The Gaang is too tired from their trip to completely unpack, and Katara says she'll do something basic for dinner and hope they like it. Of course, there's also the matter of the argument on Appa, Katara's waterbending trick, and the rooms everyone ended up with, so things aren't exactly peaceful.
Everyone has their various complaints about their rooms. Toph wants one on the ground floor, so she can "see" better. Sokka, the non-bender, thinks Aang and Katara cheated with their bending, although Suki also got a good room. Sokka dislikes his room's view of the jungle, and the fact that Zuko says that it was Azula's room doesn't make him any happier. Zuko suggests that Sokka could find a room elsewhere, but should stay near them, and Katara notes that he'll be in Suki's room anyway. The straw that breaks the camel's back is Aang bringing up forgiveness again.
Katara, feeling a surge of "powerful anger," accidentally waterbends, causing a pot to explode, sending glass "chards" everywhere.
Sorry, but I couldn't resist this reference
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Katara mentions she's been keeping her anger to herself because she understands that Aang's the Avatar, and he has a lot to deal with, but she's too tired and too tense to keep it in. After accidentally hitting Aang with some shards, he forgives her again, stoking her ire.
An awkward moment ensues. Toph wants to go to bed even though her bed hasn't been moved downstairs. Suki takes charge of the cleanup. Sokka asks what was going on, but doesn't get much of an answer out of Katara.
Katara sits on the dock and thinks about everything that's on her mind at the moment- annoyance, embarrassment and guilt- concluding that she has a lot pent up. To let off steam, Katara yells, mopes or waterbends, but can't do the latter much combatively now that Aang is training with Toph and Zuko, less so now that they're not on good terms. Katara wants to be friends again, but first, that Aang would Agree to Disagree with her and stop forcing the forgiveness thing...
...which is what he did in canon. After hearing Katara say that she didn't forgive Yon Rha, he didn't press the issue, evidently satisfied that Katara would not be going down a dark path of revenge. Here, it seems to go past comical to absurd, making Aang seem like a caricature of himself. It's quite unfortunate that Aang is being treated this way, especially considering the nuanced and expanded characterizations of many others.
Almost on cue, Zuko finds Katara. By now you may have noticed that for all of Zuko and Katara's initial awkwardness for much of the first part, whenever Aang seriously upsets Katara in this fic, Zuko tends to be there to offer more meaningful comfort to Katara, but the opposite has not proven true. It seems as though, with Sozin's Comet quickly approaching, the author is quickly trying to torpedo Kataang and raise Zutara.
Zuko asks Katara what's wrong, and she goes off on a rant, concluding with how she can't shout at him any longer. He invites her to do so if it will make her feel better, but she declines, even after Zuko claims to have had three times the daily intake of fireflakes, as Katara has developed "a resigned tolerance for his fireflakes addiction."
Zuko then proposes that they spar, believing that Katara has not had a chance to do so in a long time. Zuko says that for him, firebending is a great stress release, and if Katara spars with him, it will be like fighting him.
Katara believes that in theory, the idea is good, but since Zuko and Katara are both highly competitive and stubborn, the match goes on for a long time. Katara is annoyed that Zuko won't surrender, but neither will she. Katara then gets the idea of tackling Zuko to the sand and tickling him, defeating him and causing him to do a "snotty laugh."
Zuko claims she cheated, but Katara replies that Zuko never said she couldn't. Katara feels better after this, and is glad to have found one of Zuko's weaknesses, the original purpose of her diary.
The author says that it's been a stressful afternoon for the Gaang, and that it's realistic for groups of True Companions to go through rough spots.
The author says that she's not trying to hate on Aang, but says that he wants his friends to understand his culture, given that they're living a "nomadic" life, even if he "lacks perspective." This is a valid assertion, but it's better shown in the first part of The Rift, as well as his anger over some of the Air Acolytes' cruder impersonations of his culture in The Promise.
Aang is worried about Katara, and wants her to understand Air Nomad ways if they are to have a future together, which is why he mentions "forgiveness" so much. But even if the author admits that Aang is "not subtle," are we honestly supposed to accept that this was the best method Aang could come up with?
Overall, it seems like while the author isn't trying to hate on Aang, he gets the short end of the stick in some ways. It's a bit like someone trying not to hit a villain's Human Shield and hitting the hostage anyway; they may not have intended it, but that's how it happened. One fellow reviewer aptly described his reviews for the Girls und Panzer fandom as letting the authors know where their shells fall. As such, I think that the author seems to be aiming for "well-intentioned but not as helpful because he could be because of his personality" for Aang, and tends to fall into "naive and ineffectual" instead. Perhaps this would be remedied if Aang had a turn to be the one to effectively help Katara.
Katara has a maternal bond (this again?) with Aang, and as such, is reluctant to openly confront him or belittle his beliefs, no matter how much his harping on forgiveness bothers her. But when she explodes the jug, Aang has to take notice.
Katara's accidental bending is embarrassing for her, because although she did it while she was living at the South Pole, she's a master waterbender now, and should be better than that.
The author reiterates that Zuko and Katara are evenly matched, but Katara is not above cheating, and mentions that, she mentioned the tickling part before.
What I liked
- The duel with Katara and Zuko, as well as its conclusion.
What I didn't like
- Aang's obsession with forgiveness being taken to absurd extremes, and it seemingly being the only way he can think of to try to get through to Katara.
- The fact that Aang seems to have very few moments in which he's insightful or helpful.
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