| abstract | - The group floats downstream on Appa in the middle of a sludge-contaminated river. With little chance of catching any food, they decide to buy some in the village of Jang Hui. This conflicts with Sokka's "master schedule", which details every minute up to the day of the invasion. The village is located in the middle of the river, which has been polluted by a nearby military factory. They are ferried to the village by Dock, a rather eccentric man. The village is in a deep depression with many villagers having fallen ill and a lack of food due to the polluted water. Katara wishes to help these people, but Sokka argues that the importance of their overall mission overrides all other situations that may arise. They purchase food from Xu, a shopkeeper who happens to bear a strong resemblance to Dock, save for the hat he dons. Before they leave, Katara gives one of the fish they bought to a small child; seeing him give it to his sick mother, she wishes she could do more. That night, Sokka attempts to rearrange their schedule, and mentions that the duration of the solar eclipse is only about eight minutes. In the morning, Appa is found lying on his side, looking rather sickly. His tongue has become purple, causing concern among the group. Katara suggests that the village might have herbs to provide a remedy for him. Upon arrival at the village, they find the residents to be in much better spirits. According to Xu, a legendary local river spirit known as the Painted Lady came overnight and supplied the villagers with food. Due to a lack of medicine, as the factory uses it all, Katara suggests letting Appa rest for another day. That night, a thick fog shrouds the village. The Painted Lady arrives and heals several of the sick. The child Katara helped earlier thanks her and she leaves across the water. The next day, Appa still appears sick, so they return to the village. The town is in even higher spirits, and the villagers have erected a large statue of the Painted Lady in gratitude for healing their sick. Xu/Dock suggests that perhaps the Painted Lady could heal Appa. Sokka skeptically notes that the Painted Lady's work will be all for nothing unless she continually helps them, because as long as the factory is still there, the village is doomed; he jokingly suggests that she use her "spirit magic" to blow it up. The Painted Lady actually turns out to be Katara. The next night, she once again assumes her disguise, but as she leaves, Momo wakes up, rousing Aang in turn. Seeing the Painted Lady, he tries to appeal to her for help, but she runs away. Aang chases her all the way to the village. At one point, she halts, thinking she has lost him, however, Aang suddenly appears out of nowhere and tells the "spirit" that he is the Avatar. He compliments that she is very pretty for a spirit, stating that other spirits he has met are not very attractive. He begins to recognize the "spirit", eventually airbending the hat off her head, where he finally finds out Katara's secret: Appa's "illness" was the result of her feeding him berries that stained his tongue. Katara sadly confesses and apologizes for delaying their travels to help the village. Aang, however, likes the idea and praises Katara as a secret hero. Together, the two infiltrate the factory and wreck it, stopping the output of pollutants. In the morning, the two arrive back at the camp to find Sokka and Toph waiting for them, having found out the truth themselves. As they prepare to leave, they see a squad of Fire Nation troops heading toward the town on jet skis, and realize that the army must believe the villagers had sabotaged the factory. Katara is determined to stop them, and despite their argument, Sokka readily agrees to help her upon realizing that she is set on helping. At the village, General Mung accuses the residents not only of destroying the factory but of stealing the food and medicine that Katara, as the Painted Lady, had given them as well. The soldiers begin to attack the village, but gusts of wind extinguish the fires they ignite. Suddenly, a large mist begins enveloping the town. With help from Appa, Toph, and Sokka providing spooky sound effects, Aang and Katara stage an encounter with the Painted Lady to defeat the troops and drive them away. The villagers praise the Painted Lady, but Dock notices her smudged face paint and recognizes her as Katara. He quickly realizes that she is a waterbender, and upon this realization, the villagers become outraged. Sokka immediately comes to her defense, stating that they should be thanking her instead since she destroyed the polluting factory and got rid of the Fire Nation. Katara calms her brother and apologizes to the villagers for having deceived them, though justifies her actions by noting that she had to do something to help them. When she concludes that the villagers cannot wait around for someone to help them but need to do so themselves, Dock agrees with her, though is unsure how to proceed from there. As Toph, from among the villagers, suggests that they clean the river, he immediately jumps on that idea along with the other villagers. He goes on to thank Katara for all her help, though ends up annoying Sokka when he tells him that while he is good at keeping secrets and will thus not tell anyone about Katara's identity as a waterbender, his "brother" Xu is not. When Katara asks him if he will help them clean, he declines, though directs him to his other "brother" Bushi, who loves to clean rivers. Switching his hat, he introduces himself to the group again, prompting Aang to proudly announce that he knew all along that Dock, Xu, and now Bushi were the same person who just changed his hat and assumed a different identity. Bushi is undeterred, however, and confides in Aang that the actions he described were typical behavior of his "other brother" Dock, whom he deems to be crazy, much to Aang's irritation. All the villagers subsequently set out in boats to clean the river; Team Avatar helps out too, with Katara lifting the water with her bending to enable Aang and Toph to use earthbending to extract the dirt from it. After the river was cleaned, Team Avatar returns to their camp on the shore. At night, Katara makes her way to the river to freshen up, where a thick mist and the real Painted Lady appears. The spirit smiles and thanks her before disappearing in the fog again, leaving a slightly baffled though pleased Katara.
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