The sun has set, and Katara, after taking a moment to enjoy the beauty of the garden, goes off in search of older women, whom she believes are good sources of gossip.
While pouring herself a glass of juice to clear her head, she spots a baby near the edge of the pond, possibly having been drawn there by the candles. Immediately predicting what's going to happen, Katara springs into action and saves him just after he falls in, before he even registers what happened. She checks to see if there's water in his lungs, and realizes that he's fine, even if her dress is not.
The kid begins crying, bringing his mother over and causing her to cry as well. Other people are drawn over, and the mother, whose name is Kia, says Katara was the one who saved her baby. Kia let him out of her sight for a moment, and with her leg bandaged, couldn't have run quickly enough to save him.
An older man whom Katara believes to be Kia's father brings over a chair for Kia, and also gets one for Katara. With the help of a practical woman, the general gets people to move along and gets towels for Katara. Katara notes that Kia and the other woman are clearly old friends or something of the sort.
Kia hugs her baby and, while saying she's angry at him and will never let him out of her sight again, also shows him affection. While often, people get mad at others for causing them to worry, at a certain point, which varies from person to person, they stop being angry altogether and are simply glad that the person is safe. As such, Katara wonders if the baby understands any of this.
The practical woman reassures Kia that the baby is fine and that her Rozin fell in the water all the time, although Kia does not find this particularly reassuring. Katara learns that the practical woman is the R Siblings' mother. Her name is Lily and she knows that Katara is their friend. Kia's father is General Tazin, and gives Katara of a bow of deep respect, evidently as a show of appreciation, much like Kia gushes thanks at Katara.
Lily's husband Tanin, who looks like an older Haru without the mustache, comes over, although Katara hesitates to compare his appearance to an earthbender, possibly because neither are her type. He greets her with "mock reverence," and has a whispered conversation with Lily while dropping off a bottle of wine for the general. Katara thinks Tanin is a good husband.
Unfortunately ,Kia's husband, Kalin, could not make it. Tanin, however, says that he had arranged for an "extra leave" for Kalin, so he should be on his way home. Kia's grateful for her father's help on this matter, but doesn't want him to miss his own retirement party. Katara, as a healer in training (although a good amount of that healing is through waterbending), offers to look after the boy, and they accept, introducing her to him. The boy's name is Kuzon, and it's apparently a name that runs in the family. Katara gives standard flattery for a baby, and Kia agrees that he's smart, but laments leaving him alone.
Katara understands how she feels, given that babies are fragile, and they had been close to disaster while working on drying him, which is much more difficult without her bending.
Kia blames her leg, giving Katara a look at the severe break in it, which has started to heal. Katara says Lily shouldn't be out of the house(thinking that if she did leave, she'd have Zuko carry her everywhere), and Kia concedes, but says she wants to be here for her and Lily's fathers.
Katara asks about the injury, and Kia says it happened while she and Kalin were traveling, not wanting to be apart. Kalin was an official in Two Rivers, which had some trouble with uprisings. Two Rivrs had a rail link with Oyster Bay, and Lily was taking that train when it was derailed by a "foul-smelling" bomb (a bit of an odd detail to notice), and caused her leg to break. Kalin, determined to look after her, took a leave of absence. Unfortunately, he used up his leave time, and had to stay behind in the colonies for the party, busy relocating some troops. Katara, interested in that sort of info, asks where the troops are relocating, but Kia says she doesn't know (even if Katara believes she does know, but doesn't want to tell her).
The general is insistent on finding the earthbenders who bombed his daughter's train, but Kia says that Kalin doesn't think it's earthbenders, but a Water Tribe warrior called "The Blue Wolf". Lily points out that no mother would give a son a name like that, and Kia, after musing that perhaps she wanted the boy to be feared by the Fire Nation, says that the man's name is Hakoda of the Water Tribe.
Katara's quite surprised, and is excited to hear that her father's alive and still fighting, but also realizes that he wouldn't want to know that one of his bombs hurt a pregnant woman. Katara manages to disguise her reaction by saying that she's heard of Hakoda before. The general says that he's quite impressive for his resistance, and Kia says that Kalin considers Hakoda a "bad-ass mother fu-" but corrects herself and says "scary dude." The general asks if Kia isn't angry about Hakoda blowing up the train, but while Kia won't invite him to dinner, she has a respect for people like him. Katara is proud of her father, and recalls Master Pakku's lessons about how enemies worth conquering are joys to fight.
Kia asks if Katara can do anything for her leg apart from the sun poppy tea and rest the doctor prescribed her, and Katara says no, not wanting to expose herself. As Katara puts her foot on a stool and Lily hands Kuzon back to her, Kia thanks Katara for having a look, unwittingly causing her to feel guilt. Katara realizes that because she left her training with Yugoda too early, she can't mend severe broken bones yet (which sounds like something that might take months, if not years, to learn), but she can ease her pain and feels guilty about refusing to do so for the sake of not blowing her cover. All she can do is assure her that it's healing well.
Kia asks Katara about herself, and Katara keeps her answer as vague as possible- she's traveling with her cousins, at which point she encountered Lily's children, who invited her. Kia's glad they did, since they told her about Katara the previous night. Lily's glad that Rei was able to meet new people, especially a firebender who could train her. Kia asks Lily if her father will train Rei now that he's retiring, and Lily hopes so, while her father says that General Zan (at this point, I'm starting to need a diagram for all these OCs) will want to know his granddaughter better.
Katara, remembering Zuko's observation that it's "weird" for all the generals to retire at once, steers the conversation to a more military direction. She gets an evasive answer that they'd "had enough of it," and when she presses them, saying that her "cousin" knows it's unusual, they say that's why they're celebrating. Lily chides them for being afraid to speak out against Ozai. Kazin (I think) says that Lily has forgotten the terror Ozai can inspire, but Lily reminds him that Ozai, by refusing to come and prohibiting his cronies from doing so, made the party "a firelord free zone".
Lily reveals that Zan has not had as much restraint, saying that Ozai is a "pucking pastard" who knows nothing of good strategy, good governance or the good of the people, and is utterly psychopathic. Apparently, despite censoring all her profanity with Ps (this is the T-rated installment of the series, after all), the word "prick" makes it through, so Lilly corrects herself by saying that Ozai's a "pucking psychopathic puckwit."
Lily encourages Kazin to follow suit, so long as he doesn't swear. After taking a swig of alcohol, Kazin says that Ozai is the worst Fire Lord ever, reiterating his daughter's complaints, and that after putting up with him for six years, it's pleasant to get that off his chest. He's tired of Ozai's speeches about ruling the world (although Sozin was the one who started the Fire Nation on that path, and Sozin was highly respected after his death). He says Iroh would have been better, but instead they have Ozai, who couldn't even love his own children. He then laments what Ozai did to Zuko, and how he "could have been handsome."
Naturally, Katara mentally takes umbrage at the idea that Zuko isn't handsome now, and for a moment, she feels as though he's listening, even though she knows he's home with "the kids". Katara knew that Ozai gave him the scar, but doesn't know how he did it, and so is desperate to know, even if she wanted Zuko to tell her. In spite of coming to trust each other after the mission to find the Southern Raiders, "ages ago" (That's certainly right; it's been over 30 chapters and 100,000 words), Zuko is still sensitive about anything scar related.
Katara, despite knowing it's not the information she seeks, still wants to know it, so she's relieved when Lily asks instead, having heard about the banishment but not the mutilation from the colonies, as Ozai censors the news.
Kazin is hesitant to disclose this, lest he "ruin the party" for the ladies. Kia whispers to her father, in a conversation Katara isn't mean to overhear(but does, because she's "wily"), that it's something Lily needs to know if she's going to live in the Fire Nation, under Ozai.
The story goes back three years, at Zuko's first war meeting. General Bujing, whom Kia considers an "odious" man, proposes the "ducklings and hawks" strategy- in other words, in which new recruits are sacrificed to allow the veteran firebenders to do the most damage possible. Kazin thinks of it as a waste of life, but Ozai likes it, and Lily wonders whether that accounts for the three extra rounds of conscription for the year.
As viewers know, Zuko speaks out, and apparently, most of the room except Bujing agrees with him (but isn't willing to speak out). Bujing challenges Zuko to an Agni Kai, which everyone knows is an unfair fight, even before Ozai substitutes for Bujing for unknown reasons. Said mutilation happens, and it's supposedly a punch to the face with 'white fire,' which is almost as hot as blue fire and is the most painful. Zuko passes out immediately, but Ozai refuses to let his uncle or the royal physician see to him, as he stands over him doing an Evil Laugh, declaring that anyone who defies him will suffer the same fate before immediately banishing Zuko. Naturally, he says this is why people aren't willing to speak out against Ozai.
Lily didn't hear about this in the colony, instead hearing a more flattering and unspecified alternate story, and is ignorant about Ursa's disappearance and Azula being caught shoplifting. Katara's stunnd into speechlessness, and regrets hearing this, but continues to stay.
Lily asks why Ozai is Fire Lord instead of Iroh, and Kazin says that Ozai was too broken to pursue the throne after Lu Ten's death, especially if it means civil war against Ozai. It's also mentioned that Ozai is fond of Zuko, and Ozai may have banished Zuko because of that.
Kazin then goes into detail about how Ozai solidified his power. He had every disadvantage over his brother Iroh- not only was he the youngest, but he also skipped out of national service as a prince, he doesn't have the same charisma as his brother and father, and everyone else respects Iroh more- so he compensated by getting rid of those loyal to Iroh. Unfortunately, he couldn't just get rid of Iroh himself, since he couldn't get him in an accident or fool him into taking a position somewhere remote when he insists on staying with the kids. So burning Zuko helps banish the rumors of Ozai being a "weak" Fire Lord, and when Zuko's banished, Iroh goes with him. As such, Ozai's in power, with everyone scared of him, until Azula- who's also a "crazy motherpucker"- turns 16.
As the others talk about the state of the fire nation, Katara, no longer in the mood to hear anything, gets up to leave, wanting to see Zuko. They hope she enjoyed the party while she could, but she knows that it's impossible, after hearing something like that happened to Zuko . She realizes that there's some sense to what he did, but knows that Ozai's a terrible person at heart.
A long author's note follows, saying that this chapter serves as Katara's way to find out about the scar (It's slightly disappointing that Katara didn't get much intelligence, apart from the bit about her father). In any case, Katara's unlikely to find out about it from Zuko, who feels too shamed (it's a bit unfortunate that the residual Fire Nation patriotism remains), doesn't want pity, and isn't one for emotional talks. The author says that in some fics, he "fesses up," but while she concedes that they can be well-written (an interesting concession, one that I wish she'd make for Zuko and Katara's canon pairings), the author believes that Katara would find out from a third party, and with a crowded Agni Kai arena, there's no shortage of them.
Thankfully, this isn't the only reason for the infiltration; it also fleshes out the social structure, which is a nice touch.
The author apologizes for ruining the holidays with this, but says that she wanted to do the story of Zuko's scar justice. She also apologizes for making Kazin "Captain Exposition", but needed someone to tell the story.
Exposition runs in the K Family, and the author "imagines" that Kia and Lily are old friends (again, one would think that she'd be more decisive about her original characters' backstories).
The author also imagines that Hakoda, along with the other characters who left the temple, is waging a war against the Fire Nation until the Grand Finale. His heroics inspire some degree of respect in his enemies, but this is war and casualties are inevitable.
Kia is a Daddy's Girl, and while Lily and her father have a more strained relationship with her father due to the estrangement (I didn't see as much of that here), Kazin cares, and after hearing of the crazy plan, takes steps to get Kia and Kazin out of harm's way.
Of course, Kia's injury complicates things, and while Lily helps her prepare, all it takes is one second's negligence to get close to disaster.
The author once again says YMMV on everything and invites us to disagree, although I hardly need her invitation to do so.
The author concludes, after watching "The Storm" a few times, that child abuse is taboo in the Fire Nation, which does not even have corporeal punishment in the school system, otherwise Aang would have gotten that punishment. They have the universal taboo against hurting children, which is reasonable, although one should be careful not to ascribe one's values to the rest of the world.
So naturally, the fact that Ozai not only terribly harms his own child but does so in public is not only quite evil, but is also a terrifying message that shows others that no one who opposes him will be spared. The fact that Ozai hates Zuko and favors Azula doesn't hurt, but more than anything, he wants to consolidate his power base, and the most emotion he displays is when he's being disobeyed.
Naturally, people want Iroh instead of Ozai, but even without that bias, the circumstances of Ozai taking the throne seem highly suspicious, leading people to have little respect for Ozai, and even less in light of his cowardly tendencies. While this isn't entirely baselses, it's a bit unfortunate that the author's denigrating him to this degree, making him out to be incompetent and cowardly.
Ozai is already unhinged, and it gets worse when he realizes people don't respect him. The author says that such kings have ruled throughout history, and tend to survive until they get deposed or their heir comes of age. Naturally, the Fire Nation is stuck with Ozai until Azula comes of age. The author suggests that at 14, she's a bit young, and pulled the required age of 16 out of her hat, which is why she has trouble accepting Ozai handing power over to Azula (and then making up his own title to make Fire Lord obsolete, which is proof of narcissism on Ozai's part).
Naturally, everyone knows that Ozai is crazy, but they're also afraid of him. The sycohpants get ahead, whether they are the way they are out of genuine belief (Bujing, Zhao) or opportunism. It also helps that they don't want to disappear like Ursa did, and knowing that Ozai can do that to anyone is troubling. General Kazin, who's said to be the one who pointed out that the sacrificial regiment was full of new recruits, is thus hesitant to speak out until he gets into an "Ozai Free zone."
Again, while it is clear that Ozai is exceptionally cruel and probably not entirely sane, showing that everyone was aware of this does somewhat undercut him as a villain, and make it slightly less believable that he was able to keep power for so long and go on winning the war against the other nations. The author once compared him to Joffrey from A Song of Ice and Fire (or Game of Thrones, depending on whether you read or watch TV), but Joffrey had people like his grandfather, Tywin, on his side, so he wasn't the main person his foes in the War of the Five Kings had to be worried about, even if the smallfolk had to be wary of getting on his bad side. In short, it's something of a disservice to Ozai and those who manage to defeat him if he's portrayed as completely incompetent.
The author reiterates the theory about Ozai's relatively unstable early reign, in spite of all the propaganda and brainwashing, and the fact that Iroh didn't' have the will to resist him, wanting a more peaceful life. Many people, however, thought of Iroh as "lazy" for not challenging Ozai, and Zuko was inspired to call him "lazy" for that, as well.
The author points out that Iroh has never referred to Ozai as his brother (I vaguely recall him calling him that once or twice, around the time Zuko has to pass into the Fire Nation while pursuing Aang), and only calls him "the fire lord". That isn't entirely out of the ordinary, since when two siblings have a large discrepancy of power, one may refer to the other by a title. In any case, however, the author believes Ozai and Iroh have "cut all ties," which seems reasonable.
However, while contrasting the generations, the author believes that the same is not entirely true of Azula and Zuko. The author admits she is an Azula apologist and sees there being some hope for them. To that I say that Azula was arguably as much complicit in the "burn the Earth Kingdom" plan as her father was, so it's important to not gloss over Azula's cruelty or depravity.
The next chapter leads into Katara talking with Zuko
What I liked
- The incident with the baby was nicely dramatic.
- Katara's thoughts about her father
- Going into more detail about Ozai's rise to power
What I didn't like
- The swearing censorship got a little ridiculous.
- Ozai coming off as this incompetent as well as unstable undermines him as a villain.
