MG Reads Embers: Chapter Sixty-Two
Feb. 7th, 2024 10:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
masterghandalfWarning: This chapter contains discussion of genocide.
Chapter Sixty-Two
We open with Sokka checking out the valley and bay where they’ve arrived, while Aang asks Shidan why he won’t help them and further. Sokka had been expecting this, since Shidan sent Hitomi to contact his ship; Shidan himself only says he’s escorted them to a place of safety, and now they can part. Aang says the Fire Lord set a trap for them, and Shidan knows it, but he won’t drag Byakko into the problem Aang’s predecessors created. That would involve rebelling against the Fire Lord, which Shidan won’t openly do – even Piandao is only safe from being punished by the spirits for helping them because Temul watches over Shu Jing. Sokka realizes that as the adopted heir of Shu Jing, technically he is a great name rebelling against the Fire Lord and hopes Temul’s good enough to keep spirits away from him too. Shidan goes on that if Byakko falls, Mount Shirotora will erupt, destroying the Fire Nation and killing Shidan’s family. He also points out that during the invasion they’ll be facing his granddaughter, and Sokka thinks he has a point – even in the Water Tribes, they don’t ask family to be the ones to push criminals off the ice. Shidan further explains that the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes would never trust someone to fight their own family and wouldn’t trust them afterwards if they did. Sokka is reminded of Zuko’s fears of what the other nations would do to the Fire Nation if they were victorious and starts to consider he might have a point. He thinks how in the old clan wars, the victorious clan would usually kill off the enemy clan until someone reasonable was in charge – and sometimes they’d wipe them out entirely. But the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes won’t stop with killing a clan head and waiting to see if someone reasonable takes over.
Aang says he trusts Shidan, but Shidan doesn’t trust his word – and he knows Gyatso didn’t raise a fool. Toph says Aang just wants to believe the good in people, but that Shidan can’t help them if they don’t all trust him. Katara protests she’s not going to start anything this time, and Shidan thinks she wouldn’t, but that Hakoda and his allies would be fools to trust him, and Hakoda’s no fool. Aang says he just wants to stop the Fire Lord, and Sokka thinks about how he thinks that makes him a good person and that good people should always get along, but the world doesn’t work like that. Shidan says he’s under orders to not approach Ozai, because he’d try to kill him and he'd fail, and Kotone doesn’t want to lose him. Aang asks if Ozai is his family too; Sokka realizes that Aang gets that other people think family is a good thing but ; doesn’t seem to grasp why. Shidan points out that they married Ursa to Ozai to ensure Byakko’s safety, and that since then Ozai has maimed and banished Shidan’s grandson and nearly driven his granddaughter mad. Ozai is not Shidan’s family, Shidan wants him dead, and if he gets near him, he might not be able to control himself. He realizes Aang doesn’t understand – he was raised him peace, and doesn’t hate. Aang admits he hates Azula, but Shidan says he doesn’t really; he’s lived a lot longer than Aang, and he can tell Aang doesn’t really hate anyone. Shidan knows what real hate feels like. Aang tells Shidan he has to forgive or hate just becomes poison; Shidan admits he’s right, but he’s lived with that poison inside him for decades now and he’ll never give it up, for anyone’s sake, or he wouldn’t be himself. That’s the real reason why he won’t join Aang. Sokka thinks all of that sounds familiar, and then he remembers something Zuko said about Katara – that she hates everyone, but most of all herself. Sokka wonders what it says about the world that it takes too firebenders to explain his own sister to him and thinks something is terribly wrong with everything. Shidan says he’s leaving, but he has one more thing he can do to help – Sokka says that if it’s a gift like Temul’s, he’ll pass, and Shidan says it’s more of a burden, one passed down to him and now he’s willing to pass down to Aang, if he thinks it will aid him – a memory. Shidan reaches out to touch them, and they’re swept up in a vision.
We cut to a voice addressing Aang, telling him he wasn’t wrong to run away, and the speaker only wishes he could have gone with him. The speaker is leaving this message with someone he trusts – he knows that Aang will be lost and confused when Kuzon finds him and that the world will have gone horribly wrong, but it’s been wrong for centuries and the speaker is only just beginning to suspect the worst of it. But it can become better; the speaker warns Aang not to lose hope, and to seek out others who want to make the world a better place. If he’s getting this message, clearly someone has already found him. The speaker, confirmed as Gyatso, knows that it’s for the best for Aang to not be here when Sozin’s army comes, since he’s absolutely not ready to face Sozin and certainly not with the Comet in the sky. By the time Aang gets the message, the temples will be destroyed. Still, Gyatso knows that new life always rises from the ashes, and if Xiangchen’s legacy of harmonious accord dies with the temples, at least some good will be accomplished. He tells Aang that there are more hidden airbenders in the world, and they fear the temples with good cause, but Aang can prove to them that he’s not like the elders. Shidan knows about them, though Gyatso warns Aang that he takes the protection of those under his wing very seriously and his answers may seem like riddles. Gyatso ends by saying that the Avatar is born where, and who, they are for a reason, and if that’s true, then it’s not just the Avatar the world needs – it’s Aang. He tells Aang he’ll always be proud of him and steps away from the balcony where he was speaking with Shidan. Shidan begs him to come with him, but Gyatso refuses – if Sozin meets no resistance here, he’ll no something is wrong, and so by staying Gyatso can protect Aang in that one way. So, yes, he will fight – he’s surprised that Shidan is saddened at this, since he knows it would never occur to a dragon not to fight. He wonders if he’s been wrong in his opinion of Shidan, and then realizes that while dragons don’t understand peace, they know they don’t understand it and value those who do. He tells Shidan to save as many as he can, and wishes him luck. Shidan flies off, carrying Kuzon and as many Temple children as he can, as below them, the Fire Navy approaches…
We cut to a ciphered message sent to Mai, but actually intended for Azula. Zuko greets her and admits he’s using her cipher; he knows Shidan says she’s healing, and though he doesn’t trust her, he at least hopes he can trust she’ll be true to herself and is loyal to the Fire Nation’s best interests, even if it means going against Ozai. He knows Azula was smart enough to try and kill Aang when he was in the Avatar State – if he’d died any other time, they’d have to deal with a Water Tribe Avatar, which would have been a very bad thing. Zuko already fought the haima-jiao in Ba Sing Se, and now he’s dealing with the drowned at Asagitatsu; they’re in Koh’s control, and he knows how to manipulate an Avatar. Zuko has discovered when things started to go wrong – when the Avatar started to command the nations to be separate, instead of helping them to work together. He learned how Avatar Kesuk went mad and humans had to put her down, and Koh was furious to see mortal creatures killing his parent’s incarnation. No, Zuko doesn’t know how Koh is the Avatar Spirit’s child either. Anyway, Koh’s been plotting revenge for centuries, and now the next Avatar will be the same as Kesuk – a woman, a waterbender, from the North Pole. She’ll be raised with the Northern Water Tribe’s gendered expectations but will also have Koh whispering in her ear the whole time about how the Avatar should have whatever she wants, and eventually something will give. Zuko thinks Azula will understand that if anyone does. Aang is their last chance to stop Koh, much as it hurts Zuko to admit that. He thinks Azula’s going to need to be as clever as she’s ever been – he suspects Aang’s friends can get him out of anything, but everyone with them might not be so lucky. Zuko has his own problems he’s dealing with, so he’s going to ask Azula to use her best judgment, even if it terrifies him. But he doesn’t think killing Aang is in the Fire Nation’s interests. He also warns Ty Lee to stay away from Aang if she doesn’t want to get caught up in Harmonious Accord and wishes Azula luck. Also, he knows she used to arrange mutinies for his birthday, and wonders what she’ll do this year. He hopes it’s flammable – he’s got a whole volcano to work with this time.
MG’s Thoughts
Sigh. This chapter. There are parts of it I really want to like… and parts of it I really, really don’t, and they’re all tied up together. First off, in theory, Aang and Shidan’s conversation at the beginning isn’t bad, with the two of them recognizing that they’ve traveled and worked together for a little bit but still have fundamentally different goals and agendas and need to split up to pursue them. By itself, that’s fine, but it still can’t escape the feeling that Shidan is the wise and worldly one and all Aang can do other than shut up and listen to him is to mouth the occasional ineffective platitude. So… about like they’re dynamic has been for the last several chapters, sadly. Gyatso’s final message for Aang I overall really like, but there’s one thing that I really hate, and that is Gyatso’s statement that it might be for the best if the temple culture Xiangchen created is destroyed. Mostly because it relates to how Vathara depicts the Air Nomads’ culture and practices in general; remember, in Embers!verse Xiangchen is supposed to be the founding father of the Air Temples and Air Nomad philosophy, and he turned out to be a murderous hypocrite who brainwashed people into going along with him and killed everyone who resisted, and so the Temple system was rotten to its foundation, and then you have the less-than-flattering depiction the Air Nomads in general have gotten, and to have Gyatso himself admit it would be a good thing if it was destroyed… there’s just a combination of factors here that all come together into one giant ick here. Like, I can’t help but read it as Gyatso wanting to save his people’s children but being fine with his culture dying, and… what? Maybe I’m not being charitable here… but the fic’s take on the Air Nomads thus far hasn’t left me feeling all that charitable.
Zuko’s letter – okay, on the one hand Zuko reluctantly having to reach out to Azula to get help is something I rather like in theory, though I think it’s a bit rushed here (especially with Vathara portraying Azula’s treatment of Zuko as even worse than in canon, and, you know, that she was literally trying to kill him the last time they met). On the other hand, the content of the letter – we’re back to the idea that a Water Tribe Avatar is an automatically terrible thing because of cultural reasons – and yes, it’s from a Fire Nation perspective, but that doesn’t change the fact that in-universe this whole mess started when a Water Tribe Avatar went mad, and Zuko is specifically afraid of the same circumstances coming around again (also, how does Zuko know the next Avatar will be a woman from the north? There doesn’t seem to be any pattern to where the Avatar is born; they could just as easily be from the south, or the Foggy Swamp or, in Embers, Kyoshi Island – and I recall once there was a big debate on the old AvatarSpirit forums about whether there was a cycle to the Avatar’s gender, and the ultimate conclusion was that based on the Avatars we see in canon, it’s probably random). Maybe I’d be more willing to let it slide if the fic didn’t have issues with portraying the Water Tribes to begin with, but… it does (see also, some of the… iffy comments about Katara this very chapter). And we’re still beating the “the Avatar wants to keep the nations completely separate all the time” drum, however little sense it makes. Also, I think it’s kind of amusing that even the characters in-story don’t know how Koh being the Avatar Spirit’s child makes sense.
Chapter Sixty-Two
We open with Sokka checking out the valley and bay where they’ve arrived, while Aang asks Shidan why he won’t help them and further. Sokka had been expecting this, since Shidan sent Hitomi to contact his ship; Shidan himself only says he’s escorted them to a place of safety, and now they can part. Aang says the Fire Lord set a trap for them, and Shidan knows it, but he won’t drag Byakko into the problem Aang’s predecessors created. That would involve rebelling against the Fire Lord, which Shidan won’t openly do – even Piandao is only safe from being punished by the spirits for helping them because Temul watches over Shu Jing. Sokka realizes that as the adopted heir of Shu Jing, technically he is a great name rebelling against the Fire Lord and hopes Temul’s good enough to keep spirits away from him too. Shidan goes on that if Byakko falls, Mount Shirotora will erupt, destroying the Fire Nation and killing Shidan’s family. He also points out that during the invasion they’ll be facing his granddaughter, and Sokka thinks he has a point – even in the Water Tribes, they don’t ask family to be the ones to push criminals off the ice. Shidan further explains that the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes would never trust someone to fight their own family and wouldn’t trust them afterwards if they did. Sokka is reminded of Zuko’s fears of what the other nations would do to the Fire Nation if they were victorious and starts to consider he might have a point. He thinks how in the old clan wars, the victorious clan would usually kill off the enemy clan until someone reasonable was in charge – and sometimes they’d wipe them out entirely. But the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes won’t stop with killing a clan head and waiting to see if someone reasonable takes over.
Aang says he trusts Shidan, but Shidan doesn’t trust his word – and he knows Gyatso didn’t raise a fool. Toph says Aang just wants to believe the good in people, but that Shidan can’t help them if they don’t all trust him. Katara protests she’s not going to start anything this time, and Shidan thinks she wouldn’t, but that Hakoda and his allies would be fools to trust him, and Hakoda’s no fool. Aang says he just wants to stop the Fire Lord, and Sokka thinks about how he thinks that makes him a good person and that good people should always get along, but the world doesn’t work like that. Shidan says he’s under orders to not approach Ozai, because he’d try to kill him and he'd fail, and Kotone doesn’t want to lose him. Aang asks if Ozai is his family too; Sokka realizes that Aang gets that other people think family is a good thing but ; doesn’t seem to grasp why. Shidan points out that they married Ursa to Ozai to ensure Byakko’s safety, and that since then Ozai has maimed and banished Shidan’s grandson and nearly driven his granddaughter mad. Ozai is not Shidan’s family, Shidan wants him dead, and if he gets near him, he might not be able to control himself. He realizes Aang doesn’t understand – he was raised him peace, and doesn’t hate. Aang admits he hates Azula, but Shidan says he doesn’t really; he’s lived a lot longer than Aang, and he can tell Aang doesn’t really hate anyone. Shidan knows what real hate feels like. Aang tells Shidan he has to forgive or hate just becomes poison; Shidan admits he’s right, but he’s lived with that poison inside him for decades now and he’ll never give it up, for anyone’s sake, or he wouldn’t be himself. That’s the real reason why he won’t join Aang. Sokka thinks all of that sounds familiar, and then he remembers something Zuko said about Katara – that she hates everyone, but most of all herself. Sokka wonders what it says about the world that it takes too firebenders to explain his own sister to him and thinks something is terribly wrong with everything. Shidan says he’s leaving, but he has one more thing he can do to help – Sokka says that if it’s a gift like Temul’s, he’ll pass, and Shidan says it’s more of a burden, one passed down to him and now he’s willing to pass down to Aang, if he thinks it will aid him – a memory. Shidan reaches out to touch them, and they’re swept up in a vision.
We cut to a voice addressing Aang, telling him he wasn’t wrong to run away, and the speaker only wishes he could have gone with him. The speaker is leaving this message with someone he trusts – he knows that Aang will be lost and confused when Kuzon finds him and that the world will have gone horribly wrong, but it’s been wrong for centuries and the speaker is only just beginning to suspect the worst of it. But it can become better; the speaker warns Aang not to lose hope, and to seek out others who want to make the world a better place. If he’s getting this message, clearly someone has already found him. The speaker, confirmed as Gyatso, knows that it’s for the best for Aang to not be here when Sozin’s army comes, since he’s absolutely not ready to face Sozin and certainly not with the Comet in the sky. By the time Aang gets the message, the temples will be destroyed. Still, Gyatso knows that new life always rises from the ashes, and if Xiangchen’s legacy of harmonious accord dies with the temples, at least some good will be accomplished. He tells Aang that there are more hidden airbenders in the world, and they fear the temples with good cause, but Aang can prove to them that he’s not like the elders. Shidan knows about them, though Gyatso warns Aang that he takes the protection of those under his wing very seriously and his answers may seem like riddles. Gyatso ends by saying that the Avatar is born where, and who, they are for a reason, and if that’s true, then it’s not just the Avatar the world needs – it’s Aang. He tells Aang he’ll always be proud of him and steps away from the balcony where he was speaking with Shidan. Shidan begs him to come with him, but Gyatso refuses – if Sozin meets no resistance here, he’ll no something is wrong, and so by staying Gyatso can protect Aang in that one way. So, yes, he will fight – he’s surprised that Shidan is saddened at this, since he knows it would never occur to a dragon not to fight. He wonders if he’s been wrong in his opinion of Shidan, and then realizes that while dragons don’t understand peace, they know they don’t understand it and value those who do. He tells Shidan to save as many as he can, and wishes him luck. Shidan flies off, carrying Kuzon and as many Temple children as he can, as below them, the Fire Navy approaches…
We cut to a ciphered message sent to Mai, but actually intended for Azula. Zuko greets her and admits he’s using her cipher; he knows Shidan says she’s healing, and though he doesn’t trust her, he at least hopes he can trust she’ll be true to herself and is loyal to the Fire Nation’s best interests, even if it means going against Ozai. He knows Azula was smart enough to try and kill Aang when he was in the Avatar State – if he’d died any other time, they’d have to deal with a Water Tribe Avatar, which would have been a very bad thing. Zuko already fought the haima-jiao in Ba Sing Se, and now he’s dealing with the drowned at Asagitatsu; they’re in Koh’s control, and he knows how to manipulate an Avatar. Zuko has discovered when things started to go wrong – when the Avatar started to command the nations to be separate, instead of helping them to work together. He learned how Avatar Kesuk went mad and humans had to put her down, and Koh was furious to see mortal creatures killing his parent’s incarnation. No, Zuko doesn’t know how Koh is the Avatar Spirit’s child either. Anyway, Koh’s been plotting revenge for centuries, and now the next Avatar will be the same as Kesuk – a woman, a waterbender, from the North Pole. She’ll be raised with the Northern Water Tribe’s gendered expectations but will also have Koh whispering in her ear the whole time about how the Avatar should have whatever she wants, and eventually something will give. Zuko thinks Azula will understand that if anyone does. Aang is their last chance to stop Koh, much as it hurts Zuko to admit that. He thinks Azula’s going to need to be as clever as she’s ever been – he suspects Aang’s friends can get him out of anything, but everyone with them might not be so lucky. Zuko has his own problems he’s dealing with, so he’s going to ask Azula to use her best judgment, even if it terrifies him. But he doesn’t think killing Aang is in the Fire Nation’s interests. He also warns Ty Lee to stay away from Aang if she doesn’t want to get caught up in Harmonious Accord and wishes Azula luck. Also, he knows she used to arrange mutinies for his birthday, and wonders what she’ll do this year. He hopes it’s flammable – he’s got a whole volcano to work with this time.
MG’s Thoughts
Sigh. This chapter. There are parts of it I really want to like… and parts of it I really, really don’t, and they’re all tied up together. First off, in theory, Aang and Shidan’s conversation at the beginning isn’t bad, with the two of them recognizing that they’ve traveled and worked together for a little bit but still have fundamentally different goals and agendas and need to split up to pursue them. By itself, that’s fine, but it still can’t escape the feeling that Shidan is the wise and worldly one and all Aang can do other than shut up and listen to him is to mouth the occasional ineffective platitude. So… about like they’re dynamic has been for the last several chapters, sadly. Gyatso’s final message for Aang I overall really like, but there’s one thing that I really hate, and that is Gyatso’s statement that it might be for the best if the temple culture Xiangchen created is destroyed. Mostly because it relates to how Vathara depicts the Air Nomads’ culture and practices in general; remember, in Embers!verse Xiangchen is supposed to be the founding father of the Air Temples and Air Nomad philosophy, and he turned out to be a murderous hypocrite who brainwashed people into going along with him and killed everyone who resisted, and so the Temple system was rotten to its foundation, and then you have the less-than-flattering depiction the Air Nomads in general have gotten, and to have Gyatso himself admit it would be a good thing if it was destroyed… there’s just a combination of factors here that all come together into one giant ick here. Like, I can’t help but read it as Gyatso wanting to save his people’s children but being fine with his culture dying, and… what? Maybe I’m not being charitable here… but the fic’s take on the Air Nomads thus far hasn’t left me feeling all that charitable.
Zuko’s letter – okay, on the one hand Zuko reluctantly having to reach out to Azula to get help is something I rather like in theory, though I think it’s a bit rushed here (especially with Vathara portraying Azula’s treatment of Zuko as even worse than in canon, and, you know, that she was literally trying to kill him the last time they met). On the other hand, the content of the letter – we’re back to the idea that a Water Tribe Avatar is an automatically terrible thing because of cultural reasons – and yes, it’s from a Fire Nation perspective, but that doesn’t change the fact that in-universe this whole mess started when a Water Tribe Avatar went mad, and Zuko is specifically afraid of the same circumstances coming around again (also, how does Zuko know the next Avatar will be a woman from the north? There doesn’t seem to be any pattern to where the Avatar is born; they could just as easily be from the south, or the Foggy Swamp or, in Embers, Kyoshi Island – and I recall once there was a big debate on the old AvatarSpirit forums about whether there was a cycle to the Avatar’s gender, and the ultimate conclusion was that based on the Avatars we see in canon, it’s probably random). Maybe I’d be more willing to let it slide if the fic didn’t have issues with portraying the Water Tribes to begin with, but… it does (see also, some of the… iffy comments about Katara this very chapter). And we’re still beating the “the Avatar wants to keep the nations completely separate all the time” drum, however little sense it makes. Also, I think it’s kind of amusing that even the characters in-story don’t know how Koh being the Avatar Spirit’s child makes sense.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-07 08:01 pm (UTC)Context is important, and while it could be that Gyatso is only talking about the brainwashing the context - and, for that matter, how mind-bogglingly impossible the Embers Air Nomads are - means he really can't because this is not a viable culture without the brainwashing.
You know something? It almost reads like Vathara has thalassophobia given how scary all her water stuff is in this fic.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-09 03:41 am (UTC)Yeah, the fic's been very clear that it's version of the Air Temples existed only because of Xiangchen, and because Xiangchen's followers killed or brainwashed everyone who disagreed and later generations kept it going. That's... not a lot of wiggle-room.
You know something? It almost reads like Vathara has thalassophobia given how scary all her water stuff is in this fic.
Heh, that puts me in mind of Lovecraft, oddly enough, and how the general consensus is that he was so skilled at conjuring visions of an alien, hostile universe because he really was that terrified of everything and everyone (including, of course, the sea and sea creatures...)
no subject
Date: 2024-02-09 10:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-02-08 10:58 am (UTC)Or the Fire Nation will attack the Water Tribes again, this time not stopping until they're both conquered, identify and capture the Avatar when they're a baby, and keep them alive but helpless if they can't indoctrinate them into being a good Fire Nation defender.
we’re back to the idea that a Water Tribe Avatar is an automatically terrible thing because of cultural reasons
To be fair (/s), it sounds like any Avatar that's not Fire Nation through and through is a disaster. After all, in Embersverse, Roku's issue was that he was too detached from the Fire Nation and its troubles, and every other Avatar named has been terrible. It almost feels like Vathara hates the concept.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-09 03:44 am (UTC)Yeah, but that actually makes sense...
To be fair (/s), it sounds like any Avatar that's not Fire Nation through and through is a disaster. After all, in Embersverse, Roku's issue was that he was too detached from the Fire Nation and its troubles, and every other Avatar named has been terrible. It almost feels like Vathara hates the concept.
Vathara seems to think Yangchen was all right... but tellingly, that she only became a proper Avatar after the yaoren (Vathara's creation) rescued her from her own people (and it still wasn't enough to save her from death by volcano). Otherwise... yeah, pretty much every Avatar in this fic has been presented as one form of disaster or another. For the most recent Avatars, it will end up being directly attributed to their not having yaoren to advise them, too. I'm detecting a pattern...