The chapter begins with the mysterious girl waking up in the Bei Fong estate, unable to remember anything except how much pain she was in before she passed out. A woman named Hana greets her, as her lady in waiting.
As the girl gets dressed, she wonders who she was before this. Hana then tells her the story, which helps the girl realize that she's a firebender. Hana also deduces that the girl has the amber eyes of someone from the fire nation, as well as the undergarments of someone from the Fire Nation (do they have a uniform of any sort?) and tells her to heal under their care, especially because Hana finds her beautiful. The girl appreciates hearing that, and notes that Katara's name sounds familiar, and that she's been seeing Sokka's face in her dreams, along with that of a woman who looks like her but is very kind. Hana then dresses the girl in Fire Nation clothing given as a gift to Toph's ladies in waiting.
The girl exits her room and looks around, wondering if she'd lived in a place like this before. Sokka greets her, but the girl soon becomes terrified, and Sokka points his sword at her throat, and demands to know what she's doing here. The girl says she's here because Sokka brought her there, and begs forgiveness, not remembering what she's done to earn Sokka's hate. Sokka then says why he's angry; she is Azula, and he's not convinced she doesn't remember her many crimes.
I have to wonder how Sokka recognized Azula, since she's not acting at all like her canon counterpart, as an emotionally vulnerable and largely stable (if amnesiac) young woman. And it's a bit strange that he didn't think to check who the girl he was letting into Toph's estate was, as well as that he's getting mad at the girl he saved.
Sokka tells Azula to give him a reason not to kill her, as Azula pleads for her life. But Toph then arrives, demanding that Sokka stand down. Sokka tells Toph not to believe Azula, because she's "a talented liar", especially considering the scene during the invasion in which she and Sokka, together, heard her utter an obvious lie that did not get detected by Toph's Living Lie Detector abilities. Canonically, Toph would be cautious enough to realize that there are individuals who can fool her, but here, she insists that her ability to see through lies is infallible, and that because Azula has never cried before, she can't fake it that easily.
Azula runs off, and Toph tells Sokka to let her go, saying that she needs time to remember, if she ever does, and Toph will not allow any harm to come to her. Toph tells Sokka that since he brought Azula there, she's his responsibility, and goes off to tell the others.
Azula is still running away, in denial about what she's just heard. Meanwhile, Sokka asks whether Azula will try to kill them once she remembers. Toph says that when Zuko was their enemy (incidentally, she was the first to accept him back then, too), they could understand him, and she now wants to understand Azula.
Azula reaches a pond and finds some turtle ducks, which are quite possibly the most poorly photoshopped part of this comic. Words can't do it justice- find it here
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Azula hopes to befriend the turtle ducks, but falls into self-loathing as Katara approaches. Katara calls out her name, and Azula then recognizes it as hers, saying that it must mean "dragon". Katara says it was given to Azula because of who she was back when she had her memory, and Azula thinks her father must have been a terrible man if he gave her a name like that.
A word about Azula's name. "Azul" means "blue" in several languages, so it can be a reference to Azula's blue fire. In universe, Azula is named after her grandfather Azulon (which is explicitly said in "Zuko Alone"), a bit like how Julia might be named after Julius. The only person with a dragon nickname is Iroh.
Katara agrees to not talk about Ozai if Azula doesn't want, and Azula, referring to Katara by name, asks why she's talking to her at all. Azula remembers her name, and how she looks similar to Sokka. Azula says she doesn't deserve any comfort, and wishes she could apologize to those she wronged, especially her brother- it seems she's now taking the things she's accused of doing as facts.
Katara says Zuko is presumably aware that Azula's here, and Katara will let Azula see him when he's ready. She also points out that Zuko got his redemption, so Azula can get hers, too. Normally, this wouldn't raise too many eyebrows, but you can see the difference between Zuko and Azula in terms of personality. Zuko got scarred and banished for protesting a plan to sacrifice many fresh troops and over the course of his exile, came to realize that his nation was wrong to start the war. Azula, however, showed an incredibly sadistic streak from a young age, and only got worse as she got older. Azula's a Tragic Villain, but a villain nevertheless, and you can see why the author felt the need to give her amnesia and rewrite her personality, not having the writing skill to give her real Character Development and a believable Heel-Face Turn.
Aang, Zuko and Iroh arrive, and are shocked to see Azula. Their expressions are hilarious, and Aang's arm being over Zuko's shoulder is impossible without the part of his arm between the elbow and the shoulder being significantly longer. Toph shows up to give an explanation, saying Azula doesn't remember her own name, much less her past crimes. Iroh asks why this happened, and Toph recounts what happened, again, as if we didn't remember the first time.
Iroh says that the poison, which attacks a firebender's "inner fire," isn't hard to make, but few people know how to do so, and wonders who attacked Azula with it.
Aang says that because Azula tried to enslave mankind, killed hundreds of people (which sounds like an exaggeration), and almost killed him and Zuko with lightning, there are many people who would justifiably want to poison her, and wonders why the Gaang are caring for her. Zuko goes so far as to suggest that Azula poisoned herself, and that she could be lying.
Aang and Zuko bicker about Azula's plan, until Toph steps in, and points out the holes in their assumptions- with the dosage Azula received, she could very easily have ended up dead, and might just have forgotten what she was doing, risks she wouldn't have been willing to take. Iroh claims that Azula doesn't have the patience for such a plan, forgetting about how she conquered Ba Sing Se with a relatively long and elaborate plan.
All this debate is fairly interesting, and possible fuel for theories as to how all this is the real Azula's plan to deceive the Gaang, but it seems clear that the Azula we know is gone and won't come back.
With that settled, Iroh shifts the discussion to who poisoned Azula, finding it strange that they knew she was here in the Earth Kingdom, and points out that the poison was clearly used so that even if Azula survived, she wouldn't be able to do or say anything about who tried to kill her. Iroh even suggests that perhaps something Azula knew is the very reason she was targeted.
Toph says that at this point, they don't know what's going on, and tells them that she doesn't want any violence. She advises them to treat Azula politely, as they would a kind stranger, to prevent her from going back to her old self, while Sokka will look after her. Aang and Zuko reluctantly agree, but Iroh enthusiastically accepts, wanting to teach her "Pie Sho".
A Wall of Text follows, as large as the wall of Ba Sing Se, accompanied by an image of Azula petting Appa, and the author has to point out that Katara's narrating. In the absence of Azula's drill, I'll have to do what I can to get through it.
Katara reiterates that they are treating Azula as a kind stranger until she regains her memories, not knowing what will happen what she does but realizing that it's key to getting answers. They mention that it was hard to be nice around her at first, but once they find out that she's a nice person, it gets easier.
The one person who hasn't seen her yet is Zuko, and Katara notes that it must be hardest of all for him to accept this change as she slowly learns new things about them. Azula wants to see Zuko, but Katara sympathizes with Zuko.
As the Wall of Text ends, Katara then points out that Azula is starting to "dream nightmares" (a low-scale Department of Redundancy Department), including of the mother she can't remember, the Fire Nation's army, Ozai, the Day of the Black Sun, and most of all, blue flames.
By day, Azula is fine, and is learning Pai Sho from Iroh. Azula's happy to learn new things, and Iroh's happy to teach her, as well as that his niece is going down a new path. I hardly approve of the pocess Azula is going through for redemption, but considering that it took Zuko two and a half seasons to gain redemption, with the near-miss in Ba Sing Se one can hardly blame Iroh for wanting Azula to have an easier time with it.
On that subject, Katara's glad to see Azula smile, but fears the return of her more "sinister smile," and hopes the beast sleeping within her (i.e. her canon personality) stays sleeping forever.
Azula spends a lot of time with Sokka, on "history philosipy," "foke lore," and "ancient mystories," but apparently not spelling. Azula enjoys her lessons, and Katara reiterates her hope that Azula remains as she is and Zuko comes to see her. As for Sokka, Katara notes that he was "mad" at Azula at first(quite the Under Statement, which is odd considering the author's love for flowery prose and blowing things out of proportion), his perspective on Azula amnesiac self has changed, and Katara knows that he shares her hopes.
The scene abruptly shifts to Azula's POV, mentioning that she dreamed about the "boy with her scar," whom she surmises is her brother, and she hopes she gets to see him soon. But for the day, her mind is on Sokka, who isn't tutoring her, causing her to wonder what he does in his spare time.
That's why she's hiding in a tree, wearing a pink dress and sitting on a tree limb with few branches and almost no foliage. Sokka, with no prompting, begins talking to himself about how he's been training with Zuko, and wondering where he can find Azula, so he can take her to see the Cherry Blossoms. As he makes more and more overt remarks about his attraction to her, Azula gets more and more flustered until the branch breaks. Azula then falls out of the tree, onto Sokka.
One might call this incredibly contrived, but I have a different theory; Sokka knew Azula was there all along, and said all this so she could conveniently overhear him.
The scene shifts to Zuko and Katara having sex. Apparently, Zuko had Katara "mark" him, as firebenders apparently do to their one true love, and Katara was nervous about it, and later jealous that Mai would have him do the same to her. Zuko says that he "never had relations with Mai," and always wanted Katara. Katara says she felt the same way, and hoped Zuko was happy. Zuko says he was happy to be Fire Lord, but felt lonely. He then repeats the part about Mai hiding the letters, and somehow says that her betrayal broke his heart while maintaining that he never felt anything for her.
The subject then shifts to Azula, and how Zuko hasn't gone to see her yet. Zuko confesses that he's afraid to do so, since she has betrayed him in the past. Katara sympathizes, but says it's been three months since they started helping her. She mentions that the rest of the Gaang "love" her, and in Sokka's case, that means romantic love. Zuko mentions that Iroh told him everything about Azula, and wonders if it's a good idea for Sokka to develop feelings for her. Katara points out that the same could be said for her and Zuko, since she never expected to fall in love with a former enemy who hadn't lost his memory, and suggests that Zuko always only wanted love. Since Azula has lost her home, Katara believes she deserves a new one, rather than "a violent and lonely fate". Zuko agrees, saying that's why he didn't execute her like he did with their father, having seen a more vulnerable side of her after her defeat, like Zuko showed after his mother disappeared. Katara agrees, saying that Azula cries out for her mother and brother. Zuko and Katara then say that's why they love each other.
I'm leaving off here. It's too long for one part, and I figured now would be a good time. The second half of this chapter will deal with Azula falling in love with Sokka.
What I liked
- The poorly photoshopped turtle duck
- The Les Yay between Azula and Katara.
- The group's faces when they see Azula again.
What I didn't like
- Severe character derailment for Azula and the contrived excuse.
- Toph forgetting about Azula being a Consummate Liar
- The Zutara sex scene.
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