The chapter begins with Katara enjoying a moon peach given to her by Zuko, and she wonders if the gift is a pre-emptive peace offering.
Katara's father asks Zuko for help with the plates, and Katara notices his interest in Zuko. Apparently, Katara is not Zuko's only stalker; there's also Hakoda, The Duke, and a "crazy guy" from Ba Sing Se, whom you might know as Jet. Apparently, the author also wrote about "Jet's Troubling Obsession" with Zuko, but since I'm barely over halfway through the shortest of the fics, I won't get to that any time soon.
Katara realizes that Hakoda is asking for more information about Zuko, and goes to ask her father about it. Hakoda claims he wants to get to know Sokka's good friend, and, upon further pressing, seems to suggest that Zuko is giving Katara moon peaches, saying it like it's a Double Entendre. Katara vigorously denies the implied meaning, and Hakoda notices that she's growing up fast.
At this point, it should be obvious to her that her father thinks, in spite of her efforts to convince him and herself otherwise, that there's something developing between Zuko and Katara, and he's planning on finding out more- and nipping it in the bud if he must. I wonder how Hakoda would react to Aang, who's of a different tribe, but not the enemy.
Hakoda then brings Zuko, Sokka, Haru and Chit Sang on a fishing and camping trip, calling it a Rite of Passage. Apparently, he doesn't realize that Haru also turned 16 recently, a little after Sokka did(or that Chit Sang seems significantly older than 16). Zuko, in spite of his reluctance, is convinced by Hakoda's describing the trip as "honorable"; it's slightly surprising that someone who's known Zuko for so little time knows his obsession with honor so well.
Katara gets bored, and Aang starts getting distracted from his training. The girls then have an outing, taking a bath in a sauna. They are concerned about how Aang isn't progressing quickly enough on his earthbending or firebending, and may not be ready to face the Fire Lord. Suki argues in favor of waiting for Sozin's Comet to pass, as they've lost their best opportunity with the failure of the Day of the Black Sun offensive, but Toph argues that Ozai will try something evil with the Comet's power (and she's right). Katara is undecided, believing that both Suki and Toph have points.
The girls then talk about the guys who are interested in them and/or visa versa. Toph actually misses Haru's displays of affection. Suki is a bit concerned about Toph's over-protectiveness, and Katara believes she doesn't know about what happened to Yue. Katara realizes she's next, and is hesitant to talk about the "Great Seaprune Debacle," so changes the subject to her father's paranoia about Zuko. Suki makes some lame jokes about Zuko, since Sokka is apparently rubbing off on her. Katara, in her attempt to explain herself, apparently accidentally makes a lot of double-entendres regarding moon peaches, much to Suki and Toph's amusement and her embarrassment.
The six at the camp have dinner, and Toph bends one of her spoon bouquets back to normal spoons. She's less than happy to have to do it, but evidently, she has several bouquets to spare.
The men get back, and Zuko is annoyed at Aang slacking off in his absence.
Katara later becomes furious, but for once, it's not at Zuko, but Sokka, for reading her journal. Apparently, Sokka approached Katara and asked about her crush on Zuko (calling him "Subject" like Katara does in the diary), and Zuko walks in. Sokka hands Zuko the notebook, but Katara tackles him and takes it from him. An awkward situation ensues and in "a fit of maturity," insults Zuko and runs off.
Katara then proceeds to have strong words with Sokka for what he's done, both directly and through Suki. Suki succeeds in getting Sokka to keep quiet about the diary, and Katara wonders how Suki succeeded.
Katara and Zuko wash dishes together, the process devoid of their normal teasing, which is always a troubling sign. Zuko tries to ask if Katara is upset about something. Zuko offers her another moon peach, unaware that this is the root cause behind everything that happened.
Zuko later offers Katara a mango, and she starts to wonder whether she's been unfair him, which is a nice touch. She offers him a moon peach as an apology, but wants to keep the fruit exchange secret to prevent people from getting the wrong idea.
Katara decides to avoid Zuko for a day, and goes out on a secret girls' night out with Suki and the others. She gets drunk and loses her shoes in the process.
Another author's note follows, mentioning that this chapter was fairly long. The author suggests that Zuko's moodiness at the beginning was the result of his crush on Katara, and his difficulty with expressing it. Hakoda's inviting Zuko to the trip is, as some might have guessed, to learn more about him- he's not completely hostile toward Zuko after his help in the escape, but is still a little "put out" by someone pursuing his baby girl. In the end, Zuko does as well as he could hope for.
The trip had originally been planned to only include Sokka and Zuko, but Chit Sang and Haru came along. A lot of shenanigans happened, but since it's from Katara's POV, they can't be seen, and the author acknowledges this as a limitation of the story.
The girls, however, do some bonding, in a scene that would have had less focus in a third-person POV. The author is fond of Suki's terrible jokes, supported by her cracks at Ozai after his defeat, which was a nicely supported observation.
The author points out that Katara telling Suki about Yue will annoy Sokka, although Suki did hear an indirect description of Yue in "The Serpent's Pass"; while it didn't fully explore Sokka's feelings for her, it did point out the significance of what happened.
The author congratulates those who suggested that Sokka would be the one to open Katara's diary, saying that the Water Tribe doesn't have as much of a concept of personal space, and Sokka, while looking for seal jerky, found the diary, and looked through a few pages. But Sokka does have enough regard for Katara and Zuko that he won't tell Zuko, in spite of wanting to do so. So Zuko will remain curious about Katara's bizarre mood swings, assuming that he owes Katara an apology, and if moon peaches won't do the trick, mangoes, her second favorite fruit, will.
The author said that the events of Katara's "girls night out" will come up later.
What I liked
- The joke about Zuko picking up four "stalkers" so far.
- Suki being the type to make terrible jokes.
What I didn't like
- It's a bit of a stretch to say Suki doesn't understand who Yue is to Sokka.
- Katara did have quite a few mood swings in this chapter.
- Katara's journal coming to light was not as fully explored as it could have been.
- The first person perspective's limitations are showing.
