Suki arrives, having been looking for Zuko, and reveals that she brought Ty Lee with her. Zuko beckons Ty Lee over, and gets glomped in response, with Katara almost getting Ty Lee's foot in her face. Katara's annoyed, but Ty Lee's unfazed and Zuko's merely amused.
Ty Lee starts to apologize, but Zuko doesn't need to hear it, having some idea of what it's like to be under Azula's thumb, and Ty Lee gives him a hug in thanks. Aang (whom Katara notes is the one person Ty Lee hasn't hugged today) arrives, and, not understanding what's going on, assumes an airbending stance until Suki explains that Ty Lee is a Kyoshi warrior now, and Ty Lee apologizes for attacking the Gaang under Azula's orders. She expresses a desire to be friends with the others, but Aang looks a bit more nervous than some might expect. Katara notices that Aang's eyes happen to be level with Ty Lee's ample bosom(something Katara denies being jealous of), which he's trying not to look at. Ty Lee, oblivious to all this, babbles on until Aang interrupts her and announces that he forgives her. Katara's glad to hear this because Aang didn't end up making himself a hypocrite after his past lectures about forgiveness (instead of, you know, not being surprised by Aang's willingness to forgive old enemies). Ty Lee draws Aang into a hug that pulls his face into her breasts, and he enjoys that more than he wanted to admit, prompting Katara to remark "Boys!".
After a moment, Ty Lee asks Zuko where Mai is, and he returns the question, saying he thought Mai and Ty Lee were together. Ty Lee says that she thought Mai would be with Zuko, and Zuko says he assumed that she and Ty Lee were locked up together. Ty Lee explains that Azula wouldn't lock them up together, sending Mai to Azulon's Tower and Ty Lee to the Iron Cove so that she's conveniently close for Azula to "visit" (which makes one wonder if Azula meant what she said about Suki being her favorite prisoner). Ty Lee is unusually traumatized to remember this, and Zuko reassures her, but Ty Lee insists that Mai had it worse.
Ty Lee elaborates that Azula was mad at Mai's parents for losing New Ozai, aka Omashu, so she had the family transferred to Azulon's tower, resulting in a great deal of mother-daughter drama. Zuko's quite disturbed, finding this mean even for Azula, but Ty Lee points out that Mai could write to her uncle and inform him they hadn't killed each other. With the war over, Mai is free and intends to reunite with Zuko, much to Zuko's horror. After going silent for a moment, resulting in Ty Lee saying his name while drawing out the U sound, Zuko realizes that while he remembered the prisoners from the Day of the Black Sun, he forgot about Mai, whom Ty Lee says won't accept his lightning-induced forgetfulness as an excuse. Zuko, knowing he's in trouble, goes off to talk with Iroh; if that's not a lie, it means that he's more ready to argue about him becoming Fire Lord than he is to face Mai.
As Ty Lee muses that Mai will never let Zuko live this down, Katara reiterates that Zuko had a lot on his mind and was severely injured, but while Ty Lee acknowledges it, she says Mai isn't very understanding. Ty Lee suggests that Katara would feel the same way if she were forgotten about in prison, and I agree. As I said before, it's a difficult sell to convince Sokka to go back for one of his enemies, who may have helped them escape, but only for the sake of her boyfriend.
Ty Lee tries to reassure Katara, saying that Zuko's used to having trouble with Mai, sinc e they have "a big blowout" every few days, and Zuko can handle her. Katara still isn't happy about the "barrage of gloomy anger" coming Zuko's way or even Mai herself heading Zuko's way, as she can't understand what Zuko sees in her. Katara concedes that she hasn't (re)confessed to Zuko, much less gotten to the point where she's going out with him, but declares that she doesn't want to share Zuko with Mai.
Katara wants to talk with Zuko alone, but realizes that since there's so many people around and he's off to save her from her mother, alone time isn't so easy to get apart from "healing sessions." Katara wants to tell Zuko that it's fine to help Mai, but he doesn't want them to rekindle their relationship.
Suki reminds Ty Lee that now that she's apologized to Zuko, they should get back to their chi-blocking lessons, saying that they were up to "cosmic-wosmic (CW) energy" in a flat tone of voice. Katara, with nothing pressing to do, sits in on the lesson, and so does Aang.
Ty Lee tells them to focus on the CW energy around them. Katara asks about the "swirly-wirly-wibbly-wobbly" (SW 3; that must be a pain to type out), but Katara says that SW 3 comes after CW, and tries to explain the difference between them (it would help if she used their proper names- not that I know them), but to no avail. Aang understands, but his explanations are no help.
After a failed attempt to get Aang and Katara to sense each other's auras, she instead suggests that they open their chakras, causing Aang to say that she "believes" in chakras. Ty Lee says she knows they exist, and asks who doesn't, causing Aang to indicate Katara and Suki(oddly enough, this goes without any comment whatsoever from Katara). Ty Lee says she feels sorry for them, and Aang, glad to find someone who shares this belief, asks about Ty Lee's other beliefs, getting a Long List.
Katara notes that the chi-blocking lesson isn't going so well, but is glad that Ty Lee and Aang are having a good time, and Aang's glad to hear that Ty Lee believes in lion turtles. Ty Lee describes how beautiful they are, and Aang's so happy that someone believes him that he shares a hug with her. Ty Lee wants to see one herself, but doesn't think the spirits will give her that blessing (she was born 10,000 years too late), but she dreams about them, which Mai cynically believes is due to eating too much cheese before bed. Aang, however, believes dreams mean something, and still dreams about the turtle he met. He tells her the story of his lion turtle adventure, glad to have a captive audience at last. It's good to see someone who actually likes hearing about the lion turtle, even if it's clearly to facilitate Aang/Ty Lee.
Katara and Suki, having heard the story, conclude that the lesson is over, since the two are caught up in it, and Aang's happy to tell it, as opposed to being defensive or making excuses. Katara's attitude has shifted as well, as she's no longer irritated over merely hearing it.
Zuko rejoins Katara, grateful for the fireflakes but not much happier. He was unable to find Iroh, so he wrote to the warden with the same type of letter Iroh used to free the Kyoshi warriors, changing the names and borrowing the official seal. But even with that ball rolling, it will take "ages" to get Mai free, since it's even further from the capital than the Boiling Rock is, imprisoning the nobility under house arrest(which defeats the point) and others who need to be kept out of sight and out of mind.
Zuko feels bad for Mai, because he considers her a friend, albeit no longer a girlfriend, and he didn't want her to get into trouble on his behalf. Katara takes an inappropriate amount of joy in their bad breakup, and feels a sense of relief that Zuko largely cares out of guilt for not thinking about her in a long time, especially when she has to spend so much time with her parents.
Katara wonders if Mai's parents are as bad as Zuko's (of course, while Ozai is possibly the most evil person in the entire franchise, Ursa's a largely decent individual who makes hard choices in an unenviable situation), but Zuko says that while Mai's father is "a politician and an arse-kisser," and her mother is "vapid", they're nice enough. Zuko thus doesn't understand why Mai dislikes her family so much, and his desire to see his mom again is contrasted with how much Mai's irritates her. If the author intends this as a reason why Zuko and Mai can't understand each other, the difference between their parents is less than the difference between Zuko an Katara's. Perhaps they would bond over their similarly missing mothers, but Katara's is never coming back.
Zuko changes the subject, much to Katara's pleasure, since she has no desire to talk about Mai, and asks about Ty Lee. Katara mentions how Ty Lee got "distracted" and progressed from the chi blocking lessons, to talking about lion turtles, to a "backwards walk-over competition" to test flexibility.
Ty Lee and Aang notice them, apologizing for getting distracted, and Ty Lee says that Aang is clearly beyond the others in mastering the... (deep breath) "colourful-cosmic-swirly-wirly-wibbly-wobbly-feeling-schmeeling energy" (finally, one of Aang's teachers says he exceeds expectations) and that he can probably sense auras already. Aang can tell that Ty Lee's is pink because she told him, and suggests that he try someone else, like Zuko.
Zuko, exasperated, asks why, and Ty Lee says Zuko's easiest to read. Ty Lee notices that Zuko's aura is a more solid color, which she says is a good thing. She then has Aang guess it, and Aang correctly answers that it's red. Ty Lee's quite pleased, and Katara, in spite of suspecting that Aang guessed, but doesn't want to burst his bubble in front of Ty Lee.
Ty Lee says that it's a good red, prompting Zuko to sarcastically thank her for that, saying that he worried that it would be terrible. Ty Lee insists that she's serious, and that his aura used to be a mess of colors, prompting Zuko to sarcastically thank her again, which Ty Lee fails to catch. One would think Zuko would be a little happy to hear someone notice that his change of heart became something visible.
Aang and Ty Lee go for a ride on Appa, much to Ty Lee's excitement, as she declares that she's on a flying bison. They fly past Katara, who waves, before exiting stage left for the Water Tribe and Dr. Yang.
All in all, Aang and Ty Lee have some good chemistry, but it still comes off as a hastily done pairing that doesn't measure up to Kataang.
What I liked
- Aang finally finding someone willing to listen to him about the lion turtle.
- Katara reconsidering her attitude on Aang.
- Aang hitting it off nicely with Ty Lee.
What I didn't like
- Katara being unwilling to forgive Aang for his attitude on forgiveness.
- The narrative harping on Mai being "left" in prison
- The author's already shooting torpedoes at Maiko before Mai even has any screentime.
- Tylang seems to be the author's hasty and desperate attempt to pair Aang off.
