The party begins, and it's one of those affairs in which every minor character who could reasonably show up does so, from the stars of the show(e.g. Fire Lord, the Avatar and the Gaang) to VIPs(Iroh and P Iandao), to other people (Rena and her siblings). I can't believe I'm saying this, but How I Became Yours was somewhat better as far as pacing went.
Not a lot happens, but Katara, hearing the call of nature earlier than she thought as a result of having a fair amount of champagne (which brings to mind The Merovingian's "I drank too much wine. I must take a piss" quote). She, for the umpteenth time, overhears a conversation between Mai (aka Gloomy Hairbuns) and her mother (aka Mama Gloomy). Mama Gloomy wants to make Mai look nice so that Zuko will take her back, but Mai insists that she will take Zuko back, but not before she gets an apology out of him. Mai also reminds her mother that she'd done a complete 180 on her attitude toward Zuko once he went from a traitor and a fugitive to Fire Lord, and unimpressed with her mother's non-answer, decides to read until Zuko finds her.
Unfortunately for Mai, Katara finds her first, and the two get along just as poorly as they did in the previous chapter. But while Katara doesn't like Mai, that doesn't mean she doesn't pity her, and it's nice to see that the two aren't completely hostile toward one another.
By the time Zuko finds Mai, she's completely drunk, and behaving in ways that are entirely atypical of her, demanding that they talk about what happened at the Boiling Rock. Unfortunately, while Mai's open enough about expressing how Zuko almost died if not for her, and she almost died if not for Ty Lee, she doesn't quite express it well enough to convince Zuko to take her back, and he simply takes her home.
Of course, while Mai and Katara's personalities clash, they won't actually fight, since the author dislikes two girls fighting over a guy. It's understandable, since neither of the girls come off especially well (and the same goes for when two guys fight over a girl), so while the author doesn't seem especially fond of Legend of Korra, I have to wonder if she finds the idea of the two love rivals for Mako ending up with each other at the end at least somewhat amusing.
The author has yet another extremely long essay about her complaints about Maiko, while stating that she doesn't dislike Mai as a character. This time, it actually seems as though Mai's getting a fair amount of credit that Aang doesn't, although the author doesn't shy away from shedding light on her mistakes or misdeeds. That said, the author has a great many things to point out about the way Bryke handled their reunion, and explanations why she's handling this scene differently. That's all well and good, but perhaps this fic would have been better off if the author had done this earlier and more often.
With another long coronation-related event that doesn't do much to advance the plot, and another extremely long author's note that's half regurgitating the chapter and half sharing the author's criticisms of canon, particularly the pairings, I'm glad I'm not doing this chapter the "old" way.
What I liked
- The author seems somewhat fairer to Mai than to Aang.
What I didn't like
- The author still doesn't have the courage to change scenes outright when it would work for her.
- The party was somewhat poorly paced and bloated with side characters.
