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Subject: "FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3"     Previous Topic | Next Topic
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Dec-02-13, 12:11 PM (EST)
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"FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3"
 
   LAST EDITED ON Dec-02-13 AT 05:02 PM (EST)
 
III: As Long as You're Happy

As they had the previous year, Azana and Karana stayed at school during the fall interval, a couple of weeks after the funeral. It was only a week, not enough time for it to be worth Karana's while (or the cost of the tickets) to fly home to the South Pole and back, and Azana was hardly interested in going back to that big old house with her father gone, and only her increasingly estranged mother and the servants for company.

That led to something of a quandary in December, when the winter holidays arrived. She would have to go somewhere, since the Academy's residences would be closed. Unlike the previous summer, though, there was nothing to stop her from accepting Karana's eagerly tendered invitation to come south with her. Azera still technically had legal custody of her, but with her position already weakened by her late husband's efforts to secure Azana's future education, she capitulated easily enough. Azana guessed her mother didn't really want her rattling around the house any more than she wanted to be there anyway, so for once their desires were aligned.

Even as that suited Azana's purposes, it also made her sad. On the long flight to the Southern Water Tribe, she wondered whether the only thing that had even made them resemble a family in the first place was her father's adamant desire that they be one. Did her mother actually love her? Or vice versa, come to that? She would have liked to think they did, and it was just that a fundamental personality conflict kept them from being friends, but at times like this, she wondered.

Xinqisi, Shieryue 16, 280 ASC
Thursday, December 16, SY 2399
Nanisivik, Southern Water Tribe

The funk didn't survive long after they arrived, though. At Chief Hakoda International Airport in Nanisivik, they emerged from the plane into bright sunlight and the clean scent of cold salt air. The South Pole's capital was a seaport, built at the confluence of two fjords, and the weather was clear and mild. The sky was an astonishing shade of antarctic blue, one Azana, raised in balmy Shu Jing, had never seen before; as she stood on the tarmac looking up at it, she realized it was very nearly the color of Karana's eyes.

"What do you think?" Karana asked. "Pretty good, right? And this is only the airport. Wait'll you see the nice parts of town."

In the terminal, they were met at baggage claim by a big, burly, cheerful man with his greying brown hair pulled back in a collection of heavy plaits, and his impressive beard done up in several more. This man - who looked even bigger than he was because of the bulky fur parka he wore - virtually engulfed Karana in a bear hug on sight.

"Welcome home, little bear," he said, then set her back on her feet and grinned at her. His teeth, like the rest of him, seemed slightly outsized, as if designed for a larger animal and then repurposed into a man instead. His eyes were a slightly greyer blue than Karana's, like wet slate, and they seemed to spark with a combination of intelligence and merriment.

"It's good to be back," said Karana, grinning back. "Dad, this is my best friend, Azana. 'Zana, I want you to meet my father, Nanuruq."

Nanuruq turned his grin on Azana, and for a second she was slightly afraid that she was going to get the same welcome as Karana (not that it would have been unwelcome, but she feared for the shape of her backbone afterward); but instead he stuck out an enormous mittened hand, into which her own vanished altogether, and squeezed warmly but not painfully.

"So we meet at last!" he declared. "I've heard so much about you. We missed you at the Glacier Spirits Festival last June!"

"I, er... thank you... your honor?" said Azana, who had suddenly realized she didn't know how to address him. He was a doctor, the only one in the village where he lived, but Karana had told her that he was also the village angakkuk, a Southern Water Tribe religious-slash-legal office she had rather vaguely described as somewhere between a Fire Sage rōshi and the local justice of the peace.

"Please! My daughter's best friend - just call me Nanuruq," the doctor insisted. "Come - let's get your bags and find something to eat. Twelve hours on an airplane, you must be starving."

Azana decided not to point out that they'd been served a fine lunch on the plane; it would have seemed rude somehow, and besides, that had been hours ago.

Nanuruq insisted on carrying all the luggage, festooning himself like a pack animal and making a game of it. Azana guessed he would have had no trouble shifting all of Prince Shinzen's baggage for an entire school year by himself, never mind the two small bags apiece she and Karana had packed for this trip. They caught a taxicab into the city, Karana's father tipping the driver extra to take them past some of the highlights, and came eventually to a handsomely appointed restaurant.

The cuisine of the Southern Water Tribe - Piandao Academy's own efforts at which had sparked the famous confrontation between Karana and Shinzen last year - was weighted heavily toward seafood, but as an islander herself, Azana had no trouble that that. She always rather looked forward to Water Tribe days in the school refectory, and from the original source, as it were, it was even better.

Replete, they took another cab on another little tourist ride around the area, and ultimately arrived at a hotel that was easily as grand as any Azana had ever seen in the Fire Nation, albeit in a very different style.

"We'll stay here tonight and head to Senna in the morning," Nanuruq explained as he led the way across the cavernous marble-floored lobby. "The ride up Pangniqtuuq Fjord is best experienced with eyes fully open," he added with a grin, winking at Azana and tipping his head toward his drowsy-looking daughter. Azana couldn't help but smile. She was feeling a little draggy herself, and, glancing at the clock on the wall by the reception desk, she realized why.

"Is that ten o'clock at night?" she wondered.

Nanuruq looked at the clock, then nodded. "Yep," he said, pressing the button to summon the elevator.

Azana frowned thoughtfully and turned to look out through the glass frontage of the lobby at the street. Yes, in fact, she hadn't imagined it, it was still broad daylight outside.

Karana's father saw the look and laughed. "You're in the land of the midnight sun now, my dear," he said cheerfully. "It won't be dark in Nanisivik again until February - and then for only a few minutes."

"Oh," said Azana. She had known, of course, that it was summer (or soon would be) in the Southern Hemisphere, but the fact that the lengths of day and night were so distorted this close to the poles was something she had read once in a book and then partially forgotten.

Nanuruq installed his daughter and her friend in the room adjoining his, remarking cheerfully that it was probably the last time they were going to have entirely to themselves for a while, and bade them goodnight as he closed the connecting door. Azana turned to make some remark or another to Karana about what a kind man her father seemed to be, but when she did, she saw with a smile that her roommate was already asleep, stretched out full-length on the bed nearer the window, still fully dressed in her school uniform. As she sometimes did when Karana fell asleep at her desk, Azana watched her sleep for a minute, then gently woke her and persuaded her to put herself properly to bed.

She woke early the next morning, to find the room still dark, the heavy drapes drawn against the perpetual summer sunshine, and quiet but for Karana's gentle snoring. Smiling, she got quietly out of bed, took a shower, dressed in nondescript civilian clothes, and went out to get some breakfast and explore the area around the hotel a little.

The neighborhood was just coming to life, with shopkeepers out rattling the shutters of their shops open and the proprietors of cafes setting out the sidewalk tables that, even in this chilly climate, people evidently expected to find. Azana bought a thing like a square donut and a paper cup of cocoa at one of them, then ate one and drank the other as she strolled down the street, looking curiously into the windows of shops to see what sorts of things were on offer in the southern capital.

"We do a lot of handicrafts," Karana had explained to her once, during one of their long late-night conversations about this and that and everything. "We were hunters and fishers for a long time before we ever took up farming or trading, and the impulse to make our stuff ourselves is still really strong in our culture."

What Azana saw in the shop windows of downtown Nanisivik seemed to bear that out. Almost everything there was handmade, or at least hand-finished - furniture, pottery, clothing and textiles... she even looked into one shop and saw a team of three people building an old-fashioned radio, two making the cabinet while another soldered its electronic guts together at a nearby workbench.

The one that really caught her eye, though, was a jeweler's. She passed it twice, once on her way to the end of the block and once back, and then returned to it a second time after disposing of her empty cocoa cup in a corner bin. The items in the jeweler's window were all beautiful, all obviously wrought by a skilled and loving hand, and they all that that unique design language she had come to associate with the Southern Water Tribe from its architecture and Karana's rarely-seen civilian clothes - lots of blue and white and silver, with intricate wave- and knot-like motifs in the carving and engraving.

One item, in particular, caught her eye. She'd seen it on the way out, again on the way back, and had returned to the window specifically to look at it a third time. It was among the simplest pieces on display, but also the handsomest, so elegant in its simplicity that the very fact made it outshine some of the more elaborate pieces around it in Azana's eyes.

Without really thinking about it, she went inside and bought it on the spot.

Karana was in the shower when Azana got back to their hotel room. She emerged from the bathroom, dressed in fur-trimmed trousers and a dark blue short-sleeved shirt, while her roommate was taking off her coat.

"Where'd you go?" she wondered.

"Just out for a walk," said Azana. "And a bit of window shopping."

Karana grinned. "Did you see Atuuniq and Sons? The radio shop?"

"Yes, I did," said Azana, smiling. "They were making one of those old-fashioned cabinet sets. Fascinating to watch them work."

"I love that place," Karana said. "When I was little I wanted to work there, but you have to be part of the family." Then, with a little smirk, she added, "The youngest son is cute, but I don't know if I wanna be a radiomaker that bad."

Azana giggled. "Professor Zhou didn't cover that in his lecture on career preparation," she said, and the two girls laughed together.

"Time is it?" Karana wondered, looking around her roommate at the clock on the stand between the beds. "Eight-thirty. Dad'll be knocking for us anytime. Better get packed up."

"Karana... " said Azana tentatively, before her roommate could go back into the bathroom and start gathering up her things.

"Yeah?" Karana asked.

Azana hesitated, a mild blush building at the bridge of her nose, and then said, "I... I got you something. To thank you for everything you did for me when Father died. For making sure I went to his funeral. And just... " She paused again, blushing a little more, and finished, "Just for being Karana."

Karana smiled. "Aw, you didn't have to do that," she said. "I was happy to help, you know that."

"I know," Azana agreed, "but I wanted to. I saw it while I was out for my walk and it just... seemed right." She took the slim box the jeweler had put her purchase in out of her side pocket and presented it to her roommate. "Here. I hope you like it."

"Ooh, what is it?" Karana asked, accepting it with both hands. Then, not waiting for an answer, she removed the lid and looked at what was inside. At the sight of it, her eyes went wide, color rising in her face as well. Looking up from the box, she met her roommate's eyes and said, "Azana, it's beautiful."

"I'm glad you think so," said Azana, and then she was slightly surprised when Karana thrust the box back into her hands and turned around.

Gathering up her brown hair, which had lately gotten a bit shaggy and reached just short of shoulder length, Karana held it away from her neck and said eagerly, "You have to put it on me."

Azana thought that was slightly odd - surely she knew how to put a necklace on herself - but it was a simple enough request. Removing her purchase from the box, she placed it around Karana's slender throat, gently making it fast at the nape of her neck with the flat bow knot the jeweler had taught her when she bought it. Karana shivered slightly as Azana's fingertips brushed her ticklish neck, making certain the necklace was centered properly; then Azana withdrew, and Karana let her hair fall and reported to the bathroom mirror to admire herself.

The necklace was a simple choker, a band of sturdy blue fabric about an inch wide, and its only embellishment was a round piece of polished crystal - some pale-blue gemstone that looked a little like sea ice - affixed to the front with a single link of gold chain. The face of the gem had been carved with the waves and crests of the ancient symbol for waterbending, similar to the Water Tribe's national insignia, but older and more elaborate. Uncomplicated but beautifully made, it fit perfectly with her locally-flavored civvies, and the pale blue of the gem in front complemented the deeper blue of her eyes. It looked like it had been made specifically for her to wear - or she to wear it; one or the other.

Bounding back out of the bathroom, she caught Azana up in a laughing hug that turned her almost completely around and toppled them both over backward onto the nearer bed. Azana was a little surprised, but gratified; she'd hoped her friend would like it, but she hadn't envisioned a reaction like this.

"Thank you," said Karana, still hugging her, then repeated, "It's beautiful."

"You're welcome," said Azana, slightly at a loss. "I'm glad you like it."

There came a sharp rapping at the door then, and Nanuruq's muffled voice inquiring, "Girls? Are you awake? It's about time we got a move on... "

"Almost ready, Dad," Karana called back, relinquishing her roommate with one last squeeze.


Azana had a fine time in Senna, the little village where Karana had lived all her life. It was a compact and pleasant community, a few hours' sail up a spectacularly craggy fjord from the capital and then an hour by arctic camel from a little fishing station on the coast. Apart from the houses, which were sturdy stone-built structures clad in sod and snow, often partly underground, there was a town hall fronting onto a broad expanse of public square, a few small businesses, a schoolhouse, and a post office. It was possible to walk from one end of town to the other in about five minutes. Even in high summer it was cold, snow- and icebound, though the sunshine was pleasant and the temperature not too low for comfort if you dressed properly.

She had heard many times as a young girl that Water Tribespeople, particularly southerners, were still prejudiced against Fire Nationals even nearly two centuries after the Hundred Year War's end, but Azana saw no evidence of that. Karana's relatives and neighbors were all very pleasant and welcoming to her, apparently wishing for nothing other than that she should feel at home in their community. The only one who didn't was Karana's elder brother, Atausiq, and he wasn't hostile so much as indifferent. Having just turned sixteen, he was more interested in his friends than his little sister's, and had his own activities to pursue. Even if he had been inclined to be unpleasant, he wasn't around enough to accomplish it.

Karana's mother wasn't at home when they arrived; instead, there was a note on the kitchen table reading, HUNTING. BACK WHEN I'VE GOT SOMETHING. K. Neither Nanuruq nor Karana seemed to find this in any way surprising, and Karana's younger brother Bori, who was all of ten, appeared to be getting by just fine on his own when they arrived. He was a quiet, thoughtful, scholarly boy, more interested in books than mischief. Azana liked him immediately, though he seemed to find her a bit frightening.

Karana's parents' house was quite small, just three rooms without counting the bathroom: a common room with a hearth at one end that served as kitchen, dining room, and living room, and two bedrooms, one for Nanuruq and his wife, the other for all three of the children. Azana had been told about it many times, but she had never really grasped just how compact it was until she was actually there.

"Where will I sleep?" she wondered once Karana had given her a tour, which took about twenty seconds.

"Well, we've got options," Karana replied. "Tausi's not home much, so you could have my bed and I'll take his. Or the couch. Or I could build us an iglu out back. Or we could go to Gran-gran's."

Azana blinked. "Avatar Korra's? Is she home?"

"I don't think so," Karana said, "but Dad has a key, and she doesn't mind if I camp out there sometimes, as long as I don't make a mess."

"Hmm," said Azana thoughtfully. She wasn't sure if she was comfortable with that idea. Yes, Korra had been really nice to her when they'd met the previous June, but still, she was the Avatar, and there was something about borrowing her house when she wasn't even home that struck Azana as a bit weird.

Atausiq blew in at around dinnertime and announced that he wasn't spending the night someplace else for once, though, and as she was even less certain she wanted to experiment with iglu living on such sort notice, she decided that they might as well try it. Nanuruq handed over the key without any questions when Karana asked him after dinner, simply telling them to have a nice night.

The Avatar's house, right next door, was very similar to the one Karana's parents lived in, with the same three rooms in the same basic layout, only the room that was the children's bedroom at Karana's was configured as an office or study at Korra's. It was decorated in a similar style, too, except with occasional elements from other cultures: Fire Nation light sconces, Earth Kindgom planters, some odd items that Azana assumed must come from the Air Nomads - subtle reminders that the person whose home this was called all the world her country.

There was only one bed in the remaining bedroom, but it was quite large, bigger than their own beds back at Piandao Academy put together. At bedtime, Azana found herself standing next to it in her nightdress, bemusedly regarding an object which sat leaning up against the headboard.

"...What is this?" she wondered.

Karana finished buttoning her pajama jacket, looked, and grinned. "What's it look like?" she asked in reply.

"It... looks like a plush doll of Avatar Korra. Except it's blue and almost lifesize," said Azana.

"Well, there you go, then," said Karana, walking around her to fall into the doll's lap. "It's a blue, giant Gran-gran."

"... Why?" Azana wondered, now utterly bewildered.

"Beats me!" said Karana happily. "I asked her once, she said it was a present from her father a long time ago. Something about an inside joke. She's really snuggly, though. Of course," she added with a smile, "the real thing's pretty good at that too. Lots of practice."


Two days after they got to town, Karana's mother reappeared, walking into the yard that morning with a dead gazelk about twice her own size strapped to her back. She was a fine-boned and wiry woman, so small she looked like she could have hollowed her husband out and lived inside him, but she appeared enormously strong. She heaved the carcass onto the skinning bench behind the house with a casual sort of ease, like Azana would've shown tossing her bookbag onto her desk, then turned and grinned at the wide-eyed girl standing next to her daughter.

"Hiya," she said. "You must be Azana. I'm Kejna. I'd shake your hand, but... " She shrugged, her grin turning wry, and indicated her general state of blood-streaked griminess. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Karana, would you run and tell your father to get the stove going, please?"

"Sure thing, Mom," said Karana. "C'mon, 'Zana, you probably don't want to stick around and watch the next part," she added, and seeing Kejna turn back to the bench and draw a huge, scimitar-bladed knife from a slot in one end of it, Azana was reasonably sure she was right about that.

"That was your mother?" she asked, astonished, as the two girls entered the house.

"Yep," said Karana. "Isn't she awesome?"

Nanuruq was occupied for the entire day cooking his wife's catch, filling the house with amazing scents and generally making it impossible to hang around there without suffering actual spasms of hunger. Karana and Azana spent the day outside instead, the former teaching the latter how to use snowshoes as they hiked to a ridge outside of town that afforded a panoramic view of the whole village.

"In wintertime, this is the best place to come to see the Southern Lights," Karana said. "You can't see it from here in daylight, but the Spirit Portal is right over that way," she said, pointing in a direction almost exactly away from the village. "In the dark you can see it for miles, especially around the winter solstice. The spirits come out and dance in the sky. Sometimes I just lie here," she said, indicating the sloping face of the ridge, "and watch them for hours."

"You told Shinzen once that you'd been to the Spirit World," said Azana, suddenly remembering.

Karana nodded. "Mm-hmm. Gran-gran's taken me a couple of times. There's another Spirit Portal up north - if you have the right guide you can go from one to other in just a few minutes. Not that there's anything in the North Pole worth the trip," she added with an eyeroll.

"What's wrong with the North Pole?" Azana wondered.

"Oh, nothing! It's really nice. It's just that the Northern Water Tribe lives there," said Karana sardonically. "Did you know they still think they own the South Pole? Seriously, if you ask them, they'll say Chief Aariak is just a sub-chief and she'd have to do what 'Great Chief' Inarik says, if he could be bothered to give her orders." She shook her head. "Like to see them try. Jerks."

Azana eyed her silently. Until that moment she'd been unaware that there was any basis for contention between the Water Tribes, or that Karana had an opinion on the matter. Their conversations had been extremely wide-ranging of an evening, but they'd never wandered into political territory. After fuming for a moment, Karana noticed her silence and smiled, slightly embarrassed.

"Sorry. Ranting," she said. "It's just that... I'm sure there are plenty of nice people up there? Somewhere? But I've literally never met anybody from the North who wasn't a complete tool. Honestly. They've all been like your mom." Karana blinked, as if just realizing she'd said that last part out loud.

"Well," said Azana dryly, "that certainly doesn't recommend them," and they both laughed.

They reported back to the house at seven for supper, to find the table all but groaning under the weight of a giant roast of gazelk and all the trimmings.

"Hey, all," Karana called as she and Azana took off their coats. "Wow, Dad, that smells amazing." She looked around the room. "No Tausi?"

"Out with the gang," said Nanuruq, arranging the last of the dishes.

"More for us," said Karana cheerfully.

Since the last time Azana had seen her, Karana's mother had had a bath and a nap. She looked even smaller without her heavy hunting furs on, almost childlike next to the bustling bulk of her husband, but for the grey beginning in her long, twin-plaited hair and a slight weathering of her face. Azana noticed that Karana looked a lot like her, particularly around the eyes, which were the same bright blue color.

Now, rounding the table, she gave her daughter the hug her blood-spattered hunting attire had precluded before, then leaned back and regarded her with a thoughtful air.

"Where'd this come from?" she wondered, touching the necklace Karana wore.

"Azana gave it to me," said Karana with a happy smile.

Kejna considered this for a moment, looking from her daughter to the girl's slightly puzzled-looking friend, then grinned at the latter, kissed the former on the forehead, and said, "Well, as long as you're happy, sweetie."

What in the world does that mean? Azana wondered, but no explanation was forthcoming as Karana's mother came over to her, administering the handshake she'd promised earlier. She had powerful hands, which wasn't a surprise after having seen her heave that gazelk carcass around earlier, but her grip was judiciously firm.

Dinner was as amazing as it smelled. Apart from certain items of seafood, Azana was reasonably sure she'd never eaten anything that had been alive more recently than the gazelk, and she had already discovered on previous days that Nanuruq was a fantastic cook. She wondered vaguely, with parental cooking like that on offer at home, how it was that Karana had been so ready to fight for the name of the Piandao Academy kitchen staff. Their efforts were workmanlike and honorable, to be sure, but this... this was art.

That "night", for variety's sake, Karana followed through on an earlier proposal and used her waterbending skills to construct a small, domed snow house in the open area beyond the back yard, after which they dragged out some blankets and furs, and a couple of battery lamps, and camped for the evening. Azana had been a little dubious about this idea, but once they were installed she found she quite liked it. The iglu was cozy, and much warmer than she would have expected for a shelter that was basically made out of ice. There was a pleasant sense of security, like a burrowing animal might've felt, particularly once they'd hung up one of the furs to close off the entrance and seal out the bulk of the midnight sunshine.

"So," said Karana in the dim quiet. "How do you like my hometown?"

"I love it," Azana said. "Everyone's been so nice."

"Except Tausi," Karana quipped.

"Except Tausi," Azana allowed, "but even he's just been... not interested. I can handle not interested," she added with a wry smile. "Thank you for inviting me."

"You're welcome anytime. Mom and Dad really like you. So does Bori, even if you wouldn't know it."

"I think he's a bit scared of me," said Azana.

"Probably. You're a girl. Girls are scary," said Karana with a giggle. Then she shut off the lamp next to her, snuggled down into the heap of furs and blankets that served for a bed, and said, "Better get some sleep. Solstice tomorrow! Summer's more low-key, I mean, it's no Glacier Spirits Festival, but still - good times. G'night."

Azana shut off the light on her side and mirrored her roommate's position, curling up back-to-back under the furs. "Good night, Karana."


After the winter holidays, Azana and Karana - already the best of friends - became practically inseparable. Had they been a little older, many of their friends would probably have suspected them of having become a couple in the wake of their October trial, but not quite yet - and besides, the truth was deeper and more complicated than that. Later in their lives, they both would know many ordinary couples who knew each other far less well, and cared for each other far less deeply, than they did.

Regardless, they already had been identified in their schoolmates' minds as a team, like Prince Shinzen and Chou or Kiko and Hitomi. After December, their image in Form Four's collective consciousness became welded into a single unit. There was a brief fad for calling them by a single composite name (which fluctuated through a few permutations before settling on Kazana), but it died out after six weeks or so in favor of a less precious blurring of the usual phrase, "Azana-and-Karana", into one long word.

In the springtime, Prince Shinzen announced that he wanted to fund another spring interval expedition for all of Form Four and was seeking suggestions as to where they should go. A few wanted to go back to Ember Island again, having had such a great time there last year, but Karana suggested that - if he was paying for it - they should all go to Senna for another of the seasonal festivals, which happened to fall within the break that year.

The Ember Island supporters were a bit dubious about the idea of going to their classmate's rural hometown, well below the antarctic circle, in southern autumn, to attend something called "the Falling Dark Festival", but Karana's cheerful insistence that it was the second-best holiday of the Southern Water Tribe year swayed a few, and the last holdouts were conquered when she let drop the intelligence that the Avatar would be there.

Where Shinzen's family's staff on Ember Island hadn't known what to make of them the year before, the people of Senna had plenty of warning and did the occasion up right, erecting a temporary longhouse in the fashion of their semi-nomadic ancestors in order to house the village's guests in style. The festival, too, lived up to its billing, being a cheerful occasion that was part ancient seasonal rite, part celebration of Avatar Korra's birthday.

Shinzen, who had developed a curious fascination with the Water Tribes since Karana had smashed his dismissive, aristocratic hauteur about "the provinces", went instantly and somewhat embarrassingly native. This offended a few of Karana's neighbors, until they realized that he wasn't making fun of them, just being a spectacularly goofy but entirely sincere fanboy. Eventually Karana's mother and Korra had to sit him down and give him a little talk, after which he ramped it back a bit, but it was still going to take his hair months to grow back on the sides.

After the spring interval, the school year seemed to accelerate, until suddenly it was June and time for another Commencement ceremony. With Form Six graduating, the machinery of the Academy ratcheted forward, and - ka-chunk - the rest advanced one slot, while the class slated to start that fall became the new Form Six. No Avatar at this year's ceremony, alas, but Karana was meant to meet her in Republic City, and then, as the previous year, they would go together to the South Pole by steamship.

And this year, unlike the previous one, Azana would be with them.

Xinqiliu, Liuyue 10, 281 ASC
Saturday, June 10, SY 2400

"Ready to go?" Karana asked, zipping up her travel bag. Their itinerary was much more leisurely now than it had been at the winter holidays, when they had had to go straight from class to the airport, so they were leaving their school uniforms behind and traveling in mufti this time. She was dressed much as she'd been in winter, in baggy, fur-trimmed trousers and a short-sleeved shirt, its open neck showing off the necklace Azana had bought her in Nanisivik. She'd pick up the heavier gear she would need for the southern winter in Republic City, and had advised Azana to do the same, so both girls had packed light.

Azana finished arranging her own things, closed her suitcase, and turned to her roommate with a smile. Karana occasionally kidded her that her civilian clothes looked like uniforms too, with fitted shirts and either knee-length skirts or dressy slacks (the latter today), but she did have to admit that Azana looked sharp that way.

Nearly thirteen - both their birthdays were in July - the two girls were markedly taller now than they had been when they met, but in virtually the same proportion to each other, so they barely noticed. Now, regarding each other in their unaccustomed civilian garb, they shared a grin, and each knew what the other was thinking without either having to say it.

"Ready to go," Azana confirmed, nodding.

"Then let's hit the trail," said Karana, shouldering her bag. "Next stop, Republic City!"

"As Long as You're Happy" (Part 3 of A Fire to be Lighted, a Future Imperfect/Dìqiú Mini-Serial)
by Benjamin D. Hutchins with Philip Jeremy Moyer
special to the Eyrie Productions Discussion Forum
© 2013 Eyrie Productions, Unlimited


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             RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3 BZArcher Dec-02-13 5
                 RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3 Prince Charon Dec-09-13 6
                     RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3 Gryphonadmin Dec-10-13 7
                         RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3 laudre Dec-10-13 8
  RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3 icefox Dec-11-13 9
     RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3 Gryphonadmin Dec-11-13 10
         RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3 Matrix Dragon Dec-11-13 11
             RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3 JeanneHedge Dec-12-13 12
         RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3 icefox Dec-14-13 13
             RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3 Gryphonadmin Dec-14-13 14
  RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3 Gryphonadmin Feb-25-14 15

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mdg1
Member since Aug-25-04
954 posts
Dec-02-13, 02:31 PM (EST)
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1. "RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3"
In response to message #0
 
   Why do I get the feeling that Azana just walked right into a "Fremen water rings" situation?

Mario


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Nathan
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Dec-02-13, 04:52 PM (EST)
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2. "RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3"
In response to message #1
 
   LAST EDITED ON Dec-02-13 AT 04:52 PM (EST)
 
I picture, years later, Azana agonizing about giving whatever the Fire Nation engagement token is.

"You're seriously worried about what I'll say."

"Um, yes?"

"Remember when we were twelve and you got me a necklace?"

"Sure, but - oh. ...You still wear that."

"Yeah."

"...Sorry I took so long to figure it out, then."

"Don't worry, you're cute when you're clueless."

-----

"V, did you do something foolish?"

"Yes, and it was glorious."


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Gryphonadmin
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Dec-02-13, 05:28 PM (EST)
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3. "RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3"
In response to message #2
 
   >I picture, years later, Azana agonizing about giving whatever the Fire
>Nation engagement token is.

The only canonical example of a Fire Nation marriage proposal we have, as far as I can recall, is... not helpful as a reference, since it involves then-Prince Ozai employing the Lavrenti Beria method. That wouldn't work for Azana on several levels, so I suppose if the need arises at some point, I'm on my own as to the particulars.

--G.
-><-
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Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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BZArcher
Member since Nov-9-05
598 posts
Dec-02-13, 08:19 PM (EST)
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5. "RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3"
In response to message #3
 
   Roku seemed to be a little less intensely creepful, but aside from "grow up and learn how to talk to girls, Aang", he wasn't terribly detailed.

---------------------------
We will BUILD heroes!


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Prince Charon
Member since Jan-11-09
301 posts
Dec-09-13, 11:37 PM (EST)
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6. "RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3"
In response to message #5
 
   Is there anything specific we see married, or possibly married, women in the Fire Nation wearing?

"They planned their campaigns just as you might make a splendid piece of harness. It looks very well; and answers very well; until it gets broken; and then you are done for. Now I made my campaigns of ropes. If anything went wrong, I tied a knot; and went on."
-- Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington


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Gryphonadmin
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Dec-10-13, 00:13 AM (EST)
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7. "RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3"
In response to message #6
 
   LAST EDITED ON Dec-10-13 AT 00:14 AM (EST)
 
>Is there anything specific we see married, or possibly married, women
>in the Fire Nation wearing?

Not that I can recall. In fact, I'm not sure we ever saw a married or engaged woman in the Fire Nation, or in fact any grown Fire Nation woman apart from those two wizened crones (who are central-casting spinsters). Not a character with a name who had any appreciable TV screen time, anyway.

In the comics there's Ursa and, well, Ursa, but I don't remember any specific token akin to the Water Tribe betrothal necklace in her case. Just the standard PROPERTY OF FIRE NATION ROYAL FAMILY* clothes.

--G.
* In her case, meant rather more literally. Fuck I hate that plotline.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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laudre
Member since Nov-14-06
202 posts
Dec-10-13, 08:41 AM (EST)
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8. "RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3"
In response to message #7
 
   >Not that I can recall. In fact, I'm not sure we ever saw a
>married or engaged woman in the Fire Nation, or in fact any
>grown Fire Nation woman apart from those two wizened crones (who are
>central-casting spinsters). Not a character with a name who had any
>appreciable TV screen time, anyway.

I believe we did see Ursa in some flashback scenes in the first series. There have been other adult Fire Nation women on-screen, but their marital status is not established (or particularly relevant). I imagine that, while still teenagers, Azula and her cohort dress as adults in their station and role, or just to their personal tastes.

"Mathematics brought rigor to economics. Unfortunately, it also brought mortis."
- Kenneth Boulding


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icefox
Member since Dec-11-13
2 posts
Dec-11-13, 00:14 AM (EST)
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9. "RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3"
In response to message #0
 
   As a long-standing fan of UF and Gryphon's writing in general, I hate to say this, but I feel like I sort of have to...

This mini-serial isn't really as good as it should be.

Specifically, because I believe in trying to make my criticism constructive:


  • It does a lot of telling instead of showing, spending a fair amount of time on narration instead of action and dialogue and stuff actually going on...

  • ...because a fair amount of the time stuff isn't going on and the narration is just saying "And then time passed until the next thing happened"...

  • ...Which is NEVER the case in school, because there's ALWAYS work, deadlines, friends, changes, drama, and so on. When you're a kid school is life, with all the terrors, joys, hopes, pains and random BS that happens, especially for pre-teens. Saying otherwise is just implausible, and makes me wonder why you're bothering writing about these people if you're going to smooth over 90% of the interesting/important stuff in a fairy-tale idyll.

I suspect a fair amount of this is due to it being written/released in part; I read it in one chunk instead of piecemeal, so I suspect a decent amount of the narration that got my goat is the transitions between the parts.

So your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to make it half the length (okay maybe 3/4) and frame it in one scene, General Izuno's funeral, with Azana watching and thinking about all the people there. Some fiddling with the timing could probably put every important event, or the memory thereof, into that one part, and make it hit a hell of a lot harder too. (I'd leave out that it was her father's funeral, or maybe a funeral at all, until the very end and let the reader stew and wonder what's going on, but that's a suggestion getting dangerously close to back-seat driving.)

Or, you know, you could not do that, 'cause you're writing for fun so you should do what you want. :-) Eris certainly knows that you've probably had enough stuff going on in your life recently, and I certainly can't fault you for putting some stuff down, saying "Yeah that's about what I wanted" and not wanting to turn it inside-out just 'cause I tell you to. I thought it was an interesting enough thought to bother writing it down, though.

So. Yeah! Peace out. And keep on rocking!


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Gryphonadmin
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Dec-11-13, 00:28 AM (EST)
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10. "RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3"
In response to message #9
 
   LAST EDITED ON Dec-11-13 AT 00:39 AM (EST)
 
[Oh, what a surprise, DCF doesn't know how to quote back formatted lists.]

I should really, really be asleep right now, and for Reasons I really, really can't be. So instead I'm doing this.

> - It does a lot of telling instead of showing, spending a fair
>amount of time on narration instead of action and dialogue and stuff
>actually going on...
>
> -...because a fair amount of the time stuff isn't going on
>and the narration is just saying "And then time passed until the next
>thing happened"...
>
> - ...Which is NEVER the case in school, because there's ALWAYS work,
>deadlines, friends, changes, drama, and so on. When you're a kid
>school is life, with all the terrors, joys, hopes, pains and
>random BS that happens, especially for pre-teens.

Which is fine, and all true, if this was a School Story; but it's not. It's about things that happened to these two characters, in large part, while they're at school, but it's not about school. So showing all of that instead of simply mentioned that it happened in between The Things I'm Actually Trying to Tell You would just be padding.

>Saying otherwise is
>just implausible, and makes me wonder why you're bothering writing
>about these people if you're going to smooth over 90% of the
>interesting/important stuff in a fairy-tale idyll.

Show me where I said otherwise. I said the school year unrolled smoothly; which it did. That doesn't mean it was featureless, just that in between the scenes that are explicitly called out, nothing happened that one would not customarily expect. And one would customarily expect "all the terrors, joys" etc. So they are omitted because who hasn't read, or indeed lived, that story about a million times already? A Fire... is about the variances from the routine, in particular the ones that shaped the relationship between the two main characters. The rest of the School Experience is just the set in the background. Wanting the story to be more about that is like wanting Office Space to be more about whatever the company the characters worked for actually did. :)

>So your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to make it half
>the length (okay maybe 3/4) and frame it in one scene, General Izuno's
>funeral, with Azana watching and thinking about all the people there.

Well, and I say this after all due consideration, no.

>(I'd leave out that it was her father's
>funeral, or maybe a funeral at all, until the very end and let the
>reader stew and wonder what's going on, but that's a suggestion
>getting dangerously close to back-seat driving.)

Yeah, 'cause the rest of that graf totally wasn't...

>Or, you know, you could not do that, 'cause you're writing for fun so
>you should do what you want.

I think you might be onto something here. :)

However:

>can't fault you for putting some stuff down, saying "Yeah
>that's about what I wanted"

This part implies that you figure I settled for what you see there, which is not the case.

--G.
you try something a little unusual...
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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Matrix Dragon
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1308 posts
Dec-11-13, 01:18 AM (EST)
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11. "RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3"
In response to message #10
 
   Well, I enjoyed it. Favorite moment is either Thumb War or Changdao right after the funeral.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter


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JeanneHedge
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807 posts
Dec-12-13, 11:50 AM (EST)
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12. "RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3"
In response to message #11
 
   >Well, I enjoyed it. Favorite moment is either Thumb War or Changdao
>right after the funeral.
>

As did I. Finally got a chance to read the fully compiled version. Thumb Wars, funerals, and inadvertent betrothals aside, I quite enjoyed the re-appearance of the giant blue Korra :)

Jeanne


Jeanne Hedge
http://www.jhedge.com
"Never give up, never surrender!"


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icefox
Member since Dec-11-13
2 posts
Dec-14-13, 06:37 PM (EST)
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13. "RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3"
In response to message #10
 
   That's fair. Apparently I missed what your goals were, and I certainly don't know what you plan for these characters in the future. I just found the story dull, and that surprised me enough that I thought long and hard about why.

Sorry. Didn't mean to piss you off.


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Gryphonadmin
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13352 posts
Dec-14-13, 08:09 PM (EST)
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14. "RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3"
In response to message #13
 
   > I just found the story dull, and that surprised me enough that I
>thought long and hard about why.

Ah, well. Not everything is for everybody.

>Sorry. Didn't mean to piss you off.

Nah. Annoyed, maybe, and that was more of a tone thing. If I had been pissed off, there wouldn't have been so many smileys. And I'd have said "fuck" more. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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Gryphonadmin
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13352 posts
Feb-25-14, 02:18 PM (EST)
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15. "RE: FI: A Fire to be Lighted, Part 3 of 3"
In response to message #0
 
   >That "night", for variety's sake, Karana followed through on an
>earlier proposal and used her waterbending skills to construct a
>small, domed snow house in the open area beyond the back yard, after
>which they dragged out some blankets and furs, and a couple of battery
>lamps, and camped for the evening.

I just ran across this 1949 National Film Board of Canada short which shows how non-waterbenders do it.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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