LAST EDITED ON Dec-01-13 AT 02:58 PM (EST)
 
>Shinzen sounds like an interesting character - channelling his
>great-grandfather(?)'s better and worse traits.

One more great. Shinzen is a grandson of Iroh Minor, who was in turn Zuko's grandson.

Being a prince of the Fire Nation is actually a pretty crap job. I mean, there are some nice perks and all, but it's very stressful and the payoff's not that great, particularly if you're not in direct line for the top job, so it's like what's the point?

>Karana's expectations couldn't have been too high for visiting Azana's
>family after learning that Azana was basically committing to doing the
>'sleeping over in the Avatar's house' for ten months out of the year.
>Then again, she is only 11.

It wasn't actually Azana's choice not to be a day student. Another of her mother's little tyrannies - once she finally caved to General Izuno's insistence that Azana accept the Academy's offer of a place in its graduating class of 287, Azera declared that if the girl was going to go to a boarding school, then she was going to boarding school, and never mind that you could all but hit the place with a rock from her bedroom window. She probably believed that Azana and the general would regard that stipulation as preposterous and abandon the entire scheme once they saw she wouldn't budge; so they called her bluff and Azana packed her bags.

Ultimately, though, it's no skin off Azana's back. She doesn't see her father as much, but from a cold-blooded, strict-cost/benefit point of view, that's pretty neatly balanced by having friends of her own age and not seeing her mother as much, and all the other quality-of-life factors come close to being a wash. Piandao Academy isn't exactly reform school, food- and lodgings-wise.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
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