Katara's quite excited to finally meet Song, who has been brought to the capital. Then again, the Dowager wants to keep things hushed up, and train her in etiquette, in spite of the fact that Song would rather spend the day working as healer. Song works alongside Yugoda, and her herbal medicines prove quite useful, since they're things Yugoda hadn't considered.
Song, surprisingly enough, finds being "beautiful" difficult, even though Katara considers her attractive, because of some scars on her legs from a fire whip, which made her feel ugly until Kuei accepted her for who she is.
Song asks Katara whether she has a boyfriend, and Katara, not ready to disclose that she's seeing Zuko but unwilling to lie, says she is, but she's keeping it secret. Song sympathizes given her present situation, but hopes that the Dowager isn't completely against her being with Song. Mai, arriving, says that she is, and she's practicing the doctrine of keeping your friends close and enemies closer.
It turns out that Mai has already met Song, and has gotten to know her, showing her the ins and outs of high society so that the Dowager doesn't "eat (Song) for breakfast." Of course, Mai's business is actually with Katara, although she vaguely describes it as "girl chat." It turns out that Mai and Jet are on a scavenger hunt for who will have to cook while they're on the road, and one o the items is Katara's waterskin.
Katara has to go to another dinner in Aang's honor, which, surprisingly enough, is not what Aang himself wanted or asked for. Even worse, Aang keeps getting stuck with people like General Fong, while Zuko mysteriously vanishes at times, and this only furthers the discussion of Zuko's "gastric problems," something that Hakoda does not consider appropriate pre-meal conversation material.
Mai returns Katara's waterskin with an apology and some stitches courtesy of Ty Lee. Jet considers helping smooth the way for Song to enter Earth Kingdom high society so that he can get in, too, and Katara agrees- but because Jet makes Song look sophisticated by comparison.
Dancing starts, and Aang gets some o those in attendance to join in an Air Nomad dance. Eventually, though, Zuko has a surprise reunion with Song, while Iroh leaves to go send a message, albeit acknowledging that doing so is rude (odd for this trope, which is about giving a polite lie when you're not willing to admit the truth).
In spite of Jet's insinuations, the reunion seems to be for the purpose of Zuko apologizing for stealing her ostrich horse. Apparently, their conversation also involved Katara, as Zuko tells Song that she was the friend he mentioned earlier. Zuko reassures Song that she's doing better at polite introductions than the Dowager gives her credit for, which isn't saying much.
By this point, Zuko has had a bit much to drink (as has Aang, but that's another matter), and this leads to a big fight between him and Katara. Katara notes that it should have been the ideal possible circumstances- with lots of privacy.
Katara asks about the stolen ostrich horse, but this isn't the cause of the argument- Zuko's repentant enough that a What the Hell, Hero? would be superfluous. The conversation then moves on to secret relationships, particularly the Dowager's belief that they're doomed.
Zuko doesn't want to reveal their relationship to the whole world- just their families and trusted friends. Katara, however, sees that her family is the problem, since Hakoda not only isn't fond of interracial couples, but also doesn't like people keeping secrets from him. Zuko gets a bit defensive at this, and accuses her of breaking up with him. Katara says no, and, uncharacteristically says that she's not like a "floozy" like Jin who breaks up with people.
Naturally, Zuko gets upset at the implication that Katara still doesn't trust him, and Katara only makes it worse by pointing out that he keeps secrets. Zuko's infuriated to the point at which he storms off, not even bothering to take his shirt with him, and Katara can't catch up to him without violating her own modesty.
Let's break down the situation. At this point, Katara and Zuko have a number of steps to do, in order.
- Bury the hatchet after their current dispute.
- Talk things through and find a way to best come out to their friends and Katara's family.
- Actually come out to Katara's friends and familiy.
- Deal with anyone who still has a problem with their relationship.
- Adjust to an open relationship, and keep it going in the coming years.
Does this sound simple enough? The problem is that by this fic's pacing, each step would, on average, take at least a chapter, and the fic only has two left. Perhaps the greatest flaw of this fic in terms of its own merits as a story, rather than as a fanfic (e.g. fidelity towards canon, characterization of canon characters, etc.) is that it's all buildup and no payoff. It seems less like a Zutara romance and more about them everything they have to overcome to get together. As poorly written as the Zutara romance was in How I Became Yours, it was somewhat refreshing for them to only spend two chapters angsting over it, rather than the entire fic.
The author points out, in response to reader reviews, that she is invoking Fanon Discontinuity on all the comics, given her dissatisfaction with The Promise. Her reasons are understandable (although I do have to wonder whether Katara convincing Aang to let the nations come together so that, among other reasons, the two of them can be together plays a role in it), especially since only the first part had been written at this time.
The author points out that it's time Katara learned what it feels like to be wrong. I agree, although she didn't handle being wrong very well.
What I liked
- Katara getting called out on spying
- The author has logical reasons for ignoring the comics, even if I don't agree with her about their quality.
What I didn't like
- Katara seemed to hold the Idiot Ball in the argument.
- The author only has two chapters to resolve the secret relationship subplot.
