Katara and Zuko fly eastward, knowing that they can't make it in time if they go the conventional route over the Earth Kingdom, so they opt to take a shortcut over the Eastern Sea. As with most shortcuts, there's a reason why people don't take it- it's infested with sea monsters twice the size of the Unagi, strong enough to deter the Water Tribe and even sink the Fire Nation navy. Zuko says that Fire Nation maps say of the Eastern Sea, "abandon hope all ye who enter, here there be monsters."
Of course, the Eastern Sea takes a quarter of the time, so Katara's glad to have the shortcut. Zuko notes that when he was younger, he wanted to properly explore that sea, because everyone thought it was impossible, which Katara considers a very Zuko-like thing to do.
Zuko and Katara have lunch on Appa, including fireflakes, which Katara packed for Zuko. Katara asks about Zuko becoming Fire Lord, and Zuko admits that he still doesn't want to, but didn't want to argue, believing that arguments should wait until after the Fire Lord is dethroned. That's arguably true, but they should have a plan for an interim leader, at the very least, if part of the plan for ending the war involves replacing the current Fire Lord with one who will support peace.
Zuko notes that he no longer wants to be Fire Lord as much as he did when he was younger, and believes that, since the job involves hanging out with slimy politicians and being good with words, he's not good at that. Katara tries to insist otherwise, but when challenged to rate his people skills on a scale of one to ten, Katara can only concede and point out that there's surely more to being Fire Lord than that.
Zuko then begins a Long List of the duties a Fire Lord has, notably overhauling the economy and education system from war to peace, dealing with the repercussions of being on the losing side of a war as the aggressor, re-establishing the economy, and dealing with poverty, cronyism and other problems, causing Katara to concede that becoming Fire Lord would "suck monkey balls."
Zuko's attitude toward being Fire Lord is an appropriately mature and realistic acknowledgment of what he's up against, but he's complaining about it too much. It's a great responsibility, but someone has to take it, and he's in many ways the ideal choice. Rather than complain about it or hope that his uncle relieves him of his burden, Zuko should see it as for the good of the Fire Nation and take it on his shoulders.
Incidentally, I notice a bit of a Double Standard here. When Aang balks at his responsibilities as being The Chosen One, he's treated as being lazy, selfish and foolishly idealistic, but here, Zuko's treated as a more understandable perspective, and Katara's quick to offer sympathy.
Where do I stand on this? In the end, Aang came to accept his role as the Avatar, and that he's the best person to help out with various problems, so he saved the world. As such, it wouldn't be asking too much for Zuko to accept his role as the best Fire Lord and rule his nation well.
Zuko hopes Iroh was kidding, since Zuko's only 16 and not ready for that responsibility. He says that if Iroh moves to Ba Sing Se, there's no one he trusts to advise him; Katara's helpful with medicine and Water Tribe business, but not much else, and since the biggest problems are from the Fire Nation itself, his uncle is best for those.
Again, this doesn't seem entirely like Zuko, who's largely headstrong and self-sufficient. In "The Promise," which admittedly falls under Fanon Discontinuity for the author, his biggest problems come from the colonies, particularly the debate over whether they're Earth Kingdom or Fire Nation land (an issue that doesn't just go away, as four seasons later, Kuvira insists that they're the former). While Ozai is hardly the best person to go to for advice, he's hardly the main cause of the problems on the Fire Nation end of the conflict, which are primarily caused by Zuko's refusal to rely on people like Aang, Mai and Iroh for advice (the latter of which is well-intentioned, as he hopes to ensure Iroh enjoys his retirement).
TL;DR? Zuko canonically isn't this worried about having Iroh around... and that's not a good thing.
Zuko thus hopes his uncle will take the throne, since Zuko himself wants to relax for a week, which Katara points out is something he considers a great luxury. Zuko and Katara joke about what it would mean if Zuko considers napping in the middle of the day, and Katara considers "cheeky" suggestions.
On a more serious note, Katara says that Iroh wasn't joking and Zuko would be best as Fire Lord. Zuko agrees, but still thinks his uncle would be better, and would be "pissed off" if he's left on the hot seat alone. Katara realizes that this means he'd feel overwhelmed, and so comforts him, but also brings his focus back to dealing with Azula.
Zuko then goes over Azula's style; she tends to use powerful but taxing moves, and so would lose in a battle of endurance. Zuko proposes covering her with water- as well as him if necessary, so that she can't use firebending but he can. Katara, however, realizes that containing Azula is more difficult than he makes it sound, given her ferocity.
Of course, there's a reason for all this; Zuko doesn't want to hurt Azula if at all possible, much to Katara's relief. She notes that Zuko doesn't "harp on about the sanctity of life " the way Aang does, but finds it understandable that since there's a time when they got along he'd be hesitant to fight her. Zuko doesn't think he has it in him to kill Azula, and he and Katara note that Aang's rubbing off on him, but he notes that unlike Aang, he will kill if there's no other choice. It's a step in the right direction, but the narrative's still treating Aang as foolishly idealistic.
Zuko works on his plan to defeat but not kill Azula. He considers redirecting part of a bolt of lightning, which his uncle says is risky but theoretically doable, worrying Katara. Zuko admits to not having any other ideas, and says that once she fires lightning at him- which, given her style, is something that she'd break out soon- he'd fire back enough to give her a big shock and knock her out (the fact that Zuko doesn't have anything like the number of volts that he'd need casts doubt on this working), enabling them to dump her in a cell.
Katara asks a few questions
- What if Zuko can't split the bolt? Zuko replies "I've got to try."
- What if Azula escapes? Zuko essentially says "She can't", saying that Fire Nation cells contain firebenders, and Azula doesn't like getting her fingernails dirty digging.
- What if Azula doesn't use lightning, especially considering if Ozai warned her? Zuko essentially says "She will," and suggests that he'll taunt her into doing that, by calling her a pig-chicken and saying she's scared if he must.
Katara notes, in regard to the latter answer, that both Zuko and Azula hate having their honor besmirched, and recalls how Sokka goaded Zuko into eating a disgusting sandwich in order to prove his "manly courage." Zuko concedes her point, and Katara ends up mangling Piandao's quote to suggest that Zuko "loves" Sokka.
This is a welcome bit of levity, although repeatedly mentioning that the Gaang jokes around to keep their minds off their problems comes off as belaboring the point
Zuko and Katara see a giant squid sea monster that's even larger than any they've seen before. They decide to keep quiet because no one would believe them, but find it fascinating and something that lightens the mood until they approach the Fire Nation shore. It's hard to keep the mood light when looking at their final destination, or when Zuko gets a taste of the comet's power as it arrives, and Katara sees it as beautiful in a terrible sort of way.
Zuko admits that he's worried about Aang, and plays the "worried what if game"
- What if Aang doesn't get the same mileage out of the comet that Ozai does? Katara says that Aang should, and he has his other bendings.
- What if Aang "doesn't have the guts" to "take out" Ozai? Katara says that Aang will do the right thing (he does).
- What if Aang loses? This time, Katara doesn't have a response.
Katara's inability to answer the latter question is disquieting, but she believes that only one person on Appa can freak out at once. She recalls how her faith in Aang has been shaken. She wants to have faith in him, but she believes he's let her down too many times. She can't say that out loud, though, so she falls back on comforting lies, hoping to fool Zuko and herself.
Zuko, however, asks if Katara really believes this, and Katara is forced to admit no, since she and Zuko have always been honest with each other, and she can't fool him as easily as everyone else. Unfortunately, this bit of honesty kills the mood, and Zuko apologizes for bringing it up, but Katara notes that telling herself that is better than admitting the alternative.
They finally get down to what Aang has going for him- his training in four different kinds of bending, his allies, his intelligence, and possibly, his unlocking his chakra.
Katara concludes that there's nothing they can do for Aang now but hope that he wins; quite appropriate considering that they're essentially sitting back and relying on him to kill Ozai. Katara has trained Aang as much as she could, noting that he would be a master waterbender if he applied himself more (or, if, you know, he wasn't training in two other elements, which were somewhat greater priority).but it's now up to him to make the best possible use of what he's learned, which most likely translates to Aang being blamed for anything that goes wrong.
At this point, it's blatantly obvious that Aang is not being given the same consideration as others in similar situations, and that the narrative is biased against him. At this point, the fic falls somewhere between bashing and deliberate character assassination, and the author's continued insistence otherwise is quite insulting to readers' intelligence- does she really think anyone besides militant Zutarians who see Aang as an obstacle to their ship would be fooled by that after everything we've read thus far?
An author's note follows, thanking us for reading.
The author posits that Suki will take on Katara's role as Team Mom for her group; she'd been equally suited to the position, but with Katara around, there hadn't been any need for her to play that role.
The author says that Piandao is best for the pep talks, and his quote about cowardice and love comes from "Midnight in Paris."
The author points out that there's a lot of hugs in this chapter, including one between Sokka and Zuko in spite of how "unmanly" it might seem.
The author namedrops the Traveling at the Speed of Plot trope, suggesting that Bryke have Sokka strap a jet pack on Appa instead of the shipping scenes (of ships the author doesn't support). While I agree that it's present in canon, the author doesn't do much to address it here.
The author points out that Appa needs to stop often over long distances, which is part of the reason why the Gaang stops so often in the first two seasons, apart from the plot requiring it. The author thus concludes that the world is a globe (reasonable, since it has north and south poles), and that there's a "backdoor" to the Fire Nation. She then admits to making up the monster-infested sea, including the giant Kraken, for this end.
Given how much the author makes up to reconcile the various inconsistencies she sees in canon, she would have been better off calling this an alternate continuity, or even an AU, rather than claiming that this is the fixed form of canon.
The author promises to explore Zuko's feelings on becoming Fire Lord more later, but for now, indicates that he realizes that it's difficult to be a fair ruler, and he just wants a week off. So did Aang when he mentioned the North Wind Festival.
The author touches on Katara's certainty in Aang's victory, and notes that she's trying to convince herself as much as everyone else, and won't say that they're doomed even if that's what she feels. Of course, while Zuko is open to being cheered up, he doesn't put stock in saying that everything will be fine, and so chooses a more practical route of listing everything that Aang has going for him.
The author points out that Katara's faith in Aang won't be what it used to be anymore, and while she still loves him, she won't idolize him as a hero anymore, which is better for their future friendship.
There's two problems with that. The first is that what she has with Aang barely qualifies as friendship. She's constantly treading on eggshells on him, hoping to keep him in a good frame of mind for saving the world (the author soon points out that Aang didn't save the world by himself, but a lot of the Gaang makes a big deal about Aang being unavailable to fight/unwilling to kill Ozai). The second is that all this time, Katara's seen Aang as both the goofy kid he is and the Avatar he was born to be- at his best and his worst, his strongest and his most vulnerable, when he was a master and when he was a novice. She understands him a great deal, and it says a great deal that it's taken her this long to have anything comparable as far as Zuko goes.
The author points out that she doesn't believe that Zuko wanted to kill Azula in their Agni Kai (but to quote Kevin Flynn in TRON: Legacy, "Life has a way of moving you past wants and hopes."), even if he isn't closed to the possibility, like Aang is. He sees her as his sister, and believes there's still love there, as messed up as their relationship is. Again, this is a somewhat overly optimistic view of Zuko and Azula. So Zuko goes for his partial redirection, even if there's a risk of him ending up dead, and it ultimately doesn't work out. It's not quite as bad as the part in which the author makes up the Eastern Sea route, but you can definitely tell that this part was of the author's own creation, subordinate to her interpretations of the plot.
Next up is the Agni Kai between Zuko and Azula.
What I liked
- A nice bit of amusing levity regarding Zuko's obsession with honor.
- The possibility that the fight with Azula will get Aang off Katara's mind, at least for the moment.
What I didn't like
- Zuko angsting about being Fire Lord.
- Author Tract against Iroh's retirement
- Aang being considered overly idealistic.
- Katara continuing to angst about Aang letting her down.
- The author spinning Fanon out of the ether to cover up perceived plot holes.
