Embers: Chapter Nine, Part II
Oct. 17th, 2025 07:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
masterghandalfThis is a repost from Das_Sporking2; previous installments of this sporking may be found here.
Warning: This post contains discussion of mind control, mention of abuse and some violence.
MG: Well, everyone, it’s time to continue our journey through Vathara’s Embers! Last time, Zuko had a Spirit World journey, came back from the brink of death, and Amaya decided to take him under her wing and train him as a healer. Today, we see Zuko and Iroh settling into their new lives in Ba Sing Se and Amaya’s technique gets even creepier… oh, and Jet’s back, too! Aren’t you excited? Joining us today will be Zuko and Azula!
Dawn.
Zuko scrunched his eyes back shut, wrinkling his nose. He hadn't felt less inclined to move since….
Azula: The last time you were flat on your back exhausted after nearly dying? Which does seem like a common experience for you, Zuzu…
Zuko: *grits his teeth angrily*
"I'm tired."
Up almost two days straight. Half-drowned following turtle-seals into an impenetrable fortress. Fighting his way past a suddenly master-level waterbender, dragging the Avatar through a collapsing ice sheet and a blizzard, getting buried by said waterbender again….
And finally, fighting for his life against a master firebender who utterly, sincerely wanted nothing more than him dead.
Yeah. He'd been tired.
Zuko: Trust me, I remember. And if living through Amaya’s messing around with my head and having to go through the Spirit World to survive it left me feeling like that… well, I certainly don’t think I’d want anything to do with her again!
I hurt everywhere.
Not a physical ache. More a trembling exhaustion of energies, as if he'd been clinging to one spar in a typhoon, and had been pulled in just before he slipped under the waves.
Get up. Get moving. Get to sunlight.
Quiet confusion, then caution, flickered through his mind. Which was crazy, he was a firebender, he needed the sun-
Lee is Earth Kingdom, and Water. Don't rush. Get there, but don't make it obvious.
Azula: …and here I thought I was the one with voices in my head.
A whisper. A nudge. Like the times Uncle's voice seemed to pop up in his head, when he was about to do something really stupid. It was weird.
Zuko: It sounds like Amaya went around rearranging my basic instincts as a person and a firebender and literally putting voices in my head telling me to do things, she nearly killed me while doing it, and did all this without explaining to me anything about what she was doing or why? Why are we even supposed to like this person again?
Sunlight. Now.
He'd marked the exits from Amaya's clinic automatically, just as he did going into any unknown territory. The street was not an option. But that sliding screen, over there - that seemed promising.
He slid back wood and paper, and breathed in green. A water garden.
No turtle-ducks. None of the giant lotuses he'd seen in some nobles' displays. A fair-sized pond, water burbling up at one end with a chuckling clarity that spoke of a source somewhere far below, trickling out the far side into a neat herb garden. Cattails, blooming iris, and yellow water-lilies spread from rocky edges to deep water, and iridescent fish no longer than his little finger ducked under leafy cover.
Molly-guppies. Wild, and some of the fancy breeds.
…How do I know that?
Zuko: *groans and buries his face in his hands* Because somebody has no sense of personal boundaries or decency, apparently…
Ba Sing Se, that whisper nudged him again. You know, like you know where the Rings are. When curfew is. How to get down to the docks without people asking too many questions.
Lee. That whisper was Lee.
What did she do to me?
Azula: Well, it sounds to me like she shoved a whole other person into your head, making you question your identity, your sanity, your sense of self, your own reality… which I certainly would know nothing about, why are you asking?
Focus. Sit in the strengthening sunlight. Breathe.
It was like dropping a lit candle into a gaping chasm. Warm, and welcome… but spirits, he felt so empty.
Firebenders rise with the sun. Be patient. She almost killed you. Just keep breathing.
Zuko: So, are we going to deal with the fact that her recklessness nearly got me killed because she, I repeat, knew her technique was potentially deadly to firebenders and just started work on Uncle without checking if we were or not, or not? Because it’s really something I think we need to deal with!
A few minutes, and Uncle sat down beside him with a happy sigh. "I am feeling a bit chilled myself. Amaya believes it will pass soon."
"I just want to soak. For days." Zuko breathed more deeply, testing the flicker of fire inside him. Still a pale shadow of what it should be, but growing stronger. "It was like everything washed away." Another breath. "Almost everything."
MG: *conversationally* Weirdly, what this reminds me most of is Frodo in LotR when he’s recovering from being stabbed by the Morgul-blade (which would, as a reminder, have eventually turned him into an undead wraith under the dominion of the Nazgul). No, that’s not creepy at all, what makes you think that?
"But you are well?" Uncle's voice was calm, with only shadowy overtones of hunting down a certain waterbender with malice aforethought if he were not.
Zuko: Well, I think that so far there’s been plenty of justification for that!
"Coals in a firepot. I just need to dry things out inside…." Zuko grimaced, and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm not making sense."
"I believe you are entitled," Iroh said tolerantly. "Dealing with spirits is always unsettling." He paused. "Nephew? You have not looked at me today."
"I'm afraid," Zuko whispered.
"Of what you will see?"
Zuko swallowed. "Of what you will." Who am I, Uncle? Who?
MG: Keeping in mind that (at least at this moment) Zuko is asking this question not because of his own internal conflicts or struggles, but because someone (someone we’re supposed to like) reached into his head and did weird things to his sense of identity. Just a reminder.
"I see my beloved nephew," Iroh said quietly. "Prince Zuko. Son of Ursa, and Fire Lord Ozai. Your eyes cannot change that." Uncle's hand rested on his shoulder. "And I see Lee, whom I have grown to know and rely on through our travels." He chuckled. "But perhaps I am greedy, wanting to have you both."
"How do you always know what to say?" Zuko wondered, feeling the words just as warming as the sun. "I never know what to say."
Azula: …I’ll have you know that I could make some very choice comments here, but I’m going to refrain. For dignity’s sake.
"Some things come with time." He could hear the smile in Iroh's voice. "Be patient. You are still young."
I don't want to be patient! I want-
That thought seemed to tangle itself up like a pygmy puma kitten in a ball of yarn, hissing and spitting and somehow utterly ridiculous. He might want his honor back, but Lee flung up glimpses of arrogant, uniformed Earth Kingdom generals, who didn't care what the Dai Li did so long as they kept order in Ba Sing Se.
MG: …am I the only one who thinks it’s kind of telling that Zuko’s impatient thoughts get cut off, not by the realization that maybe that’s part of why he hasn’t managed Iroh’s level of understanding yet, but because of his imposed alternate personality butting in on him?
It's not like that! I have a reason. A good reason.
The whispers seemed to ripple, confused.
If I don't have my honor, I can't be Father's heir. If I'm not - Azula is.
Azula: *looks smug*
His people. Oh spirits, the things she'd do to his people. And to the world.
MG: *rubs their forehead* Okay. I’ve mentioned before that Vathara decides to retcon Zuko as having an altruistic reason to want to capture Aang, regain his honor and reclaim his position as heir to the Fire Nation – to keep Azula from becoming Fire Lord instead. I feel like there are a couple of problems here. First off is that, of course, Zuko never shows any hint of such motivation in canon, where it’s pretty clear that he wants his honor and his father’s love and approval for their own sake, and much of his character development revolves around learning the lessons that Ozai isn’t worthy of his devotion and that honor is something he has to earn for himself rather than relying on someone else to give him. I feel like giving Zuko an altruistic, even heroic, motivation for his pursuit of Aang fundamentally misunderstands the character, cheapens his arc, and is strongly reflective of Vathara’s apparent desire to sand off Zuko’s edges and reframe him as a more conventionally heroic character. For another, while I think Azula would be a disaster of a Fire Lord for various reasons –
Azula: *sniffs disdainfully*
MG: - Vathara tends to treat Azula’s ascension as if it would destroy the Fire Nation immediately and outright. And… I don’t really understand why? Azula would be a tyrant, sure, but the Fire Nation has already been under tyrants for at least three generations by this point; I don’t think Fire Lord Azula would immediately be meaningfully worse compared to, say, her father. And it’s not like Azula is Joffrey Baratheon, either, a spoiled, spiteful, cruel child with too much power and too little vision – Azula is a cruel, vicious genius, which I think is an entirely different set of problems. (Of course, the repeated harping on “Fire Lord Azula means the end of the Fire Nation” in the first part of the fic makes the way it actually ends kind of hilarious in hindsight to me… but more on that when we get there). But in any case, I think this is a bad decision on Vathara’s part that misunderstands both Zuko and Azula as characters and undermines both their arcs in ways that really showcase the author’s biases.
Prince Stuko: 24
The Real Victims: 8
Earth and Water. Stay hidden. Deflect your opponent.
Zuko: …yeah, clearly I’d never have thought of those without the influence of other elements.
Elemental Determinism: 9
He couldn't argue with that. The chances of Aang defeating the Fire Lord any time soon ranged between slim and none. Meaning it didn't matter if Azula thought she had a lock on the throne. Uncle was right. Right now, he had to focus on staying alive.
Zuko: Which doesn’t change the fact that I was miserable, living in a poor district of the capital city of an enemy nation, thinking I’d never see my home again and that I was doomed to live the rest of my life in shame – but as long as Dad isn’t keeling over and making Azula Fire Lord any time soon, Vathara apparently thinks I’d be okay with that? Huh?
He Has Much to Learn: 12
Uncle.
He lunged, knowing his target would never expect it.
Strong arms caught him regardless, gently returning his fierce embrace. "Zuko?"
Family. He had to laugh, ruefully, as all the loose pieces inside seemed to fall into place. "I think something went wrong, Uncle. We're supposed to be Earth. Tradition. Enduring." He made himself look into green without flinching. This was Uncle. And somehow, that made everything all right. "I think Lee is Water."
Azula: Well. This is fascinatingly revolting. Not to mention making it sound like that woman can’t even control her own technique properly; what a waste.
MG: And I definitely think it undermines what is otherwise a fairly effective scene of Zuko and Iroh reconnecting in the midst of trauma and Zuko having nearly died to have us get hit with Vathara’s weird “certain qualities are specific to certain elements, even for people who aren’t benders of those elements” theme again.
Elemental Determinism: 10
Iroh's brows went up, but he smiled back. And if it was a bit wry, Zuko couldn't blame him. "Perhaps that will be to our advantage, nephew. It does us no harm for those around us to see you as foreign. So long as they do not see what you are." He hesitated. "Is it difficult?"
"It's different." Zuko pulled back, just far enough to rub his eyebrow. "It's like a flood washed everything out of your house, and you have to find things, and put them back." He had to look away. "What if I don't do it right?"
Zuko: Why does Vathara not seem to realize how messed up this is? Is this story ever going to deal with how creepy what Amaya does is?
"Right?" Iroh asked quietly. "Or the same? I am not as I was, before the siege of Ba Sing Se. It is all right to change, nephew. To grow. So long as you remain rooted in your true self."
Azula: But much as I may disapprove of how Uncle handled his son’s death – I would have burned Ba Sing Se to the ground in Lu Ten’s honor, if it had been me in Uncle’s position – he did still choose how he wanted to change afterwards. It wasn’t forced on him, like what Amaya did was. She should consider herself fortunate she didn’t try it on me. I would not have taken it so kindly.
MG: *whistles innocently*
Azula: …what.
"I think I already did," Zuko said quietly. Looked up. "I put you back first."
Green eyes widened. "Nephew?"
"When she struck you down…." Zuko had to stop, and breathe. "If she's doing what Father wants - then I don't want it anymore."
Zuko: Oh, now we get that part! *beat* Almost as an afterthought in the middle of something else, why?
Iroh drew in a startled breath.
"I was ordered to capture the Avatar. And I will! Alive. He needs to be stopped. Anyone who can do… what he did to the fleet… he has to be stopped." Zuko clenched his fists, trying to still their trembling. I'm not a traitor.
Zuko: Okay, that was the Ocean Spirit that did that, channeling itself through Aang, and it was defending its people from Zhao’s attack – as terrifying as it was to live through, I can’t really blame it for that! But apparently not only do we have to blame Aang for it, we have to use it to make it sound like me chasing Aang is still the right thing to do? What?
The Deadly Depths: 4
He Has Much to Learn: 13
"But I won't sacrifice my people to do it. And I won't let her sacrifice them." Calm. Just… be calm. "You're my uncle. I won't let that happen to you again. I won't." Stay calm. Think. "I know - I have a hard time with my temper. But I'm going to try. To bank the flame. To think." She's an obstacle. With a lot more firepower. "She expects me to attack like a firebender. Straight on, for the kill. If I can go around her, deflect her…." Words failed him, and he shrugged.
MG: And now we’re back on “Zuko wants his honor to stop Azula from getting the throne.”
Elemental Determinism: 11
"It is a place to start," Iroh nodded, and stood. "Lady Amaya says we have a little time yet, before any patients should arrive. And that we are quite unobserved."
Even drained, Zuko's heart leapt. He scrambled to his feet. "We can practice?"
"Gently," Iroh advised. "The chi of water is still disturbing our own."
Zuko: Pretty sure that’s not how any of this works.
The Deadly Depths: 5
That was fine. He didn't feel up to much beyond candle-lighting. But still. "We can practice."
Iroh winked, and shifted into stance.
Zuko matched him, half a joyous heartbeat behind.
Breakfast, a few good cups of tea, and one nephew safely ensconced in Amaya's garden with a healing scroll and orders to soak up sunlight. That tended to, Iroh caught Amaya between patients. "We must talk."
Azula: Unfortunately, I highly doubt that Uncle is going to actually call out this woman who could have killed him because she, let us say it again, used a technique that’s potentially deadly to firebenders on him, without checking to see if he was one, and actually did nearly kill Zuzu, who he supposedly cares about.
"You said you were going out to look for work." Amaya's tone was mild, but one dark brow arched in curiosity.
"And I will," Iroh affirmed. "This will not take long, I hope." He frowned. "How much of what you have… shaped, in my nephew, is real?"
Zuko: *groans loudly* Oh, this is going to be great, I just know it…
"Almost all of it," the healer said simply. "The mask uses pieces of your self, and reshapes them as if they were formed in the Earth Kingdom-"
MG: I’m just still taken aback by this, because this is well beyond anything we see waterbending healing doing in canon – hells, even the Dai Li’s brainwashing just seems to brute-force implant orders and in some cases false memories, it doesn’t, like, weave a whole new persona from a hypothetical person you might have been if you’d been raised in different circumstances, and then lace it into your subconscious this way. Weirdly, it still makes me think of some of the things that can be done with Connection and Identity in the Cosmere novels more than anything (though this is more extreme than what we see done with most of that, except maybe Shai with her Essence Marks, which is something she does to herself to give herself knowledge and skills she might need, and is explicitly treated as a dangerous technique because of the risk of losing her true self even so), except that Vathara almost certainly can’t have been thinking of that because the Cosmere as a setting was still in its infancy when this fic began and basically none of the stuff I’m talking about here had been established yet (including the character of Shai, who debuted in The Emperor’s Soul in 20212). So it’s probably just a weird, coincidental parallel. None of which makes it less creepy that Amaya is basically rearranging people’s brains and rewriting their own histories (not completely, since they still have their original memories, but clearly enough to be disorienting and disturbing) without, based on her interactions with Zuko and Iroh, doing a good job of explaining what she’s doing first at all.
"My nephew seems convinced Lee is Water Tribe."
Azula: Isn’t it wonderful how Uncle talks about this new persona like it’s an entirely different person Zuzu has no control over?
Amaya halted in mid-thought. Blinked, and slowly nodded. "I believe that does make sense."
"Does it?"
"I checked some of my scrolls yesterday," the healer informed him. "I was searching for anything that might explain what happened. I didn't find it, but I found something else. Something I'd nearly forgotten." She gave him a sober look. "He was given that scar by someone he trusted."
Iroh winced. Which, he knew, was answer enough.
"It's not directly on one of the chakras, but a blow there, where so many of the body's channels come together, with a massive force of chi behind it…. If that wound had been dealt by a waterbender, I would have a patient with no will, no desire to live. An empty shell, who would want - nothing."
MG: …because only someone abused by a waterbender close to them might be so traumatized as to go essentially catatonic? The hells?
The Deadly Depths: 6
Elemental Determinism: 12
Iroh straightened, the dreadful meaning sinking home. "One whose inner fire had been extinguished."
Zuko: …I lost my inner fire when I joined up with Aang, because I’d been so obsessed with hunting him for so long that joining him was so much at odds with image of myself. But it just meant I had a really hard time firebending until I got my head back on straight and found a new drive for myself, I didn’t lose the will to live altogether!
Amaya inclined her head. "Just so."
"So my nephew-"
"Has survived surprisingly well," the healer stated. "You must care for him deeply, for him to have even been able to sip that comfort." She glanced toward the screens blocking off the garden. "He's had years of drought. Whatever happened… I don't know if it was the spirits, or simply being that close to death. The scar is there. But the energies it blocked are beginning to flow again."
"Love, and family, and the ability to adapt," Iroh murmured. Considered all that, and paled.
MG: Which are, apparently, specifically water-aligned traits rather than traits water is stereotypically associated with? I wouldn’t be so bothered with this is Vathara hasn’t leaned hard on the stereotypes of the elements as being somehow hard-coded in them, and is going to keep doing that… but she has, and so it does bother me, a lot.
Elemental Determinism: 13 (there’s a reason I have this count!)
"I would think this would be a good thing, Mushi," Amaya said with some asperity.
"In any other, I would agree," Iroh admitted. "But this is my nephew. If there is any way trouble can find him, it will."
Zuko: …is the fact that I didn’t ask for or want any of this or for anyone to go around reshaping my soul going to factor into this? At all?
Zuko sighed, and shaded his eyes, as the chi meridians marked on the scroll seemed to swim in his vision. Sunlight might be filling the emptiness inside drop by golden drop, but the rest of him didn't seem inclined to tolerate it as well. Not today.
Looking away from the brightness, he saw a cat-claw of white hanging in blue sky. And tensed.
Yue.
Or La, if he meant to invoke the Moon-spirit formally. Which he didn't.
MG: …the Moon Spirit is Tui (or Yue, after Book One); the Ocean Spirit is La. I don’t know why Vathara got the names backwards, but she did, and never corrects it at any point in the fic, so I’m not sure she realized.
But it was hard to look away.
Grimacing, Zuko set the scroll safely down on the portable writing tray, and walked over to the pond. He needed a distraction.
Then again, reading itself would probably be going fine, if practice hadn't been one long series of distractions.
His movements had been right. One advantage of having had to drill the basics into his very bones. He didn't forget. But the flow of his energies had been - off. Odd.
Amaya says it'll settle. Be patient.
Azula: *rolls her eyes* Oh, if Amaya says, it must be so!
MG: …this is actually more likely because of what Yue did to Zuko, which will be bearing fruit before long.
Zuko: Why does that sound so ominous?
On top of that, something just kept tugging at his concentration. Not Lee. At least, he didn't think it was Lee. Lee was a nudge, a whisper. Whatever was bothering him was more - directional. Like the push of storm winds. The shift of a ship in waves.
Push, and pull.
It was annoying.
Zuko: People have been messing around with my identity and my soul! I think that’s a bit more than annoying!
He crouched by the water, watching multicolored bodies flicker in and out of the sunlight. Wasn't too different from sitting on a dock, watching sealife circle and dance as the tides lapped at them. No salt, though. Breathing didn't seem quite the same without it.
You lived on dry land until you were thirteen, Zuko growled at himself. You can't actually miss sailing around the world chasing rumors and myths.
No. Not really. But the ship had been predictable. Train, hunt for a myth, deal with a crew that wanted to be there only slightly less than he did. Stable. Sane. No spirits, no Avatar, no bounty on their heads.
Zuko: …just three years of miserable exile that showed no sign of ever ending…
Until he'd spied an impossible light at the South Pole, and everything had gone catastrophically downhill from there.
If I'd caught him then, if I'd held him then - we wouldn't be in this mess.
MG: Be prepared to come back to this later, because apparently Vathara thinks that Aang escaping from Zuko’s ship in “The Avatar Returns” was a heinous betrayal and proof of why the Fire Nation feels it can never trust the Avatar and no, I’m not making that up.
Azula: *barely containing laughter* I’m sorry, what?
Sighing, Zuko skimmed his fingers across the pond's surface. The past was past. He had to deal with what was, not long to chase an airbender who'd never so much as touched water….
Zuko: Aang entered the Avatar State and used water against us literally the first day we met, and before that I was expecting him to be an old man who’d already mastered the elements and was just hiding because he was a coward! What does that even mean?
His hand lifted, and a thin arc of water lifted with it.
What the-?
Zuko: *looks back at MG’s previous comments, groans audibly* Oh, boy…
MG: It’ll be a ways before we get the full explanation for what’s going on with Zuko, but for now, let’s just say that yes, this is foreshadowing of what you probably think it is.
Splashed away and was gone, as a quick roll took him yards away from the pool. It wasn't glowing, and it hadn't been a hand - but there were fish in there. You could never be sure.
Flipping to his feet in a ready stance, Zuko eyed the pond suspiciously, ready to sear it out of existence if he had to. If he even could, with spirits involved.
Nothing. Just the quiet murmur of water.
"Lee?" Amaya stepped quietly into view on the garden path. "I'm breaking for lunch, if you'll join me. How far did you-" She eyed him, and his stance, with bemused worry. "Did something happen?"
"Do you have spirits in your water?" Zuko asked tersely.
Azula: Oh, Zuko – you’re so adorable when you’re wrong! Then again, I suppose “spirits” is a more logical explanation than you somehow becoming a waterbender…
"Not to my knowledge." The healer gave him a patient smile. "A little paranoid, are you?"
"Only because things are out to get me."
Azula: *smiles smugly*
"You make tea?" Huojin muttered under his breath, too low for the higher-ranking guard with him to hear. Not that Officer Yaozu probably would have noticed, bent on getting a steaming cup before they headed out way too early on evening duty, but better safe than sorry.
They're shuffling guards around all over tonight, Huojin thought. Guess they need some extra security up in the Upper Ring. Wonder what's going on?
MG: I guess this is supposed to be the Earth King’s party from “City of Walls and Secrets?” Though I’d presume the palace guard and the regular city guards would be entirely separate services with separate chains of command, and reorganizing one group wouldn’t have much impact on the other, though that’s just conjecture. *shrugs* Still seems a little contrived.
Not that it really mattered, so long as it stayed in the Upper Ring. Not his neighborhood, not his problem. Poking around up there was a quick way to bump into the Dai Li, and that was a pleasure he'd just as soon forgo. Unlike tea.
MG: *sigh* I swear, I’m going to miss bits like this when the fic starts forgetting to make the Dai Li actually villainous in a few chapters…
"I do," Mushi smiled at him, gesturing the pair of them to empty seats. "It is one of my life's quieter pleasures." He chuckled. "And here comes one slightly louder."
MG: And here we have Iroh, getting the same job at the same tea shop he got in canon, despite having had a completely different path through the city, meeting different people, and not having Zuko with him.
Stations of the Canon: 18
Huojin raised an eyebrow as Lee walked through the door, feeling a wash of interest and relief. The kid looked frazzled at the edges, short hair sticking up everywhere and ink staining his hands and one sleeve. But that was a heck of a lot better than lying half-drowned on Amaya's futon.
Zuko: Yeah, and who’s fault was that?
"Well?" Mushi asked.
"…I've got an apprentice's license," Lee admitted, taking out the thin sheaf of papers long enough for Mushi to beam at it, before tucking it back under his robe.
"Ah, very good! Tea?"
Lee gave him a skeptical look. "Steamed leaf juice?"
"How can one of my own family say such a thing?" Shaking his head, Mushi poured Yaozu's tea.
Zuko: Because that quip was so good we just had to keep it in? Seriously, when I compared all tea to hot leaf juice it was because Uncle was already complaining about how bad the tea was, here I’m just… saying it for no reason, I guess.
Stations of the Canon: 19
The officer picked it up - then took a second breath, sipping it slowly, and sighed. "This is the best tea in the city!"
"The secret ingredient," Mushi said expansively, "is love."
He walked back toward the back of the shop, as Lee stifled a groan.
MG: And yes, the implication is pretty clearly that either Huojin is the nameless city guard at the teahouse in the canon scene where Jet broke in (spoilers!) or that he’s been slotted into the same role.
Huojin chuckled, remembering too well what it was like to be a proud sixteen. "Don't worry. When you get to be his age, you can embarrass your nephews, too."
Lee blinked, and all the color drained from his face.
Azula: …while I always expected that someday I would be required to marry and continue the bloodline, I can certainly imagine why Zuzu would be less than thrilled by the prospect of my children. *beat* Which actually makes the idea of being a mother somewhat more appealing – thank you for the inspiration, Vathara!
Zuko: *scoots discretely away from Azula*
What'd I-? Oh. "Another child," right. Still. Even if Dad likes your sibling better, why do you look like you'd rather face down a charging dillo-lion?
Azula: Please. I’m much more dangerous than a dillo-lion.
The shop door slammed open.
"I'm tired of waiting!" The angry teen refugee from the other day, sheathed hook swords glinting in the shop's lights as he pointed toward Lee and Mushi. "These two men are firebenders!"
MG: Why hello there, conclusion of a subplot (Jet suspecting Zuko and Iroh of being firebenders and investigating them) that we’ve completely skipped over! I don’t even think we got the bit with Iroh heating his tea that set off Jet’s suspicions in the first place (looking back, there’s a bit where it might have happened, but if so, it’s really skimmed over)!
Stations of the Canon: 20
Oh, hell.
You bastard.
The world seemed to shimmer through a watery haze as Jet unsheathed his swords. Zuko deliberately kept his fists from clenching. No swords, no way he could take on someone quick as Jet with just bare hands - damn trained reflexes. Let his hands even start to close, training would kick in and he'd firebend right there, in reflexive self-defense. Which would get them both killed.
Damn you! We didn't do anything to you. Why?
Zuko: …he thought we were spies? At least that’s the idea I got from all his ranting.
"I know they're firebenders!" Jet growled. "I saw the old man heating his tea!"
MG: A pity we didn’t see that…
Stations of the Canon: 21
The ferry. Damn it.
"He works in a tea shop," Huojin's fellow guard pointed out dryly.
Right. Stay quiet, Zuko told himself. Let other people talk Jet down. Spirits knew he was in no shape to do it, not after a day spent studying and then answering Amaya's exhaustive questions on what he could and couldn't do for a patient. She'd marked his triage judgment as fairly educated, his knowledge of wound care as decent, and his healing bending as remarkably good for someone working mostly on instinct. He might have been proud of that, if he hadn't been so exhausted.
And twitchy. Definitely twitchy. Ever since the pond. Worse since the sun went down. A lot worse.
Azula: Firebenders are stronger during the daytime; being on edge at night isn’t really unusual. Though I suspect Vathara is going somewhere else with this…
Push, and pull.
It was driving him crazy.
Azula: …I rest my case.
And Jet wasn't helping. "He's a firebender, I'm telling you!" the rebel insisted.
MG: Since we’re in Ba Sing Se, that phrasing makes him sound like he’s a rebel against the Earth Kingdom, not a guerilla fighter against the Fire Nation. Sure, it’s a nitpick; it just jumps out at me.
The officer looked less than impressed, as Huojin rose to back him. "Drop your swords, boy. Nice and easy."
"You'll have to defend yourself," Jet said, grim and smug at once. "Then everyone will know. Go ahead, show them what you can-"
Pushing and pulling and damn it, he couldn't just stand here! Why couldn't you just leave us alone?
Zuko: Funny, when this actually happened I had no problem fighting Jet without the Moon and Ocean (I guess…) tugging at me like this.
Porcelain clattered like an earthquake, and three cups' worth of tea suddenly hurled itself at Jet's face.
What the…?
"Firebender?" Huojin drawled in the sudden silence. "Looks more like teabender to me."
Zuko: Oh no…
Please let Uncle keep a straight face, Zuko prayed. "That's my uncle you're calling a firebender. Are you out of your mind?"
"I saw-"
"I don't know what you saw. I don't care." Zuko took the last step he needed to near Huojin's incautious, dao-armed associate. "See this!"
Zuko: So, even with the… tea-bending… we’re still getting the sword fight? What was even the point of doing that if it didn’t change anything?
MG: Foreshadowing for later. And this scene isn’t going to end quite like it did in canon, admittedly. But I definitely can feel a bit of a tug of war between what Vathara wants to change and what she wants to keep the same, and I do think it ends up being a bit awkward.
Pull the blades. Separate. Move.
And the fight was on.
Iroh clapped a hand to his forehead as more furnishings fell victim to the duel. Ordinarily, he wouldn't worry about Zuko; rested and ready, his nephew could put most fighters of Jet's level down in less than a minute.
MG: Oh, no, no authorial favoritism here…
Prince Stuko: 25
Tired as he was, though, with his chi still upset from Amaya's waterbending… this could get tricky.
How in the world did my nephew fling tea?
Azula: It’s not like Zuzu suddenly became a waterbender or anything… that would just be ridiculous, right, brother?
Zuko: *groans again*
"Serve the tea pretty hot here, huh?" Huojin muttered, watching for any opening to separate the battling youngsters.
"So we do," Iroh agreed after a moment's shock. Of course. We can move fire. Tales say dragon's children could even bend lava, and that is fiery earth. Fiery water… well, well.
MG: Stick a pin in this, because we are absolutely coming back to it later and it’s going to be a significant plot point. I will point out that by this point in canon, the only people we’d seen lavabending were Avatars, and personally I’d headcanoned at the time that it was an Avatar-exclusive technique (requiring mastery of both earth and firebending); we see Sozin in a flashback cooling lava by bending heat out of it, using a technique that looked a bit similar to Iroh’s own lightning redirection, but not moving the lava itself. Now, Korra would eventually establish that non-Avatars can indeed lavabend – but that it’s a rare discipline of earthbending. Vathara will claim to have never watched Korra, but I do have to wonder if she ever found out about that and what she thought of it if she did (because it punctures quite a lot of her Fire Nation worldbuilding, as we’ll see).
And wouldn't that be a most unpleasant surprise, for anyone who trapped his nephew on terrain that should favor waterbenders? He could already see some tactical advantages-
Crash.
…Oh dear. Perhaps it was just as well Zuko was not working here. That had been the front door.
Damn. He's better than I thought, Zuko realized, dao locked with Jet's swords. Between that, and exhaustion, and not wanting to kill the idiot….
MG: …because even when he’s got Zuko on the ropes, we clearly have to be reminded that Jet is an idiot.
I could be in trouble.
"You must be getting tired of using those swords," Jet taunted. "Why don't you back off and let the old man fry me?"
Because I'm not stupid. Because my uncle is worth ten of you, and a pygmy puma thrown in on top. Because you're so wrapped up in needing to hurt someone you'd go after innocent strangers, if you thought they were Fire Nation.
No wonder Katara hates you.
MG: As we see here. Seriously, Vathara, Jet already attacked Zuko and Iroh unprovoked, they already have the moral high ground, you don’t have to keep hitting Jet like this to convince me of that! Also kind of weird that Katara hating someone is used as a mark against them here, considering how she’s going to be treated starting in a few chapters…
"Please, son, you're confused!" Iroh called out from the doorway. "You don't know what you're doing!"
No, Uncle. He does. That's the problem.
Zuko: Pretty sure Uncle was saying that for the benefit of the crowd, not Jet – he knew Jet wouldn’t listen to him, but he definitely wanted people to think it was ridiculous that he thought we were firebenders.
In more ways than one. This was not going well.
No more kid gloves.
Breathe and focus and channel inner fire into a quick burst of speed, pinning one hook-sword down, turn and advance and strike-
…I cannot believe he ducked.
At least he'd killed the damn wheat straw.
Azula: Which, considering it was no longer attached to the plant, was presumably already dead. Well done!
Someone needs to teach that kid that regular people don't kill their problems, Huojin thought acidly, ignoring Yaozu's sputtering over his borrowed swords as he tried to figure out a way to get between two desperate fighters without killing either of them. At least, Lee was desperate. The other refugee was riding such an avalanche of hate and fury, he wouldn't care if someone cut his hands off so long as he could spew his venom.
Zuko: …is this the point where it’s worth pointing out Jet was right that Uncle and I were firebenders who were lying about who we were and why we were in the city, even if he was completely wrong about why?
"You see that?" the troublemaker snarled, balancing on the edge of a well. "The Fire Nation is trying to silence me-"
Grinning suddenly, Huojin dashed back inside.
Let's just hope the owner- yes!
Grabbing what he sought, he ran back out toward the fight. Think fast, kid. Before someone wonders why a waterbender's not taking advantage of a well. "Lee!"
Damn, he's behind me, I can't-
"Lee!"
Hot and near and pulling-
Spinning, he let his free hand arc out, and pushed.
A kettle's worth of hot tea hit Jet with the force of a fireball, blasting him down.
Step in, disarm, finish- no!
Foot still on Jet's wrist, Zuko stopped the dao an inch from the teen's throat.
Zuko: …I was also a teenager. Just worth pointing that out, too!
"Good, hold him there," Huojin said briskly, moving in with iron bindings as Jet wheezed, trying to get his breath back. Left wrist secure, the guard motioned Zuko back, and yanked Jet up enough to catch the teen's bruised wrist behind him in the cuffs. "You're under arrest, young man." Green eyes cut back at Zuko. "Drop the sword. Now."
Breathing hard, Zuko nodded, and laid the blade down. Out of reach of Jet's feet. He'd trained hard to be capable of fighting even when captured. No way was he going to assume the freedom fighter hadn't picked up a few tricks.
"Me?" Jet sputtered, dripping. "They're Fire Nation!"
MG: So, this is what I mean about the scene ending differently – Jet is getting arrested by the regular guards, not the Dai Li, which is obviously going to have pretty significant implications down the line (though it does, IMO, make the other ways in which the scene played out more-or-less exactly as canon despite all the other changes more blatant).
"No, we're not!" Zuko let some of the fury and frustration pour into his voice. "You moron! You said you wanted a fresh start! Well, so did I! But if it's the only way to get an idiot like you to stop attacking my uncle… damn it, my mother was from the Great Foggy Swamp!"
Dead silence in the street. He could feel the onlookers staring, aghast.
MG: …and here we have Vathara’s favorite running gag, the Foggy Swamp Tribe as the butt-monkey, once again!
Simple Rubes from the Water Tribes: 10
Tea dragging wild brown hair into a soggy mass, Jet blinked at him. "You've got to be kidding me."
"Do I look like I'm kidding?"
Jet didn't resist as Huojin hauled him to his feet, face scrunched up in horrified disgust. "You're - you eat bugs!"
Simple Rubes from the Water Tribes: 11 (yes, it’s Jet saying it, but it’s still reinforcing the idea that everyone thinks the Foggy Swamp Tribe are gross and backwards)
"You have never had fried silkworms? Deprived child." Iroh gave Jet a stern look. "Lee's mother was far more civilized and honorable than most people I have met anywhere. I will thank you not to insult the memory of my brother's wife."
"But- you- Foggy Swamp?"
Zuko flung up empty hands, disgusted. "Now do you see why we didn't tell you?"
Azula: But if Jet hadn’t found out your “secret” we couldn’t have had this lovely little joke that’s already growing stale.
Jet seemed to slump against his bonds. "No wonder you're so sneaky…."
Simple Rubes from the Water Tribes: 12 (I get that Jet’s supposed to be racist here, and racism isn’t logical, but still “sneaky” isn’t really a stereotype I think I’d associate with the swamp tribe?)
It's working? Zuko glanced at the crowd, looking for traces of disbelief. I can't believe it's working… uh-oh.
He didn't need Lee's shiver to recognize the pair of Dai Li walking through the crowd. Even if the uniforms hadn't been a giveaway, the way onlookers melted out of their path would have shouted they were trouble. "Is there a problem?" one said levelly.
"I'll say there's a problem!" The teashop owner jabbed a finger toward Jet. "This young man wrecked my teashop, and assaulted one of my employees!"
"Mistaken identity," Huojin said dryly. "We've got it sorted out now." His voice hardened. "Right?"
"I didn't think-" Jet started.
"You got that right." Huojin gave the Dai Li a professional smile. "Thanks for the assistance. But everything seems to be under control now." He glanced at his fellow officer respectfully. "Right, sir?"
"Boy's getting off easy," the officer grumbled. "Attacking the finest tea-maker in the city!"
Azula: They should count themselves fortunate that the obvious evasiveness here isn’t making the Dai Li more interested in this case, not less.
"Oh ho ho," Iroh chuckled. "That's very sweet."
Zuko wasn't sure whether to laugh or groan. The Dragon of the West, a tea-maker….
Zuko: Hey, Uncle always took a lot of pride in his tea-making! Admittedly, I don’t think he ever did it for money before this…
Two leaves in the forest. We're just simple refugees. If Uncle's happy with what he's doing while we're resting - well, don't screw it up.
Zuko tried, very hard, not to glance back at the wreck he and Jet had made of the teashop. …Any more than you already have.
Apparently he hadn't done too badly, because the Dai Li were moving off. Though not without a considering look his way.
Azula: *snorts* And you say you only have bad luck.
Lee. Be Lee.
He leaned on that whisper, and gulped air, without any touch of breath control. Shook a little, like a new recruit, now that the battle-rush was fading. Drew closer to his uncle, who was all a frightened refugee had in the world.
They turned and left, and now he really did want to fall down.
Later, Zuko promised himself. And hid a vindictive grin, as the officer reclaimed his dao and started hauling Jet off, abusing his prisoner's ears every step of the way.
"Gentlemen?" Huojin raised a brow at the pair of them. "If you'll step over here a moment, I have few more questions."
Zuko: Because that’s reassuring for two people trying to keep a low profile to hear from an officer of the law, even a “friendly” one…
"He should get off with a warning, this time," Huojin said in an undertone after they complied. "Which is just as well for all of us. The Dai Li don't usually bother questioning random troublemakers before they deal with them, but better safe than sorry." Concern swept off his face, giving way to exasperated anger. "Lee, just what the hell did you think you were doing?"
"He attacked my uncle!" Zuko protested.
"I'm not helpless bare-handed, you know," Iroh said patiently. "I would have been fine-"
Zuko: *sighs* Yeah, but Uncle’s still an old man, and Jet was armed. I really don’t think you can blame me for not wanting to take that lying down?
"If somebody recognized your form?"
That stopped Uncle cold.
Azula: If random Earth Kingdom peasants can recognize the Dragon of the West’s form when he’s very carefully not trying to use the abilities that made him famous, then the Earth King’s spies deserve far, far more than whatever he’s paying them.
"Damn," Huojin groaned. Looked at Iroh with rueful sympathy. "I hate to say it, but he's got a point. We do get soldiers off the Outer Wall down here. A few of them have been close enough to the action to notice things." Another green-eyed glare Zuko's way. "Still. We were right there. Let us handle it. That's what the Guard is for."
Confused, Zuko glanced at Iroh. Who started to speak, stopped, and finally shook his head. "It seems we are both unaware of customs that may prevail in the larger cities of the Earth Kingdom," Iroh said thoughtfully. "If you would be so kind as to inform us how the Guard functions in Ba Sing Se? So we may avoid any other misunderstandings."
Zuko: …seriously, Uncle? I get it, but is now really the best time?
"We're like the Guard everywhere, I think," Huojin said wryly. "We enforce the laws. Investigate petty thefts. Keep people from killing each other?"
"You do?" Zuko said, even more confused.
This time, it was Huojin who hesitated. Looked at him. Looked back at Iroh. "Is he serious?"
Zuko: Seriously? Yes, even in the Fire Nation, we have laws against murder! The fact that sometimes under very specific circumstances we fight duels that can end in death doesn’t mean we turn a blind eye to people killing each other in the streets! Is that really a hard concept?
"My nephew is rarely not serious," Iroh said bluntly.
Azula: And yet he makes such a marvelous butt of the joke!
Zuko: *glares murderously at her*
"We are not accustomed to such protections being extended to everyone." He paused, choosing his words. "Some might say that those in our unpleasant position do not deserve our lives, if we cannot fight to keep them." He shrugged. "Besides the obvious - I believe I was twenty, when I encountered my first assassin outside the shelter of my clan. Lee… has not had such fortune."
Huojin stared at him. Turned a disbelieving gaze on Zuko.
Zuko: …I mean, even Jet could tell I got this scar from a firebender. Is that really so surprising that I’ve been in serious fights against my own people?
"What?" Zuko said crossly. The fight was over, he was tired, and no matter how low they kept their voices, there were far too many eyes on them.
And he knew that look on the guard's face. Knew it, and drew in a hiss of breath. "Don't ever pity me," he bit out, low and angry. "If I were better, they wouldn't dare come." If I were better. If Father loved me. Zhao would never have dared if he'd- if I'd-
MG: *sighs* You know, every so often – like here, with Zuko’s bitterness and feelings of inadequacy just hitting us in the face – Vathara really does remind us that when she wants to, she can write. And that is a big part of what makes the rest of this fic so frustrating.
Fists clenched, cold, he turned away. "You need anything else?"
"…Let me talk to your uncle for a minute."
Huojin barely waited for Lee to get out of earshot before facing Mushi head on. "Assassins?" he hissed, barely above a whisper. "And what the hell's the obvious?"
Mushi gave him a skeptical brow. "I believe you know, if you will think on it."
Agni Kai. Oh. Hell.
Firebenders. Benders who had the right to challenge, or be challenged, when two of them went head-to-head. Duels that could be to wounding, or death.
Damn. Never really thought about that. Our people here, they're just people. Most of them never wanted to hurt anyone in their lives. But firebenders… they're trained to kill. All of them.
Azula: Lets be honest here. Most people will go their whole lives without ever getting into a serious Agni Kai, and only a fraction of those end in death. If we were killing each other off regularly, pretty soon there wouldn’t be a Fire Nation left.
MG: But Vathara clearly really, really likes the idea of a nation of proud warriors willing and able to kill at the drop of a hat and hardened by constant conflict (and she makes it quite clear that she considers trying to stop the Fire Nation from engaging in such conflict is a horrible crime) and tries to go to great lengths to justify it. And the more she does so, the more it distorts from the show’s Fire Nation into something that only vaguely resembles it, IMO.
The Superior Element: 10 (for the whole melodramatic “all Fire Nationals are warriors!” bit)
"Right. Stupid question," Huojin managed, voice unsteady. "But - assassins?"
"I told you it was not safe for Lee to remain behind." Mushi weighed him in his gaze, and sighed. "Specifically, because he had just survived an attempt arranged by Admiral Zhao. The man could not be allowed to learn he had failed."
You got drafted as an adviser to the man who tried to kill your nephew. And you snuck him onto the Admiral's own invasion ship, and got away with it. Who are you? "He's sixteen," Huojin protested.
Azula: Trust me, Zhao would probably kill people much younger than sixteen if they got in his way. The man was not known for his proportional responses to setbacks, or for holding in his temper.
"The war does not care. The spirits do not care. His father does not care." Mushi gave him a sad smile. "Thank you for your assistance. It was most clever, and timely. Now, I think your Officer Yaozu is waiting." He inclined his head. "Do not worry. I will see that Lee rests. He's much more civilized, after a good night's sleep."
Civilized, Huojin thought numbly, heading off to join Yaozu and his sullen prisoner. Oma and Shu. How could anybody call a land where that happens to kids civilized?
MG: Well, our author is going to be giving a very determined try of it, so… yay?
Only it didn't happen to kids, from what he'd heard. Not ordinary ones. Not even ordinary firebenders. Fire Nation politics were vicious, true, but the nobles who earned admiral's rank didn't try to assassinate people who couldn't possibly be a threat-
Zuko: Huojin, you have a much higher opinion of the kind of people Dad promoted than I do.
Oh, Agni. Huojin almost tripped over a cobble left awry after some random earthbender had played with the street. A dozen little facts Mushi had dropped fell into place, and the pattern was something he should have seen a mile away. His brother is unquestionably loyal to the Fire Lord? They're not just nobles. They're great names!
The highest class in the nation, beyond the royal family itself. Warriors. Firebenders of unparalleled power. And - yes - targets of assassins, when court politics turned nastier than usual. Down to the children.
Meaning the reason Lee acted like he expected people were trying to kill him… was that he expected people to try to kill him.
MG: So… here we have another concept you all should probably get very used to hearing about, and we’ll likely be very sick of before we’re done. “Great names,” obviously derived from the Japanese Daimyo (yes, “great name” is clearly an official rank, and no, it’s not capitalized) are the feudal lords of the Fire Nation, and Vathara never shuts up about how amazing they are, if Huojin’s little spiel wasn’t a giveaway already. This concept isn’t the only reason I have my “divine right to rule” counter, but it’s definitely a big part of it. And, frankly… I think it badly misunderstands the Fire Nation’s political system as we see it in the show. The Fire Nation is a monarchy, sure, but every indication we have is that it’s an absolute monarchy with a centralized government, not a feudal monarchy where power is spread out through layers of vassals bound together on a personal level by ties of honor and obligation. The Fire Nation military isn’t a collection of levies and retinues raised by different clans and domains whose first loyalty is to their local lords; it’s a centralized, professional force that ultimately answers to generals and admirals who in turn report directly to the Fire Lord. Local authorities, as we see them, clearly present themselves as serving the Fire Lord’s government, not great-name-so-and-so. The most prominent Fire Nation nobles we see who aren’t royals or military are probably Mai’s family, and it’s pretty clear, IMO, that Mai’s dad’s role as governor of Omashu is that of a bureaucrat who’s been assigned to administer a piece of conquered territory, not a vassal of the Fire Lord who’s been awarded a new fief to rule. I don’t know if Vathara realizes how badly she’s shaken up the Fire Nation’s political system with this concept – she never explains or mentions it in her ANs, iirc – but it still seems a rather glaring oversight for being a fic that prides itself on research and worldbuilding.
Interestingly, the Kyoshi novels would later show that the Fire Nation was much more feudal in Kyoshi’s time, with the local clans clearly having a lot more power and independence from the throne than they do in the show. Considering The Shadow of Kyoshi heavily deals with a Fire Nation succession crisis that just barely avoids erupting into outright civil war, the novels are also much more aware of the dangers of this system and what a problem clan warfare is for the Fire Nation, with the end of the novel having Frie Lord Zoryu reflecting on how he needs to break the clans as independent power bases and bring them directly under the Fire Lord’s authority in order for the Fire Nation to move forward, the implication being that by Sozin’s reign, and certainly by Ozai’s, this had largely been accomplished. Again, Vathara had no way of knowing about this, but it is an interesting point of comparison for how the franchise’s official fiction would handle some similar ideas.
Divine Right to Rule: 12
The Superior Element: 11
And they're hiding here, in Ba Sing Se. As commoners. They're not just desperate. They're clueless.
Grimacing, Huojin ran through his likely patrol duties in his head. No help for it, he wouldn't be able to drop by the clinic until late. And this wasn't the kind of thing he could tell Amaya in a note.
"Where are you taking me?" Jet growled, defiance back now that Lee and Mushi were out of sight.
Azula: Hopefully Jet didn’t overhear any of that. Because that would be awkward…
"Headquarters," Huojin said loudly, noting the pair of ragged teens slinking through the night crowds after them. "Lucky for you. Let me tell you a little about the Dai Li…."
MG: And so, the chapter comes to an end! We had quite a lot going on in this one. Not least is the very strong foreshadowing – Zuko hasn’t quite realized what’s going on yet, but I think it’s fairly clear to the audience – that after his Spirit World journey, Zuko is now a waterbender as well as a firebender. We’ll find out more about how that happened and what’s really going on after yaoren as a concept are introduced (probably more than you’ll want to know, tbh) and so I’ll hold off on going into more detail until then. I’ll just say for now that I don’t think a double-bender is necessarily a bad concept – it’s not something I’d want to see in the show, particularly, but I could see the value of exploring it in fanfic – though I don’t much care for Vathara’s take on it, mostly because I don’t much care for the lore she builds around the yaoren in general. I also think that, like fire-healing, it’s a concept that you could build a whole AU out of by itself, but that it kind of gets lost in the shuffle with all the other elements Vathara is going to be piling on top of it. Beyond that, we’re mostly left with Amaya still being creepy (I know I keep harping on how disturbing I think her technique, and more specifically the context in which she used it on Zuko and Iroh, is, but, well, it’s genuinely something I can’t get over), and nobody really interrogating that at all, Zuko totally having a noble reason for chasing Aang, Jet still being a loser who everybody hates and who is no match for Zuko (except when he is, which doesn’t count) and, of course, the introduction of the concept of great names, which Vathara is going to continue to wield throughout the fic to uphold the glory of Fire Nation values and Fire Nation aristocracy. And I still think it’s pretty obvious where the fic swerves out of its AU to intersect with canon where it needs to, though maybe other people aren’t as bothered by that as I am. Anyway, next time we meet some more of the fic’s OCs as Zuko takes on a new role and learns more about what’s happening to him. We’ll see you then! Our counts stand at:
Beware the Sugar Queen: 5
The Blind Bandit Wins Again: 8
The Deadly Depths: 6
Detached from Reality: 6
Divine Right to Rule: 12
Elemental Determinism: 13
He Has Much to Learn: 13
Prince Stuko: 25
Protectors of our Cultural Heritage: 1
The Real Victims: 8
Simple Rubes from the Water Tribes: 12
Stations of the Canon: 21
The Superior Element: 11
The Ultimate Firebenders: 8
Warning: This post contains discussion of mind control, mention of abuse and some violence.
MG: Well, everyone, it’s time to continue our journey through Vathara’s Embers! Last time, Zuko had a Spirit World journey, came back from the brink of death, and Amaya decided to take him under her wing and train him as a healer. Today, we see Zuko and Iroh settling into their new lives in Ba Sing Se and Amaya’s technique gets even creepier… oh, and Jet’s back, too! Aren’t you excited? Joining us today will be Zuko and Azula!
Dawn.
Zuko scrunched his eyes back shut, wrinkling his nose. He hadn't felt less inclined to move since….
Azula: The last time you were flat on your back exhausted after nearly dying? Which does seem like a common experience for you, Zuzu…
Zuko: *grits his teeth angrily*
"I'm tired."
Up almost two days straight. Half-drowned following turtle-seals into an impenetrable fortress. Fighting his way past a suddenly master-level waterbender, dragging the Avatar through a collapsing ice sheet and a blizzard, getting buried by said waterbender again….
And finally, fighting for his life against a master firebender who utterly, sincerely wanted nothing more than him dead.
Yeah. He'd been tired.
Zuko: Trust me, I remember. And if living through Amaya’s messing around with my head and having to go through the Spirit World to survive it left me feeling like that… well, I certainly don’t think I’d want anything to do with her again!
I hurt everywhere.
Not a physical ache. More a trembling exhaustion of energies, as if he'd been clinging to one spar in a typhoon, and had been pulled in just before he slipped under the waves.
Get up. Get moving. Get to sunlight.
Quiet confusion, then caution, flickered through his mind. Which was crazy, he was a firebender, he needed the sun-
Lee is Earth Kingdom, and Water. Don't rush. Get there, but don't make it obvious.
Azula: …and here I thought I was the one with voices in my head.
A whisper. A nudge. Like the times Uncle's voice seemed to pop up in his head, when he was about to do something really stupid. It was weird.
Zuko: It sounds like Amaya went around rearranging my basic instincts as a person and a firebender and literally putting voices in my head telling me to do things, she nearly killed me while doing it, and did all this without explaining to me anything about what she was doing or why? Why are we even supposed to like this person again?
Sunlight. Now.
He'd marked the exits from Amaya's clinic automatically, just as he did going into any unknown territory. The street was not an option. But that sliding screen, over there - that seemed promising.
He slid back wood and paper, and breathed in green. A water garden.
No turtle-ducks. None of the giant lotuses he'd seen in some nobles' displays. A fair-sized pond, water burbling up at one end with a chuckling clarity that spoke of a source somewhere far below, trickling out the far side into a neat herb garden. Cattails, blooming iris, and yellow water-lilies spread from rocky edges to deep water, and iridescent fish no longer than his little finger ducked under leafy cover.
Molly-guppies. Wild, and some of the fancy breeds.
…How do I know that?
Zuko: *groans and buries his face in his hands* Because somebody has no sense of personal boundaries or decency, apparently…
Ba Sing Se, that whisper nudged him again. You know, like you know where the Rings are. When curfew is. How to get down to the docks without people asking too many questions.
Lee. That whisper was Lee.
What did she do to me?
Azula: Well, it sounds to me like she shoved a whole other person into your head, making you question your identity, your sanity, your sense of self, your own reality… which I certainly would know nothing about, why are you asking?
Focus. Sit in the strengthening sunlight. Breathe.
It was like dropping a lit candle into a gaping chasm. Warm, and welcome… but spirits, he felt so empty.
Firebenders rise with the sun. Be patient. She almost killed you. Just keep breathing.
Zuko: So, are we going to deal with the fact that her recklessness nearly got me killed because she, I repeat, knew her technique was potentially deadly to firebenders and just started work on Uncle without checking if we were or not, or not? Because it’s really something I think we need to deal with!
A few minutes, and Uncle sat down beside him with a happy sigh. "I am feeling a bit chilled myself. Amaya believes it will pass soon."
"I just want to soak. For days." Zuko breathed more deeply, testing the flicker of fire inside him. Still a pale shadow of what it should be, but growing stronger. "It was like everything washed away." Another breath. "Almost everything."
MG: *conversationally* Weirdly, what this reminds me most of is Frodo in LotR when he’s recovering from being stabbed by the Morgul-blade (which would, as a reminder, have eventually turned him into an undead wraith under the dominion of the Nazgul). No, that’s not creepy at all, what makes you think that?
"But you are well?" Uncle's voice was calm, with only shadowy overtones of hunting down a certain waterbender with malice aforethought if he were not.
Zuko: Well, I think that so far there’s been plenty of justification for that!
"Coals in a firepot. I just need to dry things out inside…." Zuko grimaced, and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm not making sense."
"I believe you are entitled," Iroh said tolerantly. "Dealing with spirits is always unsettling." He paused. "Nephew? You have not looked at me today."
"I'm afraid," Zuko whispered.
"Of what you will see?"
Zuko swallowed. "Of what you will." Who am I, Uncle? Who?
MG: Keeping in mind that (at least at this moment) Zuko is asking this question not because of his own internal conflicts or struggles, but because someone (someone we’re supposed to like) reached into his head and did weird things to his sense of identity. Just a reminder.
"I see my beloved nephew," Iroh said quietly. "Prince Zuko. Son of Ursa, and Fire Lord Ozai. Your eyes cannot change that." Uncle's hand rested on his shoulder. "And I see Lee, whom I have grown to know and rely on through our travels." He chuckled. "But perhaps I am greedy, wanting to have you both."
"How do you always know what to say?" Zuko wondered, feeling the words just as warming as the sun. "I never know what to say."
Azula: …I’ll have you know that I could make some very choice comments here, but I’m going to refrain. For dignity’s sake.
"Some things come with time." He could hear the smile in Iroh's voice. "Be patient. You are still young."
I don't want to be patient! I want-
That thought seemed to tangle itself up like a pygmy puma kitten in a ball of yarn, hissing and spitting and somehow utterly ridiculous. He might want his honor back, but Lee flung up glimpses of arrogant, uniformed Earth Kingdom generals, who didn't care what the Dai Li did so long as they kept order in Ba Sing Se.
MG: …am I the only one who thinks it’s kind of telling that Zuko’s impatient thoughts get cut off, not by the realization that maybe that’s part of why he hasn’t managed Iroh’s level of understanding yet, but because of his imposed alternate personality butting in on him?
It's not like that! I have a reason. A good reason.
The whispers seemed to ripple, confused.
If I don't have my honor, I can't be Father's heir. If I'm not - Azula is.
Azula: *looks smug*
His people. Oh spirits, the things she'd do to his people. And to the world.
MG: *rubs their forehead* Okay. I’ve mentioned before that Vathara decides to retcon Zuko as having an altruistic reason to want to capture Aang, regain his honor and reclaim his position as heir to the Fire Nation – to keep Azula from becoming Fire Lord instead. I feel like there are a couple of problems here. First off is that, of course, Zuko never shows any hint of such motivation in canon, where it’s pretty clear that he wants his honor and his father’s love and approval for their own sake, and much of his character development revolves around learning the lessons that Ozai isn’t worthy of his devotion and that honor is something he has to earn for himself rather than relying on someone else to give him. I feel like giving Zuko an altruistic, even heroic, motivation for his pursuit of Aang fundamentally misunderstands the character, cheapens his arc, and is strongly reflective of Vathara’s apparent desire to sand off Zuko’s edges and reframe him as a more conventionally heroic character. For another, while I think Azula would be a disaster of a Fire Lord for various reasons –
Azula: *sniffs disdainfully*
MG: - Vathara tends to treat Azula’s ascension as if it would destroy the Fire Nation immediately and outright. And… I don’t really understand why? Azula would be a tyrant, sure, but the Fire Nation has already been under tyrants for at least three generations by this point; I don’t think Fire Lord Azula would immediately be meaningfully worse compared to, say, her father. And it’s not like Azula is Joffrey Baratheon, either, a spoiled, spiteful, cruel child with too much power and too little vision – Azula is a cruel, vicious genius, which I think is an entirely different set of problems. (Of course, the repeated harping on “Fire Lord Azula means the end of the Fire Nation” in the first part of the fic makes the way it actually ends kind of hilarious in hindsight to me… but more on that when we get there). But in any case, I think this is a bad decision on Vathara’s part that misunderstands both Zuko and Azula as characters and undermines both their arcs in ways that really showcase the author’s biases.
Prince Stuko: 24
The Real Victims: 8
Earth and Water. Stay hidden. Deflect your opponent.
Zuko: …yeah, clearly I’d never have thought of those without the influence of other elements.
Elemental Determinism: 9
He couldn't argue with that. The chances of Aang defeating the Fire Lord any time soon ranged between slim and none. Meaning it didn't matter if Azula thought she had a lock on the throne. Uncle was right. Right now, he had to focus on staying alive.
Zuko: Which doesn’t change the fact that I was miserable, living in a poor district of the capital city of an enemy nation, thinking I’d never see my home again and that I was doomed to live the rest of my life in shame – but as long as Dad isn’t keeling over and making Azula Fire Lord any time soon, Vathara apparently thinks I’d be okay with that? Huh?
He Has Much to Learn: 12
Uncle.
He lunged, knowing his target would never expect it.
Strong arms caught him regardless, gently returning his fierce embrace. "Zuko?"
Family. He had to laugh, ruefully, as all the loose pieces inside seemed to fall into place. "I think something went wrong, Uncle. We're supposed to be Earth. Tradition. Enduring." He made himself look into green without flinching. This was Uncle. And somehow, that made everything all right. "I think Lee is Water."
Azula: Well. This is fascinatingly revolting. Not to mention making it sound like that woman can’t even control her own technique properly; what a waste.
MG: And I definitely think it undermines what is otherwise a fairly effective scene of Zuko and Iroh reconnecting in the midst of trauma and Zuko having nearly died to have us get hit with Vathara’s weird “certain qualities are specific to certain elements, even for people who aren’t benders of those elements” theme again.
Elemental Determinism: 10
Iroh's brows went up, but he smiled back. And if it was a bit wry, Zuko couldn't blame him. "Perhaps that will be to our advantage, nephew. It does us no harm for those around us to see you as foreign. So long as they do not see what you are." He hesitated. "Is it difficult?"
"It's different." Zuko pulled back, just far enough to rub his eyebrow. "It's like a flood washed everything out of your house, and you have to find things, and put them back." He had to look away. "What if I don't do it right?"
Zuko: Why does Vathara not seem to realize how messed up this is? Is this story ever going to deal with how creepy what Amaya does is?
"Right?" Iroh asked quietly. "Or the same? I am not as I was, before the siege of Ba Sing Se. It is all right to change, nephew. To grow. So long as you remain rooted in your true self."
Azula: But much as I may disapprove of how Uncle handled his son’s death – I would have burned Ba Sing Se to the ground in Lu Ten’s honor, if it had been me in Uncle’s position – he did still choose how he wanted to change afterwards. It wasn’t forced on him, like what Amaya did was. She should consider herself fortunate she didn’t try it on me. I would not have taken it so kindly.
MG: *whistles innocently*
Azula: …what.
"I think I already did," Zuko said quietly. Looked up. "I put you back first."
Green eyes widened. "Nephew?"
"When she struck you down…." Zuko had to stop, and breathe. "If she's doing what Father wants - then I don't want it anymore."
Zuko: Oh, now we get that part! *beat* Almost as an afterthought in the middle of something else, why?
Iroh drew in a startled breath.
"I was ordered to capture the Avatar. And I will! Alive. He needs to be stopped. Anyone who can do… what he did to the fleet… he has to be stopped." Zuko clenched his fists, trying to still their trembling. I'm not a traitor.
Zuko: Okay, that was the Ocean Spirit that did that, channeling itself through Aang, and it was defending its people from Zhao’s attack – as terrifying as it was to live through, I can’t really blame it for that! But apparently not only do we have to blame Aang for it, we have to use it to make it sound like me chasing Aang is still the right thing to do? What?
The Deadly Depths: 4
He Has Much to Learn: 13
"But I won't sacrifice my people to do it. And I won't let her sacrifice them." Calm. Just… be calm. "You're my uncle. I won't let that happen to you again. I won't." Stay calm. Think. "I know - I have a hard time with my temper. But I'm going to try. To bank the flame. To think." She's an obstacle. With a lot more firepower. "She expects me to attack like a firebender. Straight on, for the kill. If I can go around her, deflect her…." Words failed him, and he shrugged.
MG: And now we’re back on “Zuko wants his honor to stop Azula from getting the throne.”
Elemental Determinism: 11
"It is a place to start," Iroh nodded, and stood. "Lady Amaya says we have a little time yet, before any patients should arrive. And that we are quite unobserved."
Even drained, Zuko's heart leapt. He scrambled to his feet. "We can practice?"
"Gently," Iroh advised. "The chi of water is still disturbing our own."
Zuko: Pretty sure that’s not how any of this works.
The Deadly Depths: 5
That was fine. He didn't feel up to much beyond candle-lighting. But still. "We can practice."
Iroh winked, and shifted into stance.
Zuko matched him, half a joyous heartbeat behind.
Breakfast, a few good cups of tea, and one nephew safely ensconced in Amaya's garden with a healing scroll and orders to soak up sunlight. That tended to, Iroh caught Amaya between patients. "We must talk."
Azula: Unfortunately, I highly doubt that Uncle is going to actually call out this woman who could have killed him because she, let us say it again, used a technique that’s potentially deadly to firebenders on him, without checking to see if he was one, and actually did nearly kill Zuzu, who he supposedly cares about.
"You said you were going out to look for work." Amaya's tone was mild, but one dark brow arched in curiosity.
"And I will," Iroh affirmed. "This will not take long, I hope." He frowned. "How much of what you have… shaped, in my nephew, is real?"
Zuko: *groans loudly* Oh, this is going to be great, I just know it…
"Almost all of it," the healer said simply. "The mask uses pieces of your self, and reshapes them as if they were formed in the Earth Kingdom-"
MG: I’m just still taken aback by this, because this is well beyond anything we see waterbending healing doing in canon – hells, even the Dai Li’s brainwashing just seems to brute-force implant orders and in some cases false memories, it doesn’t, like, weave a whole new persona from a hypothetical person you might have been if you’d been raised in different circumstances, and then lace it into your subconscious this way. Weirdly, it still makes me think of some of the things that can be done with Connection and Identity in the Cosmere novels more than anything (though this is more extreme than what we see done with most of that, except maybe Shai with her Essence Marks, which is something she does to herself to give herself knowledge and skills she might need, and is explicitly treated as a dangerous technique because of the risk of losing her true self even so), except that Vathara almost certainly can’t have been thinking of that because the Cosmere as a setting was still in its infancy when this fic began and basically none of the stuff I’m talking about here had been established yet (including the character of Shai, who debuted in The Emperor’s Soul in 20212). So it’s probably just a weird, coincidental parallel. None of which makes it less creepy that Amaya is basically rearranging people’s brains and rewriting their own histories (not completely, since they still have their original memories, but clearly enough to be disorienting and disturbing) without, based on her interactions with Zuko and Iroh, doing a good job of explaining what she’s doing first at all.
"My nephew seems convinced Lee is Water Tribe."
Azula: Isn’t it wonderful how Uncle talks about this new persona like it’s an entirely different person Zuzu has no control over?
Amaya halted in mid-thought. Blinked, and slowly nodded. "I believe that does make sense."
"Does it?"
"I checked some of my scrolls yesterday," the healer informed him. "I was searching for anything that might explain what happened. I didn't find it, but I found something else. Something I'd nearly forgotten." She gave him a sober look. "He was given that scar by someone he trusted."
Iroh winced. Which, he knew, was answer enough.
"It's not directly on one of the chakras, but a blow there, where so many of the body's channels come together, with a massive force of chi behind it…. If that wound had been dealt by a waterbender, I would have a patient with no will, no desire to live. An empty shell, who would want - nothing."
MG: …because only someone abused by a waterbender close to them might be so traumatized as to go essentially catatonic? The hells?
The Deadly Depths: 6
Elemental Determinism: 12
Iroh straightened, the dreadful meaning sinking home. "One whose inner fire had been extinguished."
Zuko: …I lost my inner fire when I joined up with Aang, because I’d been so obsessed with hunting him for so long that joining him was so much at odds with image of myself. But it just meant I had a really hard time firebending until I got my head back on straight and found a new drive for myself, I didn’t lose the will to live altogether!
Amaya inclined her head. "Just so."
"So my nephew-"
"Has survived surprisingly well," the healer stated. "You must care for him deeply, for him to have even been able to sip that comfort." She glanced toward the screens blocking off the garden. "He's had years of drought. Whatever happened… I don't know if it was the spirits, or simply being that close to death. The scar is there. But the energies it blocked are beginning to flow again."
"Love, and family, and the ability to adapt," Iroh murmured. Considered all that, and paled.
MG: Which are, apparently, specifically water-aligned traits rather than traits water is stereotypically associated with? I wouldn’t be so bothered with this is Vathara hasn’t leaned hard on the stereotypes of the elements as being somehow hard-coded in them, and is going to keep doing that… but she has, and so it does bother me, a lot.
Elemental Determinism: 13 (there’s a reason I have this count!)
"I would think this would be a good thing, Mushi," Amaya said with some asperity.
"In any other, I would agree," Iroh admitted. "But this is my nephew. If there is any way trouble can find him, it will."
Zuko: …is the fact that I didn’t ask for or want any of this or for anyone to go around reshaping my soul going to factor into this? At all?
Zuko sighed, and shaded his eyes, as the chi meridians marked on the scroll seemed to swim in his vision. Sunlight might be filling the emptiness inside drop by golden drop, but the rest of him didn't seem inclined to tolerate it as well. Not today.
Looking away from the brightness, he saw a cat-claw of white hanging in blue sky. And tensed.
Yue.
Or La, if he meant to invoke the Moon-spirit formally. Which he didn't.
MG: …the Moon Spirit is Tui (or Yue, after Book One); the Ocean Spirit is La. I don’t know why Vathara got the names backwards, but she did, and never corrects it at any point in the fic, so I’m not sure she realized.
But it was hard to look away.
Grimacing, Zuko set the scroll safely down on the portable writing tray, and walked over to the pond. He needed a distraction.
Then again, reading itself would probably be going fine, if practice hadn't been one long series of distractions.
His movements had been right. One advantage of having had to drill the basics into his very bones. He didn't forget. But the flow of his energies had been - off. Odd.
Amaya says it'll settle. Be patient.
Azula: *rolls her eyes* Oh, if Amaya says, it must be so!
MG: …this is actually more likely because of what Yue did to Zuko, which will be bearing fruit before long.
Zuko: Why does that sound so ominous?
On top of that, something just kept tugging at his concentration. Not Lee. At least, he didn't think it was Lee. Lee was a nudge, a whisper. Whatever was bothering him was more - directional. Like the push of storm winds. The shift of a ship in waves.
Push, and pull.
It was annoying.
Zuko: People have been messing around with my identity and my soul! I think that’s a bit more than annoying!
He crouched by the water, watching multicolored bodies flicker in and out of the sunlight. Wasn't too different from sitting on a dock, watching sealife circle and dance as the tides lapped at them. No salt, though. Breathing didn't seem quite the same without it.
You lived on dry land until you were thirteen, Zuko growled at himself. You can't actually miss sailing around the world chasing rumors and myths.
No. Not really. But the ship had been predictable. Train, hunt for a myth, deal with a crew that wanted to be there only slightly less than he did. Stable. Sane. No spirits, no Avatar, no bounty on their heads.
Zuko: …just three years of miserable exile that showed no sign of ever ending…
Until he'd spied an impossible light at the South Pole, and everything had gone catastrophically downhill from there.
If I'd caught him then, if I'd held him then - we wouldn't be in this mess.
MG: Be prepared to come back to this later, because apparently Vathara thinks that Aang escaping from Zuko’s ship in “The Avatar Returns” was a heinous betrayal and proof of why the Fire Nation feels it can never trust the Avatar and no, I’m not making that up.
Azula: *barely containing laughter* I’m sorry, what?
Sighing, Zuko skimmed his fingers across the pond's surface. The past was past. He had to deal with what was, not long to chase an airbender who'd never so much as touched water….
Zuko: Aang entered the Avatar State and used water against us literally the first day we met, and before that I was expecting him to be an old man who’d already mastered the elements and was just hiding because he was a coward! What does that even mean?
His hand lifted, and a thin arc of water lifted with it.
What the-?
Zuko: *looks back at MG’s previous comments, groans audibly* Oh, boy…
MG: It’ll be a ways before we get the full explanation for what’s going on with Zuko, but for now, let’s just say that yes, this is foreshadowing of what you probably think it is.
Splashed away and was gone, as a quick roll took him yards away from the pool. It wasn't glowing, and it hadn't been a hand - but there were fish in there. You could never be sure.
Flipping to his feet in a ready stance, Zuko eyed the pond suspiciously, ready to sear it out of existence if he had to. If he even could, with spirits involved.
Nothing. Just the quiet murmur of water.
"Lee?" Amaya stepped quietly into view on the garden path. "I'm breaking for lunch, if you'll join me. How far did you-" She eyed him, and his stance, with bemused worry. "Did something happen?"
"Do you have spirits in your water?" Zuko asked tersely.
Azula: Oh, Zuko – you’re so adorable when you’re wrong! Then again, I suppose “spirits” is a more logical explanation than you somehow becoming a waterbender…
"Not to my knowledge." The healer gave him a patient smile. "A little paranoid, are you?"
"Only because things are out to get me."
Azula: *smiles smugly*
"You make tea?" Huojin muttered under his breath, too low for the higher-ranking guard with him to hear. Not that Officer Yaozu probably would have noticed, bent on getting a steaming cup before they headed out way too early on evening duty, but better safe than sorry.
They're shuffling guards around all over tonight, Huojin thought. Guess they need some extra security up in the Upper Ring. Wonder what's going on?
MG: I guess this is supposed to be the Earth King’s party from “City of Walls and Secrets?” Though I’d presume the palace guard and the regular city guards would be entirely separate services with separate chains of command, and reorganizing one group wouldn’t have much impact on the other, though that’s just conjecture. *shrugs* Still seems a little contrived.
Not that it really mattered, so long as it stayed in the Upper Ring. Not his neighborhood, not his problem. Poking around up there was a quick way to bump into the Dai Li, and that was a pleasure he'd just as soon forgo. Unlike tea.
MG: *sigh* I swear, I’m going to miss bits like this when the fic starts forgetting to make the Dai Li actually villainous in a few chapters…
"I do," Mushi smiled at him, gesturing the pair of them to empty seats. "It is one of my life's quieter pleasures." He chuckled. "And here comes one slightly louder."
MG: And here we have Iroh, getting the same job at the same tea shop he got in canon, despite having had a completely different path through the city, meeting different people, and not having Zuko with him.
Stations of the Canon: 18
Huojin raised an eyebrow as Lee walked through the door, feeling a wash of interest and relief. The kid looked frazzled at the edges, short hair sticking up everywhere and ink staining his hands and one sleeve. But that was a heck of a lot better than lying half-drowned on Amaya's futon.
Zuko: Yeah, and who’s fault was that?
"Well?" Mushi asked.
"…I've got an apprentice's license," Lee admitted, taking out the thin sheaf of papers long enough for Mushi to beam at it, before tucking it back under his robe.
"Ah, very good! Tea?"
Lee gave him a skeptical look. "Steamed leaf juice?"
"How can one of my own family say such a thing?" Shaking his head, Mushi poured Yaozu's tea.
Zuko: Because that quip was so good we just had to keep it in? Seriously, when I compared all tea to hot leaf juice it was because Uncle was already complaining about how bad the tea was, here I’m just… saying it for no reason, I guess.
Stations of the Canon: 19
The officer picked it up - then took a second breath, sipping it slowly, and sighed. "This is the best tea in the city!"
"The secret ingredient," Mushi said expansively, "is love."
He walked back toward the back of the shop, as Lee stifled a groan.
MG: And yes, the implication is pretty clearly that either Huojin is the nameless city guard at the teahouse in the canon scene where Jet broke in (spoilers!) or that he’s been slotted into the same role.
Huojin chuckled, remembering too well what it was like to be a proud sixteen. "Don't worry. When you get to be his age, you can embarrass your nephews, too."
Lee blinked, and all the color drained from his face.
Azula: …while I always expected that someday I would be required to marry and continue the bloodline, I can certainly imagine why Zuzu would be less than thrilled by the prospect of my children. *beat* Which actually makes the idea of being a mother somewhat more appealing – thank you for the inspiration, Vathara!
Zuko: *scoots discretely away from Azula*
What'd I-? Oh. "Another child," right. Still. Even if Dad likes your sibling better, why do you look like you'd rather face down a charging dillo-lion?
Azula: Please. I’m much more dangerous than a dillo-lion.
The shop door slammed open.
"I'm tired of waiting!" The angry teen refugee from the other day, sheathed hook swords glinting in the shop's lights as he pointed toward Lee and Mushi. "These two men are firebenders!"
MG: Why hello there, conclusion of a subplot (Jet suspecting Zuko and Iroh of being firebenders and investigating them) that we’ve completely skipped over! I don’t even think we got the bit with Iroh heating his tea that set off Jet’s suspicions in the first place (looking back, there’s a bit where it might have happened, but if so, it’s really skimmed over)!
Stations of the Canon: 20
Oh, hell.
You bastard.
The world seemed to shimmer through a watery haze as Jet unsheathed his swords. Zuko deliberately kept his fists from clenching. No swords, no way he could take on someone quick as Jet with just bare hands - damn trained reflexes. Let his hands even start to close, training would kick in and he'd firebend right there, in reflexive self-defense. Which would get them both killed.
Damn you! We didn't do anything to you. Why?
Zuko: …he thought we were spies? At least that’s the idea I got from all his ranting.
"I know they're firebenders!" Jet growled. "I saw the old man heating his tea!"
MG: A pity we didn’t see that…
Stations of the Canon: 21
The ferry. Damn it.
"He works in a tea shop," Huojin's fellow guard pointed out dryly.
Right. Stay quiet, Zuko told himself. Let other people talk Jet down. Spirits knew he was in no shape to do it, not after a day spent studying and then answering Amaya's exhaustive questions on what he could and couldn't do for a patient. She'd marked his triage judgment as fairly educated, his knowledge of wound care as decent, and his healing bending as remarkably good for someone working mostly on instinct. He might have been proud of that, if he hadn't been so exhausted.
And twitchy. Definitely twitchy. Ever since the pond. Worse since the sun went down. A lot worse.
Azula: Firebenders are stronger during the daytime; being on edge at night isn’t really unusual. Though I suspect Vathara is going somewhere else with this…
Push, and pull.
It was driving him crazy.
Azula: …I rest my case.
And Jet wasn't helping. "He's a firebender, I'm telling you!" the rebel insisted.
MG: Since we’re in Ba Sing Se, that phrasing makes him sound like he’s a rebel against the Earth Kingdom, not a guerilla fighter against the Fire Nation. Sure, it’s a nitpick; it just jumps out at me.
The officer looked less than impressed, as Huojin rose to back him. "Drop your swords, boy. Nice and easy."
"You'll have to defend yourself," Jet said, grim and smug at once. "Then everyone will know. Go ahead, show them what you can-"
Pushing and pulling and damn it, he couldn't just stand here! Why couldn't you just leave us alone?
Zuko: Funny, when this actually happened I had no problem fighting Jet without the Moon and Ocean (I guess…) tugging at me like this.
Porcelain clattered like an earthquake, and three cups' worth of tea suddenly hurled itself at Jet's face.
What the…?
"Firebender?" Huojin drawled in the sudden silence. "Looks more like teabender to me."
Zuko: Oh no…
Please let Uncle keep a straight face, Zuko prayed. "That's my uncle you're calling a firebender. Are you out of your mind?"
"I saw-"
"I don't know what you saw. I don't care." Zuko took the last step he needed to near Huojin's incautious, dao-armed associate. "See this!"
Zuko: So, even with the… tea-bending… we’re still getting the sword fight? What was even the point of doing that if it didn’t change anything?
MG: Foreshadowing for later. And this scene isn’t going to end quite like it did in canon, admittedly. But I definitely can feel a bit of a tug of war between what Vathara wants to change and what she wants to keep the same, and I do think it ends up being a bit awkward.
Pull the blades. Separate. Move.
And the fight was on.
Iroh clapped a hand to his forehead as more furnishings fell victim to the duel. Ordinarily, he wouldn't worry about Zuko; rested and ready, his nephew could put most fighters of Jet's level down in less than a minute.
MG: Oh, no, no authorial favoritism here…
Prince Stuko: 25
Tired as he was, though, with his chi still upset from Amaya's waterbending… this could get tricky.
How in the world did my nephew fling tea?
Azula: It’s not like Zuzu suddenly became a waterbender or anything… that would just be ridiculous, right, brother?
Zuko: *groans again*
"Serve the tea pretty hot here, huh?" Huojin muttered, watching for any opening to separate the battling youngsters.
"So we do," Iroh agreed after a moment's shock. Of course. We can move fire. Tales say dragon's children could even bend lava, and that is fiery earth. Fiery water… well, well.
MG: Stick a pin in this, because we are absolutely coming back to it later and it’s going to be a significant plot point. I will point out that by this point in canon, the only people we’d seen lavabending were Avatars, and personally I’d headcanoned at the time that it was an Avatar-exclusive technique (requiring mastery of both earth and firebending); we see Sozin in a flashback cooling lava by bending heat out of it, using a technique that looked a bit similar to Iroh’s own lightning redirection, but not moving the lava itself. Now, Korra would eventually establish that non-Avatars can indeed lavabend – but that it’s a rare discipline of earthbending. Vathara will claim to have never watched Korra, but I do have to wonder if she ever found out about that and what she thought of it if she did (because it punctures quite a lot of her Fire Nation worldbuilding, as we’ll see).
And wouldn't that be a most unpleasant surprise, for anyone who trapped his nephew on terrain that should favor waterbenders? He could already see some tactical advantages-
Crash.
…Oh dear. Perhaps it was just as well Zuko was not working here. That had been the front door.
Damn. He's better than I thought, Zuko realized, dao locked with Jet's swords. Between that, and exhaustion, and not wanting to kill the idiot….
MG: …because even when he’s got Zuko on the ropes, we clearly have to be reminded that Jet is an idiot.
I could be in trouble.
"You must be getting tired of using those swords," Jet taunted. "Why don't you back off and let the old man fry me?"
Because I'm not stupid. Because my uncle is worth ten of you, and a pygmy puma thrown in on top. Because you're so wrapped up in needing to hurt someone you'd go after innocent strangers, if you thought they were Fire Nation.
No wonder Katara hates you.
MG: As we see here. Seriously, Vathara, Jet already attacked Zuko and Iroh unprovoked, they already have the moral high ground, you don’t have to keep hitting Jet like this to convince me of that! Also kind of weird that Katara hating someone is used as a mark against them here, considering how she’s going to be treated starting in a few chapters…
"Please, son, you're confused!" Iroh called out from the doorway. "You don't know what you're doing!"
No, Uncle. He does. That's the problem.
Zuko: Pretty sure Uncle was saying that for the benefit of the crowd, not Jet – he knew Jet wouldn’t listen to him, but he definitely wanted people to think it was ridiculous that he thought we were firebenders.
In more ways than one. This was not going well.
No more kid gloves.
Breathe and focus and channel inner fire into a quick burst of speed, pinning one hook-sword down, turn and advance and strike-
…I cannot believe he ducked.
At least he'd killed the damn wheat straw.
Azula: Which, considering it was no longer attached to the plant, was presumably already dead. Well done!
Someone needs to teach that kid that regular people don't kill their problems, Huojin thought acidly, ignoring Yaozu's sputtering over his borrowed swords as he tried to figure out a way to get between two desperate fighters without killing either of them. At least, Lee was desperate. The other refugee was riding such an avalanche of hate and fury, he wouldn't care if someone cut his hands off so long as he could spew his venom.
Zuko: …is this the point where it’s worth pointing out Jet was right that Uncle and I were firebenders who were lying about who we were and why we were in the city, even if he was completely wrong about why?
"You see that?" the troublemaker snarled, balancing on the edge of a well. "The Fire Nation is trying to silence me-"
Grinning suddenly, Huojin dashed back inside.
Let's just hope the owner- yes!
Grabbing what he sought, he ran back out toward the fight. Think fast, kid. Before someone wonders why a waterbender's not taking advantage of a well. "Lee!"
Damn, he's behind me, I can't-
"Lee!"
Hot and near and pulling-
Spinning, he let his free hand arc out, and pushed.
A kettle's worth of hot tea hit Jet with the force of a fireball, blasting him down.
Step in, disarm, finish- no!
Foot still on Jet's wrist, Zuko stopped the dao an inch from the teen's throat.
Zuko: …I was also a teenager. Just worth pointing that out, too!
"Good, hold him there," Huojin said briskly, moving in with iron bindings as Jet wheezed, trying to get his breath back. Left wrist secure, the guard motioned Zuko back, and yanked Jet up enough to catch the teen's bruised wrist behind him in the cuffs. "You're under arrest, young man." Green eyes cut back at Zuko. "Drop the sword. Now."
Breathing hard, Zuko nodded, and laid the blade down. Out of reach of Jet's feet. He'd trained hard to be capable of fighting even when captured. No way was he going to assume the freedom fighter hadn't picked up a few tricks.
"Me?" Jet sputtered, dripping. "They're Fire Nation!"
MG: So, this is what I mean about the scene ending differently – Jet is getting arrested by the regular guards, not the Dai Li, which is obviously going to have pretty significant implications down the line (though it does, IMO, make the other ways in which the scene played out more-or-less exactly as canon despite all the other changes more blatant).
"No, we're not!" Zuko let some of the fury and frustration pour into his voice. "You moron! You said you wanted a fresh start! Well, so did I! But if it's the only way to get an idiot like you to stop attacking my uncle… damn it, my mother was from the Great Foggy Swamp!"
Dead silence in the street. He could feel the onlookers staring, aghast.
MG: …and here we have Vathara’s favorite running gag, the Foggy Swamp Tribe as the butt-monkey, once again!
Simple Rubes from the Water Tribes: 10
Tea dragging wild brown hair into a soggy mass, Jet blinked at him. "You've got to be kidding me."
"Do I look like I'm kidding?"
Jet didn't resist as Huojin hauled him to his feet, face scrunched up in horrified disgust. "You're - you eat bugs!"
Simple Rubes from the Water Tribes: 11 (yes, it’s Jet saying it, but it’s still reinforcing the idea that everyone thinks the Foggy Swamp Tribe are gross and backwards)
"You have never had fried silkworms? Deprived child." Iroh gave Jet a stern look. "Lee's mother was far more civilized and honorable than most people I have met anywhere. I will thank you not to insult the memory of my brother's wife."
"But- you- Foggy Swamp?"
Zuko flung up empty hands, disgusted. "Now do you see why we didn't tell you?"
Azula: But if Jet hadn’t found out your “secret” we couldn’t have had this lovely little joke that’s already growing stale.
Jet seemed to slump against his bonds. "No wonder you're so sneaky…."
Simple Rubes from the Water Tribes: 12 (I get that Jet’s supposed to be racist here, and racism isn’t logical, but still “sneaky” isn’t really a stereotype I think I’d associate with the swamp tribe?)
It's working? Zuko glanced at the crowd, looking for traces of disbelief. I can't believe it's working… uh-oh.
He didn't need Lee's shiver to recognize the pair of Dai Li walking through the crowd. Even if the uniforms hadn't been a giveaway, the way onlookers melted out of their path would have shouted they were trouble. "Is there a problem?" one said levelly.
"I'll say there's a problem!" The teashop owner jabbed a finger toward Jet. "This young man wrecked my teashop, and assaulted one of my employees!"
"Mistaken identity," Huojin said dryly. "We've got it sorted out now." His voice hardened. "Right?"
"I didn't think-" Jet started.
"You got that right." Huojin gave the Dai Li a professional smile. "Thanks for the assistance. But everything seems to be under control now." He glanced at his fellow officer respectfully. "Right, sir?"
"Boy's getting off easy," the officer grumbled. "Attacking the finest tea-maker in the city!"
Azula: They should count themselves fortunate that the obvious evasiveness here isn’t making the Dai Li more interested in this case, not less.
"Oh ho ho," Iroh chuckled. "That's very sweet."
Zuko wasn't sure whether to laugh or groan. The Dragon of the West, a tea-maker….
Zuko: Hey, Uncle always took a lot of pride in his tea-making! Admittedly, I don’t think he ever did it for money before this…
Two leaves in the forest. We're just simple refugees. If Uncle's happy with what he's doing while we're resting - well, don't screw it up.
Zuko tried, very hard, not to glance back at the wreck he and Jet had made of the teashop. …Any more than you already have.
Apparently he hadn't done too badly, because the Dai Li were moving off. Though not without a considering look his way.
Azula: *snorts* And you say you only have bad luck.
Lee. Be Lee.
He leaned on that whisper, and gulped air, without any touch of breath control. Shook a little, like a new recruit, now that the battle-rush was fading. Drew closer to his uncle, who was all a frightened refugee had in the world.
They turned and left, and now he really did want to fall down.
Later, Zuko promised himself. And hid a vindictive grin, as the officer reclaimed his dao and started hauling Jet off, abusing his prisoner's ears every step of the way.
"Gentlemen?" Huojin raised a brow at the pair of them. "If you'll step over here a moment, I have few more questions."
Zuko: Because that’s reassuring for two people trying to keep a low profile to hear from an officer of the law, even a “friendly” one…
"He should get off with a warning, this time," Huojin said in an undertone after they complied. "Which is just as well for all of us. The Dai Li don't usually bother questioning random troublemakers before they deal with them, but better safe than sorry." Concern swept off his face, giving way to exasperated anger. "Lee, just what the hell did you think you were doing?"
"He attacked my uncle!" Zuko protested.
"I'm not helpless bare-handed, you know," Iroh said patiently. "I would have been fine-"
Zuko: *sighs* Yeah, but Uncle’s still an old man, and Jet was armed. I really don’t think you can blame me for not wanting to take that lying down?
"If somebody recognized your form?"
That stopped Uncle cold.
Azula: If random Earth Kingdom peasants can recognize the Dragon of the West’s form when he’s very carefully not trying to use the abilities that made him famous, then the Earth King’s spies deserve far, far more than whatever he’s paying them.
"Damn," Huojin groaned. Looked at Iroh with rueful sympathy. "I hate to say it, but he's got a point. We do get soldiers off the Outer Wall down here. A few of them have been close enough to the action to notice things." Another green-eyed glare Zuko's way. "Still. We were right there. Let us handle it. That's what the Guard is for."
Confused, Zuko glanced at Iroh. Who started to speak, stopped, and finally shook his head. "It seems we are both unaware of customs that may prevail in the larger cities of the Earth Kingdom," Iroh said thoughtfully. "If you would be so kind as to inform us how the Guard functions in Ba Sing Se? So we may avoid any other misunderstandings."
Zuko: …seriously, Uncle? I get it, but is now really the best time?
"We're like the Guard everywhere, I think," Huojin said wryly. "We enforce the laws. Investigate petty thefts. Keep people from killing each other?"
"You do?" Zuko said, even more confused.
This time, it was Huojin who hesitated. Looked at him. Looked back at Iroh. "Is he serious?"
Zuko: Seriously? Yes, even in the Fire Nation, we have laws against murder! The fact that sometimes under very specific circumstances we fight duels that can end in death doesn’t mean we turn a blind eye to people killing each other in the streets! Is that really a hard concept?
"My nephew is rarely not serious," Iroh said bluntly.
Azula: And yet he makes such a marvelous butt of the joke!
Zuko: *glares murderously at her*
"We are not accustomed to such protections being extended to everyone." He paused, choosing his words. "Some might say that those in our unpleasant position do not deserve our lives, if we cannot fight to keep them." He shrugged. "Besides the obvious - I believe I was twenty, when I encountered my first assassin outside the shelter of my clan. Lee… has not had such fortune."
Huojin stared at him. Turned a disbelieving gaze on Zuko.
Zuko: …I mean, even Jet could tell I got this scar from a firebender. Is that really so surprising that I’ve been in serious fights against my own people?
"What?" Zuko said crossly. The fight was over, he was tired, and no matter how low they kept their voices, there were far too many eyes on them.
And he knew that look on the guard's face. Knew it, and drew in a hiss of breath. "Don't ever pity me," he bit out, low and angry. "If I were better, they wouldn't dare come." If I were better. If Father loved me. Zhao would never have dared if he'd- if I'd-
MG: *sighs* You know, every so often – like here, with Zuko’s bitterness and feelings of inadequacy just hitting us in the face – Vathara really does remind us that when she wants to, she can write. And that is a big part of what makes the rest of this fic so frustrating.
Fists clenched, cold, he turned away. "You need anything else?"
"…Let me talk to your uncle for a minute."
Huojin barely waited for Lee to get out of earshot before facing Mushi head on. "Assassins?" he hissed, barely above a whisper. "And what the hell's the obvious?"
Mushi gave him a skeptical brow. "I believe you know, if you will think on it."
Agni Kai. Oh. Hell.
Firebenders. Benders who had the right to challenge, or be challenged, when two of them went head-to-head. Duels that could be to wounding, or death.
Damn. Never really thought about that. Our people here, they're just people. Most of them never wanted to hurt anyone in their lives. But firebenders… they're trained to kill. All of them.
Azula: Lets be honest here. Most people will go their whole lives without ever getting into a serious Agni Kai, and only a fraction of those end in death. If we were killing each other off regularly, pretty soon there wouldn’t be a Fire Nation left.
MG: But Vathara clearly really, really likes the idea of a nation of proud warriors willing and able to kill at the drop of a hat and hardened by constant conflict (and she makes it quite clear that she considers trying to stop the Fire Nation from engaging in such conflict is a horrible crime) and tries to go to great lengths to justify it. And the more she does so, the more it distorts from the show’s Fire Nation into something that only vaguely resembles it, IMO.
The Superior Element: 10 (for the whole melodramatic “all Fire Nationals are warriors!” bit)
"Right. Stupid question," Huojin managed, voice unsteady. "But - assassins?"
"I told you it was not safe for Lee to remain behind." Mushi weighed him in his gaze, and sighed. "Specifically, because he had just survived an attempt arranged by Admiral Zhao. The man could not be allowed to learn he had failed."
You got drafted as an adviser to the man who tried to kill your nephew. And you snuck him onto the Admiral's own invasion ship, and got away with it. Who are you? "He's sixteen," Huojin protested.
Azula: Trust me, Zhao would probably kill people much younger than sixteen if they got in his way. The man was not known for his proportional responses to setbacks, or for holding in his temper.
"The war does not care. The spirits do not care. His father does not care." Mushi gave him a sad smile. "Thank you for your assistance. It was most clever, and timely. Now, I think your Officer Yaozu is waiting." He inclined his head. "Do not worry. I will see that Lee rests. He's much more civilized, after a good night's sleep."
Civilized, Huojin thought numbly, heading off to join Yaozu and his sullen prisoner. Oma and Shu. How could anybody call a land where that happens to kids civilized?
MG: Well, our author is going to be giving a very determined try of it, so… yay?
Only it didn't happen to kids, from what he'd heard. Not ordinary ones. Not even ordinary firebenders. Fire Nation politics were vicious, true, but the nobles who earned admiral's rank didn't try to assassinate people who couldn't possibly be a threat-
Zuko: Huojin, you have a much higher opinion of the kind of people Dad promoted than I do.
Oh, Agni. Huojin almost tripped over a cobble left awry after some random earthbender had played with the street. A dozen little facts Mushi had dropped fell into place, and the pattern was something he should have seen a mile away. His brother is unquestionably loyal to the Fire Lord? They're not just nobles. They're great names!
The highest class in the nation, beyond the royal family itself. Warriors. Firebenders of unparalleled power. And - yes - targets of assassins, when court politics turned nastier than usual. Down to the children.
Meaning the reason Lee acted like he expected people were trying to kill him… was that he expected people to try to kill him.
MG: So… here we have another concept you all should probably get very used to hearing about, and we’ll likely be very sick of before we’re done. “Great names,” obviously derived from the Japanese Daimyo (yes, “great name” is clearly an official rank, and no, it’s not capitalized) are the feudal lords of the Fire Nation, and Vathara never shuts up about how amazing they are, if Huojin’s little spiel wasn’t a giveaway already. This concept isn’t the only reason I have my “divine right to rule” counter, but it’s definitely a big part of it. And, frankly… I think it badly misunderstands the Fire Nation’s political system as we see it in the show. The Fire Nation is a monarchy, sure, but every indication we have is that it’s an absolute monarchy with a centralized government, not a feudal monarchy where power is spread out through layers of vassals bound together on a personal level by ties of honor and obligation. The Fire Nation military isn’t a collection of levies and retinues raised by different clans and domains whose first loyalty is to their local lords; it’s a centralized, professional force that ultimately answers to generals and admirals who in turn report directly to the Fire Lord. Local authorities, as we see them, clearly present themselves as serving the Fire Lord’s government, not great-name-so-and-so. The most prominent Fire Nation nobles we see who aren’t royals or military are probably Mai’s family, and it’s pretty clear, IMO, that Mai’s dad’s role as governor of Omashu is that of a bureaucrat who’s been assigned to administer a piece of conquered territory, not a vassal of the Fire Lord who’s been awarded a new fief to rule. I don’t know if Vathara realizes how badly she’s shaken up the Fire Nation’s political system with this concept – she never explains or mentions it in her ANs, iirc – but it still seems a rather glaring oversight for being a fic that prides itself on research and worldbuilding.
Interestingly, the Kyoshi novels would later show that the Fire Nation was much more feudal in Kyoshi’s time, with the local clans clearly having a lot more power and independence from the throne than they do in the show. Considering The Shadow of Kyoshi heavily deals with a Fire Nation succession crisis that just barely avoids erupting into outright civil war, the novels are also much more aware of the dangers of this system and what a problem clan warfare is for the Fire Nation, with the end of the novel having Frie Lord Zoryu reflecting on how he needs to break the clans as independent power bases and bring them directly under the Fire Lord’s authority in order for the Fire Nation to move forward, the implication being that by Sozin’s reign, and certainly by Ozai’s, this had largely been accomplished. Again, Vathara had no way of knowing about this, but it is an interesting point of comparison for how the franchise’s official fiction would handle some similar ideas.
Divine Right to Rule: 12
The Superior Element: 11
And they're hiding here, in Ba Sing Se. As commoners. They're not just desperate. They're clueless.
Grimacing, Huojin ran through his likely patrol duties in his head. No help for it, he wouldn't be able to drop by the clinic until late. And this wasn't the kind of thing he could tell Amaya in a note.
"Where are you taking me?" Jet growled, defiance back now that Lee and Mushi were out of sight.
Azula: Hopefully Jet didn’t overhear any of that. Because that would be awkward…
"Headquarters," Huojin said loudly, noting the pair of ragged teens slinking through the night crowds after them. "Lucky for you. Let me tell you a little about the Dai Li…."
MG: And so, the chapter comes to an end! We had quite a lot going on in this one. Not least is the very strong foreshadowing – Zuko hasn’t quite realized what’s going on yet, but I think it’s fairly clear to the audience – that after his Spirit World journey, Zuko is now a waterbender as well as a firebender. We’ll find out more about how that happened and what’s really going on after yaoren as a concept are introduced (probably more than you’ll want to know, tbh) and so I’ll hold off on going into more detail until then. I’ll just say for now that I don’t think a double-bender is necessarily a bad concept – it’s not something I’d want to see in the show, particularly, but I could see the value of exploring it in fanfic – though I don’t much care for Vathara’s take on it, mostly because I don’t much care for the lore she builds around the yaoren in general. I also think that, like fire-healing, it’s a concept that you could build a whole AU out of by itself, but that it kind of gets lost in the shuffle with all the other elements Vathara is going to be piling on top of it. Beyond that, we’re mostly left with Amaya still being creepy (I know I keep harping on how disturbing I think her technique, and more specifically the context in which she used it on Zuko and Iroh, is, but, well, it’s genuinely something I can’t get over), and nobody really interrogating that at all, Zuko totally having a noble reason for chasing Aang, Jet still being a loser who everybody hates and who is no match for Zuko (except when he is, which doesn’t count) and, of course, the introduction of the concept of great names, which Vathara is going to continue to wield throughout the fic to uphold the glory of Fire Nation values and Fire Nation aristocracy. And I still think it’s pretty obvious where the fic swerves out of its AU to intersect with canon where it needs to, though maybe other people aren’t as bothered by that as I am. Anyway, next time we meet some more of the fic’s OCs as Zuko takes on a new role and learns more about what’s happening to him. We’ll see you then! Our counts stand at:
Beware the Sugar Queen: 5
The Blind Bandit Wins Again: 8
The Deadly Depths: 6
Detached from Reality: 6
Divine Right to Rule: 12
Elemental Determinism: 13
He Has Much to Learn: 13
Prince Stuko: 25
Protectors of our Cultural Heritage: 1
The Real Victims: 8
Simple Rubes from the Water Tribes: 12
Stations of the Canon: 21
The Superior Element: 11
The Ultimate Firebenders: 8
