Katara is in full Oh, Crap mode as she and the rest of the Gaang search everywhere for Aang. The Gaang rules out captur(since there's no sign of a struggle), as well as running away (since Appa and his glider are there- this is important late) or a spirit world journey (since if it was, his body would be there). The natural next step is to search Ember Island for him.
The Gaang splits up to look for Aang. If you've been reading this fic, you'll know who Katara wants to go with(Zuko, for the sake of continuing the conversation they had in the attic). If you watched the show, you'll know who Zuko goes with (Toph, the only person he hasn't had a field trip with). That comment is somewhat canon proof that Toph goes Out of Focus in the post-Day of the Black Sun, and for all of my complaints with some of the characterization in this fic *cough*AANG*cough*, it does a reasonably good job at balancing the characters.
Zuko's not entirely comfortable with Toph's affectionate gestures, particularly when he's used to being affectionately punched in the arm. Sokka volunteers to search from the air on Appa, while Katara and Suki search in town. Neither Zuko nor Katara are entirely happy with the arrangement, but Katara is determined to put aside her jealousy given the gravity of the situation.
Suki and Katara, once again in Fire Nation attire, go into town, and hear Aang's name, finding the actress from Ember Island Players, which is canon. A hour later, they hear about "Firelord Azula". Katara's naturally shocked, and hears the story of the Fire Lord and Phoenix King from a local, before taking a poster home.
A word about the chronology here. In terms of the episode's scenes, as far as I know the scene with Katara and Suki searching happened before the scene in which Ozai "promotes" Azula to Fire Lord. That aside, news doesn't travel this quickly in the Avatar-verse, in which messenger hawks are the fastest form of communication. It took Toph half a show season to hear back from her mother.
Katara and Suki are the first to get back, and Katara changes back into water tribe clothes. She hopes that Aang will be back, and prepares to forgive him, but is disappointed when the other Toph and Zuko return with no Avatar.
Katara also has another thing she's worried about; telling Zuko about the poster. In the end, though, she decides he has to see it, so, with a warning, she shows it to him and reads it to Toph. Toph makes sarcastic remarks about the Fire Nation's celebration, saying that Aang will make things turn pear shaped for Ozai. Zuko doesn't think much of his father's new title. Katara interprets this humor as a way to cheer each other up, but I will notice that Zuko's taking this better than some might expect.
Sokka returns, with no Aang, and the discussion gets tense. Toph points out that Momo is missing too (honestly, at this point, the fact that Aang isn't the only one who disappeared might shed light on the nature of what happened), and Sokka tries to save Momo from Appa's mouth. Katara acknowledges that humor and "playing the fool" are Sokka's ways of coping with events like this, but has no patience for this, and (correctly) theorizes that Momo's probably with Aang.
Zuko's concerned about Aang disappearing two days from Sozin's Comet, and Katara concurs, having never expected this. The canon part about Zuko being the expert on tracking Aang takes place. Zuko replies that he never expected Aang to disappear like this, which is plausible, but not canon dialogue. Sokka then says that "Zuko's girlfriend" would know, which DEFINITELY isn't canon dialogue. Zuko is confused, and Katara is furious, and somewhat glad that she's feeling something other than her worry, as Toph had advised Aang once.
Katara angrily insists that Zuko is not her boyfriend, thinking that perhaps Sokka would have something to tease her about if something had happened, but nothing did... thanks to Sokka. Zuko also insists that he's not Katara's girlfriend, prompting Sokka to tease his "brother-in-law". As Sokka insists that brothers-in-law shouldn't fight, resulting in Zuko chasing Sokka around Appa. A struggle ensues, and it only ends when Toph whacks the two of them with the commonsense stick and brokers a deal; Sokka stops calling Zuko his brother-in-law or Katara's boyfriend, and Zuko releases him.
The She Is Not My Girlfriend trope can be annoying when used excessively, or as a sign that everyone knows the characters are in love except for the characters themselves, almost as if the creators are setting them up as a couple before they actually become a couple. It can be done better when it's also done for some characters who not only are not a couple, but never will be.
Katara briefly ponders other people's coping methods- Sokka jokes, Zuko fights and Katara mothers people. As such, Katara is grateful for their fight giving her this opportunity, despite- or rather, because- of the fact that she can scold them for getting dirty. At this point, Zuko shares his idea that takes them to the Earth Kingdom, in search of Jun.
Instead of the brief expository scene on Appa's back, the Gaang gets back to the relationship drama, with Sokka subtly insinuating about Zuko being Katara's boyfriend, and Toph doing so more overtly, pointing out that she never agreed not to do so. Zuko growls, which Katara finds sexy. Suki tries to play peacemaker, but she's as much of a Shipper on Deck as the others, and Zuko makes empty threats to turn Appa around.
Zuko's threats may be empty because they all know they have to find Aang but they bring the subject back to him. This causes Katara to wonder what happened, and what she could have done.
As the sun sets, Sokka laments that with the airship fleet on the move, their plan is no longer viable, resulting in their having wasted the time they spent on it and their losing their best shot. My criticisms of the assumptions involved in it aside, this seems to be yet another thing that the fic brings up that never goes anywhere because of canon.
But regardless of the fact that it's a last-minute plan, the Gaang does angst over it, and Katara tries to reassure Sokka that they'll think of something else once they find Aang, but her words sound hollow even to herself. Toph then gets back into the arguing to get their minds off the problem.
Toph resumes calling Zuko "Katara's boyfriend," while asking him for some fireflakes, while Zuko starts answering to it. Toph isn't convinced that Zuko is out of fireflakes, but Zuko refuses to give them to Toph, whom he believes is being annoying. Toph makes an unusually blunt and vulgar speculation about what Katara and Zuko were doing, prompting Zuko to make a vague threat to do something bad to the others. Some teasing about how Zuko loves Katara later, Zuko throws a packet of fireflakes at Toph to get her to stop, but doesn't deny it, to Katara's pleasure.
Many squabbles later, the Gaang lands at a seedy looking pub. Zuko points out Jun and Katara, after some description of her, and while being distracted by her great skin recognizes her as the bounty hunter who attacked them back in Book 1. Essentially, they need her mount's help to track Aang's scent.
Toph already likes Jun, while Sokka's hesitant to trust her because of their history. Jun is relatively friendly toward Zuko, even if she doesn't know where his "creepy grandpa" is, and then joins the long list of people teasing Zuko about Katara being his girlfriend, forcing Katara to angrily put the issue to rest once again (this time, it's actually canon).
Zuko has to talk Jun into tracking Aang down again, and she agrees to hear him out over drinks. After Zuko refuses Toph a glass of Jun's favorite whiskey, Jun has Toph sit down next to her, and the others gather around to hear the tawdry details of Zuko and Katara's relationship, in spite of Katara's protests.
The author goes into a less rambly author's note this time. She notes that with all of Ozai's overconfidence, he assumes he won't lose, and thus puts up his propaganda everywhere (which is reasonable, but doesn't explain the logistics of it). The author also speculates that he breaks the news to Azula in public, despite having planned it out ahead of time, so that she won't make a scene (although "You can't treat me like Zuko!" arguably counts). The author also says it's her personal explanation as to why the Gaang know so much about Ozai's title.
The author, similar to her comments about the Ember Island Players, says Zuko and Katara are irate because of being teased about this and being interrupted in an intimate moment. She adds that Sokka, Toph and even Suki would tease them about this, and since they fancy each other but are "self conscious" about it, they would not enjoy it.
The author speculates that Zuko and Jun started their "usual" after being stranded together with Iroh after "the perfume incident" with Nyla. The author's considering making them their own fic, or a one shot, but will include anecdotes in the next chapter.
I'd also like to make an announcement. Because the chapters will be getting longer, I'm going to eventually start splitting some of the chapters into multiple parts. I had originally planned to do one installment per chapter, mostly because it seemed like the best way to organize things and, as a bonus, because it would give me 100 installments (a prologue, 20 Stalking Zuko chapters, 50 Not Stalking Zuko chapters, 28 Not Stalking Firelord Zuko chapters, and a conclusion). Doing so may also help if it's taking me a long time to get through a chapter, especially since longer chapters can be broken down into manageable chunks.
What I liked
- Finally, Katara stops thinking about Aang not killing Ozai, even while searching for him.
What I didn't like
- Zuko and Katara's She Is Not My Girlfriend moments.
- Odd continuity issues, such as the timing of Ozai being crowned Phoenix King, and the Gaang heaing about it.
- The author once again trying to justify canon events as she sees them.
