Katara infiltrates the messengerhawk tower, and after pondering how poorly the scrolls are organized, they find the one they need for the Southern Raiders, showing where they're on patrol- near Whaletail Island.
Katara then thinks about anger and forgiveness, and shares her mother's death from her point of view, since neither Aang nor even Sokka were present when she died. She relates how she, along with her father, found her mother's body, and can't forget that sight. Katara reminisces about her mother's kindness, bravery and sense of humor, and believes that a woman like her deserves justice; although she would do well to remember that the line between that and revenge is quite fine. Katara keeps talking about her mother until she can't say anything more, and then gets some rest.
Katara and Zuko attack the Southern Raiders' ship, and Katara washes the soldiers on deck overboard. Zuko blocks the captain's firebending and notices that Katara's out of water, but Katara realizes that she doesn't need water. Fueled by dark anger, she bloodbends the captain, thinking that perhaps Hama is right and he deserves it, an effective look at Katara's dark turn toward vengefulness in this episode.
Of course, if you've seen that episode, you know that the captain doesn't deserve it, since he's not the one Katara's looking for, and Katara becomes horrified. He then points out where Yon Rha is living as a gardener. Katara wryly notes "how nice for him" it must be, that he lives with his mother after taking Katara's away from her, an interesting touch.
Katara and Zuko land on Whaletail Island for the night, since Yon Rha's island is too far away. Katara, likely still affected by her bloodbending the captain, is hesitant to talk at first, but they have an argument over cooking, which is refreshing for Katara, and clear proof of the author's preference for the Belligerent Sexual Tension route. Relationships like that can be done well, but it does get a little tiresome to see the implicit argument that "fighting is a sign of a normal healthy relationship" repeated so often.
Katara observes that she's cooked for the group so much that she isn't used to someone else doing it. Unfortunately, Katara's hands are shaking, meaning she can't cook well enough. Katara notices the fire flakes Zuko brought along, and they get into another argument over them, but then Zuko ruins it by bringing up actually pertinent issues.
Of course, to Katara, part of the problem is that Zuko's the one who's bringing it up. Katara wonders if she's a bad person for wanting revenge, and in the course of that quest, having done something quite horrible, that she promised herself she would never do.
Zuko looks momentarily horrified at Katara's question, an understandable reaction to Katara's relatively blunt assessment of herself. After that clears, Zuko asks Katara to get mad, because he wants to tell her that she's one of the best people he knows.
Katara's worry is because of what Aang said, in wanting her to forgive Yon Rha. Katara knows that she can't, and feels bad for not being able to do so; it seems as though the author's implying that Aang, by holding Katara to a standard she can't meet, is attempting to guilt trip her, which seems a little unfair. Katara openly talks about how she felt about bloodbending the captain.
Katara mentions that she hasn't talked to anyone else about it, because Sokka wouldn't understand, Toph isn't good at comforting people, and Aang would give her some platitude. But Katara knows that Zuko understands how she feels to be conflicted about her own bending, and tells him the story of how she met Hama and was manipulated into learning bloodbending.
Katara worries about turning out like Hama, but Zuko doubts that she will, since she feels remorse at bloodbending the captain. Katara asks whether Aang would forgive Hama if she expresses remorse for her actions, as well as whether he'll forgive her if she kills Yon Rha. Zuko says that remorse is a prerequisite for being forgiven and he finds Aang's policy of forgiveness to be unrealistic, which, in spite of Katara's desire for revenge, disturbs her, since she wonders if this means Aang won't forgive her if she kills Yon Rha; it's a bit odd that she's concerned about his opinion now.
Interestingly enough, the main page for Easily Forgiven indicates that while Katara's the least willing to use this trope on Zuko, she's been a beneficiary of this trope in the past, since few people have held some of the fairly cruel things she says against her. I'm reminded of the Christian teaching to forgive others, so that your own sins will be forgiven, and think it might be nice if Katara reflects long and hard on everything she's done to other people.
Zuko quickly amends his statement, saying that Aang would forgive Katara, but that he himself doesn't think everything can be forgiven, including those who hurt people he cares about. He points out that it's fine that Aang can forgive everyone, but not everyone can do that, and he also thinks that it's fine that Katara won't forgive her mother's murderer, as he would do the same if his mother was killed.
One of the people Zuko can't forgive is his father, for, among other things, putting the scar on his face, and feeling no remorse about it. Of course, he's not trying for sympathy, but to reassure her and let her know.
Katara thanks Zuko and they share an intimate moment, while Katara admits she doesn't know what she's going to do with Yon Rha.
Since the Stalking Zuko series is, by and large, less idealistic than canon, Aang tends to suffer the fate of the token idealistic person who A)Dies a tragic and pointless death, B)Abandons his prior convictions, C)Turns out to be a hypocrite of some sort, and/or D)Exists to more or less constantly be proven wrong. It's a bit unfortunate when one character exists to be proven wrong all the time, and I do believe that the episode was a more balanced portrayal. Aang was ultimately right about vengeance, but Katara's issues related to losing her mother were explored in a sympathetic light. Here, while Katara ultimately doesn't go through with revenge, it turns out that Zuko's the only one who understands her; it would have been nice to have the others, particularly Aang and Sokka, have more to offer Katara in this process.
An author's note follows, with the author pointing out that she wanted to expand on Katara's bloodbending more than the show did. The author points out that Katara would only bloodbend once, then do soul-searching and not do it again. This is a good point, but I also have to wonder why she only did it on the person she thought was Yon Rha, and not on Yon Rha himself (apart from the fact that it was daytime, albeit overcast, when she confronted Yon Rha).
The author points out that Zuko's not good at touchy feely conversations, and would be a little horrified by Katara's thinking of herself as a less than good person over not being able to forgive some things. They do, however, reach " a place of trust" during this trip, even if the discussion of Zuko's scar is downplayed to stay to the subject- that this trip is Katara's choice, and about Katara's issues.
What I liked
- Exploring Katara bloodbending the captain.
- Exploring Zuko's thoughts on revenge.
What I didn't like
- Aang being dismissed as failing to understand Katara
