Katara, Zuko and Sokka set out to explore the catacombs, even though the process turns out to be a lot less interesting and a lot more disturbing than they thought. They find the topknot of a fire sage who didn't think Ozai's succession was legitimate, proof that Ozai killed someone himself. For better or worse, though, Zuko doesn't know whether his mother's one of those people.
There's a lot of grief as the families of the dead learn of their loved ones' grisly fates, but some good comes of this revelation. Zuko is able to solidify his authority not just by disproving his father's suitability for it, but also by giving a Rousing Speech about how the war has also hurt the Fire Nation, and inviting dissenters to speak their minds, giving them an outlet for their frustrations other than treason. He also bans Agni Kais, a move apparently inspired by the title of the theme for Zuko and Azula's duel, "The Last Agni Kai."
Za Jei objects, but for less than good reasons, as there's a fair hint of elitism in her attitude toward the common people. Thankfully, Zuko gives some good rebuttals and actually makes headway in convincing her.
Katara overhears a conversation between Zuko and Aang. It opens with Aang saying he was "relieved" he didn't have to deal with the meeting because he's no longer sure what to do, and suggesting that he made things much harder for Zuko by leaving Ozai alive. The latter is something that Katara suspects is an invitation for Zuko to deny it and reassure Aang. Zuko instead writes it off as a mere kid's mistake, which isn't what Aang wanted to hear. All this is sort of a half step in the right direction, since the author still isn't quite ready for Aang to grow up and actually do things completely right.
Aang insists on not being treated like a kid, but Zuko coldly dismisses him, saying that he wants things two ways by admitting that he's out of his depth (knowing when you can't handle something is a sign of maturity, after all). Even Aang's apology for not killing Ozai is taken with a grain of salt at first, as Zuko believes that he only did it because "Sir Hakoda" put him up to it. It's quite infuriating when someone's sincere apology is rebuffed- apologies aren't always enough, but since sincerely apologizing requires a great deal of courage and humility, they should at least be politely accepted, even when the listener is justifiably still angry.
Here's yet another trend in this fic- often interpreting Aang's actions, whether good or bad, in the worst possible light.
Aang asks if the Air Nomad teachings are wrong, and Zuko says not necessarily, since he would have died at the North Pole if Aang weren't so committed to the sanctity of life. That, however, is a prelude to another criticism- that Aang doesn't listen, and tends to preach his Air Nomad teachings to others. Of course, Zuko can't teach him this, since he gave a speech telling all the nobles "to get on the peace train," so he proposes other people, like Suki, Iroh, Hakoda or Katara.
Here's a more general problem, one that a lot of fanfic writers fall into. In fiction, when two or more people must learn how to work better together over the long term, generally, each of them has to put in some effort toward understanding and getting along with each other. For example, in Pride and Prejudice, a book the author thinks of as a great work of literature and source of inspiation, both Elizabeth and Darcy have to work on their various personality flaws and misconceptions about each other in order to have any chance at a healthy and stable relationship. Here, the onus is entirely on Aang to improve himself and acknowledge his faults, and none of his friends are likely to even admit that they were wrong about him.
Zuko talks with Katara about Aang, conceding that listening skills may not be all that Aang needs, since he's been sheltered from the world for so long, by his people a century ago, and by Katara until recently. Zuko says that Aang's worldview and belief in the power of love and forgiveness is at odds with a world in which some disagreements end when someone gets "bitchslapped." Yet again, the author misses an important distinction for Aang. There's a difference between repelling an invading army and hunting down a guy who's no longer in the military and most likely can't fight back anymore, and between defeating your enemy and killing them. Aang is against murder, wars of aggression and vengeance, but that does not mean he is against fighting to defend yourself or protect the innocent.
Zuko and Katara share a nice romantic moment, and while Katara feels as though the time is right to kiss him, she still doesn't know where he stands with Mai, and can't bring it up. It can be frustrating at times to see how many barriers there are between Zuko and Katara, and to realize how little progress they've made breaking them down.
Apart from summarizing the chapter and presenting her views, the author asks why Avatars know so little about the way the works, citing Korra as an example in spite of Katara being there. In Korra's case, it turns out that her parents essentially kept her isolated in the compound at the South Pole for much of her childhood. That wasn't exactly a good decision for quite a few reasons, but since they weren't planning on having Korra leave any time soon, not telling her about the world outside wasn't exactly at odds with their intention to keep her at the South Pole.
The author comes up with yet another derogatory term, "canon-thumpers," for people who ardently defend canon, and accuses them of seeing things in black and white as much as Aang does while denying anything problematic in canon. Rather than assuming that this is due to the author's lingering bitterness over Kataang, I'll point out that with some thought, you can find potential plot holes and inconsistencies in even well-written works of fiction, but with some more thought, you can potentially come up with explanations as to why they really do make sense, after all. That's why the Headscratchers pages have as much debate as they do- someone brings up something that just bugs them and other people give explanations. In fact, a good portion of my liveblog involves doing the former to the author's own fics, and doing the latter when the author picks canon apart.
What I liked
- Again, I can't think of anything.
What I didn't like
- The author portraying Aang as so ignorant and unable to understand so much.
- Zuko's harsh attitude toward Aang, even while he admits that he's in the wrong.
- The author's disdain toward those who actually have some respect for canon
