Before we begin, I'd like to provide a small update since last time. I read the second volume of The Rift today, and would like to say a few things 1)Not only is Toph's relationship with her father probably worse than it was at this point in canon, but it's possible her mother's no longer alive, and 2)Aang's canonical inability to metalbend is a plot point.
In all fairness, though, if I only learned of this today, then the author very well could not have known about this when she wrote this part over two years ago.
The first day in the week is a day of logic, in which bending doesn't seem to be an advantage. Aang sets up a few logical puzzles. Aang's team, Team Avatar, is doing well, because of Katara's logic. Unfortunately, they're only second to the Sokka and Toph team, Team Boomerang, and Sokka gets on Katara's nerves by gloating, as she insists she can solve a puzzle without gushing about it.
The Zuko and Suki team is unnamed, although Suki proposed "team grumpy." Apparently, their bickering was so bad, they only had three times (with a fourth time cited later)in which they agreed.
- When they reach a puzzle box that must be opened in 27 moves, Zuko declares that the box is no proper storage system, and impractical for easy retrieval. Suki agrees, and stomps on the box, forciblly opening it and obtaining the marble they need. Aang confiscates their marble and docks them five points, in spite of their protests.
- Meanwhile, Team Avatar solves three puzzles, gaining on Team Boomerang in the process. Both members of Team Grumpy claim that the game is rigged.
- Team Grumpy then tries to glue the pieces of a puzzle together instead of getting the 17 pieces to balance correctly. Aang notices, again, and deducts another five points. Zuko then costs Team Grumpy another five points by setting another puzzle ablaze, while Suki lists the things that would be better uses of her times.
- At the end of the two-hour period, Team Boomerang is victorious, and Sokka runs around, saying how the Water Tribe rules, declaring Toph an honorary member. Zuko and Suki decide to call themselves "Team We Hate Useless Logic Puzzles," and refuses Aang's suggestion to think up a name more in line with the spirit of the event- henceforth, they'll be called "Team WHULP"
As Aang and Toph practice earthbending, Team WHULP starts complaining even more loudly, with the complaints that they don't want to openly discuss around Aang- they think logic puzzles are stupid and useless, and that the two of them are intelligent in other ways. Sokka gets some affectionate whacks from Suki for defending them, and Suki suggests that she wouldn't lose in a stealth competition. Zuko agrees, but says his experience is superior to Suki's.
This comment leads to a "stealth off" between the two. Suki brings up her stealth in "The Boiling Rock," leading Zuko to try to one-up it by saying he snuck into three Fire Nation prisons, once with Aang. Suki then says that her cooler disposition makes her better suited to stealth than Zuko.
Suki and Zuko then decide to settle things. They have a race, which Suki wins, but then have a stealth race; Zuko somehow makes it to the destination without Katara seeing him. Neither is willing to call it a draw, so Katara proposes sneaking up on people that she did when preparing to hunt down Yon Rha. Unfortunately, neither half of Team WHULP gets that Katara's joking, and they do just that, setting aside tomorrow for the stealth-off and refusing all rebuttals.
They then decide that the winner will win the competition, and with it, bragging rights, and set up a scoring system. Sokka is worth 3 points, due to being easy to surprise; Katara is worth 5 points; Aang is worth 7 points because of how energetic he is; and Toph is worth 10 points, much to her pleasure. Aang and Toph, however, are to be left out of the loop. For the former, Team WHULP thinks they can have their competition and play the games at the same time (before knowing what the latter are). For the latter, Toph would be too difficult to sneak up on while aware of the game.
Katara decides to scold Zuko about how "childish" the competition is and give him a poke with the commonsense stick (leaving Suki to Sokka), but he's unusually defensive, saying that it's necessary to settle things. He refuses to cede the title of "stealthy one", to Suki, while concentrating on his firebending. He says Katara should understand why... but she doesn't.
According to Sokka, Suki is no more reasonable. The siblings ponder absconding to town, so that they're out of reach, even if they're the two less valuable targets. They agree to do it if Team WHULP gets too annoying.
The next day is patience, and Aang tells the others of an Air Nomad game that has rules that are so complex that Katara, and by extensive, the narrative, don't explain any of them to us; perhaps they're done that way in part so that the author can leave it to our imagination. Apparently, it involves a piece of string somehow, and the others wander around the house. It's a bit depressing that they're only doing this to humor Aang; is it too much for them to show some genuine interest in a lost new culture, or for his cultural interest to be portrayed in a more sympathetic light?
Katara is more focused on Team WHULP, particularly their whispering to each other furtively, before vanishing and reappearing. Suki does this to Katara twice (10 points, 10 total), and does it more often to Sokka(at least 9 points, 19 total). Zuko prefers Katara ,though, and after the seventh time(35 total), she warns him that if he does it again, she will tickle him until he's no longer able to be stealthy.
Zuko ignores the warning, apparently unable to resist another 5 points on top of his 35 so far, and Katara tickles him until he cries with laughter, before hiding in a cupboard.
Zuko moves on to Aang, and after three times (21 points, 56 total), Aang asks what Zuko's doing, noting that he's doing the patience game all wrong. Aang says he's winning as is (although his teammate Katara's a non-participant, and it's possible that Team Boomerang is actually trying), and offers to explain the rules again, but Zuko declined, and Suki gets the drop on Sokka (3 points, 22 total)
Sokka and Katara have lunch together, with Sokka tired of the "stealth off," and wanting Zuko and Suki to get along, not understanding what the root of their conflict is. Katara suggests that he ask them to get along for his sake, as they patently (for a moment, I thought it was "patiently") adore him. Sokka suggests that she do it instead, but she reminds him that it's his job as the leader, so he gets to it.
Aang gathers the teams together, and is annoyed that so few are doing the game properly. He informs Team WHULP that they're getting no points, and asks if they even listened to the rules. Katara, having also left prematurely, won no points for Team Avatar, and she's too ashamed to admit that she wasn't listening to Aang, either. From Team Boomerang, while Sokka forfeited as well, Toph apparently did well enough to win, and Katara is amazed that Toph actually listened to the rules. Team Boomerang has a vast lead, with 20 points, compared to no points for Team Avatar, and -15 for Team WHULP.
Toph earthbends Zuko and Suki into the ground, annoyed at their sneaking up on her and bickering over nothing, and deciding not to release them until they make up.
As the rest of the Gaang listens in on them, Aang arrives, as it's time for firebending, and hears about the situation. Aang offers to mediate, but Sokka and Katara hold him back, deciding Zuko and Suki need to work it out themselves.
Of course, what they hear is less than promising, to say the least. Zuko and Suki are grumpy with each other, making a few insults at each other, until Suki brings up the burning of Kyoshi Village. Zuko sincerely apologizes and asks if anyone was hurt, but Suki replies with "like you care" (which is a bit of a low blow for Suki). Zuko insists that he does, and learns that there were only a few injuries, no deaths and less damage to the village than Suki had made it out to be, so therefore there isn't much cause for Zuko to do his "guilty dance".
Zuko's surprised to hear about that from Suki, and is reminded of what he did the last time they got drunk together. At this point, Katara wants to go in, but Sokka tells her not to interrupt them when they're talking...
...although Suki then tells Zuko to ask Katara about it, with Suki only aware of how there's apparently moaning involved on Zuko's part. Katara silently hopes Suki will shut up, and, much to Katara's relief, she does.
Zuko apologizes and compliments Suki's skill in stealth, such as grabbing the warden in The Boiling Rock. Suki accepts his compliment, but says being stealthy is her thing, and she doesn't want to share it. She and Sokka are the only non-benders, and with Sokka as The Smart Guy, it falls on her to find her own niche. Suki wonders if Zuko would understand, and he says that he does, having struggled with firebending as a kid (and having lost it near the start of Stalking Zuko), and that stealth is always the one thing he was good at. Perhaps this could be true, but firebending was his ticket into the Gaang; would Toph have lobbied as hard to get him in if they didn't need a firebending teacher for Aang?
Of course, Suki has no such bending talent, and was mad at Zuko for impinging on her territory. Zuko points out that her integration with the Gaang was much smoother, especially since she was friends with them before, while Zuko was an enemy.
Suki says that it's not about liking her, but about her role. She's worried about people viewing her as Sokka's girlfriend, rather than leader of the Kyoshi warriors. Sokka wonders if he's in trouble, but Zuko has the same reaction; he had a ship under his command (but did he forget that they almost mutinied on him in "The Storm" and didn't seem terribly concerned about coming to find him after Zhao's attempt on his life?), and now can't get Aang to do his training. He suggests Suki is the stealthiest person in the group.
Suki considers making herself distinguished in some other way, and Zuko suggests, sincerely, that Suki is the level headed one of the group(Katara mentally notes that they've been ignoring the last two days), and isn't prone to tempers and sulks. Of course, part of the reason is that far less has personally gotten to Suki than the others. Suki and Zuko then talk about Sokkas foibles, as well as how Suki hasn't incurred any pokes from the commonsense stick. Toph then releases them, with Zuko training Aang in firebending, and Sokka and Suki canoodling.
Sokka joins Katara in the kitchen, which is a first. Despite their annoyance over Team WHULP bonding over mocking them, they're glad that they have bonded. They've also changed their name to Team of Stealthy Badasses, and aren't at all bothered by being in last place.
Katara concludes the chapter by insisting that she's glad four times in a row, which comes off as slightly suspicious.
The author offers to give all the reviewers 10 Air Nomad points.
The author points out that the Air Nomad puzzles are like the "impossible puzzles" that the author struggles with, but her boyfriend's good at, since he can find the not obvious but simple solution. The author suggests that Sokka is the best suited to this and Katara, who's smarter than some give her credit for, would be a good contender as well. It's pointed out that Aang is distracted by Katara, and Toph is along for the ride. Team WHULP/Stealthy Badasses is not stupid, but their thought processes aren't suited to the puzzles, and favor quick and logical solutions, which only serve to get them penalized by Aang. As such, Team Boomerang is the most functional, with members who are suited to the task and on task, resulting in them winning fair and square.
Both Sokka and Katara want Zuko and Suki to get along, but realize that their forte is logical arguments, and this is beyond logic. Zuko and Suki are similar at heart. They start out as "grumbly" with each other, but gradually work things out, and Toph expedites this process by burying them.
Of course, the stealth off was never about stealth, but about the role in the group. Suki is "an amazing stealthy warrior," which she uses to stand out among the benders, but so is Zuko, and Zuko happens to also be a prince (who's a distant second among his father's favorite children), and a fire bender (with something of an inferiority complex about his firebending), so he shouldn't impinge on her territory.
Zuko's ninja skills and dao blades are two of the things he's good at and not conflicted about. They served him well as a child, and when he's still having trouble with reading his cousin's letter; the author promises to show it to us next chapter.
The two thus reach an impasse; Zuko resolves it by offering her the title of stealthy one, while Suki resolves it by moving past this. The author also points out that they need to clear the air about what happened with Kyoshi, and allow Suki to express her anger and Zuko to express his regret. The author believed that something longer than the "quick apology" from the show would be good, but all things considered, this isn't that much of an expansion.
Unfortunately, it does seem somewhat like the author just remembered Suki and Zuko's unresolved problems, since they've been together since less than halfway through Stalking Zuko. It also seems as though, with Suki discussing the others seeing her as Sokka's girlfriend, she's harping on that overly much, making this seem like an Author Tract of sorts, and an attempt to correct canon's flaws, which can be a difficult sell.
The author points out that Suki chose not to disclose what she learned about the "guilty dance," and many other aspects of Zuko, while Katara was drunk, and so got him to speak with Katara, although Katara does panic for a moment.
The author points out that Suki (or at least, her version of Suki) thinks of things in terms of role, and Zuko thinks of things in terms of approval; perhaps if this were an RPG, Suki would be concerned about a hybrid class doing her role better than she does, while Zuko would be worried about his approval ratings. Both help understand the other; Suki helps Zuko realize the importance of one's role in a group like the Gaang, while Zuko helps Suki understand her good trait.
The author, like I did, points out that because of Suki's screentime, we don't get to see her "lose her s**t" (Really, author, you shouldn't bother with the asterisk censorship; we know you're saying "shit" and this fic has more profanity than in canon). The author also points out that Suki and Zuko are not just humorless, stealthy young warriors and leaders, but also are in love with Water Tribe members (of course, Zuko wasn't in canon), and can bond discussing their crushes, paving the way to getting along better in the future.
In the next chapter, the North Wind celebration will continue, but with Zuko and Suki getting along better, and Katara not mad with jealousy. At. All.
What I liked
- Contrasting Zuko and Suki.
What I didn't like
- The rest of the Gaang only reluctantly going along with Aang's holiday, making it seem like he's imposing on the group.
- Suki and Zuko's conflicts over identity seemed a little petty.
- Suki and Zuko's disagreements seemed brought up a little late.
