I see Azula continues her long and proud tradition of having important conversations with Zuko while dressed in her bedclothes.

At least she's not hitting on him this time.

>"Oh, very well, Mother," said Azula with mock resignation. Then,
>becoming cheerfully brisk, she said, "So. Tell me all about what went
>on in the old country after I left. I tried to get an update or two
>out of Aang last night, but the only things he wanted to talk
>about were his children and that 'United Republic' thing, the latter
>of which sounded frankly ill-advised if you ask me."

"Also the former, come to think of it."

>Thus primed, the three commenced to catch up, trading stories and
>laughs, in the usual fashion of families that haven't been together in
>a long, eventful time.

You know, I understand the reasons why this can't really be shown in detail, but man, I am sorry to not see Azula's various responses and reactions to future developments both re: the Fire Nation and Zuko disseminating his genetic code, the latter of which would be a topic of intense interest to her.

I also am entirely sure, in my own mind, that even after all these years Azula would be able to guess exactly how many assassination attempts Zuko had to dodge during his first decade of ruling, plus or minus no more than two or three.

>Azula raised a questioning eyebrow at him, replying with evidently
>genuine puzzlement, "What?" Then, as he scowled at her and drew
>breath to elaborate, she seemed to understand; with a dismissive roll
>of her eyes, she took a sip of her tea and said unconcernedly, "Oh,
>Zuzu, really. Just because you've never been able to
>control your baser urges, don't drag me into your private
>hell."

"We were both widowed and in our eighties, Azula. There was nothing really 'base' about it."

>"It'll be fine," Ursa told him. "You have to learn to trust your
>sister sooner or later, Zuko."

That's a lie and Ursa knows it. :)

> Azula (now dressed
>in stylish modern street clothes, mainly red and black)

While contemplating Azula's potential fashion choices when given options that didn't include ridiculously puffy pants or pointy shoes, I came to the conclusion that at some point, she would definitely have earned a Corellian Bloodstripe if for no other reason than to look boss.

>"You can cook?"

"Because Mai and Ty Lee have stories about your days on the road. Did you really figure out how to burn water? Because Zuko and I tried to figure that one out and came up empty."

>Azula half-smiled. "Yes, Katara, I can cook. I can do quite a
>number of things, not to brag. I can cook, I can play drums
>and the guitar (not at the same time, obviously), I speak nine
>languages, and I'm a licensed scuba instructor. I have degrees in
>electrical engineering and business administration from the Nekomi
>Institute of Technology on Tomodachi. I also do calligraphy, flower
>arranging, and shiatsu massage."

Azula's higher education... really, even her secondary education... must have been interesting to anyone who probably grew up with a classical Chinese view on the forms and states of matter. "Fire is made out of fire. What else could it be made out of? It isn't air or water or earth. Stop trying to trick me!"

>"Only vaguely," said Katara. "I seem to recall it started with a
>revisitation of that half-baked non-apology you came up with at
>dinner."

Ah, here we go.

>"I - " Katara hesitated, then said slowly, "I thought we'd have to
>anyway. When Boone reported that he had a shot and I told him to take
>it... I was expecting him to kill you."

I choose to believe that during that ellipses, she changed out "hoping he would" to "expecting him to."

>"Ah," said Azula. "That explains why he claimed he had intended to
>last night; to save your blushes. Did you think I'd turned willingly?
> Changed my mind about rejoining Father's 'team'?"
>
>Katara looked at her for a moment, then away. "Something like that,"
>she admitted.

More probably, Katara assumed that Azula never really left Team Burninate, but is too polite to say so while still sort of hung over. :)

>"We're not dead, we're battling evil in another dimension!" Sokka
>insisted.

I also choose to believe that Sokka toyed heavily with the idea of cashing in his return ticket to Diqiu just to fuck with people. Do a bunch of book signings, maybe try and get his acting career going again, pose for selfies on top of the graves of his enemies, that kind of thing. Publish some of the stuff he's written while in Asgard, like his completely unauthorized biography of Avatar Kyoshi.

Decided against it when he couldn't talk Toph into coming along.

>"Looking for me?" came a voice from behind her. Turning, she saw Ty
>Lee standing at the top of the ramp, a light travel bag slung over one
>shoulder, smirking faintly.

... yes.

This.

All of this. God damn, do I want to see Azula and Ty Lee tool around the galaxy being awesome girlfriends together. I want to see the shopping trip that happens the first time they make port. I want to see Azula buy all the pink things ever for Ty Lee and justify it to herself on the grounds that it's not pink, it's a light red. I want to see Ty Lee take her to Republic City and Caldera and show her all the awesome shit that she and Zuko and Mai and everyone helped build after the war. I want to see them eat noodles in Firetown and see Azula see interbending families with multiple forms of bending in the same family unit and acknowledge that maybe there's something to all that unity crap after all.

Thank god for the power of imagination.

>"Armistice Day" - a Twilight / Desolation Angel Mini-Story
>by Benjamin D. Hutchins
>special to the Eyrie Productions Discussion Forum
>© 2014 Eyrie Productions, Unlimited

Hmm. Okay, I have structural thoughts on this one that I tried to think of a place to put in-line, but couldn't, so... here at the end, I guess.

This installment is both good and necessary. Without knowing precisely what you have planned for the finale (and what, if anything, got hived off of it and transitioned into this) I still think I can confidently say that as a bridging scene, if nothing else, Armistice Day is doing yeomans work.

And I like how it is established that Katara is just going to be wierdsies about Azula for awhile. I know you'll likely resent the comparison, but it makes sense in context of both her treatment of Zuko prior to The Southern Raiders and of Azula herself during The Search, during which Katara was quite tolerant of Azula's constant and repeated freakouts. Katara will put up with a lot of shit even from people she really hates as long as there is even a soupcon of evidence of good faith.

And what really works best is the dichotomy of attitude. That's well-portrayed. Katara hasn't seen Azula in forever, and despite her young age, Katara was fully realized as a person the last time they had any interaction at all. So she's just, you know... being Katara. And being in the presence of Azula must almost be like being in the immediate postwar period all over again.

Azula, though, has been Captain Inazuma for a really long time, and while I could debate whether or not she's dealt with her issues in a comprehensive way, she has dealt with them productively. The past really is another country for her. So for the most part she's her usual insouciant self. For the most part.

Having said all that, though...

There's a lot of elision going on in there, I feel. Some of it is necessary, but a lot of this felt very telly, rather than showy. In particular that long digression into Katara's internal mental state and motivations doesn't scan particularly smoothly for me. I realize this is a vignette rather than a novelette, but... I dunno. Without trying to be a dick here, I don't think it's quite up to the standard of demonstrating a persons internal conflict, nature, and evolution we saw most recently in just about everything involve Azana and Karana.

Still, a good time was had by all.

-Merc
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