Katara and Zuko return to the rendezvous island, where Sokka and Suki are making out while waiting for them. It's clear that at this point, only the last scene of The Southern Raiders, a brief yet effective one, remains.
Sokka is quite relieved that Katara didn't kill Yon Rha. Katara then flies over to a hill with a bedraggled house a few minutes away, trying to prepare herself for meeting with Aang, who would likely be upset at her for even going.
Aang doesn't react that way, but he infuriates Katara by even suggesting that she forgave Yon Rha. Katara believes forgiveness is not necessary to the healing process, and asks whether it's enough for Aang that she didn't kill him. I would say the answer is yes. Perhaps to Aang, Katara forgiving Yon Rha wouldn't be essentially saying "You didn't do anything wrong when you killed my mother," but not letting her hatred consume her to the point at which she does something she regrets.
Katara decides to officially forgive Zuko, in case he didn't realize it from the crying and the hug earlier; she realizes he's not the most perceptive when it comes to interpersonal relationships. She acknowledges that she's been "hot and cold" with Zuko, but now she wants to be friends with him, and gives him a hug that communicates that intention.
At dinner, Katara tells the others what's happened lately, and they tell her and Zuko about finding an old house. Zuko suggests that everyone in the house was, in some way, a casualty of the war, especially with conscription, and Katara realizes she hasn't thought much about what the Fire Nation has suffered.
Aang gets on Katara's nerves by casually throwing around the word "forgiveness," and Zuko promises to have a talk with him. Zuko nicely points out that he had to "work bloody hard" for Katara's forgiveness, so he'd be upset if she just gave it to Yon Rha, which was a nice point. A playful argument then ensues.
Katara makes two decisions regarding Zuko; she's going to stop stalking him, and stop calling him "Subject." (Naturally, I didn't for the duration of this liveblog, since it's somewhat awkward to keep calling him that) She decides to ask Zuko's forgiveness for stalking him, buying him fire flakes as a peace offering.
Katara then decides to start a new diary, in which she chronicles the historical events happening, for the sake of posterity and her own methods. And while she won't be obsessed over Zuko, she does consider him a friend, even if he's an idiot sometimes.
The author points out that Katara didn't need to forgive Yon Rha to begin healing, but she *did* need to let go of her anger and forgive herself (and accept that she couldn't have done anything back then).
The author reiterates that Aang's telling Katara about forgiveness is what the "mistake guy" from {{Scrubs]} would call a "miiiissstaaaake!", and he was trying to subtly drive home his point over dinner.
Katara reflects on her relationship with Zuko, and realizes that she's the fun one this time, which is saying something. Now, since she's been "erratic" with Zuko, the forgiveness is partly intended to let him know where he stands with her. It's a good thing, especially since with Tsundere characters, it can be difficult to tell when a Tsundere's showing her "tsun" side, and when she simply doesn't like someone.
The author mentions feeling intrigued by the abandoned house on the isle at the end of The Southern Raiders, and decided to go into more detail about how it happened, which was a nice touch. The author mentions that the Fire Nation has Conscription (which she points out is used when there's a lack of willing volunteers, although I would argue that it's often partly out of a desire to ensure that everyone participates in the war effort), and suspects that is proof that not all of the Fire Nation is gung-ho about the war. And with the Fire Nation's willingness to sacrifice entire divisions, recruits don't last long. The author compares them to "famine cottages" from her time in Ireland, which stood long after their inhabitants had perished.
The author reiterates that Katara and Zuko are friends (even if Katara will still follow him around), and that, as "Kimberly T" pointed out, she owes Zuko an apology, which she will deliver through a gift of fire flakes. Of course, the author points out that all this will have to wait until the first chapter of the next installment.
What I liked
- Zuko's point about his having to earn forgiveness, and being glad that Yon Rha didn't just get it.
- Katara and Zuko becoming friends.
What I didn't like
- Katara's emotional reaction to Aang seemed disproportionate, both in comparison to her canon reaction and in general.
So ends the first installment of the Stalking Zuko Series. Now, all that's left in the series is The Ember Island Players, and the four part Grand Finale. The intervening days will likely be fleshed out considerably, although I suspect much of that fic will take place in the aftermath of the battle.
Now here's my observations about the fic so far.
What I liked
- Good attention to detail.
- Coloring various things through Katara's perspective.
- Katara and Zuko's development in the Southern Raiders arc; I always believed that Katara should forgive Zuko, even if they shouldn't necessarily end up together.
- Deep and often subtle exploration of the characters.
What I didn't like
- Early on, Katara's grievances against Zuko seemed too petty, and she didn't reference Ba Sing Se enough.
- Aang being portrayed as naive, overly idealistic and lazy. At times, I can't help but wonder if this is to make him look bad compared to Zuko.
- The fic being somewhat more dark and cynical than ATLAR. It does truly come off as a different author is writing it, and with a different tone.
On a side note, if you get the reference in the title, please leave a comment. I will announce the name of the first person to get it in a future entry.
I will have to confess that I've been disappointed in the lack of comments so far. I had 71 on my Team 8 liveblog, although I suppose that's a significantly more popular fanfic. It might be nice to see comments, both as proof that people are reading this liveblog, and to get them to talk about it with me.
That's all for now. Not Stalking Zuko will be coming up next.
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