The chapter picks up immediately after the trust falls, when Katara proposes doing yoga, much to the group's displeasure. Toph protests that she already did the trust falls, Sokka says he's too manly for it, and Aang says the last time wasn't pleasant, earning them pokes from the commonsense stick. Suki, however, finds it relaxing, and Zuko says it might be good for Aang's breathing techniques.
The group goes for a warm environment, and Zuko says that there's a steam pool that can be reached after a 20 minute walk through the jungle. The others are reluctant, and Katara believes they're being lazy, but Zuko's mentioning the poisonous creatures of the jungle gives them a bit more reason to do so. Even Katara isn't thrilled with the prospect of seeing rhino snakes. Zuko, however, points out that the creatures are more afraid of people than people are of them, and the Gaang will be fine if they stay on the path. No sooner does he say that than Aang starts to wander off, but Katara pulls him back.
In spite of the poisonous animals, Katara believes that the jungle looks and smells quite nice, briefly wishing that Aang had gotten her sun poppies instead of firelilies. Of course, Aang doesn't seem to have the same "gift giving sense" as Zuko, or even the rest of the Gaang does.
The Gaang finds the steam pool, and gets down to business, after swimming through to the cave. Toph is reluctant, as you can recall from "The Serpent's Pass" that she's not at all suited to swimming (since her feet can't touch the ground). Sokka carries her, much to her pleasure.
The Gaang gets to it, and Suki does the best. Toph does her own thing, Aang is quite impatient, and Sokka and Zuko are in the back, making jokes and laughing to themselves. Katara pulls Zuko over, and is amazed at how muscular he is, and considers using a birthday command to make him stay shirtless for the entire day.
Unfortunately, Zuko and Sokka's shenanigans continue, especially since Katara left the commonsense stick with her clothes. They begin horsing around in the water, and Zuko falls over, prompting Sokka to declare victory, until Zuko doesn't resurface. As Katara starts to panic, Zuko grabs Sokka by the ankle and flips him over. The group decides it's swimming time, and Katara, satisfied with the choice of it as a relaxing activity, abandons yoga.
Katara offers to help Toph swim back to the shallow end, and Toph accepts, still reluctant to admit her own fear of the water. Katara realizes that Toph would rather have Sokka do it, but is grateful that she's been a good sport. Katara offers to teach Toph how to swim, and Toph considers it, but still is afraid of being completely blind in the water.
Zuko comes in, much to Katara's annoyance at how quickly he turned the group away from yoga, how much he scared her with his stunt in the water, and how nonchalant he seems about both. This earns him a few whacks with the commonsense stick, albeit with Katara having difficulty being mad at him when he smiles like that, and when Toph chimes in about Katara's feelings for Zuko she gets a poke.
At around noon, the Gaang heads over to the day spa appointment at Angi's, which lasts all afternoon and includes lunch. Unfortunately, 18 of the items on the menu are different types of fireflakes, but there are also 23 different types of dumplings; it seems odd that there would be so many variations on those items of food. With mandolin players and cinnamon and vanilla smells around, the place comes off as more posh than the one in Ba Sing Se.
The mineral spa is first, and Toph is dismayed at there being more water, until the attendant reassures her that there isn't that much; I also find it quite amusing that they're going to take a bath after going swimming.
The lady brings in drinks and snacks, including "mystery dumplings," that Suki wants to try. The first one is extremely spicy, leaving Suki making strange faces and desperate for something to drink. After sampling Katara's smoothie, Suki makes a lame joke about the Fire Nation and spicy food. Katara points out that the only one who makes lamer jokes is Zuko- I honestly didn't know he even tried to do so.
Toph then asks about Katara and Zuko, and Suki then chimes in, revealing that she saw Zuko and Katara cuddling the previous night. Toph wonders if they kissed, but Suki says no and Katara also (truthfully and correctly) denies it. Suki does a Spit Take after Katara mentions rolling about in the sand, and Toph also wonders what was going on there. Katara insists that she and Zuko are Just Friends, and that they are not kissing, or doing anything more than that, before using her birthday powers to end the conversation. Of course, this will likely only prove a temporary measure, both by the nature of how she does it, and the nature of this fic.
The hot rock massages are next, which help distract the others from the subject. Toph enjoys them, saying that it reminds her of home (one would think that for her, it would be a bad thing), but while Katara realizes that it's significant that Toph is mentioning home voluntarily, she doesn't want to push her too much, lest she shut down.
Toph then reveals having a nanny who was kind and knowledgeable about benders, recognizing Toph's earthbending potential and giving her pebbles to play with when she cried, running one over her back in "soothing patterns." One has to wonder what happened to this nanny, since Toph is mentioning her as being there all this time, but it's the first we've heard of her.
Of course, the nanny stopped showing up around the time Toph ran away for the first time, searching for her and finding the badger moles who taught her earthbending. The rest is history, although Toph hopes to see the nanny again.
Suki says she will, because of "cheong," a Kyoshi Island belief in togetherness and connectedness. Everyone is connected, and those connections are strengthened by spending time together, with permanent bonds formed whenever someone makes an impact on one's life. Suki has such bonds with the warriors she spent years with, and believes the same is true for Toph and her nanny.
Katara likes it, finding it similar to one concept the Water Tribe has, also recalling her time in the swamp in Season 1. She believes that they'll be connected forever, prompting the girls to join hands, and Katara feels connected to the boys even if they're not there.
The author points out that she wrote this on her boyfriend's laptop, and there may be typos, but hopes it's a fun read.
The author says that the Fire Nation, like Australia, has many poisonous creatures as a result of the tropical climate. The walk through the jungle showed off the jungle, as well as native flora and fauna, to show more of each than was implied in the show. The author says that for Toph, "birthday obedience" is difficult, especially swimming, as the author is under the impression that she can't swim (which is all but explicitly stated in the Serpent's Pass, so she doesn't need to pass it off as her theory), but goes along with it anyway, making it an opportunity for Toph-Katara friendship, which is a good way of showing more of the group dynamics.
Zuko is reckless partly because of his capabilities, such as holding his breath for a long time, but also because few people were concerned for him, and Iroh, being from the Fire Nation, isn't as emotionally open as others. Katara caring for him and being upset when he does things like this will inhibit such behavior in the future, but he'll always be the first target of Katara's commonsense stick, which seems reasonable.
The author points out that the spa was tailored for Fire Nation nobility, a good guess considering the place Ember Island is, and also more lush and volcano-oriented.
The author mentions that Katara only won a brief reprieve from Suki and Toph's teasing with her birthday powers, and is (understandably) not sure how she feels about Zuko at this point. Her love for Zuko is at "inception" levels, and it will take a while before she admits it to herself, but there's a long way to go.
The author points out that Toph was not always a badass, and with heir overprotective parents, it's a surprise they realized she was even an Earthbender. The author suggests that the nanny Toph mentioned was one of a few, and that "*cough* got fired *cough*" (one has to wonder why the Beifongs have such a high turnover rate with nannies), Toph missed her, but we may see her again, and may already know her.
Toph warms to Suki as a result of this, although the author suggests that she was a little standoffish with her before as a result of her crush on Sokka (an interesting theory, even if we don't see it much in practice; Toph was slightly interested in Sokka but isn't too attached to him.) Toph realizes that Sokka loves her, but only as a little sister, and is better at picking it up than Aang is.
The author mentions Cheong as not just the name of "that nomad guy," but also a Korean philosophy of togetherness, which she heard about from a friend, whom she says explained it better.
The third and final part of Katara's birthday is next.
What I liked
- Touching scene on The Power of Friendship
- Interesting exposition on Zuko's recklessness.
- Toph finding her nanny again might be a good plot thread to connect back to her time at home, making it relevant to the post-war story.
What I didn't like
- The nanny seemed to come out of nowhere for Toph.
- Toph's jealousy toward Suki is a bit of an Informed Attribute
