MG Reads Embers: Chapter Twenty-Eight

[masterghandalf]

Chapter Twenty-Eight

We open with Sokka in the tent with Aang, thinking that the Fire Nation actually does have a reason for going after him. He remembers the times he’s seen Aang in the Avatar State and how destructive it is, and that Aang actually is the kind of Avatar who’d say “oops.” Katara and Toph both seem to be fine as they’re tending Aang, but all Sokka can think is that the Fire Nation really does have a reason to want Aang dead, and that scares him. A moment later, Toph and Katara ask what he’s thinking, and Toph starts talking about what they’d overheard. She says that the Fire Nation wouldn’t have kept hunting Aang for a century without reason and remembers an old story about an Air monk dropping by Omashu to tell the king that Roku had defeated Sozin’s invasion. But the Air Nomads and Roku were dead by the time the war started – so Sozin must have tried before. They then turn to what happens after Aang defeats Ozai – what if the next Fire Lord offers a truce? Sokka thinks it would be smart, but Toph thinks it won’t happen if the whole Fire Nation thinks Aang wants them dead. Katara says Aang is too nice for that, but Sokka tells her that’s not what the Fire Nation thinks. Iroh, at least, seems to be trying to get them to think differently – and then everyone is distracted as Aang wakes up. He’s rambling about Bato leaving, even though that happened months ago; Sokka remembers Zuko said he’d be confused. They remind him of what happened at the palace; he’d thought it was all a dream. Aang remembers… he also remembers Katara nearly killing Azula but thinks that can’t be right; Katara knows better than to think death solves anything. He falls back asleep, telling her she’d make a good airbender. The others agree to let him sleep, but Toph thinks he’ll be in for a rude wake-up call when he realizes Katara really did want to kill Azula. Katara’s all about positive reinforcement for Aang… but airbenders don’t kill. Toph agrees with Katara on this one, but Aang probably won’t. Sokka flashes back to the Avatar State again, and then remembers Roku at the temple – and how he burned off Zuko’s chains so he could escape. Roku helped Zuko. Why did Roku do that? And why is Zuko so determined to help Aang now, when all he’s wanted before is to drag him off to Ozai?

Katara insists that Zuko’s just an evil liar, and he knows what Katara will do to him when the truce is over. Toph reminds her that she’ll have to deal with Iroh too, leaving Katara to wonder just what’s so special about him. She remembers General How wanting to raid the tea shop – and Sokka warns her not to say anything about that around Zuko. Katara thinks they’ve seen Zuko mad before; Toph isn’t so sure. They decide to let Zuko continue to work on Aang; Katara’s not sure how good he really is, so Toph tells her she should watch them practice sometime. Katara isn’t too impressed that Zuko can move hot sand, but Sokka puts things together and realizes – Zuko and Amaya’s apprentice Lee must be the same person. If he can move hot sand, he can move hot water. Toph admits she knew; Katara is furious at her for lying, but Toph explains that they were trying to lie low, and Zuko wanted to help Aang if only to keep Fire Nation people from getting hurt down the line – Zuko’s a prince, he thinks about those things. Sokka doesn’t know how this fits in with what Kyoshi did, so Katara demands an explanation. Toph says it’s a long story, and that while some part of Zuko may want to help Aang, Zuko doesn’t usually get what he wants. And sooner or later Aang’s going to have to realize that against Azula, it’s kill or be killed. Katara says Aang knows he’ll have to kill Ozai, but Sokka isn’t sure he does. Katara thinks he has to know – it’s the only way to balance the world, and Aang knows that. Sokka wonders why – why can’t it be all of them instead? Sokka may not be a bender, but he can use his head. Zuko’s not really a problem because he’s a bender, but because he’s smart and determined, after all. Katara isn’t surprised Zuko is sneaky and evil, but Toph comes to his defense, calling Zuko a friend and insisting that unlike a lot of benders, he pays attention to the other elements. She wonders when the last time either of the siblings paid attention to fire was.

Toph asks Sokka if he knows the difference between High War and Low War, per the Fire Nation. He does a little; Bato’s told him some things. Toph says fire can burn deep underground; Sokka and Katara are surprised to learn that the ground here really isn’t frozen at all. Anyway, fire can burn underground for a long time, then leap back up when you’re not expecting it. Zuko isn’t dangerous because he’s a firebender, but because he thinks like fire. Katara decides this means they can never trust anyone from the Fire Nation. Toph says that’s not what she meant… but Katara says Toph has lied for the Fire Nation before. Sokka says Aang’s lied to them too, but in this case, he has to agree with Katara. How can there ever be peace with the Fire Nation if they’re all trained to fight? How can the women be trusted to talk the men out of fighting if they’re fighters too? This makes Toph wonder if they all are actually working from the same definition of “truce.” Katara says a truce means that the women have had enough of fighting and force their men to come home, or the men decide to take a break to patch themselves back up. Toph suddenly understands why Zuko thinks they’re crazy. Katara insists Zuko’s the crazy one, and Sokka wants to know what a Fire Nation truce is. Toph isn’t actually sure, and she doesn’t know what airbenders would say either. In the Earth Kingdom, a truce happens when nobles and generals call for an end to the fighting, and neither the women nor the rank-and-file soldiers get a say – and they don’t do it until either they have to pull back, or the enemy’s crushed. Sokka thinks back to all the times they’ve faced Zuko, and wonders if it’s really about honor. After all, they’ve humiliated him a bunch of times – can he really get enough honor from capturing Aang to make it worth it? Toph is surprised the Water Tribes get honor by fighting; Sokka’s surprised the Earth Kingdom doesn’t. Toph says she’s a merchant’s daughter – she’s supposed to honor her family by being obedient and dutiful and marrying who they want her to, even though she never asked for any of it. There are only a few ways she could bring more shame on her family than what she’s doing now, and they’re all really bad. She gave up everything to teach Aang.

Katara insists Aang’s the most important person in the world; Toph says her parents wouldn’t agree. Katara cuts herself off before saying something about Toph’s parents, but Toph gets that she thinks they were selfish. Katara thinks anyone who doesn’t help Aang is selfish. Sokka cuts in and says it doesn’t matter if they’re selfish or not – they need to end the war, and anyone who gets I the way of that is an obstacle. Katara’s annoyed by that, but Sokka tells her they don’t have time to make certain everyone is helping for the right reasons, as long as they help. Katara wonders if he means Zuko, and Sokka admits that Zuko’s helping right now, but he’s still Ozai’s son, and neither he nor Iroh seem interested in helping in the long term. Katara thinks they both like Zuko; Toph admits she does, Sokka just feels like he understands him a little. And, so far as he knows, in all the times they’ve fought, Zuko never killed anyone. Katara says someone named Aisavik says different; apparently that’s the healer with Hakoda’s fleet. He says Zuko’s killed Water Tribe people. Toph says it was in self-defense; she’s heard about it from Hakoda. Katara can’t believe Toph can like Zuko after that; Toph says she likes Aang too, and she’s heard all about the North Pole. Katara says it’s not the same, and Sokka agrees… but still, if they defeat the Fire Lord and the Fire Nation surrenders, that’s still a lot of Fire Nation people left who’ve killed someone. Katara is fully in her right to hate Zuko if she wants… but she needs to acknowledge he’s the healer they need right now, too. Katara grudgingly says she’ll do it, but Sokka starts worrying. If Aang overthrows Ozai, the Fire Nation might see it as Kyoshi all over again, and they’re going to be mad. Sokka decides they need to make sure Aang kills Ozai and does it right this time.

We cut to Zuko, remembering talking with Iroh about how Sozin’s Comet and the eclipse are both coming by the end of the summer; one way or another, things are coming to a head. Especially since the sages have calculated that the eclipse’s shadow will cover the Fire Nation. Ozai should know it’s coming, and Aang isn’t anywhere near as powerful as Kyoshi was. Still, with his friends, Aang might have a chance. That leaves Zuko and Iroh wondering what they should do. Zuko gets interrupted by Teruko, who reports that Sadao has returned to the ship, which apparently simplifies her life, since he worries and plans over everything. This leads into a conversation about Zuko’s own misadventures, and Iroh’s demonstration of how the breath of fire technique can be used to stave off damage from the cold. Iroh says that Zuko may not be the best against other firebenders, but he’s very good against benders in general, and he and Azula are the only two firebenders with experience against the Avatar. In fact, Aang once tricked Zhao into defeating himself. Teruko and Iroh discuss how some of Zuko’s techniques are clearly of Byakko origin. Apparently Byakko firebenders train against fires in the field, which gives their techniques some qualities reminiscent of water or air, though Teruko doesn’t know much about that. Iroh decides that they need to introduce Zuko to his grandparents – and suddenly an explosion goes off, with Teruko getting between Zuko and the blast on the ship. She assures him Jee can handle things, and Iroh had apparently been expecting something like this. The truce likely only has days left, and Jee needed to be sure of his crew’s loyalty – and there’s only one way to do that. Not everyone loyal to Ozai can be persuaded peacefully – and Iroh reminds Zuko that a great name shouldn’t hesitate. For now, they have to explain things to the Water Tribes.

We cut to Jee and Sadao, despairing over how the fight burned some of their cooking supplies. One of the crew accuses Jee of serving a “mongrel” waterbender over the Fire Lord; Jee says he’ll follow Zuko, especially over Azula. Azula is a dragon-child – and you don’t want to know what a dark dragon can do. One of the other crew challenges Jee, but he tells them they were already overpowered and defeated, and Zuko and Iroh are still in danger. Jee might accept a challenge later, but only when they’re clear. Jee promises to confine the mutineers, but not execute them or leave them to the Water Tribes, until they can be put ashore somewhere. The Fire Lord might execute Jee and his crew – but he’ll have to catch them first. Meanwhile, they still haven’t heard anything from Hakoda about what just happened; he decides to send a hawk to him, and another to someone in Ba Sing Se. Jee also confirms that Zuko is a waterbender, and did meet the moon, which apparently reminds one of his officers of an old story about someone named Temul. It’s not a common story, since the Fire Nation doesn’t like to talk about defeats, but apparently it took Sozin himself to bring Temul down. For now, most of the rest of the crew seems unlikely to mutiny – Suzuran is where sailors who are trouble get sent. Most of the would-be mutineers were from the main island, the Fire Lord’s personal domain… but Sadao is too. Jee asks the other officer, Saburo, what he thinks, and he thinks it’s been too long since the Fire Nation warred with itself, and eventually something has to burn. Jee wonders if everyone in Saburo’s domain is like him; he admits no, some of them are actually polite.

We cut to Hakoda, complaining that Jee’s message – attributing the blast to an accident with blasting jelly – is too polite. He also thinks Zuko is up to something. He heads off with Bato to meet with Jee, and comments that he doesn’t think Zuko is really a noble. Bato reminds him that Zuko’s a prince, but Hakoda thinks it’s more complicated than that. Earth Kingdom nobles owe their rank just to birth; some of them are good leaders, but many aren’t. Bato thinks it’s a stupid system – he thinks Sokka should be chief after Hakoda, but he also thinks he should earn it on his own merits. Zuko, though, has been in exile, chasing the Avatar for years. The Fire Nation has held a grudge against the Avatar ever since Kyoshi, and Hakoda thinks they have a right to. And while Kyoshi’s dead… she lives in Aang. Both men realize they’re facing an enemy driven by revenge, not evil, which complicates things. On the other hand, Hakoda is starting to think that Kanna may have been right about the power waterbenders have. They can feel aggression towards the Fire Nation that isn’t theirs and gets worse whenever Katara’s around. Hakoda knows Kanna left the North because she didn’t want to marry Pakku, and Pakku taught Katara… he thinks he’s going to have questions for her. Apparently, waterbenders can’t create emotions, but can enhance emotions that are already there; both Hakoda and Bato are troubled by this. Hakoda also thinks Zuko’s up to something, and he’s starting to figure out what it might be. Zuko was exiled, and the only way to get his position as heir back is to impress his father. He’s not a noble – he’s more like a chief’s son! And that means he has certain responsibilities to his people. Right now, Zuko’s not focused on hunting Aang so much as protecting his people from Aang… and Katara. All of this raises the question of what to do now. First off, Bato goes to talk to Katara.

We cut to Zuko and Katara working on Aang, with Sokka, Hakoda and Iroh watching, while Zuko explains more to her about the kind of internal damage lightning can do. Hakoda sent Toph off with Bato, so Zuko has Teruko standing guard outside instead. Zuko keeps explaining his techniques to Katara, thinking to himself that this is no job for an apprentice, and if they mess it up, they could hurt Aang permanently. Katara wants to focus on a particular knot of energy, but Zuko warns her to stay away – that’s where Yangchen had him draw off some blocked chi. They need to fix it eventually, but to focus on nerves first. They keep working, with Zuko reminding himself to hold his temper. Aang giggles sleepily that what they’re doing tickles, but Zuko tells him to hush. Finally, Iroh warns Zuko to stop; he needs to conserve his strength. Zuko looks around at everyone else in the tent – and then at Aang, who’s sat up and is surprised to see that he’s really here. He rambles more about dreams and Azula; Zuko is exasperated, though Sokka is reminded of the energy drink General Fong tried to use on him. Aang gradually realizes he's not in Ba Sing Se, which Zuko grudgingly admits is an improvement. He thinks he cleared out most of the damage in Aang’s head, as Katara fills Aang in on what’s happened since. Iroh, meanwhile, has something to say to Aang. He knows Aang needs a firebender to train him. Aang isn’t sure, but Iroh knows he can’t trust human firebenders – so Iroh will tell him about dragons. Aang says he knows all about dragons… at least, that they breathe fire… Zuko wonders how he never got eaten, and Aang is reminded of something Kuzon used to say. Apparently Aang used to annoy Kuzon’s dragon companion, Shidan… Zuko knows his own grandfather is named Shidan but thinks they can’t possibly be one and the same. Iroh thinks Kuzon probably wasn’t joking – dragons are predators. They’re not like sky bison – fire is always about positive jin, being always on the attack, and that’s how dragons think. Earth may be air’s opposing element, but fire is air’s opposing energy; dragons are the antithesis of everything Aang believes, and even ate sky bison in the past. Aang must never face a dragon alone, and he must never do it afraid.

Of course, finding a dragon may be difficult., In Aang’s time, there were lots of dragons, but the Air Nomads weren’t the only genocide committed by Sozin and his dragon companion, Makoto. Katara thinks it makes sense, since Zhao tried to kill the moon; Iroh corrects her that killing dragons isn’t the same as killing the sun would be. To find dragons, Aang will have to be clever, resourceful, and he’ll need a good tracker – Sokka can help. Zuko is a better tracker than Iroh, Iroh lets him explain further about how finding dragons won’t be easy. And after he describes what dragons do to their prey, Sokka thinks the universe just hates him. Though Iroh adds that dragons can be propositioned with an offering of an appropriate meal. They also go out of their way looking for obsidian to sharpen their claws on. Sokka remembers Teruko filing Zuko’s nails, and Iroh tells him that great names are traditionally treated as if they were dragons. Zuko thinks it’s the only practical way to trim nails… scissors don’t work. To find obsidian, they need to find a volcano – fortunately, every island in the Fire Nation has at least one, with firebenders to watch over it. Unless Aang decides to blow up another island. Aang protests that was Roku, not him, and Zuko rants at him about how they all could have died there, and it’s a miracle nobody was killed. Katara protests; Sokka agrees with Zuko about the island, but also points out to Zuko that Aang’s never tried to kill him. Zuko snaps that polar water would kill a person, and that’s what Aang blasted him with when they fought on his ship at the South Pole. Sokka wants to know how man people Zuko lost; Aang doesn’t think he killed anyone, since sailors can swim, but Zuko describes how freeing cold polar salt water is. It can kill in minutes. Toph points out that Zuko knew Aang tried to kill him from the first day they met. Aang insists he didn’t know, and Iroh genuinely thinks he didn’t – Airbenders train from a young age to resist the cold, after all. Aang had no one to tell him differently. Aang protests that Katara froze Zuko, and he was fine, but Iroh tells him that Zuko has skills that let him survive attacks that would be lethal to other firebenders. Which is fitting, for a great name – dragons admire strategy and intelligence.

Aang thinks Iroh is talking about dragons like they’re people, and Iroh says they are – they’re not like badgermoles or sky bison, which are extraordinary animals, but only animals. Dragons are more and can be good or evil. Aang says Shidan and Fang weren’t evil; Iroh says that Makoto was and helped Sozin destroy her own kind. Sometimes dragons turn against each other and have to be put down; the Agni Kai tradition is a memory of that. Katara thinks that’s sick; Zuko says her people push people off ice flows instead of killing openly in duels, and wonders who’s really sick. If someone dies in an Agki Kai, everyone knows why they had it coming. Aang can’t believe what he’s hearing, or that Katara would ever kill anyone. He says the Water Tribes have to sop doing this right now, and then Zuko jumps in, refusing to allow Aang to do to the Water Tribes what Kyoshi did to the Fire Nation. Clearly, Aang never tried to understand either culture, or he wouldn’t even be thinking this. Aang says the Air Nomads never had bad people to punish – the elders always knew when people lied, anyway. Zuko says Air Nomads can go bad, and Yangchen could tell him about it. Aang doesn’t’ know who that is, to Zuko’s disgust. He also doesn’t know what Kyoshi did, and Zuko says it’s Kyoshi’s fault people like Zhao are in charge in the Fire Nation, and people like Jeong Jeong are hunted. Does he want to do that to the Water Tribes? Sokka has to agree with him – even a chief wouldn’t dare to change a custom like this without support from the whole tribe. Hakoda agrees. Toph thinks they need to find a way to make everyone happy to stop the war – first off, she wants to know what the Fire Nation means by “truce.” Iroh says that, historically, it was the Great Names who went to war and decided on truces; these days, it’s the Fire Lord and the war council who make that call. But right now, they’ve invoked the shelter of dragons’ wings, which is an ancient tradition, and will hold so long as the officers who have guaranteed someone’s safety (Zuko’s, in this case) are willing to put their lives on the line to ensure it. Aang is surprised that Zuko’s hurt, but Iroh admits that he’s also covered by the terms of the truce – he’s still injured, and as the Avatar, he counts as a firebender. They’re lucky that Jee is honorable enough to allow it, though. Iroh further explains that Jee’s superiors never ordered him not to shelter the Avatar, which gives him some wiggle room, for now. He could still be executed if it comes out, though; Zuko points out that this means his people are risking their lives for this truce. He’s dismayed that the Water Tribes don’t seem moved by this show of loyalty.

Toph breaks in to note that Jee knows he can’t break the rules outright, but he is bending them. Meanwhile, Aang says the airbenders don’t really have an idea of “truce,” since they don’t fight wars. Zuko says that Aang gave him his parole to get him to stop attacking the South Pole. Aang said it worked, and Zuko accuses him of making a promise he never meant to keep. Aang says he never said how far he’d go with Zuko, and Zuko nearly loses control of his temper. He storms out of the tent, hearing Azula’s voice taunting him about how even the Avatar thought he had no honor. He storms out to the beach and starts instinctively dancing – apparently, this is how dragons cry. As he finishes, he ignites some of the rain, and turns to see Teruko watching him. She compliments his bending; Zuko did it on instinct, but she’s apparently seen it before. Overwhelmed, Zuko can barely speak, but Teruko manages to calm him down. She says Shidan does the same thing, when he’s so overwhelmed, he has no choice but to kill someone or leave. She thinks Azula got Azulon’s temper, but Zuko got Shidan’s. Teruko doesn’t know why Zuko never met his maternal grandfather – her elders are on Shidan’s council, but she’s not. But she can’t imagine Shidan wants the Fire Lord poking around Byakko – they do trade with the Earth Kingdom he probably wouldn’t approve of. Apparently, some of those trade partners include the Foggy Swamp tribe – they’re waterbenders, but sometimes Byakko needs their services, since sometimes land needs to be soaked before it burns. She says Zuko’s truly Shidan’s grandson, and the resemblance is obvious. Zuko has his eyes – not just Sozin’s eyes, dragon eyes. Zuko clearly has a lot of dragon in him, on both sides. Zuko insists he’s not special or a legend; Teruko says she’s here to serve their people, not a legend. Zuko apologizes for doubting her honor, and she leads him back inside. Apparently Toph has something to show them…

We end with a long author note. A/N: Flour, as a finely divided powder, is a lot more combustible than most people think.
No, you're not imagining the "Dragonheart" quote. I couldn't resist.
As far as timelines go, I go by "spoken canon overrides written". So yes, I use Koh's dates.
Yes, Jee has his very own Ragtag Bunch of Misfits. (See also Reassigned to Antarctica, Reassignment Backfire.) Anyone fond of TVTropes should know Ozai is doomed.
Azula, however, is Dangerously Genre Savvy.
Everything we've seen Aang and other airbenders do - high-altitude flying, curling up in snow caves, being completely untouched when Zuko hauls him through a blizzard - indicates to me that airbenders have their own climate control. They're definitely very cold-resistant.
Why Roku would not have known about loyalty... as Iroh mentioned many, many chapters back, the Avatar belongs to the whole world, not one nation. Avatars are not bound by loyalty. They are the only firebenders who aren't.
Unfortunately, this missing bond is information the White Lotus Society has, but most people do not know. And the Fire Nation doesn't talk about this so much as feel it. See Meixiang's discussion with Suyin; she's being as blunt as she is there because her daughter was not raised in the Fire Nation - and, so far as Meixiang knew up to that point, was Earth Kingdom. Therefore, whatever Roku heard growing up, he would have attached to what he felt, in regard to friendship and all that went with it. And given the court used to be a lot more friendly place, traitors' deaths would have been rare, and definitely not talked about.
I've also been reminded that many people are not familiar with how large predators operate in regard to territory. Simply put - they hold as much as they can reasonably defend, and no more. This holds true for lion prides, wolf packs, what have you. There isn't one lion pride in charge of all of Africa; there isn't one wolf pack that "owns" all of Yellowstone Park. (And wolves do go to war as packs, by the way.) So no, in a normal situation, a Fire Nation great name would not try for more territory than a reasonable-sized domain. They may make alliances that involve multiple domains, but they wouldn't take them over. Any great name who did, normally, would be faced by a bunch of smaller domains who did not want to be taken over by someone they weren't personally attached to, thank you. And that alliance would in turn fall apart just as soon as it wasn't needed anymore.
"Dragon Chases the Moon" is a Tai Chi move.
Sorry about the delay, people; RL hit hard, with a virus that pretty much knocked me out of commission the better part of 2 weeks. Given that, and several RL projects that need heavy time input, I'm pulling back to posting every 3 weeks. With luck that will let me build up enough of a backlog of chapters that this doesn't happen again!

MG’s Thoughts

Well, this chapter isn’t as big a bomb as the last one, thankfully. We do get some fairly interesting conversations with the Gaang and Zuko here, but unfortunately, they have a lot of undertones that serve to reinforce the hierarchy of the characters she likes – Zuko is great, Toph is the voice of reason, Sokka is reasonable but not as reasonable as Toph, and Katara’s the designated bad guy. We also get a heavy helping of “Aang’s a stupid kid who means well but has no idea his actions have consequences,” which will continue throughout much of the rest of the fic (along with another taste of “Aang fleeing Zuko’s ship was a heinous betrayal,” which we’ve not heard the last of). I think this is where it can really feel like every action of Aang’s or Katara’s gets gone over with a fine-toothed comb for every possible bad consequence, while at the same time we’re left absolutely assured that Zuko never killed anyone that wasn’t self-defense or did meaningful damage; it’s pretty hard to avoid thinking that it’s a double standard. Also, I can’t help but feel like all the talk about truces wasn’t bad in itself, but was here just because Vathara had some worldbuilding she wanted to work in and dropped it here – I have a very hard time imagining that experienced commanders like Iroh and Hakoda would have agreed to a truce without making sure everyone involved knew what the terms were going in, and not just taking it for granted they did.

The stuff about how Kyoshi ruined the Fire Nation continues to be here and continues to bug me in how it reinforces the “Fire Nation are the victims” narrative (also, even with the explanation in the AN, I have a very hard time thinking that literally nobody ever told Roku about loyalty when he grew up in the Fire Nation and loyalty has literal, quantifiable effects on people). There’s also quite a lot here on the theme of the Fire Nation, Fire Nation nobles (Zuko in particular), and dragons being awesome (complete with the digs at canon’s take on dragons). Also, I have to take issue with Vathara’s explanation of how the domain system used to work in the AN. Historically, powerful warlords just don’t stop with what they know they can control (to use an example Vathara would appreciate, see all the daimyo who tried to unify Japan) and unless the great names have some magical dragon instinct that makes them do that, I fail to see any reason why they would. To borrow a turn of phrase from the Stormlight Archive (where a major setting is a country whose warlords were unified by a home-grown conqueror just a generation ago) … when did any tyrant ever say, this is enough?

Also, we get our first taste of how waterbenders do mind control this chapter… and, of course, it’s in the context of making Katara look bad. Sigh.

Comments

[kudzumac]

Please don't tell me Vathara is going to look down on the fact Aang found an alternative path to defeating the Fire Lord instead of killing him.

Because for some reason, I can just *see* Vathara spit on Spirit Bending when it was revealed as a thing the Avatar can do.

[prince_chrom]

I don't remember if they spit on it, but Ozai dies attacking Zuko when Zuko's allies kill him.

[chessybell_90]

I kind of got the impression she didn't see Spirit Bending as non-violent, so she had Aang talk down her fic's Biggest Bad while someone else dealt with Ozai instead.

[masterghandalf]

Hmmm; Vathara definitely doesn't seem to particularly approve of pacifism in general, based on some of her ANs and some of the stuff in the fic itself, and I don't think she cares for energybending in particular either. On the other hand, the fic's ending doesn't really feel like a take that to canon's ending either, mostly because the final battle shakes out very differently - as has already been mentioned, Aang doesn't fight Ozai, and someone else is the actual end boss. So it's just a different situation.

[chessybell_90]

Toph, the girl who regularly snuck out to get into fights, is acquainted with Shame. Pull the other one. Landlord's daughter or no - and given what it takes to consider merchants respectable the Beifongs pretty much have to be landlords, not merchants - she can't be all that concerned about her honour.

(I'm also not sure how invested Toph would be in defending her parents reputation, given why she left. You can love someone without thinking particularly well of them.)

'War is a grand thing, let's have more of it!'

And we're supposed to think the Water Tribes are kooky...

'Dragons are predators.'

So is Aang. He just happens to be the sort of predator which questions the morality of predation.

In all fairness, Roku didn't actually blow the island up, he just remodelled it. Blowing it up would have killed roughly all of them five to seven times over. Pyroclastic flows are not toys!

I'm not sure anything that adopts a small human as easily as those badgermoles did is 'just' an animal, but then Appa understands human language so what do I know.

As a large predator myself, I can safely say the primary limiting factor on territory is administrative capacity. Now, I will freely admit that the Romans were unusual, but I dare say the Fire Nation should have at least their level of administrative capacity. I am also fairly sure the Fire Nation is smaller then the Roman Empire.

(I also think Vathara is assuming that since all the petty lords are fighting each other all the time, anyone who does try for more then their 'fair share' will find their land getting snaffled from behind them. Total nonsense since delegation is a thing that happens, but I can see the premises that lead there.)

I think that if Aang fleeing Zuko's ship was such a massive breach of propriety, Zuko would have spent the entire first book complaining about it.

[prince_chrom]

I'm not sure anything that adopts a small human as easily as those badgermoles did is 'just' an animal, but then Appa understands human language so what do I know.
More than Vathara does that's for sure.

[mancalledtrue]

I think that if Aang fleeing Zuko's ship was such a massive breach of propriety, Zuko would have spent the entire first book complaining about it.

Now, see, the problem here is you're thinking like someone who agrees with canon. You need to think like someone who is absolutely, spirits be damned, convinced that they know better than everyone who ever worked on ATLA.

[masterghandalf]

I'm not sure anything that adopts a small human as easily as those badgermoles did is 'just' an animal, but then Appa understands human language so what do I know.


I'm pretty sure in canon, badgermoles, sky bison and dragons are all quite a bit more than "just" animals, but Vathara really doesn't like the idea of dragons being lumped in with the other two because apparently that's not special enough, so...

(I also think Vathara is assuming that since all the petty lords are fighting each other all the time, anyone who does try for more then their 'fair share' will find their land getting snaffled from behind them. Total nonsense since delegation is a thing that happens, but I can see the premises that lead there.)


Yeah, that's probably it, but it still doesn't make sense, IMO. For another, it doesn't take into account the idea of multiple lords working together or, since this is Embers Fire Nation, of one lord being so charismatic they could start binding the loyalty of other lords automatically (which, if I understand loyalty right, should totally be a thing that can happen).

I think that if Aang fleeing Zuko's ship was such a massive breach of propriety, Zuko would have spent the entire first book complaining about it.


Indeed! It's part of the problem this fic has with taking so much of the original show as canon - characters can suddenly start caring about things they literally spent months not caring about, because someone else is writing them now and that person has an axe to grind.

[saukar99]

I suspect that Vathara's opinion of the Gaang is based on how they reacted to Zuko asking to join them in season 3. Toph was the most willing to give him a chance, so she's the voice of reason. Katara refused to even entertain the idea at first, so she's the designated unreasonable one. Sokka, who didn't like the idea of Zuko joining but was slightly less upfront about it, gets to be placed in the middle.

[masterghandalf]

Absolutely! Unfortunately, the fic cuts out most of the context and character development that made those dynamics make sense.

[ayasugi_san]

when did any tyrant ever say, this is enough?

Ooh, ooh, I know the answer to this one! Odin in the MCU!

This is all just. So eye-rolling. So much Fire Nation shilling, everything bad is the fault of either the lone bad apples or an outside force. Fire Nation morality should be baseline morality except when it's been warped by Kyoshi the Evil.

[ltzip]

My god. It's read like a propaganda piece written by some Ozai lackey. "We swear we are a pacific nation, if we have to go to war and conquers the whole world it's all the avatar's fault."

[kalaong]

Whoa, Nellie. Zuko(and Vathara) show some *truly* screwed-up "values" here; "The removal of a threat is not a payment, the negation of a negative is not a reward, the withdrawal of your armed hoodlums is not an incentive, the offer not to murder me is not a value.”

The whole "parole" thing - "you promised your total surrender if I didn't hurt anyone in that village, and I should have gone back and killed everyone when you escaped" - is blatant protection racketeering, and if Vathara's Fire Nation did it regularly, they *deserved* Kyoshi's storm a dozen times over.

Hakoda mumbles about the Fire Nation having "simple rules on rebellion, do it and die" but ignores how that's a pretty good reason to wipe *them* out; in China 209 BC, generals Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were delayed by a rainstorm, which was punishable by death. They realized that the punishment for rebellion was the same as the one for being late, so they decided to rebel and started an uprising.