First, here's perhaps the most important announcement. I've given this issue some thought, and decided that the problem that this fic has that is most relevant to my interest liveblogging it is twofold- the pacing and the style.
The former is somewhat obvious at this point. We're over 500,000 words in, and we've only covered eight episodes, four of which are the Grand Finale, and Katara and Zuko are still at the "friends who might be interested in each other, but haven't gotten around to spitting it out" phase, with any steps forward quickly nullified or thwarted. Slow burn romances work best without someone dousing the flames every so often, lest they become exercises in frustration.
The latter is partly related to the former, and partly not. When the author spends long amounts of time in relatively trivial scenes or worldbuilding, and discusses almost everything in the author's notes, the word count obviously skyrockets. From a liveblogging perspective, it's more difficult to liveblog it when Katara's essentially summarizing the events already, and the author summarizes that in her author's notes.
Essentially, since I want to finish this, but have found the task of doing so as is quite arduous and tiring, I have come up with the idea of changing my style, a simple yet dramatic step. Essentially, I'll do this in fast forward, skimming over most of the fic, but stopping and going into more detail at more important parts.
Now for the fic. Iroh hands out his gifts, such as Air Nomad robes to Aang, Southern Water Tribe style waterbending scrolls to Katara (Katara notes that while Pakku is gradually getting over his sexism, he still thinks the Northern style is superior to the South's), and a coupon for free advice to Zuko.
Aang needs someone to ordain him as a Samanera, and turns to Katara, since it would seem awkward to have a firebender do it. Katara agrees, not for the reasons Aang hoped, but because she sees him as a son, even if they're only a few years apart (finally, the author uses "only" when describing the age difference) and believes he needs a parent figure.
Meanwhile, Aang and Zuko get ready for the coronation, with no small amount of nervousness at what awaits them. Zuko greets Katara with "oh, hi Katara." Katara suppresses her desire to compliment Zuko's sexiness, because it wouldn't be appropriate with Iroh present, but says he looks "Firelordly", which gives Zuko the confidence he needs to face the coronation.
As Zuko gives his speech, Iroh turns to Katara and says she's the real hero of the war, and addresses her as Master Katara. Katara deserves a good chunk of the credit, but Iroh, possibly on the author's behalf, seems to be overselling her.
We then get to Zuko's coronation, done by a fire sage with a voice so deep Katara thinks he must have 18 testicles (when people think about men' testicles, they think quality, not quantity), and he makes Zuko do the vows that Ozai had refused to make. Zuko gives the speech that Katara had helped him rehearse, and she and the crowd go wild, before Iroh introduces her alongside Zuko and the other heroes of the war.
The author, after going on a great deal about how Maiko doesn't make sense to her, suggests that Mai doesn't think of Katara as a love rival, but is as cold to her as she is to most people, and that Zuko, convinced that Katara had chosen to leave, decided to test the waters. by asking the questions that he did. Of course, there's also the obligatory mention of Katara's motherly feelings toward Aang, as if Katara did not make them obvious enough in the chapter.
I'm interested in hearing what you think of this style (as well as hearing from readers in general), and hope it doesn't come off as too rushed or perfunctory, since I'm having trouble keeping up the "old" style over the long haul.
What I liked
- Interesting looks at the gifts.
- Good war-ending speech acknowledging the heroes.
What I didn't like
- Katara seems patronizing of Aang even when she's nice to him.
- The "18 testicles" reference.
