Not Stalking Zuko
Katara begins the second installment of the series
by describing the purpose of the journal, insisting, with the same vehemence that she used to deny any possible attraction to Zuko, that it's far more sensible than the stalker diary she had been doing until recently.
Katara goes to the market with Sokka, wanting to spend time with him. He asks her about the Southern Raiders, and she tells him what happened. He approves of her decision, saying that he also doesn't forgive Yon Rha, but didn't weigh in on the discussion about forgiveness, because he believes Aang was worried about her and he doesn't want to take sides. It's nice to see Sokka having a nuanced attitude, but it would have been nice to see Aang's attitude toward forgiveness portrayed in such a light.
Sokka's glad that Katara isn't stalking Zuko any longer (as the only one besides Zuko who is aware), but wonders if Katara's fireflakes peace offering is going overboard, and wonders if anything else happened on the trip. Katara realizes that Zuko reached the same conclusion that her father did when he saw her giving Zuko a moon peach, and notices that the men of her family associate food with love.
Katara admits that in spite of their spending a lot of time together and sharing some emotional moments, nothing happened that Sokka doesn't know about, and wonders if his mind is in the gutter because of his relationship with Suki.
Katara, however, has more reasonable proof that something's going on between Sokka and Suki, having seen Suki sneaking out of the girls' room, and Zuko Exiled to the Couch.
Just a reminder, this installment is the one in the series that's rated T, up from Stalking Zuko's K+. I'm starting to understand why.
An argument ensues, with Sokka making some childish arguments, prompting Katara to call him names and hit him with the bag of fireflakes until he apologizes. It turns out that Sokka based his entire argument on Katara and Zuko being gone for three days. Katara then retorts that he and Zuko must have had prison sex during their five-day trip to the Boiling Rock, which shuts him up.
Sokka and Katara put aside their argument, and continue shopping for Suki, who's still wearing her prison clothes, and Katara notices that any clothes they buy will have to fit Suki, especially with her chest size (I wonder if the Avatar universe has clothing sizes). Katara wins an argument, and is confident that the outfit she chose is more tasteful than the one Sokka chose. Since Suki likes Katara's outfit, Katara seems to be correct.
Aang is training with Zuko and Toph, who want him to use Earthbending and Firebending (defensive and offensive in nature, respectively) together, and not rely so much on Airbending. After a lunch break, Zuko apparently literally carries Aang back to training, wanting him ready for Ozai by the time Sozin's Comet comes. Katara agrees, knowing that if Ozai would scar his own child, then it follows that he won't show Aang any mercy. Of course, Katara hopes Zuko will loosen up, going from exaggeratedly uptight to more reasonably so.
Katara gives Zuko the fireflakes, and for a moment, it seems promising, but she realizes that he's cutting back. Zuko then asks why Katara gave him this gift, putting her in a difficult position. Katara realizes she wants to apologize, but isn't sure what she should apologize for. The apology first comes out too quietly, then too angrily, for Katara's liking, but Zuko says she didn't need to get him the fireflakes, but proposes that Katara try fireflakes. Zuko and Katara then agree to be friends.
Katara, despite dreading eating fireflakes, actually finds they're not so bad if used sparingly. Aang, evidently having been tainted by Katara's description of them, is surprised, but Zuko is pleased. Since Katara's opinion on fireflakes seems to parallel her perception of Zuko, it's a somewhat natural step that she would come to like them as she warms up to Zuko.
The author goes into another author's note, introducing the new series. The scene breaks, formerly having an exclamation mark between two hyphens, have a question mark instead, to show Katara's less angry and more questioning of Zuko. I tend to like the Insert Horizontal Line tool more, since it looks better, even if they have a tendency to disappear. The author points out that while Zuko is still the primary focus of Katara's journal, it will also deal with other characters and the group dynamic, which would be a good way to expand on things without deviating from the fic's purpose.
The author mentions liking Katara and Sokka's sibling bond, noting that Sokka teases Katara because of how awkward she's being with regards to Zuko, and describing him as a Shipper on Deck, using the exact phrase, and saying it's because he wants to share the "happy new couple" phase with Suki.
The author explains what sexile means for us; I wonder if the Avatar universe came up with a term for that.
The author reveals that Zuko was planning on quitting fireflakes for Katara, until Katara surprised him with the gift. It's an interesting case of Word of God revealing things that aren't entirely clear in a first person perspective with an Unreliable Narrator.
The author says that she wanted to explain where Suki's new outfit came from. Since the series fills in many of the gaps from canon, this is reasonable.
We're now up to the largest part of this series, over 400,000 words long. Reading something this long is quite an undertaking, and writing it is even more so. My Girls und Panzer and Saki crossover, Necessary to Win, is nearing completion, and while it's only about 240,000 words long, it took me months to write.
You can probably realize that there's only one episode left before the Grand Finale- The Ember Island Players, which is essentially a recap episode, but much better done than most, having some of the funniest parts of the entire series, and becoming Hilarious in Hindsight after the terrible film adaptation by M. Night Shyalaman. Naturally, that means that the fic will cover a lot of new ground, before and after the end of the series.
What I liked
- Katara opening up to fire flakes around the same time she opens up to Zuko
- An interesting look at Sokka's perspective on Zuko
- Revealing where Suki's outfit came from.
What I didn't like
- The author didn't go into much detail about Aang's attitude toward forgiveness despite expanding on the others.
- Somewhat minor, but the scene breaks look strange, even with the author's explanation.
