And now I'm glad I did, because it's actually good. Real good. I'm, like, 90% sure that it is going to betray me in the end, like The Promise did, but I'm not sorry I read it, because some interesting shit is going on in there.

(Spoilers incoming. No, for reals you guys. Lots of them.)

Basically, the thrust of the entire volume is the tension between modernity and tradition. Aang, now that he has a shiny crew of Air Acolytes, decides he wants to start reviving Air Nomad traditions and cultural practices. There are two very big problems with this. The first is that Aang only knows the form and not the content for a lot of those traditions. He knows that you go and honor the ancient statue, but not who the statue is of or why it deserves veneration. He knows that you go and have a spiritual meal in a specific meadow, but was never taught why that meadow in particular is very important.

This, of course, only makes him want to dig in his heels and dive headlong into those forms even without knowing their content, because he is Aang and has a tendency to be fueled by guilt and stubbornness when it comes to being the Last Airbender. Katara does her best to accommodate him, and you can tell that she's bewildered and maybe a little bit saddened by the whole affair, but when the last member of a genocided people who is also your boyfriend wants to reconnect with his heritage you do not argue.

Oh, and Aang's being haunted by Yangchen, who seems really agitated by something. That's a thing!

The second problem is that the world doesn't really give a shit about Aang's dead people. The world has moved on. Specifically, the world has moved on by building an industrial town on top of the sacred meadow where the Air Nomads used to gather.

Which is also problematic, because that industrial town is actually an amazing example of the new world of unity Aang has grudgingly accepted needs to be built. It's the very first Earth Kingdom/Fire Nation joint business venture (well, the first one that doesn't involve, you know, slaves), and has attracted a lot of waterbender immigrants to work the assembly lines as well. Yu Dao wants to connect the place to the very first railroad built in the Earth Kingdom. So Aang has some issues with his desire to make them pack up and move.

Issues that Toph doesn't really help with.

Toph holds Aang's fascination with the past and tradition in pretty deep contempt. This is less because Toph is a horrible bitch and more because Toph associates "tradition" with "her parents turning her into a prisoner." Toph is all about building a new world on the ashes of the old one. So she is totally on board with this new industrial town, especially since the super hot engineer with perfect hair and science goggles is wayyyyyy into her and her metalbending and wants to sponsor her academy. So she's all "you can go fuck yourself, Aang"...

Right up to the point where she discovers that the Earth Kingdom investor in this wonderful new enterprise is her Dad.

This makes Toph confused and angry inside. Toph doesn't like being confused and angry inside.

Basically, there's a level of subtlety at play here I'm not used to from the comic line in general. It felt a lot more like a storyline you'd actually have seen in the animated series than either of the other two arcs so far. I was real real pleased with it, although, as I said, I'm waiting for the sudden and inevitable betrayal.

Good times, though.

-Merc
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