The third and final part of the arc begins with the girls exiting Angi's spa, having some more to eat, their treatment having completed. The girls return to where they're staying, and see the three boys fighting each other with sticks- Aang has his airbending stick, Sokka has the commonsense stick, and Zuko's "weapon" is not revealed.
Zuko notices the girls arriving and gets blindsided by Sokka while he's distracted by how amazing Katara looks. Sokka doesn't realize this, but is sentenced to 20 birthday pushups. Sokka also doesn't notice any of the girls besides Suki, which results in him getting 20 more pushups. Katara declares that no one but her gets to whack Zuko with the commonsense stick. Katara gets Zuko to show him his head injury, and they end up looking into each other's eyes.
Aang interrupts the moment, claiming to have also gotten whacked, although Katara can't find any injuries on him. She runs some water on him, though. Sokka then asks if Katara is ready for the surprise. She is, but she's also tired of walking on her birthday, so she gets Zuko to carry hm, and Suki does the same with Sokka.
The Gaang walks, and sees another town on the other side of Twenty Mile Beach, but that's not their final destination. It's a cave on the other side of a cliff face with unlit candles in it. After some awkwardness setting Katara down, Zuko waves his hands, lighting the candles and revealing that they prepared a picnic with all of Katara's favorite foods, along with utensils and instruments from the house and a steam pool in the back.
Apparently, making all the water tribe cuisine Katara likes most was no easy feat for the boys. They got fewer sea prunes, knowing that no one besides Katara and Sokka would like them; Suki tried some and was no exception. As a result of Zuko and Sokka's inexperience making sea prunes adding in things like fire prunes, they make something completely different from what Katara's used to, but still edible, and Katara concedes that it's the thought that counts. The five flavor soup went better, but Aang engaged in culinary experiments, adding in three new flavors, none of which were fireflakes. Ultimately, both remind Katara of why she's the Team Chef.
The others have more success with the foods they bought, such as the cake. Zuko makes shish kebabs, which Katara dismissively describes as meat and veggies on a stick, or just veggies for Aang, a bit like saying a sandwich is simply food between pieces of bread. Katara enjoys them, though.
Zuko's firebending helps out with keeping the food warm, which is good for the Gaang since it's dark by the time they finish. They get to the cake and Katara blows out the candles, resulting in the crystals lighting up and saying "Happy Birthday Katara" (I'm curious as to whether it's in English or in the Avatar-verse's language, as well as which is easier), like in The Cave of Two Lovers.
The plan was Zuko's idea, Aang chose the crystals, Sokka distracted Katara (while trying to make the five flavor+fireflakes soup), and the others besides Zuko (who drew a rough outline, and stayed out of town to avoid being recognized) bought the crystals. Aang, Zuko and Suki held the crystals while Toph earthbended them into place. This is an elaborate and quite impressive plan.
Katara is amazed, and overwhelmed with emotion enough to shed Tears of Joy, touched by how far the others went for her. The others are somewhat alarmed, but Katara reassures them. They enjoy cake together, before playing some "four seasons," and also try to play "secret tunnel." They then have some sake, and play "four seasons" again. Katara hopes to spend all her birthdays this way.
The author points out that Katara's birthday has ended, and with it, her ability to boss the others around. She'll try to do so anyway, but without the force of a birthday command, she'll have less success.
The author mentions that if it were from Zuko's POV (which might be interesting to write), it would have included their adventures in the kitchen, which might have been a good to see, as they try to cook without Katara to supervise them, as they aren't good at anything but barbecue.
The author points out that, being boys, they like sword fighting with sticks.
The author mentions that while it's still too early for true love between Zuko and Katara(a fairly realistic observation), he's attracted to her, and dazzled by her beauty enough so that Sokka is able to blindside him.
Katara doesn't like that, because only she gets to use the commonsense stick on Zuko, and even she merely does so affectionately.
The author points out that Aang is a little jealous of Zuko, and that because he's "not an idiot" (although he does come off as one sometimes in this fic), and his suspicion of them as expresesed in Ember Island Players has to come from somewhere (I hope she's not confusing this fic with canon). His faked injury is a gambit for Katara's attention, as are a few other of his attempts throughout the chapter.
The author points out that Aang wants attention from Katara, while Zuko pays attention to Katara. As a pessimist, Zuko admires Katara's hope, and wants to inspire it if he can. He can't do it on his own, and enlists the help of the rest of the Gaang, some of whom try to steal the credit.
The next chapter deals with love, and what other people think about romance.
What I liked
- The surprise that involved everyone's cooperation.
What I didn't like
- The birthday arc went on a little too long.
- The implications of Aang being something of an Attention Whore as far as Katara is concerned.
