Suki and Zuko have a friendly conversation, but since it's about stealth, Katara finds it hard to follow. She doesn't feel as though she's being excluded, but finds it hard to contribute. Katara grumpily washes the dishes and watches Zuko and Suki in a backwards flip competition.
She and Zuko let off some steam, and Zuko asks about the "guilty dance," which Katara says is not a dance, per se, but "a predictable series of events," which she finds charming in its predictability, much to Zuko's amusement.
The third day is cooperation, and involves three activities- a blindfold race, an egg race and a three-way race, which seem to be somewhat well-known real world games.
The blindfold race starts first, and this seems to be one event in which Toph has an advantage (although the only other person who demonstrates a similar ability to see with her feet is her daughter Lin), so Aang blindfolds Sokka, while Suki and Katara do the same for their respective teams.
Katara's blindfold not only impacts her view as the first person narrator, but also her ability to do the game, and she and the others end up colliding with things. She wonders how Toph deals with this on a daily basis.
Apparently, Toph manages, as she detects Zuko carrying Suki part of the way, when Team Stealthy Badasses crossed the finish line first, to which they respond that there is no rule against carrying people. Aang relents and lets the win, providing the team with some much needed points, albeit no enough to get out of the red.
The next event is the three-legged race. Aang specifies a "no carrying" rule, but Suki and Zuko win anyway, because they don't have a height discrepancy. Zuko and Suki hug over making it to +5 points, so Toph trips them with earthbending, much to Katara's approval.
The egg relay is next, putting Toph at a disadvantage due to her not being able to catch thrown objects easily, so Aang allows Team Boomerang a head start. Aang takes advantage of airbending to soften the egg's landing (which seems a bit more controlled than what I thought him capable of), and runs quickly, enabling Team Avatar to win. Aang pointed out that bending wasn't against the rules, although it does seem to suggest that Team Avatar, with two benders, would be at an advantage.
Team Boomerang, in spite of their complaining, retain their lead at 20 points. Team Avatar is at 10 points, and Team Stealthy Badasses is at 5 points. All in all, this was a nice way of letting Team Stealthy Badasses catch up.
Katara finds herself "perturbed" at the friendliness between Zuko and Suki, but desperately reminds herself that they're just friends, and Suki wouldn't cheat on Sokka (I've heard of some Suki/Zuko subtext in the prequel comics, but the fact that Suki and Sokka, in their sole scene together, seem to engage in a fairly public display of affection seems to indicate that even if Suki's attracted to Zuko, she's still deeply in love with Sokka). But she finds that there's too much niceness between them, and wonders if she's contradicting herself by wanting her friends to get along, but not get along too well.
Katara admits that she's mad about Zuko hugging and carrying Suki, since he's not a touchy-feely person. Katara's the only other person he's lifted and hugged before, and he's never done both in the same day.
Katara and Zuko let off steam again, getting a draw this time. Katara asks about Suki, and Zuko finds her to be "nice" and "funny." Both of them are content to be in positive numbers, and Zuko considers letting Aang win because it's his festival, while Suki considers letting the highly competitive Sokka win. Zuko also says it's nice to talk about stealth tactics with Suki, and Katara suggests that he could have talked about it with her. Zuko asks if Katara's mad at him, but gets a less than straight answer and a poke with the commonsense stick before Katara walks off.
Creativity is the next day in the series. Aang goes off on a spiel about creativity that Katara doesn't pay attention to, then suggests different categories for people. Team Avatar gets assigned art, Team Boomerang gets assigned drama, and Team Stealthy Badasses gets assigned music.
Sokka and Toph act out a scene from LATD, where Zara meets Kizu for the first time, early on in the book after their battle on "mount warning". Incidentally, it seems as though when there's a Show Within a Show, characters try to talk about it as though they've seen it. While I suspect most readers of this liveblog have at least a passing familiarity of ATLA, I try to provide context when I can.
It's pointed out that Sokka and Toph are fairly dramatic when rehearsing the scene.
Zuko and Suki play together (as the two with prior experience), and Katara finds the melody soothing, but is irritated how well they play together.
Aang and Katara take a creative approach to their painting, utilizing their bending in the process. It's an interesting use of it, and it's possible that since the three groups are doing different events, they can't say Team Avatar has an unfair advantage. The others aren't sure how to take it.
Sokka and Toph's scene is "hilarious in its melodrama", such as when Sokka laughs maniacally, or when Toph hits him with her fan.
Suki and Zuko then play a love theme from LATD, saying it's about two warriors from different cultures who fall in love, an idea that could be applied to Sokka/Suki and Zuko/Katara or Zuko/Suki.
The voting is held. Team Avatar's portrait gets two votes, from Katara (over Aang's objections) and Zuko. Team Boomerang gets votes from Aang, Sokka, and Suki, winning the round. Only Toph voted for Team Stealthy Badasses' music; she might not have wanted to vote for herself, and of the remaining two that's the only one she can appreciate.
Team Boomerang is now 20 points into the lead, and gloating about it.
Toph and Aang go off to do earthbending, Sokka reads LATD, and Suki and Zuko talk. Zuko doesn't want to put too much pressure on Aang, knowing he doesn't respond well to that, but believes he's still slacking off, and doesn't realize how difficult it will be to face Ozai.
I do have to wonder, though, what the others are doing to train during this time. For all Zuko gets on Aang's case about slacking off, what is he doing to prepare himself for Sozin's comet? It seems unfortunate that the fic's narrative seems to decide that Aang is the only one in need of training.
Suki, meanwhile, talks about Kyoshi warriors' training methods. Zuko notes that Suki is quite young to be leader of a group of warriors, and Suki replies that Zuko is also too young to be captain of a ship (even though "The Storm" seemed to suggest that they only reluctantly tolerated him). Suki then points out that she had to earn it, having snuck into the dojo since she was young, and training under a warrior called Satsu. Suki wonders how Zuko learned stealth, especially with a flashy fighting style like firebending. Essentially, Zuko says his story is the same as Suki's, with Lu Ten filling Satsu's role. Both point out the irony of learning stealth after sneaking places.
Zuko teaches Aang firebending, while Sokka and Suki snuggle in a hammock. Katara tries to help Toph with her making the mannequins, until Toph gets irritated and throws her out, at which point Katara goes over to listen in on Sokka and Suki, who don't notice she's there. They then talk about how Suki's getting along with Zuko, with Sokka seeming as jealous as Katara is. But Suki then demonstrates the difference between getting along and being in love by various affectionate terms for Sokka, much to Sokka's relief and Katara's disgust.
Katara doesn't understand why she's so cross, believing herself "ridiclous," and considers reading LATD, so she can be "soppy" as well.
Katara then realizes, however, that she and Zuko may just be friends, but they're also special friends who confide in each other, and now, Zuko is also confiding in Suki, with him telling her that part about his cousin first. Suki has another advantage over Katara, not whacking him with the commonsense stick, which causes Katara to worry.
This is a recurring problem for budding couples in quasi-Belligerent Sexual Tension and/or Cannot Spit It Out type relationships; it's possible for a romantic rival to progress more quickly with one half of the couple than the other half, or at least seem to do so.
Zuko and Suki then move in on another one of Katara's things with Zuko, by getting into a sparring match. Katara gets angry enough, using single line paragraphs and Single. Word. Sentences. Ultimately, she storms off after being unable to watch the sparring match any longer.
Zuko then finds Katara, having looked for her for a while and being unwilling to believe that nothing is wrong with her. Katara makes a few swipes at Zuko regarding Suki, which are somewhat uncalled-for. Zuko doesn't understand, since Katara was the one who asked him to be nicer to Suki.
Zuko says that he doesn't mind the commonsense stick, and Katara considers giving him a whack with it if she had it.
Katara reflects on how she's good about white lies and can lie about small things, but this time, will say what's on her mind, that she confides in him about things she doesn't tell anyone else about, and she's jealous that he's confiding in Zuko instead of her. Katara storms off.
Katara locks herself in her room, and refuses Zuko entry when he knocks. She finds out too late that he's snuck in, unwilling to let the conversation end on that note without having a chance to respond. Katara calls it storming off, rather than running away. Katara then demands that Zuko get to the point, and he does... by producing Lu Ten's letter and handing it to her.
Zuko says he only talks about training with Suki, and that Katara's his favorite person to talk to, even when she's mad. Katara then shuts him up with the hug.
The author apologizes for not including the letter, but says the chapter was getting too long already.
The author points out that Katara would be less possessive and jealous if she and Zuko were in a relationship. They're friends, but Katara is defensive over the friendship. It's not romantic jealousy, because Sokka and Suki are a couple, but Katara isn't quite so sure that she's Zuko's "smushybear." This is a good observation, and ties back into the point I made about couples like Zuko and Katara being insecure.
It's pointed out how much trouble Zuko has understanding this, given Katara's demand for him to get along with Suki, resulting in a moment of hesitation. The author points out that Zuko's not good at those tense conversations, and resolves it by showing Katara the letter, a significant gesture of trust without him having to say anything.
The author points out that Katara and Zuko would have made out if this were not following canon, but that she wants Zutara and canon to be friends. To her, that means staying as close to canon as possible. As for me, I can't help but think of it as she described it. Zutara and canon can be friends, with writers able to write about it without too many deviations from canon, but Kataang will be canon's "smushybear," with no hard feelings involved.
On the other hand, it does seem that this is one reason why she wouldn't have gone with my idea to have the divergence point be after "Crossroads of Destiny," and has chosen to instead establish Zuko and Katara's relationship in the days before the Grand Finale, meaning that this will be a very long fic.
Next time, Courage will be tested; in other words, Truth Or Dare.
What I liked
- Discussion of Katara's feelings
- The story about stealth.
- A good look at how Zuko resolved the tension.
- Author had an interesting description of Zutara and canon.
What I didn't like
- Katara seemed overly jealous and temperamental
- Bending seems to be more of a factor in the games.
