- —Tags for the ''How I Became Yours rehost, found here
Katara finds Zuko outside her tent, noticing that he's been waiting up all night, and that her reception of him is more bitchy than coldly civil. When she gets to the latter, wanting to know what Zuko is here for, he tells her he knows who killed her mother and how to find him.
Katara is overwhelmed at the prospect of being able to bring justice to her mother's killer, but asks Zuko why he's helping. Zuko says he liked it better when they weren't so hostile, and he believes that it's necessary for Katara to get closure. After Katara truthbends him, he admits that he's reminded of what happened to his mother, and since he knows the pain of not knowing what happened to her, he understands how she feels.
Zuko then gives a complex description of the Southern Raiders' operations, which Katara finds to be quite boring, and it's likely that the readers would feel the same way. Katara does come away from this knowing that the Fire Nation is a well-organized war machine. Zuko offers Katara stealth training, but she suggests that she has a plan, to go "raging waterbender" on him (the fact that it's a full moon and Katara has the maximum possible advantage helps).
Katara then realizes that she, by going off on a journey together with Zuko, might warm up to him, not unlike Sokka, and quite possibly, the others who went on the fishing trip with him, and is horrified by the prospect. She vehemently denies that this will happen, much to Zuko's initial confusion. She then clarifies what she said, and Zuko mentions that Suki thinks he's kind of hot, making Katara wonder about his making jokes.
Katara then has to go to Aang to borrow Appa, and he's less than receptive to her request, wanting her to forgive her mother's killer, infuriating her. She says that she normally likes hearing what Aang has to say, but his "platitudes" won't make her feel any better.
Katara believes that she and Aang, apart from the "Great Sea Prune Debacle" have always been on the same page, but this time, she thinks he doesn't understand, and Zuko, of all people, does. He brings up his experiences with anger towards the sandbenders, and she accuses him of not forgiving them. She's upset that he would judge her for doing what any reasonable person would do, or that he would compare her to Jet. She argues that Jet wanted to wipe out a town full of innocent people, while she wants to "face this one very guilty man" and make him suffer. Of course, it can be inferred that Jet also started at a much better intentioned point, and there's no guarantee that Katara will stop with Yon Rha.
Sokka then points out that Kya was his mother, too, and Katara cruelly suggests that he didn't love her as much as she does, which she feels extremely guilty about, but can't bring herself to apologize for at the moment; it was good to see Katara feeling some remorse, but realistic to show that she's not in the best frame of mind to apologize. She storms off, angry about how Aang and Sokka are looking at her as though she's the "worst person" ever.
Zuko tracks Katara down when she leaves camp and climbs a tree so that not even Toph can track her. Zuko apologizes for how things didn't work out for her, and seems to mean it.
Katara decides that it's not Aang's place to forbid her from doing this, and after wondering if Zuko thinks it's a bad idea to leave on Appa without telling Aang, he agrees, much to Katara's pleasure, since she needs Zuko to come with her, since she needs his help and feels as though she can trust him.
Toph trains Aang in earthbending, noticing that he's being more aggressive (implied to be as a result of how upset he is), and praising him in her own way.
Meanwhile, Zuko trains Katara in how to move stealthily, something that was useful for him when he infiltrated Fire Nation facilities, and which he says would have been useful while she was stalking him. Katara asks him how long he's known, and says it was since the fourth time his fireflakes disappeared. A slight argument ensues about how much Zuko is patronizing Katara.
Zuko points out that he realizes Katara was doing it because she didn't trust him. He initially tolerated it because he couldn't complain, but he eventually decided that he liked her around, because... Katara could heal him or Aang if they got injured. Of course, he's the type to hide said injuries from others.
Katara points out that her summary (and, by extension, mine) of Zuko's talking about how he feels about the stalking is far more concise and clear than what he actually said, which had a great deal of hemming and hawing. Zuko was Adorkable as usual, and looked down on the ground so Katara couldn't truthbend him. This and Zuko's lessons in stealth make it difficult for Katara to stay mad at Zuko.
Katara sneaks up on various members of the Gaang, save Aang, as the two are a bit mad at each other. Sokka is easy. Suki, a trained warrior, is more difficult. And Katara's pleased that she can even sneak up on Toph, with her Earthbending-enhanced senses, by ensuring that her feet aren't on the ground.
Zuko decides Katara's ready to infiltrate a messenger hawk tower, and they set out. Before they leave, Zuko writes up a list for Aang, and Katara apologizes to Sokka, who's quite understanding, but doesn't want her to go since he's afraid she'll get hurt or do something she'll regret. Katara insists that she need to get justice for their mother, even if she doesn't know what punishment she has in mind for Yon Rha (one thing about revenge is that the vengeful people don't seem to know how to get revenge on others, save for killing them). Sokka still isn't happy, but tries to understand.
Of course, they can't leave without Appa, and need Aang to let them use Appa. Zuko makes a somewhat sarcastic remark about forgiveness forgetting that he's in the Gaang because they forgave him, and he's trying to get on good terms with Katara. Katara gives a "thanks for understanding," in the hopes of getting Aang to understand, not unlike how Sokka pre-emptively thanked her for mending his pants. It reminds me of the phrase "I'll thank you to/not to... (X)," a somewhat condescending way of asking someone to do something, assuming that they'll comply.
But in any case, Katara and Zuko leave on Appa, out in search of the Southern Raiders.
An author's note follows the chapter. Since it's about the characters and the author's interpretation of them, at a critical point in their development, it's naturally going to be long.
The author says that Katara, in a word, is a mess of emotions now. She had the Five Stages of Grief, but kept coming back to anger (although they don't necessarily happen in order), and that confronting her mother's killer is her way of releasing all that.
Katara is more upset toward Sokka than she is toward Aang, because she thought he would understand, and because it's easier for her to take her anger out on him. Aang, on the other hand, is more difficult for Katara to yell at because of her maternal relationship toward him (there it is again), and that Aang is disturbed by this side of her personality (which is understandable, and it's a darker side of her personality that wasn't shown much before).
The author mentions that she wanted to see Katara apologize to Sokka, and I agree. The author also points out that Sokka's opposition to the plan is more based on worry about his younger sister going off on a dangerous mission, rather than philosophical opposition like Aang's. The former is all well and good, as well as in character for Sokka. But is it the only legitimate basis on which Katara's brother and friends can object? Is the latter such a bad thing?
Apparently, to the author, the answer to both is "yes." The author says Aang is denying Katara the outlet she needs to deal with her problems, which the author says is hypocritical given his aforementioned lack of forgiveness toward the Sandbenders. Not only does the latter example miss the point about how Aang regretted what he had done and become wary of negative emotions after that, but hadn't the author considered that the entire genocide of the Air Nomads might be weighing heavily on Aang? Isn't it possible that he's realized that the killers of Monk Gyatso and everyone else he knew are now dead, but that fact doesn't bring him any satisfaction? Neither Katara nor the author give Aang enough credit on this subject, although in canon, Katara, and to an extent, Zuko, come around, after Katara makes her decision about Yon Rha.
But the author asserts that Zuko understands Katara in a way that Aang does not, an oft-repeated argument by Zutara shippers, even if she does concede that Your Mileage May Vary, and invites us to disagree with her. I also have to wonder what sort of lesson Katara will come away with this, compared to canon.
Going back to the subject of revenge, on the Reason You Suck Speech page for fan works, I'm reminded of a speech from "What SHOULD have Happened in Avatar the Last Airbender" in which Yon Rha calls out Zuko for being a hypocrite and sacrificing him to gain Katara's trust. Yon Rha comes off as highly self-righteous, especially while claiming that murdering an unarmed woman was necessary to ensure the safety of his men, but it's an interesting idea.
What I liked
- Katara's feelings about her remark to Sokka about their mother being explored, as well as Sokka's feelings toward her taking revenge.
What I didn't like
- Aang being treated as naive and hypocritical
