balled her hands into fists. "Have you forgotten who conquered Ba Sing Se while you were resting your pathetic behinds in the comforts behind the frontline squabbling over how to bring the Earth Kingdom to its knees?"

General Shinu's face was full of indignance at the remark and he opened his mouth, ready to shoot a retort when the general next to him grabbed his shoulder, effectively calming the young general down before he could make a dire mistake.

"Though I must say that your plan, while as good as it sounds, it isn't that 'pragmatic'," Azula didn't try to hide the smug smile creeping up her face as the anger within her subsided. Shinu shot her a confused look and she elaborated. "We will need our domestic forces in preparation for the upcoming invasion."

Every face in the War Room morphed into shock at the new piece of information being dropped all of a sudden.

"What?!" Fire Lord Ozai's question came out sharp, but Azula failed to notice his tone for she continued.

"During my time in Ba Sing Se, I uncovered a plot by the Earth Kingdom to attack us on the day of a solar eclipse, in which we will not have our firebending powers."

"But the last and only known solar eclipse was over hundreds of years ago. How are you so sure that it'll happen again?" a sceptical general voiced his concern. "And why would the rebellion still attempt an invasion now that the Avatar is dead and the Earth Kingdom has fallen?"

"People would do anything when they are desperate," the Princess dismissed the first concern coolly. "Also, would you be willing to risk the safety of our esteemed Fire Nation because you doubted the legitimacy of the information shared?"

"And you didn't bother informing me of this earlier?!"

Golden eyes widened upon hearing Ozai's venomous growl. Azula snapped her head around only to see her father's face red while his nostrils flared and his amber-gold eyes dangerously narrowed at her.

Before she could come up with a reply, Ozai closed his eyes and took a breath. Once he opened them, he addressed the generals present in the Room.

"We will explore our options further in the next war meeting," Ozai's practised calmness was a thin veil for the seething rage emitting from his very being, "In light of this latest... development," he spat the word out like it was the foulest thing he could say, "I expect you to devise a plan to counter and crush this invasion. This meeting is adjourned, you are all dismissed."

The generals nodded their acknowledgement and made quick work of leaving the War Room, each knowing better than to cross the Fire Lord as he was now.

Azula, however, stayed behind. Once the last general left, she turned to face her father with alarmed round eyes.

"Father, I-I didn't mean t–to... hide such vital information fr-from you!" the Fire Nation Princess tumbled through her explanation for the blunder, her voice an unusual pitch higher. The blood in her veins pumped faster when her father didn't look at her, choosing instead to look at the large map of the world on the table.

"Father," there was a hint of pleading in her cracking voice, "please–"

"Have you been getting sleep, Azula?" Ozai's gaze remained glued on the map, so he did not see his daughter blink at the unanticipated question. When he received no verbal answer, he turned his head to face her.

Azula did not know why, but she felt small at the sight of her father forming a thin line with his lips as he studied her face. The constriction in her chest was sharp and painful when she saw amber-golden orbs take a sorry look as they landed on the jagged line underneath her eye. She opened her mouth to finally answer the question, but the words were caught in her throat.

"Return to your chambers and get some rest," Ozai ordered as he stood up. Despite the seemingly kind words, his tone was laced with an underlying hard edge that offered no room for argument.

Young golden eyes watched dejectedly as her father exited the War Room, her chest clenching painfully when she realized he didn't even call her 'daughter'. The cackling of the wall of fire nearly drowned out the two words she uttered in defeat.

"... Yes, father."

oOo

Zuko opened his eyes, his bodily alarm waking him up just an hour before sunrise. He began to make his sleeping bag when he heard a low rumbling groan. Curious, the teen turned around to see Appa lying on his side.

He walked up towards the sky bison and placed a hand on the beast's snout."What's wrong, buddy?" Appa groaned in reply, and Zuko's eyes narrowed in concern. He rushed towards Aang's side and tried shaking the airbender awake. "Aang, wake up."

"Just another five minutes, Sokka." Aang said dreamily, his eyes still closed. Undeterred, Zuko resorted to the fastest way to wake someone up.

By smacking the younger boy square in the head.

"Yow!" Aang bolted upright and his hand reached for his forehead, all signs of sleep washed away. Grey eyes snapped towards his attacker. "Zuko?! What was that for?!"

Zuko ignored the betrayed look on Aang's face and focused on the reason he woke the airbender up. "Something's wrong with Appa."

Grey eyes widened at the message and Aang dashed towards his oldest friend, who was still lying on his side and letting out a low groan. He inspected Appa's head and began to calm down when nothing serious seemed to stand out. "You sure? I don't see anything wrong, though. Was he like this when you woke up?"

"Yeah," Zuko nodded. "He's never groaned like this, so I thought of asking you."

"Let me see," a new voice interjected, and both boys turned around to see Katara joining them. Instinctively, they stepped aside. As Katara began her own inspection of Appa, Zuko couldn't help but feel something was off.

He leaned towards Aang. "Was Katara awake this whole time?"

The airbender stared at him quizzically. "I don't know. You're the one that smacked me awake."

Oh, right. Zuko had no reply to that. Instead, he whispered a soft apology that the airbender accepted.

"His tongue is purple," Katara announced worryingly as she pulled Appa's tongue out of his mouth. Zuko turned around to see that, as the waterbender said, the sky bison's tongue was a deep shade of purple. "I think he's sick."

"What?! Appa's sick?!" Sokka exclaimed worryingly before dashing towards Appa. "That's awful!"

"Wow, Sokka. I didn't realize you cared so much," Toph quipped as she also joined the group having been woken up by the commotion and being unable to get back to sleep.

Sokka glared at the earthbender "Of course, I care! I might as well just throw our schedule away now!" Realizing he spoke faster than his mind could filter the words, he saw that his friends were all glaring daggers at him.

Changing his tune, Sokka quickly gave Appa a hug. "And I'm concerned because my big, furry friend doesn't feel well."

"He must have gotten sick from being in the polluted water for so long yesterday," Toph pointed out.

"That doesn't matter at the moment," Aang said as he grabbed Momo before the lemur could lick Appa's tongue. "Katara, can you heal him?"

Katara spared Appa's tongue another glance. "It looks like he needs some medicine. Maybe we can find the right herbs in town."

They found Dock at the shore, and the elderly boatman was happy to take them back to his village. By the time they reached the river village, they noticed that some of the kids were running around with smiles on their faces.

"Is it just me, or does this place seem different?" Toph asked the question in everyone's mind.

"Yeah, are the people ... happier?" Aang asked as he watch a villager pole vault from one house to another.

"Hey, Xu!" Sokka greeted the old man as they neared the market stall. "What's going on with everyone here today?"

Xu made a loud slurping noise as he drank from the ladle before addressing the teenagers. "Ah, something amazing happened last night. Food was delivered to our village by a mysterious and wonderful person ... the Painted Lady."

"The Painted who now?" Katara asked sceptically.

"The Painted Lady," Xu repeated himself and placed a miniature statuette on the counter. It was of a lady wearing a large hat and dress. Most notably her face was painted white and several red markings. "She's part of our town's lore. 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, we don't need to help these people, they already have someone to help them," Sokka told Katara. Then, he turned his attention to Xu. "All we need is medicine for our sick friend."

"Medicine? Sorry, all the medicine we have goes to the factory." Xu apologized. "That's why there's so many sick people in our village."

"Looks like we need to stay another night so Appa can rest," Katara suggested.

"I guess you're right," Sokka sighed dejectedly before turning to Xu, "You got any more food to sell?"

Xu went under the counter and emerged with a fish in each hand. One looked different from the other. "Would you like the one-headed fish, or the two-headed fish?"

Sokka stared at both fish in thought and made to grab the two-headed fish. "Two-head– Hey!"

He was interrupted by Zuko, who swatted his hand away and snatched the one-headed fish instead. "We'll take two one-headed fish, thank you." Seeing Sokka's annoyed glare, Zuko sighed. "What?"

"You could have gotten more for your money with the two heads!" Sokka argued in disbelief.

"It's mutated," Zuko rolled his eyes in exasperation. "I would rather not grow two heads."

Aang sweatdropped and turned to Katara. "That's not true, right? About growing two heads?"

Katara wasn't sure what to say at this point.

oOo

Azula knew exactly what she wanted to say.

However, royal etiquette forbade her from unleashing a tongue-lashing that would result in her undergoing the dreaded customs training by Li and Lo.

So, she resorted to glaring at the two identical-looking old ladies standing at the door of the room. "Are you saying that he doesn't want to meet me?!"

"No," Li and Lo were unfazed by her display of seething anger, both instead wearing faces of impassiveness as they reiterated their message. "The Fire Lord believes that you should be getting sufficient rest before seeking an audience with him again."

"Nonsense," The Fire Nation Princess spat. "I am sufficiently well-rested. Right now I must clarify matters with my father! I demand it!"

"Princess Azula, please, calm yourself," Li – or was it Lo? – advised. Her twin continued. "Disobeying the Fire Lord's orders is most unwise."

Golden irises narrowed dangerously. "Are you implying that I'm a fool?" Azula growled as she eyed the twin advisers dangerously. The split second of fear in their eyes was enough to quell her rising temper. "Fine, leave me be. I believe you have more urgent matters to handle."

Li and Lo shared a glance with each other at the dismissal, then bowed to Azula before taking their leave and closing the doors to Azula's room.

Azula listened for the fading footsteps of her two firebending teachers. Once she was certain that they were gone, she closed her eyes and let out a shaky breath. Since the adjournment of the War Meeting the day before, her father had refused to see her. Even the two old hags hadn't been able to get in a good word on her behalf.

For a few seconds, Azula felt the temptation to lash out her tantrum like a child, and storm towards her father. But she reigned herself in before she could act dishonourably. Li and Lo were right, the most important issue at hand is to calm down.

But how could she, when even her father refused to listen to her? A few days prior Fire Lord Ozai acted like the proudest man in the world, his eyes shining with pride every time he looked at her. But thanks to the disaster of that meeting the only time his eyes landed on her, Azula saw only pity and disappointment.

And now the feeling of dissatisfaction was back.

Azula gritted her teeth in anger and let out a soft growl. She marched towards her clothes tree and grabbed the cloak before exiting the room.

This time, she didn't make a stop at the Palace Kitchen.

For some reason, it felt like her legs were carrying her towards her destination faster than usual. Even the guards patrolling the area were intelligent enough to not intercept her path and made a wide berth for her to march past them.

Within minutes, there she was again, standing in front of the metal door at the lowest level of the Capital City Prison. She steeled her somewhat shaking nerves and opened the door. Her nose caught a soft smell of the sea as she entered, but Azula ignored it in favor of storming into the dimly lit room.

"Back so soon? Just when I thought I would have a week's worth of peace and quiet," Percy lamented aloud. He was lying down on the ragged sheet that seemed a tad too small for his stature, and somehow Azula felt a smug sense of satisfaction rise within her upon hearing his apparent discomfort.

Her feeling of vindication was soon replaced with annoyance when she noticed the man hadn't opened his eyes to acknowledge her presence.

"There isn't any peace or quiet for someone like you," she managed to prevent her frustration from seeping into her reply, though it was taking more effort than she liked.

Percy hummed but kept his eyes closed "Everything's relative."

"No, it isn't," Azula growled as she stormed towards the man. If the prison bars weren't in place to separate them, she would have marched up to his sleeping form and kicked him to her heart's content.

A green eye opened to study her face. "Someone's in a mood today."

The remark only served to fuel Azula's anger. Golden orbs narrowed dangerously but she did not deign to give him a verbal response, causing them to fall into another tense silence. Her displeasure was compounded further when Percy, seeing that his visitor had nothing to say, returned to his sleep and her already-thinned patience finally snapped.

"You aren't taking me seriously, are you?"

Her black-haired captive let out a gruff grunt before replying. "I am," his dismissive tone indicated to the Fire Nation Princess that he was anything but. "I just have my priorities set straight."

"What kind of priorities would a prisoner have anyway?" Azula spat.

"I dunno," Percy merely shrugged. "Probably getting a good sleep. You would relate, if you aren't so busy trying to keep your reputation from falling apart."

Just then, something at the back of Azula's mind just clicked, like she had finally figured out the solution to the combination puzzles that she used to solve as a kid. Without bothering to say a word, she whirled around and headed for the exit, leaving the sole occupant of the cell in the company of air vents and cold steel bars.

But first, she needed the two old hags to arrange a few things.

oOo

Sokka placed an arm on the market counter, his face a mixture of impatience, annoyance and acceptance. Xu, on the other hand, was wiping the small statue of the Painted Lady while humming away happily.

Before the teen could open his mouth, a tiny but strong hand yanked him away. Toph stood in his place, looking beyond exasperated for a twelve-year-old as she dropped three silver coins on the counter. "We need more food. Our friend's still sick and we're not leaving until he's better."

"Well that's too bad," Xu commented, paying no heed to the tiny girl spinning around in a huff as he presented the kids with a tray of clams. "Maybe if you guys, the Painted Lady will visit you in the night and heal your friend."

Zuko watched Sokka eye the polluted food on offer with a stink eye and just knew the Southern Water Tribesman was about to say something really stupid.

"And maybe she'll cook us a midnight snack and we'll all have a sing along!"

How often was the former Fire Nation Prince right?

"Yeah! Maybe," Sokka didn't know if Xu understood sarcasm and ignored him, or he was just that dense. "You know, last night she visited us again," he felt his eyebrow twitch as the old man blabbered on. "Healed all our sick folk."

"Is that why the village seemed so... festive?" Aang asked. He watched a group of men set up a giant statue of the Painted Lady as the rest of the villagers cheered on in support.

"Yep! It's all because of the Painted Lady," Xu surmised.

"Can you believe how much an entire village can be affected by one lady– I mean spirit," Katara asked, and she really should have expected Sokka to say something that'll get under her skin.

"Well, I hope she returns every night," Sokka sighed, his tone laced with disinterest, "otherwise, things will go back to the way it was."

Katara spun around and tried her best to school her features. "Why would you say that? Look at how much better off these people are." Her brother scoffed.

"Yeah, now. But without her, they wouldn't be able to fend for themselves," he shrugged. "If she really wanted to help she would use her spirit magic to blow up that factory. Like this!" He spread his arms apart and his mouth mimicked the sound of an explosion.

"Spirit magic doesn't work like that Sokka," Aang shook his head, clearly unimpressed by the display. "It's more like..." the airbender proceeded to wave his body with his arms in the air.

Katara felt a vein pop in her forehead as her idiot of a brother joined forces with Aang to flail their arms and make more spooky noises. She stormed off towards the edge of the village and set her eyes on the factory that continued to bellow out smoke and gunk.

She did not realize the narrow golden orbs were studying her in silence.

oOo

By the time blue eyes opened, night had arrived. A quick glance to both sides confirmed the other three figures were fast asleep. Good. She needed to move fast.

With practiced grace, Katara quietly and quickly stuffed a stack of dried grass beneath her sleeping bag. She then slipped off to the back of their campsite and found her materials the same place she had hid them the night before. The ragged gown was donned with relative ease before she looked into the makeshift mirror to apply the red lines on her face. Satisfied with the result, she placed the conical straw hat over her head and glided for the river.

"Going somewhere?"

Her body stilled. How could she forget that the group had a new member – with an almost non-existent sleep schedule – would be awake at the most ungodly hours? She clamped her lips shut, hoping that by not replying Zuko would leave her alone.

Those hopes were crushed the moment he stood right in front of her. Katara quickly lowered her head, using the white veil on her hat to cover her face. Not everything is lost, all she needs to do is to get away and–

"HELLO PAINTED LADY SPIRIT!"

– whatever plan she had in mind was thrown out the window. Katara made to run away, but Zuko sidestepped into her path. She tried going right. Again, the firebender put himself between her and her escape.

"Zuko, why are you blocking the Spirit from returning to her river?" Aang questioned as he caught up with the pair. He turned to bow at the Painted Lady before lifting his headband. "I'm sorry for my friend's actions. I'm the Avatar. Before you leave, could you spare us some time to help our friend who's sick? We are kind of on a tight schedule."

With how close he was standing, Katara knew Aang would definitely recognize her. She leapt to the side, and covered her face with her hand.

"Hello, Avatar." She tried to make her voice as low as possible, "I wish I could help you, but I am very busy."

"Yea, me too," Katara almost felt sorry when she saw the airbender's shoulder sink. "I hate that." She was about to turn around and leave when Aang spoke again. "You know, you look very familiar."

Okay, she really needs to leave now.

But before she could create any form of distance between herself and her friend, there was an audible sigh and the next thing she knew her hat was yanked away.

"Hey!" She whirled around in protest, her straw hat in the hands of Zuko, who wore a deadpan look on his face.

"Katara?" Katara froze and she slowly turned around, a stabbing feeling in her heart when she saw the shock in Aang's eyes as he whispered her name. Shock quickly turned to disbelief and he pointed an accusatory finger at her. "You're the Pa– Mmmph!"

Whatever question Aang had was silenced as Zuko clammed a hand over the airbender's mouth. Grey eyes darted towards the owner of the offending hand, but who only raised his good eyebrow. "Do you want to wake everyone up?"

A tense moment passed and Aang rolled his eyes. Trusting his friend – Zuko still felt weird calling Aang that – not to make a scene, the former Prince released his grip on Aang's mouth and turned to Katara. "Appa isn't sick, is he?"

"He's probably sick of all the purple berries I've been feeding him," Katara had the audacity to shrug, albeit meekly. "But other than that, he's fine."

"So you lied to all of us just to help these people." Aang's eyes darted to the ground.

"I'm sorry," Katara couldn't bear to look at the disappointment etched on her friend's face, so she looked away. "I know I shouldn't have."

"No, I think it's great! You're like a secret hero!"

Sensing that Aang wasn't as disappointed as she had expected him to be, Katara formulated a plan "Well, if you wanna help, there's one more thing I have to do." Blue eyes turned to the other person in the conversation. "We could use your help, too."

Zuko wasn't sure if Aang should be sounding so ecstatic at the fact that the whole Team was being lied to, but the bright look on the airbender's face prompted him to drop it. Instead, he let out a sigh and decided to hear out Katara's idea.

Though he had an inkling of what the plan is.

"You're going to destroy the factory, aren't you?"

Katara nodded, her eyes firm with conviction as she explained herself. "Sokka was just kidding, but he was right. Getting rid of the factory is the only way we can help these villagers. Permanently."

"But what about the other factories?" Zuko countered. "Are we going to stop at every village and take down every factory that's damaging a nearby village?"

"Of course, we can't. Not now anyway. But we can do that once we've taken the Fire Lord down."

Zuko wanted to argue further. The plan was too small-thinking. Katara was getting tunnel-vision. The invasion plan could be placed in further jeopardy. But seeing two pairs of hope-filled eyes looking at him, he let out a sigh and relented.

Anything to keep the mission from falling apart, he supposed.

oOo

Azula took comfort from the warmth emanating from the sole candle lit up on the table she was sitting at. It was well past midnight, but not a single Fire Nation guard patrolled the hallways near her quarters for that night. Li and Lo had made sure that everyone received a 'well-deserved day off'.

The candle flame flickered, and Azula felt her room shake all just so slightly. Then she heard it, a rhythm of metal creaking mixed with heavy footsteps. Her fingers began drumming on the table until there was a large silhouette at her door.

"Come in."

Her door swung open, and a large bald man about twice her height entered without surprising grace for a man of his stature.

Azula's eyes darted towards his forehead, and a satisfactory smile formed on her lips.

"Your reputation precedes you. So I'll assume you know the importance of this meeting, and the need for secrecy." When the man didn't give a verbal reply, Azula placed a hand on the chest next to her. "Consider this a partial payment upfront. You will receive the other half once you've completed your task."

Again, no verbal reply, but she noticed his head tilting upwards just so slightly she knew he was all ears.

"Everyone believes the Avatar is dead. I want you to find evidence to make sure that their belief is a reality."

Dark brown eyes locked with gold, and the man was certain that he saw the Princess's eyes glow as she uttered her next words.

"Whatever. Means. Necessary."

Oh my. Did I go missing for over a year? Oops