Zuko manages to slip past Hakoda to give Katara some hangover-curing tea. Katara hides under the blanket, embarrassed to face him. Zuko, however, says that she was just drunk and doesn't need to be embarrassed. He does, however, tease her about the "Fountain Queen" part. Zuko quickly makes his escape before Hakoda returns.
After some more lighthearted observations from Katara about her hangover, she realizes that it's the sixth anniversary of her mother's death. Katara mentions that it's taken her a surprisingly long time this year to start thinking of Kya. Katara is taken off guard by the news, but says she's up for it, and so does Sokka, in spite of his "bout of food poisoning".
The remaining members of Kya's family sit in a circle, talking about her and recalling fond memories, as per tradition. Gran Gran says one day, Katara will look back on those memories fondly, but for Katara, the grief is too fresh and her feelings are too painful.
The next day, Katara decides to stay in her room all day, since she's avoiding Zuko because she's cross at him for a reason not even she knows. She pretends to sleep when he brings her breakfast. She is more receptive to her father and Suki, though, albeit not willing to talk with them.
Katara is feeling better the next day, but is still avoiding Zuko, for two reasons; 1)To dispel the rumors about her stalking him, and 2)Because she still feels awkward about licking him and being harsh with him the previous day, yet can't apologize to him. Thankfully for her, avoiding him is easy, because he's gone off somewhere with Sokka and Hakoda.
Aang, having had enough of "serious" firebending, wants to learn the "sparkle dragon," and gets Chit Sang to teach him. Unfortunately, Chit Sang hasn't done it in a while, so they both end up burned in the process, much to Katara's annoyance, since she has to heal them. Thankfully for her, Chit Sang gives up on it, and goes looking for Zuko's list; Katara thinks that such lists are usually an exercise in futility, since they're usually lost or ignored.
Zuko gets back after lunch, and is yet again annoyed at Aang's lack of real progress. Apparently, even Katara is getting tired of him lecturing Aang about Firebending being Serious Business all the time, which seems to be saying something.
Aang's precision bending increases to the point at which he can hit 93 targets in a minute (As this translates into more than one and a half targets per second, I have to wonder if Aang is hitting multiple ones with a single blast). Zuko's pleased but hopes that Aang will take this more seriously. Since Zuko has seriousness to spare, Katara hopes that he'll give some of it to Aang.
Hakoda suggests that they've stayed at the Western Air Temple too long, and Zuko agrees, thinking that it's a miracle that Azula hasn't found them yet. The group makes preparations to leave, and while Katara is sad, having almost come to call the place home, her father is glad to stay with her, saying any place is home if he has his children with her. Katara agrees, looking forward to her first birthday together with her family in four years.
Speaking of birthdays, Katara takes the natural next step and wonders what she'll get. She eavesdrops (openly admitting that's what she's doing this time) on Sokka telling Zuko that he knows a secret, but can't tell him unless he guesses it. Apparently, giving hints is somehow acceptable, possibly because Zuko gives all sorts of absurd guesses, such as "Suki's boobs" (although to be fair to Zuko, we can't see what he's basing his guesses off of). While I can guess that boys Sokka and Zuko's age would be developing an interest in boobs, I have to wonder whether they would openly express it on a children's show; to use an expression, this crap did not only show up on the radar, but they have a clear visual of it.
Sokka says that Suki would kill them both if she heard that, lecture them about objectifying women and then kill them again. He says he was making the "international hand gesture for women", not for boobs. Zuko tries to correct him, but ends up making the gesture for "hourglass" instead, making it hard to tell who's right. In spite of that, Zuko manages to conclude that it's about a girl.
Finally, Sokka decides to imitate Katara's bossiness, and Zuko finally guesses that it's specifically about her. Sokka then mimes hiding and sneaking around. Zuko picks up on those more easily, and realizes that it's about stalking, while Katara takes offense at being portrayed as stalking in such a way. Zuko then says it's about Katara stalking him.
Katara then realizes, much to her horror, that she's been found out.
Sokka is mainly surprised that Zuko already knows. Zuko says he's been trained in the art of stealth, and knows when someone's following him, even if Katara sometimes surprises him. This makes sense; when someone's following you, the general strategy is to find a way to lose them without letting them know that you're being followed.
But Zuko didn't say or do anything about Katara, and Sokka wants to know why. Zuko says he didn't think it was meant to be a secret. Katara thinks otherwise, and lets off a PG-rated Cluster F-Bomb.
Katara is angry with Zuko, and he's confused about the sudden increase in hostility. Katara's sure Zuko has done something to deserve it. Zuko wonders if it's about the "Fountain Queen" incident, and Katara denies it, but indicates that embarrassment is part of the reason why she's upset. Zuko wants to know why, and Katara believes that much of it is Zuko's fault.
Katara decides not to tell him if he doesn't know already, a bit like Sokka, but without givivng him the opportunity to guess (I wonder if she was inspired by his charades, but didn't want to go through that awkwardness). Katara then goes on the rant about him tricking her with his "subjectness" to make her feel sorry for him, but it soon takes on a more serious tone, as Katara declares that she and Zuko were never friends.
Katara considers drying some soap off Zuko's scar, but he says he only lets friends touch it. Katara, in her journal, offers a correction- no one touches it. Zuko wipes it off and says Katara's name before leaving, upset.
Katara reflects on her bitterness toward Zuko, and then turns to the subject of the scar, concluding that it could only have been powerful firebending at close range, and that it would have been done by someone Zuko trusted, or at least thought wouldn't hurt him. Unfortunately, Zuko won't tell Katara, and that frustrates her. She thus decides to continue avoiding Zuko, wherever she ends up.
So now we're up to just before "The Southern Raiders," and have seen the author's version of why Katara was hostile to Zuko at the start of the episode. Instead of having not moved forward at all, Zuko and Katara's relationship went almost full circle, moving somewhat, but ending up in a place that's similar to where they started.
The author reaches the end of the chapter, and thanks the readers again. She tells "anonyMOOOSE", apparently in response to a question about The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime, that she hasn't read the book, but will look into it to see how closely it matches her style. I don't think it does all that much; Katara doesn't go off on enough tangents, or vividly describe her surroundings, but she's not autistic. An anonymous reviewer asks the author what voices she had in mind for the OCs and who she has in mind for Aang and Mai.
The first question had a short answer; she has British or Australian accents in mind. The second answer leads to a much longer rant.
The author mentions missing the shipping wars because she was late to the fandom, much as I was. She mentions that she has "heaps of love" for all the characters, and can't imagine hating on them. Fair enough, but I have two counterpoints to that. 1)Stated intentions do not always reflect reality, and this isn't always the result of lying. 2)Even if you don't hate someone, that doesn't mean you aren't biased against them, or that your treatment of them is necessarily fair.
The author describes Mai as Avatar's version of Daria, and "all kinds of awesome," but not compatible with Zuko in the long run.
The author believes that they would have changed too much in the months apart, while Mai was in prison and Zuko was with the Gaang. That is a possibility, although it might be worth shedding light on how Mai feels about prison. On the other hand, a few months is a fairly short gap compared to the three years Zuko was in exile, and it's while they're reunited in the Fire Nation that Zuko has his epiphany about how he's been on the wrong side of the war the entire time, which results in him joining the Gaang. The author believes that they would become Amicable Exes ad remain friends, resulting in her traveling around.
The author mentions that in "The Beach", Mai said she found life as a Fire Nation aristocrat oppressive. Likely drawing the conclusion that there's no worse situation than that as wife of the Fire Lord (I wonder how Katara would take this, though), the author suggests that Mai might be better off without Zuko. On the other hand, being a Fire Nation aristocrat isn't so bad in and of itself; the problem was that Mai's parents placed all this pressure on her, and saw her as a means to an end to help the family (it's a bit odd that there are so few named families in the Avatar verse, apart from the Bei Fongs and the Satos) rise in station.
The author suggests that Jet would be a good match for Jet because of their snarky compatibility and ability to help the other with their flaws, even though they never meet, and, by this point in canon, he's dead.
The author moves on to Aang, and points out that hating him is like kicking a puppy. I agree, although there are more innocent characters who are hated with more fervor. The author suggests that Aang handles everything that's thrown his way surprisingly well. However, the author suggests that Katara would be the only one making concessions to him after the war, and accommodating his nomadic lifestyle. On the other hand, in Legend of Korra, Tenzin seems to have settled down on the Air Temple Island in Republic City, and has a stable job as councilman, so perhaps the Air Nomads have changed with the times.
The author points out that Ty Lee would be receptive to having a nomadic lifestyle, having chosen to run away and join the circus herself. Of course, as the interquel comics show, even the enthusiastic Air Acolytes have a great deal to learn regarding Air Nomad traditions, and end up upsetting Aang at times with their ignorance.
The author suggests that any arguments between Aang and Ty Lee would be over silly things, that she might be an untrained airbender, and that she'd likely give Aang many children through multiple births (although Aang, as of Legend of Korra, seemed fine with three kids, only one of whom was an airbender, even if all of Tenzin's kids seem to be airbenders).
The author concedes YMMV on her rant, and I do the same for mine.
The author then gets back to the story and, as I mentioned before, says that she's up to why Katara is cross with Zuko in "The Southern Raiders." Katara wants to channel her grief for her mother, made fresh again by the memory ceremony, toward Zuko. It does make me wonder what the point of the memory ceremony is if all it does is stir negative emotions in the living.
The author concludes that it's summer, the season for Fire Nation raids on the poles (although I do have to wonder how exactly the seasons work in the Avatar universe, since the world is round, and there are probably hemispheres). Unfortunately, Katara's mother's death falls right before her birthday.
I can't help but be reminded of this part
of How I Became Yours right now.
"Some firebender named Yon Rha showed up, and when my mother claimed to be the Waterbender he was looking for, he said wasn't here to take any prisoners. Mom died six years ago, a day before my birthday."
The author promises to make it up to Katara somehow, though.
The author mentions that Sokka felt the need to tell Zuko about Katara stalking him, but Zuko figured it out by the time his fire flakes kept disappearing, meaning that Katara stayed incognito for only a few chapters. Zuko didn't know what to think at first, but now actually likes having her around, which is why he's confused by Katara' s sudden hostility, brought on by the fact that he knew about her and didn't tell her. He thought they were friends, and so did Katara, but she's too proud to apologize. To further add to the complications, Katara knows better than to ask Zuko about his scar, but sees it as a symbol of everything he won't tell her.
Confused yet? This is a lot to process, and a lot has happened between Zuko and Katara. At this point, six episodes remain in the series, four of which are in the Grand Finale. Even keeping the Boiling Rock episodes off screen, it would have taken at least that long to show all of what's happened in the fic so far, which is why this is a prime example of Adaptation Expansion. This just goes to show how much is needed to make a relationship between Zuko and Katara work, although the author seems more up to the task than most are.
What I liked
- Showing Zuko being aware of the stalkking
What I didn't like
- The author's analysis of Aang and Mai.
- The author's attempt to justify Katara's hostility to Zuko in The Southern Raiders within the context of this fic.
