The following is the background story and planning notes I developed for the "Partners in Blades" AU story. Some people have expressed interest in the Book 2 AU I wound up developing just for the sake of a Piandao/Mai/Sokka quasi-love-triangle, so here it is. It might also be of interest to people who want to know about my writing methods. Basically, I wrote "Dowry" and "Control" first (see my Author Profile page), and then based on what I put in those two, extrapolated what Book 2 must have been like. To do that, I basically began typing what you see below. I do it stream-of-conscious style, because if I sit and try to think this stuff through, my brain freezes up. Better to just keep typing, as it forces me to plow through problems and writer's block.

Of course, I changed some of this stuff as I wrote the actual "Partners in Blades" chapters. I've added notes where this happened, and why I made the change.


Partners in Blades
~Background~

Mai was not part of the Dangerous Ladies season 2 teamup in this timeline, instead being married off to Piandao as a guarantee of his loyalty to the Fire Lord. Azula and Ty Lee teamed up, but never went to Omashu. As such, the Governor attempted to trade Bumi for Tom-Tom, but things were interrupted by another assassination attempt on the Governor by Omashu Guy Who Was Angry That Bumi Surrendered. Mai's father survived, but his wife died; or maybe he died, not sure which yet. End result is that the trade went bust, Aang tried to free Bumi, got the Wait'n'Listen speech, then returned Tom-Tom to the surviving parent. (Post Note: Obviously, this didn't make it through to the final story. Basically, I didn't want Mai all emo over losing one or both of her parents. It was too complicated a subject to tackle along with everything else I wanted to do. I didn't make finalize this decision, however, until it came time to credit Sokka with saving Mai's father. That came to me as I was writing the chapter, and worked much better as a subtle step towards bringing them together than commiserating over dead parents would have. That's Katara's thing, anyway.)

Azula stayed on track hunting Zuko, following him up until the basic events of "The Chase" when she had the big fight with Zuko and the gAang. She was still focused on Zuko, though, and so kept following him instead of Aang. Perhaps Ty Lee and Zuko interacted a little more and started a thing? Cool. The gAang gets to Ba Sing Se, fights the Drill but not Azula (the Terra Team ineffectively throws rocks at the outside armor all day), and has their big city adventure. Azula's pursuit of Zuko takes her to Ba Sing Se, where she is stymied. She finds out about the Drill incident, and that the Avatar is in the city. Does she switch to hunting the Avatar? That will work.

(Post Note: None of this paragraph was kept. The next paragraph will explain why.) Azula would encounter the Kyoshi Warriors, but could she and Ty Lee beat them without Mai? Again, probably; it looked like Azula was holding back in the cartoon while Mai and Ty Lee took out everyone but Suki. So do things play out exactly the same here? Azula and Ty Lee infiltrate as Kyoshis, ally with Long Feng, yadda yadda? The only difference I can see Mai's absence playing is that Sokka and Toph double-team Ty Lee and rescue the Earth King, and don't get captured. So maybe they arrive at the last second to save Aang and Katara? But they'll still have lost Ba Sing Se, still be run off by the gajillions of Dai Li, same ending as the cartoon but Aang doesn't die and can access the Avatar State. Oh, and maybe Iroh escapes with them. Nah, I don't like this line of thought at all. I need to step back a branch.

This? This is the problem with plotting an AU around the absence of a character who purposefully built a career around being a quiet member of Team Rocket. (Post Note: And in one review, I was told it was amazing how much Mai's absence changed. What's amazing is that I was able to force so many changes into things, through sheer willpower.)

Okay, so Azula doesn't beat the Kyoshi Warriors or doesn't encounter them. Which one makes it easier to break up Sukka at this point? Too bad Suki can't turn evil and join with Azula. But that's as crass as killing her. And stupid. Ooh! Zuko and Iroh arrive late to Full Moon Bay because of Azula's pursuit. They miss Jet, but encounter Suki. She arrests them or something, and they have an adventure, and maybe Zuko and Suki start a thing. Bonus: Ty Lee versus Suki for Zuko's heart! In a jello pool! Or whatever guys like to imagine for these kinds of cat-fights; I don't know, because if I wrote it, I'd spend three hours online looking up detailed descriptions of different kinds of fists and other martial art info on punching people. (Post Note: This is not a joke. I have done it before. I like writing martial arts.) Sokka never sees Suki again, or at least not until the Black Sun Invasion. So Azula doesn't encounter Suki and doesn't get into Ba Sing Se? And Zuko is a good guy who joins the gAang on the day of Black Sun? Interesting!

But we still need to get the gAang to infiltrate the Fire Nation so that they can find Piandao. Sorry guys, Ba Sing Se has to fall.

Azula and Ty Lee infiltrate Ba Sing Se as refugees, maybe stealing Hope's parents' passports. Bonus: Azula stuffs her shirt and pretends to be pregnant! No, too silly. In the lower ring, they encounter Jet! What? It was a crazy coincidence when it happened to Zuko, too. Objection overruled. Azula observes the power of the Dai Li, and manipulates Jet into helping her exploit them. They stage something, get a Dai Li to intervene, then capture him and 'interrogate' him, leading to Lake Laogai. There, Azula plots with Long Feng, and casually betrays Jet to the Dai Li. Smellerbee and Longshot had already ditched the group, because they didn't want to mess with the Dai Li and quickly came to resent how Azula was playing Jet. Jet's worth is in knowing the Avatar, which Azula discovered, and Long Feng decides to use him as bait in a setup pretty similar to what we saw in "Lake Laogai."

Everything continues cartoon-style until the end of "The Earth King" where Long Feng escapes via a pre-planned contingency courtesy of Azula, instead of being arrested. He takes and/or destroys his library of helpful intelligence, so Aang never meets the Guru and Sokka doesn't go to his father. (Post Note: I'm not sure if this still stands now that Partners in Blades is complete. I had the gAang explicitly working with Hakoda to make the Invasion happen just like in the cartoon, and it's unlikely they met up after the fall of Ba Sing Se if they didn't have any idea where Hakoda was. Perhaps Aang never met the Guru, thanks to Long Feng's actions, but the Ba Sing Se military was still aware of Hakoda's fleet guarding their bay, and so Sokka and Katara just got the info later and in a different manner?)

Azula and Long Feng make Ba Sing Se fall, and neither betrays the other, having a more-or-less stable working partnership at this point. Since they had more time to plot, and didn't yet know about the Eclipse deadline, they use a longer-term plan that had Azula sneaking Fire Nation forces into the city to assist with the coup. Hence why the gAang is still overwhelmed even though Zuko is off making kissy face with Suki. Long Feng becomes the Fire Nation-backed administrator of Ba Sing Se. (Post Note: This changed to Long Feng serving a Fire Nation governor. I decided to make Long Feng a subtle suspect for Combustion Man's employer, and so had him disappear with word reaching Ozai from the nameless governor. Why did Long Feng disappear, then? Obviously, his and Azula's partnership still isn't perfect, and Long Feng realizes that he's not getting the power he wants.) Details are unimportant, but the gAang flees, and the Earth King remains captured. I'm going to play it vague about whether Aang gets struck by lightning. On the one hand, I have no reason not to do so, other than general contrariness about avoiding the Stations of the Canon. But I've been twisting around canon so much, maybe I'm fighting a losing battle here. (Post Note: I got all the way to the last chapter of "Partners in Blades" before I settled on this. Sokka notes that Ming feeding a comatose Mai reminds him of Katara taking care of a good friend of theirs, which is supposed to be Aang after he's hit by the lightning. I only added this because I liked the comparison, it seemed to bring a little emotion out of Sokka without getting shmaltzy.)

And so the gAang infiltrates the Fire Nation, and Sokka finds Piandao and trains with the swords and meets Mai and they totally fall in love.

By the Great Dome of Iacon! I haven't even begun writing this and already I need a break! Nah, just kidding. Let's light this candle.

Addendum: Need to figure out why Combustion Man and/or other bounty hunters are trailing the gAang in the Fire Nation. Zuko is off being turned good by the magic of Suki's glistening eyes, so he never betrayed Katara and came home and realized Aang wasn't dead and sent an assassin to fix the problem. The only other options are Azula, Ty Lee, and Long Feng. Ty Lee would be a silly choice. I only typed that because I really want it to be her and need to remind myself why I shouldn't. Azula would just do the hunting herself, but Long Feng is a possibility. Perhaps he's responsible for cleaning up the Ba Sing Se loose ends. But he's over in the Earth Kingdom. Why would he be brought over to deal with what is essentially Azula's responsibility? Wait, Azula has a problem, too. She was supposed to bring Zuko home, not conquer Ba Sing Se. What the heck, Azzy? Daddy is not pleased.

Ooh, maybe Azula sends Combustion Man to deal with the problem. But then why is he following Aang and not Zuko? I'm going to have fully detail the "Crossroads of Destiny" AU material, aren't I? Dang.

Okay, so Azula and Long Feng are below Ba Sing Se, secretly in control of the Dai Li while the gAang is helping to plan the invasion. Long Feng is a fugitive, and the gAang knows about Azula because Longshot, Smellerbee, and Jet told them about her. Smellerbee did a good impersonation of Azula's distinct voice, and Toph placed it as the chick who nearly killed Iroh. Dang, that'd be a fun scene to write. That's when Suki, the other Kyoshi Warriors, and Zuko arrive. Or would that kill a good scene meant to go at the end of the Maikka Plot? (Post Note: Yes. Yes, it would have.)

You know what? Never mind. I need to base this part on what I need in my actual Maikka Plot. Flesh that out first, then go back and do the background justifications, then go forward again and proper integrate the two. (Post Note: Yes, I started writing the actual story without knowing who was taking a hit out on Piandao. I actually finished the first chapter before I got the idea that it was Jeong-Jeong. Our favorite ranting Firebender appeared in "Control" to warn Piandao that Ozai was going to try to bring him to heel, so that established his prescience in this AU and gave him a link to Piandao. Plus, I like the idea of Jeong-Jeong being a bit unbalanced, so blinded by his fear of Fire that he's not making entirely good decisions, even if his heart is in the right place. My only reservation was that readers might find this cheap, making the perpetrator into a character who didn't appear in the story proper and only had a throwaway part in one of the prequels. I hope the final scene sold the idea.)

~Maikka Week 2011~

Day 1: Healing
Sokka arrives at Piandao's place. Piandao is training Fire Nation swordsmen, but starts Sokka off on the basics, and lets Mai train him a bit. They snark but learn from each other, and Sokka has to deal with actually being attracted to a girl after Yue's death, and also that she's kind of already married, even though the "relationship" is obviously not entirely real. (Post Note: Yeah, I didn't get into the real attraction in the final version. Trying to make it more overt made it seem like they were getting distracted by each other's bodies, not actually making a connection.)

Day 2: Your Fault
The third day of Sokka's training comes, and he gets his little graduation ceremony and sword from Piandao. Sokka comes clean about being Water Tribe. Maybe he and Piandao have their fight? Even if not, Piandao is inspired to give up his charade and stop training Fire Nation soldiers. He even offers to divorce Mai, which she accepts. He writes a letter of divorce to the Fire Lord, and gives it to Mai to mail or deliver herself. (Post Note: Letters of Divorce are actually how it was done once upon a time in Japanese history. Women actually had a good deal, then, for the times. They were just as forced into marriage as the men, but they were allowed to have lovers, run away to a divorce shelter, and re-enter the singles scene without an issue. Of course, I didn't have this happen in the story itself. Once the ability for Mai and Piandao to get divorced was established, it seemed more important to focus on the plot, which was revealing itself as more jam-packed than I had realized before I began writing.) Does Mai go with him? Or does she join the gAang? Or does she go back to the capital? Maybe have her wonder these things. However, when Piandao hears the gAang's full plans for the Invasion, he reveals that the Fire Lord is well aware and completely prepared!

Day 3: Losers
Now that Piandao has revealed that the Fire Lord knows of the Invasion plans, the gAang has to decide what to do. They can't just call it off, because it's their best shot and Hakoda is already gathering allies somewhere in the world. Sokka needs to know what the Fire Nation's countermeasures will be, and to do that he needs to infiltrate the capital! But only Mai can lead him there. So they head off, undercover as Mai and her servant boy, and stopover at Ember Island. Beach comedy ensues, including a meeting with Ty Lee and another with Ruon Jian. Things end when Mai makes contact with Azula and is invited to the capital. (Post Note: Obviously, this plan changed, with this plot getting broken into two chapters. My decision to bring in Azula a little earlier was probably the cause, but it was more logical that way. Note that I haven't pegged Sokka as WANG FIRE in the planning. When I was trying to figure out how Sokka could disguise himself from Azula, it occurred to me that the WANG FIRE beard always succeeded thanks to the power of comedy. So Azula fell for a completely stupid disguise, solely because it's funny.)

Day 4: At the Capital
Azula is in Daddy's bad graces for completely losing Zuko. She may have defeated the Avatar and conquered Ba Sing Se, but rebellions are still going on and Zuko and Iroh remain dangers. Oooh, Iroh is leading the Earth Kingdom resistance? She plans to use Mai to bring Piandao to heel. (Post Note: I have no idea what Iroh wound up doing in the final story. Trying to get Zuko and Suki to hook up? Note that the plot for "Losers" above doesn't mention Piandao being injured by Combustion Man. CM was a later addition to the story as a tool to have Sokka and Mai go off alone together, and at first I considered having them separate from the gAang during the battle. Once I started writing, I decided to use him to injure Piandao, and used the flawed Swordsmen he trained as the specific reason those two needed to be the ones to follow up on the threat. That's right, when I created the original concept of the sabotaged training, I had no idea I would end up making it as important as I did. This, I think, is one of my talents- I can bring all kinds of odd elements, whether I invented them or not, and build successfully on them. It adds logic to a plotline that probably comes across as pretty random.)

Day 5: Tangling with Azula
Azula discovers that the Avatar is alive and planning an invasion. Fighting is had, and Sokka and Mai save each other's lives or something. (Post Note: At this point, I wasn't even referencing my original plans. I was making it all up as I went, letting the "soul" of the story guide me.)

Day 6: Escape (Post Note: Or not.)

Day 7: ?
Day of Black Sun invasion prelude. Sokka and Mai reunite with the gAang and admit to being a couple. Hakoda arrives with all the allies, including Zuko and Suki, who are also a couple. Humorous conversation is had by all, and then everyone prepares to go off and win the war. Feelings of hope and new beginnings abound. Maybe hint that this invasion will be more success than the one in the cartoon. (Post Note: Also, heal Mai, rescue her and Sokka, explain what happened with Ty Lee after Sokka talked to her, make up for Sokka and Mai not being a couple until now, cameo Iroh for whatever reason, and resolve that Murder Mystery I kept throwing in reader's faces. By Primus, I'm surprised I didn't have to split this chapter, too.)

Sokka- not having gotten romantic healing from Suki, Sokka's emotions are a little fragile. He lost Yue, then Ba Sing Se, and in the course of this plot, Aang/Katara/Toph. (Post Note: This was supposed to guide me on the tone with which to write Sokka. I don't know why I even bothered, especially since I wound up having him voluntarily split with the gAang for this adventure.)

Mai- she got a letter a few months ago that her father was assassinated. She's trying to pretend to herself that she doesn't care. (Post Note: See above not about completely wasting my time.)


"'Where do you get your ideas?' has always been the question I'm most often confronted with. ('Why do you get your ideas?' is a close second.)" ~Gary Larson