#and what is Katara’s role here. She didn’t even seem to break the iceberg. That’s. That’s her whole. That’s. She. She kickstarts it. Gah. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thebakingqueen5 · 3 years

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KW 2021: The Sea & The Sky

Day 7 for Kataang Week 2021 hosted by @kataang-week with the prompt The Sea & The Sky!

Don't mind me crying in the corner that Kataang Week is basically over, but anyways I'm super proud of this last oneshot and hope you all enjoy it!

Links: AO3 | FF.net

Summary: Another year, another, another week of prompts celebrating our favorite couple. Kataang Week 2021 Day 7: The Sea & The Sky. Katara was the sea, Aang was the sky, destined to meet at the horizon where they were bound together for all eternity.

Word Count: 1.7K (barely)

The sea and sky, two entities as old as time itself. In some ways, as contrasting as the night and day, and in others, perfect reflections of one another.

The sea has always been below the sky, left to gaze upon the brilliance of the celestial bodies embedded in it for all eternity and reflecting the light of the bright stars beyond.

The sky has always been above the sea, forever peering down into its depths for the miracles and mysteries hidden beneath, and guiding its steady waves as they crash upon the shores of the Earth.

The sea is the reason the azure sky is adorned with feathery white wisps floating high above the ground, and the sky, in turn, fills the oceans and floods the rivers with the very liquid that makes survival possible.

The sea fosters life beneath its steady, undulating surface. It holds flora and fauna of all shapes, colors, and sizes, and it was a point of fascination for the sky. The sky, in all its glory, could not sustain anything for long. Even the birds that rode over its swift breezes had to eventually land somewhere below. And yet, the sky was free, a vast expanse of space that extended beyond what the sea could ever imagine to be possible. It wasn’t shackled by the chains of the planet, and the sea almost envied it.

In the days of old, when sailors ruled the seas, the ocean and her gentle waves would push them across great stretches of nothingness, while the sky and his stars would aid in guiding them on their journeys. Without the sky, those explorers would be lost at sea, and without the sea, their ambitions would remain sky-high with their dreams of traveling the world doomed to remain just that- dreams.

The sea and the sky have always been connected. Together, they make a thriving world possible. And so it follows that those so closely bonded to their elements, Aang and Katara, would be similarly linked by the fabric of space and time.

Though he was the Avatar, Aang’s native element was that of air. He preferred to soar on his glider high above the clouds, and gravity was a laughable concept to him. True to his airbending disposition, Aang’s natural inclinations were to evade conflict and obstacles in order to move forward, like a leaf on the wind.

Katara was born in the Southern Water Tribe, surrounded by ice, glaciers, and the frigid seas of the South Pole. She wielded the element of water, adapting and accepting things as they came since water was the element of change. She would experience swells of emotion similar to the waves, but she always came down into a steady balance, an ebb and flow just like tides.

Aang and Katara were not each other’s antithesis, far from it actually, but rather each other’s complements. Had they been such stark opposites, their relationship would’ve been much more turbulent, having the highest of highs but also the lowest of lows. They needed not a sharp contrast but rather a soft blend to allow them to communicate with and learn from one another. It was this that allowed them to work so well.

When Katara was firm and unyielding like a tsunami approaching the shore, Aang accepted her stance and often strengthened it. Consequently, if the airbender was flighty and indecisive, Katara would be there to ground him and guide him to something he felt confident in.

Katara was Aang’s earthly tether. When his head drifted up into the clouds, she pulled him back to the real world and allowed him to guide the four nations into an era of peace and prosperity. On the other hand, Aang showed Katara true freedom and what being unrestrained felt like. He brought her up with him on his glider and taught her to defy nature’s laws, to not be afraid to take exhilarating risks, and to keep her ambitions sky-high.

Their worlds collided like the brilliance of colors created as the sun set over the horizon, gradually leaving the realm of the sky and sinking into the sea. Some of their traits reflected each other like the sun’s rays on the sparkling surface of the water, and the others melded together well to make the glorious gradient that streaked the sky as night fell. Together, Aang and Katara created a rich harmony filled with overtones that mirrored the depth of their connection.

When they first met, that instant link, the bond that tied them together, was remarkably evident to all those around them. It was absolutely undeniable.

Though Sokka had mostly been joking when he had called Aang Katara’s boyfriend, there were still some astute observations lying under his exaggerated comment. Sokka knew his sister. She didn’t take to people too well, he had noticed over the years. Katara was protective, almost overly so, of the people she loved, and it was hard for her to let people in.

And yet here was Aang, a boy whom she had quite literally taken into her open arms without so much as a blink of hesitation, a boy whom she was ready to leave her tribe, everything and everyone she had ever known, and travel across the world for. It seemed so out of character. Katara didn’t usually make sense to her brother, but this was something different, something special.

Even Gran Gran had taken notice of the unique energy between them. “Aang is the Avatar,” she had told the Water Tribe siblings. “He is the world's only chance. You both found him for a reason. Now your destinies are intertwined with his,” and she was right.

That day, Aang and Katara had forged a connection that wouldn’t, that couldn’t, ever be severed. Breaking him out of the iceberg had been the catalyst for the rest of their lives together. Their adventures following only served to deepen and strengthen that link, allowing them to fall wholly and completely for one another and experience a love they didn’t know was possible.

Visiting Aunt Wu was the first time Katara had really stopped to consider how far their bond went and the strength of her feelings for Aang. She knew they had something unique, something exceptional, but she hadn’t ever thought it could run that deep. “The man you’re going to marry… I can see that he is a very powerful bender.” It made sense, didn’t it? The boy who had changed her life for the better would grow to be the man that she would spend the rest of her life with.

Their kiss in the Cave of the Lovers only further cemented the idea in her head, and a part of her began to believe that their meeting was fate, just like the tale of Oma and Shu. Aang, while still reeling from embarrassment at some of his words (“I’m saying I’d rather kiss you than die, that’s a compliment!”), also began to have similar thoughts, thinking that maybe they too had parallels to the starcrossed lovers and that the love that they shared would one day too be immortalized in legend.

The battle in the catacombs underneath Ba Sing Se seemed like an all too abrupt end to their story. It simply didn’t feel real. How could their link just have been cut off like that? No, Katara wasn’t ready to accept it. She couldn’t accept it. It went against the laws of the universe, it wasn’t possible.

She was going to do whatever it took to keep him there with her, and she did. She brought Aang back from the spirit world through the purest of love, light, and determination, and she made it her duty to never let such a thing happen again.

It was what allowed them to fulfill their roles as the Avatar and his waterbending master at Sozin’s Comet and have their kiss afterward, the early buddings of a relationship that would last a lifetime. Years later, they would go on to pronounce that love to all their friends and family, but, for now, they were more than just their fates.

Just as Aang was able to manipulate water along with his primary element of air, the heavens held clouds in its vast expanse of sky, connecting it to the sea. The sea sent water up in the form of vapor to create those fluffy masses above, and the sky releases the water that the clouds hold in torrents of rain back down to the ground, tying the two together in an endless cycle.

Similarly, waterbending was one of the many things that bound Aang and Katara. It was the reason they had met, the reason Katara was able to break Aang out of that iceberg, and it was the reason they embarked on their epic journey to the North Pole- to learn from the masters and even become ones themselves.

Waterbending linked them as sifu and pupil, strengthening their bond. Without waterbending, Aang may have never realized that fateful day of her adjusting his form of the effect she had on him, the full intensity of the pull, the attraction she held in his eyes.

Waterbending had made Katara especially attuned to the rhythm of the waves rising and falling, and it didn’t long for her to notice how her and Aang’s dynamic reflected it, ebbing and flowing in a delicate yet harmonious balance.

Their meeting had been fate, an event necessary for the survival of the world itself, but that did not define them. With each other, they were not their destinies. They were not the Avatar and his waterbending master, nor were they the beacon of hope for the future of the Air Nation.

No, they were Aang and Katara, two people who had defied all odds, overcome all obstacles, and quite literally gone to the Spirit World and back all in the name of love. They were not the heroes who had saved the world, but soulmates, fated just as the sky and the sea were to meet at their own horizon. They were two people irreversibly linked to each other then, now, and till the end of time itself.

#kataang week #kataang week 2021 #kataangtag #kataang #kataang fanfic #the sea and the sky #aang #katara #aang x katara #atla fanfiction #soulmates #bc yes

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imreallyhereforkataang · 4 years

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On The Southern Raiders

Several months ago, a fellow ATLA-consumer asked me the following in reference to TSR:

I came across a post (on tumblr, what a surprise!) the other day saying that Aang never seemed to care about Katara’s feelings revolving around her mom. […] Do you think people genuinely interpreted Aang’s actions like that? Simply by watching? Or are they purposely misconstruing it?

I responded with the vast majority of what follows. It was a while afterwards that I rejoined the fandom for long enough to see the massive spectrum of takes on The Southern Raiders that continues to be put out on the daily.

There seems to be this recurring idea that Aang’s actions in TSR demonstrate that, not only did Aang “never care about Katara’s pain” regarding her mother, but also that he was “forcing his morals on her,” etc. On the topic of whether people honestly believe this to be in Aang’s character or see him this way deliberately, I think sometimes they jump to the conclusion that Aang didn’t care because it stems from a misconstrued interpretation of Aang and Katara as individuals and their dynamic as presented in the show, which may extend to the belief that Aang doesn’t give back what Katara gives to him. In general, I can see how someone might form that impression, but they’re missing some key contextual pieces.

Just a quick disclaimer: This is (obviously) a look into TSR and dives into Katara and Aang, both as individuals and together. I try to make this fairly objective while relaying my own opinions, but this will subsequently hold pro-Kataang rhetoric, platonic or no. Additionally, because this is TSR we’re talking about, I do allude to elements here that mold into what I see as ‘specific common misconceptions about Z*tara’s romantic compatibility based off this one particular episode.’ Why are these relevant? Because there is a clear trend where the people trying to put Aang down or even demonize him for this episode are often pro-canon!Z*tara advocates. To be clear, I don’t have an issue with people who ship them for fun outside of canon, so if you like romantic Z*tara but also appreciate Aang, any perceived digs are not directed towards you! But I think some of these things are worth mentioning here in the interest of examining TSR and Aang-bashing.

(Also fair warning that this is nearing 7k words.)

So, with that out of the way:

I briefly mentioned how people can misinterpret Katara and Aang’s back-and-forths in terms of emotional support, and I feel like that starts with Katara.

Katara is a naturally caring person and earnestly reaches outward to empathize with people. She’s extremely perceptive when someone is hurting (the only one to look concerned when Aang showed gripes about killing Ozai in The Phoenix King) and is often seen as the nurturing character who will coax others to talk about their inner struggles (she does this with Toph in The Runaway and Zuko in The Old Masters, for instance).

Time and time again, when Aang has struggled on his Avatar journey, Katara has been the one to get him to open up and articulate his turmoil, ultimately supporting him or convincing him that there is still hope for better days. She’s been there for him at all times, from The Storm to The Avatar State to Bitter Work to The Serpent’s Pass to The Awakening and beyond, exercising patience and care. It’s a role she undertakes, and as Aang is our main character and undergoing, arguably (I guess? But to me inarguably), the most of everyone in the gaang, it makes sense that Katara, given her empathetic nature and their strong bond, will often be the one expressing true concern for Aang.

So we know that when Aang struggles, which we understandably see a lot of, Katara is his rock. But what about giving back when Katara struggles?

When it comes to Katara’s share of turmoil, the death of her mother and how it continues to impact her is one of her greatest sources of pain. Honestly, it might be one of the only times we actually watch her struggle on her own, as Katara tends to be a powerful self-advocate (see: The Waterbending Master). The thing is, even though Katara has mentioned losing her mother several times throughout the series, and of course she always sounds regretful when it’s brought up, she tends to keep the rawness of her associated sorrow bottled up. Almost every time Katara mentions the death of her mother, it’s been, in very Katara-like fashion, to express understanding towards others. With the exception of @Zuko in the crystal catacombs and TSR, she only brings up her own grief to empathize (@Aang in The Southern Air Temple to prepare him for the genocide and show understanding when he grieves, @Haru in Imprisoned when Haru talks about connecting with his father, @Jet in Jet when he talks about losing his own parents to the Fire Nation, and @Hama in The Puppetmaster when talking about losing members of the Southern Water Tribe). Really, The Crossroads of Destiny and TSR are the only times Katara actually brings up her own pain for the sake of bringing up her own pain, and it’s not often that we see her physically break down over it like we do in the former.

Katara isn’t the sort of person to bring up her turmoil simply for her own needs, or because she realizes it’s weighing on her heavily in that moment. It’s a sore spot that’s changed her behavior (as Sokka explains in The Runaway), making her grow up faster, and that she’s continued to carry for years and years. And yet, again, before The Southern Raiders, we never watched her actively cry over her mother except for when she was alone in The Swamp and with Zuko in The Crossroads of Destiny (and also perhaps when she was alone in The Runaway).

Thus, The Southern Raiders is an interesting episode because it’s where those feelings Katara has been harboring are fully brought to the surface and, in extent, it’s the episode where we see Katara at her lowest point. All of that pain is made fresh and present, the murder no longer feeling like something that happened long ago with, as she believed, no available ends to tie (“Now that I know he’s out there, now that I know we can find him, I feel like I have no choice”), and it causes her to lose sight of herself. That’s not only starkly reflected in her decision to bloodbend, but also in how she doubts that anyone understands her pain.

Katara undermines Sokka’s hurt at the same loss she’s experienced and forgets all the struggle that Aang has had to endure from the start. Not only does he know how it feels to lose a parental figure (Gyatso) to the Fire Nation and not have been able to help (“My people needed me and I wasn’t there to help”; “I’m not the helpless little girl I was when they came”), but he also knows how it feels to lose an entire culture (something only Katara and Hama have similar experience with). And Katara knows this – she’s the one he’s expressed the most of his grief to, and yet here she forgets that. So we can already see how this opportunity Zuko has given Katara, the chance to find her mother’s killer and the anticipation that she feels from it, is bringing out a darker side of her that, unlike the Katara we know and that she wants to be, does not empathize or pause to understand. She’s so engrossed in her own pain, for the first time in so long, that she can’t see beyond it.

In consequence to this episode being about Katara’s emotional journey, I think The Southern Raiders is the most opportune time to observe who will give Katara what she has always displayed towards others. When a character undergoes the level of hurt Katara expresses here, it’s usually she who reaches out to that person, but now it’s her turn to be emotionally compromised. Now we get to see who steps up to the plate.

A lot of people conclude that this person is Zuko. That he’s the one who will reach out to her and connect with her emotionally to help her deal with that pain. I do agree that Zuko played a vital role in Katara’s emotional journey here – he was the catalyst for it. He had an established motivation to get off her bad side and onto her good side, a possible solution alluded to him, and knowledge that comes with hailing from the Fire Nation to go forth with his idea. And he does, and he’s physically there to help Katara through its execution.

However, Zuko making the effort to give Katara this opportunity does not reflect a lack of effort on Aang’s part. Firstly, because, as explained, Aang didn’t see how raw this pain still was to Katara. At this point, Zuko had been on the receiving end of two beratements where Katara angrily mentioned her mother’s death. Aang was not, nor did he witness these incidents. Aang understood the significance of her necklace (Bato of the Water Tribe) and looked concerned for her when she mentioned her vision (The Swamp), but Katara never seemed to express to Aang just how raw her mother’s death still felt, just as Sokka never did. She mentions it in The Southern Air Temple, but their topic of discussion was the Fire Nation killing the airbenders, and Aang was trying to fend off the idea that they might have committed genocide against his people. Considering context, there’s no reason to fault Aang for any of the things he did on this issue, or a lack thereof.

Just as Katara and Sokka thought, Aang probably believed it was a concluded topic in terms of active response. It was something that happened years ago, Aang was in an iceberg at the time, and neither Katara nor Sokka nor Aang thought it was something to go back on and revisit. When Katara yelled at Zuko, she never suggested looking for the killer. And again with that quote, “Now that I know he’s out there,” I don’t think hunting for the man was on anyone’s mind. As a viewer, it was never on my mind, either.

What Zuko had that the rest of Team Avatar did not was direction and knowledge on how they could potentially track down this specific Fire Nation military official. Even Sokka, who could remember the emblem of the Southern Raiders and underwent the same loss Katara did, not only seemed to have no intention of tracking his mother’s murderer, but also took Aang’s side when Zuko and Katara explained what they were planning to do.

Which supports the next point – regarding how Aang responded to the idea once it was out there.

Quick tangent, but it’s a scene like this that shows how Aang’s feelings for Katara have matured. The way he reacts to Katara in The Southern Raiders conveys how he knows she’s not perfect, he knows she can make mistakes, and even if, to some, he comes off as trying to hinder her on this sensitive topic, he overtly wants what’s best for her.

Aang recognizes the change in Katara’s demeanor when she approaches him about borrowing Appa. He seems to notice that something is off about her energy, probably to this extent for the first time, just as for the audience, and his instinct is not to step out of her way and “stay on her good side,” but to try and assess the situation before he lets her go in the condition she’s in. Katara is undeniably not thinking clearly during this scene, nor for much of the episode’s proceedings, given her tone, expressions, words, and intent. She’s undergoing, just as Aang says, “unbelievable pain and rage” (callback to The Avatar State; “for the people who love you, watching you be in that much rage and pain is really scary”). Aang understands where Katara is coming from, and he offers her his two cents, but he doesn’t “force” them on her, either.

Watching how Aang’s expression changes between looking at Zuko and Katara, he appears intent and almost stern towards the former. But for Katara, he’s first treading the waters, then concerned and earnest. Aang doesn’t shame Katara for her dark rhetoric or tell her what she should or shouldn’t do, but tries to help her regain some control of her emotions (“Katara, you sound like Jet” – he knows this side of Katara isn’t truly her, or who she wants to be, and this comment might serve to give her insight as to how she sounds) and then offers Katara a choice. Aang makes light of an option that she’s overlooked upon having this opportunity, and he tries to explain why the road she’s going down, the way she’s choosing to handle the situation, is self-destructive. All in all, he’s looking out for her. In his own way, he’s doing for Katara what Katara would have done for him.

I think it’s made fairly clear that, had Katara killed Yon Rha, (who, while, yes, is vile and got away with murder, was also defenseless against Katara by the time she caught up with him), she would’ve regretted her decision. The frightening thing is that I don’t believe she would have accepted that regret from herself, either. It would always remain a blemish in her energy (mind you, not because murder will inherently do this to everyone in ATLA, but it would to Katara specifically given her nature), something that would make her forever carry a bit of that darkness we so rarely see from her, much heavier and more permanent than withholding forgiveness, instead of following “Let your anger out, and then let it go.”

Here’s the thing people seem to forget about TSR: Canon shows us that Aang’s method for handling the situation is beneficial to Katara. It’s true that Zuko was the catalyst for this journey and he was there to help Katara see it through, but it isn’t true to say that Aang didn’t do her a favor by reaching out and being honest with her before they left. Remember the ultimate note on this side story: “You were right about what Katara needed. Violence wasn’t the answer.” The narrative teaches us that Aang was correct on this front – maybe not for everyone, but he wasn’t trying to nudge everyone. He was trying to nudge Katara.

I recently acquired the official DVD commentary for The Southern Raiders. I’ve transcribed relevant points on the end of this post if you’d like to read them in full, but Bryan and Andrea Romano (voice director) talk about how “even though Aang is sort of not in this story very much, to me his presence is in all of these scenes ‘cause you know he’s like, the little angel on her shoulder”; “I agree with you, he is with her through this entire journey she goes through.”

The fact that what Aang said resonated with Katara when it mattered – Katara, who becomes stubborn when she feels strongly about something, who doesn’t let anyone stop her when she disagrees with them, who is going through the most raw, emotional turbulence we have seen her in throughout the show –, the fact that Katara ultimately agreed with Aang’s words, that his words were the aid she needed in realizing there was a decision in either killing Yon Rha or sparing him, hugely states that Aang was there for Katara. Aang helped her see she had a choice for her own sake when her mind was clouded by pain and rage. You don’t need supplementary commentary to see that – Katara was seriously considering revenge, Zuko was leaning towards punishing Yon Rha but, for the most part, staying out of the decision (though based on the two back-and-forths he had with Aang before they left and his reaction to Katara walking away from bloodbending the wrong man, he didn’t realize how detrimental to Katara killing Yon Rha would be – his intention when giving Katara this opportunity was ultimately to gain some ground with her, and while he shares a sense of her pain, he doesn’t foresee what the nature of this journey will do to impact Katara specifically, which I get since he hardly knows her), and so it was ultimately Aang who helped Katara find her path even when he wasn’t there with her physically.

People can argue that Aang was forcing his morals on Katara, but he wasn’t. He was offering valid wisdom, yet pressing enough to hope that she’d actually listen and maybe react, as she did, rather than Aang simply standing back. It would’ve been easy for Aang to do nothing (like he said) and not risk coming off as unconcerned about her feelings, like he did to some viewers, because we know how Aang feels about Katara and that he doesn’t want to create rifts between them. But he risked stirring them, in her volatile state, in order to get his point across, if it meant that in consequence there would be a better chance Katara wouldn’t make the mistake that he knows would haunt her after this foreign mood of hers has passed. Aang isn’t about to let her go without trying to help her, even when she seems to not want help. It’s not in Katara’s nature to seek emotional support, and the audience has never seen her like this, but Aang recognizes that she needs the nudge (which, had her mind been clearer, she’d apparently agree with over her idea of revenge) and gives it openly and hopefully, even when she isn’t in a receptive state (or so it seemed). Again, Aang’s “morals” in this case of murder turned out to be, as he suspected, compatible with Katara’s as well as Sokka’s, so clearly he did a good thing there.

I think some people believe that Aang “forces his morals” on Katara because they’re under the impression that Aang’s concern is the general idea that she will kill somebody, the persons involved being irrelevant. That he’s acting selfishly and, in the interest of aligning with his own ideals, doesn’t want the girl he loves to be “corrupted.” This sort of mindset that “he’s against killing, so he won’t let Katara have this” leads to the conclusion that he’s not giving her the free reign to make her own choice.

However, this idea is debunked again and again in the episode. Aang says, clear as day, “I wasn’t planning to [try and stop you]. This is a journey you need to take. You need to face this man. But when you do, please don’t choose revenge” as Katara turns away from him to go, and Aang stands back and watches with concern. He’s not being “forceful” – he’s being honest, like Katara’s been for him, and even supportive. If Aang really wanted to ensure that Katara followed his own morals, if he were actually not giving her free reign, he would’ve either disallowed Katara and Zuko from taking Appa or gone along with them. Aang could’ve justified joining the mission – it is his bison and that would split up the gaang evenly. He could’ve forced himself on this journey and used the time before meeting Yon Rha to monitor Katara like a chaperone, believing he’s just trying to help and making sure she doesn’t get hurt.

And yet he doesn’t. He lets Katara do this, and his parting words continue to be what he hopes she’ll choose. But his final action, letting her set off with Appa and leaving him behind, means that he’s leaving the decision up to her.

I feel like people completely forget some segments of the episode. Like how Sokka says “I think Aang might be right” and doesn’t go on the journey that he has as much reason to embark on as Katara does. Or how Katara literally says right before departing, “Thanks for understanding, Aang.”

Aang’s stance on Katara getting revenge goes beyond Aang just being against killing – he’s not voicing his opinion out of defense of Yon Rha or because he doesn’t want to love someone who went against his morals. He’s doing it because he knows what Katara’s going through and he doesn’t want her to have to face the consequences of letting the pain get the better of her. He’s trying to help her from going down a dark road, not for himself, but for her, because he knows her and knows this is something she would regret.

So when Katara tells him later that she didn’t forgive Yon Rha, Aang doesn’t push her or ask questions. He’s glad – and proud – that she didn’t do something that would’ve permanently hurt her, and beyond that, she could dissent from his morals as she liked. When Aang saw Katara after her trip, the first thing he did was run to her purely to ask if she was okay, not to discover whether she killed; he already knew from Zuko.

Bottom line is that Aang cared about her feelings. Particularly the feelings of the Katara she normally is, the Katara she means to be, the Katara who doesn’t bloodbend or unempathize, the Katara who’s hurting and whose pain is getting the better of her. Aang saw what was happening and did what he could to help, nudging her on the path she needed when her vision was clouded (sounds like Katara helping Aang when he’s in the Avatar State. Again, The Southern Raiders provides an instance of Aang giving back to Katara what she’s given to him, like with The Desert/The Serpent’s Pass, his pain from which Aang pointed out in “How do you think I felt about the sandbenders when they stole Appa?”).

Overall, people might honestly interpret Aang as being unsympathetic this episode, and I can see how from a superficial standpoint. But by doing so, they’re missing the significance of Aang’s choice to reach out and the importance it played in helping Katara conserve her own image of herself. She bloodbends someone – not even confirming that it’s the right person, first – in a rush of pain and rage after practically swearing it off less than ten episodes ago, so she clearly loses some semblance of herself during this episode, and it’s Aang who makes the most effort to help her find balance without getting in the way of her search. Ultimately, Aang’s role in TSR demonstrates how well he understands her personally, as well as his ability to step back and let her make her own decisions while still offering a viewpoint that her pain prevents her from seeing.

—-

Okay, big breath. Halfway through. I’d like to talk in more depth about how Aang understands Katara’s position.

I was thinking once again about Aang saying, “I do understand. You’re feeling unbelievable pain and rage. How do you think I felt about the sandbenders when they stole Appa? How do you think I felt about the Fire Nation when I found out what happened to my people?” As presented to us, those two incidents had several things in common.

Aang went into the Avatar State due to intense emotion, as opposed to a life/death situation, and caused mass destruction that risked placing harm on others. And both of these times, Katara was the one to pull him out of that state. An important thing to note is that there’s one other moment very similar, but not identical, to these, which took place in The Avatar State. Just like in The Southern Air Temple and The Desert, Aang entered the Avatar State due to intense emotion, out of anguish when losing Katara. But the difference here was the amount of destruction caused. When Aang lost control of himself, he went through with hurting the people in his vicinity, and when he came out of that state, he hated to see what he’d done. Aang told Katara that he hoped she’d never have to see him like that again, and he hoped it for himself, too (but, of course, she did see him like that again in The Desert).

What I’m trying to show here is that Katara losing herself to her “pain and rage” in The Southern Raiders parallels Aang losing himself to his “rage and pain” in The Avatar State, not just in The Southern Air Temple and The Desert, as he directly references. But why am I so adamant about The Avatar State as opposed to those other two episodes?

Because we saw the lasting effect that The Avatar State had on Aang. There are many analyses out there that explain how Aang has had to struggle with control over his vast power, oftentimes depicting it as something he’s afraid of. For so long, Aang fears the Avatar State, what he’s capable of while in it, and how he can’t regulate his actions when it occurs. This conflict comes up time and time again, and a huge part of his character arc is involved with that struggle.

But again, for the significance of The Avatar State episode specifically, I was thinking about chakras in The Guru. From his Earth Chakra, we see that Aang continues to fear himself in the Avatar State, and from his Water Chakra, we see that one of his two greatest sources of guilt is that he lost control of himself in The Avatar State due to his rage and pain, lamenting that he “hurt all of those people” (the other being that he ran away, which, as mentioned before, is tied with his guilt at not being there to help and isn’t unlike the anguish Katara must feel now at not having been able to help her mother, get her father’s help fast enough, etc.). Pathik tells him that, in order to open his Water Chakra, to absolve the guilt and let the pleasure flow, “you need to forgive yourself.”

So here we have this idea that forgiveness is the key step to opening a person’s Water Chakra. Water, symbolizing pleasure and healing. “It’s easy to do nothing, but it’s hard to forgive.” “Forgiveness is the first step you have to take to begin healing.” These things Aang says in The Southern Raiders reflect what Pathik taught him about the Water Chakra.

Forgiving oneself is (obviously) different from forgiving your mother’s killer, but with this insight it’s clear that Aang personally understands how it feels to let your pain and rage get the better of you, and how it hurts deeply to face the consequences of your actions once the moment has passed. He recognizes that Katara is in a state not unlike the one he’s in when he loses control (“I do understand”) and he doesn’t want that for her. He wants Katara to be able to regain control of her actions and navigate out of her clouded vision so that she can make the choice that’s right for her. Aang is trying to help Katara see the pieces she’s missing, like how Katara does for Aang when he’s in the Avatar State.

Forgiveness is a necessary step in order to heal, and maybe it wasn’t a choice Katara ultimately made, but that was a decision Aang accepted. She didn’t kill Yon Rha, she didn’t have to now struggle with guilt or having to admit to that guilt, and she didn’t have to be faced with the strenuous task of forgiving herself for something she definitely would not have wanted to admit needed forgiving for. She saved herself from the pain that could have resulted from her own actions, because Aang helped her see she had a choice. When it mattered, when she was about to deliver the final blow, Aang’s words helped her pull out of that emotion-induced near-equivalent of an “Avatar State.”

To me it’s really fascinating to see the connections between these incidents – The Southern Raiders plus the three episodes where Aang enters the Avatar State out of emotion/rage (almost four if you count The Storm, but he manages to contain it when Katara calls out). The way these arcs parallel each other (“I went through the same thing when I lost my mom”; “How do you think I felt about the Fire Nation?”; “Watching you be in that much rage and pain is really scary…I can’t watch you do this to yourself”; “As you watch your enemy go down, you’re being poisoned yourself”) and ultimately culminate in acts of mercy. It’s incredible how Aang and Katara are able to reach each other when they’re in their emotional states, and know what the other needs and who they are when they lose themselves.

In addition, I also think Andrea’s point about how Aang “teaches” Katara is further reflective of the impact Aang has on the people around him. I’ve seen many circulating posts about how Aang hailing from the time before the war and being raised by the Air Nomads allows him to bring a unique, positive influence to those around him who, in contrast, grew up in war-time and were most likely (Bumi is an exception) never alive in the time of the Air Nomads. However, along with the lightheartedness and fun (see: The Avatar Returns and The Headband), this also includes the specific wisdom and peacekeeping ways of the airbenders that became lost in the war, and that Aang symbolically ends the war with: An act of mercy, thus showcasing the survival and triumph of the Air Nomads as well as the Avatar. In TSR, Aang shares this wisdom with Katara – that the choice exists, and there is strength in not choosing revenge and electing forgiveness if she so resonated with it.

[Click here]

—-

Back to the original question –

It may be possible that if someone were to overlook some characterizations and watch The Southern Raiders episodically, as opposed to as part of a whole arc, then they might genuinely form the impression that Aang is in the wrong here. I think I myself might’ve been a bit surprised by his approach when I was younger (though Katara’s attitude was also very surprising and even unsettling), but that was also at an age where I didn’t really understand the severity of the situation and just how much Katara was drifting from herself, or what killing Yon Rha could do to her, or, simply, in that volatile state, what she needed to hear.

I’ll be honest (drawing from personal experience, not sure if others relate) – I think as a child, one may not see the episode as intended because, unlike many other episodes, the takeaway lessons in The Southern Raiders are either expressed through words or an instance of not doing something (the instant where Katara doesn’t kill Yon Rha, since not doing something is less stark to a child than doing something). It’s a gray story in terms of right/wrong, and when you’re young, I can see why those lessons are misinterpreted because the viewer gets so caught up in the adrenaline rush of the action in this episode, the stealth, the bloodbending, the frightening amount of anger in Katara. It consumes most of the viewing experience, and within all that, the ultimate big lesson that “Violence wasn’t the answer” might get missed because violence or violent intent constituted almost all of the runtime. I see people who don’t remember this episode as a commentary on vengeance/forgiveness/the middle ground, but as “the one where Katara and Zuko got super badass."

Getting older, The Southern Raiders is such a gruesome episode. I now see the crucial, ‘quieter’ points that I overlooked as a child. Things like Sokka siding with Aang, Katara thanking Aang for his understanding, Zuko ultimately agreeing with Aang’s assessment of what Katara needed. Sad thing is that some people don’t appear to see this episode the way it was intended in time. TSR requests a perceptive mind from its audience, and some people don’t seem open to that.

I feel that this episode is often treated as shedding light on canon romantic Z*tara for similar reasons as to why people might miss the lessons – Zuko and Katara look cool and badass, on their way to kill a man. It’s exciting to see them working together, the nature of the mission is intriguing, but understanding subtext means acknowledging the tragic underlining of the episode, that it’s painful, that it’s Katara’s journey. It’s disappointing to me when some people chalk up Zuko and Katara’s relationship to being “badass” and “sexy” as a result of The Southern Raiders. It feels out-of-context, caught up in the “coolness” of this episode and misinterpreting physical synchrony as emotional, especially since their dynamic changes anyhow after Katara forgives him.

The episode presents very clearly that Zuko wasn’t right in his assumption about what Katara needed. Again, not necessarily his fault, although his comments about "Air Temple preschool,” “Guru Goody-Goody,” and forgiveness being “the same as doing nothing” display his skepticism of going the peaceful route (though this is curious to me given how often he showed mercy towards Zhao). He honestly didn’t realize the implications this journey would have on Katara, but by the end of the episode, I think it’s safe to say Zuko learned that Aang knew what he was talking about. Aang, whose whole nation and father figure were killed, and yet was able to forgive. Who could see how Katara was responding to the information Zuko gave her.

That’s not to discount Zuko’s role here. Maybe Katara did need closure, and Aang did say “This is a journey you need to take” (although, I do wonder, as Aang asked originally, what it ultimately accomplished. I get that Katara felt like she needed to take the opportunity once Zuko handed it to her, “Now that I know we can find him,” but if Zuko had never brought it up, would things be different? I hope it accomplished something in regards to Katara’s turmoil – perhaps she was able to forgive herself in that she could finally confront the man who did this, when all those years ago she came back with help “too late” – but at least she forgave Zuko in consequence), but this journey was so emotionally turbulent for Katara, heavy to the point where she wasn’t even herself anymore (as said in The Avatar State, “I saw you get so upset that you weren’t even you”).

Therefore, I personally find that simplifying TSR into “Katara and Zuko being cool” to the point where people glorify the way Katara acts in this episode insulting to her character, simply because I don’t enjoy watching deep pain morph Katara into becoming something she dislikes (see: Bloodbending and how it’s often glamorized in fandom). To me, it’s not as if she’s honing something akin to her inner strength. Katara is an extremely powerful character, which is shown time and time again, and her power comes from her physical capabilities as well as her inner strength. “Hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength.” Bam, Katara right there. “I don’t know if it’s because I’m too weak to do it or if it’s because I’m strong enough not to.” As is a theme in this show, there is a strength in restraint.

In her right mind, Katara would be horrified by her actions in The Southern Raiders, or at least what her ultimate intention was, and if people more closely understood Katara as she is, then I feel like they’d agree. As Aang did.

—-

Do I think there are people out there who deliberately reimagine TSR as ‘the episode where Aang was a “self-righteous prick” to Katara’? Yes, absolutely. As for motivation, I can’t really think of any reason for trying to make Aang look bad besides trying to make him look bad in comparison to another character (i.e. Zuko here), or maybe people have their own personal reasons for disagreeing with Aang’s sentiment while forgetting that Katara ultimately does not (in regards to the killing). Or maybe people just dislike main characters who manage to uphold their morals and it goes in-hand with those who think Aang should’ve killed Ozai.

—-

Honestly, there’s a lot more that can be said on the topic in regards to what Katara learned about herself in TSR, as such might be reflected in her active choice to spare Azula in Avatar Aang (which Bryan notes in his commentary: “Katara also finding a peaceful means” in reference to Aang), but frankly I’m kind of exhausted so I’m gonna leave this half-baked copy-and-paste from something I wrote earlier this month:

I feel like the only people Katara has harbored legitimately murderous thoughts towards have been Yon Rha (her mother’s killer) and Zuko and Azula (Aang’s killers, indirectly and directly), indicated by that unique energy she’s carried around those three that we don’t see a lot from her, where her voice becomes lower and the weight of her words more threatening (also the fact that she issued clear death threats to the first two).

For the final Agni Kai, Zuko planned on ending Azula. He goaded her into using lightning and intended to redirect it at her (he didn’t want to, of course, as Bryke noted, but that was the decision). So it’s striking to me when Katara, despite having a very opportune chance to end Azula and knowing Zuko wouldn’t have judged her for it since he was about to do the same, makes the active choice to keep her alive. Katara could have unfrozen herself and gotten to Zuko immediately, but instead she took the time to restrain Azula and allow her to live. And I do believe that a part of the decision was made clearer to her after the events of TSR. Katara realized, subconsciously or no, what she isn’t, and that she’d try to preserve Azula if she could despite how much she might hate her for what she did last season.

—-

DVD Commentary for The Southern Raiders

[…]

Andrea Romano: This is where she does bloodbending, right? So scary!

Bryan Konietzko: It’s this dark skill that she reluctantly learned in episode 3x08. And there’s another important lesson – it’s like, once you have power over someone, are you strong enough not to use it? Or, use restraint in life?

Dante Basco: […] The thought of bloodbending is an idea that – it’s just crazy! Like, the average television or Nickelodeon show […] is not thinking about bloodbending. But yet it’s a very possible situation in this world, and I think that’s what makes it so exciting for people who watch the show.

Michael Dante DiMartino: Yeah and it’s not a skill that they take very – or certainly that Katara takes – lightly. It’s a very serious proposition to do that on somebody.

AR: And it’s not treated lightly. Here she is, she’s so close to being out of control. And that’s what adds so much to the drama of it, is, we think, she could really lose it here and really do something that she regrets for the rest of her life. But she manages to hold herself.

[…]

BK: We see that she’s unbalanced emotionally, and so that’s what’s coming out.

AR: […] But we can only hope she’ll make the right choice. (Imploringly) Use your powers for good!

BK: I love that, even though Aang is sort of not in this story very much, to me his presence is in all of these scenes ‘cause you know he’s like, the little angel on her shoulder-

AR: Absolutely, yeah.

BK: -y'know, that she’s ignoring at this time. And so, to me it really is a story about Aang because it’s like, it’s just about him trying to have influence over her actions from afar – just, by not telling her what she has to do, but just by gently suggesting what she try to achieve with this journey.

AR: It really is a juxtaposition there, where the young Aang sort of tells her, like a parent, go ahead, go out and do what you have to do, but please, I hope that you choose forgiveness rather than revenge. And here he is the young one, and she is the older one who should be, sort of, teaching him and in fact they switch and he teaches her. So I agree with you, he is with her through this entire journey she goes through.

BK: I think it’s also interesting that, if you look on paper, Aang has lost a lot more than Katara has, and he sort of gently reminds her of this. He’s like, 'Hey, my whole culture was wiped out. Everyone I’ve ever known was wiped out.’ And uh, but as we all know in real life, you can’t really quantify suffering. It’s really a personal thing and everybody…everybody’s situation, when your own world kinda crumbles, it seems like the whole world’s falling apart. You can’t really equate these things. And so, we just see Katara lost in a very human moment in this episode.

AR: I love that scene. So dramatic. You just go 'Oh no – don’t do it! Don’t do it!’

[…]

—-

DVD Commentary for Avatar Aang

[…]

Bryke: It’s sort of like a multi-stage thing. He releases his emotions, these raw feelings of anger and wrath, and then learns to control them and rise above them. […] We obviously wanted a cool moment of Aang in the Avatar State, and it was kinda finding that right story beat for him. And in this case it was him being the totally wrathful, vengeful version of the Avatar […] But it’s really not Aang. It’s really this energy that has kinda taken over him. He’s not in control at this point. […]

So, can kind of recognize this Kung Fu move he’s doing. It’s what he was having nightmares about in 2x01, as he feared being this sort of wrathful, y'know, Hand of the Avatar. That was that same kind of […] chopping motion in those 2x01 nightmare scenes. […]

I feel like that’s his defining moment. That’s why we call this episode Avatar Aang. […] He’s finally learned to control the energy. […] He’s controlling it, he’s not letting it control him. […]

#atla #avatar #avatar the last airbender #the southern raiders #aang #aanglove #katara #kataang #kataangtag #sorry for reposting #anti zutara #i hope it's not that bad but this way you can filter if you want

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wwjacksparrowd · 4 years

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Sneak Peek for Ch. 18 of CtNT

Here it is, the 1k excerpt from Chapter 18 of Chase the Neon Throne that I promised... yesterday. Whoops. If it wasn’t at least a day late, though, could you even be sure that I was the one posting it? :P

Warning: Spoilers below if you’re not caught up with Ch. 17. Other than that, I don’t think it gives any real spoilers for Ch. 18.

Mai exited her tent, spotted Zuko, and made a beeline for him. “Hey, Zuko. Can we talk?”

Mai had never once in Zuko’s life actively sought conversation. “Sure,” Zuko agreed, intrigued.

The two of them meandered further down the beach from their camp in the opposite direction of Aang and the others. Mai considered him for a couple of moments, her gaze sharp, and finally said, “I didn’t know you’d been brainwashed.” The statement was such a non-sequitur that for a moment, Zuko wasn’t sure what she was talking about. Seeing this on his face, Mai added helpfully, “Before Azula took over the city and imprisoned you in the Fire Nation. I wasn’t part of the brainwashing in Lake Laogai. All Azula told me was where to go and what to do, and that when her plan was over, Ba Sing Se and the Avatar would have fallen. I mean, I didn’t ask, either. I didn’t care what she was doing.”

Zuko had never truly considered Mai’s role in everything beyond a vague assumption that she had been in on whatever Azula and Ty Lee had planned, so while the revelation did not specifically detract from that assumption, it still surprised him a little. “I see.”

“If I had known that Azula’s plan included capturing you and bringing you back to the Fire Nation where she could do what she liked,” Mai continued ruefully, “I would have done something about it. I don’t know if I could have succeeded without putting my life and my freedom on the line with yours, and I don’t think I would have taken that kind of risk, but I would have done something, for what it’s worth. I would have at least tried.”

“I wouldn’t have expected that,” Zuko replied honestly. “We didn’t see each other for years, after all, and it’s not like we were especially close before I was banished.”

Mai shrugged. “Maybe if I’d thought she would just throw you into a jail cell and be done with you, I wouldn’t have. Once you actively sided against her, though, I knew exactly what would happen if she ever caught you.”

Zuko hummed. “Well…, thanks.”

“Don’t thank me.” Mai snorted. “I didn’t do anything, after all. I just thought you should know that I wasn’t part of any of that.”

“Hey, guys!” Ty Lee shouted from just beyond their camp. “Lunch is ready!”

Zuko and Mai retreated to their friends’ company. Aang waved Zuko over to a seat around the campfire between Aang and Katara which had been saved for him.

“What’s the plan for tomorrow?” Ty Lee asked the group at large.

“I felt some scam artists in the marketplace earlier,” Toph quickly announced.

“No,” Katara rejected just as quickly.

“I thought you were cool with that now! It worked out well enough back in that other city,” Toph complained. “Oh, man, I still wish I could have stuck around long enough for the guards to find out I’d busted out of that metal cell they put me in.”

“Yes, that was fun,” Katara conceded, “and maybe - maybe - we could do it again someday, but do you really think we should be drawing attention to ourselves right now? Here, in the Fire Lord’s old vacation spot?”

“…Okay, that’s fair,” Toph allowed. “What else is there to do in town?”

“I’m so glad you asked!” Sokka exclaimed, hastily withdrawing parchment from his satchel –

“If that’s another schedule, I’m breaking up with you,” Suki threatened.

“It’s not,” Sokka promised, but the sudden gleam in his eyes promised that there would soon be a schedule regardless of Suki’s warning. “Check it out!” He displayed a poster for a play called The Boy in the Iceberg, depicting clear parodies of Aang, Suki, Sokka, Katara, Toph, and Zuko.

“Hang on a second,” Ty Lee objected. “Where are Longshot and I in this poster? And Jet? And Smellerbee?”

“We didn’t really travel with any of you guys,” Sokka reasoned. “…The three of them are in the character list, though.”

Ty Lee huffed. “Rude.”

(She would soon come to appreciate her absence from the play.)

“No way.” Zuko wrinkled his nose in disgust as he registered the cast that had been credited with the play. “The Ember Island Players? My mother used to take me to see them. They butchered Love Amongst the Dragons every year. I never understood why they were so popular.”

“I can’t believe our options for entertainment are ‘become criminals’ and ‘attend a play about ourselves,’” Katara complained. “Have any of you ever considered subtlety?”

“Absolutely not,” Toph said pleasantly. “I vote for ‘become criminals.’”

“It’s not until tomorrow night,” Sokka pointed out. “We have time for both!”

“Didn’t we rule out ‘become criminals?’” Aang reminded everyone, glancing nervously at the steadily rising frustration on Katara’s face. “Like Katara said, this is a particularly dangerous place to draw attention to ourselves….” His face brightened. “I don’t think it’s too dangerous to go to the play, though! We’re all wearing disguises anyway.”

Sokka turned to Zuko. “Just because they butchered that one play doesn’t mean they butcher every play, right? Don’t you think it’d be fun to see a play about us?”

Zuko did not particularly see the appeal, but Sokka seemed intent on getting a ‘yes’ out of him. “I… I guess…?”

Immediately, Sokka turned back to Katara, eyes wide as he gestured dramatically at Zuko. “You can’t possibly say ‘no’ to Zuko! The poor guy’s never had fun in his life!”

“Wait a second,” Zuko interjected. He hadn’t realized he was enlisting as a weapon in Sokka’s arsenal of persuasion tactics.

Aang eagerly joined Sokka’s argument. “Zuko told me once that the only things he’s ever done for fun are make tea and plot his father’s demise!” he insisted, which was, while not exactly what Zuko had said at the time, true all the same.

“Zuko’s not going to be heartbroken if we don’t see a play by a cast that he doesn’t like,” Suki deadpanned. “That being said….” She tilted her head contemplatively at Katara. “If the Ember Island Players are popular, most of the people around here are probably going to see the play. It might end up being more suspicious if we haven’t seen the play.”

“I didn’t even think of that,” Katara admitted. “Well… if everyone wants to see it, I’m not going to stop us.”

“Great!” Aang exclaimed. He reached past Zuko and Katara to high-five Sokka.

#chase the neon throne #ctnt writing update #let the human in #lthi writing update #atla

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low-budget-korra · 5 years

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Coments about The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra

and just a quick review of The Last Airbender

It had been a while since I had been taking a few days just to re-watch this show and it was great.

I will never understand why they thought it would be a good idea to make Aang and Katara Endgame as they even joke about her seeming more like a sister to him than a love interest in episode 17 of book 3.

By the way this episode is cool because it has the confrontation between who we are and the image we transmit to the world.

Toph has always been one of the favorite characters. Honestly what they did to her is something to applaud, what could be considered a weakness is actually her greatest power.

And it's so hard to find tv shows and films that address disability in such a natural and inclusive way, Toph is best earthbender because of it.

I know, I'm not blind, so I can't and shouldn't speak for them, but that's just a thought of mine.

Katara is literally the mother of the group and this makes sense since she lost her mother very early in her life and possibly felt that she needed to take the responsibility. And also she is an extremely powerful bender.

Sokka is the brains of the team. You can look at him and think he's the weakest in the group because he's a nonbender. But no, he's amazing. And he and Suki make a very cute couple of very powerful nonbenders.

I love Zuko, he has one of the best character development I have ever seen and he is also a very powerful bender but honestly he only had a chance against Azula in the Agni Kai because she has already lost her mind at that time.

By the way, Azula is one of those characters that I can only look at and think "Dude you need therapy". I can't feel "happy" when she's defeated, just sad.

A girl with only 14years breaking like that is just sad.

I know, she had theoretically the same creation as Zuko but Zuko had his mother and she didn't even have that.

Azula was raised, at least as I understand it, by her father and the 2 elderly women there, both of whom demanded a perfection simply impossible to achieve.

She already lost her mother and we saw how it affects her and after she lost her friends, and after her father left her behind… she just break.

It's sad.

And The Last Airbender succeeded in something where Game of Thrones and Avengers Endgame failed and did not live up to the hype, respectively.

From the beginning we know that Aang has a destiny to defeat the fire lord and this is built during the three seasons. Of course the hype for the grand finale is huge and when the hype reaches a certain level is dangerous because many productions cant do something to live up to the hype. And The Last Airbender has made it one of the best series finale ever not only because they live up to the hype but cuz they exceed it.

If It had fanservice, it was so well inserted in the plot that I honestly didn't notice. This is particularly is my problem with Avengers Endgame, very unnecessary and badly executed fanservice.

Now reviewing TLA I got in touch again with some older thoughts of mine.

First of all, how i miss the feel like now i miss those filler's episodes on TLOK. Now I can clearly see that the lack of filler episodes was very detrimental not only to characters like Mako, Bolin and Asami but also to Korra herself. I'd love to see Korra deal with a more "local" problem and not always something that was threatening the fate of the world. In fact, she even had moments like this, of her facing ordinary bad guys and preventing a guy from jumping off the bridge.

And second, the world is completely different in almost every aspect.

TLA the world is old, full of philosophy and myths and a certain magic. A world of war. And in TLOK it's a modern, realistic and "peace" world

Aang was an avatar who in a very short time had to learn a lot. He had to grow really fast and take on a responsibility he never wanted. It was wonderful to relive the journey of that boy in the iceberg who became a wise avatar.

Despite the war, in TLA the protagonists and the Avatar have a lot of freedom and their help is most often welcomed. In TLOK everything is really difficult and full of rules, for example, Korra is arrested in the first episode for defeating some bad guys.

I think this is what makes some people prefer The Last Airbender over The Legend of Korra.

Not to mention that when Korra says she is the avatar, many and even Lin Beifong have a totally indifferent stance as if it were not important. While Aang was seen as the hope for better days.

Another point is the bendings. A lot of people say the TLA bending were stronger, I don't agree. I think it's just a matter of context, in TLA the benders had to exceed their abilities because it was a world at war and if they weren't the best it would mean they wouldn't come home.

In TLOK bending is a sport , instrument of work and martial art. After all the world is in "peace" so why train for war?

I think we see the difference in fighting styles when Korra enters the pro-bending, after all the pro-bending is kinda like MMA, when most of it what counts is not the beauty of the execution of the forms but the efficiency and speed of the blows and these dont have to be much powerfull cuz they not there to "kill or be killed", its Just a sport.

The sad thing is to see how the White Lotus has decayed and become just a kind of elite bodyguard. But it is understandable that just like the Avatar and after the great masters were gone, their role in the world was reduced by thinking they were no longer needed.

There were some things here and there that I didn't like aboute The Legend Of Korra or at the time I first saw I didn't get it right. Be it the giant fight at the end of book 2, argh, I hated that. And at the end of book 1, although I was always thrilled , back in the day, I didn't understand Aang appearing out of nowhere. But what he says explains exactly why he is there.

As I understand it, Amon uses bloodbending to disable the benders. But Only the Avatar has the power to take or bring back someone’s bend forever, because only the Avatar has the spiritual power to do so. And there when Korra was crying at that cliff, I think she thinks of killing herself but now I also think that there she may have accepted her fate and by accepting that she was now just an airbender, by accepting the lowest point of her life until then, she can open herself and enter into an avatar state. I think the creators just found a nice and cool way to show it instead of showing Korra there crying and out of nowhere start to "fly" and bend the elements. The avatars showing up was something in her head. It may be kind of obvious, but there are people who say it's not and the scene doesn't make sense

Remember when Tenzin later says, "True wisdom begins when we begin to accept things as they are."

In book 2, Aang tells Tenzin something that also fits Korra and The Last Airbender fanboys "... You're not me, and you shouldn't be me ..."

The ironic thing is that Korra would have been the perfect avatar in TLA, with her combative spirit. And Aang would have been the perfect avatar on TLOK, with his patience and diplomacy.

But they had to adapt. Aang had to be more like Korra and Korra had to be more like Aang.

Two sides of the same coin. They kinda like complete each other.

That's why i dont think it would be another avatar series with a avatar from Earth Kingdom. I mean, is like it's as if the cycle has already been closed.

But It Will be fun see some avatar dealing with the internet.

#avatar #avatar the legend of korra #avatar the last airbender #the last airbender #the legend of korra #avatar aang #avatar korra #Korrasami #azula #zuko #katara #sooka #Suki #toph beifong #lin beifong

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soopersara · 5 years

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A Tale of Ice and Smoke: Chapter 10 - The Haishui Prison Rig: Part 3

Fanfiction.net: Beginning | Chapter 10

AO3: Beginning | Chapter 10

The world knows that the last Avatar was an airbending child who disappeared a century ago. But death by freezing isn't a simple thing, and when Katara discovers a boy in an iceberg, she learns how complicated life and death can be. After a century of despair, there are now two people with the power to save the world.

As promised, here’s Chapter 10, right on schedule!

I threw some additional notes on this chapter below the cut, so beware of spoilers and proceed at your own risk!

The more I looked at “Imprisoned” while writing this, the more I got the sense that the story was seriously cramped within the episode’s runtime. A lot happens, and while the episode does well at showcasing Katara’s sense of justice and the Fire Nation’s cruelty, it doesn’t do as well with side characters. Don’t get me wrong, Haru is still one of my favorites, and the warden is entertaining even though he’s kind of a ridiculous caricature. But they really serve more as plot devices than as actual people. I guess that’s why the episode grew into so many chapters - I like the characters, even if they didn’t have enough time to do much in canon.

So once again, I tried to give Haru a more active role in the story. The escape plan - using coal as ammo for the earthbenders - was great, so I didn’t change much, but Haru played a role in the planning process, and there was a little more focus on not getting caught. Because that’s a lot of prisoners to break out, and I feel like the Gaang left a lot up to chance in the show, and... well, Sokka hasn’t quite come into his own as the strategic mastermind of the group yet, but he’s still going to be more cautious since the Fire Nation is looking for his own sister.

Katara got to stretch her bending abilities a little (even if she’s not a great fighter at this point) by using a different substance containing water, and she figured out how to keep the guards from sending in more reinforcements (Sokka may be the plan guy, but Katara is often the one who figures out how to salvage the situation when their plans go wrong, and that’s always been one of my favorite things about her. Katara isn’t exactly a strategist like her brother, but she can think on the fly and figure a way out of even the worst situations).

Oh! I can’t believe I forgot to add this last time - I gave the warden a name in the last chapter, and it was actually kind of clever! So, in my quest to give names to the nameless characters (and places) in ATLA, I decided that Hitoshi (a Japanese name meaning “even-tempered” or “benevolence”) would be appropriate. I mean, look at this guy:

Isn’t he just the face of even-tempered benevolence?

(Okay, fine, I’m not as funny as I think I am.)

Anyway, I also named the captain (Genkei means “one to be honored” according to the source I’m using, which at least seems like a solid Fire Nation name), and he got to meet Zuko because... well, he’s the captain of the rig. Even if the warden threw him overboard, he’s important enough for the crew to put some effort into fishing him out. Plus, the rig seriously needs a voice of reason. The warden sure isn’t filling that role. It’s never a good sign when you appear in the same scene as Book 1 Zuko, and you come off as the unreasonable one. But that’s what I like about the Warden - he’s an absolute basket case, and when he’s not actively threatening anyone, it’s just funny.

And speaking of Zuko, he’s still a dramatic ball of angst, but since he’s tracking both the Avatar and the world’s last airbender (-slash-Avatar, though Zuko isn’t convinced on that part yet), he’s realizing the importance of listening to Iroh... sometimes. After barging into the South Pole and Kyoshi Island without a plan, Zuko’s finally starting to understand that he might have to think ahead a little bit. Of course, it didn’t work out for him this time, but he’s getting closer! *evil laugh*

I think that’s all I had to talk about this time. I’ve made a start on Chapter 11, but since I want to participate in Zutara Week, I’m putting it on hold for a while. I hope you all enjoy what I come up with for Zutara Week, and I hope you come back for the next update!

#zutara #zutara fanfiction #atla fanfiction #A Tale of Ice and Smoke #Avatar Katara #soopersara's scribbles

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nodesiretogrowup · 5 years

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it’s time for my play-by-play review (put some breaks in so it’s not a giant wall of text):

“Here in Duckburg, life is like...a hurricane?” Ha ha theme song reference.

El Pato is Spanish for the duck and that amuses me. Although we call our version of that storm system El Niño, so shouldn’t it have been El Patito?

Mr. Chunk’s EXTRA CHUNKY Chili Chunks

“Could you give us a hand?” *All laugh* In hindsight, he probably should have helped them instead of using the time tub again. He’d still get in trouble for stealing, but he probably would have gotten a less harsh punishment.

“We should have plenty of food we won’t get sick of.” “I said sick from and you know it.” Classic kid logic.

Are the chili dogs a Sonic reference, since Ben is playing him in the upcoming movie?

“Chili dogs put the ‘hooray’ in ‘hooraycane’ party.” That was an awful pun and we should all be mad at Della for it.

“And we all get scurvy. Again.” This is why they need Donald home.

“Is that your parenting strategy or did you get that off a bumper sticker?” Beakley keeps in real.

Beakley and Della have a great dynamic this episode. I honestly think Beakley sees a lot of herself in Della and is trying to teach Della what she wishes someone had taught her when she had her own kid(s).

Louie pushing Huey to the center of the room so that nobody notices him leaving, smart.

“My brother’s gonna be a professional nerd.” Hooray for supporting your brother!

Mary Poppins-CONFIRMED MEMBER OF THE MCDUCK CLAN.

The wooden cane reminds me of Hop Pop’s

“That boy’s up to something.” Crazy thought here but maybe you should be proactive about that and follow him YOURSELF.

Launchpad never ceases to amaze me. How did he nail wood to STAINED GLASS?

That’s coming out of his paycheck.

“You’ve got your own tub?! Lucky.” GET THIS MAN A TUB, STAT!

I hope we get more Louie and Launchpad stuff. The way they play off each other is great.

Louie’s little presentation is great and runs on kid logic.

Bubba is adorable.

BWAMP. Nice sound effect.

“Time Treasures, a subsidiary of Louie Inc. It’s not a crime if it’s lost to time.” Cute, but I doubt that would hold up in court.

Also, did Louie’s plan/most of the episode remind anyone else of Bender’s Big Score? Bender pulled a similar scheme at the end, only his time traveling caused a rip in the fabric of space. So they got off lucky here?

I totally buy Launchpad keeping a shower cap and rubber ducky on his person at all times. I WANT HIM TO GET HIS BUBBLE BATH, DAMMIT!

“HEY COOL. A DEAD GUY!” Dewey, you really shouldn’t get that excited over corpses. I know Bubba is actually alive, but did they?

Webby, Bubba is taller and buffer than you. I don’t think he qualifies as a “little” guy.

I DEMAND to know about the times Scrooge was frozen in an iceberg! Is Webby counting the time he and Goldie were frozen together?

Metaphors and hypothetical situations don’t work on Della. Maybe it’s a pilot thing.

“HISTORY IS ALIVE!” I LOVE MY NERD SON.

I love when people meet someone who doesn’t understand them/speaks a different language, they think talking louder will help.

“He’s got a hat like a person!” Is that racist?

Of COURSE Dewey turns the hat backwards.

“Your Funky Fresh ways” These kids have watched waaaay too much 90s media. The little hip shimmy was great.

Chili dogs>tree bark

“Man, I am learning SO MUCH.” Me too, Webby. Me too.

Did the exchange between Louie and Launchpad about the ethical nature of Time Treasures remind anyone else of when Jim and Launchpad discussed Jim’s plan to get himself into the movie or am I seeing parallels where there aren’t any?

Louie went to the school of Katara. (Both agree it’s ok to steal from pirates)

NOTHING is ever 100% safe

Dewey reeeeeeally wants another sibling. I bet someone is gonna push his mom into the dating scene.

OG DUCKTALES REFERENCE FTW

Bubba-a lyrical genius

Launchpad looks SO LOST while all of this is going on. Though he seems pretty lost in the whole episode.

“At least make him wear a helmet.” Safety lessons!

“SHUT UBBA, MAN.”

“Don’t think about it too hard.” A rule of thumb when dealing w/ time travel.

Poor Launchpad is having an existential crisis.

And THAT is why we leave time travel to the professionals, Louie. Next time just ask Uncle Scrooge.

How did they make a graphic for Timephoon so fast?

Roxanne is salty, but of course the source is McDuck Manor.

I DEMAND MORE FRANKLOON. Maybe Fenton could write a musical about him. Sidenote: I REALLY WANT a Ben Franklin musical.

Bubba-an artistic MARVEL

Shimmy that board clean!

The little head stroke she gives Louie. MY HEART!

I...don’t think that is how to do math.

“I see how you turned this into a lesson in parenting and I’m impressed.” THAT’S HOW GRANDMAS ROLL.

Gyro-the most USELESS TWINK. I love him.

I love the way Bobby says “oh boy” for Louie.

“HE IS OFFENSIVE TO THE FIELD OF ANTHROPOLOGY!” Time travel in general is probably offensive to anthropology.

Is it wrong to enjoy Huey going FERAL AS FUCK? Because I thoroughly enjoy it.

Why would you listen to Dewey on research?

“Did you SEE that finger progression on that solo?”

Bubba-MASTER MUSICIAN! Also, KEYTARS ROCK!

“COME HERE, YOU HISTORICAL ABOMINATION!” Not saying Huey’s killed a man, but he knows how to and how to cover it up.

Pretty sure Webby and Dewey are trolling.

“Definitely not cloning an army.” I have SO MANY QUESTIONS.

Louie’s in hoodie-ville.

“He could be anywhen!” Time travel jokes.

I like that they all assume it’s Gyro at first. WHAT CRIMES HAS THIS MAN COMMITTED?!

“It’s one of the kids.” “I’ll get Dewey.” I could see Dewey stealing the time tub, but he’d just try and change the name of things into Dewey puns.

Ninjas,worse than termites-Scrooge Mcduck, 2019

MORE BEAKLEY/DELLA TEAM UPS PLZ

“Even good kids do dumb things.” And good adults. No one thinks Louie is a bad kid, but he was pretty dumb.

What was with the log?

SANTA TRAP

“Oh no, they may be French.” That line made me laugh.

Launchpad falling asleep when the tapestry was over his face-hilarious.

“Don’t ask.”

Launchpad-always asking the right questions.

“Thank you past and/or future me.”

I love Huey trying to make sense of Bubba.

“I hate this.”

Poor Huey.

Bubba-an amazing animal tamer

I really like how much Della admires Beakley.

Webby shouting “GRANNY!” T_T

So is that picture of Scrooge, Donald, and Della fighting pirates a time travel related adventure?

Hi Woody and Jessie

“I’VE IMMEDIATELY FAILED YOU.” Mood

Launchpad is so wise. But I think time is more timey-wimey, wibbly-wobbly, right Scrooge?

Della’s angry mom voice

The fight is cool.

“AH, ME SCURVY!” BRICK JOKE FTW!

Not the time for time travel logic, Dewey. Plus they seem to be coming from different countries so anywhere would still work.

Bubba-A HERO

“GO, YOU FREAK OF HISTORY!”

#youtriedLaunchpad

“EVERYTHING WE DO HAS ALREADY HAPPENED!”

Della shouting “KIDS” and Louie shouting “MOOOM” really hit me in the gut.

Let’s pour one out for Bubba.

I PRAY TO GOD someone writes fics about what each character was doing in the time period they ended up in.

Della was giving me MAJOR Joan of Arc vibes in that armor.

Yeah, this scene hurt. But it needed to be done. Louie still seems to think that it was all a good idea. He hasn’t learned his lesson yet.

That scene also reminded me of Merida and Elinor’s fight in Brave. Both sides have a point, but both went too far.

I’m glad Louie didn’t instantly accept his mom. It’s more interesting that way and feels real.

I love that Launchpad looks around at everyone before he reacts. He most likely knows nothing about the Spear of Selene incident so he has no idea of how hurtful Louie’s comment was.

Gyro had NO REACTION to any of that fight.

That broke poor Della.

“I went to the future. I’ve seen how the world ends.*pause* It was neat! See you there soon!”

I wonder why Launchpad was the only one who went forward in time. Could it play a role in stopping the invasion?

“Some people aren’t ready for the truth.” So wise.

Bubba-THE FIRST OF CLAN MCDUCK

#ducktales #dt spoilers

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legendary-defender-of-fandoms · 5 years

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Predicting the Next Avatar

Part 1 - Nationality

Assuming that all the nonsense that went down during Harmonic Convergence (UnaVaatu ripping Raava out of Korra, then beating her out of existence, Spirit Korra pulling the reformed Raava out of UnaVaatu’s core, Korra & Raava re-fusing just as Harmonic Convergence ended, etc.) didn’t screw up the Avatar cycle, the next Avatar has to be an Earth Kingdom citizen. I really hope the Cycle is intact, because it would be kind of boring if every Avatar after Korra was a Southern Waterbender, and too confusing if they can literally be born into any Nation at random.

Part 2 - Gender

According to statistics, the chances of the Avatar being born male or female are equal. However, there appear to have been more male Avatars than female Avatars, with multiple cases of back-to-back male Avatars but no spotted cases of back-to-back female Avatars. Therefore, I believe it’s safe to predict that the Avatar after Korra will be born a male.

Part 3 - Place of Birth

I’ve noticed with the few Avatars we know about, they tend to be born in a location where they were happy in a previous life. Avatar Roku started his Avatar training in the Southern Air Temple & befriended a young student named Gyatso, and when he died his spirit was reincarnated in the Southern Air Temple as Gyatso’s ward Aang. And it’s safe to assume that Aang spent a LOT of time in the Southern Water Tribe after the Hundred Year War, bonding with Katara’s people and raising his own family, so it’s no wonder her was reincarnated in the South Pole as Korra. But for Korra, predicting the birthplace of her next reincarnation is a bit more tricky. She spent a lot of time in Republic City, which is technically located on the outskirts of the Earth Kingdom, but if she perceived it as a separate nation it may be out of the running. And even when she was in Republic City, she was technically living outside the city on Air Temple Island. The only place in the Earth Kingdom proper where Korra seemed genuinely happy & at peace was Zaofu. So, given the choice between a random borough in Republic City or Zaofu, Raava will probably gravitate towards Zaofu.

Part 4 - Personality (aka Avatar Roasting Hour)

I’m not the first to notice this (but I lost the name of the person who originally posted the theory, but every Avatar’s personality seems to be partially based on compensating for a perceived flaw in their immediate predecessor. Let’s run through the few Avatars we know.

Avatar Yangchen, an Air Nomad, tried to remain detached from both humans and Spirits so she could impartial while resolving conflicts. But her detachment could be interpreted as being cold or unfeeling, and she probably felt lonely or tired of dealing with everyone else’s drama.

Avatar Kuruk, a Southern Waterbender, could be considered the People’s Avatar. He didn’t meddle in the affairs of others, and was just looking for a good time. But his carefree attitude led to rising tensions in the Spirit World, culminating with his fiancé being kidnapped & tortured by Koh, the Face Stealer.

Avatar Kyoshi was a Bad. Ass. Mutha. Fucker! She has the longest lifespan of any Avatar (230 years) and oversaw the longest period of peace. If there was some smart-ass warlord thinking he could take over the world, she was there in half a second ready to bitch-slap him into the planet’s core. In a lot of ways, she was kind of like Kuvira. But, like Kuvira, her determination & dedication to bringing about peace at any cost could be seen as ruthlessness or tyranny. She saved the Earth Kingdom from the reign of Chin the Conqueror, but the descendants of his forces still hate her for killing him. And if the citizens of Ba Sing Se knew she created the Dai Li, Aang & Korra would’ve been slain the moment they crossed the Outer Wall.

Avatar Roku was definitely a more merciful Avatar than Kyoshi, sparing Fire Lord Sozin despite the attempted murder & unsactioned conquest of Earth Kingdom territory. But his mercy could be seen as Avatar impotence, since he didn’t stop Sozin’s conquest so much as delay it. Hell, he didn’t even make Sozin withdraw his troops from Yu Dao, the oldest Fire Nation Colony.

Avatar Aang was able to spread peace by finding creative solutions & striking a careful balance between Kyoshi’s “comply or die” methodology and Roku’s faith in the Honor System. Thanks to his guidance, the Four Nations became connected like never before. However, he probably went to his grave regretting the 100 years of war, genocide, and chaos that ensued while he was frozen in an iceberg. He didn’t cause the war, and I doubt he could’ve stopped it if he had been around, but we all know he blamed himself for the slaughter of the Air Nomads. And some part of him may have believed that, had he accepted his role as Avatar sooner, the world could’ve been saved without putting his friends & loved ones in danger.

This brings us to Avatar Korra. From the moment she was born, Korra was ready to OWN her Avatar title, as seen here (https://youtu.be/ta7TV68ff3c). She met every challenge head-on and never backed down. But her confidence could be seen as cockiness, and her desire to be the Avatar led to a lot of unhealthy behavior. You could easily break her character arcs down into three categories of thought; “Of course I can do this, I’m the Goddamn Avatar,” “Why the Hell can’t I do this, I’m the Goddamn Avatar,” and “Who am I if I’m not the Goddamn Avatar.” On top of that, she had a hard time working with others. Heads of state, her parents, members of her own tribe, Spirits, close friends, even her Pro-Bending teammates - she’d butt heads with everyone and anyone who tried to tell her what to do because, again, she’s the Goddamn Avatar.

Given Korra’s greatest character flaws (headstrong, cocky, insecurities tied to her identity as the Avatar), we can predict that her next incarnation’s personality would try to compensate. Instead of headstrong and cocky, he may be humble & caring. He may not be eager to embrace the title of Avatar, but he’ll know who he is & know he’s more than a title or the ability to control all 4 elements. He’ll work well with others, being open to help & willing to compromise. But he won’t be a complete wet blanket - he’ll stand his ground on important issues.

In Conclusion

Given all the information we have for past Avatars, I feel confident in predicting the next Avatar will be a boy Earthbender born in Zaofu. He will be compassionate, a team player, and will fight for the people instead of for his own glory. He won’t initially embrace his Avatar title, but he will do whatever it takes to maintain peace & balance in the world.

In other words, the next Avatar is Hunk.

#avatar the last airbender #legend of korra #raava #reincarnation predictions #yangchen #kuruk #roku #aang #kyoshi #korra #four nations #i may just write an essay comparing kyoshi and kuvira #dreamworks #voltron legendary defender #hunk garrett #avatar hunk

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thewokewordsmith · 6 years

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Born Beneath An Angry Star

1. Fool Me Once

Katara could never sleep in at the Western Air Temple. The unfiltered sun got her out of bed as soon as it's first rising rays kissed the temple's walls. Not that it mattered Katara always woke up early wherever she was. She'd been getting up before the sun and taking care of the villagers back in the Southern Water Tribe for as long as she could remember so it seemed natural to her that she would be the one to take care of her friends in that same capacity. Everyone had their roles to play. Her role was the motherly friend. Sometimes Katara felt like she was too young to be playing such an old role, especially since she hadn't grown up with a mother her self.

Sometimes she'd like to be the one who got to leave things till tomorrow, stay up all night, or not worry about "that" right now. She'd like to not worry about finding Aang a firebending teacher, but she knew that she was going to have to be the one to do it, or nag Aang until he did.

She started off her morning just like she started off every other morning since she'd been here. She bathed and got dressed in front of her ice bent mirror. Being a waterbender had it's advantages when it came to personal hygiene. She was still the only person awake, but she knew that the others would wake up soon and be hungry. Everyone took turns cooking, but it was usually Katara who cooked breakfast. She didn't mind she liked getting up when the moon was still out. Sometimes Katara talked to Yue and asked her to look out for their group, and especially her brother. Spirits knew he could use all the looking after he could get.

Taking a pair of spark rocks from a rock shelf that Toph had built she started a fire in the makeshift fire pit. Next she bent water into a cooking pot and set it over the fire pit to boil. The day was already warming up and the sky was as blue as an ocean. It was beautiful up among the sky and clouds but she missed being close to the water.

It didn't matter if it was a beach, or a swamp, or surrounded by ice floes. If it was water she felt home near it. Sometimes she missed her home so much it ached, but that ache was a puddle in comparison to the ocean of ache she had for her mother. Her father was back with her now, but they had lost so many moments together while he was away at war. There had been so many nights where she had cried herself to sleep because her father had been so far away from her, and it seemed like he was never coming back. Since being reunited they had been trying to make up for lost time. Every moment of the day that she could spend together with Sokka and her father she did, and still it never felt like enough. She felt like an orphan for so long that sometimes she still felt that way. If she didn't have Sokka by her side during everything that had been going on this past year she would not have made it as far. Even though he drove her crazy she couldn't have asked for a better big brother.

The smell of the cooking porridge woke the others up. As their little group filed into the main room of the Western Air Temple Katara bent the porridge into bowls and passed them out.

"Chit Sang and I are going fishing for tonight's dinner." Her father informed her. "What are your plans for today?"

"We're still working on finding Aang a fire bending teacher." Katara explained.

"Don't look at me." Chit Sang said. "That kid needs someone who will coddle him, and I'm more likely to throttle him."

Her father gave Chit Sang a look before responding to Katara. "I know you'll think of something. Aang's lucky to have a friend like you. I couldn't be prouder of you for helping the Avatar end this war."

"We haven't ended it yet."

"We will. I know we will."

"Aw, porridge again." Sokka moaned. "I'm sick of eating porridge." He walked into the sunlit room with his hair rumpled and digging the sleep out of his eyes. As usual he was the last one up. He was always the last to get up in the morning.

"Be lucky we have food at all. You know how hard supplies are to get." Katara told him.

"Don't worry son, Chit Sang and I are going fishing. You'll have meat for dinner."

Sokka perked up upon hearing he would have meat for dinner.

"We'd better be on our way." Their father said and bent down to give his children hugs.

As her father and Chit Sang left for their fishing trip Aang flew into the Temple on his glider. He must have woken up early and went off for a morning flight. He was always in a good mood after a morning flight, so Katara decided to take this opportunity to talk to him about finding a firebending teacher.

"I know you still don't have a firebending teacher, but I thought you could at least study Chit Sang, that would at least be something." She suggested to him after he finished his breakfast.

"I don't think Chit Sang would appreciate having an audience." Aang countered.

"Maybe not, but you can't keep putting off learning firebending forever. Sooner or later you're going to have to find a teacher."

"Let's make it sooner rather than later." Toph said.

"In the meantime why don't we go shopping. We might hear something about a teacher at one of the local markets, plus I wanna get some seaweed noodles so I can make stewed seaweed fish soup." Sokka said.

Katara's mouth watered. Her brother did make the best fish soup. She'd might as well go on a supply run. Aang's mind was made up for now and all the nagging in the world wasn't going to change that.

"All right. Let's go." She said.

They took off on Appa flying above the patchwork of ground below. Sokka sat back against the saddle and was studying the new map he brought. Toph clung on to the saddle like always. She was never comfortable when her feet were off of the ground without anything to see. Aang held the reins and sat perched upon Appa's shoulders like a bird any minute, she knew, he could hop off Appa and go soaring across the sky like a messenger hawk. Momo flew around them freely. Dipping in and out of the clouds looking for bugs to catch and eat. Katara worried about finding someone to teach Aang firebending.

"We'll shop for an hour and then meet back here in the market square." Sokka instructed.

In the market Katara found plenty of things to distract herself with. Pretty sparkling jewelry, silk robes, and fancy comb and brush sets. She tried on hair charms and gold bangles. Being among stall after stall of beautiful things always lifted her spirits. Even if she couldn't afford to buy everything she saw she just liked knowing that, despite the war, people were still able to craft such lovely works of art. She brought herself a mirrored brush and comb set, some perfumed oil, and a book called Love Amongst The Dragons that looked really intriguing.

There were no markets like this back in the south pole, maybe that's why Sokka loved shopping so much. The rest of her money she spent on food and supplies. She took time choosing her food. Smelling it, touching it, and weighing it in her hand. She had become a shrewd customer in her travels to markets all over the world. Haggling with the merchants didn't fill her with fear and dread like it used to. Given enough time and she felt like she could become a haggling master.

"Did you find everything you needed." Katara asked her brother when they met back in the market square.

"Everything but a firebending teacher." He replied.

"Oh well, Aang said, looks like we're not going to find anyone to teach me firebending today.

"Doesn't look like we're ever going to find anyone." Katara muttered as Appa flew everyone back to the Western Air Temple.

Her father and Chit Sang got back from their fishing trip only a few minutes before their group got home from shopping. Sokka left them to unpack the supplies while he went over to help gut and clean the fish.

"Momo put that fish down!" Sokka cried. "Bad lemur!"

Momo was running across the temple floor with a fish in his mouth in hopes of avoiding capture by her brother who was chasing him and waving his boomerang.

"Yeah, that'll make him come right to you." Aang remarked.

"Let him have it." Suki said. "I certainly don't want it after Momo's drooled all over it."

Katara laughed. She like when their group had more people in it. The more people the more it felt like a community. She hadn't a feeling of community this deep since she'd left the Southern Water Tribe. It seemed like so long ago since she and her brother had found Aang trapped in that iceberg. Back when she'd been too afraid to leave her village. Now here she was half way around the world waking up next to the Avatar. She wondered what her mother would think if she could see what their lives had become. She hoped she would be as proud of her and her brother as her father was. They were doing everything that they could to make sure that their mother hadn't sacrificed her life in vain.

Besides going swimming, riding around on Appa was Katara's favorite way to stay cool on hot summer days, and Appa loved getting the exercise. All morning she, Aang, Toph, and her brother put their heads together trying to figure out what to do about Aang learning how to firebend, but by the afternoon they were no closer to finding an answer to the question then they had been that morning. Now they were taking a break. Flying around on Appa and drinking a cool glass of watermelon juice was just the kind of break Katara needed.

Today she wasn't anyone's mother. Today she was just Katara a fourteen year old Water Tribe girl hanging out with her friends. She waved to Aang who was using his new staff to wind surf with. Her brother was throwing his boomerang out to watch it fly across the sky only to catch it again. Even Toph was having fun. She had brought a bunch of rocks with her and was trying to bend them in the direction she thought Sokka's boomerang was going in.

Katara stood up and bent the clouds she passed by into different shapes. There was no better feeling than painting with clouds and having the whole sky as your canvas. She cloud painted Water Tribe ships, fluffy bunnies, and flowers.

"Can we go back now?" Toph asked after awhile. "I'm starting to get wind burned and I finished by watermelon juice an hour ago."

"Yeah, me too." Sokka said. "I have to do some waterbending of my own, watermelon juice goes right through me."

"Don't be gross, Sokka." Katara scolded.

Her brother just shrugged and brought Appa in for a landing and jumped off his back and raced for the bathroom.

"Aang, can we talk about you learning firebending now?" Sokka asked as he came back from the bathroom. "I think we should be making some plans about our future."

Katara was glad her brother had been the one to bring up the subject of firebending and not her.

"Okay, we can do that while I show you the giant Pai Sho table! Oh, you're gonna love the all-day echo chamber!" Aang said. "You haven't had a chance to see them since we got here."

"I think that'll have to wait." Toph said and turned to point to someone behind her.

"Hey, I heard you guys flying around down there, so, I just thought I'd wait for you here. I know you must be surprised to see me here." Zuko said. He was standing next to Appa looking awkward and out of place instead of ready for the kill. Appa roared and then licked Zuko twice.

"Not really, since you've followed us all over the world." Sokka sneered.

"Right. Well, uhhh, anyway... what I wanted to tell you about is that I've changed, and I, uhhh, I'm good now, and well I think I should join your group, oh, and I can teach firebending to you. See, I, uhhh-"

"You want to what now?" Toph asked in complete disbelief.

"You can't possibly think that any of us would trust you, can you? I mean, how stupid do you think we are?!" Katara shouted. She'd been foolish enough to trust him once and it turned out it was just an act to try and capture Aang. She would not let him fool her again.

"Yeah, all you've ever done is hunt us down and try to capture Aang!" Sokka reminded him.

"I've done some good things! I mean, I could have stolen your bison in Ba Sing Se, but I set him free. That's something." Zuko replied. Appa seemed to agree with Zuko because he chose that moment to give him a giant lick.

"Appa does seem to like him." Toph pointed out.

"He probably just covered himself in honey or something so that Appa would lick him. I'm not buying it." Sokka replied.

Katara didn't buy it either. Zuko was up to something, but this time she was ready for him. Whatever nasty little trick he had up his sleeve she was ready for.

"I can understand why you wouldn't trust me, and I know I've made some mistakes in the past." Zuko said calmly.

"Like when you attacked our village?" Sokka said.

"Or when you stole my mother's necklace and used it to track us down and capture us?" Katara added.

"Look, I admit I've done some awful things. I was wrong to try to capture you, and I'm sorry that I attacked the Water Tribe. And I never should have sent that Fire Nation assassin after you. I'm going to try and stop-"

"Wait, you sent Combustion Man after us?" Sokka snarled and pulled his boomerang out.

Katara shook her head inwardly. She wasn't at all surprised that Zuko had sent Combustion Man after them, Toph thought that it was a random attack, but Katara knew that he'd been sent by someone. She was getting sick of hearing Zuko's excuses if he didn't leave soon she was going to make him leave.

"Well, that's not his name, but-" Zuko said struggling to explain himself.

"Ohhh, sorry. I didn't mean to insult your friend!" Sokka said his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"He's not my friend!" Zuko shouted.

Katara rolled her eyes. Even when he was trying to convince them that he was a nice guy he couldn't be nice.

"That guy locked me and Katara in jail and tried to blow us all up!" Toph yelled.

Figuring that he wasn't going to have a break though with the Avatar's friends Zuko turned to the Avatar himself. "Why aren't you saying anything? You once said you thought we could be friends. You know I have good in me."

"There's no way we can trust you after everything you've done. We'll never let you join us."

"You need to get out of here. Now!" Katara shouted. She couldn't understand why he wouldn't just leave. He was probably trying to stall them or he was just waiting for the right opportunity to strike. Good luck with that. She thought. After what his sister did to Aang she was going to make sure that no member of the royal family ever harmed him again.

"I'm trying to explain that I'm not that person anymore!"

"Either you leave, or we attack." Sokka warned.

"If you won't accept me as a friend, then maybe you'll take me as a prisoner." Zuko said. He dropped to his knees and raised his hands up to be bound.

"No, we won't!" Katara snarled and bent out a powerful stream of water at Zuko. "Get out of here, and don't come back! And if we ever see you again, well, we'd better not see you again!"

Without another word Zuko turned and walked away in defeat.

"Why would he try to fool us like that?" Katara wanted to know once Zuko was out of earshot.

"Obviously he wants to lead us into some kind of trap." Her brother explained.

"This is just like when we were in prison together at Ba Sing Se. He starts talking about his mother and making it seem like he's an actual human being with feelings."

"He wants you to trust and feel sorry for him so you let your guard down, then he strikes." Sokka assured her.

"The thing is, it worked. I did feel sorry for him. I felt like he was really confused and hurt, but obviously, when the time came, he made his choice, and we paid the price. We can't trust him. " Katara said. Fool me once shame on you Katara thought. Fool me twice, well he wasn't going to get the chance to fool her twice. She didn't trust Zuko further then she could throw Appa and she never would.

#Zutara #avatar the last airbender #katara #zuko #atla

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