"Zuko, I want you to train with Master Nukka and Seal Group today," Pakku said. "They're getting lazy. Just fire whips, though. None of that nonsense from yesterday."
Yesterday, Zuko and Carved Bone Necklace Guy had a truly brutal bout that had put them both in the house of healing for over two hours. Zuko hadn't yielded when he probably should have, and Yugoda had been mad at him for that, but it had been worth it to figure out the mini tornado.
At first, he wondered if being sent down to Seal Group was some kind of punishment for yesterday. But then he quickly realised that wasn't it. He had a horrible suspicion he knew why Pakku was sending him down to the lowest level. He'd been scheduled to train with Arctic Fox Group today, Katara's new group. Pakku was always really weird about Katara seeing him. If only he knew, Zuko thought to himself, amused.
Sharktooth and Big Earring "escorted" him to make sure he didn't try anything shifty. He was often "escorted" by them because they were the two most proficient benders in Orca Class. He'd actually spent a great deal of time with them, and he didn't even know their names. Katara had teased him about it and queried what he was going to do if they started wearing matching jewellery. Zuko wasn't saying he felt guilty, but he did see Katara's point.
Sharktooth, as he soon learnt, was named Kuruk, like the Avatar from the Northern Water Tribe. Big Earring was Sorak. It felt weird and awkward to be trading names after an extended amount of time, but Zuko felt a little better for knowing. When they got to the lowest tier of the training levels, Master Nukka still hadn't arrived. Kuruk went off to look for him. Zuko never came down this way. He was mostly on the far ice fields with Orca or Ice-bear Group where there was a huge amount of space for bending battles. It was cramped on the tiers with groups training almost on top of each other.
The kids in Seal Class had segregated themselves into two distinct groups. All the Water Tribe boys were in one corner, and Aang was off by himself, playing with Momo. Zuko called out to Aang from the stairs. What was happening? Did these dicks always leave him out?
Aang looked up and gave Zuko a bright smile. He scooted over and hugged him, ridiculously excited that Zuko would train with them. This struck him as very ironic. Aang had never been this happy about Zuko firebending at him when being chased by the prince, but now he was acting like this was the best news ever.
"Ooooeer, Aang's Uncle's here," one of the Water Tribe kids called from the huddle.
Zuko whipped his head around. Aang had an uncle? There was another airbender around?
"They're just teasing," Aang explained good-naturedly. "They called Katara my mum and Sokka my dad. I guess they'll call you my uncle."
"They do know Sokka and Katara are brother and sister, right?"
This question seemed more pertinent, even though he had many grumpy thoughts about being called Aang's uncle. Mostly thoughts like he was nowhere near old enough or chubby enough to be an uncle, let alone to a kid who was only four years younger! Also, if he was an uncle, that would mean Azula had spawned another person, some poor soul who would probably grow up to be exactly like her. Yikes!
"Yeah," Aang replied.
Zuko looked over at the Water Tribe boys. And Sokka had made comments about Zuko's family being inbred? These kids were obviously inbred idiots if they thought a brother and sister would ... no, he couldn't even think it. It was too gross. Zuko was horribly burdened with having to explain sex to Aang one day. He would not be explaining it to these dicks.
"No, it's all in good fun. It's just friendly teasing," Aang said brightly, but Zuko didn't feel satisfied. It didn't seem friendly to him. He didn't like this. He didn't like thinking that some jerks were picking on Aang or leaving him out.
"Oi, Avatar, get over here!" one of the kids demanded.
"See, they want me to hang out now," Aang said cheerfully, and he turned to go.
Zuko grabbed his arm. "Who's that jerk?" Whoever he was, he shouldn't be talking to Aang in that tone of voice.
"That's Hahn. He's going to be the next chief. He says because he'll be chief while I'm Avatar, we have to learn to work together. I've been trying to make friends with him."
Hahn? The one who was going to marry Yue? The dickhead who had been throwing his weight around all over the tribe? The one who had wanted him executed straight away when he first arrived? The one Katara really didn't like?
Aang wanted to make friends with that Hahn?
Zuko watched, feeling his anger grow, as Hahn bossed Aang around and ordered him to get snacks on his airscooter and come back quick smart. Aang was always keen to please and be helpful. He was so friendly and easy-going. He didn't see anything wrong with this and obeyed.
"Stop that! Leave him alone!" Katara called from the next level up.
She was leaning over the edge of the ice ledge and pointing angrily at Hahn. The sun was in her hair and anger was plain on her face. Zuko had only seen her at night time for ages. He was momentarily struck by how she looked in the daylight, furiously shouting at a jerk.
"Katara!" her new training master snapped. "Pay attention to your lesson. It is a privilege that you are even here!"
Very reluctantly, she turned back. She hadn't seen Zuko, and he didn't want to distract her and get her in trouble with her new master. But he wished he was training up on her level and not down with these lazy assfaces.
Once her back was turned, the boys started up. They were talking loudly about her while knowing full well that she could hear them.
"Who does that horrible peasant think she is?"
"Her brother is even worse. He thinks he knows shit and is a strategist."
"That uncultured southern rube actually thought he had a chance with Yue," Hahn said, and there was some jeering and chortling from the other boys.
Oi, they were insulting Sokka too?
Sorak and Zuko had been waiting on the stairs, but as soon as he heard this, Zuko jumped on to the tier properly. He started walking closer to the idiots. Sorak grabbed his shoulder and tried to pull him back.
"He can't even control his own sister! He lets her do whatever she wants when we all know girls can't waterbend," Hahn said with a glance in Katara's direction.
Hahn reminded Zuko a great deal of Azula then. His friends were like Mai and Ty Lee, always cheering her on as she did terrible things. These boys, they were bullies. Plain and simple. Zuko looked up and saw Katara. She was lined up on the edge with the other benders in Artic Fox Group with her back to them. Her ears went red, but she resolutely did not turn around. She was trying to ignore them.
"Sounds like you are all whining, delicate panda-lily flowers because she beat you up!" Zuko said angrily to them.
"No one asked you, firebender!" Hahn shot back.
Sorak was still grabbing his shoulder, saying, "Leave it, Zuko."
But Zuko could barely hear him. Hahn was still talking, still saying nasty things about Katara.
"You know she only beats up boys because she knows none of us would ever touch her with a ten-foot pole. Who'd want her? She'd make a terrible wife," that total dickface said to his cronies.
How dare he? Katara was awesome! Any guy would be the luckiest person in the universe if Katara wanted to be with him. Marrying Katara would be the best thing that could happen to anyone. No one should talk about her like that.
Zuko turned and shoved Sorak hard. Sorak let him go in surprise. Once released, Zuko turned and sprinted towards the dickhead.
"Too bad her mother is dead. Somebody needs to teach her how to act like a girl," was the last thing Hahn said before Zuko crash-tackled him to the snowy ground.
He proceeded to kick as much shit out of that hedgehog-buggering fuckwit as he could with his bare hands and not his bending. He knew Hahn was a non-bender, and his mother had raised him better than that. She'd always been on at him and Azula about how wrong it was to use your bending against non-benders outside of battle situations. In hindsight, these lectures were probably aimed more directly at Azula than him, but he'd taken them on board anyway.
Still, in no time flat, Hahn was bruised all over and bleeding from his nose and crying loudly like that actress from the Ember Island Players in a dramatic scene while Zuko was hitting him anywhere he could reach and shouting that Katara was a thousand times too awesome for an arsehole like him, and how dare he say something like that about her mother.
None of the other waterbending boys moved to help Hahn. Instead, they had all formed a circle around them and were chanting "fight, fight, fight" excitedly. One of these voices was significantly deeper than the others. Holy hell? Was even Sorak chanting fight too?
How much had Hahn irritated people with his arrogance and dickhead behaviour in a short space of time? Even the adults wanted to see him get his ass kicked! Was it because he shoved his weight around and demanded everybody do what he said because of his new status, and was, in general, an entitled, insufferable git?
Zuko had a horrible moment of clarity mid-punch. He'd previously expected special treatment because of his royal status. He'd thrown his weight around a lot, especially when he spoke to Lieutenant Jee and his other men. Jee had called him on it a couple of times, but Zuko hadn't wanted to listen to someone of much lower status. Had he been an entitled, insufferable git on the Wani? Zuko had a horrible suspicion the answer to that question was yes.
Hahn reached up and pulled his hair, like they were five-year-old girls with pigtails. Sweet Agni, it stung. No one had pulled his hair in ... well, forever. Zuko couldn't ever remember having his hair pulled. Even Azula had been above that, surprisingly. She was a scratcher, but not a hair-puller. Zuko grabbed Hahn's hair and pulled hard in retaliation. Their inelegant fighting became an undignified hair-pulling stand-off.
That was how an extremely unimpressed Pakku found them. Two huge blocks of ice formed around them and separated them. Pakku slammed them both, hard, into the nearby wall before freezing them to it.
"What on earth is the meaning of this?" he shouted angrily.
Shit.
-0-
"The firebender is very useful to me, Chief Arnook," Pakku said to his old friend. "My men have improved in leaps and bounds since training against a real adversary. Kuruk has even invented some new forms to take down firebenders in the event of an attack just from studying his movements. It is vital he still be able to fight tomorrow."
"I think he has certainly fought enough today. This behaviour is unacceptable. He must be punished, Pakku. He must apologise to Hahn publicly in the council hall." Arnook was displeased, but not unreasonable.
"Fine. An apology, and we could confine him to his cell with no meals and no visitors tonight," Pakku suggested.
"Is that sufficient?"
"With all due respect, Chief Arnook, I hardly blame him. After hearing how Hahn has been behaving, the sorts of things he has been saying and how he has treated our honoured visitors, I half wanted to punch him myself."
Pakku did not feel very kindly towards Hahn. Hahn had been saying horrible things about his granddaughter. No, not his granddaughter. He had to stop thinking of her as that. Still, Pakku felt like a punch to the face was more than warranted. Somebody had needed to put the puffed-up teen back in his place, and it couldn't have been anyone from the tribe, on account of Hahn's new status. Pakku knew he wasn't the only one who was secretly amused that the firebender had bested Hahn so thoroughly. He would never let on, but he had waited a little longer than he should have to make his way down to the lower levels to break up the fight simply because the spectacle had been quite diverting.
"He is my successor, Pakku. Do not punch him," Arnook said severely.
"Are you sure he is the right person for Princess Yue? For our tribe?" Pakku had been holding his tongue out of respect for Arnook's decisions, but he hadn't approved of Yue's betrothed. Gentle, clever Yue deserved better than a self-important buffoon.
"I made a promise to his father, Pakku," Arnook said, sounding sad.
Hahn came from a very powerful warrior family, and his father had been Arnook's closest friend for many years before his tragic accident. Arnook had wanted to look after his best friend's son, but he had not reconciled himself to the fact that Hahn was not at all like his father, who had been a wise and fair man. Arnook's blindness here would go badly for the tribe.
"I know, but … I have been talking occasionally with the southern girl. In the South, they let women choose their husbands. Perhaps Yue might like a say in who her husband is?"
Pakku had been very entertained by Katara's preposterous ideas. She thought it was important to love your spouse, and Pakku had said love was blind. He knew this from experience. Most girls wanted unsuitable boys. He had always thought that a logical choice, not a choice based on something as frivolous and shifting as feelings, made by a father who only cared for the girl's best interest was the best way. But Yue wasn't like most girls. She was clever. She would choose well if she were allowed to have a say.
"Pakku, I am surprised at you! In our tribe we have always acknowledged that women are incapable of making these decisions for themselves. They let emotions cloud their judgement. Men make better choices."
Katara had said Pakku couldn't say men were more rational. Arnook had clearly chosen Hahn because he still missed his friend and hoped to see his friend's fine qualities in his son. She pointed out this made Arnook's choice equally emotional.
"I am beginning to wonder if that is true, Chief Arnook. Yugoda says some of our women are quite unhappy with the husbands chosen for them by their fathers. Perhaps we have been misguided there in thinking we always know best."
Pakku had been perturbed after his conversation with Katara, and he had gone to speak to Yugoda. Yugoda had not made him feel better, but had given him some harsh, blunt truths about how some men treated their wives in this tribe. Some father's chose poorly, it was true, but Pakku was unsure if all women would have made better choices.
It kept him up at night sometimes. It made him wonder about Kanna. She'd wanted her own choice so badly that she had run away to the other side of the globe to get it. Had she been running away from him too or just the tribe? He would have treated her well. He could have provided a nice, safe life for her. She'd said she loved him, but evidently that hadn't been enough for her to want to marry him. She'd chosen a perilous journey with an uncertain outcome over becoming his wife. Had he made her feel trapped? Was that why she left?
"Pakku!" Arnook interrupted his thoughts. "Surely you are not saying what I think you are saying?" He sounded surprised.
"Respectfully, Chief, I am only advising you to carefully consider your choice. Really look at Hahn. If he is to be our new chief, you need to think about your whole tribe. Does Hahn conduct himself with honour and decorum? Does he make sound choices? Does he treat your daughter kindly? If you are to make this choice for Yue, at least consider all the facts, and not some promise you made years ago."
"I only want what is best for my daughter. You know that, old friend."
"I know."
-0-
"Your firebender must apologise to Hahn at a council meeting," Pakku instructed Aang, sounding frustrated. "He is refusing, but he needs to be persuaded! Go do it!" he practically barked while pointing down the stairs to where the Zuko was.
Oh, monkey feathers!
Not another one of these council meeting apologies! It hadn't gone at all well when they had tried to force Katara to apologise. Aang did not think Zuko was going to be much different. It was Aang's unhappy task to convince Zuko to say sorry. He took Sokka with him, but Katara wasn't allowed because of the rules.
Sokka was smiling today though, so that was nice. When Aang had told him about the fight and how Zuko had kicked Hahn's butt, Sokka had laughed a great deal. He'd seemed quite chipper since then. Aang had also felt a little amused, even though he knew it was bad to find amusement in violence.
He knew Hahn wasn't the nicest person, but he had wanted to keep things light and breezy during training and had tried to be his friend anyway. In Aang's opinion, nothing was achieved by stomping around dramatically, challenging people to fight dramatically, and, in general, causing a lot of drama. It just made situations difficult and confronting when they could be relaxed and fun instead. But he had a feeling he and Zuko were going to disagree on this.
"Zuko, you are my hero! You hit him in the ear!" Sokka said as he came into the cell and sat next to the prince and clapped him over the shoulder. Now they were both sitting on the bed. That meant that Aang had to stand awkwardly.
They really needed another chair in here.
"I actually hit him everywhere," Zuko said with a grin. "What an asshole."
"I know, right?"
"No one makes fun of you except me," Zuko said firmly, an oddly protective note in his voice.
"Aww. You really do care," Sokka said smugly.
Aang started emptying his pockets and handing the contents to a bemused Zuko. He had snuck in as many snacks as he could. He had even touched the seal jerky, and he hated touching meat! But he knew Zuko liked it. If they weren't going to feed him tonight, Aang could at least bring in as many snacks as was humanly possible. Zuko had been really adamant that sneaking snacks to the person you kidnapped was not part of ransoming back in Makapu, but Aang hoped he wouldn't mind too much. Aang just didn't want him to go hungry.
Zuko looked at the jerky strangely when Aang produced it from his pockets. "Thanks, Aang. I'm really touched," he said as he took it.
Aang told Zuko about having to say sorry in the council meeting.
"Nah, fuck that, Aang. That dickhead got what was coming to him. I'm not sorry. No regrets."
Sokka high-fived him.
"But you have to, otherwise there will be even bigger trouble," Aang insisted.
"Aang, I'm not sorry. He shouldn't treat you that way or say any of those things about you guys. Did you hear what he was saying about Katara! He needed a kick in the nuts for that alone. I was sticking up for you guys."
Aang was sharply reminded of Kuzon when Kuzon had come briefly to the Air Temple not long after Aang had found out he was the Avatar. Kuzon had been furious at the other Air Nomad kids for leaving Aang out of their games. He'd been adamant that they shouldn't treat Aang that way. He had started a big fight because of it. He'd also thought he was sticking up for Aang.
Sadly, the fight hadn't helped Aang any, because violence was never the answer. It just made things more awkward. Kuzon had left a few days later, and the other Air Nomads had gone back to avoiding Aang, but some of them had been even colder to him, saying things like, "Why don't you just go play in the Fire Nation!" Kuzon also hadn't wanted to apologise either. Aang thought of what he had said to Kuzon then. He wondered what he would have said differently if he had known then that the other kids were only going to treat him worse after Kuzon left.
"Hahn is not a nice guy," Aang said. "I agree with you. And maybe he deserved to be kicked in his nuts eight times—"
"Seriously? Eight times?" Sokka interjected, staring horror-struck at Zuko.
"He said it was too bad Katara's mum was dead, because somebody needed to teach her how to act like a girl. That asshole is lucky I could only get in eight nut-crushers before Pakku came," Zuko replied to Sokka, completely unapologetic.
Sokka started talking about how a nut-sack kick wasn't very ninja of Zuko.
"—but violence isn't the answer, you know!" Aang admonished very loudly, cutting into their conversation.
Those two were throwing off his speech and getting very distracted. They had gone off on a tangent and were talking about nut-crushers and whether they were okay or not. Sokka thought no as a general rule, but he was open to making exceptions for Hahn.
"You beating him up is going to make things really difficult for Katara and me," Aang continued. "It doesn't help us at all. It could make everything worse, because we still have to train with him hanging around all the time. You're not going to be there to beat him up tomorrow, or the day after. This doesn't affect just you."
Zuko seemed bothered by this, and looked down at his hands.
"Hahn can make it bad for us. That is why I have been trying to be his friend. We need to make peace with him. Peace is just easier. And sometimes, if you want to make peace, you have to say things you don't mean."
It was just like how he had told a little white lie to smooth over the two fighting tribes at the canyon. Surely, Zuko could just say sorry, even if he didn't mean it. Saying it cost him nothing.
"You can't just beat up everyone who says something you don't like," Aang scolded. "Can you just apologise to him, for me?"
Zuko heaved a huge, exaggerated and exasperated sigh, and rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "Fine. I will do it. But I am only doing it for you." He said this like he was the most put-upon person in the world. "But he's still a dick!" he added hotly.
Sokka and Aang nodded in agreement.
"Poor Princess Yue is going to be stuck with him," Zuko added with a shake of his head.
"She might not have to marry him," Sokka piped up. He explained that, in the South, if you were bested so thoroughly, it would mean a loss of status. Women could break an engagement if the man failed to provide for her and protect her. Sokka was hoping the North was similar, and Yue's engagement to Hahn would magically evaporate.
"That's not how being royalty works, Sokka," Zuko said. "When you're royalty, you really don't get much of a choice in these things. Yue might not have a choice. You can't choose someone of a lesser…" he stopped himself from finishing the sentence as he saw Sokka's face.
"No, go on. You can say it. You don't think I'm worthy of a princess," Sokka said, sounding hurt.
"That's not what I meant! You'd be worthy, Sokka. You're worth more than ten of that assface put together."
"Wait, does that mean I'm ten times the assface?" Sokka asked.
"No! I'm trying to say something nice, you jerk!" Zuko snapped at Sokka, who looked faintly amused again.
"Saying something nice? You? Don't strain yourself," Sokka replied.
Aang knew this was sarcasm. The sarcasm engine was back on, evidently.
"I was trying to say you are a better man than Hahn will ever be, you complete assface," Zuko fired back.
Sokka seemed embarrassed, but also a little bit pleased. He gave Zuko a little shove. "Don't get soppy on me."
"You've been doing nothing but be soppy on me for a whole week now," Zuko said, and gave him a little shove back.
They had a little shoving competition until Zuko succeeded in pushing Sokka off the bed. After that, Aang had Zuko practise saying sorry, so he could fake it sincerely. It took a long time, mostly because of Zuko's tendency to roll his eyes before he said it.
"This is so stupid, Aang. Who wants a fake apology someone was forced to give?" Zuko said once, and Aang had no response for that. It was just how they did things up North. They liked a big fake apology up here.
They went to the council meeting. Hahn was sitting in the middle with the elders around him and on tiers behind him. Yue was sitting next to him. The healers had obviously seen to him, because he was completely unbruised. There was a large crowd. Arnook instructed Zuko to kneel. Zuko gave Aang a long-suffering look that said "I am only doing this for you, so you owe me big time!"
He knelt in the middle and looked at Hahn. "I'm sorry, Hahn," he said in a really good, fake-sincere voice, just like they had been practising! Aang felt proud.
"Are you? Because that didn't sound very serious. Try again," Hahn replied snidely, a gloating smile on his face.
Zuko glanced at Aang, supremely offended, and Aang nodded encouragingly and gave him a thumbs up.
"I'm sorry," Zuko said through gritted teeth this time, turning back to Hahn.
"I can't hear you!" Hahn crowed.
Arnook and Yue both made a face at him. Aang heard Yue say something like, "Try to be gracious Hahn," but he shook her off rudely.
"Uuurgh! Fine. I'm sorry!" Zuko shouted, getting very frustrated. It was worrying.
"I don't know. That's still not good enough," Hahn said with an unkind grin, clearly enjoying this too much.
Yue put her hand on his shoulder and gently said, "Hahn, I think you should stop this. He's already said sorry."
Hahn brushed her hand away and snapped, "Stay out of it, Yue! What would you know!"
There was collective gasp from the crowd. Arnook made an exceptionally unhappy face at Hahn.
"Don't talk to Yue that way!" Sokka exclaimed from next to Aang.
Now every single pair of eyes rounded on them.
Monkey feathers. This apology was going even worse and more awkwardly than Katara's.
Aang felt a little embarrassed then with everyone looking at him and Sokka. What should he do? Should he do the little dance he always did when everyone was staring at him? Maybe. Before he could get his dance-pants on, Hahn coughed loudly to bring the attention back to himself.
"I'm waiting," he said gleefully to Zuko.
"Look, dickhead. I've apologised to you three times already. I didn't even roll my eyes, and I lowered my voice so it was sincere. I'm done apologising to you," Zuko growled as he stood back up.
Oh no. Zuko was getting really pissed off. His voice sounded just like it did before he exploded and did what Sokka called "the angry, grumpy thing".
"I'd still prefer it if you said sorry like you really mean it," Hahn commanded, and gestured for Zuko to kneel again.
Zuko ignored this. Yue actually rolled her eyes at Hahn at this point.
"You want me to say it like I mean it? Fine!" Zuko inhaled sharply.
Oh no. Here it comes! Aang thought to himself.
"I'm sorry you are such a hair-pulling, toad-faced, hedgehog-buggering fuckwit with a weirdly soft body. I'm sorry I didn't hit you harder in the face. I'm sorry for Princess Yue because she has to marry such a dickhead. There. I want you to know that I meant every word."
Aang slapped his forehead with his palm.
"Your apology is noted and accepted Prince Zuko of the Fire-Nation," Arnook said with a wave of his hand.
Huh? Arnook was going to let all that slide?
"But, Chief, he was so rude to me!" Hahn turned around and whined at Arnook.
Arnook looked incredibly unimpressed. "And you were rude to him. I consider this matter an extremely foolish waste of time. I now declare it closed." He turned to address everyone. "With war clouds gathering, we do not have the time to be squabbling with each other. Fighting amongst ourselves is pointless. We must learn to work together or we will be torn apart."
Aang nodded in agreement. Working together and not fighting was just a better way of doing things. It was how the Air Nomads had always done everything.
Somebody got it!
-0-
The ice wall unexpectedly slid open to reveal Yugoda. Zuko looked up at her in surprise. The sun had long set. He had thought he wouldn't be allowed any visitors tonight, not after the council meeting. Yugoda explained that she had healed Hahn and had noticed that he was rather bruised after being slammed into the ice by Pakku. She had wanted to check on Zuko and had convinced the guard to let her in. This was much easier, because Sorak was her son and he was a good boy. He generally did what his mother said.
Zuko was a bit surprised that Sorak was her son. Yugoda once again reminded him that she had four of them running around the tribe, and scores of grandsons. Whenever Yugoda started a sentence with "Zuko, I have four sons", it meant that she was either about to give him some food or a big scolding.
The bruising was rather extensive. Pakku hadn't been gentle when he broke up their fight. But Zuko said he could take it, and it didn't even hurt that much. Yugoda rolled her eyes and tutted when he expressed this.
"You really bring this upon yourself, you know," she scolded as she placed the glowing healing water over the worst of it.
"I know."
"And it shocked me to hear you use such foul language in the council hall," she continued.
"Sorry, Yugoda." Zuko felt a little ashamed for using such bad language in front of her. He always tried to tone it down around her, and never swore in the healing house.
"But it did delight me to see Hahn get the wind taken out of his sails like that," Yugoda said suddenly.
Zuko's head snapped up in shock. There was a cheeky look in her eyes.
"What was it like to punch that odious fool?" Yugoda asked a little eagerly.
"Eeerrr, it felt good," Zuko said, unsure how to answer. He would have never in a million years thought she would ask him something like that.
"You still should not have done it though." She was back to scolding him again.
"Yugoda, I am getting a really mixed message right now. What do you want me to do?" Zuko asked her in confusion. She was scolding him for fighting Hahn while at the same time acting delighted that he had.
She hummed enigmatically, finishing the last of the healing, and stood up. "I want you to eat up. You are a growing boy." She reached into her bag of medical supplies and pulled out a pot full of arctic-trout.
-0-
Katara came a short time later. She threw her arms around Zuko and smiled at him the way she did when she was really pleased with him. He would have done it all over again just for that smile.
-0-
Lovely readers,
Amazingly enormous thanks to the wonderful Boogum for the beta. Also thanks for everyone who leaves me feedback and reviews! Feedback always puts me in the creative mood. This was a bit of a short and sweet chapter, but next chapter is much bigger. I just wanted to set a few balls in motion here.
Today, I'll mention:
The other side to the discrimination Katara could face.
Hahn as a foil for Sokka and Zuko
Pakku
Aang's beliefs
Zuko and Kuzon
Zuko and Katara, similar personalities.
So Katara is the first female waterbender in the Northern Water Tribe. It's hard being the first. The first woman to do anything considered male-dominated is normally subjected to much jeering and her femininity is called into question. Sadly the taunt that is frequently directed at these female trailblazers, to de-legitimised them, is often based on how sexually alluring they are.
When these boys say they don't fancy Katara as a wife, it is because they only see women having value if they fulfil that role. They cannot ascribe value to Katara outside that role, or see her as an equal. Her presence and the fact that she is better than them is threatening to them. So they taunt her with what they think is the most cutting insult, that she is not attractive to boys.
Girls would also be socialised into this view in the tribes, and would be discouraged from more masculine play, on the assumption that they would never find a husband if they didn't fit the idealised feminine role.
Katara has been trying to ignore them, and prove herself better, skill-wise, by handing their arses to them. However she can't do this to Hahn, because of his status and also because as a non-bender, they would not have any fights together, and she is not given the opportunity.
I normally think Katara would love to fight her own battles, and wouldn't appreciate a boy coming in and fighting them for her, but Zuko is doing something that she can't do herself. The fact that he would have validated her emotions (in hating on Hahn and finding him insufferable almost instantly) and yelled a lot about how awesome she was while kicking his butt would have warmed the cockles of her heart.
So Hahn is a bit of a foil for Sokka in the show. Hahn represents Sokka before he grew and learned and shook of his sexism. We can see them contrasted against each other and think, wow, Sokka has come a long way. Go Sokka. I thought it would be interesting if Zuko also got to learn something from Hahn, and that something is that wow, was he dick to everyone on the Wani. I think it would be good for Zuko's growth if he could recognise why Hahn's behaviour was so grating on everyone around him. He's had a moment of clarity about his past behaviour and he's better for it.
Pakku is also reflecting on his past behaviour, but I don't know if he has had his epiphany yet. He really did only let Katara learn, and not much else changed in the North. Katara is changing as much as she can, but she needs some of the men to back her up. Pakku is coming around, but he'll need a much bigger push before he can have a Zuko like moment of clarity (and realise he was a dick). It is harder too, because Pakku is so much older, and male superiority has become a deeply held belief for him. Sokka and Zuko are both teenagers who are intelligent and actively learning from the world around them. They both change and grow before our eyes. But Pakku has already grown-up into the person he is going to be, so shifting his attitude is harder.
I wanted briefly cover a belief of Aang's that could become an issue. Early on, while his beliefs are still evolving, Aang values peace over justice. He is someone who Martin Luther King Jr would say " prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice."
Aang is all about the absence of tension. To Aang, peace is people not fighting/shouting. Think about all the times he said/implied that Katara didn't mean her righteous anger. One of these was in her fake apology to Pakku – he tells Pakku that Katara doesn't mean what she's saying, when she very obviously does.
Aang wants to keep the peace (no shouting) but the cost is Katara's ability to learn water-bending (no justice). Aang is very anti-confrontation (same Aang!), but the ATLA world after 100 years of war is terribly unfair. Fairness is worth fighting for. Aang can fight for fairness peacefully, but he still has to make a stand instead of running away from the problem. Taking a stand would inevitably cause tension and ruffle a few feathers, but I hoped he would make peace with the fact that he can't make everybody happy, and be a better Avatar for it.
Zuko and Katara both fall on preferring the peace of justice side of the fence. They are not always wise about how they pursue this, but they are always well-intentioned and seek to remedy the problems they find. They are both very shouty forces to be reckoned with when they are presented with unfairness and injustice. I think both of them would at least try to see and do things Aang's way (they both try to apologise for him, more than because they are actually sorry), but inevitably a fake apology is something they would both struggle with.
And now a theory: Zuko is re-incarnated Kuzon.
Boo Roku/Sozin is Zuko's grandfather and that is why he is always conflicted plotline. Pah! Azula has the same two grand-daddies and she had leaned into the evil taste! Zuko is always conflicted because he has a fundamentally compassionate nature but was brought up in an abusive household where he was expected to behave diametrically opposite to his nature.
There was originally meant to be an episode about Kuzon where the headband was. Stupid Kuzon, having your episode replaced by the footloose travesty.
I actually think that Aang brings up Kuzon fairly frequently for a reason. I think the fact that he says to Zuko a few times "You remind me of Kuzon" means something. I think the fact that the names Zuko and Kuzon are nearly anagrams is also interesting. I also think the maths fits better – Kuzon lives til a ripe old age, then blammo – Zuko is born.
Yup, I think Zuko was meant to be re-incarnated Kuzon, and this would have dovetailed into Aang's realisation in the Roku/Sozin ep – friendships really do transcend lifetimes. I also think that episode should have shown Aang some of the things Kuzon was up to while he was frozen (for which I have so many ideas. Just imagine if Kuzon had spent extended time searching for his friend and it was his greatest regret that he couldn't find him.) It would make the spirit trip in that ep more meaningful and personal for Aang. It also makes more sense for Zuko, personality-wise that double-grandaddy conflict. I'll expand on this idea further if/when I get around to writing book 3. I just have so many headcanons about this, and I thought I would share this one here.
Next chapter Zuko will help Katara will show off her fighting skills, and those two will get much much closer. Until then my lovely readers.