Katara mentioned that the following days "all sort of blend together" into healing and hanging out with Zuko. In situations like this, a Time Skip works quite well, possibly after showing readers enough of what they need to see. Katara likes Lenka's cooking, but gives her some advice so she can improve, enabling the two to become closer, even if Lenka's sometimes annoyed by the criticism. The two get friendly enough for Lenka to talk about her banished boyfriend, who "had the cutest butt this side of Mount Warning."
Katara finally gets around to telling us the names of the other two maids- Mina and Yomia- who become more comfortable around her as she befriends Lenka (greeting her with a smile and a bow, instead of nervously bowing and running away), but whom she doesn't see as often. She's grateful to them for cleaning the house, putting fresh flowers in her room, doing full days, and most of all, taking care of the animals- Appa and Boris. Katara heals a went on Boris's leg that was caused by a pentapus, after Mina points it out.
Mina and Yomia both adore Appa, since sky bison are a novelty, taking breaks to pat him, sneaking him treats and arguing over which one he likes better. Katara even teaches them how to fly Appa by saying "Yip, Yip," and watches them fly him around.
Katara often talks with Iroh, who joins them for dinner, stays with Zuko through the night, and sometimes comes for breakfast, while letting them know how he's doing. He mentioned that while he rescinded all the banishments, not everyone's so eager to return, as some are cautiously staying away to see what happens before they return.
Iroh got a ceasefire with Earth Kingdom strongholds, and halted all Fire Nation military activity, but stopping the fighting won't be so easy, since there's no one group in charge of the Earth Kingdom. The fall of Ba Sing Se resulted it in it being split into principalities, who don't always agree about the peace. Iroh also got in touch with Pakku, having him get word to the Northern Water Tribe, and plans on speaking with Hakoda about the South. As such, he's achieved an uneasy ceasefire.
Iroh's job also involves the domestic side, dealing with troublesome nobles (i.e. almost all of them, as Katara points out) and shutting down factories (which leads to Katara mentioning the one from "The Painted Lady.") Of course, in spite of all that, he still has time for Zuko.
Katara also talks with Dr. Yang, who's impressed with Zuko's rate of recovery, and Katara's role in the process. Dr. Yang praises Katara three times, in spite of Iroh suggesting she used all her praise up in her early twenties. They discuss healing techniques and Fire Nation medicine, incorporating some of the science vs. mysticism debate mentioned in the author's notes.
As might be expected, though, Katara remembers talking to Zuko the most. He's recovering slowly and staying awake longer, although she needs to squabble with him about his drinking the "vile concoction." Unfortunately, she doesn't need to do that for the painkiller, and notes with some concern that he, someone who hides his pain, would so easily ask for the painkiller (although one might imagine that it would be easier to hide his pain with its effects, and that there's a subtle distinction between asking for painkiller and admitting that he's in pain).
Speaking of uncharacteristic behavior for Zuko, Katara notes that in addition to being honest about pain, he doesn't mind her fussing over it, save for occasionally weakly asking her to stop, albeit doing so more strongly as he recovered.
As he recovers, he also takes to complaining about wanting to get out of his room and do something, even if he doesn't know what. That's reasonable, as being cooped up in bed can be quite difficult for very active people.
Zuko has nightmares that he doesn't want to talk about, so Katara doesn't pry, instead choosing to Change the Uncomfortable Subject.
Zuko's appetite returns, including for fireflakes, meaning that Katara can use them as incentive for the vile concoction.
Katara sits near him to stave off her boredom, and they talk for a long time about "anything and everything" (which, apparently, does not include Katara's forgotten Love Confession). Sometimes Katara reads while Zuko sleeps, and sometimes they give each other foot rubs, until Zuko laughs so much it hurts. Katara generally enjoys the period.
The fic rewinds a few days, to just after Katara's "small cry." As she watches him with concern "for all the obvious reasons," he responds in kind, fearing that she might cry again.
The topic ultimately shifts to Azula, and it's about as bad as could be expected, if not worse. As mentioned before, she's erratic, talking to her mother, nasty to the guards and refusing to eat. She also supposedly is pretending that she can't firebend, but Zuko suggests that she's experiencing what he went through before meeting the dragons; Katara considers the possibility but is unsure.
Zuko wants to check up on Azula. Unsurprisingly, Katara says no, but surprisingly enough, Azula's condition doesn't come up nearly as much as Zuko's condition, as Zuko needs a week of bed rest (Azula most likely needs far longer before she's ready). Zuko argues with Katara until he's too tired to continue and falls asleep. They make up after he awakens.
On Day 2, Katara jokes with Zuko about him getting his desire for a week-long nap, but he isn't amused; he doesn't like being tired all the time. Katara notes that he has her to keep him company and stave off boredom, prompting Zuko to note that he never gets bored around her, a touching moment that, true to form, ends with Zuko babbling.
On Day 3, the conversation turns to Ursa, owner of the compendium, and previously an aspiring doctor (actually, an actress in The Search, but I'm not sure the author knew this). This leads Zuko to wonder what Ursa was saying to Azula, forcing Katara to remind him that it was a hallucination. Zuko's a bit disappointed and jealous that Azula gets to see their mother again, reminding Katara of the hallucination she had of her own mother in the swamp, and how the initial joy was not worth the grief.
On Day 4, Zuko and Katara have yet another argument about drinking the concoction, and Zuko dares Azula to try it (generally, medicine for a disease shouldn't be taken by healthy people). Katara refuses, knowing what goes into it, and Zuko says that if she can't drink it, neither should she. Katara points out that Zuko's the one who needs it because he got hit by lighting, and when he sardonically points out that he preferred the lighting, she tells him not to joke about that and intimidates him into taking the concoction. She then cheerfully notes "I Win!".
On Day 5, Katara talks about herbal medicine, and how she's amazed that easy, common cures exist for difficult ailments, and asks if Dr. Yang has other books. Zuko says yes, since it took years of study for her to become a doctor, and more years for her to advance to the point at which she became royal physician.
Katara, however, dislikes her bending being dismissed as "her powers," because Dr. Yang doesn't see them as scientific, and dislikes how Dr. Yang views healers as being less than a physician (possibly because in months, Katara achieved something comparable to Dr. Yang's years of works). In this case, Katara's perhaps missing the subtler cues of what Dr. Yang is saying.
Zuko, who owes his life to both forms of medicine, simply says they're different, and Katara agrees. Katara does, however, want to learn what Dr. Yang used to wake up Zuko in a few days. Katara also appreciates Dr. Yang's rare praise and admires her strictness, sense of purpose and care for her patients, even Azula. Katara's confident that there's little she can't treat if she combines what she knows with what Dr. Yang knows, earning her some teasing from Zuko about her becoming a superhero-like healer who can inspire fear among diseases. In response, Katara nudges him with the compendium, as a substitute for the commonsense stick.
Later that day, Zuko's relieved that Iroh's taking over as Fire Lord, saying that he wouldn't be ready. He's particularly glad that he didn't have to argue with Iroh to get out of the role, as he'd have lost. In general, he's acting as though the final decision has been made. It's understandable that Zuko wouldn't be able to serve in his condition, and someone with experience would need to handle it during the interim period, but he's ultimately the best long-term choice.
Katara's happy for him, but [[Sincerity Mode honestly thinks he'd have made a good Fire Lord, which he initially thinks is teasing.
On Day 6, Katara tells Zuko about his heart stopping and the bloodbending, which he takes relatively well, knowing what the significance is of Katara using bloodbending. But even as they hold each other, Katara doesn't take the opportunity to redo the Love Confession, not wanting to be the one to say it first, unable to find the words, and scared about her love being unrequited.
On Day 7, Zuko's feeling slightly better and very stir crazy, so Katara takes him for a walk around the gardens and turtle duck pond. Zuko enjoys being out in the sun, which Katara notes is common among firebenders.
They lie on the grass together, and Katara feeds the ducks with old bread, noting how "soothing" it is, and how you only need to feed them to get them to love you. It's a touching image, nicely brought to life by the author's good writing, although I can't help but think of this image
from How I Became Yours whenever I hear about duck turtles.
Zuko has a something he wants to ask Katara, who represses her desire to be a smartass(Incidentally, the author's use of British slang feels a bit out of place in the East Asia-inspired Avatar-verse, but it could be just me), because she realizes that his question is sincere and important, and so stops feeding the turtle ducks to give it her full attention. Zuko, however, doesn't quite follow through on it, insisting that it's nothing, and after Katara tries and fails to prod an answer out of him, suggests that he get back to feeding, as the ducks are scattered around her, waiting for more. I honestly have to wonder how Katara would have acted if the shoe had been on the other foot.
This is one downside to Belligerent Sexual Tension, and as the Reality Ensues page for Western Animation points out (It's often used by fans to point out how a fanfic does thing better than canon, but I'll get into that more later), the failure of Mako and Korra's relationship could be seen as proof of how Zuko and Katara's relationship might have turned down. In this fic, the belligerence is significantly lower than it was in Stalking Zuko, but they're going to have to communicate a little better. I'd even go so far as to say that Katara and Aang have better communication; even in the rejected kiss scene on the balcony, Aang was clear about what he wanted, and Katara said why she couldn't give it to him at the moment.
Ultimately, if Zuko and Katara are going to become a couple, they're going to have to talk about their feelings, which also requires a greater level of comfort with those conversations (which tend to be awkward for them, which means they have a long way to go).
Katara and Zuko play Pai Sho in the afternoon, despite both being terrible at it. Zuko blames his impaired performance on "lightning brain", as he does with his other dopey moments. Katara, despite finding his jokes funny, lets it go since he's deeply embarrassed by those moments.
Of course, Katara notices that while she had to repeat things in the past, he's getting better on that regard recently, except for the "convenient" moments (like claiming that he had the vile concoction when the answer is in all likelihood no). Katara then tells him that she knows he's naturally bad at Pai sho, but inwardly is glad that someone else is making the same mistakes as her. Katara and Zuko then play a modified version of Pai sho, flicking tiles at each other, until the messenger hawk arrives, flying in through the window, screeching at them, and then returning to the window sill, leading Katara to wonder why it couldn't have landed there first, as she hands it biscuits.
Katara sees that the bird has a letter from Suki, and judging from its length, infers Sokka has found a town. Because of its length, and because it opens up an entirely new can of worms, I'll cover it in the next installment.
What I liked
- Nicely realistic look at securing a ceasefire.
- Interesting look at the process of Zuko's recovery.
- Katara's frustration with Dr. Yang's dismissal of her "powers" nicely demonstrates the limitations of Katara' first person perspective.
What I didn't like
- Zuko and Katara's awkwardness around each other continues.
