Embers: Chapter Three

[masterghandalf]

This is a repost from Das_Sporking2; previous installments of this sporking may be found here.

Warning: This chapter contains depiction and/or discussion of rape, abuse, honor killings, violence, and mind control.



MG: Well, everyone, it’s time to continue our journey through Vathara’s Embers! Last time, Zuko experimented with hot rocks, practiced healing, nearly had a panic attack, stole some swords and learned about some family history. In other words, he had quite the busy day😉. Today… the fic is going to venture into somewhat heavier waters, and we’ll see how well Vathara navigates them. And we’re also going to learn about what’s going to be one of the fic’s most defining and (in)famous concepts going forward. Joining us today will be Zuko (yes, I know, I’ve been using him a lot – but even by Embers standards, these first few chapters are very Zuko-heavy)… and our first character from outside the show we’ll be bringing in, in the form of Rangi from the Kyoshi novels!

Rangi *eyeing Zuko critically* So, you’re Fire Lord Zoryu’s… how many times great-grandson, exactly? Hmmm; I don’t think I ever learned the proper protocol for dealing with royalty who haven’t even been born yet, technically, from my perspective, at the Royal Fire Academy.

Zuko: *legitimately confused* And you’re Avatar Kyoshi’s… girlfriend? And you’re a firebender? I wasn’t the greatest student in history class, but I definitely don’t think anyone mentioned that part. *he sighs* Just as long as you’re not Azula in a past life or something… or me in a past life, even… I think we can handle this.

MG’s NOTE: Also, before we get started today I’d like to share something that LanWan brought up over on the Realm of Literacy Discord; last time, Vathara made an offhand reference to a bakery in the village where Zuko and Iroh were working. However, in East Asia at the time period Avatar is based on, bread was not a staple food – the most common grain was millet, apparently, which could be prepared and served in a variety of ways. Thank you for this info, LanWan!

Chapter 3

The days began to fall into a pattern. Walk. Find someone - anyone - moderately friendly. Offer assistance, and keep asking, until they reached someone who needed them; to heal, or just help carry firewood, or who knew what. Bargain for something in return; sometimes coin, sometimes food, and sometimes… odder things.

Zuko: …there was a little less healing when I was actually going through this, but otherwise… that sounds about right…

"Fish hooks?" Uncle Iroh murmured under his breath, as a grateful farmer beamed at his cow-pig.

"Ask him to throw in some cord, and it's worth it," Zuko murmured back. Spear-fishing like a Water Tribe brat might not be up his alley, but with a hook and line, he could get somewhere.

Rangi: …so, do you have something against the Water Tribes, or?

Zuko: *sighs and rubs the side of his head, clearly remembering getting hit with a boomerang there* Not anymore, but at the time… you could say that.

MG: And in any case, Vathara quite clearly has things against the Water Tribes; while that dig is clearly written in Zuko’s voice, I can’t help but think Vathara agrees with the sentiment, and it’s going to be getting much worse as we go, so… we’re starting a count!

Simple Rubes From the Water Tribes: 1

Doing something useful, keeping out of trouble… people left you alone on the ship if you were fishing. "That's Fire Nation steel. The hooks should last a while." Not like Earth Kingdom iron. Lousy stuff. Swordsmiths forged their own steel; either with some of the better local ores, or sometimes from ingots imported from the Fire Nation. Outside of that, local iron… well, there was a reason he could shatter it with a good heel-strike.

MG: Hmmm. On the one hand, the Fire Nation does have a higher industrial base than the other nations do at this point, and certainly make use of a lot of metal that would have to be very high quality (and, as I’ve seen noted elsewhere, it’s very helpful when working with metal to have a significant number of people in your country who can control the heat and intensity of fire). But it’s still Vathara going out of her way to praise something about the fire Nation and put down another nation in comparison… this is something I’d let slide from anyone else, but knowing where the fic is going… it gets a point.

The Superior Element: 3

Uncle eyed him, curious, but set to bargaining the man out of a roll of cord as well. And was delighted to accept a small round of cheese, pressed on them by a relieved farmwife who'd been looking at short milk rations with her oldest daughter's first baby on the way.

MG: Again per LanWan, cheese was also not a common staple food in the time period the show is based on. Hmmm; from an ordinary fic I personally would probably be willing to let stuff like this slide as an honest mistake, but considering this is Embers, which is supposed to be all about research and authentic worldbuilding… yeah, it does stick out a bit, doesn’t it? In any case, thank you again, LanWan!

It ought to keep while we travel, Zuko thought, making his farewell bows with Uncle and heading down the road. And some fish will go after anything-

"I'm surprised you agreed, nephew."

Zuko rolled his eyes. "Uncle, do you even know how much fish hooks cost?"

"Er…."

Rangi: …is the story trying to imply that your uncle doesn’t have a good idea of how much fish hooks cost and needs you to explain it to him? Because I have a hard time buying that, from what I’ve gathered about him.

"I've been paying attention to what you charge. We weren't cheated."

"Really?"

"Really." Zuko hated shopping, at least as much as his uncle seemed to love it. Hated being where people could see, and stare, and whisper. But he hated being cheated more. Which meant if he wanted to get it over with, he had to know exactly what he needed, and how much it was worth.

Zuko: …yeah, fair enough.

The walk was quiet for a while. Zuko focused on breathing, trying not to think of what they would do next. In and out. In. And out-

"I did not expect you would be so willing to work with simple animals."

…Of course it couldn't last. "It's easier to hide what we're doing," Zuko said shortly. Which was worth cleaning off his boots. Mostly.

Zuko: Also, we were desperate, on the run, and needed money. You kind of have to take what jobs you can even if you don’t want to, if it’s fixing someone’s roof, serving tea… or healing animals, apparently.

They'd found out the hard way that if he wanted to do anything more than just ease pain, he needed a fire to draw from. Using hot rocks, or even just his own fire, would work - but it left him dizzy and staggering, on his feet only through sheer will to keep moving until Uncle found a spot for him to collapse for the night.

No. If they wanted to keep this up - if they wanted to keep moving, keep alert - he had to have fire. And as long as their little pot of fire stayed out of sight of curious eyes… animals didn't ask questions.

MG: Of course, working with animals has downsides, too (though I get what Vathara is going for here in this particular case – an animal won’t be asking questions about Zuko’s technique specifically, or just why he has to use fire to fuel it). As an undergrad I had a summer job working at a vet clinic – that’s very much not my area of expertise, and my job mostly consisted or walking and feeding dogs, cleaning cages, doing laundry, and helping with some office work rather than anything serious, but I overheard the vets and vet students talking quite a bit. One recurring element that stuck with me was the ways in which working with animals can be much harder than working with people – you have to know lots of species instead of just one, they can’t tell you where it hurts, and they may not understand you’re trying to help them at all (in which case they can fight you when you try). Also, at a vet clinic, your have a much higher risk of your patients getting overly excited or nervous and peeing on the waiting room floor.

"True," Uncle allowed. "But you were also kind to the creature. Even when she tried to bite."

"She didn't like me. She didn't lie about it." Zuko shrugged, unwilling to look at that thought too closely. "People are crazy."

Zuko: People also don’t usually try to literally bite me. I think I might be a little more hung up on that…

"Some are, yes." Iroh frowned. "I wonder if that is the case where we are going."

Oh no. Oh, no. "We're not just going farther down the road."

"Well, we are."

Zuko winced, waiting for the other boulder to drop.

Rangi: *arches her eyebrow* Is that an Earth Kingdom expression? The other boot is how I’d always heard it – maybe I should ask Kyoshi once we’re done here.

"It seems our last client believes the source of his cow-pig's illness is on our way. The Lu Yu ranch. They appear to have been having trouble, since the night the moon was eclipsed." Iroh frowned more deeply. "I wonder…."

Definitely a boulder. Of the cliff-sized variety. "Uncle. I don't want anything more to do with spirits."

Rangi: *shudders* Me, neither, not after… what happened with Yun and all. And I didn’t even meet the spirit there myself. Kyoshi did, and what I was able to get out of her about that thing sounded… horrible.

"That does not mean they will have nothing to do with you, Prince Zuko."

Right. Like the universe would ever be kind enough to just leave him alone. "I don't have to go looking for them."

"That may be," Iroh allowed. "Yet in this case, it may be better to find them before they find us. If Zhao unleashed more than he knew, those moments the world was out of balance… spirits do not always distinguish between mortals well. Simply being of the Fire Nation may be enough to rouse their wrath."

MG: Okay, so, remember how I said that Vathara seems to really hate how the Siege of the North ended in canon and how she’s going to keep harping on that battle over and over again? Well, this is an early, and very mild, taste of that, though I don’t know how much specifically she had planned out in advance (some of the later developments feel very… sudden, like she just came up with them and threw them in without much foreshadowing). This is, however, one of the only times the fic is going to actually place the blame for the Fire Nation’s disaster at the North Pole where it belongs… with Zhao. A lot of the rest of the time, it’s… not going to be doing that. So hold onto this for later.

I do agree that “spirits don’t always distinguish between mortals well” seems to have some truth about it, though I’m not sure if Zuko and Iroh being Fire Nation specifically would matter that much – ie, Hei Bei was attacking basically anyone in reach when he was rampaging.

"Which is an even better reason to go the other way."

"Well, it could be nothing but a sickness," Iroh said easily. "Indulge an old man's curiosity. Who knows," he chuckled, patting his stomach, "we may get dinner out of it!"

Zuko sighed, trying to ignore his own rumbling hunger. They'd been getting by, but not exactly well. "This is a bad idea."

Not that it really mattered. He knew how the world worked. Turn his back on whatever this was, it'd be sneaking up on him in the middle of the night. Better to face it head on. And hope he could improvise better than he had at the North Pole.

Zuko: Well, I think I’d have to agree with this other version of me on that one at least.

"And nothing has changed in their food or water?" Iroh tried not to scowl. He'd dealt with enough mounts in his time as a general to have a fair understanding of their afflictions. These black sores encrusting hooves of the ranch's few cow-pigs, and claws and legs of their ostrich-horses, seemed… unnatural. "Have you brought in any new stock in the past months? Perhaps from river bottoms, in a moister territory?"

Zuko: And we’ve got an unmarked scene change again! Great.

MG: Remember what I said about FF.net eating the formatting, and me having to go through several layers between the fic’s original form and a form I can spork can’t be helping either; one way or another, I doubt the unmarked scene changes were Vathara’s fault.

"First thing I thought of," rancher Sho Lu Yu grumbled. "No. There's been nothing. Unless it was just hanging around for three months waiting, after those Fire Nation bastards-" Grim lips pressed together, cutting off his words.

"There was a raid?" Iroh inquired, careful not to keep too close an eye on his nephew as the young man moved along the corral, letting the herd take his scent. Ironic, that the blow Ozai had meant to shame his son forever shielded him here. So long as no one looked too closely. "If they knew their beasts were ill, it would explain why they sought yours."

"Nothing explains that filth-!"

Iroh did not react, watching out of the corner of his eyes as Zuko stiffened - then walked on, heading into the stables to check on sicker beasts.

"But it makes a lot more sense than a kamuiy," the rancher allowed, healed welts visible across corded muscles as he crossed his arms. "I swear, as if our family would ever allow ourselves to be dishonored enough to lead to that…. Well? What do you think?"

A malevolent kamuiy? A plague-spirit would explain this. All too well.

MG: We’ll discuss this term and what’s going on here a bit more when we get to the AN, so stick a pin in it for now.

And the healed marks of fingernails on the burly rancher's arms…. Zuko was right. This was a bad idea. "I can promise nothing," Iroh said reluctantly. "We may be able to help those who are less ill. And after that, if it is possible, I would like to walk the land they have been pastured on. Perhaps we may find something-"

"Uncle."

Not strident. Not demanding. He hurried into the stables anyway, somehow all the more worried. And winced, seeing the poor wreck of a creature his nephew was dribbling water into, one beak-full at a time. Black feathers, tattered and molted in the straw, ravaged legs and body…. "Nephew."

"She's still alive."

"Don't waste your time!" Sho's fist struck one of the stable's supporting beams, raising dust. The rancher drew in a snarling breath, limping slightly. "That's Asahi. She was - she's Ping's favorite. My daughter. If she could stand, she'd be trying to rip your throat out, boy. She's been crazy ever since the girl went missing. Ever since the moon went crazy."

MG: You know where I said this chapter dealt with some heavy content? Well, we’re about to get there, so strap in and brace yourselves.


Warning: Potentially Triggering Content to Follow


"Our hopes for your daughter's safe return," Iroh said courteously. Really, what else could one say, in the face of that glare? "Is she the most ill?"

"Worst that's still alive. Tough bloodline; I'll say that much for Yonaguni stock. Too small for hard work and a lousy temper, just like the damn firebenders… but they don't give up." A muscle in his jaw jumped, and dark eyes smoldered.

Iroh regarded his handful of facts, and liked none of them. "So if she was one of the first to fall ill, where has she been?"

Spirits. That glare didn't look promising at all….

"Just over here." Huan pointed down the slope before them, where lush greenery and a liquid chuckle betrayed a hidden spring. One of Sho's older sons, he was almost as tall and burly, with a sour look on his face as he stamped his feet on the ground, obviously disgusted at actually having to walk somewhere. "Hope this isn't the source. Some of the best water on the place, here."

"Is that why Asahi was here?" Zuko asked, all too aware of time slipping away like grains of sand. If they could just get back soon, then maybe… he stomped on hope, trying not to think about it. "Looking for water?"

"…Yeah. Yeah, that's right."

Rangi: *grimacing* Am I the only one starting to get a sense of where this is going?

Zuko: No. No, you’re not.

Liar. He wasn't even any good at it. Zuko glanced at his uncle.

"Do not let us keep you from your work," Iroh said generously. "We can surely find our own way back."

"You do that," Huan said shortly. "There should be something left for you."

"We are much obliged," Iroh smiled. Which lasted only until the rancher was out of sight, and out of earshot. "Something is wrong here. Very wrong."

Rangi: *snorts* With all the respect due General Iroh’s rank and experience… which part tipped you off? The missing girl, the sick animals, the Fire Nation raid (Fire Nation raid? What’s been happening in the world since our time, exactly?), the farmer acting all suspicious – I think lots of things are wrong here!

Zuko frowned, unwilling to go any closer to what should be inviting water. "It… does feel wrong." Like the spirits' oasis, a little. But swampy.

Zuko: …since when have I been able to sense that stuff? Aang’s the one who visits the Spirit World, Uncle’s been there too, and Ty Lee’s the one who’s always going on about auras.

"The energy of the world has been disrupted here." Iroh shook his head. "Yet nothing seems tainted by human carelessness." He waved a hand. "Let us spread out and search. If the spirits are disturbed, something should be visible."

Rangi: *shrugs* Not always. It might not be something someone did, it could be something someone didn’t do – if a spirit is mad because someone didn’t leave an offering out or didn’t perform some local ritual right, how could you tell?

Search, Zuko fumed, after long minutes of fruitless efforts. I don't even know what I'm looking for-

Rocks turned under his feet.

Tired, hungry, and frustrated enough to spit sparks, he still had his balance. A skip back, and he avoided the unstable stones, if not the waft of decay that rolled out in their wake. Decay, and-

Iroh was there, holding him back. "Come away, nephew. Come away." Zuko swallowed, unable to not look. "It's Ping, isn't it."

Rangi: *looking sick* Oh, spirits… *to MG* Let me guess, this is where some of that stuff you were warning us about is going to start?

MG: *grimly* Yes, yes it is.

"I am afraid that it may be." Iroh's face was grave. "We cannot be found here, nephew."

No. That would be… not good. Especially since- "She hasn't been dead long enough for it to be the raid, has she?"

Zuko: *slowly* Is this going where I think it’s going…

"A month and a half, perhaps. Let us go." Iroh sighed. "Well. Now I know why there is an evil kamuiy."

"A what?"

Zuko: *confused* Wait, if I don’t know what a kamuiy is, then why am I only asking this now and not earlier, when it first came up?

"A plague-spirit." Iroh led them away from the lonely cairn. "They are drawn by many things, but the most certain way to attract them is the murder of one with child."

"But why would anyone-?"

"I fear I know, nephew. I fear I know."

MG: So… yes. I’m going to just go ahead and spell this out, because the fic is going to keep dancing around it for a bit. Ping was raped and impregnated during the Fire Nation raid, and when it became obvious she was with child, her family killed her and hid the body, and the death is what drew the kamuiy. If you want to skip ahead until this scene is over and the plot point is mostly resolved, I’ll mark it so you can do so. For now, I’d like to talk about this for a moment. A: TLA, obviously, is in its origin a kids show – a very well done kids show with quality high enough that adults can also enjoy it, of course, but the original target audience means there are some topics it’s just not going to ever discuss, and rape is one of them. I won’t say that including sexual violence in your fics when the original canon doesn’t is something that one should never do, obviously. And Embers is rated T – it’s explicitly not for kids, even if the source material is. Personally, I wouldn’t write about rape for a fandom like this, but that’s a personal decision, because I would worry I couldn’t handle the topic with the nuance and sensitivity it deserves. I’m not going to judge Vathara for choosing otherwise. I do have some criticisms of the specifics of how it’s handled, though.

First off, as someone who reads a lot of adult epic fantasy, there is absolutely an issue of authors in the genre (mostly male authors; women generally seem to approach this topic with more restraint, though not universally *glares at the ghost of Bradley*) using rape for shock value or for a cheap signpost that a work is “serious” and “mature” (even otherwise good authors can fall into this trap – see one of the most infamous examples, George R. R. Martin). While part of me, uncharitably, does think that Vathara threw this scene in so early largely to show that Embers is totally for adults, everyone, I don’t think it’s just for shock value, mind you – I think she’s trying to raise some actual serious issues to grapple with. But a lot of how it’s handled leaves a bad taste in my mouth. First off, there’s Ping herself, an entirely posthumous character who exists solely as a victim to motivate Zuko and Iroh. But a bigger issue is that the villains here are not the rapists. The Fire Nation raid is presented almost more like a natural disaster that happened, with no real discussion of the actual soldiers involved, while the actual villains are Ping’s father and brothers, who Vathara seems to be presenting as brutish hicks as acting out of pure anti-Fire Nation racism. And, well, honor killings like this are a real and terrible thing that happens to people, usually women or children, in real life as well, and I don’t mean to minimize that at all… I just don’t think Vathara’s handling of the issue has a lot of depth or tact, and it somehow manages to, again, leave the actual rapists who started all this as a vague background element at most. It’s not the worst scene I’ve ever read, certainly (definitely better than Bradley’s gross apologia for rape and sexual abuse, or Newcomb or Greenwood’s use of them for schlocky shock value)… but it just doesn’t sit very well with me either, and I hope I’m explaining myself properly.

Also, in the grand scheme of the fic, the main reason this scene exists is, spoilers, to get Zuko his new ostrich-horse (and have him fight a spirit for the first time). And I really think that can’t help but trivialize the entire tragedy. Maybe that’s just me.

I will have to thank Madam Lin again later, for the coal, Iroh thought, taking a moment away from his careful arrangement of salt-dipped cut thorn branches to watch his nephew work.

The first few times Zuko had tried to heal had been… well, not quite disasters. His nephew had discipline, when he was calm; even if it was shaken by disbelief that fire could ever heal, and stark terror that he could mend instead of destroy.

MG: Hmmm; on the one hand, I like the idea of this – both the fact that Zuko isn’t an instant expert on fire-healing, and his thought process getting acclimated to it and the implications thereof. I just wish we could’ve seen it directly.

He'd improved since, yes. But Iroh had still had doubts anything could be done for Asahi. Such deep-rooted illness….

I underestimated my nephew's stubbornness. Iroh chuckled at himself. I should know better.

"They will notice, if you succeed," he'd warned his nephew earlier, voice light with a grim amusement he hadn't felt in a very long time. Once a general, always a general, it seems.

"Let them," Zuko had snarled. "She bit him, Uncle. She was there."

Iroh had nodded then, acknowledging that likely truth. And set to work in this fallow pasture, away from the main ranch, setting his kamuiy trap. And watching.

Discipline, anger, and compassion. Iroh smiled to himself, watching his nephew call out veil after veil of fire, green flecked with warm gold. A leader needs them all.

Rangi: *shrugs* Sure, anger can be good for a leader to have… if it’s the right kind of anger. I think Zuko’s probably heading in the right direction with righteous anger at the injustices of the world, considering everything, but still… Xu Ping An had a lot of anger too, the bad kind. Anger at the world for refusing to bend to his will in all things. But he had discipline only when he wanted to, and compassion? Don’t make me laugh.

Asahi lay quiet and mostly calm, black feathers only ruffling now and again to show her dislike of open flames. Weak as she had been, Iroh had still had to hold her down for the first pass; yet now she lay relaxed and still, peering curiously at the boy who was taking the pain away.

Thank you, little one, Iroh thought gratefully. You help him more than you know.

Last thorns and stones in place, the old general straightened, looking over the outline of the spirit-maze for any gaps not part of the pattern. It may not even come.

Perhaps. But then again, his nephew was currently stealing one of its most stubborn victims right out from under its repulsive nose. It should at least be interested.

Which will not make my nephew pleased.

Zuko: Also, with how Vathara keeps reminding us of how bad my luck is… yeah, if there’s a monster out there, I’m going to run into it. That’s just how these things work.

On the other hand, something the young man could fight might do him a world of good. And kamuiy could be fought. They could be beaten.

Rangi: Having been in some similar situations myself, he does have a point…

Whether there was a spirit or not, his nephew seemed to be expecting trouble. Zuko had already packed their gear for a midnight evacuation. Which was likely wise, no matter what the night might bring. Iroh didn't think the Lu Yu family knew they had noticed, but as they'd made their way back to the ranch, Zuko had spied Huan riding off to town. At twilight.

It could be innocent. An important errand. A girlfriend. A request for a squad of soldiers.

…Hmm. Perhaps Zuko's dire outlook on the world was contagious.

Zuko: Hey, I don’t think Uncle would need me bringing him down to remember that there might be hostile Earth Kingdom soldiers in the area – as Vathara likes to keep reminding us, he was a general!

Or perhaps, Iroh thought, seeing a shadow move toward them from the stables, it was simply his belated recognition that he couldn't depend on Zuko's younger ears in the midst of healing. "Nephew. Someone is coming."

"Almost done." Another wash of fire, and Zuko let the flames fade, reaching out so Asahi could sniff still-warm hands. He glanced toward the approaching woman, but kept his focus on the uncertain steed as she gained her feet. "How's that, girl? Shh. It's just me and Uncle, nothing to worry about."

"Madam Lin," Iroh nodded, as the rancher's wife came toward them with a lidded basket and wide eyes. "Is that perhaps breakfast, that we need not trouble you when we take our leave?"

She looked at his careful piles of thorns and stone, and Iroh knew she understood. "No," she said in a worn, worried voice. Opened the lid, and drew out dark clothing.

"Fire-thorns," Iroh observed, catching the glint of wild silk embroidered in protective patterns; glossy wood brown along edges of a fine green scarf, ruby-rust on hems and sleeve- seams of a pine-dark robe. "You must have been working on these for quite some time."

"They were for Ping," Lin admitted. "We'd been having so much ill luck, since the raid, I just wanted to…." She swallowed, and looked away. "I finished them a few days after she disappeared. If you're going to face the kamuiy… please. They might help."

Rangi: Well, I don’t know if that would work – we didn’t exactly cover spirits in combat lessons at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls, we left that sort of thing for the Fire Sages – but I can’t imagine it would hurt, either.

"They may, indeed," Iroh said graciously, draping the scarf about his neck before he took Asahi's reins. Just as well for them that Earth Kingdom women tended to take after their men; taller and more solid than most in the Fire Nation.

Rangi: Well, I’m not short, and I still have to crane my neck up to look at Kyoshi… and sometimes do other things with Kyoshi *she blushes and quickly looks away*… and I never met Kyoshi’s dad but apparently she got her height from him, so I can at least testify that’s true some of the time, with some people!

Hands on the robe, Zuko hesitated, obviously uneasy. "If you made this for your daughter…." "Ping is beyond its aid, now," Iroh said with quiet compassion. "You are not."

Lin's gaze whipped to him, wide and wild and-

Broken, with a terrible wonder, as she finally recognized the fine black steed alive and well beside him. "Oh, Asahi.…" She pressed a fist to her lips, eyes closed, voice thick with tears. "Are you spirits, come to take your vengeance?"

Zuko: *fidgeting nervously* Well. This is going to be awkward.

Agni, let Zuko keep his head for once, Iroh prayed. "If we are, you know what you have done." He shook his head. "You knew she was not missing."

"You don't understand!" The break in her voice was awful to hear. "The town knew. They knew! It wasn't enough that we had to rebuild what burned, but my daughter…."

Rangi: *puckering up* Well, in my experience no one really does ostracism quite like small Earth Kingdom towns – Kyoshi’s told me all about how the good people of Yokoya Village treated her for being an orphan and an outsider before Kelsang took her in, and I saw how some of the local kids used to bully her before anyone knew she was the Avatar myself, and it always leaves me wanting to throttle somebody – so I guess that tracks.

MG: Though I still can’t help but side-eye the way that Vathara frames this making the Earth Kingdom townsfolk the main villains of this horrid little drama as opposed to, you know, the Fire Nation soldiers who actually attacked the village and committed at least one rape while they were there.

"Yes! She was your daughter!" Zuko said angrily. Clenched his fists, and shifted swords and sheath from hip to back, where the robe wouldn't interfere with his draw. "Who cares what the town knew? You should have protected her!"

Zuko: *nods along angrily with his fic self*

"I tried!" A desperate wail. "We thought it would pass, and then… the rumors, and the whispers, and no one would give us fair prices anymore, and Huan's marriage contract was going to fall through, and… we were going to send her away! Where she'd be safe. Where no one would know! It was all arranged, she would have left in just a few days…."

"When the moon became as blood, and your husband decided he had no more use for pity," Iroh said sternly.

"I didn't know!" She fell to her knees, dripping tears. "I swear, I didn't know!" "You didn't not know," Zuko started, disgusted-

Paused, glancing warily into the night.

It is near. "Build up the fire," Iroh ordered, grabbing a stem of thorns. "Do not let it touch you-"

Tear-soaked ground erupted, and he threw.

"Ahh! Salt! Salt!"

A high, chittering voice, like the mole-rat it resembled. If mole-rats ever grew to the size of a man. Its fur was sleek and glossy gray, as if in perfect health - yet eaten away with the same sores that afflicted the ranch.

MG: Okay, my other reservations with this plotline aside, I do think Vathara makes the plague spirit nicely creepy, in a monster-of-the-week sort of way (that being, in essence, what it is). Though I have to wonder about calling it a “mole-rat” specifically, since mole-rats are a real animal and the Avatarverse’s animals are mostly weird hybrid creatures rather than earthly fauna (never forget everyone’s mystification at the Earth King’s pet bear being just… a bear!). So I’m not sure if I’m supposed to picture this critter as a giant naked mole-rat, or some sort of mole-rat hybrid creature. Either way works, I just think it’s kind of interesting that description could be read either way.

"Stay back, and protect Madam Lin!" Iroh warned Zuko. "I will deal with this creature."

"Ohhh, will you, old fire?" Eyes like Azula's flames sneered at them all, one by one. "Old smoke, all your hope burned to ashes. Rotted willow, breaking in grief's storm; oh, so tasty. And-" A hissing laugh. "Little dragon, just barely hatched! And no wings to protect you."

MG: And for the record… this is not metaphorical.

The Ultimate Firebenders: 4

"I can protect myself!" Zuko flared.

But he held back, even without Iroh's raised hand to stop him. Lin was whimpering, too pale to scream, and Zuko would never be so heartless as to leave her unprotected.

An Earth Kingdom woman. A peasant, and at least reluctant accomplice to murder. And the prince of the Fire Nation offered her mercy.

I have won, brother, Iroh knew, quiet pride warming him. The battle will be long and dark, and he may doubt himself - but he will never be yours again.

Zuko: *angry* Of course I wouldn’t do something like that! She’s not exactly innocent, but that doesn’t mean she’d deserve… whatever that thing was going to do to her. I don’t think I could’ve walked away from that even at my worst moments!

Rangi: *puts her hand on Zuko’s shoulder* I think that’s what your uncle is getting at, actually. I don’t really know you, but from what I’ve gathered about your father, I can tell you’re not him.

Zuko: *sighs* Thanks for that. Guess it’s still good for me to hear that every so often… though I’ve never had a historical figure try to cheer me up before, unless the Avatar counts…

"Leave," he warned the spirit in his next breath. "You have no more place here. Ping's murder is known, to those who will see justice done. Lin Lu Yu will denounce her husband to the law, and that poor girl will have the proper rites. Begone!"

"Lin Lu Yu?" Another hiss of a laugh. "Old smoke. Old fool! Why would she, when it's her word against theirs?"

"No!" Lin gasped. "My sons would never-"

"Oh, they will, broken willow. Your little plan meant they'd have to live with their shame. A dead sister is nothing; hidden away, forgotten. A living child of fire to call them uncle- Augh! Salt! You dare!"

MG: …and, here we have the implication (albeit from an evil spirit, so take with a grain of salt) that the killing of Ping was driven more by anger at the idea of having someone with Fire Nation blood in the family than, well, anything else about this situation. I’m not giving a point here because, well, it is a deeply messed up situation, and there are no innocents here (except Ping, who paid with her life for it), but I am noting it because the idea that people of other nations just have a lot of racism towards the people of the Fire Nation in general is something Vathara is going to keep coming back to more seriously later in the fic, so I just wanted to note it here.

Iroh dipped thorny branches back into his pot of salted water, ready to sprinkle the beast again. "We know the truth," he said grimly, "and there will be a reckoning. You have served your purpose. Your time in this world is past!"

"Silly smoke!" Teeth gleamed at him. "You're no earthbender! Your maze only touches the surface!"

MG: Got to say, I do like this loophole – and it makes sense that Iroh would’ve missed this one.

A blast of dust, and the beast had burrowed out of sight.

That, I did not expect, Iroh thought worriedly. Where could it have-

The kamuiy erupted under Zuko's feet, but the young prince was already moving; a leaping spin of steel that took him away from unstable ground and cost the swift little monster half its whiskers and one ulcerated toe.

The scream knifed through the night, a caterwaul of rage and revenge.

If the Lu Yus did not know something was amiss before, they know it now.

Iroh blinked, catching a glint of fire. Zuko knew they had to stay hidden, he'd agreed not to bend unless the need was dire-

He didn't.

Spirit-fire, invisible to ordinary sight. It glimmered around his nephew from sheer force of will, glinting off blades, blazing high on protective fire-thorns. The sickly-gray power of the kamuiy tried to cling to steel, to climb and rot tempting flesh-

Rangi: *utterly baffled* What is spirit fire?

Zuko: *shrugs* Beats me.

And was burned away. Vanquished.

Hissing, the beast turned on Iroh. Charged him, teeth and claws and flailing naked tail- Vanished into the earth, just ahead of salt water.

"Where'd it go?" Zuko demanded, scanning the ground for movement.

"It wishes to cause pain," Iroh said grimly, backing up to his nephew and the trembling woman. "But it is at heart a coward, and we can defend ourselves- nephew, no!"

Too late. Zuko had already swung onto Asahi's bare back, and was racing for the ranch, just behind mocking laughter.

Don't know why I'm doing this. Thought my family was messed up, but these guys! They deserve whatever the kamuiy's going to do.

Only it wouldn't stop there. Zuko knew it. Already, the animal-plague was starting to spread off this ranch to innocents. If it got into people….

Not going to happen.

Asahi moved like a dark wind. Ping must have loved her.

You tried to get away, didn't you, Ping? You fought him. Your own father. I wish I was that brave….

MG: On the one hand, again, this is a character moment that I like. On the other hand… while canon!Zuko eventually did get his (extremely cathartic) chance to confront his father, in Embers that scene, spoilers, doesn’t actually happen. In fact, I’d say that this fic, despite its focus on the Fire Nation in general and Zuko in particular, really doesn’t pay off the Zuko/Ozai conflict very well at all (and its handling of the Azula/Ozai dynamic also has issues)… but again, we’ll have more to say on that later.

The ranchers were out and angry, lanterns and spears in hand. "You!" Sho growled. "What are you doing on one of my mounts? Thief!"

"The kamuiy, you moron!" Zuko snapped, racing to track that telltale ripple of dirt. There!

In front of them. Too far for swords. The ground erupted-

Sorry, Uncle.

Zuko slashed air, fire blazing out to smash the spirit away from its target. Asahi squawked in protest, hopping sideways-

Which was just as well, as Sho's spear sliced through where they'd just been. "Firebender!"

"Plague-spirit, you rock-headed idiot!" Zuko twisted off Asahi, blades sweeping out to intercept screaming teeth. "Do you really want to fight me instead of this?"

Rangi: Much as I hate to defend any of these people… considering the last firebenders they apparently saw, I can’t really blame them for thinking they now have two enemies instead of just one.

From the number of spears jabbing his way, they really did.

Time to stop being subtle.

Earth was solid, rooted, stubborn. That's how they came at him, spear-points bristling like thorns, eyes wide and glazed as if they could ignore the malevolent spirit by sheer will.

Solid. Stubborn. Predictable. He could see exactly how to slice, leaving them all defenseless-

A sway of a waterbender's body, trapping his spearmen in ice….

Zuko echoed that flow of memory, twisting away from jabs with inches to spare. Spears struck unnatural fur-

Bounced off, as if the spirit were made of steel.

What the-?

"Die, little dragon!"

The kamuiy leapt for him, a whirlwind of teeth and claws and hate-

But he'd fought the wind before. He'd fought the Avatar. This creature wasn't even close.

Rangi: *sniffs* That it certainly was not.

Don't let it touch you.

One blade slashed fire at it to knock it back. Its twin cut behind him, spearheads falling like iron hail. He somersaulted over the porch rail and brought a heel down blazing fire onto dry wooden planks, searing through to intercept the spirit as it burrowed.

Amazing, how such an awful screech was music to his ears.

A more human howl, followed by blistering curses. "-Damn bitch hen!" Aww. Asahi had bitten the bastard again. Shame she'd missed his throat.

Earth writhed under the hole ringed by blazing timbers. The kamuiy, trying to burrow away-

No. You. Don't!

Zuko yanked his arms up, feeding rage and pain and betrayal into flames already blazing. Fire roared, consuming wood like flash paper, whirling as he swept his arms across into a firestorm drilling down-

Burning into the soil itself. Consuming it, in white-hot rage.

This maze isn't just on the surface, spirit!

Zuko: …I’d say that I don’t actually have any idea how I’d make a “spirit-maze” out of fire… but I guess at a certain point, if you hit it with enough fire, anything burns.

The kamuiy's screech rose higher and higher, itching at his ears like the calls of cricket-mice-

Cut off, with a sudden sense of absence. Filmy gray vapors rose from the flames, and shredded away.

"It is over, nephew."

MG: And, overall, I have to say… I still have issues with the way the surrounding context is handled, but I did like that fight scene.

Zuko staggered, painfully glad of the firm hand gripping his shoulder. Everything ached, and the world had an unsettling tendency to gray out at odd moments. "Uncle? Are you all-"

Groaning ranchers were scattered on the ground behind them, like so many fallen leaves. At least one beheaded spear had been further shattered by an annoyed blade-hand strike. And Asahi was standing over Sho, hissing.

Hungry and exhausted, Zuko grinned.

Uncle coughed into his fist, eyes ruefully amused. "I think, perhaps, it is best we go."

"My house!"

"Swiftly," Iroh added dryly.

Zuko: …yeah, that sounds about right.

Zuko stepped back, finally taking in the blazing building. The ranch-house was already crumbling into itself; flames vining out along attached fences, the very ground smoldering as fire crept through it. Wincing, Zuko lifted a hand-

"Let it burn."

Zuko swallowed, sheathing his dao. "Uncle?"

"Fire cleanses. If the town will not exact justice - I believe this should suffice."

Zuko grimaced, glancing down the road. Lanterns, torches, the glint of iron and steel…. "They may not agree with you."

"Oh dear," Uncle Iroh murmured.

Zuko: Which is where the “going swiftly” part comes in.

They're armed, Zuko thought. They're fresh - fresher than we are, anyway. And we don't want to hurt anyone.

Decided, he whistled.

Asahi perked up her head, and stalked over to them. Catching her reins, Zuko glanced at his uncle.

Iroh eyed the ostrich-horse. Glanced at the semiconscious ranchers, and the aghast Madam Lin. Looked at the roaring flames, and sighed.

Leaving his uncle to raid the stable for tack, Zuko ran for their supplies. Asahi saddled, Iroh wasn't far behind. "Where are we going, nephew?" "Anywhere but here."

Rangi: *winces* Yeah, I know that feeling. Though I don’t think Kyoshi and I ever had to fight a spirit and an angry mob in the same night. *glances over at Zuko* You’ve got talent.

Zuko: I’d say this isn’t really me anymore… but the luck just about tracks.


Potentially Triggering Content Ends Here


I should have been a little more specific.

He should have known better. Really. They had hooks, line, bait - of course they'd end up in a dry waste where water was scarce and fish even scarcer. Not to mention a town full of scared civilians and a bunch of thugs masquerading as a home guard.

MG: *sighs, rubs their forehead* And here, we’ve got something I’d consider to be a bigger problem, namely this chapter’s structure. It feels like two stories – the spirit fight at the ranch, and now a “Zuko Alone” retelling, if you hadn’t figured it out yet – smushed rather awkwardly together, and I really think it ought to have been two separate chapters. Not only because they’re separate stories, but because I think they both needed room to breathe. The whole sordid drama surrounding Ping I don’t think is a bad idea, necessarily, but I do think it’s the sort of thing that needed to be handled with more depth and seriousness than Vathara was able to give it. And “Zuko Alone” – well, as the title suggests, I think that episode is changed completely if you add Iroh to the dynamic (since he and Zuko had temporarily separated by this point in canon) and fully exploring the implications of that would take more space than Vathara seems able to give it in half a chapter. Especially considering she clearly expects her readers to know the story and fill in the gaps and major characters from their memories of the show, which, again, isn’t a bad assumption for someone reading a fic based on the show… but for a fic whose fans like to insist stands on its own and can – and maybe should – be read as such? It’s still pretty glaring.

Stations of the Canon: 5 (one point for the events of “Zuko Alone” being dropped on us like this, one point for Zuko and Iroh ending up in the same town Zuko did despite their travels being otherwise different)

At least Sela's stew had been filling. Though he really wasn't sure about the job he'd done on their barn roof. Didn't match the other shingles at all.

But even Uncle had admitted it might be better to drop the traveling healer act for a few towns. Just in case the Lu Yus had spread the word. No matter how hungry it left them.

The robe was still wrapped up tightly in one of their saddlebags. Uncle insisted he hang onto it. For luck.

I hate luck.

Zuko: I hate bad luck. Which, admittedly, tends to be the only kind I usually see…

"Why, Uncle?" Zuko asked now, as they rested in the grass to work out their next move. Not that there were that many directions to go from here that didn't end up in a desert. "We all hit it. But they couldn't cut it. It doesn't make sense."

Lying back, Iroh laughed softly. "I thought you did not wish to know more of the spirits, Prince Zuko."

Rangi: Is this where we’re going to learn more about that “spirit fire?” Is this a Fire Sage thing? *muttering* Please don’t tell me it’s a Fire Sage thing… the last time we got mixed up in that stuff, it did not end well…

"I don't," Zuko insisted. "And why are you calling me that? We're in the middle of nowhere."

"Because it is important." Iroh tapped his fingers together, choosing his words. "Many believe strong benders run in families. To a certain extent, this is true. Bending is a gift of the spirits, and those with strong spirits often raise strong children."

MG: Eh, this is probably as good an explanation as any. Canon goes out of its way to establish that bending isn’t exactly genetic (see the twin boys in “The Fortuneteller” – one is an earthbender, one isn’t) but we do see that some families produce lots of benders anyway (including the Fire royal family, for that matter).

Zuko frowned, and sat up. "If that's true - why wipe out the Air Nomads? What was the point?"

Rangi: *spluttering in shock* Who did what, now!?

Zuko: *groans* Oh, you’ve got some things to catch up on, don’t you…

"The point was to destroy the Avatar, and remove the knowledge of airbending from the world, so the cycle would remain broken," Iroh said gravely, rising to look him in the eye.

MG: …which I’d think would be pretty obvious (and we know the Fire Nation’s official histories contained the lie that the Air Nomads had a standing army the Fire Nation fought in the field, though being royalty Zuko may have been taught the true version of events, or something closer to it, rather than the pablum for the masses). Though we’ll be getting more on the Air Nomad genocide later… Vathara never denies that it was a terrible atrocity, to her credit, but nonetheless she has thoughts on the matter. Lots of them.

"Unless a few sky bison have hidden themselves in the farthest mountains, they are gone. Any who might be born with the gift have no one to teach them." He chuckled. "Though I have heard interesting stories, of the Earth Kingdom refugees we saw at the Northern Air Temple-"

"I don't want to know."

MG: Well, based on Korra it would seem that some sky bison did, in fact, survive the war… and as for the bit about the Northern Air Temple, this is something else to stick a pin in, as we will be coming back to it later.

Iroh raised an eyebrow. Zuko glared, and tried not to think. "We saw them gliding. Using the wind. That's all."

If I know anything else, if Father knows, I might have to - no. Not my problem. The Avatar is my problem. That's all.

He let his gaze slide aside, feeling oddly guilty. "So what does bending have to do with swords?"

Zuko: *shrugs* You can use some firebending techniques with swords. And some earthbenders use hammers, and the airbenders had their staffs. Using weapons with bending isn’t all that weird.

"It was not your swords that cut him, young prince. It was the strength of your technique. And of your will." Iroh smiled at him. "I would not have risked dealing with a spirit bent on malice, if I did not know we both had the strength to survive the encounter."

Zuko swallowed. "I'm not strong." Not like you.

"We must teach you more history," Iroh mused. "Though finding the scrolls I seek outside the Fire Nation may be difficult… even before Fire Lord Sozin, the Avatar could not be everywhere at once. People had to deal with some spirits on their own. And those benders with the strongest will, who could defend their people from evil - they often became great leaders, and their children after them. That is your heritage, Prince Zuko. And mine. No banishment, no decree, no shame-" he reached out.

MG: So, on the one hand, in a vacuum, the idea of powerful benders being called on to serve as exorcists against dangerous spirits in the Avatar’s absence is something I quite like, and I’d enjoy reading a fic (or, nowadays, even an official novel) with that premise. On the other hand, this idea is going to serve as the basis for some places Vathara is going to be going later in the fic, involving things like the yaoren (we’ve not gotten there yet, but we will…) and even her take on the Dai Li that I really do not care for. So, again, this is something we’re going to be coming back to, quite a lot. And also, based on some of Iroh’s phrasing here… I know he’s trying to cheer Zuko up, so I’m taking that in this context, but even so… Vathara has a thing about bloodlines. It’s not Bradley or Newcomb level, but bloodlines and heredity are very definitely a thing this fic is going to keep coming back to, in various contexts. And one of those contexts is that nobles tend to be special people, or the descendants thereof, so… let’s go ahead and give a point here.

Divine Right to Rule: 2

Zuko stiffened.

With a sigh, Iroh let his hand fall. "None of that can change who you are, my nephew. You are strong. Here." He tapped gently over his own heart. "Never forget that."

Never forget who you are. His mother's face, disappearing into the night after - after Azula had said those horrible lies. "But Azula's stronger."

"Azula is more skilled," Iroh said bluntly. "The two are not the same. Azula could not even attempt what you are beginning to master."

Azula: *sniffs loudly in disapproval from just out of sight*

Rangi: *ignoring her* Fair enough. Strength and technique aren’t the same thing. Look at Kyoshi. Even before she had any real earthbending training, she could practically move mountains… but for a while she had real trouble with anything smaller than a mountain.

Zuko glanced at Asahi, happily cropping grass, shrubs, and the occasional cricket-mouse. Looked away. "Like that's really going to impress my father."

"The Fire Lord would not be pleased," Iroh admitted. "My brother is a suspicious man. I understand why your mother did not bring her skill to his attention. You may not have time for my proverbs, nephew, but I think Ozai learned one too well: all medicines can be poisons- "

Zuko: I think it’s more that Dad wouldn’t be happy with me if I came home with powers he didn’t understand and couldn’t control, especially if he thought I meant to challenge his right to rule…

The world crumbled.

Mother could heal.

Grandfather died.

"Everything I've done, I've done to protect you."

"Zuko. Zuko!" Uncle's hands were on his shoulders, shaking him. "Agni, you are pale as death… what is it?"

No. No, it can't be. "Azula always lies," Zuko whispered.

Zuko: Wait… are we having this conversation here? Isn’t this a little early for that? I mean, I guess I always kind of suspected Mom had something to do with what happened to grandfather, but I didn’t know until I confronted Dad on the Day of Black Sun… what am I thinking here, that Mom healed Fire Lord Azulon to death?

MG: IIRC, we never actually get confirmation of just what Ursa did to Azulon in this version of the story… though honestly, considering how important she is in the backstory, Ursa’s role in the present of Embers is (imo, disappointingly) small.

"It is best to assume so." Iroh studied his face, eyes grave. "Nephew. Tell me what is wrong?" Zuko swallowed. "Grandfather was old, wasn't he?"

"Almost a hundred," Iroh acknowledged. "Though that is not always old, for a strong bender; King Bumi of Omashu is at least a decade older, and still an earthbender to be reckoned with. Sozin himself lived over a century and a half, vibrant to the end.

MG: So… IIRC, some elements of the timeline of the backstory got rearranged during the show’s production. In particular, the timeline of Sozin and Azulon’s reigns. In the flashbacks in “Zuko Alone,” Azulon is mentioned as having reigned for 23 years, which would have made Sozin absolutely ancient when he died and passed the throne to his son (it also means Azulon wouldn’t have come to the throne until he was in his seventies). Later materials reshuffled this – canonically, Sozin died at 102, twenty years after the Air Nomad genocide, and was succeeded by Azulon, the son of his old age, who was born the year of the genocide. Azulon then ruled in turn for seventy-five years, until his own assassination at the age of 95. Vathara generally prefers the older timeline for this context, and, hey, it’s her fic. Otherwise… yeah, powerful benders and other spiritually strong people (like Guru Pathik) seem to be unusually long-lived, though it’s not a hard and fast rule. The Kyoshi novels indicate that Kyoshi’s own extraordinary longevity – she lived to be well over two hundred – was actually a technique she learned from one of her companions, Lao Ge, aka Tieguai the Immortal, a legendary assassin who prolonged his life with a particular meditation technique. Lao Ge’s technique seems to me to have been rooted in earthbending principles of endurance and stability, but I imagine there could be variations for the other elements as well.

And my father seemed well, before I left. But much can change in two years." He frowned. "Zuko. Tell me."

Zuko shook his head. No. She wouldn't. But… she said… and I'm like her, I'm like her and I-

"Don't hate her. Please." Don't hate me.

Zuko: *hunches down, looking miserable*

Paling, Iroh let him go.

I'm going to be alone again. Like after Mom… I don't care if I deserve it, it hurts….

Zuko: *quietly* I know I wasn’t left alone when this came out for real, but having to go through it again, now… it still hurts…

"Zuko." Iroh's voice was calm, the sea before a storm. "Why would you believe your mother could do such a thing?"

"…It's my fault."

"You were ten." Still that same ominous calm. "How could it ever be your fault?"

"He was going to kill me." Zuko swallowed hard, closing his eyes. If he didn't look, he wouldn't see. If he didn't look, he could pretend his uncle didn't hate him. Just for a little longer. "That's what Azula said. But she always lies."

"Please." And there was a tremor in Iroh's voice that made him want to curl up and hide. "Start from the beginning."

Tell the truth. That's what Ping needed, wasn't it? Uncle's always looked after me. He should know.

He shouldn't have to stay with a monster.

Rangi: Zuko, I don’t know you well, but I think I know enough to tell you that you’re not a monster. Your father – and far be it from me to speak ill of a Fire Lord, but I don’t think I have much choice – sounds like a spirits-cursed lunatic. He’s the monster, not you.

Eyes shut, fists clenched, Zuko looked back into memory. "It started after we - heard about Lu Ten. Father went to meet the Fire Lord…. Azula wanted to hear what they said, so she pulled me behind a curtain to listen. Father… he said your line was ended, and he had heirs, he should be the next Fire Lord." Zuko swallowed. "I don't know what happened next. Grandfather was mad. I was scared. I ran away."

Iroh sighed. "But Azula did not."

"She - she came into my bedroom later. She said-"

"Dad's going to kill you. Really, he is."

"-She said Fire Lord Azulon was angry. That… that he told our father he should know the pain of losing a firstborn…."

"Oh, Agni," Iroh whispered.

"And - and then Mom came in, and took her away - and she woke me up in the middle of the night and I didn't even know to say goodbye, and - she was gone. And Grandfather was dead." He wasn't going to cry. He wasn't. "Mom said - she did it to protect me, it's my fault…."

"Zuko-"

A wagon's rumble; Zuko shot to his feet, reaching for his blades- Sela. Face taut with an all too familiar fear. "You have to help!"

Who, us? You've got a whole town full of real Earth Kingdom neighbors to ask, lady. We're leaving. "It's Li…."

MG: *sighs* And it was going so well. Zuko telling Iroh about what happened the night Azulon died (now, I’d always sort of assumed Iroh had gathered enough to put together the gist on his own, but this is really about Zuko finally deciding to let it out) was great stuff, and Vathara’s depiction of Zuko’s anguish was genuinely wrenching. Unfortunately, we just got reminded that this was all happening in the middle of “Zuko Alone,” and so now we’re jumping right into the “Lee (not “Li”) is in trouble and Zuko has to save him” sequence despite in this version we’ve never even seen Zuko meeting and bonding with Lee, or giving him his knife, even though Iroh’s presence ought to have significantly impacted those events. *sighs again* This is why I think the “Zuko Alone” stuff should have gotten its own chapter!

Stations of the Canon: 6

Of course it was. And of course, they were the only other armed so-called citizens for miles, what was wrong with these people? Didn't they realize that if you sent men off to war, you made damn sure the women knew how to defend themselves? How to defend their children?

Rangi: *nodding in agreement* Kyoshi had some ideas about that… I wonder if anything ever came from that?

Zuko *remembers leading an attack on Kyoshi Island, stays very carefully quiet*

Like Mother fought for me.

Argh. How did he keep getting into these things?

You are a kind and gracious woman, Madam Sela, Iroh thought, calmly absconding with a length of chain from the blacksmith's forge while his nephew provided a distracting spectacle to the watching townsfolk. But I do wish you had come along just a few minutes later.

Zuko: And I wish I had a better idea of what was going on here! What am I even doing? Did I even give Lee my knife in this version?

His nephew might have buried his pain under his determination to rescue the boy, but he still believed Iroh should hate him. And there had been no time to correct those awful fears.

Now, Zuko fought well, but he fought alone. And while Iroh had no fear for the young prince against any number of ordinary thugs, to face both numbers and an earthbender, without giving himself away… well, it might be difficult.

But he is not alone.

The earthbender's hammer lifted for a mighty blow- Chain twirling over his head, Iroh threw, and yanked.

It never ceases to amaze me, how many benders fail to train with anything more than their arms.

MG: Okay, I know what Iroh means here (though I don’t think it’s quite right, remembering our discussions of benders and weapons – and the guy in both the original version of this scene and here fought with a hammer) but I do think it’s kind of funny to make this comment about an earthbender specifically, because as Toph would like to remind us, power in earthbending comes from the stance.

Zuko's spinning kick caught the earthbender under the chin, and the man crumpled like a wilted flower.

Smiling in satisfaction, Iroh cut that troublemaking young scamp Li free- "Boo! Cheater!"

Delivering one gap-toothed boy into Sela's anxious arms, Iroh turned toward the mob, incredulous. Surely, these people were not about to turn on his nephew simply because-

"What do you think you'd do against our guards in a fair fight, pretty-boy?"

MG: *groans* And here we have another of Vathara’s pet peeves – the idea of fairness, and specifically that she seems to think it’s a bad idea, and people who talk about fairness a lot are usually antagonists, or at least portrayed as ignorant or unpleasant. We’ll see more of this later, once again, but it felt worth bringing up here. Also… in the actual version of this scene, the townsfolk hated the soldiers and were quite happy to root for Zuko against them, at least until he busted out the firebending. I guess they changed their minds pretty quick, huh?

Ah. The closest thing this town had to a village elder. Who'd been all too quick to bow to the Guard, while they were standing. For an instant, Iroh admired his nephew's self-control. Not a flicker of flame or breath of steam to be seen. Amazing, given he himself felt more than inclined to turn back the wheel of time a decade and start setting strategic points on fire.

Enough of that. "If you are depending on warriors who can only win a fair fight," Iroh declared, pitching his voice to carry, "then you are all doomed. The Fire Nation has no interest in fighting fair." No good general was. A fair fight meant a chance that you would lose. And then all your dead haunted you for nothing….

MG: *glances up at their previous comment*

Reaching his nephew's side, Iroh smiled ruefully. "Some days," he said, voice low, "one can only make a strategic retreat."

Zuko stared at him, stunned. Disbelief, incredulity-

Hope, flickering in gold eyes like the embers of burning joss sticks. Mounted double, they left the catcalls and anger behind.

Zuko: …I’m still wondering if I gave Lee my knife in that version. And if I did, you’d think it might have been worth showing because Uncle was there and he gave me that knife in the first place – you’d think that might have changed things a bit! And if I didn’t… Lee got in trouble with the soldiers when he pulled a knife on them – the knife I gave him! If he didn’t have it, why’d he get taken, anyway?

"I do not hate Lady Ursa."

Reins in hand, Zuko stiffened. Forced himself to relax. "He was your father."

"True," Iroh allowed, heartsick. "But no father should ask what he asked of his son. And no son should ever grant such a horrible request." He sighed. "I hope my father meant only a line adoption; to give you to me as an heir in Lu Ten's place. But it would seem your father, at least, thought… otherwise."

That, or Ozai simply could not live with the insult of being passed over as heir for a boy he thought weak and useless. And had decided to rid himself of the shame. Directly.

Suddenly, that horrible Agni Kai made far too much sense.

How long have you wished him dead, brother? How long?

Zuko: *bitterly* I mean, even when we were little kids he always made it clear he’d rather Azula be his heir than me, so… I’d say a while.

But past was past, and Zuko already carried enough pain. "I think of what I would have done, had the Fire Lord asked me to harm Lu Ten," Iroh said soberly. "And though I feel pain, and grief… I do not blame your mother. Your death, or Fire Lord Azulon's, or her flight; those were her choices. And brave and cunning as she was, I do not think she would have survived fleeing the very heart of the Fire Nation with you at her side. Ozai would have hunted you down. Both of you." Iroh swallowed the anger, if he could not hide the grief. "I do not hate her, nephew. And I do not hate you."

MG: I’d be inclined to agree with that take (basing this just on the show, nothing from The Search) – from what we know, Ursa was banished for her role in assassinating Azulon. Ozai wanted her gone… but if she’d tried to take Zuko, that probably would’ve counted as kidnapping a royal prince, and I can’t imagine that’s something Ozai could’ve let stand, no matter how much he hated the boy. It would’ve made him look weak if losing his firstborn son was literally the first thing that happened in his reign.

Zuko glanced behind them, checking for any pursuit. So far, there was none; the villagers content to have merely run trouble out of town. "Azula…."

"Yes?" "…Never mind."

"Such poisonous words are like knives in the dark, nephew," Iroh stated gravely. "Force them into the light, and they have lost the advantage."

Zuko swallowed, and drew Asahi to a halt. Dismounted, checking her feet quickly, and started walking, leading the black hen. "She'd… quote that proverb. A lot. And look at me."

All medicines are poisons. Yes. He could see it, Agni help him. "You believe she knew of Lady Ursa's skill."

"She's Azula." Zuko's hands fisted on the reins. "She'd… do things, leave them bleeding, and I couldn't…." He shook his head, violently. "At least - she got bored with that. After a while."

Oh, Zuko. His nephew was not a fool. Try to heal, and mark himself a traitor, as he knew Ursa would have been marked? Try, and fail, as a young firebender with no one to correct such a delicate technique would have failed….

It is not a wonder he feared to try. That he fought the fear, when I asked, and when Asahi needed him - Ozai, you are a fool. "Why did you not tell me?"

"Who was going to stop her?" Zuko said bitterly. "She's… she has a pattern. She starts on something, and - she keeps doing it, more and more, until you blow up. And then she does it even more. But if you can act like it doesn't matter, like you don't care… sometimes she gets bored." He swallowed. "I'm not good at keeping still. Acting like I don't care. I should be better."

MG: Hmmm; on the one hand, I can totally see Azula deliberately needling Zuko like this until one way or another, he snapped (and Ozai allowing it); on the other hand, I think she’d be better at figuring out what things Zuko actually cares about and what he doesn’t, though this was little kid Azula he’s talking about rather than the older, more refined version we know from the series.

You fooled most of your crews for three years, Iroh thought wryly. "Do you remember the storm? I believe your men prefer the prince who honestly risks their lives, rather than a ruler who executes those who hesitate at her whims."

MG: I’d have thought the takeaway from the storm was that Zuko was willing to risk his life for his crew, and turn aside from pursuing his mission in favor of keeping them safe… if that’s what Iroh is meaning here, it’s kind of a weird way of wording it.

That earned him a troubled glance back, before his nephew's jaw clenched, silent.

Iroh hid a smile. Certainly, a prince commanded by right. But if your men followed out of their own will, as well as duty - that was a tie not lightly broken. Not among their people, at least.

And I do not doubt that is part of what Fire Lord Sozin played on, to lead us to destroy the Air Nomads. We of the Fire Nation are loyal, to the death - and when the airbenders would change their minds and shift, as history says was their way, those of us who might have counted them as friends would have felt… betrayed.

And unearned betrayal drove his people to desperate acts. If history had not sufficed to teach him that, three years on his nephew's quest had driven the point home to the heart.

MG: Okay, that bit about being “loyal to the death” – that’s not an exaggeration, but we’re going to come back to it in a moment, especially in the author note. It’s our first taste of what might be the fic’s most notorious aspect, so fair warning.

"Do you think she suffered?" Zuko's face was set, and he would not look back. "I've heard - some people hang on for days before…."

Heard, indeed. How Azula had used that to prey on his nephew's mind, perhaps he was better off not knowing. "If she had died that way… there are limits to what my brother could conceal."

Rangi: I’m confused. What exactly is Princess Ursa supposed to have died of, exactly?

Zuko: *equally confused* And sure, I sat up at nights wondering if Mom had died and what happened to her, but this makes it sound like something specific I was afraid of, and it doesn’t sound like I was worried Dad or Grandfather killed her…

MG: To borrow a phrase from another fandom, oh you sweet summer children.

Both Firebenders: *adopt identical expressions of dread*

Zuko did look at him then, grim and hurting. "She betrayed the Fire Lord."

"If she did, she did so as your mother," Iroh said bluntly. "Her loyalty is to her children, her husband, and her family. So it has been since the first firebenders earned their skills under dragons' wings; so it will be, until the nations are no more. To kill her own beloved father - yes, that betrayal would have wounded her spirit to the grave. But Fire Lord Azulon… it is quite possible that she survived."

"Then where is she?"

MG: As it happens, Embers’ take on that is both “somewhat confusing” and “weirdly anticlimactic” at the same time.

"If I knew, my nephew, I would help you find her." Because she is your mother, and so holds her own claim on you. Though I would not do so without help. For my sake, as well as hers. I do not think I would be gentle, asking about that night. And about why she left you behind.

"Maybe you're wrong," Zuko said quietly. "Maybe she was loyal." He stared down the road, seeing nothing. "Have you seen someone die like that?"

"In war, anyone's loyalty may be strained past bearing," Iroh admitted. "I have seen traitors' deaths. And they are not pleasant." If my aide had not nursed me, and kept silent… well.

MG: So, by this point, I think you’re all probably starting to get the gist of what the fic is implying. And for now, I’ll just say… that despite all the hype Vathara is giving this concept, while we see numerous characters break loyalty over the course of the fic, I don’t believe we ever actually see anyone die of it (though we hear about it secondhand), despite that being, supposedly, by far the most common outcome. Maybe it’s just me, but it can’t help but feel like the fic is unwilling to actually commit to the implications of the bit… but more on that in a moment.

"So how can she post those lies? Calling you a traitor?" Zuko said fiercely. "You're the Fire Lord's brother. You'd be-" He cut himself off, with a breath of irritated steam. "But… Sho killed Ping. And she was his daughter. How could he… I've seen these people, and sometimes they act like decent people, like Sela, but others…."

"Other nations are not bound as we are," Iroh acknowledged. "And they do not risk their lives, when those bonds are broken."

Zuko: Well apparently in this version of the Earth Kingdom your own family will literally kill you if they decide you’re an embarrassment, so… I guess they do risk their lives, just with more steps!

Elemental Determinism: 2

"So if Azula posts a reward for traitors, they'll believe it." Zuko muttered something under his breath, almost too low to hear.

Zuko: And, you know, the Fire Nation believed it when she posted that bounty, too. How is Vathara going to explain that?

Iroh stifled a rueful laugh in a deliberate cough. Three years aboard ship might have been good for his nephew's spirit, but they had wreaked unholy havoc on a prince's vocabulary.

Rangi: Don’t worry, General – unless the Fire Nation has changed a lot since my time (though I guess it has…) he probably learned some pretty good curses already at school.

Perhaps he will listen, now. If I am subtle. "It is not impossible. We have been gone for some time. It is likely Fire Lord Ozai has considered that any illness of mine," or yours, "might have been hidden by our crew."

"They haven't!"

No, worse luck. "And while it is rare, some firebenders have survived." "General Jeong Jeong," his nephew nodded grimly.

MG: Again, saving this for the AN because I want to keep it all in one place… I just think this is kind of amusing in hindsight, all things considered.

"I know of others." Carefully. "Sometimes, when you are trapped by two bonds, one must break. From need, from fear… from finding one's loyalty was gifted to one not worthy of it, and you must take it back." Listen to me, nephew. Listen, and heed.

"I know where my loyalties are."

"As do I, Prince Zuko." Unfortunately.

Patience, the elderly general reminded himself, as he had for years. Fire wishes to burn through the enemy - but you must be like water, wearing away stone.

Zuko: Wait, is Uncle thinking of himself as “elderly?” He’s in his sixties – he’s not that old! Especially considering this story is apparently going to really lean into the idea that powerful benders can live a really long time…

Easy enough to tell himself years ago, when searching for the Avatar had been a fruitless quest. With the airbender returned, and Sozin's Comet on its way… things were beginning to become difficult.

At least we have not seen the bison since the North Pole-

Zuko stopped. Stiffened. Dropped to one knee to study the road. Stood, with a tuft of familiar fur.

If there had been a spirit in front of them, Iroh would have set it on fire.

Rangi: …is it bad I laughed at that?

MG: Anyway, that’s the end of the proper chapter for today; thank you both for your help! And now… the author note. Where some things the chapter itself kind of danced around get spelled out explicitly, and we’re going to have things to talk about. So many things.

A/N: This chapter owes at least as much to Princess Mononoke as it does to reading about Chinese and Japanese mythical beasts. Especially the idea that outraged spirits have a tendency to wreak havoc on anybody in reach, innocent or not.

MG: Honestly, I think that’s a fairly common motif in myths and folklore I’m familiar with, particularly in the specific case that retribution for a community’s sins can fall upon the whole community, not just the specific perpetrators (I’ve had professors who’ve argued that, in the Bronze Age, sin was more often seen in general as a community problem rather than an individual problem, and there are certainly texts and stories that make a lot more sense in that light, IMO). But I don’t really have a problem with it here – see also Hei Bai, who Vathara will be mentioning momentarily.

We see this with the Hei Bai forest spirit, and somewhat with Koizilla; you have to wonder what would have happened to the Water Tribe if they hadn't hit the ice in supplication, and if Zuko had been a little slower, he'd have been grabbed right along with Zhao.

MG: I believe it was Chessybell who pointed out in my original readthrough of Embers that Koizilla only actually attacks the Fire Nation forces after they actively threaten it (we see both ordinary soldiers levelling their spears at Koizilla and war machines trying to bombard it respectively before it actually attacks). And when it went after Zhao, it certainly had no problem going straight for him and ignoring Zuko. I think it knew who it was after and why better than Vathara is giving it credit for. But I do think this is a recurring issue Vathara seems to have with Koizilla – treating it as something nonsapient, a rampaging force of nature or even a weapon system, rather than what I’d always understood it to be – a god (a powerful spirit like the Ocean Spirit being essentially a god by the Avatarverse’s standards) exacting vengeance on the Fire Nation for their transgressions. Of course, it’s probably the least of her issues when it comes to Koizilla…

(Which makes me wonder what Iroh would have done if that happened; he's been to the spirit world, canon. No matter what the outcome, I can't imagine him being very happy with Aang. Bunny for adoption, anyone?)

MG: Hmmm; I’d agree that I doubt he’d be happy, but I also don’t think he’d try to, like, attack either the Ocean Spirit or Aang either – he’d know that wouldn’t help. I’d picture some sort of Spirit World quest to rescue Zuko’s soul, maybe? But again, I think in that scene in particular Koizilla knew full well who it was after, and it wasn’t Zuko.

According to Wikipedia, the eight native Japanese horse breeds are the Hokkaido Pony, Kiso, Misaki, Miyako Pony, Noma pony, Tokara, Tsushima, and Yonaguni.

MG: Far as I can tell, this seems correct.

A kamuiy - the more modern spelling is kamui - is an Ainu spirit, fairly similar to the Japanese concept of kami. Some are good, some are evil, some downright mischievous, and all of them are dangerous. A thorn/flame embroidery pattern is historically used to prevent evil spirits from entering the body.

MG: This also seems accurate, though as far as my research can tell, while the concepts of kami and kamui have overlap, they don’t match up exactly (though this is not my research area, so I don’t know enough tell you exactly how they differ). I will note that, as Vathara points out, in real life kamui can apparently be either benevolent or malevolent creatures, the fic is mostly going to be using the term for evil or dangerous spirits. And I do have to wonder why we’re using an Ainu term for a creature encountered in the China-themed Earth Kingdom (and it was the Earth Kingdom rancher who used the term first, not Iroh)…

The whole "spiritual metamorphosis" bit never worked for me. And given Iroh's later- exposed desire to have the world back in balance, the way he barely nudged Zuko along the right path always seemed odd. Which got bundled up with several other plotholes in Avatar canon. First, a century of war, and Jeong Jeong's the first to desert? Very implausible given human nature. Second, how did large, dangerous, intelligent creatures such as dragons go from "lots" in Aang's time to barely hanging on a hundred years later? Especially given they were known to be the inspiration for firebending? Glory only motivates people so far in the face of imminent death. Third… "Crossroads of Destiny". I grant that Zuko is screwed up, a bit thickheaded, and desperate to get back in Ozai's good graces - but just a few months earlier, Azula tried to kill him. Listening to her at all seems about as smart as walking up to a guillotine.

So, given that bending is connected to the spirit, that fire is the source of life, that the Fire Nation was inspired in part by early modern Japan, and that very few members of the Fire Nation ever desert, and survive… this is what the bunnies came up with. Clan loyalties, and loyalties to your commanders - and the consequences for breaking either come straight back on you.

MG: Oof. And here it is, folks. This is the concept that may be one of the most notorious things in the whole fic and certainly is one of the most talked about – loyalty. Specifically, the idea that, if you swear allegiance to a firebender (it works most strongly if you yourself are also a firebender, but we see nonbenders are affected as well – and we’ll even have some cases of people who aren’t even Fire Nation getting caught up in a powerful firebender’s loyalty aura too) you have to obey them, and if you break the allegiance you (probably) die (though, keep in mind my caveat from earlier that IIRC we never actually see a named character die from loyalty sickness across the entire fic). The concept is more complicated than that… but that’s the gist of it. In any case, there’s a concept on TVTropes that this puts me in mind of – the Voodoo Shark, something that’s introduced with the intention of patching a plot hole but ends up raising more questions than it answers and making the whole thing more complicated than it was to start with, rather than less. Loyalty, IMO, is practically the definition of a Voodoo Shark – really, I think Vathara’s worldbuilding is full of Voodoo Sharks, spinning elaborate answers to questions nobody was actually asking, or which canon had already largely answered, with the result that it ends up massively overcomplicating the narrative without actually adding anything worthwhile. Clearly, other people don’t agree with that interpretation because the fic has generally been so popular… but it really does bother me. And I think loyalty may be the biggest Voodoo Shark of them all, because of how in order to justify its existence Vathara keeps piling more and more elements into it, and it keeps growing until it infests the whole fic and everything about it.

First off… the plot holes loyalty is meant to patch. I’m not really sure what bugs Vathara so much about Zuko’s “spiritual metamorphosis” (that being from “The Earth King,” for those who’ve forgotten) that she thinks this is the more sensible explanation than Iroh’s from canon (ie, that Zuko had done something – freeing Appa from the Dai Li for no real benefit to himself – that was so much at odds with his self-image it literally made him sick until he worked it out), unless it’s her clear distaste for how Zuko and Aang’s relationship developed in canon. But also… Jeong Jeong. I think the assumption that Jeong Jeong is literally the only person to have ever deserted (rather than “the Fire Nation brutally punishes deserters, and Jeong Jeong is the only person we know of both powerful enough to escape punishment and high-profile enough the Fire Nation couldn’t hush it up”) is bearing a lot of weight here (especially considering that in “The Deserter,” we hear the part about Jeong Jeong being the first deserter from a guy who clearly idolized him, clearly wasn’t letting the facts get in the way of a good story… and couldn’t even remember Jeong Jeong’s actual rank, and so clearly wasn’t a particularly reliable narrator). But no, magic loyalty powers clearly make more sense! /s This is also our first taste of what I think is a fundamental tension of the fic – Vathara clearly goes to great lengths to try and establish what she sees as “realistic” reasons for the characters to do the things they do, but she also really plays up the high fantasy elements of the Avatarverse more than the show does, and so you get major curveballs like loyalty thrown in – and you get weirdities down the line like Vathara going out of her way to try and justify how the Fire Nation could have been made psychologically to commit the Air Nomad genocide, while having that coexist with “they’d literally die if they didn’t follow orders.” Which, for that matter, feels uncomfortably like Vathara has created a world and culture where “I was just following orders!” is, in fact, a legitimate defense. Fun. I’ve also seen it suggested that, intentionally or otherwise, loyalty reflects an Orientalist stereotype of “collectivist” or “hierarchical” Asian cultures and, well… I can see that, yeah, though Vathara clearly doesn’t intend loyalty itself to be read as inherently negative.

Anyway, we’re going to be talking about loyalty a lot more as we go on. But I do have some more things to say before we change the subject. First off, at least initially Vathara is going to be presenting loyalty as something unique and special about the Fire Nation. Later chapters will establish that all the elements have their own forms of mind control powers (fun!) and ideas that benders of those elements have to abide by or risk illness or death, with the result that we get some noticeable early-installment weirdness about loyalty I’ll point out when we get there. But this also gives our first taste of how Vathara is going to be changing the nature of bending around compared to canon. I don’t think Vathara’s bending is an uninteresting magic system, but I do think it ends up adding so many bells and whistles around the elements and how they work that the basic idea of “using martial arts to control the four classical elements” gets kind of buried. And I also don’t think Vathara particularly wrestles with some of the implications of all of this, especially some of the absolutely horrifying implications of loyalty and how it could be abused (the most she’ll get to, iirc, is that it’s bad to have loyalty to a bad lord, like Ozai – but having loyalty to a good lord and a good clan is apparently the best thing ever, so I guess that’s supposed to balance it out? She also tries to stress that loyalty is a choice that can’t be forced on you… but I have a hard time buying that because important plot points in this fic rest on the fact that loyalty can, in fact, be coerced or imposed. And, notoriously, the fic offloads all the worst implications of loyalty off onto the actions of someone who’s not even Fire Nation so it doesn’t reflect too badly on the author’s favorite culture… but more on that when we get there. Let’s just say there’s a reason I wanted Kyoshi and Rangi for sporkers…). Anyway, like I said, we’ll talk more about these issues as they come up. Before we move on, I’d just like to say that Vathara does seem to be trying to whitewash Zuko again… it’s not like his tendency to make bad or shortsighted decisions in the heat of the moment might be an explicit character flaw or something. And, narratively speaking, Zuko siding with Azula in “Crossroads” and getting back in Ozai’s good graces serves a very important point in his development – it’s a chance for Zuko to get everything he thought he wanted, so he can realize that’s not what he actually wanted anymore. Embers handles Zuko’s arc differently… whether it’s better or worse, we’ll have to see as we go. As for why Iroh didn’t push Zuko harder onto the right path… honestly, I think if he’d tried, Zuko would’ve clammed up and stopped listening to him altogether. Zuko in book one and early book two was not in a place where he’d be willing to hear that, IMO… but of course, that requires admitting Zuko has flaws, so…

Also… the show’s Fire Nation is a mix of influences from Imperial China and Imperial Japan (the Avatar Wiki’s article on the Fire Nation runs through some of its major influences), but the fandom tends to make it a straight fantasy counterpart culture to Imperial Japan, and Vathara takes this and runs with it, making it all Japan all the time, to the point of contradicting the show’s portrayal of it in some rather important ways (though I’m not sure Vathara actually realizes this). Again, more on that later. As for dragons, I think this is something else the show makes pretty clear. The fact that dragons were the source of firebending was the reason they were hunted – from Sozin’s time on, it became tradition for firebenders to prove themselves by hunting dragons, since if you could best a dragon, you’d proven you’d achieved the highest possible level of firebending mastery attainable by humans. Eventually, this led to dragons being hunted to near extinction. Zuko explains all this pretty clearly in “The Firebending Masters,” and it obviously wasn’t always “imminent death,” since people clearly survived doing this, and killing a dragon one-on-one is seemingly something a sufficiently powerful master firebender is fully capable of doing. Glory and honor can motivate people into doing quite a lot of very dangerous things, after all.

Note, this doesn't mean Ozai suffered any consequences for what he did to Zuko. Your loyalty, and your spirit, belong to you; and it's very obvious Ozai never felt loyalty to his son at all. But since Zuko is loyal to his father - Iroh has to be very, very careful, indeed.

MG: I will say, that while loyalty is supposed to flow both ways, whenever we hear about people getting sick or dying from breaking loyalty later on, it’s always about breaking loyalty to your superiors, not the other way around.

And in Welsh law, while sneaking a horse out from under your host's roof constitutes Very Bad, grabbing one under combat conditions to escape a lynch mob was looked at a lot more leniently.

MG: …and we’re still on Welsh laws again, despite the fact that nobody in the Avatarverse is Welsh or from a culture based on Wales. *sighs heavily* Anyway, that’s the chapter. It had some really good parts – I genuinely like Zuko learning to be a healer, the fight with the plague spirit, and Zuko’s anguish when it comes to telling Iroh about Ursa and his fear that his uncle will reject him. Some really great stuff here! Unfortunately, I really do think this should have been two chapters. The stuff at the ranch really feels like it needed more time to breathe and be developed, considering the heavy topics Vathara is dealing with here, and while I don’t object on principle to including topics like rape and honor killings in a fanfic like this… I have to side-eye the way it’s used just to set up a monster-of-the-week fight and get Zuko and Iroh a new ostrich-horse (and, again, that while the Earth Kingdom family is vilified – rightly – for their role in things, the Fire Nation soldiers who committed the initial crime by raping Ping barely seem to register at all). I’m not sure I’ve communicated just why the way this is handled rubs me the wrong way; I hope it made some sense, at least. And the “Zuko Alone” stuff can’t help but feel like a hollow shell of the canon episode that doesn’t really consider how Iroh’s presence would change things, when logically it absolutely should have (if nothing else, it puts Zuko in a very different place emotionally than he was in the show!). And, of course, this is where loyalty gets introduced for the first time, and oh boy, is that going to have ramifications down the line. So, all in all, a very mixed bag today in my opinion. Anyway, next time, we’ll catch up to the events of “The Chase” and meet the fic’s take on the Gaang and Azula properly for the first time. We’ll see you then! Our counts stand at:

Divine Right to Rule: 2

Elemental Determinism: 2

Prince Stuko: 6

Simple Rubes from the Water Tribes: 1

Stations of the Canon: 6

The Superior Element: 3

The Ultimate Firebenders: 4

Comments

[dreadlordmrson]

I still can’t help but side-eye the way that Vathara frames this making the Earth Kingdom townsfolk the main villains of this horrid little drama as opposed to, you know, the Fire Nation soldiers who actually attacked the village

I know this can easily be read as part of Vathara's fire nation favoratism, but I also wonder how much of it is a case of "in front of your face"ism.

That is, the soldiers came and went months and months ago, but this murder was more recent and all the murders are right there in front of your face, actively part of the scene.
Treating the attack as a natural disaster indeed. We have no idea which soldiers did this. No names, no faces, just the consequences of their passing.
But these guys? Who killed their family? They're right here.

--

Spirit-fire, invisible to ordinary sight. It glimmered around his nephew from sheer force of will, glinting off blades, blazing high on protective fire-thorns.

Augh the reminder that if I ever get back to my OC-insert fic I not only have to reconcile the Embers magic/spirits system with her magic (because I'm letting her keep her magic), but also I ahve to reconcile the Embers system with itself because she does several things with spirit that are a bit clunky and need smoothing over.

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Rangi: Much as I hate to defend any of these people… considering the last firebenders they apparently saw, I can’t really blame them for thinking they now have two enemies instead of just one.

Yeah sometimes the people Zuko faces in this fic are rockhead... but Suko is also being so at the same time, and Vathara isn't always good at telling when her Zuko is being reasonable about his opinions and stubbornness.

And these folks just heard weird noises and came out in the middle of the night to one of the healers they called for riding around on one of their mounts, and there's some weird beast, and then fire.
Yeah I'm not surprised they're not adjusting fast to what's happening.

--

The whole sordid drama surrounding Ping I don’t think is a bad idea, necessarily, but I do think it’s the sort of thing that needed to be handled with more depth and seriousness than Vathara was able to give it.

Honestly yeah.
I like that plot as a concept and what it did for the stakes of the war, but it needed more room to breathe, as you say. And Just a bit more care and focus instead of just a quick "and here's the kind of thing that happens in a REAL war that isn't a kid's show" and using that as a stepping stone to introduce the spiritual stakes of the story, and how much spirits are going to get directly involved in Zuko's life (much to his regret).

The spiritual side of Embers was always one of the parts of the story I struggled more with.
Not that I don't really like parts of it. The monsters, the way spirits are both alien and entwined with humanity... lots of parts, actually.

But it's part of the mortar that binds together the essentialism running through the fic. Biological essentialism. Spiritual essentualism. Cultural essentialism. Working free of your instincts and cultural expectations is an enormous trial in this world, and something only special people are shown to be able to do. Zuko, Sokka, Iroh, they all have an esier time. Aang needs to be beat around the head first but starts to get it. We have an explicit scene later where -- I think Bato? -- says to Hadoka that he's just not as capable of it, and that some of the water tribe men find Hadoka's ability to see beyond water tribe norms uncanny.

For a fic that in several places explicitly states that being able to break out of biases and see other people's points of view is good, Embers struggles with actually letting non-key characters do it.

That's one of those thorns that gets increasingly stuck in my craw when I'm chewing on the fic.

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Vathara has a thing about bloodlines.

Oh god the emphasis on bloodlines.

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This is why I think the “Zuko Alone” stuff should have gotten its own chapter!

Yeah I never really thought about it before -- I'm prone to skipping forward into the start of the Ba Sing Se section when I reread -- but these two parts, Ping and the Lee plot, deperately needed more room and shouldn't have been a single chapter.

I mean hell, I'll probably make my own pacing mistakes when I work on my writing so I can't be too upset over this fic that grew as it was told but... in hindsight it's definitely a mistake to spend so little time on them.

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Also… in the actual version of this scene, the townsfolk hated the soldiers and were quite happy to root for Zuko against them, at least until he busted out the firebending. I guess they changed their minds pretty quick, huh?

I sympathize with Vathara's desire to keep the outcome the same, so she forces it here but... yeah it comes across the worse for it.

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And then all your dead haunted you for nothing….

Yeah there's those spiritual complications lurking in the background...

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Oh god the loyalty thing.
Like, I don't... hate that bending can effect people's behaviors and give them weird consequences for going against a spiritual limitation? But the way Vathara handles it is a mess, and if I was being an editor I'd go after this with a red pen. I don't like nonbenders also being at risk of death. I don't like how easily this excuses the "I was just following orders" defence without addressing how much of a major problem that is. I don't ike how Vathara keeps trying to have certain aspects of her character's behavior and psychology both ways.

It's frustrating and I have no idea how I'm going to handle it if I continue my OC-fic, but at least some of that has to change.

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Glory only motivates people so far in the face of imminent death.

This will come up again, especially in her author's notes, but one of the weird hangups Vathara has seems to be about risk of death. We'll see talk later about how this or that behavior is "counter-survival".

As you say, both the risk of death is lower than she seems to be implying here, given that the dragons were canonically nearly wiped out by humans.
But also man, people can do some stupid-ass stuff in the name of status, glory, showing off, cultural recognition, etc.

[zenigotchas]

Hi. Not a member of das_sporking2 so am commenting here.

I honestly was going into this chapter thinking "how bad could its handling of rape be?" Because I'm not someone against dark topics in fiction and am not easily scandalized, but then we finally get to the scene and I just was sitting there like

Like fucking hell. THIS is the maturely handled scene about rape?! I entirely see where you're coming from. Sure, it's not offensive but I wouldn't really call its handling very mature or thought provoking either.

It just happens and is presented as bad but we don't explore the multiple WAYS it is bad. Yes, killing someone who got raped is bad, hating an unborn baby for being half Fire Nation (like it has a choice) is bad, but you'd think Zuko himself would have more feelings about this, seeing as he's been raised on Fire Nation propaganda to be a supremacist working for a dictator. Like, wouldn't he experience some pause here about what the Fire Nation is REALLY standing for when soldiers are raping innocents??? At the very least you'd expect Zuko to grieve the loss of innocent life.

[kalaong]

And it gets worse; see chapter nine. Zuko meets Ping in the Spirit World, nonchalantly caring for the product of said rape(s) and flirting with Lu Ten. Makes you wonder if Vathara intended it to be some kind of "star-crossed lovers" thing instead of a scaled-down and/or ground-eye view of Japanese war crimes in China.