Embers: Chapter Nineteen, Part II

[masterghandalf]

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

Warning: This post contains discussion of abuse and mind control.



MG: Well, everyone, it’s time to continue our journey through Vathara’s Embers! Last time, Shirong had a mission for Zuko, Zuko had a meltdown, and Meixiang pledged fealty to snap him out of it (why…). Today, it’s time for the Gaang to make their official return to the story, after we’ve not seen them (barring a brief appearance from Toph) for quite a while now… and, unfortunately, it’s also time for Amaya to meet the Gaang. And if you guessed that it’s going to be rough… you’d be right. Unfortunately. Joining us today will be Aang and Katara!

"Do you think it was wise to leave him behind?" Amaya frowned as they headed into the Inner Ring, glancing back as if she expected the young firebender to melt out of the crowds.

Katara: Well, if they’re going to see us, and we’d definitely recognize him – and let’s be honest, Zuko wasn’t all that under control where we were concerned back then either – yeah, that could’ve been a problem! *beat* Of course, we’d recognize Iroh too, so maybe it’s not that? *looks ahead* Though it looks like Iroh wasn’t planning to show himself to us (except Toph) at all, so maybe we’re back to Zuko not having great impulse control when it comes to Aang.

"He promised he would stay," Iroh said gravely. And he keeps his promises. Usually. "He asked us to scout the situation. That means he is thinking."

"But if he's planning to-"

"We do not know what he is planning," Iroh interrupted. "But if he meant to be reckless and impulsive, he would have acted by now."

Aang: …isn’t it kind of the definition of being reckless and impulsive that it’s not predictable? It’s not like anything’s stopping Zuko from stewing a while, then making a snap decision and running off!

Amaya rolled her eyes. "You're his uncle. Can't you simply tell him no?"

"Technically? No."

The healer choked mid-breath, and glared at him. "Tui and La, why not?"

"A crown prince outranks a general," Iroh said plainly. "If I had ever given him orders in front of the men, it would have undermined discipline. Which is very bad aboard any ship. Much less a ship full of firebenders."

MG: …honestly, this is mostly what I suspected was true based on the show (except I don’t know if Zuko is technically the crown prince so long as he’s banished, though Iroh is also retired as a general and was apparently removed from the succession by Fire Lord Azulon’s supposed dying wish, so Zuko probably still outranks him). Again, note that Iroh almost always addresses his nephew as “Prince Zuko,” by title, except in moments of high emotion, whereas Zuko is usually much less formal in return. OTOH, not really sure how this jives with Vathara’s stated goal from the beginning of the fic of depicting Zuko as a young officer being cultivated by Iroh the seasoned general.

Rangi: *sticking her head in* And at least in my time, I can assure you that sort of proper protocol is really important in the Fire Nation, especially when you’re dealing with the royal family. My mother was Fire Lord Zoryu’s firebending master, and that makes her one of the only people who is actually allowed to correct or contradict him without consequences… and even then, she’d be expected to not do so in public, out of respect for the office.

"…No wonder he had an attitude problem."

"Part of that was his injury, I imagine, but yes," Iroh acknowledged.

MG: …”part of that?” That Zuko is angry, prickly and desperate to prove himself because his father burned and disowned him and he desperately needs to be taken seriously and to show that he is worthy as a son, a prince and a firebender is, like, not even subtext. It’s just… text. Royal protocol isolating Zuko even further from his men and anyone else who might have gotten close to him can’t have helped his problems, but we know exactly what caused them, and that cause has a name – Ozai. Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but, well… I’m just really suspicious of anything that tries to tie Zuko’s issues and his trauma to anything other than his father’s abuse.

"I was always glad when we could go ashore, away from other eyes. Then I could be the father he needed, and not just an old man of high rank." He smiled. "In a way, my nephew's raid on the North Pole was the best thing to happen to us in a long time. Had we not been cut off from the Fire Nation, and cast adrift on our own resources, I would never have been truly able to act as his uncle, and his master. And he needed me. More than I knew."

Aang: *confused* Okay, I kind of get how Zuko had to lose everything before he could start building himself back up into a better person, but it seems kind of weird for Iroh to put it that way? I mean, he’s just admitting he loved Zuko like a son – wouldn’t he be a lot more regretful that they had to go through that? Just seems kind of weird, is all.

"He needs you to tell him no," Amaya said practically.

"I will not," Iroh said soberly. "His honor and his loyalty are at stake. As are the lives of every being in Ba Sing Se. The longer the Avatar remains here, the more time the Fire Nation has to muster its forces against the city."

Katara: …okay, I’m really not sure that’s a good idea? Sometimes, when you love someone, you do have to be willing to sit them down and tell them when they’re doing something stupid!

MG: I think the idea is that Zuko is still so caught up in his mission and his personal honor he wouldn’t be willing to listen, and would push Iroh away if he tried, which makes sense… except later in the fic Iroh will be called out for not trying to turn Zuko against Ozai and to the cause of the White Lotus sooner, implying Vathara thinks Zuko would have listened to having his mission, his father and the cause he’s dedicated his life to called into question at a time when he’d have been far less receptive, so I’m kind of not sure what we’re getting at here other than “the story demands Zuko be left free to do his own thing right now.”

"They've tried to conquer us for years." Amaya cast him a look askance. "You should know."

"The last siege meant to conquer, yes," Iroh said soberly.

Aang: I think Azula meant to conquer Ba Sing Se! *beat* Or does the Drill not count as a “siege?”

"But the Fire Lord knows full well what strength the Avatar may gain. He knows no other creature can hope to slay his armies in their very tracks. So long as the Avatar remains within these walls, the Fire Nation's goal will not be to conquer. It will be to destroy."

MG: ...what, because the Fire Nation would want to kill every living thing in Ba Sing Se just to make sure of getting Aang? It’s not like Sozin attacking the Air Nomads, where he was looking for one airbender among many and seemingly had no idea of the Avatar’s identity; in the modern day, being, you know, the titular Last Airbender, Aang kind of… stands out. Not that Ozai wouldn’t kill every living thing in Ba Sing Se if he thought it would bring him closer to victory; he absolutely would. I’m just not sure I follow Iroh’s specific thought process here.

He had to look away. "You have not seen what Sozin's line can do, when they wish to destroy. Remember the airbenders. Remember, Sozin's forces destroyed their nation within a day." He shook his head. "That is what awaits Ba Sing Se, should the Avatar remain."

Katara: …why have we somehow brought things back around to Ozai’s bloodline being scary instead of what Ozai personally might do?

Divine Right to Rule: 50 (it’s a “royals are scary” bit rather than a “royals are awesome” bit, but I think it counts)

Amaya swallowed, pale.

"So. I will argue with my nephew. I will advise him, as best I can. But I will not tell him not to act." Iroh smiled wryly. "We have patched our vessel in the midst of a raging storm. Now we must see if it will hold. And be prepared to bail."

Aang: Okay, so if I’m following this right, Iroh thinks that if Zuko is left free to act, it will… get me out of the city sooner, somehow? And that will spare the city from being destroyed? But I was in Ba Sing Se for a reason – I was trying to see the Earth King about the eclipse! Iroh doesn’t know that, but he seems to think the only reason I’m hanging around is because the Dai Li had Appa and not that there might have been a reason I came to Ba Sing Se in the first place?

"…You have tremendous faith in that boy."

"He has more of his father in him than he wishes to think," Iroh stated. "And that is not so ill a heritage as you might first believe.

MG: Okay, to a certain extent, I see what Iroh is saying here. Zuko and Ozai do have some things in common – they’re both proud, both aggressive, both driven. And those aren’t, in themselves, negative qualities, though Ozai twists them all to evil ends. But something about the phrasing, in this context – where Iroh is talking about Ozai’s relationship to the son he brutally abused, talking to a woman who, regardless of my personal feelings about her, lives in a city that the nation Ozai rules is desperate to conquer and belongs to a people whose homeland only just repulsed a major Fire Nation invasion – it just feels shockingly insensitive and tactless, in a way I wouldn’t expect from Iroh.

His mother was gentle, kind, and honorable. She also avoided conflict unless there was no other choice. And by then, much damage had been done. While my family - well. We have no qualms about striking first. And unleashing enough force that no further blow is needed."

MG: And this feels incredibly victim-blamey. Like, it wasn’t until the comics that we had explicit confirmation of Ozai being abusive to Ursa as well (the show never really explores their relationship dynamic at all) but… we see extensively what sort of person Ozai is, and I can’t imagine he treated his wife with any more kindness or understanding than he did his children or his brother. Blaming Ursa for not defying Ozai more openly – when I have no trouble believing that Ozai could and would have killed her if she pushed him too far – just gives me the ick (and even if you ignore the comics and headcanon Ozai as not being abusive to Ursa specifically – again, in the show, we never see them alone together and are given very little idea of their dynamic – I find it hard to believe she wasn’t aware of the potential for that violence in him). What the hells, Iroh!?

He shrugged. "I have tried to teach him to balance the two. With luck, we have succeeded. Is this the house?"

MG: This I actually largely agree with; I always saw Zuko as representing a balancing of traits from both his parents (Azula too, in different ways – back in the day I had an extensive backstory headcanoned for Ursa based in part on extrapolating from what we see of her personality in canon mixed with the idea that if Azula is also a mix of traits from both her parents, and what she got from Ozai is obvious, what did she get from Ursa? Of course, it ended up all getting completely overwritten by the comics and I’ve not thought much of it in years). I just wish we could’ve gotten to this point without some of the really, really unfortunate phrasing of the previous paragraphs…

"The right address, according to the flyer." Amaya nodded at the small mansion on their right. "That just seems so odd…."

"At the South Pole, we were the only ship in range to see the light of the Avatar's awakening," Iroh said plainly. "We made port to find a replacement lotus tile, and found pirates from whom Katara had just stolen a waterbending scroll. Another time we pulled in at a prison barge to re-supply with coal… and found her necklace, and then a bounty hunter who could track them from it. Even traveling by ourselves in the midst of the plains, with no desire or thought of finding the Avatar - we have found bison fur, and met again." He sighed. "My nephew is a skilled tracker, determined, and well-taught in predicting his foes. But I believe the spirits want my nephew to chase the Avatar." His eyes narrowed. "To chase, but not to catch. So many times, Aang has slipped from his fingers… if I ever meet those who have plotted so cruelly, we will have words."

Aang: Umm, I think you’d call that “destiny,” not “the spirits?” At least, that’s how Iroh usually talked about that stuff… and I don’t think the spirits control destiny.

MG: And it’s going to turn out that Iroh himself was part of a different plot to set Zuko on the course of a different destiny, so perhaps he’s not in the best position to judge here (and I hate that I have to say that…)

Prince Stuko: 80 (I’m giving a point for the implication that the spirits had to actively manipulate Zuko to keep him on Aang’s trail and it was somehow important they do so)

"Invite me along," Amaya murmured. "Lee has a gift. He may not be as swift to catch on as some I've seen, but he's thorough. He doesn't just heal what he sees and assume he's done. He listens to the energies." She gave Iroh a determined look. "Make this work. I want him back."

Prince Stuko: 81

Iroh bowed to her, and slipped out of sight behind the Avatar's house. Took a lump of flint from his sleeve, and quietly banged on the foundation.

Let us hope I am right, and the Blind Bandit sees more clearly than most who think they have eyes.

The Blind Bandit Wins Again: 14 (for singling out Toph again as the only one who’ll listen to Vathara’s faves)

-

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Toph sighed, and hid a grimace. Bouncing her ball against the wall didn't quite cover the rustle of Katara and Sokka playing cards, but it did break up the patter of Aang's anxious feet as he burst back in through the front door with Momo.

"I just finished dropping all the leaflets! Has anyone come in with news about Appa?"

…And the connection Twinkletoes apparently couldn't make between those two sentences was why Toph sometimes felt like beating her brains out rather than trying to teach him earthbending.

Aang: Well, excuse me for being really desperate to find my oldest friend, who in this story is apparently also really necessary for me as the Avatar.

He Has Much To Learn: 29

Oh, Aang was good enough to beat the robes off most earthbenders. He had more power than any other bender she'd ever seen, and power could cover for a lot of slipshod bending.

But if he took the time to do it right, he could do so much more….

He Has Much To Learn: 30

Aang didn't want to take the time to do it right. Get a move down enough to make it work, and push on. In a way, Toph could understand that. Aang was up against an end-of-summer deadline to throw-down with the Fire Lord, and the more he did before that, the better.

What she couldn't sympathize with was Aang's attitude toward training. If it'd been her with the fate of the world at stake, she'd be up before dawn and fall into bed only when she couldn't move any more. Aang seemed to think "train hard" meant "train until I get tired, bored, or spot a butterfly".

Katara: *arches an eyebrow* Okay, Toph and I have… disagreed, sometimes, but I really don’t think she was ever this judgy.

MG: *sighs* Alas, Toph is one of Vathara’s faves, so her job in this fic is mostly to look better than the rest of you (and, eventually, be buddies with Zuko). So, unfortunately, you’re going to have to get used to it.

The Blind Bandit Wins Again: 15

He Has Much to Learn: 31

Lesson after lesson, she'd tried to thump that out of him. But every time she got him near the edge, every time she thought she'd get Aang to understand you could go way beyond the point it started to hurt, if you had to-

"It's only been a day." Katara fluttered her cards. "Just be patient."

Yep. In swooped Katara to kiss it better. It made Toph want to tear her hair out. Or burrow into the ground and not come out.

Katara: Oh, so it’s my fault now! And, wait a minute. Aang is bad for being impatient… and I’m also bad for telling him he needs to be more patient? Excuse me? How does that make sense?

Beware the Sugar Queen: 9

He Has Much to Learn: 32

She felt Aang's chin hit the table as he sighed, almost heavy enough to cover the no-nonsense stride walking up to the door. Medium-weight, she'd guess a bit taller than Katara, and definitely a woman….

MG: *muttering* I guess Embers!Toph never considered the possibility of a trans or nonbinary person, then?

A knock, and Aang finally realized someone was there. "Wow, you're right! Patience really pays off." He swept toward the door. "Hi! Are you here about Appa?"

"I came to meet some distant relatives." The woman sounded about as old as Toph's mother. "I hear there are Southern Water tribesmen here?"

Katara: Oh, spirits, I just want to reach into the fic and grab my other self and everyone else and tell them all to run, now… seriously, even Hama didn’t mess with people’s minds like Amaya does…

"You're here to see Sokka?" Katara's voice dripped disbelief.

Katara: Especially since, last I checked, there’s only one Sokka so he’s not really tribesmen, plural. Unless I have a half-dozen other brothers nobody bothered telling me about?


"Wait - you're Northern Water Tribe! What are you doing in Ba Sing Se?"

"Healing, mostly…."

Aang: I don’t think that’s actually all you’ve been doing…

Toph tuned the rest of the pleasantries out, struck by a familiar rhythm echoing through the floor. That was… the opening theme of the Earth Rumble tournaments?

Somebody wants to talk to the Blind Bandit.

Aang: *confused* Wait a minute, did Iroh ever watch an Earth Rumble? Did he figure out Toph was the Blind Bandit? Did he even know who the Blind Bandit was? I’m just kind of weirded out, is all!

She snuck out the back door, listening and feeling….

And grinned. "Hey, Uncle."

"Good afternoon, Toph."

She sensed Iroh's polite bow in the shift of his weight, and stepped into the cool of shadows beside him. "Should I even ask how you got in here, or just chalk it up to you being a sneaky old dragon?"

Iroh chuckled. "It's a very long story, I'm afraid. And one I would prefer not to tell here, where the Dai Li are watching.

MG: Well, we know at least one of the Dai Li has figured out most everything about you and Zuko already, and if he was actually doing his job Long Feng would know it all by now too…

Though I do not think they can see us, here. And Amaya is likely distracting enough, speaking to Katara and Sokka of her tribe and theirs, that we should have some time to talk."

Toph raised a brow. "You know the lady inside?"

Katara: What, did Toph just think they showed up at the same time by coincidence?

"She is a very good friend."

Katara: *gags*

A lot more than that, from the joy and good humor seeping past the worry in his stance. All right, Uncle! "So… you want to talk to me," Toph realized. "And you want to do it without them," she jerked a thumb back toward the house, "because they know where you are, your nephew's not far, and Katara's still ticked off he tied her to a tree."

Katara: *flatly* Also he chased us all the way around the world, attacked us a bunch of times, kidnapped Aang and dragged him off into the middle of a blizzard, you know… that sort of thing. But sure, it’s the tree I’m upset about.

Beware the Sugar Queen: 10

"Not the most comfortable of captivities," Iroh allowed. "He could have been far more gentle, true. But it kept her under our eyes, in clear sight. Which prevented the pirates from doing… many things."

MG: *sighs wearily* Because clearly what a relatively lighthearted misadventure with pirates that ended with a spoof moral needed was to have the threat of sexual violence retctonned into it *facepalm* Seriously, Vathara, I think this is one case where I can quite emphatically say that grittier is not actually better! Also, I’m just being put in mind of certain shippy fics that interpreted Zuko’s “I’ll save you from the pirates” as noble or even romantic rather than the sarcastic mockery it very obviously is in the show. Not that Vathara would be caught dead shipping Zutara, I don’t think.

Prince Stuko: 82

"The pirates who were working for Zuko?" Toph said pointedly.

"The pirates who had allied with my nephew to win back the waterbending scroll Katara stole from them," Iroh answered dryly. "Very few steal from pirates and live to tell of it. Those who do, especially young women, often wish they had not."

MG: See what I mean? And of course, we all know young men are never victims of sexual violence… oh, wait, Vathara added a bit about Zuko being kidnapped by a pedophile early in the fic, remember? Which somehow just makes this all the more jarringly “condescend to Katara, with added implication she’d have been raped if Zuko hadn’t been there to save the day,” gag. Though I’ll give Vathara that the pirates were clearly working with Zuko, not for him, and tried to sell him out the moment they thought they’d get a better deal from Ozai.

Beware the Sugar Queen: 11

"…Sugar Queen kind of left out that part." Toph frowned. She'd known Katara hadn't told her everything, but stealing? And Iroh wasn't lying. "Okay. I'm listening."

MG: And of course, Katara (and Sokka and Aang, apparently) kept back the part about stealing from the pirates from Toph, even though they told her the story… for no reason other than to make them look worse when she found out, I guess? Sigh.

Beware the Sugar Queen: 12

"My nephew and I know where Appa may be found. But we need an earthbender's assistance."

"And you want my help?" Toph crossed her arms. "Aren't you two trying to catch Aang?"

"I would prefer not to," Iroh said plainly. "The world has been out of balance long enough. But my nephew…." He sighed. "My nephew is making a difficult decision. I cannot be certain what he will choose to do. But I think, if he were offered help where he expects none, and words of good sense from an ally of Aang's who does not hate him…."

MG: As opposed to words of good sense from his uncle, which was what got through to him when all this played out in canon…

The Blind Bandit Wins Again: 16

Hope, she could feel in that upright stance. Desperate worry; probably for Zuko. Some controlled fear even now, for her and the people inside. Put that together with what he'd said about pirates- "We're in trouble, huh?" Toph blurted out.

"Grave danger, indeed," Iroh nodded. "Enough that I believe my nephew would risk his life to protect you, if he were forced to. And we would be risking our lives. If the Dai Li learned there were folk of the Fire Nation in Ba Sing Se… it would not be well."

MG: *groans, rubs their forehead* Look, Vathara, we’re coming up on the Lake Laogai sequence, so now seems as good a time as any, but you really can’t have it both ways. The Dai Li, as an organization, can be noble heroes defending Ba Sing Se from dark forces or they can be the tyrannical authoritarian secret police they are in canon, but you can’t really have it both ways, and trying just exposes the issues like “why are characters we’re supposed to like perfectly happy palling around with and assisting the Dai Li when we’re also supposed to believe the Dai Li would kill them in a heartbeat given half an opportunity?” It doesn’t even really feel like the moral ambiguity is intentional so much as Vathara just can’t commit one way or another, and the story is weaker (and its morality all the more cockeyed) for it.

Not just for you, Toph thought, remembering a laughing Guard and happy children. "Okay, you talked me into it." She held up a hand before he could respond. "Into hearing him out, anyway. I don't like what he has to say, I'm leaving. And if either of you go after Aang, the Blind Bandit is going to rock. Get me?"

"Very clearly." Amusement and respect, shimmering through the earth and his voice.

"Good," Toph nodded. "Just let me tell them something… huh." Yeah, that'd work. Aang wasn't exactly fond of hunting up his own lessons. "I'll tell them I'm going to see Luli again. Aang just doesn't get jade-"

"Luli, Huojin's wife?" Iroh interrupted.

Aang: Huh. Big city, but a small world! Who knew?

"You know her?"

"I do," Iroh nodded. "Though they do not know my name. And my nephew, they know only as Lee." He paused, thinking. "I would be quite willing to meet you there, where we both have a friend. And where the presence of a Guard means no one will be… impulsive."

Neutral ground. He is serious. "And it'll be easier to slip by Dai Li if we don't show up together," Toph agreed. And grinned. "Well? Get moving! I want to hear what Sparky has to say for himself."

"Sparky? Indeed." Chuckling, Iroh slipped quietly away.

MG: …am I the only one who’s noticed that while Toph is indeed fond of nicknames, all her names for her friends in canon – “Twinkletoes,” “Sugar Queen,” “Snoozles,” etc. – are at least somewhat mocking, albeit generally in a friendly way, while “Sparky” feels familiar but basically positive? Anyone else?

Okay. Here we go. Toph headed back inside, and drew a breath. "Guys-"

There was a rapping at the door, and Aang ran for it. "Maybe this is it!" He opened the door, and blinked. "Joo Dee?"

Amaya stepped back, out of what Toph realized must be line of sight.

"Hello, Aang and Katara and Sokka and Toph," Joo Dee said with that eerie cheer.

"What happened to you?" Sokka asked, crowding forward with Katara. "Did the Dai Li throw you in jail?"

"What, jail?" Joo Dee said dismissively. "Of course not. The Dai Li are the protectors of our cultural heritage."

Katara: *shudders* Ugh. As if she wasn’t creepy enough the first time. But Vathara apparently expects us to like at least some of the people who did this, so *shudders again*.

Scary thing was, she seemed to believe that. "But you disappeared at the Earth King's party," Toph said, crowding around with the others. If Amaya didn't want to be seen, there was probably a good reason.

"Oh, I simply took a short vacation to Lake Laogai, out in the country," Joo Dee said cheerfully. "It was quite relaxing."

From the shift of his feet, Sokka didn't buy that. Which made Toph wish all over again he wasn't stuck on Suki. Sokka wasn't half bad.

MG: Translation, Vathara at least kind of likes Sokka (but yes, “Toph has a crush on Sokka” definitely comes through in a couple of scenes in the original show, especially that bit from “The Serpent’s Pass,” and though nothing actually comes from it in canon I remember it being a reasonably popular ship – and I also know there was quite a bit of theorizing that he was the father of her daughters when Korra rolled around, though at least for Lin that was eventually debunked).

"But then they replaced you with some other woman who also said her name was Joo Dee," Katara objected.

"I'm Joo Dee."

Clue, Katara, Toph wanted to yell. Something's wrong here!

Katara: Yeah, we knew that as soon as Long Feng finished his creepy monologuing at us and then the second Joo Dee showed up, remember? That was weeks ago now!

The Blind Bandit Wins Again: 17 (Toph is the only one with a clue… even when she shouldn’t be because everyone here should already know what’s going on)

"Why are you here?" Aang asked.

Paper rustled as Joo Dee pulled something out. "Dropping flyers and putting up posters isn't permitted within the city. Not without proper clearance."

Of course it wasn't. Sheesh. Why were they here in the city again?

Because Aang can't live without Appa. Almost literally, seems like.

Aang: No, we hoped we’d find Appa in Ba Sing Se but we were going there anyway to see the Earth King about the eclipse! Why does Vathara keep forgetting that part?

"We can't wait around to get permission for everything," Sokka objected.

Ah! At last, he gets it! Toph almost threw up her hands and cheered.

"You are absolutely forbidden by the rules of the city to continue putting up posters."

…Okay, that was freaky. Nobody should sound that cheerful stomping somebody's plans-

Zuko: *sticking his head in* If you think Joo Dee is bad, wait until you hear Azula when she’s crushing someone’s plans…

uh-oh. That tensing of Aang's feet was really not good-

"We don't care about the rules, and we're not asking permission!" Aang yelled.

Toph smirked. Now, why couldn't she get some of that when he was training?

Katara: *muttering* Because Toph wouldn’t threaten Appa?

"We're finding Appa on our own," Aang went on, backing the startled woman out the door, "and you should just stay out of our way!" He slammed the door, Joo Dee on the other side.

"That might come back to bite us in the blubber," Sokka said thoughtfully.

"More than you know," Amaya spoke up. "She'll be reporting this to the Dai Li. The system is fairly regimented, so it may not be heard for some hours… but a report from this Joo Dee will have priority, given she's been assigned to the Avatar's party."

Katara: Think we figured that out for ourselves, thanks. Unless you think when Sokka said “bite us in the blubber” he meant “Joo Dee is lurking in the bushes with a blowgun waiting to shoot darts and people who were rude to her.”

"This Joo Dee?" Katara pounced. "You make it sound like there's… more than one."

Katara: We. Knew. That. Remember, we already met a second Joo Dee! We knew weird stuff was going on in this city, and that we were being watched!

"There are hundreds."

Uncle's right, Toph thought, chilled. We are in trouble.

"That can't be right," Aang objected, still fuming. "I mean, two women with the same name, sure. But hundreds?"

Aang: *smacks his forehead* Oh, come on! We’d only seen two of the Joo Dees then, but we definitely knew they weren’t just two women who happened to have the same name! Does Vathara just think we’re dumb, or what?

MG: …do you really want an answer to that question?

He Has Much to learn: 33

"Lee was right," Amaya muttered under her breath, too quiet for any but Toph's sharp ears to catch. "You are naïve."

Katara: Okay, maybe we’re not as wise and worldly as Zuko because we grew up in a little village at the South Pole – or an Air Temple, in Aang’s case – when he grew up in a big fancy palace, but we weren’t so naïve we didn’t know that weird and creepy stuff was going on in Ba Sing Se and the Dai Li were behind it! It was pretty obvious!

She rocked back on her heels a little, and Toph felt a cold anger shiver through the floor. "You're a healer, Katara. Didn't you ever try to treat them?"

Katara: Okay, when would I have had a chance, exactly? All the times the first Joo Dee was leading us around the city in full view of the public? When we were introduced to the second Joo Dee with Long Feng right there and other Dai Li standing guard? It’s not like I could just grab their heads and pull out some water and go to work on them right then! *beat* Plus I’m pretty sure they’d have gone berserk if I’d tried; seems like the sort of failsafe Long Feng would’ve put in their heads. But of course, that’s Amaya’s first idea – just start tampering with their minds! Not that she’s healed any Joo Dees we’ve seen…

"Treat what?" Katara shrugged. "Joo Dee - whoever she is - they're weird. They're not hurt."

"…Yugoda should have covered mental trauma in your second week of training."

MG: Okay, this bit throws me. Remember how Yugoda’s class was full of girls much younger than Katara? Are we really supposed to think that those little kids get to healing mental trauma and can actually do it after two weeks of training? That… strains credibility to me. And that’s assuming normal techniques for healing mental damage even work on victims of the Dai Li’s brainwashing; they’re not traumatized, they’re, well, controlled (and I’ll note that Katara tried to heal Jet in canon, it just didn’t work). Also, am I the only one who finds the idea of giving a six-year-old the ability to alter people’s brain chemistry, even if its supposedly for healing, kind of… terrifying? But of course, all of that pales beside the all-important mission of “make Katara look bad.”

Beware the Sugar Queen: 13

"Yeah, well," Sokka shrugged, "Katara really trained with that old sea-prune Pakku-"

"It was awesome!" Some of the frustration washed out of Aang's stance, and he bounced, grinning. "He said he wouldn't teach her, and she cracked the audience chamber floor, and threw razor-disks of ice at him, and shoved off his water-"

MG: Okay, can I just say that I’m really bothered by how the fic handles this topic? Katara’s arc in “The Waterbending Master” of refusing to bow to the Northern Water Tribe’s misogyny, continuing her determination to learn waterbending, fighting Pakku and ultimately shaming him into realizing how much his blind adherence to tradition has cost him too and getting him to change his ways and train her is one of the character’s most beloved and iconic storylines in the show for a reason. But the way it’s handled here presents the whole thing as if it was almost just immature frivolity that distracted her from what she really need to know – that, in other words, the Norther Tribe’s sexist traditions (which Katara, as a Southern waterbender, wouldn’t even be expected to follow in the first place!) were right and she was wrong, and she really should have, as Pakku put it, “gone back to the healing huts with the other women.” And that, well… I’m not quite sure what the best words to describe how it makes me feel are. “Outraged?” “Disgusted,” maybe? And maybe I’m reading too much into it, but considering the rest of the scene, and Vathara’s attitude towards Katara overall, I have a really hard time not seeing it that way, that Vathara is implying the show’s female lead should not have stood up for her right to learn and reach her full potential, but sucked it up and known her place, and she’d have been better prepared if she had. Ick, ick, ick.

"You're not a trained healer." Amaya's words knifed across Aang's exuberance. "You have Master Pakku's betrothal necklace.

MG: …why does Amaya recognize the necklace Pakku made for Kanna on sight, anyway? Also, considering how Katara’s skills as a healer improve dramatically over the course of the series, I’d always sort of assumed she took at least some training from Yugoda in addition to her work with Pakku, though admittedly that’s not explicitly stated in the show (and why would Pakku’s necklace mark Katara as a master waterbender, anyway? Wait, by bringing up the necklace and pointing out its original meaning like that, is Amaya implying she thought Katara was engaged to Pakku, because if so… ewwww!).

I thought for certain you must be trained. I hoped you knew, and were only biding your time until you could find a way to escape. Not that most of us have a chance to escape Long Feng's reach…." She breathed out a chill wisp, anger and sorrow warring in her stance.

"My necklace is from my mother," Katara said angrily. "Gran-Gran Kanna brought it with her. And I am trained!"

Katara: …why do I get the feeling Vathara is writing me as a petulant child? I’m surprised she didn’t literally have me stamping my foot or something.

"She really is," Aang insisted, hands out to smooth things over. "She's my waterbending master."

MG: Which is a good point. Pakku of all people - who despite his cantankerousness is almost certainly the best overall waterbending master in the world (though Yugoda, Hu and Hama probably all beat him in their specific areas of expertise) thought Katara was one of the finest students he ever trained and considered her qualified to take over as Aang’s mentor as he continued on his journey (and he’s not the kind of person who’d say that lightly). It wasn’t a role Katara just took on herself. And I think when it comes to master waterbenders, I trust Pakku’s judgment, even with all his flaws, rather more than Amaya’s.

"And I thought Lee lost his temper too easily," Amaya said, half to herself. Shook her head. "I can't stay. The Dai Li give me some leeway, because my healing is useful to them. But I dare not presume on their goodwill."

Aang: …I mean, you’ve also made it really, really clear you don’t want to talk to us anyway, so… bye!

A breath. "Do not let the Dai Li know you're not fully trained. It's probably all that has kept Long Feng from taking one of you and… damaging your minds. You're not Fire Nation. You wouldn't have the strength to resist, even long enough to be rescued."

Elemental Determinism: 49

The Superior Element: 53

"How can you say they're better than us?" Katara gasped. "Don't you know what they've done? What they tried to do? They tried to kill the Moon!"

MG: And, well, I know the intention here is to portray Katara as being reflexively racist and refusing to listen to the Fire Nation’s virtues being extolled, but, well, Amaya did just flat-out say the Fire Nation is better at resisting the Dai Li, so I can’t really blame her for that?

Sokka shifted, feeling for his boomerang, and Toph grimaced. That's it. Nobody's going to listen now.

From Amaya's soft sigh, she could see that without earthbending. "I said their minds were stronger. More resistant to what Long Feng can do. To a point. They'll break - but they will not bend." She drew herself up, and Toph could feel her simmering anger as she pointed toward Aang. "If you refuse to understand that, Avatar - if you refuse to learn why, and where they have gained such strength - then you will never learn firebending. And the world will remain out of balance, and all of us will suffer."

MG: …this is the part where I feel compelled to point out that later parts of the fic will confirm that every element has their version of loyalty, and every nation should have things that they can’t be forced to do without breaking?

The Superior Element: 54

"No, it won't!" Aang insisted. "I'll defeat the Fire Lord, and the war will be over. And I'm never going to learn firebending!" Toph felt his glance at Katara in the catch of his breath. "I'm never going to hurt someone I - care about, again."

MG: …I’ll also note that while Aang did fear firebending after he burned Katara and overcoming that, together with Zuko, in “The Firebending Masters” was a big moment in the show – he only outright refused to consider learning firebending twice, iirc, once in “The Deserter” right after the burning incident happened, and again when he had to relive it while training with Guru Pathik. He may not have liked it, but he did understand the Avatar would have to learn firebending sooner or later.

"Then there's nothing more I can do," Amaya said simply. "I wish you luck. And I hope you escape."

Katara: Is this where I get to point out that we didn’t just “escape,” we ended up taking down Long Feng’s whole operation, at least until Azula hijacked what was left of it? While Amaya’s been actively helping the Dai Li? Really not in the mood to be lectured by Master Mind Control!

"That's it?" Sokka sputtered. "You're Water Tribe! You know the Dai Li are bad guys. Help us out!"

"I am Water Tribe." Almost to the door, Amaya's voice was iron. "I am the last of the Water Tribe within these walls. Save for you, and my apprentice, Lee."

MG: …maybe that would’ve been more meaningful if we got to know any of those other waterbenders before the spirit ate them… I don’t think we ever even saw any of them!

Sparky is her apprentice? Toph bit back a whistle. And he's letting her call him Water Tribe?

"Two weeks ago, there were almost two score of us, benders and not," Amaya went on, grief and pain seeping into the floor around her. "They're all dead now. Because of the war. Because the spirits are restless. Because one malicious kamuiy followed a trail of blood into Ba Sing Se, and you-" she took one long step toward Aang, who shrank back "-you sensed nothing."

MG: To note a couple of things. One, the Avatar is not omniscient, obviously. Two, the spirit was actively trying to avoid Aang’s attention. Three, the Dai Li were also trying to keep the matter quiet. Four, it was there for Zuko, but you still can’t help but blame Aang. But, again, this is another example of that trick I feel Vathara likes to pull, where she’ll retcon elements into the story that weren’t part of the original show, then use the characters’ actions in the original show – when they couldn’t know about those elements because they didn’t exist there – to bash them. As here, where Aang didn’t do anything about a spirit attacking Ba Sing Se because in the original show there wasn’t a spirit attacking Ba Sing Se.

He Has Much To Learn: 34

Stations of the Canon: 31

"I- I didn't know," Aang stammered. "I didn't- why didn't somebody tell me?"

"Because there is no war in Ba Sing Se," Amaya said darkly. "Long Feng wants you kept quiet. Contained. Until he can find a way to use you, the way he does everyone."

MG: Again, Long Feng tried to send Aang on a wild goose chase after Appa out of the city, to the other side of the world. He mostly just wanted Aang out of his way.

She's guessing, Toph judged. But she's pretty sure.

"And you're the Avatar. You're supposed to sense when the spirits are angry." Pain rang through Amaya's voice.

Aang: It doesn’t work like that! I don’t just have a… spirit danger sense, I have to find whatever damage they’ve done and track it back to the source!

He Has Much to Learn: 35

"The Dai Li are only human. Gifted benders, but human. Still, they tracked it. They found it. They stopped it. Some of them died stopping it. I owe them my life." She focused on Sokka. "Call them evil, if you will. But for a century the Avatar abandoned this world, and they have been all that stood between Ba Sing Se and destruction." She shook her head. "I'm going home now. I hope you find your bison. And leave."

Katara: Oh, oh! And what about the part where the Dai Li brainwash people, and make them disappear, and have been lying to the king his whole life so Long Feng can control him, and everyone we met was clearly absolutely terrified of them, and how they threatened Appa so Aang would stay out of their way, and how they just replaced Joo Dee with a different woman when she screwed up – or what they did to Jet, not that we knew about it yet at this point! What, exactly, of our interactions with the Dai Li would make us think they were anything other than the bad guys? Much less the way Amaya seems to be implying that they’re actually better than Aang? That’s almost sickening!

MG: And here we have it again; the Gaang are bashed for not knowing about the Dai Li’s totally noble and selfless true purpose that Vathara made up. And also another example of Vathara trying to have her cake and eat it too with the Dai Li - Amaya has been dropping hints about how scary they are and how the Gaang need to take their threat more seriously, but as soon as the Gaang speak of the Dai Li in a somewhat disparaging manner, she immediately turns around and starts earnestly and sincerely singing their praises and comparing Aang negatively to them. Just… gah. And while the comm’s rules about politics prevent me from saying more, let’s just say that “the secret police are totally acting for the greater good and you ignorant civilians shouldn’t judge or criticize them and should just get out of their way and let them work” is a perspective that I’m really, really not inclined to indulge or give the benefit of the doubt to right now.

Protectors of our Cultural Heritage: 41 (giving several points for that whole spiel)

The door closed like a tomb.

"And I though the Joo Dees were weird," Katara said uneasily.

Aang: Well, Amaya is a brainwash-er and the Joo Dees are just brainwash-ees, so maybe that’s part of it?

"She was telling the truth," Toph spoke up. "She was angry, and scared, but it was real." Which the Joo Dees weren't. They didn't lie - but they didn't exactly feel when they said stuff. Not like regular people did.

MG: I actually do like that Toph can pick up that there’s something off about the Joo Dees’ speech and reactions, even if she can’t tell exactly what the problem is. On the other hand, I like the fact that it’s used to prop up Amaya even less.

"But she can't be!" Aang protested. "I would have known! I'm the Avatar!"

"Okay," Toph shrugged. "So how does this spirit-sensy thing of yours work again?"

"Umm…."

Aang: They don’t? Because I don’t really have powers like that? Remember in the Fire Nation when we found the town where people were disappearing, and before we found out Hama was doing it we thought it was a spirit? I didn’t just say it couldn’t have been a spirit because I didn’t sense anything, we actually tried to look for clues about the spirit or anything the people might have done to set it off!

He Has Much to Learn: 36

"I hate to admit it, but Amaya could be right," Sokka said reluctantly. "I'm not saying she is!" he added hastily as Aang's toes curled, wounded. "But you were right there at the pond, in the Spirit Oasis, and you didn't know what the fish were until after you went poof and left your body where Zuko could catch it."

Aang: Right. Because I don’t just automatically sense spirits. And for some reason Vathara thinks I should, and is using the fact that I don’t to make me look bad?

"We got you back," Katara said grimly. "But Yue…."

"Yeah. I'll never forgive Prince Ponytail for that, either." Sokka blew out a breath.

Katara: Uh, that was Zhao who killed the Moon Spirit and made it so Yue would have to ascend to take its place. Zuko… didn’t really have anything to do with it, except that he was nearby when it happened. There were plenty of things we were angry with him about, but that wasn’t one of them!

"Thing is, Aang, we don't know. And I'm kind of getting a bad feeling about how much we don't know about this place."

"So you want us to go along with Joo Dee?" Aang demanded. "Just stay put, while Appa's out there?"

"I didn't say that-"

"Good! Because from now on, we do whatever it takes to find Appa."

"Yeah!" Toph cheered, feeling his glare in her feet. Finally, some backbone! Keep it up, and we can get somewhere. "So what are we going to do? Bury the Dai Li? Storm the palace? Kidnap the Earth King?" Hey, if they were going to break rules, why not go all the way?

"…I kind of thought we'd put up the posters," Aang admitted.

Forehead, meet palm. Repeat.

Aang: …Vathara does know why we didn’t do any of that, right? Because Long Feng had Appa and was holding him hostage for our good behavior, right? And that as soon as we got Appa back, we immediately did break into the palace to tell the Earth King the truth and knock Long Feng out of power? Right? Right? Which meant the first thing we had to do before we could do any of what Toph is saying is rescue Appa? And that we weren’t just sitting around for no reason?

The Blind Bandit Wins Again: 18 (because Toph is pretty clearly speaking Vathara’s own criticisms here)

He Has Much to Learn: 37

She felt like doing it all over again as Sokka, Aang, and Katara moved through the city, plastering up posters. "We'll split up to cover more area," Sokka said, satisfied. "Toph. I guess you should just come with me."

"Better idea, Snoozles," Toph said peevishly. "I'm going to find Luli again. There's something I want to ask her, and if we do find Appa? I'm not sticking around long enough to get another chance."

Ditched 'em. Finally.

MG: …can you guess who the only member of this group Vathara actually likes is?

Which meant she could think, as she made her way through busy streets. And wince. This could be a bad idea.

Well, maybe. Uncle seemed to be a pretty good guy. And everything Toph had heard about the Dragon of the West said he was one of the most honorable firebenders out there. If he said they wanted to talk, she believed him.

MG: Funny, because I’d think the biggest thing Toph would’ve heard about the Dragon of the West is that he’s the warlord who came within a hair’s breadth of conquering her country. That seems like it’d be a bigger deal than how honorable he personally is!

The Superior Element: 55 (it’s about a specific firebender being awesome rather than firebenders in general, but I’m counting it, especially since Toph is basing this on Iroh’s reputation rather than her own encounter with him)

Zuko's honor-bound to catch Aang. This could still be a trap.

Except the exiled prince might be a lot of things, but he wasn't stupid. He'd let them take off back at the ghost town, so he could look after Uncle and beat feet before Azula came back. And here he was in the very heart of the Earth Kingdom, trying to stay out of sight as a waterbending healer's apprentice.

And how Sparky's pulling that off, I really want to know!

Katara: *looks back over the fic* Trust me, you don’t. We’ll be here for a while…

If he'd been smart enough to keep from jumping Aang then, honor or no honor, he'd be smart enough to play fair now. At least while they talked. After, she wouldn't bet on… but then she'd know where he was.

And if the rest of the guys aren't there to blame Yue dying on him, we might really be able to talk.

Katara: Again, we blamed Zuko for a lot of things, but not for Yue! That was Zhao, and Zhao was Zuko’s enemy too. And, wow, that’s some kind of stretched logic for why you think you can trust Zuko, Toph. *sighs* But I know it’s going to be right, because that’s what this story is like.

Why Sokka pinned Princess Yue's death on Zuko, Toph still couldn't figure out. From what they'd said, Zhao had grabbed the Moon after they'd gotten back from Zuko's kidnap attempt. Sparky himself had been out cold and tied up in Appa's saddle, unable to tilt the fight either way. And Uncle had tried to stop Zhao.

Sokka: *sticking his head in* Yeah, because I didn’t blame Yue “dying” on Zuko! Seriously, at this point we mostly knew him as that angry jerk who chased us all over the world and kept attacking us. Not a great impression!

He Has Much to Learn: 38 (for the Gaang as a whole rather than just Aang, but I’m counting it)

General Iroh used to be the crown prince, too. And he's Zuko's uncle. Katara said he said everybody needs the Moon, even the Fire Nation. If he fought for the Moon - what makes them think Zuko wouldn't have?

Oh, yeah, right. Fire Nation bad, Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe good. Sheesh.

MG: Just pointing out that Zuko was there and didn’t fight for the Moon Spirit. He used the altercation to get away from where he was tied up and then went after Zhao on his own and did it to get revenge for Zhao trying to kill him, not for the Moon Spirit (and the Gaang didn’t witness this part, anyway). So no, they don’t really have a reason to think he’d have fought for the Moon Spirit. And even if he did, it’s pretty explicitly spelled out that if the Moon Spirit had stayed dead, the world would have suffered a catastrophe, possibly even been destroyed; it was only Zhao’s megalomania that made him think this could possibly result in a good outcome for him. Fighting to oppose the literal end of the world doesn’t necessarily make you a reliable potential ally under less dire circumstances. I think a problem the fic as a whole has is that Vathara can’t help but conflate audience knowledge with character knowledge. We, the audience, know that Zuko even at his worst is a sympathetic anti-villain with many positive qualities; the Gaang, OTOH, have mostly encountered Zuko in the form of an enemy. They have no real reason to think the best of him, and quite a bit of reason not to. And Toph, in canon, was the most willing to accept that Zuko had turned over a new leaf not because she was the wisest and most insightful of the team or the like, but mostly because she joined up after Zuko had stopped being their main enemy and she didn’t have the same sort of bad blood with him (and we’ll talk more about why Katara specifically was so resistant to trusting him in the next couple of chapters, because it’s not “she’s a terrible person”). But in Embers I feel like a lot of that nuance gets lost, reduced to Zuko being good, Toph liking him because she’s also good, and the rest of the Gaang being immature ninnies who can’t spot a potential ally when he’s staring them in the face.

Also, feels worth noting that the Gaang are in the middle of spending a whole story arc dealing with evil earthbenders, with minimal involvement from the Fire Nation. The morality at play here isn’t nearly as black and white as Toph is making it out to be.

He Has Much to Learn: 40

She'd told them. Maybe she hadn't found the right words. Maybe she didn't know as much about the Water Tribes as she thought, and Zuko had somehow given them some kind of dire insult that could never be forgiven. Whatever it was, they didn't seem to want to hear that - based on everything Toph knew - Zuko's only interest was Aang. Not the Water Tribes. Not the Earth Kingdom. The Avatar. That was it.

Katara: Uh, one, Aang is our friend, of course we weren’t happy Zuko kept trying to capture him! Two, remember how he destroyed half our village, threatened Gran-Gran and beat Sokka up for trying to stop him the first day we met? Yes, eventually we did come around to Zuko and team up with him to defeat his father and sister and stop the war, but he really didn’t make a very good first impression! And why is Toph acting like the fact that we’re Water Tribe is the issue here?

The Blind Bandit Wins Again: 20

He Has Much to Kearn: 41

Simple Rubes from the Water Tribes: 26

Heck, even Suki'd admitted that Zuko left Kyoshi Island after Aang took off. Left, and didn't come back.

MG: …yeah, he left after burning half the village down. And really, all this proves is that Aang is Zuko’s primary mission, one he’s still (or was still) perfectly willing to risk collateral damage to carry out. Why would he have stuck around on Kyoshi Island after Aang left, anyway? It’s not like there was anything else there he wanted.

He deserves a chance for someone to hear him out. Toph smirked, and cracked her knuckles. And if that doesn't work… if Sweetness can take him, so can I.

MG: On the one hand… yeah, Toph almost certainly could take Zuko, unless Iroh stepped in. She’s a powerhouse in one-on-one combat, as any number of Earth Rumble contestants can attest. But did we really have to work a dig at Katara in there, too?

Beware the Sugar Queen: 14

The Blind Bandit Wins Again: 21

Breezing through the carver's shop, Toph stepped into the garden, and headed for voices.

"How about the Jasmine Dragon?" Iroh said heartily. "It's dramatic, poetic, has a nice ring to it."

"How can you think about teashop names at a time like this?" Zuko groaned.

"Who knows? We might get lucky. The Tea Weevil! No, that's stupid…."

Stations of the Canon: 32

"Toph," Zuko said flatly, rising.

"A good name, yes, but already taken-"

MG: And kind of weird to just give a tea shop a personal name, really. Though now I’m imagining Toph, later in life, deciding to sponsor a Blind Bandit themed tea house franchise…

"He means Toph's here," Huojin said, amused. "Afternoon, Miss Bei Fong. You know these two walking disaster areas?"

"Huojin!" Zuko protested.

"We met once," Iroh smiled. "Briefly."

"Yeah, but it was the kind of meeting you never forget," Toph grinned.

MG: Especially when it feels like Vathara is using it as a springboard for her entire characterization of Toph…

Cocked her head, listening to Zuko move across the garden to give her a civil nod. "Huh. You really are Amaya's apprentice."

"…What?"

"Your stance is different." Still strong, still aggressive - but lighter, more fluid. Less straight-in, and more of a hint of circling that would deflect away a strike before it could ever land.

Less dillo-lion, and more dragon.

Aang: *confused* Why would training with a waterbender make you feel more like a dragon? And how would Toph even know what a dragon feels like, anyway?

The Blind Bandit Wins Again: 22

Prince Stuko: 83

"But I didn't come to talk bending," Toph said bluntly, sitting down across from them. "I know your honor means you've got to catch Aang for the Fire Lord-"

"What?" Huojin burst out.

Katara: Probably shouldn’t have just blurted that out in front of everybody…

"Patience, if you will," Iroh said graciously, seating himself. Zuko settled down by him, still tense. "We are here to discuss matters amicably, and hopefully avoid violence."

"Thank the spirits Luli's taking the kids to Meixiang's tonight," Huojin muttered, reluctantly sitting.

"Wise," Iroh murmured. "You may need an alibi."

"…Oh, I really didn't need to hear that…."

"I know the terms are you've got to catch him," Toph forged on. "And I know you know you're not getting him unless you go through me first.

MG: Considering how Toph has spent this whole sequence criticizing Aang and thinking about how awesome Zuko is, that probably did need to be specified. *beat* Dammit.

So. What have we got to talk about?"

"Lee, she's just a kid," Huojin started.

"Hey!" Toph objected.

"She's a master earthbender, and an honorable opponent," Zuko said plainly.

Aang: And since Zuko’s never actually fought Toph, I guess he just… knows this, now?

The Blind Bandit Wins Again: 23

"We're negotiating a temporary alliance. She's got every right to be blunt."

"Still not hearing any reason we should work together." Toph crossed her arms. "Knowing where Appa is isn't enough. If you can find him, we can."

"But not in time," Zuko said levelly. "You need to get out of Ba Sing Se. You need to get out now."

"That's what Amaya said," Toph nodded. Paying careful attention to Iroh's stillness. He was waiting. Hoping. "You want to tell me why?"

MG: *sighs* And why, why is everyone still acting like the Gaang’s endgame here is escaping Ba Sing Se, when they came here in the first place to tell the Earth King about the eclipse and organize a counterattack on the Fire Nation? I feel like a broken record here, but they were in the city in the first place for a reason!

"Did your friends tell you what happened at the North Pole?"

"Crazy spirits, Fire Navy go squish?" Toph said. Knowing she was pushing it. If Sparky's going to fly off the handle, I need to know now.

Zuko tensed, but forced himself to stay still. "The people in charge here are trying to make that happen again."

Aang: No, that was General Fong, not Long Feng. Completely different guy. Hope that clears things up!

Toph froze. "No. No way, Aang hates what happened there." She'd heard plenty about that, and about General Fong's pushing Aang into the kind of Avatar freak-out that had blasted sandbenders halfway across the Si Wong desert. And felt a lot more in what Sokka and Katara didn't say about the general they'd met on the Wall.

MG: Who was General Sung, also not General Fong (didn’t even look like him!), and was mostly there to be laughably ineffective against the Drill so the Gaang would have a chance to do their thing. Not sure why we’re bringing him up at all.

Maybe glowing it up like that could take out the Fire Nation army, but…. "He doesn't want to do stuff like that again! Not ever."

"That makes two of us," Zuko said grimly. "That's why I'm going to help you."

Oh. Toph tried not to react. Oh, wow. This is big.

Katara: Also really easy, after all that worrying?

"Nephew?" Iroh asked carefully.

Yeah, Toph thought. Get him to spell it out. I think I know what he's getting at, but whoa….

"Honor doesn't demand suicide," Zuko said bitterly.

MG: *thinks of a number of real-world cultures, including the one Vathara has most blatantly based her Fire Nation on, and the extreme demands honor can and does make of people* …riiight.

Toph could feel his hands clenching on cloth in the way the ground vibrated under him. "I can't capture the Avatar in Ba Sing Se. Not without exposing myself as a firebender. If I do that…." He took a shaky breath. "If I do that, I'm dead. And not just me. The Dai Li will go after anyone who's helped me. Anyone they even suspect might know what I am. Because there is no war in Ba Sing Se."

MG: And again, this would be a lot more effective if we hadn’t had a whole tangent of Amaya going out of her way to blast the Gaang literally just now for daring to think the Dai Li are evil. Urgh. Pick a side, and stick with it!

Another breath; another clench of muscle and bone. "If I try to capture the Avatar here, I'll die. And I'll die a failure."

"I fear that is so," Iroh said quietly. "You would need tremendous luck to succeed, and survive. And luck… does not favor you."

"It never has," Zuko muttered.

MG: …have I mentioned yet that this is going to be a plot point later? Because it is. Because apparently Zuko’s canonical bad luck needed an explanation.

Bent his head, and sighed. "If I can't serve my people by capturing the Avatar - then the best thing I can do is keep something like the North Pole from happening again." He looked straight at her. "Appa's under Lake Laogai. Will you help us get him out?"

"Should I even be listening to this?" Huojin muttered.

Aang: Why are we even having this conversation in front of Huojin? He clearly doesn’t know about most of the stuff you’re discussing, and he’s a guard, so he’s not a Dai Li but they do outrank him. This, uh, kind of seems bad. Then again, it’s not like Shirong was reporting things Zuko told him either…

"Well, I hear the Dai Li deny the bison is even there," Iroh said mildly. "And he does belong with the Avatar. Surely, what they do not admit they have, cannot be stolen from them?"

Katara: Pretty sure they just can’t admit Appa was stolen back from them. Won’t make them any less mad about it!

"There's something screwy in your logic. I just know it." Huojin stood, scratching his head. "Miss? Are you going to be all right with these two would-be lawbreakers, or do I have to hang around and incriminate myself?"

MG: Pretty sure you did that the moment you knew you had an aristocratic firebender sworn to capture the Avatar on your hands and decided to aid and abet him instead of turning him in to your superiors, buddy.

"I think I'll be okay," Toph said, surprised. "I think I'll be fine." She listened to Zuko, tracking every shift of breath and posture. "You really mean it. You're going to help. No strings."

"One string," Zuko corrected, taking out a rustle of paper. "This is for Sokka. It's… some of the stuff I know about the city. Maybe it'll help him make up his mind to get out of here."

MG: And of course, Huojin doesn’t react to this at all, either. Shirong’s Disease seems to be spreading…

Toph took the letter, folding it inside her belt. "If he knows it's from you, he's not going to listen."

Zuko snorted. "I didn't sign it."

Aang: So, what, is Toph just going to say she found it? Toph can’t actually read! She actually had to remind us of that sometimes. *beat* But, if important documents literally fell on Shirong, maybe that sort of thing just happens in Ba Sing Se? No wonder the Dai Li have an attitude problem!

"Not bad," Toph approved. "Though I'm guessing there's one more string." She paused, deliberately. "You want me to come with you alone. Without the guys."

Katara: *muttering* What am I, chopped sea prunes?

"You know them better than we," Iroh said plainly. "Would they accept our aid? Or instead, reveal us for what we are, and doom us all?"

MG: Shirong and Huojin don’t know exactly who you are but know more than enough to incriminate you and have done exactly nothing about it, so I’m having a hard time buying this is a real issue (at least in Embers; with the real Dai Li, it absolutely would be!).

"Not sure I want to find out," Toph admitted. "Okay, I'm in. What's the plan?"

Huojin cleared his throat, loudly. "Leaving. Now."

Katara: I’m still amazed Iroh didn’t shoo you out as soon as Toph showed up! Why were you even here?

"Wait," Zuko said; a quiet, lonely plea. "Toph… I know they wouldn't believe me." He swallowed. "Why do you?"

Aang: Because she met your uncle and liked him, and also never really fought you and didn’t have a grudge against you? Not really that hard!

"Because you never lied to me," Toph said bluntly. "I know who you are, and who Uncle is. I know you have honor, no matter what the Fire Nation thinks. If you didn't, you never would have warned us about your crazy sister." She had to look away, even if she couldn't see. "The Bei Fongs deal with Fire Nation merchants. You don't talk about fights inside the clan. Not to outsiders. They're not worth it. But you? You owed Katara. And you paid up." She turned back to him. "You treated her like she had honor. Even if she was an outsider. Even if she was Water Tribe." The earthbender held out a hand. "Told you. I'm in."

Katara: *muttering* Nice way to make “Water Tribe” sound like an insult, Toph. And care to explain just why your dad was apparently all buddy-buddy with Fire Nation merchants? What was he selling them, exactly?

Prince Stuko: 84 (for more “Zuko is so honorable, and the Gaang are just too thick to see it)

Simple Rubes from the Water Tribes: 27 (for making “Water Tribe” sound like the worst thing you can call a person)

The fingers that gripped hers were warm, and strong, and barely trembling with relief. "Agreed."

MG: And on that note, the chapter comes to an end! Aang and Katara, I’m sorry for subjecting you to that, but thanks for your help and for putting up with it! For the rest of us, we have an AN! Thankfully, it’s short!

-

A/N: Written at least partly because in canon, Toph never got her life-changing field trip.

MG: …fair enough. Though I’m going to have my criticisms about just how Toph and Zuko’s exposition to Lake Laogai gets handled next time, believe me.

The bit between Zuko and Meixiang is in part based on the scene where Roku is revealed as the next Avatar, and everybody hits the ground; even the prince kneeling. Proper signals of dominance and submission are very important to large, heavily-armed predators.

MG: Why? Seriously, why does dragon heritage need to figure into it? The Fire Nation is a very hierarchical, status-conscious society, of the sort where knowing exactly who outranks who, and to what degree, and what level of deference is required in what circumstances, is very important (and the novels later on would confirm how important proper etiquette is in the Fire Nation, especially the aristocracy – and that the Avatar, before everything went to hell, was considered equivalent to a head of state and therefore one of a handful of people in the world who was a social equal to the Fire Lord, so you’re damned right everyone’s instinctive response was to bow!). All of this is a very human reaction, requiring no nonhuman influence at all. And, as Chessybell pointed out in the comments on my initial read, humans are also large, (sometimes) heavily armed pack predators. That sort of behavior and mindset is not alien to us at all.

Elemental Determinism: 50

The Ultimate Firebenders: 23

It's also in part based on what we see from Fang, Ran, and Sho. Dragons communicate through (apparent) telepathic images, and movement. Words, they're not so good at.

MG: Technically I’d say this is true, insofar as canon’s dragons are never shown to speak verbally at all, and it’s not clear they can (I’d always assumed not).

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

MG: Well, everyone… I warned you this chapter would be rough, and it was. There are a few parts – some of Iroh’s early discussions about Ozai’s dynamic with his family, for example – where I worry I’m reading too much into it, but at this point I’m really not inclined to give Vathara the benefit of the doubt. As for the rest of today’s section… well, the meat of it is the Gaang meeting Amaya. And this is a big part of why I feel like Amaya is meant to be the “token good waterbender” and why I find a lot of her interactions with Katara specifically (and this isn’t the last time we’ll see them together) so skeevy. Because Amaya is clearly positioned as being the character who is Right in comparison to Katara being Wrong, and gets to lecture her from a position of smug superiority while Katara can only snap back at her defensively and ineffectively like a petulant child, leaving exactly zero doubt whose side Vathara is on and who she expects us to support. Making it worse is how Amaya clearly reacts like Katara’s canonical arc in learning to be a waterbender was the tantrum of an entitled child and she should have just learned healing like a good girl and followed tradition (not even her tribe’s tradition…) which I hate (though I do wonder how much of the implications here are intentional, and how much is Vathara trying to be subversive regarding a character she clearly doesn’t like and stumbling into some very uncomfortable subtext without meaning to). Beyond that, you have Amaya being so very disappointed with the Gaang in general, including getting to extoll the Dai Li (momentarily forgetting they’re supposed to be dangerous antagonists!) in comparison. And, just… the whole thing makes me skin scrawl, and if I didn’t dislike Amaya already, it would not have done my opinion of her any favors.

Beyond that, we also serve to establish what will be some of the core dynamics of the fic going forward. In other words, the Gaang (especially Aang and Katara, and Sokka to a lesser extent) get portrayed as immature children who have no idea what they’re doing, whose characterization, past actions and current decisions are presented as frivolous and ineffective at best and get looked down on by authority figures and other characters Vathara agrees with, and who don’t know things that they actually, explicitly did know in the original show to make them look worse. Toph, meanwhile, mostly serves as a sort of one-girl Greek chorus (Earth chorus?) making snarky running commentary on how much her friends suck, while also having her later dynamic as Zuko’s bff and a sort of go-between between Team Zuko and the Gaang set up. All of which just ends up leaving a very bad taste in my mouth and feeling like a lot of the fic’s more unpleasant subtext comes boiling to the surface here in ways I’m not sure Vathara intended, but I think make her biases extremely clear.

Anyway, that’s all for today. Next time, Zuko and Toph infiltrate Lake Laogai, while the Gaang go looking for clues. We’ll see you then! Our counts stand at:

Beware the Sugar Queen: 14

The Blind Bandit Wins Again: 23

The Deadly Depths: 29

Detached from Reality: 11

Divine Right to Rule: 49

Elemental Determinism: 50

He Has Much to Learn: 40

Prince Stuko: 84

Protectors of our Cultural Heritage: 41

The Real Victims: 35

Simple Rubes from the Water Tribes: 27

Stations of the Canon: 32

The Superior Element: 55

True Guardians of Balance: 1

The Ultimate Firebenders: 23