| abstract | - Team Avatar lands in the middle of a town in the Earth Kingdom in order to relax for a while, but Katara warns that they had better not stay for too long with the Fire Nation still after them. While she delightfully judges what smells to be deep-fried pickled radishes which changes her mind to stay here a little longer, Aang and Sokka visit a shop in the marketplace and try on some animal pelts. When Sokka compliments Aang for what he picked out, a girl in front of him named Kaya assumes he was talking to her and seems flattered at first. After saying a pickup line that apparently fails, she throws the fake fox pelt she had been holding at him and walks away. In an attempt to impress Kaya, with whom he has become infatuated, he tries to explain how he travels around the world and saves people with the Avatar, but she mistakenly assumes from his wording that he is the Avatar. Aang covers for Sokka, knowing that Sokka wants to go out with Kaya, and says that it is true. With Aang's help, they trick the girl into believing that Sokka can airbend in order to make her believe him, after which she offers to become his girlfriend. Meanwhile, the Rough Rhinos conspire in a forest near the town, knowing the Avatar has been spotted there. In town, however, everything is turning out well for Sokka. Kaya has taken him to meet her family with Aang in tow. Although her parents adore the fact that their daughter is dating who they think is the Avatar, Kaya's sister asks why Aang, who is wearing a fur cap to hide his airbender tattoo, is with him, to which Sokka explains that Aang is his servant. While Aang is made to sweep the house, Sokka warns Kaya not to let this information slip, "for security reasons." Even so, having told a few people already, the entire town is soon at her doorstep looking for advice from the Avatar. Aang, peeved by his downgrade to servant, tells Sokka that, being the Avatar, he can handle it himself, which at first he accomplishes. When Katara and Toph arrive at the scene, Sokka keeps them quiet about his identity by pulling them aside and telling them of his scheme. Having agreed to play along and the townspeople wanting to see some bending, Katara helps him to look like he is waterbending while she stands in the background unseen by the audience. Toph follows suit by performing some earthbending, but this causes the Rough Rhinos to spot Sokka from a distance and decide mistakenly that he is the Avatar. They tie him up and throw him onto one of their komodo rhinos, however Aang, Katara, and Toph easily defeat them with their respective bending styles. Despite all of the evidence against him, though, Kaya still believes that Sokka is the Avatar and that he let his sidekicks pretend to bend while he did the work. As Sokka walks away bragging about his accomplishments as the Avatar, his friends decide it is time to reveal the truth about Sokka's nonbending status.
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