Katara wakes up her ankle throbbing, and rings the bell for an apparently legitimate purpose this time- to get Zuko to bring her downstairs. Zuko offers to show Katara how he makes the tea, but no sooner does the lesson began than she has one to teach him- not to cut directly on the table.
Sokka goes out to get some pastries for Katara, ,while Toph rests her head on Katara, much like Aang did. Unfortunately, Toph's presence makes it harder for Katara to learn how to make tea.
Aang is interested in doing what he can to help out. Zuko, exasperated, suggests that Aang can focus on heating the tea with his breathing. Aang says that reminds him of Jeong Jeong, and Zuko's apparently surprised to hear his name. Aang remarks that JJ(I'll use this abbreviation for his Repetitive Name) tried to teach him firebending, but that the breathing was boring; I seem to recall that Aang's problem was something more severe, but it's understandable that he doesn't want to talk about it. Zuko says JJ is one of the best firebenders around, and that breathing is an important exercise for discipline (one attribute Admiral Zhao notably lacked), so Aang reluctantly goes along with it. Katara, annoyed at Zuko being sidetracked from her tea lesson, gets him back on track.
Katara notices that Toph, who faded from her radar slightly in the previous chapter, is acting strangely, hanging around her more and not snarking as much. Toph is also apparently willing to follow Katara into the hammock, despite not being able to see anything in it.
Toph and Katara talk about Aang, as well as the feel of different kinds of bending. Water bending is like pushing and flowing (or, in other words, the ebb and flow?) , firebending's like a heartbeat, and to Toph, earthbending is like breathing. Katara asks Toph why she's insisting on being in the hammock, and after a somewhat defensive reaction by Toph, Katara insists Toph can stay. Katara suspects Toph needs something to do(and appreciates being given it, in spite of her complaining), and gives her the task of fanning her, noting that Toph's clingy nature is how she shows concern. Of course, Toph being who she is, Katara doesn't tell her this.
Katara reads LATD and has gotten hooked, in spite of how frustrating she finds Zara and Kizu (I wonder if their sharing the same first letters as the main couple here is really a coincidence, and, unless I'm mistaken, Kizu is Japanese for "scar"- Zuko's identifying characteristic), because they don't talk about their feelings. The author points out that they started out on opposite sides, hating each other for no particular reason, and then forming an uneasy alliance, until Zara's twin sister ruins it by getting Kizu to kiss her instead.
Toph leaves to earthbend with Aang, and Zuko arrives to bring Katara tea, with his shirt off. Katara wonders how she can get him to stay shirtless without seeming "pervy." On the other hand, she is able to get him to chat with her, stay with her in the hammock and give her foot rubs.
Zuko is worried that he's been teaching Aang firebending the wrong way, which is something of a new thing. He points out that he didn't know the Gaang had met JJ, or that JJ had advised Aang to start out with breathing, in contrast to Zuko starting with blocks and fire squats.
Katara, while giving Zuko a foot rub, asks him if Aang ever told him about JJ. Zuko says that Aang denied knowing anything, while obviously trying to hide something, Zuko knows about Aang's accident with Katara, and assumed that it was the result of Aang experimenting. Having heard about how JJ, a friend of Iroh, went about teaching Aang, Zuko feels less confident about his own methods.
Katara says Zuko taught Aang well, and helped him become more confident in his firebending, especially considering that after JJ, Aang didn't want to firebend again. Zuko asks what happened with JJ, and Katara mentions that Aang and JJ "clashed terribly," with Aang impatient to do more besides breathing exercises, and how Aang's attempt to control the fire in the leaf hadn't gone very well. And, of course, there was the accident with Katara, after which JJ decided not to teach Aang any more.
Katara likes JJ, but notes that JJ doesn't like himself very much, and "bitched constantly" about the evils of firebending (JJ's an interesting character, but I find his belief that firebending's evil is inaccurate and detrimental to Aang's development), wishing that he was a waterbender. Apparently, Zuko feels the same way in some regards, prompting Katara to wonder what Zuko would be like as a waterbender. Zuko says that while he and his uncle were in the Earth Kingdom, they saw many refugees being burned, and the devastation wrought by firebending.
Katara tries to get Zuko to not "do a Jeong Jeong" on her, not wanting Aang to think of firebending as destructive. Zuko reassures her that he doesn't think all firebending is bad, as he saw good kinds of firebending when he met the dragons.
Zuko then asks Katara how to train Aang in multiple styles of bending at once while she's off her feet, since he seems to learn better from her. Unfortunately, Katara's having her own problems getting Aang to understand waterbending healing.
Zuko says firebending is hard, and requires relentless training to master, but Aang doesn't seem to respond well to it. Katara suggests that he call it "enthusiastic practice" instead. Zuko considers attacking Sokka one day, like Piandao did to Sokka (although if I recall correctly, Sokka was also worried that his cover had been blown), much to Katara's concern. Zuko wants to test Aang under pressure, but Katara knows that Aang runs from pressure. After an argument, Katara persuades Zuko not to do it, although he's still worried about how Aang will do. Katara believes in Aang, even if she doesn't know why.
Toph and Aang finish their training, and climb into the hammock with Katara and Zuko, and Suki and Sokka join them, all in the same hammock. Zuko notes that the hammocks can only support five adults, even though his family doesn't share hammocks, and doesn't put them into the test. Of course, Toph notes that not all of the Gaang are close to being adults.
Zuko mentions how the hammocks are more crowded than the lower ring in Ba Sing Se, although thousands of people in a city-sized region is hardly comparable to six people in a space no more than a few feet long or two feet wide. Aang is surprised how they'd all been in Ba Sing Se at the same time, and that he'd never met Zuko before "Crossroads of Destiny". Suki, the one person who'd never been there, asks what it was like. Toph says she hated the upper ring, much to Zuko's surprise, since he'd been in the poorer lower ring. Toph says she dislikes the rules, and wonders what it would be like if she took him up on his offer and lived with him in the Fire Nation. Zuko says that as long as he doesn't break his palace, she'll be fine.
Suki asks about where Zuko was during all this time, and Zuko says he was in the lower ring, unaware of where Aang was until he dropped off the flyers looking for Appa, which Zuko says "wasn't so smart," even if the "27 million walls" prevented Zuko from reaching the upper ring, and Aang. Zuko talks about how he had a fake identity and worked as a waiter in a tea shop. Upon hearing this, the Gaang expects him to wait on them like he waited on Katara, but he points out that her injury is the only reason why he's doing this for her. In the end, however, Zuko brings back some food for the Gaang, and Sokka compliments him, much to his annoyance.
Zuko says life wasn't so bad down there. Iroh enjoyed a simpler life, and Zuko himself enjoyed being free of responsibilities, even if he hated it at first, although Toph doubts that he would have been content.
Of course, all this came to an end, and Zuko says this started when his uncle, in a suspicious stroke of good fortune, was asked to serve tea at the palace. The entire thing was Azula's plan, even if Zuko is unsure of how she found him and his uncle in the first place, given how careful the two of them were and how large Ba Sing Se is. Aang's understandably worried, and Zuko says they'll be fine if they're careful, pointedly placing the onus for this on Aang (it's understandable that he's the Avatar and needs to be careful, but it seems that they're forcing too much on him). Zuko adds that Azula hates the place.
As Zuko gets up, Katara realizes that she was the one who turned Zuko and Iroh in. Toph picks up on Katara's unease, and asks if she's alright. Katara says she wants to get away from everyone else, and the others oblige her, although Zuko does check on her, his friendly concern upsetting Katara. Katara realizes that she should tell him, but worries how she'll take it, and knows she can't chase after him with her ankle the way it is. Katara then tries to convince herself that with all the times Zuko was chasing her, he has no right to get angry about her turning him in. She concludes that it would be "unreasonable" for Zuko to get mad, but, as always, "Zuko is prone to bouts of unreasonableness."
This brings me back to a question I found myself considering in the first installment of the series. If someone is feeling honestly sorry about something, and the victim is hesitant to forgive the repentant offender, under which circumstances can the offender say that the victim is treating them unfairly by refusing to forgive them?
Zuko inspects Katara's ankle. The poison is out, but the swelling is still there, and the cut is difficult to heal, which makes him sad.
Katara then, after a moment of consideration, decides to ask her question- was Zuko really happy in Ba Sing Se? Perhaps he was happy to not have obligations and duties, but would shirking them have made him happy in the long run? Zuko says the answer is no, but it probably doesn't matter, and wonders why Katara was asking him this.
Katara then launches into a rant about Zuko's various misdeeds, and her belief that he was still hunting her while he was in the city (Incidentally, I have to wonder whether Katara ever reached the conclusion that after everything Zuko did, he didn't deserve to just settle down). Zuko doesn't say a word in response, then excuses himself without offering to come if Katara rings the bell.
Katara reads LATD to distract herself. Some time later, she rings the bell, gets Sokka, and they talk about the book. Katara is hesitant to admit what happened between her and Zuko, not wanting Sokka to get involved...
...but he does get involved. Sokka tries and fails to look for Zuko. Katara tries to get him not to do it, calling it "stalky," and he's about to make a joke before Katara hits him with LATD, although he shares the joke with Suki and Toph. Toph offers to look for Zuko and makes another joke, but is out of range of the commonsense stick.
Aang comes back with firelilies, apparently not having learned his lesson from Katara's birthday.
Toph finds Zuko and brings him to Katara, before leaving. Zuko then says that he deeply regrets what he did, and knows he can't take it back, but doesn't think it's fair for it to be thrown back in his face all the time. Katara interrupts him, and says that this time, she's the one who's sorry, much to his surprise.
Zuko starts losing his coherence, and so Katara, to shut him up, pulls him into the hammock and apologizes again, answering his question of whether he's done anything to upset her by saying that she's a bit upset about him absconding all afternoon. Zuko reveals that he made an anklet for her, and thathe heard from Toph that Katara was asking for him "non-stop."
Katara's touched by the anklet, and Zuko says he wants to put Ba Sing Se behind them, and Katara agrees. Katara does, however, want to understand why Zuko made the decision he did back then. Zuko says that he was young when he was banished and he saw his chance to go home and earn his father's respect. But then he realized that he didn't need his father's respect and started to see his home as no longer as idealized as it once was.
Zuko and Katara cuddle, as Aang looks for a vase, until Zuko gets up to help him. I find this to be a good metaphor for Aang's efforts to win Katara over in this fic; he makes futile or counterproductive efforts to win Katara over, while Zuko knows just what to do.
Katara, thinking on Zuko's discussion of where her home is, wonders whether the South Pole will seem like home after she's done with her journey, decides that her home is with the Gaang.
The author, like many other fanfic authors, apologizes for slow updates, explains the real life circumstances that contributed and mentions that this chapter was originally two chapters.
The author reiterates how Toph, for all her toughness, is concerned about Katara, and this is how she shows it, even if she isn't very open.
The author discusses bending philosophies, and notes that firebending is the only one of Aang's disciplines in which he has instructors who disagree about it; Katara and Pakku had similar views on waterbending (if not who should be taught it), and Toph was Aang's only earthbending teacher. JJ hates being a firebender, and is "disparaging and discouraging" toward Aang, damaging his confidence. But Zuko, while somewhat conflicted about firebending and less than pleased with Aang's progress, grows to find firebending beautiful after seeing the dragons, and helps improve Aang's confidence.
The author concludes that Zuko is a better teacher than JJ, adding that the former has high expectations and high hopes for Aang, while the latter has low expectations and expects Aang to fail. But because of Zuko's respect for his elders (which seems to be a tradition that is, more often than not, set up to be proven wrong in fiction), he wouldn't think so at first. Katara convinces him otherwise with the help of some foot rubs, though.
Zuko floats the idea of attacking Aang randomly as a training exercise, and the author suggests that Katara knows about this plan, which is why she didn't freak out when he attacked Aang at the start of the Grand Finale (which is what I thought of when he mentioned it, but I remember Katara looking at Zuko like he'd gone insane).
The author suggests that the hammocks are big enough for six people because she says so, and to facilitate some interaction among the Gaang, specifically talking about Ba Sing Se, for a few reasons. The first is to establish, for the Gaang's benefit, where Zuko and Iroh were in the city, and how long they stayed there. The author points out that Zuko never tried to get into the Upper Ring, and surmised that he could not; given that the upper ring seemed like something of a gated community, and the lower ring was a ghetto for refugees, this seems reasonable. And once Zuko gets access to the upper ring, he doesn't bother the Gaang. He knew how to find the Gaang, but didn't act on it, instead opting for the ill-conceived plan to steal Appa, resulting in Iroh calling him out on it. It might have been nice to have Zuko say a lot of this, though.
Katara has forgiven Zuko for Ba Sing Se, but wants to understand his decision, and feels guilty about telling Azula where he was; by comparison, her apology at the start of this installment was more meant to smooth over their friendship than out of genuine remorse.
The author points out that Zuko and Katara react differently when they feel "nervous/challenged," as Katara gets ill-advisedly self-righteous, while Zuko "buggers off" and feels as though he must apologize. The former hurts Zuko's feelings, but Katara learns and promises to never bring it up again. In spite of all this, the process helps Zuko explain his decision.
Zuko is worried about Katara having a scar because of him (I'm a bit surprised the author didn't blame Aang again), although it's presumably easier to hide.
Apparently, Katara was more transparent than even she imagined when she asked about Zuko, causing Sokka to get some ideas he'll share with Zuko next chapter.
LATD is described as "Shakespeare meets Jane Austen", combined with them being drunk, on a sugar rush, and watching soap operas (Incidentally, I'm curious as to what kinds of plays Shakespeare would write if he were alive today). The author mentions her distaste for the Love Triangle trope, which most likely means that Aang and Mai won't have any real chance at getting together with Katara and Zuko in this fic.
The next chapter will feature Sokka getting brotherly and more LATD,
What I liked
- Good look at how Zuko feels about being reminded of his misdeeds.
- Good discussion of forgiving Ba Sing Se
What I didn't like
- Aang still not having learned from his unfortunate gift of firelilies.
