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truthseekerthedragon · 2 years ago

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Thoughts on The Flames of Hope

TW: references to abuse, minor body horror, references to violence, brief reference to drugs

And here… we… go.

So, the book was dumb. Like, in my opinion, worse than TDG levels of dumb. How is it possible for someone to set a bar that low and then trip on it? Like how? I must know how Tui fumbled writing a climax this badly. Tui, you already set up an arc, the payoff was right there, and you still missed it by around two million miles. Somehow.

I’ll be analyzing The Flames of Hope from a storytelling or “troper’s” perspective, meaning I’ll be examining the story in terms of plot, characterization, and how well it tells the story it wants to tell. I’ll be looking at how well characters like Luna are written and dissecting why I like or don’t like certain characters or plot points; I won’t judge the story by whether my favorite character died or if a ship I liked worked out, because that would be silly, although expect my personal opinion on things to slip through every once in a while. Expect a lot of sarcasm.

This has been stewing in my mind for some time, so prepare for a lot of thoughts. Trust me, there is a lot to unpack here.

If you disagree with anything that I say, I wholeheartedly respect your opinion. These are just my personal thoughts, of course, and you hold the right to like/dislike this book or any of the characters in it.

There’s a prologue, I think, but it isn’t important. Who was the PoV in it again?

The story begins with Luna thinking about how she’s some kind of glorious Chosen One and how she wants all the HiveWings to die. Is this supposed to be the good guy? Well, it doesn’t matter, because after the first chapter she will lose all this personality and become blander than cardboard! Tui will, of course, prop up an illusion of a personality by making her think about tapestries a lot. This gimmick will be fun the first couple times it shows up but will wear thin very, very quickly.

Speaking of illusion of personality, pretty much everyone on the secret stealth team has, uh, lost their character traits. Not counting those who had no personality in the first place, of course (Sky), or lost it earlier in the series (Moon). Seriously, I can’t think of a single personality trait of anyone on this team other than “annoying.”

So Luna thinks about everyone on the team or whatever, to maintain the illusion of personality, and at one point she remarks that Bullfrog, the MudWing, has a personality that’s “buried deep inside” or whatever. This is Tui’s excuse for not giving him an actual personality. Seriously, what does Bullfrog do except be dumb, dull, and think about cows? He’s a walking MudWing stereotype. And Tui, being stoic isn’t the same thing as having no personality. You have to show something beneath the emotionless surface, otherwise the emotionless surface is the personality.

The team sets off toward Pantala with the magic items they have. Now let’s go off on a tangent and talk about expectations, and I swear this is relevant to the conversation, so stick with me here.

Before this book came out, fan theories and speculation was wild. Tui had released a few tidbits of information thus far, and we were hungry for more. There was a lot of wild mass guessing about what was going to happen in the book. For instance, there was a lot of talk about the possibility of a cure to the othermind being found, or Monarch being restored to the SilkWing throne, or an “I know you’re in there somewhere” fight between Luna and Blue. Standard fare like that. It’s exactly what you’d expect from a mediocre, tropey writer like Tui T. Sutherland.

Heck, I even wrote a parody of the story based partially on what I thought was going to happen! You know, the usual fare: Sky does something dumb and gets the entire team captured, Wasp keeps prisoners instead of, you know, killing them, Pineapple and Bullfrog dies to establish how dangerous Pantala is, and a few jokey things like a Batman reference and a Wasp redemption arc. *sigh* And an othermind redemption arc, too. It was supposed to be a joke. *sob*

No one honestly believed there was going to be an othermind redemption arc, and no one thought Wasp would get randomly taken out by a side character. Heck, in my parody—which I wrote to be intentionally bad—Luna confronts Wasp directly! There was the occasional joke about the othermind getting redeemed or secretly being a scavenger, but no one took these ideas seriously because no one expected Tui to pull something like that.

And… well, Tui did exactly that, thus subverting audience expectations and sacrificing the story for the sake of shock bait, but I’ll explain that in more detail as I go.

Anyways, back to the story. So the team goes to Pantala. They immediately encounter a HiveWing force before they even reach the main continent, because Tui has to establish how dangerous Pantala is, and—gasp—Moon, who is the most useful member of the team by virtue of being able to read minds and see the future, is captured! Oh noes! Pantala is super dangerous, y’all! Oh, and Qibli and Pineapple get captured too, I guess. And Tsunami.

Also, we see a mind-controlled SilkWing, yada yada oh no everyone’s in danger now! Didn’t we already establish this two books ago? Anyways, the mind-controlled SilkWing uses their spidey-sense—wait, I meant lateral line—wait, I meant antennae—to try and find the invisible protags, but the good guys stay still because that’s totally how “air vibrations” (read: sound) work, so they only grab Moon, Qibli, Pineapple, and Tsunami. That’s actually a lot of dragons.

Oh noes, we need to save Moon now! Speaking of her, you know what makes me sad other than her personality vanishing after MR? We never see her read the minds of the mind-controlled dragons and remark how blank they are or use them to predict Wasp’s movements. We never see her get a vision of the future about anything. We only see her use her powers, like, twice, and once in an incident that doesn’t make sense when you think about it for two seconds, but we’ll get to that later.

So Sundew and Lynx decide to go off and rescue Moon—offscreen, of course, because nothing interesting is allowed to happen in this book—and everyone stays invisible. This is gimmicky for a while, but the novelty of it wears off very quickly, and eventually it just comes off as silly.

The team runs around underground and meet the nonbinary representation character, Axolotl the scavenger! They will only be there to be a cave guide and then will fade into irrelevance, only to reappear in the epilogue where they treat Cricket like a pack animal. Hooray.

What? I’m not salty about the scavengers gaining relevance in this series at all, or the fact that they ride sentient dragons like they’re horses or something! I’ll probably explain this scavenger nonsense in detail in a later post, and why usually-standard fare like scavengers riding dragons is especially egregious in this series.

So anyways. Axolotl the nonbinary rep. I was kind of hoping that a) they would get to assert their gender in the story and b) they would get a lot of screen time. We got neither; Wren just heard their pronouns offscreen. Oh well, at least there isn’t an awkward misgendering moment. Oh, and I wanted the nonbinary representation to be a dragon instead of a hairless monkey, but we can’t have everything, I suppose! No, I’m not bitter at all!

Okay. To be fair, I understand the enby rep getting minimal screentime; Tui’s hands were probably tied due to executive mandates. But I digress.

Tangent: How do Wren and Axo understand each other perfectly even though their societies have been separated for five thousand years? Language drift exists, you know, and given that Tui’s first written work was Shakespeare fanfiction she really should know that. This is like if an English speaker could understand someone speaking Swedish or Dutch, except it’s worse in this case because Pyrrhia and Pantala have been completely isolated from each other, meaning zero loanwords or any of that fun linguistics stuff. The thing with dragons is slightly less egregious, because they’ve been separated for two thousand years and Tsunami describes Willow with a strange accent, but it’s still egregious. This is basically the field of linguistics being set on fire for the sake of plot convenience. And honestly, wouldn’t it be more interesting if dragons struggled to communicate with one another to tell each other things like how dire the situation is?

Anyways, Luna and co get led to a group of other dragons also hiding underground, where we meet a few characters, like Pokeweed. Pokeweed is consistently described by the narrative as slow and dull, but his dialogue is actually quite snarky. This is a problem Tui has in general; she relies too much on tell instead of show, leading to disconnects like this and Bullfrog supposedly having a personality when he doesn’t. Oh, and she overuses said bookisms and adverbs in dialogue tags, which is another symptom of the tell-not-show disease.

Luna also meets a bunch of dragonets, because Tui really likes her dragonet characters. I get that she’s a mother of two, but can we not bog down the narrative with useless tiny sidekicks, please?

One of these dragonets is Dusky the orphan SilkWing from the horrendous Bloodworm Hive, because we need to establish sympathy points for him ASAP! Luna gets attached to him, or something, and later she will do arguably the dumbest action ever undertaken in the series for him. My friends, we call this type of character a plot device.

Some people on Discord also brought up that Dusky's backstory only seemed to be there to justify the Bloodworm Hive burning, so there's also that, I guess. Ugh.

Tangent: I’m still angry that Bloodworm Hive’s burning wasn’t addressed at all. Like, the LeafWings probably killed a bunch of HiveWings, and even if no one died—which is unlikely—that’s still a ninth of the HiveWing and SilkWing population displaced plus all material goods in the Hive lost. Why is no one talking about this? I’m pretty sure this qualifies as a war crime and it wasn’t even brought up in this book. I mean, if the HiveWings did something similar to the LeafWings, we’d hear no end of it, but hey, the good guys did it, and that makes it okay! Remember, kids, if you’re fighting for freedom and the oppressed, that gives you the green light to do whatever horrible things you want, because as we all know, the ends always justify the means! Uh, that got a bit racy there. Let’s go back to the book.

Several chapters go by in which pretty much nothing happens, and then Luna decides to go exploring with Dusky. They come across a mural or something, and Luna thinks about the Scorching and how scavengers took something dragons had or something, according to the myths.

Okay, time for another tangent. Fans have been begging Tui for information on the Scorching since the beginning of time, so Tui decided to hand it over, apparently. This book felt a lot like fanservice at points, and so did the previous book. There’s nothing wrong with blatant fanservice (see Spider-Man: No Way Home), but in this case it felt like a monkey’s paw situation, where we technically got what we asked for, but in the worst way possible. Here, the fanservice itself was bad and hurt the story overall. I’ll dissect this later.

Around here Luna meets that random scavenger we saw in the epilogue of the last book… why was she in that epilogue again?… Anyways, this random scavenger we don’t care half an iota about, Raven, appears here and then disappears for the rest of the book. So what was the point of her appearance—wait a second. Why does she have a raven feather in her hair? Doesn’t she spend, like, all her time underground? Speaking of underground, where do the abyss humans get their food? Do they exclusively eat lichens and mushrooms or something? Why is the worldbuilding in this series so broken?

Oh, right. The thoughts post. Ahem.

So then Vole runs up and kidnaps Dusky, and Luna is like, “Oh no!” And she runs after them.

Short tangent: Vole made an appearance earlier in the story, and Luna described him to have a scraggly beard. I must ask… is there a word in draconic for “beard” now? How does Luna know what a beard is when so far she’s only met female scavengers? Why does Luna distinguish a beard on Vole as opposed to, you know, describing him as hairy and scraggly in general? Questions!

Another short tangent placed here because I don’t know where else to put it: This is a problem pervasive throughout the whole book and the series as a whole, but this book was filled with cheap chapter cliffhangers. You know, like, “The monster turned toward them! Want to know what happened next? Go to the next chapter!” And in the next chapter it turned out to be not a threat. (1) It’s cheap, it’s transparent, it’s annoying, and it’s used as a hook to keep the reader in the book when the plot or characters can’t sustain the reader’s interest. Please stop using them, Tui, or if you have to use them, please make them lead into something interesting.

Anyways, Vole jumps into the glowing green abyss—which, by the way, is near Lake Scorpion as opposed to the sinkhole that appeared in TLC. Oh, you thought that random hole that appeared in the beginning of the arc had to be a Chekhov’s Gun? Nope! It wasn’t important, which pretty much relegates the sinkhole to a random thing that appeared and amounted to nothing. It wasn’t even set up as a red herring.

And here… *sigh*

Here Luna does the dumbest thing anyone does in this entire series.

She YEETs herself after Dusky, plummeting toward certain doom and mind control, to rescue a dragonet she’s only known for a few days.

Who cares if she gets mind controlled! What will the team do without her? Who cares! And it’s not like she’s guaranteed to get mind controlled since she’s literally entering the lair of the othermind. Nope, she’ll risk everything, the entire world even, to rescue a random dragonet.

Now to be fair, someone on Discord pointed out that this actually ties into Luna’s character arc of struggling with her bystander status. But it’s pretty telling that I don’t remember any of that character arc stuff, isn’t it? Shouldn’t something as important as the protagonist’s character arc be remembered by the audience? Oh right, Luna doesn’t have a character arc because she has all the personality of a piece of cardboard. You can’t multiply by zero.

Maybe, just maybe, instead of giving Luna a proper character arc Tui was only paying lip service to it to justify Luna’s monumentally stupid decision.

Now here’s a point you might bring up: Luna was a hero! Of course she had to save Dusky!

Uh, no. Luna had no personality to speak of; we never saw her do anything heroic, we just saw her walk around and act stupid for the entire arc. She’s basically a walking plot device that Tui’s using to further the plot. Luna complaining about the treatment of SilkWings even though she grew up in the system and we, the audience, can clearly see SilkWings being discriminated against? She’s just there to explain things to the audience! Her deciding to leave the caves to use her newfound wings even though it was extremely dangerous outside? She did it so she could get attacked by HiveWings! Her deciding to use her silk while being attacked by HiveWings and being unable to stop spinning silk for some reason while she gets blown away like a chump? She did it so she could get whisked off to Pyrrhia and found by Jerboa!

I’ll bring up a counterexample of someone doing something similar to what Luna did: Peter Parker rescuing the kid in the burning building in Spider-Man 2, and I’m using that film because I’m assuming everyone has seen it, not to mention that it’s brilliant and anyone who says otherwise can zip it. And hey, both Peter (in the Raimi films anyway) and Luna have organic web-shooters and were trying to rescue a kid at huge peril to themselves, so it fits!

At this point Peter has given up his responsibility as Spider-Man after a) being a superhero interfered too much with his normal life and b) he lost his powers. At one point he sees a burning building and, upon hearing that there’s still someone trapped inside, he immediately runs in to rescue the kid at risk of him dying a horrible death, and it’s especially risky since his powers are on the fritz. So why does this work? Because Peter has been previously established to be heroic—it’s part of his backstory of not standing by while something bad happens—not to mention that at this point in the film he’s given up his responsibility as Spider-Man, so to him, he can afford to die.

Does Luna have either of these points going for her? No. She has zero characterization because she’s a walking plot device, and she’s probably the only non-mind-controlled flamesilk at this point and she’s on the secret stealth team—there’s a prophecy, remember? Talons need to unite? That includes Luna. Ergo, she’s important, and she should know it.

Short tangent: I am so tired of these either/or prophecies in these arcs. Did this arc need a prophecy, even? The prophecy just undermines tension, because look, the prophecy said the team would succeed if we did this thing! If we need a prophecy, could we make it ambiguous or easily misinterpreted instead? “You need to do X or Y will happen” wears thin after a while.

But no. Luna YEETs herself after Dusky the plot device even though she really shouldn’t have, and don’t try to pretend it’s anything but Tui using Luna as a puppet for plot reasons.

So she enters the abyss and gets mind-controlled, because of course, but before that she sees a room… with a scavenger husk and a dragonet husk, but with plants growing out of their heads. Gasp! Body horror! Whatever, I’ve seen way worse on the SCP Foundation.

And here we get to the point where the book stops trying to make sense, or even form a resemblance of sense.

Because here, Luna is subjected to three chapters of flashbacks! Hooray! It’s not like that got old in the last book.

Yes, you heard that right. Flashbacks. And to pre-Scorching times. How does this work? It’s never explained! When I was reading this, I initially thought the flashback took place on Earth because the descriptions were confusing. And in case you were wondering, the flashbacks take place on the good ol’ dragon planet. Which still doesn’t have a name, by the way.

So in the never-explained flashbacks, we learn that humans used to rule Pyrrhia, but at one point someone named Cottonmouth decided to steal a bunch of dragon eggs to use as weapons of war, which essentially makes this a poor dragon’s Temeraire. As revenge, the dragons flew out and destroyed human civilization. How the dragons defeated the scavengers during the Scorching when previously they’ve been pushed to the fringes of the wilderness by those same scavengers is never explained. Maybe their rage gave them a powerup or something.

To escape impending death, Cottonmouth and a group of followers set out with a dragon egg, making it to Pantala, finding the breath of evil, somehow connecting it to Cottonmouth’s brain—this is also never explained, by the way—and then Cottonmouth connecting the dragonet from the egg to his brain also. And then they died but their consciousnesses remained alive in the breath of evil. Somehow.

“Animus scavenger” would’ve made more sense. And it would’ve been less convoluted.

Short tangent: People keep asking, so I’ll answer: A cottonmouth is a kind of snake, so named for their white mouths. Because in this series, everyone with a snake name has to be evil or at least be very, very nasty.

It really feels like Tui here was like, “Oh, you don’t like the othermind being a sentient plant? And you want to know what happened during the Scorching? Well, here you go! Might as well kill two birds with one stone!” And we ended up with the othermind being a scavenger and a dragon. Plus a bunch of flashbacks that padded out what was supposed to be, you know, the climax of this arc. Can’t we save this Scorching stuff for a Legends book or that dragon field guide Tui’s working on?

You see, monkey’s paw.

After the flashbacks are done, we’re introduced to two new characters, both of whom I absolutely despise: Cottonmouth the scavenger and the proto-LeafWing-RainWing he has with him, then called Lizard, now called Freedom. I’ll be calling her Freedom throughout this even though she’s technically called Lizard until near the end of the book.

Why do I hate these characters, you might ask? What has Freedom in particular done to earn your seething hatred?

Cottonmouth is obviously meant to be hated, but I don’t hate him because his character is despicable, I hate him because of how he’s written. He’s obviously meant to be the Worst Big Bad Ever in the series, even worse than someone cool like Scarlet, and Tui keeps trying to tell us how obviously dangerous he is. Look! He controls, like, everyone on Pantala! He’s been around since the Scorching! In fact, he started the Scorching! He’s so bad and dangerous, y’all, fear and hate him!

Unfortunately, his execution falls flat. He just comes across as a mean old guy with no real character substance, nor does he have villainous panache to make up for it like Scarlet. I don’t know why I should respect this guy, much less fear him. He kind of reminds me of Hush from the Batman comics in this regard: the OMG Most Dangerous Villain Evar who’s just… blah and boring. And also an annoying jerk. Who’s also gimmicky. Look, folks, Cottonmouth is an old guy who’s dead and his consciousness can mind control things, and he started the Scorching! Look, folks, Hush is a doctor dressed up in bandages for no reason who spouts Plato, and he’s Bruce’s childhood friend and he nearly killed Batman the first time they fought! (2)

There is nothing less cool than an author desperately trying to convince you that their character is cool.

Similarly poor execution afflicted the other character who appeared here, Freedom. She’s obviously meant to be pitied because of her backstory, but she has a terrible personality and it’s hard for me to sympathize with someone like her. She’s abrasive, whiny, selfish, sadistic, and 100% willing to help Cottonmouth, none of which are good character traits. It doesn’t help that she unironically says things like “I BARF at you” and “you bozo,” nor does it help that the narrative is desperately trying to get us to sympathize with her. No one calls her out on her actions; instead, everyone is all, “Oh, poor baby! Cottonmouth abuses you and it’s so sad! Here, have some happy memories!”

And this is coming from the person who sympathized with Winter on account of his abusive family backstory, even though he was a jerk—albeit one who was fundamentally good. Cricket, too, even though she had a less nuanced personality than I normally prefer. I sympathize with characters with abusive parents at the drop of a hat, so you have to be impressively nasty or badly written for me to hate you with a backstory like that.

Now, if Freedom had been instead been written as a terrified dragonet, horrifically traumatized from millennia of abuse from Cottonmouth, afraid to speak most of the time but willing to help Luna out of the goodness of her heart, that would give her way more sympathy points than someone who only helps Luna because it will give her memories and enjoys puppeting dragons.

Hmm, let’s do another comparison. Take Anfang the gryphon from The Gryphon Generation, a self-published series that by all evidence has been read by a total of, like, three people, myself included. This will require a bit more context. Anfang is a nasty character. He toys with his murder victims, he eats people, and yet he still comes off as sympathetic due to a combination of factors: he was a lot nicer before the military experimented on him as shown in flashbacks and Thyra’s thoughts; his horrific crimes, horrific appearance, and lack of societal knowledge make wider society reject him, with Thyra being the only individual who still thinks there’s good in him, and even that can get dubious; Anfang wants to be accepted by Thyra and actually tries to be a better individual, which feeds into his character arc; there’s also the fact that pretty much everyone calls him out on his terrible actions. It helps that he has a nuanced and interesting personality, with differing perspectives on things like love and religion allowing him to foil off characters like Thyra, the protagonist, and Matthew, the big bad.

Both characters have been taught that humans/dragons/whatever are fundamentally selfish and horrible, they’re both controlled by nasty bad guys, and they’re both sadistic, but Anfang isn’t a Karma Houdini—he faces actual consequences for his actions, such as rejection by characters who otherwise might have given him a chance. Freedom, though, is, and no matter what she does, she will be given a free Authorial Get out of Jail Free card, because she’s supposed to be sympathetic, look at the babey! Hey, I think I found the biggest reason why I dislike Freedom so much. (3)

Oh, and how many people expected the othermind to be a scavenger? No one. There were jokes, sure, but no one expected a scavenger othermind for real; again, Tui is pulling twists from thin air because it’ll surprise the audience and subvert expectations. Because what we clearly needed after a plant was revealed to be the twist villain was a second twist villain where we learn that the big bad is actually a scavenger! How thrilling! It’s not like this is gimmicky or cheap or anything. Heck, even Disney dropped the twist villain thing after a while because it was getting old.

Is it possible to write a good villain twist? Yes. Pretty much every Brandon Sanderson story has a twist villain in it. However, these are good twists, and always feel like an extension of the story, where the twist makes sense in hindsight and doesn’t feel gimmicky. Unfortunately, Tui does not have Brandon’s skill in executing plot twists, so her villain twists feel shallow and flat.

Anyways, back to whatever the heck the plot in this book is. Luna, Cottonmouth, and Freedom are chilling in a “mindspace,” which also makes zero sense. Where did it come from? How does it work? Very good questions that Tui will never answer, because details are for suckers. Anyways, using the mindspace, the group telepathically views a scene where Wasp tries to get Pineapple and Qibli to get mind controlled by her or something. Where’s Moon, you may ask? She got busted out earlier by Lynx and Sundew in a daring infiltration scheme that happened entirely offscreen. We will never see this scene, by the way. Nor will we hear a recounting of this story by any of the participants. Instead, we get to listen to Freedom whine, because that’s way more interesting than a retrieval mission!

Short tangent: Why does Wasp always want to mind control dragons and leave them alive for them to be rescued instead of just killing them immediately? Sure, she likes mind control, but she literally has thousands of dragons. She doesn’t need two more drones or puppets or whatever. Oh right, I forgot, she’s a villain in the Wings of Fire series, where intelligence isn’t required for villainy.

At least Malachite is in this scene. He wasn’t forgotten or anything, so kudos to Tui for remembering that he exists.

So Qibli and Pineapple attack Wasp. Oh, right, Tsunami was in this too, I forgot. There’s a fight scene here, except it isn’t very exciting because Luna, the protagonist in her own book, is relegated to a passive bystander while she watches Pineapple defeat Wasp with magical death spit.

Yes. Pineapple, the random side character who was introduced in the last book, was the one who defeated Wasp. Not Luna, who is the protagonist, nor any of the other third arc protags. Pineapple. The random side character. Defeated Wasp.

*sigh*

Again, this is Tui trying to surprise the audience for the sake of a surprise, because who cares about things like payoff? Basic narrative structure is for suckers. It’s not like this undermines the story or anything. And as we all know, The Last Jedi and the eighth season of Game of Thrones are beloved for being pure shock bait!

Oh right, the rainbow blood. For some reason, Wasp has green blood in this scene, and Tsunami’s blood is blue. I have zero idea why Tui made this decision, and it’s even more inexplicable that the editor and beta readers failed to catch this, but whatever. Fandom made a big deal out of it, but I have much bigger problems in this book to dissect, so I don’t really care. It was a mistake on Tui’s part, no one has not-red blood except for IceWings, move on.

Short tangent: By the way, Malachite gets his face set on fire in this scene. But the next time we see him, he’s perfectly alright. Tui does realize that getting your face set on fire is potentially lethal, right? At the very least he should have second-degree burns, which are extremely painful, and facial burns need emergency medical treatment immediately to prevent infection as well as prevent or mitigate a potentially deadly inflammatory response. At the very least Malachite should have some facial scarring and/or be seriously traumatized from the experience. But he’s fine, don’t worry about him!

So anyways, Wasp is defeated by a side character, and Luna wants Freedom to help her friends, but Freedom is selfish so Luna has to trade her memories. The friends escape, but Cottonmouth says he has already infected someone on the team… it’s obviously Pineapple, because Tui displays blatant favoritism towards characters who used to be protags, especially Qibli, and it would be especially undignified for him to get mind controlled! Her boi is too smart for that to happen to him! It would be similarly undignified for this to happen to Tsunami, so by process of elimination the mind-controlled dragon is Pineapple.

After that we see Cottonmouth superimpose himself over Pineapple’s body while he’s flying, which kind of reminds me of that Spider-Man: No Way Home meme. It makes me smile. Seriously, it does.

Now, where was I? Oh, right. It’s pretty clear at this point that Freedom is going to be redeemed, otherwise Luna will be stuck in the abyss forever, and there’s no way Tui’s going to let that happen. I wasn’t looking forward to the redemption arc then and I still hate it now.

So Freedom demands Luna to give her her memories. Oh, right, Dusky was in this too, and she wants his memories as well. So they give her their memories, she sees them, and whines about how boring they are because instead of fighting, she sees… gasp… friendship and family! And Luna starts thinking about how she can manipulate this five-thousand-year-old dragonet into helping them.

Is anyone getting a feeling of deja vu?

Because this is a retread of Snowfall’s character arc in the last book.

A whiny dragonet with immense power and sorely lacking in compassion is shown a series of flashbacks, memories, visions, whatever by a plot point outside her control. This causes the character to reconsider her compassion level and perspective on life and becomes better, or something, and does something that says she’s good now.

It’s almost the exact same thing as the last book. The exact same thing, because… I dunno, because Tui liked what she did with Snowfall and wanted to repeat what she did? Did she consider TDG her best book before TFoH came out, even though it was her worst Wings of Fire book by far at that point? What was Tui thinking here?

Short tangent: Around this time we see a bunch of trees near Lake Scorpion or something like that, meaning Wasp was either too lazy to do her job properly or was a liar.

Oh, and Moon appears in the mindspace, even though she isn’t mind-controlled. This is explained by the fact that she can read minds, but… she listens to dragons’ thoughts, she can’t project them or anything. She’s like a mind radio (does anyone still use radios?); she can pick up transmissions, but can’t broadcast them herself.

But, you may ask, what about in MR when Moon and Darkstalker talked to each other?

Darkstalker was a highly trained mind reader; he was likely taught a method to amplify his thoughts so Moon could hear them more clearly. He can’t project thoughts, and neither can Moon; they were two mind readers conversing with one another by reading each other’s minds. In fact, according to Tui, only a NightWing telepath hatched under a blood moon can project thoughts.

In other words, Tui forgot her own rules about mind reading. All for the sake of plot convenience, because poor babey needs memories because she’s so sad y’all, pity her!

So everyone shares happy memories with Freedom, because there’s nothing sweeter than manipulating an ancient dragonet into helping you while not giving her the full picture of what dragonkind is like, because dragons can’t be vicious at all. Aww! Did Tui and I even grow up on the same planet?

As if the “you’re more than your parents” thing in previous books wasn’t bad enough. Subtle, my a—I mean, uh, subtle, my bucket of worms. Right. Hmm, we’ll shelf the theme discussion for now and talk about it later.

Moon uses her mind reading powers to find out that Pineapple is mind-controlled. Everyone freaks out, Pineapple gets frostbreath to the shoulder, something something. At least the end is near, y’all.

Short tangent: I needn’t mention how the frostbreath to the shoulder is possibly deadly, due to the large amount of important blood vessels, nerves, and muscles in the shoulders, and should’ve incapacitated Pineapple, right? But he’s fine! It’s like nothing happened to him at all! He can still move and fight. It’s like no one can get hurt in this book or something.

Oh, and Freedom gets “redeemed” sometime in this horrendous mess of a plot, because she’s nice now! She thinks all dragons are wonderful and warmhearted. How she missed all Luna and Dusky’s memories of HiveWing oppression is beyond me. How does the memory sharing thing work, anyway? Who cares! Explanations are for losers. (4)

There’s some problems here.

So first, the redemption happened way too quickly. It happened in what, a day? Does Tui expect me to believe that a dragonet who has lived with a certain mindset for thousands of years will just change said mindset in a single day or two because she saw some warm fuzzy memories? I know Tui is the queen of unrealistically quick character development, and it’s always egregious, (5) but it’s the worst here.

Freedom’s actions here are also deeply out of character. She has been selfish for thousands of years; having her suddenly decide to help Luna is deeply out of character and just doesn’t make sense.

Oh look, more examples to contrast this book with! I’ll go back to works everyone’s heard of. Take Anakin Skywalker, for instance, particularly his portrayal in the Clone Wars TV show (the 2008 one, although I’d recommend everyone watch the 2003 miniseries as well). He has a key character trait demonstrated again and again throughout the show: he will sacrifice a lot of things, put himself at risk, and go against orders to save those he loves, like Ahsoka and Obi-Wan. The show highlighted this trait a lot better than the prequel films did, and makes Darth Vader’s sacrifice in Return of the Jedi retroactively better, because fundamentally Anakin never acts out of character; it’s just that the circumstances under which he acts changes. He’ll kill a spy/saboteur to save Obi-Wan and a ship full of politicians, he’ll kill a bunch of kids to save Padme… eugh… and he’ll kill Palpatine to save his son Luke.

I’ll use another example from Spider-Man 2 because I feel like it; you’ll just have to deal with it. Early in the film, Otto Octavius tells Peter that intelligence is a gift, not a privilege, and that he should use it for the good of mankind, establishing that he likes science but prioritizes helping humans. He tries to build a fusion reactor specifically to help humans obtain a source of cheap energy. However, after the reactor experiment goes awry and the tentacles fuse to his spine, the tentacles’ AI start whispering into his brain like tiny metal psychic raptors, influencing him to become a supervillain with no regard for human life; he decides to recreate the failed fusion experiment despite the very real possibility of the reactor going wrong again, this time wiping out a good chunk of NYC.

During the climax, Peter even has to reteach Ock that "intelligence is a gift" lesson from earlier in the film. Ock then demands the tentacles to listen to him, and the metal raptors—I mean tentacle arms—cower and stop influencing him, very clearly demonstrating that Otto could've stopped listening to the tentacles at any time. While events such as the failed fusion project and his wife's death did make him more suscetible to the AI, he still chose to listen and do what the raptor arms said. After that, Otto opts to destroy the out-of-control fusion reactor by dragging it into the river, sacrificing himself in the process and preventing NYC from being destroyed by a miniature sunball. In other words, his "help mankind" nature kicked in, and he did what he had to do.

Why did I use these two examples? Because they’re both examples of the “redemption equals death” trope and their heel-face turn itself occurs at the climax of the story, which is also Freedom's whole deal. I was going to use Zuko as an example of how to do a redemption arc, but didn’t because a) he doesn't fulfill either of the above criteria, making him less relevant to this conversation and b) don’t get me wrong, I love Zuko, but there are roughly two million thinkpieces about what makes him so awesome, making anything I say very redundant, and if you want to compare him to Freedom it wouldn’t be hard to dig up one of those thinkpieces. But I digress.

Is Freedom like either of these characters, where her redemption results from a natural extension of her character? No. She’s been selfish for five thousand years, but will suddenly become selfless because the book demands that you feel bad for her right now!

Some people will argue that Freedom changing her mind makes sense because she’s been exposed to new information, but in my experience, people do not change their minds easily; a conspiracy theorist would rather continue believing a lie than admit they were wrong, even when faced with all evidence to the contrary. A shift in mindset, such as Vin in Mistborn slowly learning to trust and open up to others, only works if it occurs over the course of months or even years. Tui does not do that here.

Also, this redemption wasn’t earned. Characters have to actively work toward their own redemption—they have to strive to be better people. They have to realize what they did was wrong, atone for it, and work to be better, making up for their past decisions. Freedom, though, just suddenly decides to be better because warm fuzzy memories. She doesn’t apologize, much less atone, for thousands of years’ worth of mind controlling who knows how many dragons, because all that happened offscreen and no one cares about those dragons anyway. She doesn’t have to work for her redemption, either; she’s handed the warm fuzzy memories on a silver platter, and she has zero self-doubts or internal struggles. She doesn’t have to work for anything, because look at the babey, isn’t she cute! If you don’t feel bad for her, you are a heartless monster and therefore all your criticisms are invalid!

Take the previous redemption examples I brought up. Anakin had to choose between ol' Palps and his son, and Otto had to fight the AI. There were, you know, actual hurdles to overcome in these moments.

And here's another thing. Notice how Anakin brought down the Empire he had helped found, and Otto dismantled the fusion reactor he had built? They were atoning for actions they had directly taken, a sort of 1:1 "I did this bad thing, now I'll fix it" scenario. Freedom, though? She shows how to destroy the othermind, even though the othermind's establishment wasn't her fault; it was all Cottonmouth, that dastardly, evil, mustache-twirling goateed villain. She's atoning for something she didn't do! Tui was so desperate to show how amazing and innocent her super speshul babey was that she forgot to give her something to atone for, and the atonement process is important in a redemption arc. Well, I guess her jerk behavior could be atoned for. That should've been what Freedom did.

You could argue that her atonement came in the form of her willingness to die to save the continent, and that’s a valid interpretation, but I personally think death isn’t as big of a deal for immortals compared to regular mortal people, because they’ve been around for so long and suffered so much that they usually see death as a kind of reprieve; in fact, I'm pretty sure Freedom hated Cottonmouth and wanted to get away from him as fast as possible, and was tired of her life. And I’m usually lenient toward the “redemption equals death” trope, because I see death as the ultimate atonement of sorts, but only for people who are actually scared of death and see it as a bad thing, especially so if resurrection or a fakeout death isn’t a viable option. Not to mention that a bad immortal did a lot more bad things than a bad mortal by sheer virtue of being around for way longer. But I digress.

And here’s another thing. A lot in a story hinges on whether we care about a character or not, one of which is whether we care about their journey and personal growth through the story. We are given zero reasons to care about Freedom, and thus zero reason why we should care about whether she’s redeemed or not. Sure, she has a sob story, but her personality is so loathsome that, by all accounts, everyone should hate her. Well, I certainly did, but Tui must’ve sacrificed her firstborn son to cast some sinister black magic spell that made most of fandom like Freedom or something. My point is, if a character already starts off horrible and unlikeable without any redeeming qualities, such as Freedom, then the author shouldn’t waste their time trying to “redeem” them, at risk of making the character seem like they were too easily forgiven or they got off too lightly for their crimes or the like. In fact, this is exactly how I think of Freedom, if my earlier thoughts were any indication.

Okay, back to the story. Freedom tells Luna how to kill the othermind, though it’ll get rid of her and Cottonmouth as well. Somehow Luna manages to escape the mindspace and wiggle toward where the plant is connected to the husks, intending to sever the connection.

Meanwhile, Cottonmouth has used a bunch of dragons to attack the team, intending to inject them full of breath of evil using a dragon named Carabid. He talks about this fight like he’s a sports commentator or something, except it isn’t any fun because we can’t even see the game—I mean fight.

So while the main action is somewhere else, Luna decides to sever the vine from the husks with a strand of silk. So to defeat the big bad, the protagonist has to do essentially some garden trimming.

This… is such a pitiful anticlimax that it puts the other anticlimaxes in this series to shame. I shouldn’t have to explain why this is bad. Shouldn’t there at least have been a large battle between the team and a mind-controlled army, or a confrontation with Wasp, or at least one explosion? Haha, no. Instead the protagonist spends half the book not doing anything except passively watch stuff happen, and in the end it’s Freedom who tells Luna how to defeat the othermind. We can’t have the book be interesting or even at least follow basic narrative structure like having a decent climax! That might lead to people actually liking the book!

Luna tries to sever the connection between Cottonmouth and Freedom because she doesn’t want Freedom to die, and I actually expected Tui here to have her cake and eat it too. I wouldn’t have put it past her. Surprisingly, though, Freedom actually has to die, because… something about how the breath of evil is semi-sentient or whatever.

So if the plant is semi-sentient and Cottonmouth was keeping it at bay, then wouldn’t getting rid of Freedom just make the plant problem worse? Or is it only semi-sentient when it’s connected to a mind? How does that work? Even without a mind making the plant semi-sentient, then isn’t it still a parasitic mind-affecting plant, as shown in the flashbacks? Why does getting rid of Freedom fix the problem? How does this make any sense?

But then, it means Freedom dies, so I’m not complaining much.

However, since *checks notes* Dusky has skewed priorities and wants to give this dragonet a name instead of, you know, saving the world before something bad happens, everyone’s all, “Oh, you sad poor babey, you need a name other than Lizard!” And she picks… Freedom.

Why, out of all things, did Tui have to pick a word so closely associated with ‘MURICA!? Because Tui loves ‘MURICA! and wants everyone to know it. It’s not like a childish yet cute name like Destroyer would’ve been good. Nope. Had to be a word that was associated with ‘MURICA! Tui wants to proclaim her ‘MURICAN! patriotism to everyone who might listen; it’s not like this is distracting and puts off all non-Americans and a lot of Americans reading this story.

Someone argued that Freedom picked this word because she was now free from Cottonmouth and the breath of evil. Fair point, but why didn’t Tui pick one of the numerous synonyms of the word “freedom” that doesn’t remind the reader of ‘MURICA!? You know, such as independence, liberation, or amnesty? Because, again, ‘MURICA! IS! THE BEST! AND TUI WANTS YOU TO KNOW IT!

And then Freedom dies and it’s supposed to be sad, but I didn’t feel a thing except relief this book was nearly over. Gasp! I’m such a heartless monster!

And now for the ending. There are so many problems with it I don’t even know where to start. Warning, it might get a bit racy here.

So first, Wasp and her sisters are dealt with offscreen while Luna makes out with Swordtail. What. The. Ffffffffudge. Why why why why why is the bad guy we're first introduced to in this arc and made to be a big deal in the books handled by Sundew offscreen, instead of by the actual protagonist? You know what, I already talked about this when Pineapple defeated Wasp, so I'm not going to repeat myself. You know how bad for the story this is.

For contrast, I'd like to add that Brandon Sanderson's decoy antagonists, despite not being the big bad, aren't tossed aside like garbage after the true villain reveal. They still have a large impact on the story as a whole and are dealt with accordingly. I'd list examples, but Brandon Sanderson isn't well known in the Wings of Fire fandom, probably because he mainly writes adult fantasy, and I don't want to spoil. (6)

In addition, we're told that all Wasp's sisters except Jewel were locked up in the flamesilk cavern. We were given some lip service to Bloodworm's cruelty, sure, but what about the other sisters? We're never told, much less shown, why these other sisters are terrible. We're just given Tui's word for it. I would've appreciated at least a comment or two about what the other sisters did to warrant a punishment as bad as the one given to Wasp and Bloodworm.

Anyways, in the epilogue we see a bunch of Pyrrhians coming to Pantala. Uh, why are they coming here other than because the author wanted a nice visual image? Are the Pyrrhians coming because they intend to move here? I mean, from what I've seen throughout the series the Pyrrhians in Possibility and the like live pretty cushy lives, and as for places like the Scorpion Den, if the way Tui thinks about queens is any indication, such places will probably be improved in the near future. So why would Pyrrhians risk their prosperity and happiness to move to a continent they had never seen before? I mean, unless everyone was told that Pantala was like 'Murica, aka the land of opportunity, then it could've made sense, but we never see that. It's just, "Oh, a bunch of Pyrrhians are here now and Luna is making a tapestry, hooray!"

Or maybe they're just tourists and I'm overthinking this, but you probably came here to see me overthink things anyway.

Sundew's replanting trees on Pantala, meanwhile, using… Pyrrhian trees. Okay, no. Just no. Those trees will either die because the soil composition, climate, etc is different, or those trees will become invasive and harm the growth of native trees by way of stealing resources. The Pyrrhian trees will be bad for the Pantalan wildlife, too: they may have defense mechanisms such as poisonous leaves or thorns that Pantalan animals just aren't accustomed to. All in all, terrible idea. There is a reason why trees planted in, say, the Northwest Coast are native to the region. And since according to this very same book, non-jungle trees are still present on this continent, maybe use the seeds from those? And even if there weren't, Cricket literally found a tree seed on a field trip. Those things are probably everywhere. Why use invasive species? Just… why?

Short tangent: Cricket's tree turns out to be from the fig family, even though when we were first shown the sapling, it was a conifer. But I digress.

Luna has the wonderful idea of splitting the SilkWings, HiveWings, and LeafWings into two separate nations, with the SilkWings and LeafWings living in some kind of forest paradise called the LeafSilk Kingdom; the SilkWings, LeafWings, and three good HiveWings in the entire tribe are going to live there. Putting aside the fact that Luna could have, you know, called it anything, this is a terrible, terrible idea. Splitting up the historical oppressors and oppressed isn't going to make things better, it'll just make them worse, because now interactions between the groups will be more limited, allowing more ignorance, and more hatred, to fester. And what about things like the fact that SilkWings made up, like, half the HiveWing empire's work force? I'm not saying that SilkWings should stay at their menial jobs, mind you, although they need a pay raise at the very least. What I'm saying is that the HiveWing economy will collapse if the SilkWings move to a separate country. But who cares! The HiveWings are the bad guys, so we don't care about their livelihoods.

Also, the HiveWing kingdom and the LeafSilk kingdom will fall into a cycle of warming relations and a violent war. How do I know? Search up India-Pakistan relations. It isn't a perfect 1:1 comparison, but they both involve ethnic groups that hate each other moving to different countries. And you can't say that the HiveWings and LeafSilk kingdom will never have a disputed territory. Luna and friends are carving out a whole new country from an old one, there's bound to be a border dispute.

The HiveWings, meanwhile, get a new queen! It's Jewel. You know, the dragon who literally has objectified SilkWings in her Hive? The one who throws parties all night instead of taking care of her Hive and probably has terrible crime rates as a result? Yeah, she'll make a good queen, all right. At least they don't call her "Jewel the Illiterate" or something because they think she can't read.

We're also told that some HiveWings want Wasp back, mind control and all. Gasp! This is obviously Tui trying to make a statement on white privilege (note to self: make a post talking about why the racism metaphors in Wings of Fire are… bad), but let's put that aside for a moment and look at it from the HiveWings' perspective.

For your entire life, you've been told that LeafWings are terrorists that need to be stopped. You think it's all propaganda and LeafWings are actually extinct, but around this time, a bunch of rebels steal the sacred text of your religion. Wouldn't that be scary? You don't even know why they stole it; for all you know they plan to burn it. Oh, and then it turns out that LeafWings are still alive, and they burn down an entire Hive. Maybe you were from that Hive and barely escaped with your life, losing all your belongings, or maybe you had a friend or loved one who barely escaped or died, or maybe you keep hearing about all the horrible eyewitness accounts of the stampeding panic and thick, choking smoke and the flames as they crept closer and closer.

As retaliation, Wasp gets everyone and sends them to attack the LeafWings and wipe them out once and for all in a decisive strike. You think this is justified, of course; they hurt the country, and you want them to get what they deserve. There's maybe a battle and it's confusing, but Wasp seems to think she's won, and everything kind of goes back to normal.

And then a bunch of strange dragons, from tribes you have never seen before, show up out of nowhere and throw Wasp and most of her sisters into prison. They get all the SilkWings to live under a separate government, the LeafWing terrorists return to your country's lands, the lands which Wasp pushed them out of, and now Jewel, whom you've always viewed as the most incompetent of the sisters due to her constant throwing of parties and neglect of crime rates in her Hive, is queen now. And those new dragons? Well, even more of them are coming to your country now. Maybe they're tourists, but maybe they're here to take over your country and subdue you. For all you know, these new dragons collaborated with the LeafWing terrorists and SilkWing traitors to take down your queen, and they probably did, in fact! Maybe they want to carve up your country and take the pieces for themselves! You don't know!

What I'm saying is that I'm surprised there aren't any HiveWing rebellions or resistance or separatist movements. Oh, and the "good guys" automatically dismiss these HiveWings as "evil," because this is a message about white privilege or something. Why do authors keep putting bad racism allegories into their fantasy books? Please stop. Just… stop.

So there's all this, not to mention all the things that weren't wrapped up and were seemingly forgotten by Tui. What happened to the flamesilks? Were they freed? I'd assume so, but we're never told what happened to them. How are they doing in actual society? Did Blue make amends with Admiral? What about the underlying and systemic oppression of SilkWings? Is anyone working to dismantle the system while the brand new separate kingdom is being planned? How did the HiveWings react to the arrival of Pyrrhians? Do they see Moonwatcher as the reincarnation of Clearsight? What about the fact that HiveWings learned that everything they were ever taught is propaganda? How are they dealing with the LeafWings returning? Speaking of LeafWings, did the PoisonWings and SapWings ever reconcile? What about the Pantalan refugees who moved to Pyrrhia? How many of them came back, and how many chose to stay and why? How are the queens handling the new scavenger law? Is anyone actually following it? How is Snowfall handling the IceWing nobility now that she destroyed the most important aspect of their culture and traditions? What happened to Pineapple, Bullfrog, and the other Pyrrhians? Did they go back to their continent, or are they staying to help run things in Pantala? Oh, and why is the burning of Bloodworm Hive still not brought up?

Absolutely none of these questions are answered, because the book was rushed and was probably only half done when Scholastic published it.

And now, let’s talk themes. They’re not as important to me as plot and character, but they encompass the overall work, so I’ll talk about them here.

Tui has gone on record saying that the theme of the third arc is empathy vs resistance. To quote an interview, "Arc 3 is about empathy and resistance - Tui wants her dragons to get along and understand each other, but at the same time there’s a point where you have to stop trying to understand the bad guys and just stop them."

It's a nice theme that allows for some nuance, although I would've preferred more of a gray area. This is clearly the theme, the central message, of the story in the first two books in the arc: how far should you go when fighting a dictatorship? Should we reach out to the citizens or attack them? Accomplish goals or empathize?

But then the thirteenth book rolls around, and the bad guy is revealed to be a sentient plant this entire time! And if you inhale its smoke, you'll get mind controlled!

Okay. The breath of evil is weed. We get it, Tui, don't do drugs. That's the theme now. Don't do drugs.

But then we get to this book and we learn that the sentient plant is actually a scavenger, and that scavenger stole a dragon egg once? Is the theme of the story now "don't steal dragon eggs?"

And thus, the original theme is discarded in favor of drugs, which is discarded in favor of… this. I mean, what? I am so confused. Where did the empathy and resistance stuff go?

Oh, and the title of the book makes zero sense. Tui was probably mandated by Scholastic to put the word “hope” in the title, but at this point this is just extreme nitpicking, so I'll stop.

All in all, this book was a complete dumpster fire. It is terrible and I will never reread it, even if I'm offered a million dollars to do so. Okay, then maybe if I’m desperate, but otherwise, no. This was Tui’s worst Wings of Fire book, and she should admit to mistakes made and learn to improve her writing in the future.

Unfortunately, Tui actively avoids criticism of her books. I understand that criticism can hurt an author’s feelings, but many authors have coping mechanisms to deal with this—Brandon Sanderson, for instance, reads one-star reviews of Terry Pratchett books, since Pratchett’s his favorite author, to remind himself that there will invariably be people who dislike even the best authors. One suggestion I have for Tui would be for her to request her friends or family members to read negative reviews of her books and summarize them to her; this would minimize exposure and reduce the sting of the reviews.

However, since Tui avoids criticism, she can’t learn to improve her writing. She continues to make the same mistakes: clumsily written characters, telling instead of showing, flailing around with the plot, prioritizing characters she likes over telling a good story. In fact, the second half of the third arc seems to be her worst work: the characters are bland or straight-up unlikeable, she tries too hard to please the fans and sacrifices story as a result, the pacing is a mess, there are too many poorly handled plot twists, and the anticlimax is worse than in the previous arcs.

And here’s what I’ve concluded from all this: Tui is tired of writing Wings of Fire.

She’s been writing the series for about a decade now. That is a long time to be writing a single book series without any breaks, and her writing quality near the end has taken a turn for the worse. She’s clearly rushing the books, trying to finish the series so she can move on to other projects.

And I get it. Writing is hard, and writing something for long periods of time even more so. Tui needs to stop writing the series, even if the fans won’t like it, even if Scholastic won’t like it. She needs to stop, get away from the laptop, and book a trip to the Bahamas or something. Her mental health probably isn’t the best for the aforementioned reasons above, not to mention the death of her pet and longtime companion Sunshine, which occurred while she was writing TDG.

Tui, I know it’s unlikely that you’ll ever see this. You actively avoid social media and actively avoid fan reviews. However, if you do read these words, I’ll drop the sarcasm and directly tell you this:

If you need a break, take it. If writing has become tiring for you, stop for a while and work on something else. Learn a new hobby. Dust off an old hobby. Find a TV series to watch. Go for a walk. Find a therapist if you’re still struggling over Sunshine’s death. Wings of Fire isn’t the totality of your existence, and don’t let it be.

Sincerely, a fan,

Truthseeker

(1) My brother likes to use a hook in the Warrior Cats book Fire and Ice as a prime example of a bad cliffhanger: “These half-starved WindClan cats were ready to attack.” Turn the page. “Fireheart realized they would follow the warrior code and wouldn’t attack.”

(2) I would use the term Villain Sue here, but the term Mary Sue and its constituents have been so overused that they’ve lost their meaning at this point.

(3) It doesn’t help that Freedom is mollycoddled by the fandom, and I seem to be the one of five people on the planet who don’t like her. And to me, there are few things more annoying than a character I dislike being widely liked by the fandom for some inexplicable reason. To me, it seems that Freedom is widely liked despite her jerk tendencies and authorial bias toward her due to her backstory and status as a dragonet. If you like her and want to tell me why, feel free to elaborate; I’d genuinely like to know why people like her so much.

(4) At this point I checked the wiki to clarify some points, and according to the wiki, Freedom has a high, clear voice. In other words, she sounds like Tui! Jeez, no wonder Tui loves her so much.

(5) Pretty much the only circumstance where I will accept character development occurring over a period of time less than a week is if it occurred in a film, simply due to medium restrictions—plot events in a film can only occur over a short period of time, so by necessity things like character development need to be speedrun. A novel, though, can take its time.

(6) I'd suggest reading Brandon Sanderson's books yourself if you want to know more, although you should be reading them anyway. They're that good. Don't worry, they're clean but it's adult fantasy so expect a lot of potentially triggering content. Brandon also has a few YA and middle grade books if that's your cup of tea; they tend to be less existentially heavy, with less potential triggers as well.

#wings of fire #the flames of hope #wof luna #wof wasp #wof pineapple #wof cottonmouth #wof freedom #wof jewel #truthseeker thoughts

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army-of-mai-lovers · 4 years ago

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Jet and Yue’s Deaths: Were They Necessary?

Two of the most common ideas I see for aus in this fandom are the Jet lives au, and the Yue lives au. I’ve written both of these myself, and I’ve seen many others write them. And while yes, fanfiction can be a great way to explore ideas that didn’t necessarily have to be explored in canon (I’m mad at bryke for a lot of things, but not including a Toph and Bumi I friendship is not one of them, even though I wrote a fic about it), it seems to me that people are mad that Yue and Jet are dead, to varying degrees. There’s a lot to talk about regarding their deaths from a sociopolitical perspective (the fact that two of the darker-skinned characters in the show are the ones that died, and all the light-skinned characters lived, is ah... an interesting choice), but I don’t want to look at it that way, at least for right now. I want to look at it as a writer, and discuss whether these deaths were a) necessary for the plot and themes of ATLA in any way whatsoever and b) whether it was necessary for them to unfold in the way that they did, or if they would have been more impactful had they occurred in a different way.

(meta under the cut, this got really, really, really long)

Death in Children’s Media

When I first started thinking about this meta, I had this idea to compare Jet and Yue’s deaths to deaths in an animated children’s show that I found satisfying. And in theory, that was a great idea. Problem is: there aren’t very many permanent deaths in children’s animation, and the ones that do exist aren’t especially well-written. This may be an odd thing to say in what is ostensibly a piece of atla crit, but Yue’s death is probably the best written death in a piece of children’s animation that I can think of. That’s not a compliment. Rather, it’s a condemnation of the way other pieces of children’s animation featuring permanent character death have handled their storylines.

I’ve talked about this before, but my favorite show growing up was Young Justice, and my favorite character on that show was far and away Mr. Wally West. So when he died at the end of season 2, it broke me emotionally. Shortly thereafter, Cartoon Network canceled the show, and I started getting on fan forums to mourn. Everybody on these fan forums was convinced that had Cartoon Network not canceled the show, Wally would have been brought back. And that is a narrative that I internalized for years. Eventually, the show was brought back via DC’s new streaming service, and I tuned in, waiting for Wally to also be brought back, only to discover that that wasn’t in the cards. Wally was dead. Permanently.

So now that I know that, I can talk about why killing him off was fucking stupid. Wally’s death occurs at the end of season 2, after the main s2 conflict, the Reach, has been defeated, save for these pods that they set up all over the world to destroy Earth. Our heroes split up in teams of two to destroy the pods, and they destroy all of them, except for a secret one in Antartica. It can only be neutralized by speedsters, so Wally, Bart, and Barry team up to destroy it. It’s established in canon that Wally is slower than Bart and Barry, and it’s been played for laughs earlier in the season, but for reasons unexplained, the pod is better able to target Wally because he’s slower than Bart and Barry, and it kills him. After the emotional arc of the season has wrapped up, a literal main character dies. There’s some indication at the end of that season that his death is going to cause Artemis to spiral and become a villain, but when season 3 picks up, she’s doing the right thing, with seemingly no qualms about her position in life as a hero. In the comics, something like this happens to Wally, but then he goes into the Speed Force and becomes faster and stronger even than Barry, in which case, yes, this would have advanced the plot, but that’s probably not in the cards either.

In summary, Wally’s death doesn’t work as a story beat, not because it made me mad, but because it doesn’t advance the plot, nor does it develop character. Only including things that advance plot or develop character is one of the golden rules of writing. Like most golden rules of writing, however, it’s not absolute. There is a lot of fun to be had in jokey little one off adventures (in atla, Sokka’s haiku competition) or in fun worldbuilding threads that add depth to your setting but don’t really come up (in atla, the existence of Whaletail Island, which is described in really juicy ways, even though the characters never go there.) But in general, when it comes to things like character death, events should happen to develop the plot or advance character. Avatar, for all of its flaws, is really well structured, and a lot of its story beats advance plot and develop character at the same time. However, the show also bears the burden of being a show directed at children, and thus needing to be appropriate for children. And as we know, Nickelodeon and bryke butted heads over this: the death scene that we see for Jet is a compromise, one that implicitly confirms his death without explicitly showing it. So bryke tasked themselves with creating a show about imperialism and war that would do those themes justice while also being appropriate for American children and palatable to their parents.

The Themes of Avatar vs. Its Audience

So, Avatar is a show about a lone survivor of genocide stopping an imperialist patriarchal society from decimating the rest of the world. It’s also a show about found family and staying true to yourself and doing your best to improve the world. These don’t necessarily conflict with each other, and it is possible for children to understand and enjoy shows about complex themes. And in a lot of cases, bryke doesn’t hold back in showing what the costs of war against an imperialist nation are: losing loved ones, losing yourself, prison, etc. But when it comes to death, the show is incredibly hesitant. None of the main characters that we’ve spent a lot of time getting to know die (not even Iroh, even though he was old and it would have made sense and his VA died before the show was over--but that’s a topic for another day.) This makes sense. I can totally imagine a seven year-old watching Avatar as it was coming out and feeling really sad or scared if a major character died. I was six years older than that when Wally died, and it’s still sad and terrifying to me to this day. However, in a show about war, it would be unrealistic to have no one die. Bryke’s stated reason for killing off Jet is to show the costs of war. I’ve seen a lot of posts about Jet’s death that reiterate some version of this same point--that the great tragedy of his character is that he spent his life fighting the Fire Nation, only to die at the hands of his own country. Similarly, I’ve seen people argue in favor of Yue’s death by saying that it was a great tragedy, but it showed the sacrifices that must be made in a war effort.

Yue

When we first meet Yue, she is a somewhat reserved, kind individual held back by the rigid social structures of the NWT*. She and Sokka have an immediate attraction to one another, but Yue reveals that she is engaged to Hahn. The Fire Nation invasion happens, Zhao kills Tui, and Yue gives up her life to save her people and the world, and to restore balance. Since we didn’t have a lot of time to get to know Yue, this is framed less as Yue’s sacrifice and more as Sokka’s loss. Sokka is the one who cares for Yue, Sokka is the only one of the gaang who really interacts a lot with Yue on screen, and Sokka is the one we’ve spent a whole season getting to know. While I wouldn’t go so far as to call Yue a prop character (i.e. a character who could be replaced by an object with little change to the narrative), she is certainly underdeveloped. She exists to be unambiguously likable and good, so we can root for her and Sokka, and feel Sokka’s pain when she dies. In my opinion, this is probably also why a lot of fic that features Yue depicts her as a Mary Sue--because as she is depicted in the show, she kind of is. We don’t get to see her hidden depths because she is written to die.

In light of what we’ve established earlier in this meta, this makes sense. Killing off a fully-realized character whom the audience has really gotten to know and care about on their own terms, rather than through the eyes of another character, could be really sad and scary for the kids watching, but not killing anyone off would be an unrealistic depiction of war and imperialism. On the face of it, killing off an underdeveloped, unambiguously likable and good character, whom one of our MCs has a deep but short connection with, is the perfect compromise.

But let’s go back to the golden rule for a second. Does Yue’s death a) advance the plot, and/or b) develop character? The answer to the first is yes: Yue’s death prompts Aang to use the Avatar State to fight off the Fire navy, which has implications for his ability to control the Avatar State that form one of the major arcs of book 2. The answer to the second? A little more ambiguous. You would think that Yue’s death would have some lasting impact on Sokka that is explored as part of his character arc in book 2, that he may be more afraid to trust, more scared of losing the people he loves, but outside of a few episodes (really, just one I can think of, “The Swamp”) it doesn’t seem to affect him that much. He even asks about Suki in a way that is clearly romantically motivated in “Avatar Day.” I don’t know about you, but if someone I loved sacrificed herself to become the moon, I don’t think I would be seeking out another romantic entanglement a few weeks after her death. Of course, everybody processes grief differently, and one could argue that Sokka has already lost important people in his life, and thus would be accustomed to moving on from that loss and not letting himself dwell on it. But to that, I’d say that moving on by throwing himself into protecting others has already shown itself to be an unhealthy coping mechanism. Remember, Sokka’s misogyny at the beginning of b1 is in part motivated by the fact that his mother died at the hands of the Fire Nation and his father left shortly thereafter to fight the Fire Nation, and he responds to those things by throwing himself into the role of being the “man” of the village and protecting the people he loves who are still with him. Like with Yue, he doesn’t allow himself to dwell on his mother’s death. This could have been the beginning of a really interesting b2 arc for Sokka, in which he throws himself into being the Avatar’s companion to get away from the grief of losing Yue, but this time, through the events of the show, he’s forced to acknowledge that this is an unhealthy coping mechanism. And maybe this is what bryke was going for with “The Swamp”, but this confines his whole process of grief to one episode, where it could have been a season-long arc that really emphasized the effect Yue’s had on his life.

In the case of Yue, I do lean toward saying that her death was necessary for the story that they wanted to tell (although, I will never turn down a good old-fashioned Yue lives au that really gets into her dynamism as a character, those are awesome.) However, the way they wrote Sokka following Yue’s death reduced her significance. The fact that Yue seemed to have so little impact on Sokka is precisely what makes her death feel unnecessary, even if it isn’t.

Jet

Okay. Here we go.

If you know my blog, you know I love Jet. You know I love Jet lives aus. Perhaps you know that I’m in the process of writing a multichapter Jet fic in which he lives after Lake Laogai. So it’s reasonable to assume that, in a discussion of whether or not Jet’s death was necessary, I’m gonna be mega-biased. And yeah, that’s probably true. But up until recently, I wasn’t really all that mad about Jet dying, at least conceptually. As I said earlier, bryke says that in the case of Jet’s death, they wanted to kill a character off that people knew and would care about, so that they could further show the tragedies of war and imperialism. Okay. That is not, in and of itself, a bad idea.

My issue lies with the execution of said idea. First of all, the framing of Jet’s original episode is so bad. Jet is part of a long line of cartoon villains who resist imperialism and other forms of oppression through violence and are punished for it. This is actually a really common sort of villain for atla/lok, as we see this play out again with Hama, Amon, and the Red Lotus. To paraphrase hbomberguy’s description of this type of villain, basically liberal white creators are saying, “yeah, oppression is bad, but have you tried writing to your Congressman about it?” With Jet, since we have so little information about the village he’s trying to flood, there are a number of different angles that would explain his actions and give them more nuance. My preferred hc is that the citizens of Gaipan are a mix of Earth civilians, Fire citizens, and FN soldiers, and that the Earth citizens refused to feed or house Jet and the other Freedom Fighters because they were orphans and, as we see in the Kyoshi Novels, Earth families stick to their own. Thus, when Jet decides to flood Gaipan, he’s focused on ridding the valley of Fire Nation, but he doesn’t really care about what happens to the Earth citizens of Gaipan because they actively wronged him when he was a kid. That’s just one interpretation, and there have been others: Gaipan was fully Fire Nation, Gaipan was both Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation but Jet decided that the benefits of flooding the valley and getting rid of the Fire Nation outweighed the costs of losing the EK families, etc, etc. There are ways to rewrite that scenario so that Jet is not framed as an unambiguously bloodthirsty monster. In the context of Jet’s death, this initial framing reduces the possible impact that his death could have. Where Yue was unambiguously good, Jet is at the very least morally gray when we see him again in the ferry. And where we are connected to Yue through Sokka, the gaang’s active hatred of Jet hinders our ability to connect with him. This isn’t impossible to overcome--the gaang hates Zuko, and yet to an extent the audience roots for him--but Jet’s lack of screentime and nuanced framing (both of which Zuko gets in all three seasons) makes overcoming his initially flawed framing really difficult.

So how much can it really be said, that by the time we get to Jet’s death, he’s a character that we know and care about? So much about him is still unknown (what happened to the Freedom Fighters? what prompted Jet’s offscreen redemption? who knows, fam, who knows.) Moreover, most of what we see of him in Ba Sing Se is him actively opposing Zuko and Iroh. These are both characters that at the very least the show wants us to care about. At this point, we know almost everything there is to know about them, we’ve been following them and to an extent rooting for them for two seasons, and who have had nuanced and often sympathetic framing a number of times. So much of the argument I’ve seen regarding Jet centers around the fact that he was right to expose Zuko and Iroh as Firebenders, but the reason we have to have that argument in the first place is because it’s not framed in Jet’s favor. In terms of who the audience cares about more, who the audience has more of an emotional attachment towards, Zuko and Iroh win every time. Whether Jet’s actually in the right or not is irrelevant, because emotionally speaking, we’re primed to root for Zuko and Iroh. In terms of who the framing is biased towards, Jet may as well be Zhao. So when he’s taken by the Dai Li and brainwashed, the audience isn’t necessarily going to see this as a bad thing, because it means Zuko and Iroh are safe.

The only real bit of sympathetic framing Jet gets are those initial moments on the ferry, and the moments after he and the gaang meet again. So about five, ten minutes of the show, total. And then, he sacrifices himself for the gaang. And just like Yue, his death has little to no impact on the characters in the episodes following. Katara is shown crying for four frames immediately following his death, and they bring him up once in “The Southern Raiders” to call him a monster, and once in “The Ember Island Players”, a joke episode in which his death is a joke.

So, let’s ask again. Does this a) advance the plot, and/or b) develop character? The answer to both is no. It shows that the Dai Li is super evil and cruel, which we already knew and which basically becomes irrelevant in book 3, and that is really the only plot-significant thing I can think of. As far as character, well, it could have been a really interesting moment in Katara’s development in forgiving someone who hurt her in the past, which could have foreshadowed her forgiving Zuko in b3, but considering she calls Jet a monster in TSR, that doesn’t track. There could have been something with Sokka realizing that his snap judgment of Jet in b1 was wrong, but considering that he brings up Jet to criticize Katara in TSR, that also does not track. And honestly, neither of these possible character arcs require Jet to die. What requires Jet to die is the ~themes~.

Let’s look at this theme again, shall we? The cost of war. We already covered it with Yue, but it’s clearly something that bryke wants to return to and shed new light on. The obvious angle they’re going for is that sometimes, you don’t know who your real enemy is. Jet thought that his enemy was the Fire Nation, but in the end, he was taken down by his own countryman. Wow. So deep. Except, while it’s clear that Jet was always fighting against the Fire Nation, I never got the sense that Jet was fighting for the Earth Kingdom. After all, isn’t the whole bad thing about him in the beginning is that he wants to kill civilians, some of whom we assume to be Earth Kingdom? Why would it matter then that he got killed by an EK leader, when he didn’t seem to ever be too hot on those dudes? But okay, maybe the angle is not that he was killed by someone from the Earth Kingdom, but that he wasn’t killed by someone from the Fire Nation. Okay, but we’ve already seen him be diametrically opposed to the only living Air Nomad and people from the Water Tribes. Jet fighting with and losing to people who aren’t Fire Nation is not a new and exciting development for him. Jet has been enemies with non-FN characters for most of the show’s run at this point. There is no thematic level on which the execution of this holds any water.

The reason I got to thinking about this, really analyzing what Jet’s death means (and doesn’t mean) for the show, was this conversation I was having with @the-hot-zone in discord dms. We were talking about book 2 and ways it could have been better, and Zone said that they thought that Jet would have been a stronger character to parallel with Zuko’s redemption than Iroh and that seeing more of the narrative from Jet’s perspective could have strengthened the show’s themes. And when it came to the question of Jet’s death, they said, “And if we are going with Jet dying, then I want it to hurt. I want it to hurt just as much as if a main character like Sokka had died. I want the viewer to see Jet's struggles, his triumphs, the facets of Jet that make him compelling and important to the show.” And all of that just hit me. Because we don’t get that, do we? Jet’s death barely leaves a mark. Jet himself barely leaves a mark. His death isn’t plot-significant, doesn’t inspire character growth in any of our MCs, and doesn’t even accomplish the thematic relevance that it claims to. So what was the point?

Conclusion

Much as I dislike it, Yue’s death actually added something to atla. It could have added much, much more, in the hands of writers who gave more of a shit about their Brown female characters and were less intent on seeing them suffer and knocking them down a peg, but, in my opinion, it did work for what it was trying to do. Jet? Jet? Nah, fam. Jet never got the chance to really develop into a likable character because he was always put at odds with characters we already liked, and the framing skewed their way, not his. The dude never really had a chance.

*multiple people have spoken about how the NWT as depicted in atla is not reminiscent of real life Inuit and Yupik people and culture. I am not the person to go into detail about this, but I encourage you to check out Native-run blogs for more info!

#jet #yue #bold text #italics #death tw #murder tw

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atlabeth · 4 years ago

Text

talking to the moon

summary: dealing with the aftermath of the worst event of your life.

pairing: sokka x fem!reader but solely platonic. stan big brother sokka

a/n: this became so much longer than i initially meant for lmao. it was just supposed to be sokka and y/n talking but then i. wrote the whole death scene and a whole backstory and. im sorry. i made myself sad while writing this

wc: 4.1k

warnings: so much angst, death, mentions of suffocation, mentions of arranged marriages, one mention of blood, one single curse i think, lots of anger and lots of sadness but some fluff at the end

based on the song “talking to the moon” by bruno mars

living in the northern water tribe wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

as a waterbender, it should’ve been a perfect haven. a renowned master to teach her how to fight and become a master herself, a constant feeling of power being around ice and water all the time, and a comfortable life as the daughter of two important councilmembers that worked alongside chief arnook.

but the only thing y/n had come to know of this place was a complete and utter loss of freedom.

she wasn’t allowed to learn martial waterbending simply because she was a woman. master pakku wouldn’t even give her the time of day, and when she complained to her parents they cited century-long traditions and told her that was just how things were.

y/n felt comfortable being around water and ice all the time, but it’s not like the power of the moon helped her when she hardly knew anything in the first place. it was slightly easier to try and teach herself new techniques that she learned from watching master pakku and his students, but it still almost always ended in failure.

and of course, her noble heritage simply meant that she would be married off once she reached the appropriate age for the benefit of her family. yippee.

but there was one benefit that came along with being the daughter of nobles that worked closely with the chief.

princess yue.

she was without a doubt the nicest girl that y/n had ever known, and they quickly became each other’s closest friends. y/n thought that maybe she wouldn’t like her because yue was two years her senior, but it didn’t matter in her eyes. yue showed y/n a side that she never showed anyone else; the carefree, energetic, loving side. the side that told y/n fantastical stories while they rode together the waterways. the side that encouraged y/n to waterbend whenever she could and to try as hard as possible to get the martial techniques down because ‘i know you can do it!’ the side that was absolutely fascinated by her waterbending, the side that shrieked in surprise then dissolved into giggles every time y/n soaked her at the end of the session.

yue was the bright light in y/n’s boring days, and y/n was a needed reprieve from yue’s duties.

the young girls didn’t know that there was so much coming for them.

team avatar visiting y/n’s home was one of the most exciting things to happen to her. it was like a breath of fresh air in the monotony of her life, and it didn’t take too long for y/n to become friends with all of them at the celebratory dinner the night they arrived.

y/n and katara instantly struck off. as waterbenders of the same age they already had a connection, but it was only strengthened the longer they stayed. y/n had never cheered so loud when she fought against pakku.

it was impossible not to like aang. he was even younger than y/n with an infectious positive attitude and a smile always on his face. he even offered to help teach her waterbending along with katara after learning from pakku, which was a great plan until it wasn’t.

her association with sokka came from her association with yue. he was infatuated with the princess almost immediately — it wasn’t a surprise, y/n was sure every boy in the tribe had a crush on her in some form — but he was also very kind to y/n. as time went on, they developed more of a sibling-like bond and y/n loved it. she was an only child raised to the highest expectations, but she was allowed to let loose around sokka. it also helped to see him make a fool in front of himself every time her and yue were together.

things were looking up for y/n. she had three new friends that all liked her best friend, and she was actually learning a little bit more about fighting with waterbending from katara. everything was perfect.

until the fire nation attacked.

y/n had been with yue and sokka when they saw the black snow and immediately rushed back to the tribe to warn everyone. that was how a fourteen year old noble girl who barely knew how to defend herself like y/n got involved in a fight against the fire nation.

after rescuing aang from zuko and, at aang’s request, bringing the unconscious prince with them, they started traveling back to the spirit oasis. y/n sat in the back of the saddle with sokka and yue, a new friend and her oldest friend, when yue suddenly grabbed her head with a small groan. y/n looked around and the world around them had turned red as blood. something was very wrong.

“are you okay? sokka asked, reaching for her instinctively as if to protect her from whatever was hurting her.

“i.. i feel faint,” she muttered.

“i feel it too,” aang added. “the moon spirit is in trouble.”

y/n’s eyes widened as she stared back at yue, horror dancing in her eyes as she shook her head. “no, no it can’t be. yue, you know what that means—”

it wasn’t hard to catch onto the fearful tone in her voice and katara set an amicable hand on her shoulder. “what are you talking about, y/n?”

thankfully, yue took over. “i owe the moon spirit my life.”

“what do you mean?” sokka’s eyes went between y/n and yue, y/n’s worried gaze trained on yue as she explained how the moon spirit had given her life as a baby. when she was done, the water tribe siblings were staring at her in disbelief.

“if the moon spirit is in danger then we need to save it.” y/n’s voice was hardened as they got closer to the spirit oasis, stretching her fingers out to get the blood flowing again in case she needed to bend. she didn’t know very much about combat besides what katara had taught her, but hopefully it would be enough to at least aid the rest of the team.

appa slid to a stop in the spirit oasis and aang, sokka, katara, and y/n all hopped off of his back and got into battle stances. sokka took out his boomerang, aang wielded his staff, and y/n and katara got ready to bend.

“don’t bother,” zhao spat. he held up the bag with tui and positioned his fist next to it, posing the very obvious threat. y/n’s eyes widened and her hands fell the slightest bit. he wouldn’t.

it turned out that he very well would.

y/n thought that they would be safe, that yue would be safe once he released the fish after iroh’s threat, but she should’ve known a man like that would never be satisfied. just as the normal hues of the oasis had returned, zhao let out a yell and blasted the koi with fire, plunging the world into various shades of grey.

y/n let out a strangled cry as she realized what it meant, and she wanted to unleash all of her fury on zhao. she wanted to make him hurt, make him understand just what he had done. but it seemed that general iroh already had that plan as he started firebending viciously, swiftly defeating the soldiers after zhao had gotten away.

y/n felt like she was in a haze, following through with her movements but not actually there. the four of them rushed towards the water and yue soon joined them, all looking down at tui in horror. the moon spirit was gone, dead, killed.

her worst fear had come true, and she stared at yue’s blue eyes, the only thing that still had color, mouth opening and closing as she tried to think of things to say.

“there’s no hope now,” yue mourned. “it’s over now.”

“no it’s not.”

y/n watched in amazement as aang merged with the ocean spirit and left to defend her home, but it melted away once again when she joined the siblings, iroh, and yue at the front of the water.

“it’s too late. it’s dead.” katara stared at the dead fish when iroh placed it back into the water. it truly did seem like it was over. y/n felt none of the usual power she felt at night. if she tried to bend, she knew nothing would happen.

iroh seemed to notice yue as she stepped closer and he raised his eyebrows. “you have been touched by the moon spirit. some of its life is in you.”

“yes, you’re right.” yue set her jaw and y/n immediately knew what she was thinking. “it gave me life. maybe i can give it back.”

“no!” y/n and sokka cried at the same time. y/n’s voice cracked and she had to do everything she could to prevent the tears from falling. “yue, no. you don’t have to do this.”

“it’s my duty, y/n.” her kind blue eyes, an image that would haunt y/n for years to come, glistened with unshed tears as she walked over to the oasis. this time sokka grabbed her hand to try and stop her.

“i won’t let you! your father told me to protect you!” sokka usually guarded his emotions but this time the fear in his voice was obvious, and it hurt. he didn’t want to lose her. he couldn’t lose her.

“i have to do this.”

y/n wanted to scream at yue to stop, try and knock some sense into her, hold the girl that she loved back from sacrificing herself. but she just stood there, frozen, as yue hovered her hands over the dead fish. tui began to glow, and yue collapsed.

y/n rushed over to her as sokka caught her and she fell to her knees. the tears were falling, she didn’t care, her friend was gone, she was dying. y/n felt yue’s ice cold hand on her arm and she grasped it with both of her own. her and sokka were barely holding it together as they watched the girl they both loved die in their arms.

“y/n..” her voice was already faint, she was using up all of her strength just to talk to them in her final moments. “thank you for everything. never forget what you are fighting for. i will always cherish our friendship.”

a choked sob escaped y/n’s lips and she gripped yue’s hand as tightly as she could, like maybe if she didn’t let go then she would come back. she couldn’t even hear what she said to sokka, all she could hear was the pounding in her head. this couldn’t be happening.

and then she was gone. the ice cold hand in y/n’s grip was gone, the girl they were cradling was gone, and in her place was just emptiness. iroh placed the koi fish back into the water and the entire oasis filled with light, and the energy around the lake turned into yue. she was ethereal. she was a spirit. she was gone.

yue came closer and wrapped y/n in a hug, feeling more like a gentle breeze than a real person hugging her. she then kissed sokka, and a faint smile graced her lips. “goodbye, i love you both. i will always be with you.”

and with that, she was gone.

y/n couldn’t hold it in anymore. she started sobbing, tears wracking her body and making it hard to breathe. she wrapped her arms as tightly as she could around sokka, burying her head in the space between his shoulder and his neck, and he returned the hug. they were just two kids who had watched a girl they loved sacrifice herself. what else could they do but hold each other and hope to all the spirits that they would be okay?

y/n left with aang, katara, and sokka when they decided to set course for omashu. she couldn’t stay at the northern water tribe. all it served as was a constant reminder of that fateful night, the night that she had lost her best friend. she saw yue in everything, and she knew she would lose her mind if she stayed. so she asked if she could join them on their journey, and they agreed. y/n felt a constant pit of emptiness and hoped that helping the avatar would absolve some of the guilt.

it didn’t.

“this is your fault, y/n.”

the blue eyes that haunted y/n so often appeared once again, staring back at her unflinchingly. there was a certain hardness behind them, a coldness that pervaded her skin, making its way to her heart. but she couldn’t look away.

“you should’ve been able to save me.” yue’s voice, normally soft spoken and kind, reverberated throughout the endless void y/n was trapped in.

she looked beautiful, otherworldly. the fabric of her dress floated around her at the edges and her white hair, the ever present reminder of her connection to the moon, flowed down her back. yue appeared the same as she had when she sacrificed herself, and it was the way she would look forever. y/n’s heart ached for her friend, knowing that she would never live out the rest of her life, never get to be the ruler she was meant to be.

she tried to talk, but her voice wouldn’t work. her throat felt like it was closing up slowly, and her limbs might as well have been cast in concrete with how heavy they all felt. yue’s icy glare disappeared from view, but her voice was still all around her.

“you did this to me. you’re the reason i’m dead. you should’ve been able to save me.”

the words repeated thousands of times on top of each other, becoming louder and louder that it was all she could focus on. y/n was suffocating underneath it all, she couldn’t take it. she wanted to sob out how sorry she was, tell yue that her biggest regret was not being able to save her, reach out and bring her into her world again. spirits, she wanted her best friend back so badly.

“YOU SHOULD’VE BEEN ABLE TO SAVE ME.” the words echoed through her skull so loudly that she felt like it was going to crack from sheer force.

y/n eyes suddenly flew open and she lurched upwards, breathing heavily, a scream on the edge of her lips that she was barely able to bite back. she clamped her hands over her mouth until she could be sure it wouldn’t come loose, and it took even longer for her breathing to get back to normal.

it didn’t look like she had disturbed the sleep of the others, but she couldn’t stay here. she got out of her sleeping bag and rushed out of their camp, making sure she stayed light on her feet so that the others could continue to rest. momo perked up as she ran past him, and y/n shook her head and raised a finger to her lips. he seemed to get the hint and went back to sleep, and with a strained smile y/n continued out.

it was at that moment that a certain water tribe boy groggily sat up, able to catch the end of a tunic dress disappearing into the woods after he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. he thought it was katara at first but a quick glance to his side proved that his sister was still asleep. it was y/n’s spot that was empty. he immediately knew why she was gone, and he got up to follow her; there was no way he was going to leave her alone right now. sokka didn’t exactly want to be alone either.

‘you should’ve been able to save me.’ they were words that never left y/n’s mind; at this point it was a part of her conscience. the princess had never actually said the words, her last moments had been spent reassuring y/n and sokka before she faded away, but it didn’t matter. she was constantly wracked by guilt, and though sokka did a good job at hiding it, she knew he felt the same way. she wondered if he was plagued by the same nightmares she had. it was no surprise it happened tonight of all nights — today marked one month since yue died.

no. since yue had been killed.

she might’ve given her life for the moon spirit willingly, but y/n blamed zhao, that fire nation admiral, for her death. he was the one that killed the moon spirit, so he was the one that had killed her best friend. she had never felt as much rage as she had in the moment that he blasted tui with fire.

she hoped he was dead.

y/n got to the edge of the woods and stared at the night sky, the slight breeze and the ambiance around her doing little to ease her mind. she sighed and leaned back against a tree, staring at the sky in hopes it would give her some kind of answer. but all it did was make her feel even worse.

i know you’re somewhere out there somewhere far away

yue was there. the moon was there, but yue was the moon so she was there. it felt like a cruel joke, having her so close but so far away. always within her sight but never in her reach. she longed for the days when she was able to pull the princess away from her duties to engage in a snowball fight with her friends or when yue asked her to show off her waterbending with the childlike wonder she never got to show or when things were normal and her friend wasn’t the fucking moon.

i want you back, i want you back

y/n felt the familiar stings of tears behind her eyes and she slowly slid against the tree until she was sitting on the ground. she bit the inside of her cheek so hard she drew blood in an effort to stop the tears, but it didn’t matter, they fell anyways.

the empty feeling she constantly carried with her got better over time, but tonight it was just coming back with full force. she was reminded of everything that she had lost and it hurt. spirits, it hurt so much.

my neighbors think i’m crazy but they don’t understand you’re all i have, you’re all i have

she pressed the heel of her hand against her forehead and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out her feelings, when she heard some branches snap. she opened her eyes and looked up, the corner of her lips quirking up when she saw who it was.

“hi.” her voice was faint, barely noticeable, but it was all she managed to muster.

“hi.” sokka’s eyes were sympathetic as walked over to her, silently questioning if she was okay with his presence. she nodded and scooted over to make room, and sokka slid down against the tree next to her.

they sat in comfortable silence for a while, feeling solace in the other simply being there. y/n’s eyes stayed glued to the sky, y/e/c irises reflecting the light of the stars. now that her sobbing was done, she just felt tired. traveling with the avatar was physically demanding with all the fighting and running they did, but this was mental.

she was tired of feeling worthless. tired of feeling guilty, of feeling angry, hurt, heartbroken, regretful, helpless, weak.

tui and la, she was so damn tired.

at night, when the stars light up my room i sit by myself talking to the moon trying to get to you

y/n tore her eyes away from the sky and looked at sokka. he felt the slight movement and made eye contact as well. y/n couldn’t help but think how similar his eyes were to yue’s.

“do you talk to her too?” the question came suddenly from y/n before she even knew it, and her voice was just as soft as before. “to the moon, i mean.”

sokka’s gaze turned wistful as he watched the moon and nodded. “all the time. even if i’m just talking to myself in my head, it feels like i’m talking to her as long as the moon is out. sometimes it helps. it makes me feel like she’s still here, or like she’s watching over me. other times..”

“it makes you feel worse,” y/n finished. he nodded again and she sighed heavily. “sometimes i hate it. just looking at the moon makes me want to scream or cry or yell until i can’t anymore, because i hate it for taking her away from me. and i know she had to do it, but the irrational part of me is angry at her for leaving. and then i feel guilty for caring about myself more than her when she’s the one that’s gone, and i just—”

her voice caught in her throat and the tears started to fall once more. it felt like she couldn’t even think about yue without crying and it made her feel even more weak than before.

in hopes you’re on the other side talking to me too

it hurt sokka’s heart to see her like this. yue’s death had affected both of them, spirits, it had left a hole in his heart that he was still trying to mend, but as time went on he had gotten better. but y/n had known yue for years, they had such a close bond that when sokka wanted to know advice on how to get yue to like him he came to her. and now her closest friend was gone and she had left her home and her family behind to help them on their journey.. he couldn’t imagine how she felt. but he wasn’t going to let her go through this alone.

sokka wrapped his arm around her and though she flinched at first, y/n immediately relaxed when she realized what he was doing. he was trying to comfort her by just being there, and she appreciated it immensely. y/n leaned her head against his shoulder and the two of them sat there in silence once again, watching the sky.

or am i a fool who sits alone talking to the moon

“you don’t have to feel guilty,” sokka murmured. “she doesn’t blame you for what happened and she doesn’t blame you for how you feel. i know that she’s watching over us right now.”

“you think?” he nodded and the smallest smile graced her lips. “she doesn’t blame you either. every time you hung out together she would come running back to me telling me how much fun she had and how she already felt so close to you, and how much you brightened up her days. she truly loved you, sokka.”

sokka laughed humorlessly and shook his head. “i loved her too. i didn’t think it was possible to fall for someone so quickly, but she proved me wrong.”

“she was good at that. proving people wrong.”

do you ever hear me calling?

more silence passed.

y/n opened her mouth and closed it again, trying to find the words.

“yue?” she started off timid, but her words gained more confidence as she went on. “i.. i don’t know if you can hear us. but if you can, i just want to let you know that i- that we miss you. not a day goes by where i don’t think of you, and i hope that you are watching down on us. because we love you. and we always will.”

“thank you for everything you’ve done.” sokka spoke up now. “i hope you’re at peace, yue, wherever you are.”

cause every night i’m talking to the moon still trying to get to you

y/n swore that the moon glowed a little brighter in the night sky when they finished.

she didn’t know how time passed so quickly, but her and sokka ended up falling asleep out there, his arm around her and her head on his shoulder.

and for the first time since the siege of the north, y/n slept without nightmares.

#atla fic #atla #avatar #avatar the last airbender #princess yue #song fic #blurb #sokka x reader #sokka x y/n #sokka #sokka fic #yue #writing

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shiftywing · 4 years ago

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Just on the topic of the glory deathbringer ask, i personally feel like it could have been a REALLY GOOD SHIP. Like when he was introduced, I ADORED their dynamic, and he definitely felt like a teenager! and I think he was my favorite of all the dragonets love interests. But then Tui just. MADE HIM A MIDDLE AGED MAN?? HELLO?? Why. And it makes me so upset because I’m really new to the actual wings of fire fandom! Like I’ve been reading the books for years now, but I never looked into fandom spaces. And during that time, I didn’t realize how old he was? And then I got into WOF tumblr and everyone was bashing on the ship, and I was really confused because it was probably my favorite straight ship at the time. And then I just had to SPEEDRUN the 5 stages of grief over bad writing when I realized what the problem was.

^^^yes yes yes exactly all of this!! they had so much chemistry and i can't really think of anyone who said they've never shipped glorybringer at some point, but tui really just had to screw it all up and i just. ugh. what makes it worse is people who're like "gLorY's sEveN nOw shE's aN aDuLt!!" like she may be now but deathbringer still flirted with her when he knew full well she was six. like there's no way he couldn't have known. and yeah i'm sure tui wrote this all on accident and yada yada, but it's just...ugh i don't like it. why do you do this tui 😑

#wof #wings of fire

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missturtleduck · 4 years ago

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Fake dating anon-I think it would be cool if it wasn’t a modern au? But thank you!!!!

Sorry for your wait, anon! I hope you like what I wrote for you <3

Fake It Till You Make It

Sokka x Reader - FakeDating!Trope

Needless to say, Y/N was slightly shocked by Sokka’s proposition.

By the age of sixteen, they had been crucial pai sho tiles in the gambit against the once Fire Lord Ozai. Returning home was odd for many reasons, but notably the reminders that they were still children really, or at least in the eyes of their families. It was Zuko who had suggested a gang trip – a joint life changing field trip – after the nations settled down from Ozai’s defeat.

The first to return home was Y/N. Her mother lived in Fire Fountain City. It was only a short journey away from the capital, and Hakoda had already travelled to see his children at the palace. Sure, she had joked about pushing off her mother’s insistent affection, but she definitely cried a little bit when she got to hug her mum, and even more when her brothers piled on too. Ever the monarchist, Zuko was welcomed into the house with open arms and plenty of celebration. Toph especially got on with her family, rough-housing with Y/N’s brothers like it was nothing.

Since Toph didn’t want to see her parents as of yet, the only family member left to visit was Sokka and Katara’s Gran Gran since Suki’s family were doing work in the Fire Nation anyway. It took some convincing for Toph to put on snow boots – “I’ll risk frostbite if it means seeing, Katara!” – but soon they were travelling all the way to the South Pole. It was on their stop at Kyoshi Island that Sokka had approached Y/N.

“I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend.”

Y/N barked out an incredulous laugh. “Tui and La, what?”

“Exactly what I said,” Sokka nodded, face solemn. “Katara wrote to Gran Gran a couple of times and mentioned Yue and Suki, but you know how that ended.”

“One turned into the moon and the other is a raging Sapphic in a relationship with Ty Lee.”

“Exactly!” He looked distressed, throwing his hands in the air. “And Gran Gran sent a letter back saying how excited she was to meet my girlfriend!”

Frowning in confusion, Y/N looked at him. “You could just tell her what happened.”

“But, Y/N, she was so excited!” He simpered the way a child would, and Y/N couldn’t help but laugh. “Obviously, we’re just friends, but would you do this?”

Ouch. Sure, they were ‘just friends’, but it hurt anyway. Maybe it was the terseness with how he said it, or the fact that since the war had ended all Y/N could think about is how pretty Sokka looked when he could finally relax. Whatever it was, it stung in her chest, panging with the intensity of heartburn. Heartburn seemed a fitting enough description regardless of its denotation.

So that was how she ended up fake dating Sokka, all for the sake of his ego and his gran gran’s happiness. As they travelled over the ocean on Appa’s back, he was as physically far from her as he could possibly be. Ouch, again. For a fake boyfriend, he was doing a crappy job at it. Staring daggers at the back of his head, Y/N sulked quite contently next to Zuko, who seemed to be comfortable with her mood – something about being friends with far grumpier girls. That had made her laugh.

Her laugh had made Sokka stare.

The sharpness to her gaze melted almost immediately when she saw the concern etched on his face. Instead, she beamed at him. Sokka grinned back, turning away to continue his conversation with Suki.

Y/N could feel Zuko’s gaze on her. “I swear to the spirits, Zuko, if you say that’s rough, buddy, I’ll chi block you.”

The crown prince was kind enough to stifle his laughter, though it seemed contagious. Her frown shifted into a small smile and she took to staring over the edge of Appa’s saddle at the canvas of blue beneath them. There was something tranquil about the polar water, the great water beasts breaching the waves only to dive back down into the impossible depths. Being from the Fire Nation, Y/N had never experienced such wonder in a single image – nor such freezing weather. Pulling furs over herself, she readied herself for what would happen on the ice.

Gran Gran looked to be the loveliest but scariest woman she would ever meet. The woman stood as the leader of the tribe; a gaggle of children stood behind her in uncertainty. However, as soon as Sokka hopped off Appa’s back, they were screaming and charging past her to tackle him to the ground. Her heart warmed as they hugged him and cried, shouting at him for leaving them without a warrior in the village.

“What are you seal pups on about?” He snorted, trying to avoid being winded by tiny elbows. “I trained you better than this.”

“That’s enough of that.”

At the woman’s words, the children picked themselves up, leaving Sokka in the snow. He didn’t last long though as he and Katara took their turn in charging. Embracing their grandmother with the tightest hug Y/N had ever seen, she left them to their moment, opting to instead help Toph down from their trusty steed.

“I hate this,” Toph muttered, holding both Zuko and Y/N’s arms in her own death grip.

“I know,” Y/N said softly, “But you’ll be able to take those boots off once we get inside one of the igloos.”

“And this must be Y/N.”

With wide eyes, she pried herself from Toph, trusting Zuko to make sure she didn’t cause any avalanches. Stepping to Sokka’s side, Y/N tried not to startle as he wrapped his arm around her hip. “Sokka, let me meet your grandmother before you steal me away!”

She felt smug satisfaction at how he flushed.

“Let me look at you, dear,” The matriarch ordered, though not unkindly. Presenting herself in the woman, she brushed off the scrutinous stare with a smile. “You’re very beautiful.”

“Thank you, erm- “

“Please,” She beamed, and all Y/N could see was the saccharine threat that Katara often fronted, “Call me Gran Gran.”

As the woman turned away, she swatted Sokka’s arm, meeting his gaze with a scowl. Stalking past him through the snow – which was harder than she had assumed – Y/N was followed by a curious flock of children tugging on her sleeves. Patient as a saint, she laughed with them, answering all of their burning questions.

Why is your hair like that? Why are your clothes red? Is that the same scary man who attacked our village? But he doesn’t look scary. Why is Sokka smiling at you?

Whipping her head around, Y/N met Sokka’s eyes. He was grinning like a dope, chin rested on his palm as Katara talked Gran Gran’s ear off. Somehow, he hadn’t realised that she had caught him staring, but the children soon fixed that; a snowball to the face promptly brought him out of his stupor. Had he hit his head on the way down from Appa? Whatever it was, it made her heart hurt and she had promised Toph a warm igloo anyway.

The sun was beginning to set behind the glaciated mountains on the horizon, illuminating the village in the evening light, dappling the ice with sunspots. She had never seen something so beautiful before, but as the sun disappeared, so did the warmth; the igloo more than made up for it.

As she sat with Zuko, Suki, and Toph – Sokka and Katara obviously busy whilst Aang promised the children some airbending games – Y/N grumbled to herself. Not only was she playing fake girlfriend, but fake girlfriend who was hated by the family. Well, it probably wasn’t hate. She wouldn’t blame Gran Gran for being protective over one of her two grandchildren. In fact, thinking of how her brothers reacted to Sokka, maybe she had it good.

Laid flat on her back, she listened to the gossip of the Fire Nation, of how Ty Lee was doing, and how Toph was seeing some weird stuff under the ice. Whatever it was, it couldn’t spike her interest enough to join in the conversation.

“Y/N?”She barely turned her head to see an anxious looking Sokka in the doorway.

“Yes?”

He looked around the room at all the faces and fidgeted. “About earlier- “

“Listen, I don’t care, okay, Sokka?” She said, trying her hardest to not seem entirely mean, nor upset; Toph scoffed, muttering something that sounded like liar.

“Just,” He sighed, “Can we talk outside?”

Pulling furs back over herself, she looked pleadingly at her friends to rescue her, but to no avail. Trudging after Sokka, she was growing more and more vexed as they moved further from the village and into the cold. The moon began to rise in the sky, glossing the ice with an ethereal glow, which was perhaps the only nice part about being out in the bitter cold.

“What, Sokka?” Y/N finally huffed, putting her foot down. “Am I not being a convincing enough girlfriend for you?”

“It’s not that Y/N,” Sokka started, waving his hands in a panicked motion as if warning off a polar dog.

“Then what?” She interrupted, not having any of it. “Did you want me to hold your hand? Maybe give you a cuddle?”

He flinched at the venom in her tone. “No, Y/N, if you’d just- “

“Just what?” Y/N snapped. “What you asked of me what really inconsiderate,

Sokka, but I did it anyway because I'm your friend – just your friend.”

“Spirits, Y/N,” He sighed, realisation passing behind his eyes.

“But it’s fine! I’m a great actress, Sokka, because I wouldn’t be acting. See? I can hold your hand, hug you, even kiss you if you needed it, but it hurts me.”

Looking down at the ice, Sokka kicked some snow under his boot, looking very ashamed of himself for a second. It pierced through her anger in a way that was unfair. Instead of dealing a final blow, all she could think to do was grab his hand and comfort him. Yes, she still felt she was in the right, but Y/N didn’t want one of her closest friends to suffer at her hand, retribution or no.

“Gran Gran shouted at me, y’know,” Sokka said, a small smile quirking at his lips as his eyes fell on his hand in hers.

Y/N frowned. “Why?”

“For thinking she was a ‘dumb old lady’ apparently,” He chuckled, meeting her eyes. “It seemed Aang had let slip that we weren’t actually dating, so she told me off for that.”

“You deserved that,” She grin, bumping his shoulder.

“And then she called me dumb, which I didn’t appreciate.”

His smile said otherwise, so Y/N pushed. “What did you do now?”

“Try to fake something I actually wanted.”

Shocked, Y/N dropped his hand, and for a moment his heart fell heavy in his chest. This was the perfect chance to be with her, he thought, now that the war was over and she knew her family was safe. Now they had autonomy, surely they could focus on each other.

“Y/N, I’m so- “

His apology was cut off by an insistent pair of lips, begging him to be quiet and just enjoy their moment. Deepening the kiss, she looped her arms around the back of his neck, the scruff of his unshaven hair brushing against her arms. His heart was soaring, hers no longer burning but glowing. She pulled back and reaching up to his face, Y/N felt the warmth of his cheek in the bitter cold, radiating warmer than the sun. Whatever light had been taken by the night was captured in them.

“Gran Gran likes you by the way,” Sokka said quietly, leaning his forehead against hers. “Says you wrangle those kids better than I do.”

“Praise Agni,” Y/N gasped, letting out a bated breath she hadn’t realised was stuck. “She does the same scary face Katara does.”

Sokka chucked, rubbing his nose against hers. “Don’t you worry, Y/N. Me and Dad are just as scared by it.”

With a giggle, she rested her head in the crook of his neck, basking in their embrace for as long as she could.

#atla #fic request #sokka x reader #fake dating #sokka x f!reader #zuko #toph #aang #katara #suki #the gaang #gran gran #fake it till you make it #anon request #angst #happy ending #missturtleduck

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shifuaang · 4 years ago

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Just wanted to say it’s nice to see someone agree Aangs parenting in LOK is grossly out of character. I keep seeing people contort the situation into pretzels to make it work. It comes close to ruining the franchise for me

I almost have to divorce LOK from ATLA in order to enjoy it, which is really kind of sad considering how it's so integrally connected to its source material and yet seems to mishandle said source material at every opportunity.

LOK recycles the same familial conflicts as ATLA. Both Aang and Toph are painted as bad parental figures, which seems like a complete character assassination of the two of them as well as of Katara who was married to Aang and seemingly allowed him to mistreat Kya and Bumi. I wrote a much more in-depth meta on this narrative choice and how it contradicts the character strengths and flaws that were given to Aang in ATLA here if you’re interested.

Basically, I think it’s very unlike Aang to show favoritism to his airbending son when he sees firsthand how badly favoritism affects both Zuko and Azula. Aang is shown to be extremely excited about sharing his culture with Katara and Sokka and is more inclusive than anyone else in the Gaang. I love Aang because he is human and has many flaws, but to make him a bad father taints his legacy, is lazy writing, and almost ruins the series for me as well. Forgive me for going on a rant, but I’ve wanted to talk about my grievances with LOK for a while, and your ask inspired me to make a list soooo away we go:

I hate that the rules of bloodbending are retconned to create the conflict in season one - it diminishes the Avatar's ability to energybend and take away bending as a means of justice (specifically Aang who had to defy all of his friends and the rules of the world in order to defeat Ozai without compromising his culture and morals). Why can Noatak and Tarrlok bloodbend when it's not a full moon? Just because they will themselves into doing so? If this is true, surely Hama would have figured out how to utilize this technique as she was also abused and had just as much motivation as the two brothers to be a survivalist and hone her powers.

The Harmonic Convergence allows airbending to come back too quickly. It all feels too neat and tidy. While I absolutely adore the restoration of air nomad culture and watching that come to life, it's not enough of a slow burn for me. I feel that it lessened the extraordinary pain that Aang experienced being the last of his people. If they're going to go the route of the lion turtle being the one to bestow bending (which I don't like, but we'll get there), why not include a plot where the Air Acolytes go on a quest (led by the Avatar who is the bridge between the spirit and physical world) to find him and have him grant them airbending? That would have been far more interesting to me than the spirit world conveniently opening up and restoring balance.

The whole concept of the lion turtle being the bestower of all bending leans far too much into the Western-centric idea of some kind of monotheistic creator. I was happy to accept the existence of benders, non-benders, and the Avatar without there being any sort of long-winded explanation for why they came to be. Sometimes when shows try too hard to give mystical elements backstory and lore, it takes away from the intrigue and magic behind everything. LOK in general is far more Western-centric than ATLA. The spirits of Raava and Vaatu aren't necessarily a bad addition, but they are written as completely black and white. The dichotomy of good vs. evil doesn't exist in ATLA - even Ozai's life is given intrinsic value and careful consideration despite the fact that he is, by all accounts, an irredeemable dictator. Tui and La, push and pull, lend themselves to a far more complex and morally grey narrative.

With LOK moving in a more Western direction comes a blatant lack of respect for Asian cultures, particularly Buddhist culture. Nothing is as well-researched or planned as ATLA's plot and cultural references. From fartbending to straying from Eastern themes and spirituality, it all just feels very juvenile, which is ironic considering LOK was meant to appeal to an older audience.

While I almost loathe to say this because Zaheer is such a well-written character and intriguing in ways that even ATLA's villains aren't, his achieving enlightenment and learning to fly is a slap in the face to true morality, concentration, and wisdom, which are the main pillars of Buddhist thought and training. You're meaning to tell me that Aang had to struggle with opening seven chakras, letting go of earthly attachments, and literally dying and being resurrected in order to go into the Avatar State, but all Zaheer had to do to achieve what only one other airbender has achieved is watch P'li die? He got to unlock a previously insurmountable airbending technique after breaking every moral airbending code, including taking life with his bending? I'm not buying it.

On a similar note, the way cultural appropriation is glossed over in LOK is also incredibly inappropriate. LOK has a real opportunity to explore racism, blackface/brownface, and the sexualization of ‘exotic’ characters in Old Hollywood when Bolin is cast as Nuktuk, but his role in the films just becomes a running gag. It shouldn't sit right with anyone that someone who is half Fire Nation is playing a waterbending hero only about 50 years after the hundred year war in which the Fire Nation almost eradicated waterbenders.

The relationships are not very well-written. Love triangles are a terrible plot device, and Bolin's abusive relationship with Eska is played for laughs. I don't like Korra being cut off from her past lives in what feels like some desperate sort of ploy to get the fans to break ties from the old characters and only care about the new ones. The copaganda is gross, and Toph becoming a cop makes very little sense to me. The plot can be messy and contrived, and the pacing isn't great.

So you're probably wondering, why do you even watch LOK? It sounds like you hate it. I truly don't. The animation is beautiful, the fight sequences are amazingly choreographed, and I really enjoy some of the new characters like Asami, Tenzin, and Jinora. I think LOK is a good, solid show on its own, but it's impossible to hold a candle to its near flawless predecessor.

#lok criticism #lok critical #anti lok #legend of korra meta #aang defense squad #atla #thepaladinwritess

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southslates · 4 years ago

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happy valentines, @felgia-starr! you requested a zutara celebrity au, so here’s this aha. thanks for organizing this, @gemmica!

don’t be dramatic / 1.2k zutara meet-cute oneshot. on ao3 or under the cut!

“The director is shit,” Azula calls over to Katara as she walks past her dressing room.

Katara stops at the door and raises an eyebrow at Azula’s overdone makeup— she likes playing villains (with depth, she’d said at their last movie night, heroes are so boring) and this complex drama starring an antihero fits her all too well. She manages to look poised and calm, even bloody and covered in fake sweat. Katara isn’t quite sure why Azula is wearing makeup— considering filming doesn’t start till tomorrow— but the woman is a perfectionist. It’s likely that she may simply be testing out how the stage makeup works on her skin. There’d been a scandal several years ago when she had an allergic reaction to eyeshadow in a dramatic thriller, and kept the puffy eyes while crying about how her mother thought her a monster.

“Isn’t he your brother?” she smirks, leaning against the side-door. She normally doesn’t pick up minor roles but she just finished the Painted Lady series— a modern remake of a folktale which took two years to film— and she’d wanted to explore something more dynamic before she took a well-deserved vacation. Her character in this film dies halfway through— and it’s Azula’s fault— and the setting is high fantasy rather than historic, so she’s excited to begin.

“So?” Azula swivels, the lady at her side maneuvering to put away her makeup. “He’s still an ass. Not like the rest of them, though. He won’t touch you. He’ll just scream at you.”

Katara hasn’t met the elusive Zuko Rokura, the young director’s prodigy, though she’s heard enough about Azula’s brother. He’d been set for stardom until his own father, iconic actor Ozai Sozin, had burnt off half his face and left him an angry mess with a ruined future. Apparently, his uncle and sister had helped him find another way to stardom. He’d gotten a movie nominated to the Tui and La Awards last year— the youngest director in years to do so.

She’d seen him on stage, then, but his face had been covered with a Blue Spirit mask— a nod to his blockbuster film. Nobody knows who actually played the Blue Spirit in the movie, though it’s well known it’s someone prominent in the film industry. Katara is willing to put her money on Jet Malik, the elusive rogue who’d broken up with her right before filming on the movie began.

“If he screams at me I’ll shove his own hand in his mouth,” Katara stands still as Azula walks over to her, dressed in her silk bathrobe, and kisses her on the cheek, leaving a disturbing red print there.

“Yeah, I’m not worried about you, Tara. See you tomorrow? Ty said she wants to drag Zuko along to the meet-up, so maybe you’ll get to kick his ass after you get to know him.”

“How bad can he be?” Katara teases as an intern grabs her arm and pulls her towards the infamous man’s office.

“Watch out!” Azula chuckles. Katara’s aide looks nervously at the hallway in front of them.

“The front desk said Mr. Rokura’s office is right ahead— we’ll meet you in the dressing room right after!”

“Thanks Meng!” Katara smiles brightly at the girl and falls ahead of her, opening the dramatic obsidian door to Zuko’s office. There’s a receiving desk in the corner, but the boy sitting at it gestures for her to go through a second door, eyes wide, when he quickly takes her in. She smiles and walks in.

There’s a pale man at the desk, glasses perched on his nose, gazing down at papers littering his hand. All she sees at first is his dark hair, and she wears her most performative grin and holds her hand out. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Rokura.”

Then he looks up, and Katara’s breath stutters. He does have a scar, a rather red and dramatic one at that, taking up the majority of the right side of his visage, but the other side is . . . attractive. The scar is smooth and ridged and a bit alarming but as she acclimates to it in seconds she thinks it’s striking. Not quite attractive, but striking. It gives him a sense of hardness and authority.

He has a reputation to be rough, that’s certain, but Katara doesn’t take shit from anyone. She shifts her gaze to his eyes, which are the same striking shade as Azula’s, and keeps her hand held sturdy.

For a second, she’s scared he’ll kiss it or do something else slightly chauvinistic, but he just tilts his glasses up and grasps it firmly, calmly. “Katara Kuruk. I’m so glad you decided to take up my offer. I’m absolutely thrilled to have you.”

“I’m thrilled to be here,” she keeps looking at his eyes as her grip stays firm on his. His hands are incredibly warm and so are his eyes— she was wrong, they’re not like Azula’s. They look kind.

But she supposes actions are louder than words, and she’s heard plenty of things about Zuko Rokura— formerly Sozin.

(But she also knows rumors spread far in her industry— fake tweets of her saying a slur were circulated by racist groups on the internet just a few weeks ago, in the wake of this proposal. They’d eventually been officially disproved, but that had been a PR nightmare, not to mention ruined a few of her nights.)

A small smile falls upon his face as he lets her go and settles down, stacking up the papers he’d been looking at. “We’ve exchanged a lot through email, and I think we’re ready to go on paperwork— I just need to officialize all of this right here,” he gestures down. “How are you feeling?”

“I think this script is amazing,” she blushes under his intense gaze. “You co-wrote it, I believe?”

“Yeah,” he chuckles, “with Aang? I believe you’ve worked with him before.”

“I have! I’ve actually spent the past few years working with my brother on the Painted Lady series, so I’m definitely oddly adjusted to working with someone in a more . . . professional setting.” She’s blushing. Why is she blushing? She’s an actor, damnit, she should be able to control herself— and oh, he’s blushing too. “I mean, that environment was absolutely professional, I just . . .”

“I understand what you mean,” Zuko chuckles. “I’ve been working with Azula and her girlfriend for several years, particularly as starring roles. It’s always great to meet new actors. And I absolutely want us to be comfortable together,” he leans in to her, a little. “I . . .” he starts and then fades off, focusing on her face.

Katara’s gaze has briefly lowered to stare at his collarbones, and she raises it again to meet his, hoping her face isn’t completely giving her away to this strangely awkward man. She sees no hint of the anger Azula had mentioned. “I wouldn’t want to impose on too much of your time,” she starts, unsure if she’s imagining the magnetic pull between them or the way he’s staring into her eyes.

“No, no, you absolutely couldn’t,” he almost stutters out. “The first day of filming is tomorrow— I’d want you to rest tonight, but I’m ensuring everyone leaves early. Would you be— I mean would you— want to head out to an early dinner? Just to discuss . . .”

“The set,” Katara swallows, “and the background of the character? In more depth? I heard you conceptualized her.”

She’s read a six page description of her character and spent days practicing her lines.

“Yes, absolutely,” he says. Katara’s eyes crinkle. This movie may be more fun than she’d anticipated.

#zutara #dee writes #don't be dramatic #zuko #katara #atla #happy valentines!#felgia-starr #zutara fic

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yukippe · 4 years ago

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i sold myself on yuekki knowing there was v little content so ig i have to make it myself. heres my take on canon yuekki

so obviously yue lives! for this ill just say she gave back the power she got from the moon spirit and her hair turned black and she ended up w cool spiritbending powers for fun

sokka and yue get together properly 💖yue decides she wants to travel the world and help out with the war however she can and she and sokka have a conversation and theyre like yea we r both young and we dont know whats going to happen so we want to explore this however we can! theyre very soft together and sokka teachers her the basic combat he knows and he gets a lot better at carving because hes constantly making her little things whenever they stop somewhere

aang and yue do spirit communicating and spirit world trips and bending together and its cool katara practices with them because yue wants to take waterbending influences - katara and yue become really close friends and they tease sokka together whenever they can

in the secret tunnel episode yue thinks the nomads r the funniest thing and shes laughing and having them teach her songs and her voice is HORRIBLE and sokka is just oh dear i love her…

in the swamp sokka and yue both see suki ;)

neither of them mention what they saw bc sokkas like uh? im with yue tho what does this mean is suki okay?? and yue is like oh thats a cute girl wow ! huh :O

yue shows up at the beifongs and goes oh…i am just a princess. nbd! the beifongs are ?!?! okay?? and tell toph to be nice to her. at first toph thinks yue is just a prissy princess but then yue challengers her to a burping contest and tophs opinion does a 180 to first girl crush

they still lose appa : ( yue went into the tower with them bc she wanted to talk to another spirit and when wan shi tong asks her for information shes just like oh lol i was the moon spirit and hes…..um okay that works

yue is the one who gets high off cactus juice 😌 she has a great time and sokka carries her on his back for a bit to make sure shes safe and fusses over her and yue is just bopping his nose and playing with momos tale and earnestly talking about how she thinks she might have to leave sokka for the mermaid (katara who is very flustered) shes flirting with

serpents pass is hijinks and romance at its best :)

suki still kisses sokka and yue sees the girl from the swamp vision kiss sokka and her IMMEDIATE thought is oh new girlfriend i guess and then her brain kicks in and she steps over and goes hey :( my boyfriend :(

suki: what?? sokka: uh yea, hi suki this is my girlfriend yue. yue this is uh, suki? shes the leader of the kyoshi warriors

basically they sort it out as a haha oops my bad… but then the three of them talk around the campfire and sokka starts to make one of the carvings he always makes for yue and then he makes another and gives it to suki and suki and yue are REALLY getting along and the three of them sit under the moonlight and yue brings up that she saw suki in a vision and sokka goes oh and suki goes really?

they realize they all definitley like each other, but suki has to go back to the rest of the kyoshi warriors and they kiss and yue takes sukis hands and promises her she will find her again and theyll see where the go from there and gives her the carving sokka made for her and suki gives yue the carving sokka made for her and its very much an if we make it out well see where we go from there

azula has no idea who yue is because the nwt princess not being in the nwt is a tiny bit of a secret bc the nwt decided they didnt want it to be known that yue wasnt safe and azula sees her spirit bend and is ???? another avatar??

yea the fire nation thinks theres another avatar dw abt it

in ba sing se yues tales of ba sing se episode shes invited to join katara and toph and goes but she also gets her own little story where she gets stuck working a part time job at a pottery store and she so lost dfghj

when theres the confrontation at the end of book 2 azula tries to attack yue and calls her the avatar and zuko is??? no thats the nwt princess!! azula is v stunned and then shes like well. fuck you! and then she turns to aang and proceeds from there

yue pretends to be aangs mom so katara doesnt have too dfghj sokka and yue play up a v cute married couple act and katara keeps pretending to throw up

sokka makes yue a cool meteroite knife while hes making the sword and she loves it and immediatly starts target practice

yue and katara both go with hama in the puppetmaster and its actually a redemption episode and yue shares a message from tui with hama and hama thanks them both and decides to go to the swt

yue goes on the boiling rock trip and eyes zuko from the other side of the balloon and he asks o uh how are you alive? yue: i gave back the moon spirit and then the moon came back and then i became a vessel for tui and i got spiritbending. sokka: ur so cool

yue spots suki first and nudges sokka and sokka sees her and goes !!. when zuko stands guard he is so extremley awkward abt it bc he doesnt understand why the both of them went in bc he doesnt realize theyre both kinda with suki. inside the three of them are hugging on the ground and outlinging a fast plan

when chit sang goes: hey ur girlfriend is going away, yue crosses her arms and goes: hey thats MY girlfriend chit sang: oh sorry didnt mean to assume

zuko: i thought you were dating sokka? sokka: yue and i are both dating suki because we are all really cool and awesome :D

when hakoda finds out his son has two badass girlfriends and one of them is the leader of an elite group of warriors and the other is the princess of the nwt he goes and takes a nap

you know that scene where suki is trying to sneak into sokka’s tent but zuko interrupts? yue is already in the tent with sokka and hears the stumble and is like zuko?? we didnt invite you but uh? i guess just talk to sokka quickly we have plans

zuko is very intimidated by yue already so hes much more awkward but he goes in and asks his question and then suki and yue go and hangout with sokka and the three of them have a cute date and do each others hair and suki brings out her fans and they fan each other even though suki goes: hey those are weapons! >:( yue, guiding sokka on hiding his face w a fan: yes suki we are so sorry, come fan me with your weapon please

yue dies in the ember island players version of events so suki sneaks yue and sokka backstage so the three of them can roast the actors and playwright and dfghjk yue is like you know what they wrote me out so im taking kataras place and suki and sokka shrug and they convince the katara actress to let yue take over for the next act

yue makes the show 10x better and almost refuses to die when shes supposed to be defeated and suki and sokka are just quietly cheering in the background like THATS OUR GIRLFRIEND

when theyre facing the fleet in the finale im not saying yue throws her meteorite knife and hits ozai but she totally throws her knife and hits ozai

suki sokka and yue kiss at zuko’s coronation bc they all love pda and then they seperate for a while as they go back to their respective homes but they stay in close contact and sneak away to visit each other whenever they can and they manage to make some sort of rotation schedule between homes between the three of them and have three kids :)

#atla #yuekki #yue #sokka #suki #ill do another post w more thoughts on them outside of adding yue to canon #🧚‍♀️babble #long post #I tried editing this and tumblr is fucking it up D:

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flerkenkiddingme · 4 years ago

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The jetru server was wilding over kuruk and ummi last night so I wrote this thing that I'm lowkey proud of:

Kuruk released a deep breath and opened his eyes. The vast expanse of the Spirit World surrounded him. Most of his memories of the place were traumatic, as many dark spirits had led him to the darkest, creepiest corners of the realm. But he couldn't worry about that now. His current mission would hopefully be much less high-stress. But then again, it was very rare that Spirit World visits ever went his way.

"Yangchen," Kuruk called out. "I need your help."

He'd expected the previous Avatar to appear out of thin air, much like the smaller, benevolent spirits sometimes did here, but Yangchen simply walked up from behind a hill to answer his call.

"This is rather unexpected." she said. "What do you need my help with?"

"Okay, this is a little embarrassing," he started. "But I was wondering... is it possible to appear to other people in the physical world? I know some spirits can do that, but every time you appear, it's like only I can see you."

"I can only appear physically to the Avatar. No one else can see my spirit projection."

"Oh," Kuruk turned away. Of course his idea wouldn't work. Of course the universe couldn't even let him surprise his girlfriend the way he wanted.

Yangchen's face softened at his reply. "Why do you ask? Who did you want me to appear to?"

"Well, uh..." His face grew hot at the prospect of telling his past life about his love life. "I remember Ummi had said something a few days ago about how cool she thought you were, and if she could meet anyone else, dead or alive, she would want to meet you. And since her birthday is really soon--"

"You wanted me to speak to her. Is that right?"

"I--yes."

Yangchen nodded. "What a beautiful gift."

"Well, you just said you couldn't appear to anyone else, so now I have to settle for a stupid purple parka with no sentiment whatsoever." Kuruk knew it didn't make sense to get mad at the Airbender, but he couldn't help it. All he wanted was to make Ummi's childhood dream come true, and there was no way in Tui's name that he would bring her into the Spirit World knowing what could be waiting for them.

"Actually, there is still a possible way I could reach her," said Yangchen. "But I need your help to do so. I did this once for someone I loved as well, but being on the other side of it may be difficult. Can you do it?"

Kuruk raised his head to look her in the eyes.

"What do you need me to do?"

+ + +

"My parents will come around eventually. They liked that airbending trick you did earlier." Ummi insisted. She wasn't a huge fan of the big family parties her family held every year for her birthday, but having her boyfriend there this year made it a little more bearable. Her mother was pleased, if a little shocked, that Ummi had captured the attention of the Avatar, but her father had his doubts. He only saw Kuruk as the heartbreaker he used to be, and no matter what either of them said about how he left that life behind him, her dad was as stubborn as ever.

Unlucky for him, she'd inherited that same stubbornness, and would defend Kuruk to her last breath.

"Okay, so that's one thing they like about me, compared to the sixty-eight things they hate about me," Kuruk's tone was light, but his eyes gave away how crushed he really was.

"My mom doesn't hate you, really, she's mostly just in awe," Ummi kept trying. "And my dad... okay, he kind of does, but you don't deserve it."

"Yes, I do. He has every right to be worried because of my past." He took her hands. "But you don't. You're everything to me now. I wouldn't ever forgive myself, in any of my future lives, if I were to hurt you like that."

Ummi pulled him into a hug, burying her face into the pelt over his shoulder. "He can go jump in the ocean if he can't accept that I love you." She kissed him softly, then let go to pull her hood down. "So, what was that gift that you couldn't show everyone else at the party?"

"Head downstairs and close your eyes, and I'll let you know when it's ready."

"Okay." Ummi nodded, and Kuruk disappeared upstairs. She closed her eyes, envisioning what it could be. Why would it be such a secret? Nothing she could think of seemed to make sense, but she trusted that it would blow her away. He had a natural knack for that.

After a few minutes had passed, she heard footsteps coming back down the stairs. They almost sounded like Kuruk's, but there was just something a little bit different.

"Is that you, honey?" she asked, still not opening her eyes. She felt a hand touch her shoulder, and took that as a signal to look. She turned around and almost fainted on the spot.

Avatar Yangchen, in all her glory, was standing there, glowing faintly but otherwise looking exactly the way most paintings depicted her. She was taller than Ummi had imagined, but her tattoos and robes were the real deal.

"What the--how--but you're--Yangchen?!" Ummi stammered. Why didn't her mouth work anymore? And where was Kuruk? He would go bananas if he could see this.

"It's wonderful to meet you officially, my child," Yangchen's voice was smooth and resonant. "Kuruk has spoken very highly of you."

Usually that kind of compliment would turn her into a blushing mess, but since Kuruk was still nowhere to be found, all she said was, "He speaks so highly of me, yet he's not here with me talking to you right now?"

"He is here, do not fret. The way I'm speaking to you right now is through his body. He asked me personally if I could meet you, since you've expressed that you're a big fan."

"I... guess you could say that," Ummi's mind was reeling. Her ridiculous, adorable boyfriend asked his past life to visit her? Was this the gift he didn't give her at the party?

"You're a very lucky woman, Ummi. And not because he was me, but because he's not," Yangchen almost looked sad, but then smiled at her again. "Did you have anything specific you wanted to talk to me about?"

"What happened with General Old Iron? Did you ever fall in love with anyone? What happened to your friends who died in battle? Should I stop talking now? Yeah, I should, I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. I can tell you all those stories any time you want. All you have to do is ask."

"This is probably the most incredible gift of all time. Thank you so much for doing this, Yangchen, but can I please have Kuruk back now? I have something for him too."

"I guess I should leave you two alone, then." Yangchen's glow began to flicker. "It's been a pleasure, Ummi."

The room went dark, and once the lamps re-lit one by one, there stood Kuruk, in Yangchen's place. He looked up at her with that lopsided grin she adored.

"Was it worth the wait?"

"One thousand percent!" She kissed him hard, channeling all her excitement and awe into it. He started laughing in the middle of the kiss and lifted her off the ground.

If the spirits were in her favor, every day would be just like this.

#simran and agus this is for y'all #kuruk #ummi #what is this called? kummi? ummiruk?#either way yes

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jasontoddsreanimatedcorpse · 3 years ago

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Hate how you’re defending aoc and all the celebs at met gala who ignored the police brutality on the BLM protesters. Just shows you were acting and virtue signalling when you posted about anti cop movements and protesters, huh? You’re still passively racist, self-righteous, and only want to act good for clout and to get famous/lux goods. You don’t mean what you wrote on social media, so either drop the act or start cancelling them, shitfuck

ngl i wasn't gonna answer this but i'm ill and a bit hopped up on meds and this pissed me off

first of all i would like to acknowledge that i probably didn't phrase some things well in that post. i always encourage people to inform me if i have done something wrong, though i find your aggression uncalled for.

i am not saying what they did was right i am saying they shouldn't be blamed for attending an event at the same time as something bad was happening when they had no way of knowing it was going to happen. i do think they all should acknowledge the incident and take measures to help those injured and arrested. i was also saying that i highly doubt anyone came into the met gala like "people are being brutalised outside btw!" so i also think they shouldn't be blamed for not knowing during the met gala.

knowing that you are pro cancel culture, i recognise it must be difficult for you to see anything in a way that isn't completely black and white. i, however, prefer to acknowledge that life and circumstances are complex and most things exist in a shade of grey. this does not excuse people of their actions, but it is important to understand the difference between wrongdoing by ignorance or a simple mistake and wrongdoing by an intentional and malicious act. one is obviously worse than the other.

now for another thing. i do not say things i don't mean. i see no point in it. i do not want attention, i do not want fame, i do not want clout. i say what i think and encourage discussion. i actively try to educate myself on all matters. i recognise i am in a place of privilege, and i use that privilege as best as i can to promote movements i believe in, such as defunding the police, and elevate the voices of minorities. when i say acab, i mean it. when i say that currently i am considering making a career out of psychological research to encourage defunding the police and improving community outreach programmes and the effectiveness of rehabilitation in the justice system, i mean it. this is not some pretense for me, this is something that is effecting my life choices.

i am highly critical of my own government and justice system, just the same as i am critical of the us government and justice system. i sign petitions, i donate money, i put more into this than just reblogging some posts and moving on. just because you cannot see this does not mean it isn't there. like i said, i am not doing tuis for fame or clout or any sort of recognition, i am doing it because it is the right thing to do, and because i believe in it, and therefore see absolutely zero need to advertise what little i have been able to do. it does not make me special, and you attacking me just because i'm not talking about every charity or gofundme page i donate to does not make you special.

also what does "lux goods" mean. what would i get from this. i receive nothing from my contributions, and i want nothing for them bexause guess what!! they are small. i have very little reach or money to contribute, and i do not expect praise or fame or "lux goods" for these contributions. and i don't know why you are accusing me of this when all i have to my name is a relatively small tumblr blog, and a soundcloud that is only rlly listened to by my friends.

and no, i'm not going to cancel aoc, a woman who has been doing so much more than someone like me could ever hope to do in helping combat racism, and who was given the opportunity to attend the met gala and used it to encourage people to look into taxing the rich and to educate people herself. i will, however, encourahe her to address the brutality that happened outside the met gala, as well as police brutality as a whole, and i will be among many in demanding better from her.

also, all cancel culture succeeds in is destroying the careers of smaller public figures for small slights and briefly bringing attention to the shittiness of larger public figures without damaging their career or even reputation in the long run. one of it's major issues is that people will say a larger public figure is cancelled and thing the job is done, instead of consistently blacklisting their projects and demanding better from them and their employers. in fact, the most cancel culture has ever done was destroy the career of an abuse victim who was falsely accused of abuse by his abuser.

idk man, you have a right to hate me, and i'm not gonna pretend i'm some sort of perfect person. i don't view myself as better than anyone, and i can openly admit that i have said things in the past that i know realise to be racist, homophobic, ableist, etc. i learn and i grow and help educate others, and i don't demand anything more from anyone else. but i feel like you hate me without even knowing who i am. you have no right to say i'm just acting, and no right to claim you know my motivations. you don't know me at all.

#discourse #erin answers #anon hate #aoc #met gala #tw abuse mention #tw police brutality mention #tw racism mention #long post

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markedmage · 5 years ago

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Ten Truths

Title: Ten Truths

Pairing: Zuko/Katara, Minor Sokka/Suki

Summary: Something pushes at the edges of Zuko’s consciousness. He remembers all those moments with Katara, the moments of shared silence where she waited, patiently, until he was ready to talk. He remembers how she pulled each little truth from his lips with just her gentle gaze and her willingness to listen without judgment. He remembers how they learned to trust again, in the simple breaths where truth became reality, where he talked and she listened. He looks at her again, sees the gentleness in her eyes, and knows it is time. He’s ready.

Rating: T

Notes: They say Rome wasn't built in a day, but you can bet your ass that this fic was. Partially because I am insane, and don't like to eat, drink or do anything else once the Zutara fix takes hold, but also partially because Zutara are also crazy and I love them and they were begging to be written. That being said, if the flow of this fic is weird, don't blame me. Blame Zutara and the lack of everything nutritious I gave up in order to write this. TBH, I don't even remember most of it, I think my hands and brain just took over and threw a bunch of word vomit onto a document.

I wrote this for the last day of ZutaraMonth, Day 29: Flowers. Uh, not sure how well this follows the prompt exactly. I DID have an idea in mind, but as I said above, this kinda got away from me. But I wanted to participate, and this was the last day, so here ya go.I'm planning on participating in ZutaraWeek as well. I'm so excited- I hope you guys are too. I already have a fic in mind (yes it's already being written) and I plan on incorporating the week's themes once they come out. I hope you guys will read and enjoy my ZutaraWeek submission, as much as you've loved my other stories as well. Thank you guys for all the support.

Posted on AO3 as well. Read it here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24449281

The walls Katara had so meticulously built up around herself slowly crumble. The anger and hatred that she had so callously thrown at Zuko to keep him away from her turn into something else- definitely not trust, not yet, Zuko knows he has a long way before he can reach that pivotal moment with her- but she no longer pierces him with a frozen stare every time they catch each other’s eye, she no longer crushes him with a biting malice every time he offers her his help with the chores. The dynamic between them has changed.

I'll never forgive him. But I am ready to forgive you.

They settle into an easy companionship in the days before the comet. Zuko rises with the sun and settles into his morning meditation. He brews the tea, leaving a small flame under the pot to keep it warm until Katara rises, a little later. She joins him sometimes, sitting in amicable silence, but more often sets about with the day, making breakfast and folding the laundry. By the time Zuko has finished his meditation, Katara has woken the rest of the gang (kids, Zuko thinks, We’ve adopted a family of kids), and has set out a bowl of jook for him. Then Zuko takes Aang for his firebending lessons, followed by lunch, Toph, and Katara later in the day. Zuko spars with Sokka, keeping his dao blades sharp, and trains with Suki in hand-to-hand combat.

Sometimes, late at night, he sits at the overlook beyond his house, staring out over the calm ocean. He thinks about the last time he’d been here, back when his heart was still troubled and his soul was still split between doing what was right and what he thought he wanted. Sometimes Katara joins him, and it’s so different from the last time they spent a night under the moon (Maybe you can bring my mother back!). She sits with him, close enough he can almost taste the questions on her lips, but she never asks. He knows she’s desperate to speak, curiosity burning in those deep blue eyes of hers, but the thing he loves the most about Katara is that she always seems to know when he’s ready to talk, and so she waits until she knows.

It’s something he’s always loved about her- the easy way she simply waits until he’s ready, unlike Sokka and Toph and Aang, who talk and talk and ask and badger him with questions until he feels like he may explode. He loves the gang, he really does- the loyalty, the love, the friendship- but so much exploration into his personal life can be too much for him to bear sometimes.

But with Katara it’s different. Silence- which once held so much pain and fear in Zuko’s heart- becomes the thing he relishes the most with her. He finds peace in the calmness of quiet, tranquility settling in his soul in the heartbeat of Katara’s breaths. In the soothing serenity of Katara’s presence, Zuko feels his heart stitching itself back together, and every day that passes he feels himself falling a little bit back into the person he wants to be. He thinks he’s ready.

Ready to let someone in.

________________________________________________________________

Zuko feels his peaceful world, the one he so desperately created around him, the one built on friendship and companionship, crumble around him at the weight of Aang’s words. “About Sozin's Comet... I was actually going to wait to fight the Fire Lord until after it came. I'm not ready.”

It’s his worst nightmare really. Of course Aang needs more time to practice firebending, and he agrees with Toph- his earthbending really needs some work as well. But he remembers with dreadful clarity what his father planned before the invasion, the cruelty of the plan and the morbid fear in his heart of what was to come.

“Things can’t get any worse,” Katara says, and the pain in Zuko’s heart weighs heavier on his chest.

“You’re wrong,” Zuko says, and even his voice sounds hollow with despair. “It's about to get worse than you can even imagine.”

He tells them about Ozai’s plan. The plan to crush the Earth Kingdom’s hope, to bury it’s very foundation under an inferno of ash and destruction. He watches the hope die in their eyes, replaced by a growing seed of fear. Sokka looks devastated, Suki looks terrified. Toph’s, for once, speechless, Aang looks hopeless, and Katara looks stricken, looking at him with eyes filled with terror and concern. She reaches out a hand, but one look from Zuko has her dropping it, stepping back with lowered eyes.

Zuko knows how much this hurts everyone, how much it hurts him. But as he looks at them, the brave Water tribe soldier, the Kyoshi Warrior, the Beifong Heiress, the Avatar, and the greatest Waterbender he’s ever met, he knows he’ll do anything to protect them. And right now, that’s making sure they defeat his father, no matter the cost. “I know you're scared,” He says, placing a hand on Aang’s shoulder. The boy looks up at him with scared eyes, and Zuko remembers when he looked at his father the same way. Only this time, Zuko is not his father, and he won’t hurt a young boy just for speaking his mind. He smiles encouragingly at Aang. “And I know that you're not ready to save the World. But if you don't defeat the Fire Lord before the comet comes, there won't be a World to save anymore.”

That seems to be the right thing to say, and he sees the fire once again burn in Aang’s eyes. Sokka once again shines with the energy of his people, and he raises a fist in the air. “Team Avatar is back!”

Zuko smiles, and lowers his head as Sokka continues to crow with excitement. But a little part of him can’t help but be afraid, be afraid for the people he’s come to love and cherish as his own family. And when he raises his eyes once more, he finds himself being stared down by Katara’s watchful gaze, and knows she feels it too.

________________________________________________________________

She finds him later that night, sitting under a sky full of stars. He makes no inclination that he’s heard her, but she comes over to him anyway, sitting down next to him. He blinks, then pulls his gaze from the heavens to look at her. She’s staring out over the water, hands folded neatly in her lap. Even under the pale moonlight, he can see the reds and golds of her silk robe standing out against the rich caramel of her skin, and he finds himself thinking that the rich colors of his nation suit her well.

(Red symbolizes passion and power, represents the Fire Nation. But Zuko wishes to tell the world that red symbolizes Katara, symbolizes the strength in her limbs and the power in her heart, the desire and will to do what is right and to never give up on people who need her. Katara may be of the Water Tribe, but her heart burns with the fire of a thousand suns.)

He turns his eyes back to the sky, and sees her do the same. They sit in silence for a moment, and Zuko finds himself unable to bear the silence (a silence that he’s always craved from her). “When I was younger, my mother used to tell me stories of the stars,” he begins, and raises a hand to trace out a constellation. Katara’s eyes trace his fingers, and he maps out the Azure Dragon of the Fire Nation. “The Azure Dragon is the guardian of all the stars,” he recites. “The dragon was created by Agni so that he could rest during the night. Under the watchful gaze of Tui and the Azure Dragon, Agni sleeps, and the dragon circles the night sky, ever watchful for danger against his master.”

Zuko looks back at Katara, then chuckles awkwardly and scratches the back of his head awkwardly. Katara’s gaze is too bright, too warm, too knowing, and he feels like she is taking him apart bit by bit. “Of course, that’s just a story my mother used to tell me.”

Her eyes soften, and she rests a gentle hand on his shoulder. “You must have loved your mother very much,” she says, and his shoulders sag.

“Yes,” he says, raising a hand to his face, touching the scar that mars the side of his face. “I loved her more than anything in the world.” Katara’s gaze follows his hand, landing on his scar. She raises her other hand and cups his cheek, resting her palm over his fingers. “Your father gave that to you, did he?” she breathes.

Zuko’s heart stutters to a stop in his chest, and gasps, long and low in his throat. He meets Katara’s gaze, half expecting disgust, anger, hatred, to be swimming in the blue depths of her eyes, but he’s only met with compassion. She smiles at him, and he knows that she won’t press him if he doesn’t want to, that she’ll give him space if he needs it, but Zuko knows this is a story he has to tell. She deserves to know.

“Truth,” he says, and meets her kind eyes. He tells her the story of a young boy, a young prince, who stood up for the soldiers who didn’t have a voice, how he expected to face the general he dishonored in the Agni Kai- how it was his own father who maimed him. Suffering shall be your teacher.

By the time he’s finished there are tears pooling in Katara’s sky blue gaze. “Oh, Zuko,” she whispers, and leans over, pulling her into his arms. She buries her head in his neck and holds him tight, her shoulders shaking. “You should have never had to go through that.”

He buries his face in her hair, inhales the sweet scent of wind and rain, and Katara. She didn’t say I’m sorry, but she didn’t need to. Zuko has had enough pity in his life, and once again, Katara knows exactly the right thing to say to put him at ease. So he holds onto her, he clings to her, and relishes in this moment- this one fragment of time where everything feels right, where he is home and the person he cherishes the most is here with him, under the watchful gaze of Tui and the Azure Dragon.

________________________________________________________________

They share another moment after June has led them to the outskirts of Ba Sing Se. They make camp for the night, and longer after Sokka and the others have turned in for the night, Zuko joins Katara to sit by the fire. He pokes at the embers and convinces the flames back to life, and Katara smiles at him, and places her hands closer for the warmth. They sit in the companionable silence Zuko knows all too well, until Toph appears in an explosion of earth, screaming, “Someone’s coming!”

It’s chaos, and suddenly their tiny camp is surrounded in a ring of flames. But just as quickly as the flames come roaring to life, they die down, and Zuko recognizes Jeong-Jeong, and Master Piandao, and suddenly they're surrounded by the order of the White Lotus. And his uncle is in the Lotus camp, waiting for him.

He finds himself standing outside the tent of the Grand Lotus. It makes sense that his uncle holds the title- he’s the most righteous individual the Fire Nation ever produced, and balance between the four nations was one of the things he stressed the most in life (that and tea). He sits in front of the tent, and he doesn’t know how to bring himself to enter. The last time he saw his uncle, he was sitting in a jail cell, left to rot. The last time he met his uncle’s gaze was at the crossroads of his destiny, of the avatar’s, of Katara’s, in the old city of Ba Sing Se. Shame courses his veins, shame from all those months ago, in the same place, rises up and threatens to overwhelm him.

A hand on his shoulder brings him back to reality, and he blinks while Katara sits next to him. She’s dressed in the blues of her nation, but her eyes still burn with that fire that threatens to set the world alight.

“Are you okay?” she asks quietly, the hand resting on his shoulder providing a quiet comfort that Zuko leans into. He turns his head away and sighs, eyes fixed on the lotus symbol painted across his uncle’s tent.

“No,” he says finally. “My Uncle hates me, I know it. He loved me and supported me in every way he could and I still turned against him. How can I even face him?

Katara sighs, and Zuko can feel her heartbeat pounding to the rhythm of his own. “You’re sorry for what happened?” she says, looking at him with her clear gaze. “In the catacombs?”

He’s more sorry than he’s ever been in his life. Of all the people in the world, uncle Iroh was the only one who saw him for who he was, who supported him no matter the cost, and followed him to the end of the world and back. He betrayed the only person who loved him, mistakes and all. Sorry can’t even begin to describe how Zuko feels.

(Shame, anger, frustration, disgust, guilt. Sorrow)

He looks at Katara. Another person who was willing to love him through the scars. Another person he’s hurt. Another person he’s betrayed. “More sorry than I've been about anything in my entire life.”

Another truth, about his uncle, about the Avatar, about her. Judging from the look in her eyes, she knows. She understands, knows how truthful he’s being (not just about his uncle). Katara smiles, and leans over, kissing him on the cheek, over his scar. He jolts, but she pulls back, and the fond look in her eyes is enough for Zuko (he thinks he can conquer the world on the sole basis of that look).

“Then he'll forgive you. He will.”

The strength she offers- the quiet, enduring support and kindness- is enough to send Zuko through the flaps in the tent. And later, when his uncle wakes and pulls him into a high, her strength is what brings him to tears, with how can you forgive me so easily? I thought you would be furious with me falling easily from his lips. Partially for his uncle, and partially for her.

________________________________________________________________

Katara’s not the person who shows weakness easily. If it’s anyone, Zuko thinks it’s Sokka. He’s a strong, brave soul, but he’s still a teenager, and the idea of taking on the Fire Lord without the possibility of Aang there frightens him-Zuko can see it in his soul. But Katara’s always been such a solid, reassuring presence to the gang, and Zuko doesn’t really know what to do when he finds her overlooking the city, and she looks so utterly broken.

“Wherever he is, I’m sure he’ll be alright,” Zuko says, placing a hand on her shoulder. She looks up at him and smiles at him, though her eyes are watery and she looks so small.

“I know,” she says, sniffling and wiping her eyes. “I’m just so scared though. The whole world is relying on us, and I just don’t know what I’d do if any of you got hurt. Especially you.”

He blinks, and she laughs at his expression. “Yes, even you. That’s the truth,” she says. “I know what facing Azula means to you, what it means to me, but I can’t help but feel terrified.” She leans in and rests her forehead against Zuko’s chest, taking a deep, shuddering breath. “I can’t lose you. Not again.”

Ba Sing Se.

He closes his eyes and pulls her tight, wrapping his arms around the small of her back and holding her close. “You won’t lose me,” he breathes, stroking her hair. “I know you’re scared, and I’ve never been more terrified in my life. I have to face Azula.”

She nods into his chest, and Zuko pulls away, but holds her by the shoulders and meets her gaze, gold boring into blue. “But this I know is true,” he says. “There is no one else I trust with my life than you, Katara. And you’re the one I want by my side when I bring my treacherous sister to her knees.”

_______________________________________________________________

Later, when they’re flying over the Fire Nation, Zuko turns to Katara with fear in his heart. He doesn’t know how to tell her that he wants her safe, that no matter what he’ll protect her, that he’ll die to make sure she survives, but he doesn’t know how. Katara makes eye contact with him and misreads his fear, saying, “Zuko, don’t worry, we can take Azula.”

He blinks, and shoves away the feelings simmering under his skin, looking up at the sky, Sozin’s Comet painting it bloodred. “I’m not worried about her,” he says, truthfully, after a moment. “I’m worried about Aang. What if he doesn’t have the guts to take out my father? What if he loses?” Katara looks away. “Aang won’t lose,” she says quietly. “He’s coming back. He has to.” She turns her fierce gaze back on him, and smiles grimly. “And so will you.”

He almost doesn’t believe her, especially when he’s lying on the ground at the palace, his tunic in tatters and his skin painted red with blood. Lightning courses through his veins, and he laments in the fact that he broke his promise to Katara, that there’s no way he can possible come back, that she’s going to lose him too, again, just like last time-

And she saves him, glowing water gloved on her hands and tears of joy and love in her eyes. He whispers, “Thank you, Katara,” and when she says “I think I’m the one who should be thanking you,” he thinks he’s fallen in love for the first time.

When they stand over Azula, the broken princess, he almost doesn’t recognize her. He turns away, his heart turning to ash when he realizes that Ozai broke her as much as he broke him, Katara follows him. “I was so worried about you,” she breathes, cupping his face. “When you fell, I was so scared. I’ve never felt more scared for you in my life.”

He looks at her. “Me too,” he says, and takes her hand in his. “I was so scared for you. Katara, it wasn’t my life that I was worried about, but yours. I couldn’t let Azula hurt you.”

Her eyes fall to the burn scored across his chest. “You didn’t have to take lightning for me, Zuko.”

He breathes, and takes their hands, placing their entwined fingers on his burn. “I’d take the heat of a thousand suns for you, Katara,” he whispers, the truth of his words burning deep into his skin, deeper than his scars. “You must know that.”

Her eyes lower, and he leans forward, pressing his forehead into hers. “But you brought me back. You didn’t have to. Why?”

She smiles, tears pouring out of her eyes, and leans forward. “You know why,” she breathes, and kisses him.

(With sudden clarity he knows she’s telling the truth.)

________________________________________________________________

And suddenly, just like that, peace is the new normal. Aang comes back, bringing Ozai in his custody, and tells everyone how a giant lion-turtle taught him how to spiritbend (“Only you,” Toph says, and punches him).

Zuko is crowned Firelord. On the eve of his coronation, he finds Katara in his mother’s garden, feeding bits of bread to the turtleducks (he’s hit with such a wave of nostalgia that he stumbles under the weight of his mother’s love, of the memories of a young boy sitting with his mother feeding the turtleducks).

Katara looks over to him and smiles, beckoning him to join her. He sits by the water’s edge, taking the bread she offers and tossing it into the water. Lulled by the quacking of the turtleducks and the peace of Katara’s presence, Zuko feels his shoulders lift from under the burden of ruling a broken kingdom. There’s so much he needs to do, to restore the Fire Nation to its former glory.

Katara nudges him, making him meet her gaze. “What’s up?” she asks, piercing him with her blue eyes. “You look troubled.

(He wants to tell her he loves her. He wants to tell her that she is his Azure Dragon, that she’s the one person in the world he wants by his side.)

But what comes out of his mouth is: “I don’t love Mai.”

She blinks. “What?” she says, after a moment.

He sighs. “It’s the truth,” he whispers. “Mai, earlier, she came to me, right before the coronation. She told me she loved me, and wanted to be with me.” Katara’s eyes are on him, but they’re not judging him, and he finds solace in the gentleness of her gaze. She rests her hand on his arm, and he wordlessly takes her hand, lacing his fingers through hers and marveling at the contrast of their skin color overlapping, brown and white. She smiles, encouragingly.

“It’s just, Mai was in love with someone who I used to be,” he confesses. “Someone I once was, back when I let anger and hatred fuel me. She was in love with a boy who was scared of his sister and weak against his father, who turned on his friends and the family who actually loved him. I’m not that person, not anymore. I can’t be with her- I don’t love her anymore. Not that way.”

Katara’s eyes soften. “I think that was very brave of you,” she whispers. He turns and blinks at her, and she smiles, looking back down at the pond. “Think of it this way. When you disturb the water-” she dips a hand in the pond and ripples spread out from where her fingers danced across the tranquil surface “-it creates chaos, and imbalances the real support that lies under the surface. But once the ripples fade, then the pond can go back to being what it always has been, peaceful, still, and sure.” She waves a hand and the water stills, turning back into a clear, shimmering pond that reflects the moon, Katara, and Zuko. She smiles and leans forward, pointing at Zuko’s mirror image reflected on the water. “This is who you are, Zuko.” She says. “This is what you’ve always been.”

He stares at the quiet reflection of himself. “You wouldn’t have been happy with her,” Katara continues. “And that doesn’t mean you don’t love her, because you do. But there’s a difference between loving someone for what they were and loving someone for who they are. And you’re not the person you used to be, Zuko. I know that to be true.”

He turns and pulls her close, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. “Oh, Katara,” he breathes. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

It’s not what he wants to say, but he doesn’t know how to tell her his true feelings, at least not yet. And luckily, she is Katara, and he knows she’ll wait until he’s ready. Just like she always has been.

She smiles. “For the record,” she says, squeezing his hand. “I’m glad you’re not in love with her either.”

That pulls a laugh from him, and he pulls her close, feeling his soul stitch together under her healing gaze.

________________________________________________________________

They’re walking through the marketplace when Aang spots a flower vendor. He drags Katara over, and Zuko and Sokka, followed by Toph, creep over as well. Zuko stands passively while Sokka oogles over the variety, finally settling on a bouquet of sun roses to bring to Suki. Toph sulks next to him, and when the vendor tries to woo her over with some flowers, she silences him with an “I’m blind,” and a smack in the face with a pebble. He shuts up quickly after that, and Zuko stifles a chuckle (the last time he didn’t, he too got wacked with a rock, and he’s not rushing to repeat that again).

He ends up hovering near where Aang is gushing over the panda lily display. “Look, Katara,” he says. “They’re beautiful, just like you!”

Zuko bristles, because Katara isn’t Aang’s, she doesn’t belong to him, she can’t. But Katara is her own person, and she looks at the lilies with distaste. “They’re fine, Aang,” she says in her most dismissive tone (and Zuko cannot be any more prouder). She turns away from Aang, not seeing his shoulders slump, and continues to browse the flowers.

On a whim, Zuko turns to the display and picks out his favorite, a small fire lily, the rich ruby a reminder of Katara’s fierce passion. He drops the vendor a few coins and turns, walking over to where Katara stands. She looks up, eyes widening up Zuko’s arrival. “Here,” he says, reaching forward and placing it in her hair, right behind her ear. “This suits you.”

Her eyes widen, and she reaches up, touching the flower reverently. “Zuko,” she breathes, leaning up and hugging him. “I love it.” She leans in. “These are my favorite.”

He smiles, and nuzzles her hair softly, before stepping back. He catches a glimpse of Aang’s sad eyes in his periphery, but then Katara’s smooth hand slips into his, and the Avatar is forgotten.

________________________________________________________________

The moment Katara comes to him, tears falling from her eyes, Zuko is ready to drown whoever hurt her in an inferno of his rage. He’s in his mother’s garden (hiding from his advisors- they would never bother him here), when she comes storming in like a tsunami and throws herself into him, tears cascading down her rich brown cheeks like a waterfall. Zuko drops what he’s doing immediately- composing a letter to King Kuei, that can wait- and wraps his arms around her, rubbing her back while she lets out choking sobs.

He lets her cry, holding her close while she buries herself in his chest and releases her misery to the world. He’s got half a mind to find whoever hurt her and have them tried for war crimes, but then she pulls away, and he finds that he can’t rip himself away from her sad gaze. There’s a fire lily in her hair and the words they’re my favorite float around in his mind, but he focuses on the tears falling from her eyes and tries to figure out who in their right mind would do this to her-

“Aang,” she whispers, and in choking, heaving breaths, she tells him that Aang kissed her, that he told her he loved her, and wanted her to travel the world with him. Zuko grows cold, feels his heart come stuttering to a halt, and thinks his world is about to be destroyed.

She can’t go with him, he thinks, heart tearing into pieces. Agni, she can’t go with him.

“Katara-”

“I can’t go with him,” she wails, interrupting Zuko. “I can’t go with him and I’ve hurt him and it hurts so much, and I don’t know what to do!”

He cups her cheek and holds her close. “You don’t have to go with him,” he whispers (he begs). “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”

“But I broke his heart! I told him I didn’t love him!”

A part of Zuko rejoices at that, but he pushes that wave down and concentrates on soothing Katara. “Katara,” he says firmly, and she hiccups, looking at him with wide eyes. “You don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to do,” he repeats slowly. “It’s your life, your love to give out. Never let anyone take it from you. Only you have the power to give it. Even Aang, as young as he is, does not have the right to take your love. He’s twelve years old, Katara, he doesn’t even really know what love is. He’ll be fine.”

Katara’s eyes lower, and a single tear runs down her cheek. “I wanted to love him,” she confesses. “I wanted to be his, I really did. But I just...don’t.” Zuko runs his finger over her cheek. “And that’s okay,” he whispers. “But it’s okay to know exactly what you want, and if you know you don’t want to be with him, then don’t. You’re your own person, Katara. Aang will respect that.” She shudders, and closes her eyes. “I don’t love him,” she whispers, and the truth of it seems to sink in. She opens her eyes, and although there’s still sadness, Zuko also sees resolution and tact in her gaze. “I don’t love him.”

Something pushes at the edges of Zuko’s consciousness. He remembers all those moments with Katara, the moments of shared silence where she waited, patiently, until he was ready to talk. He remembers how she pulled each little truth from his lips with just her gentle gaze and her willingness to listen without judgment. He remembers how they learned to trust again, in the simple breaths where truth became reality, where he talked and she listened. He looks at her again, sees the gentleness in her eyes, and knows it is time. He’s ready.

“I don’t want you to be with him,” he blurts out, and her eyes widen. He takes her by the hand and pulls her close, drowning in the blue depths of her eyes-eyes which had never held him in contempt (once sadness and anger, but never contempt)- and has never felt more sure in his entire life. “I don’t want you to be with him, Katara, because I want you to be with me.”

Her mouth opens. “Are you serious?” she breathes, and Zuko nods, clarity in his heart and serenity in his soul.

“I’ve never been more sure in my entire life,” he says. “Katara, there is no one else I want by my side. Please, say you’ll stay with me. Please.”

She looks at him, really looks at him. She’s quiet for a moment. “I don’t love Aang,” she says. She rests a hand on Zuko’s cheek, caressing his scar lovingly. “Because I love you. I’ve always loved you, Zuko,” she whispers, and it feels like coming home.

It's always been you.

________________________________________________________________

There are fire lilies at the ceremony. They adorn the throne room, sit in bouquets in Suki’s, Toph’s, and Ty Lee’s laps, fill the vases at the dinner tables. Sokka has a fire lily pinned to his tunic, and Aang has a necklace of them ringing his neck. Zuko has one pinned to his robes, and there are fire lilies in her hair.

They are joined as one under the eyes of Agni, and Zuko pins the crown of the Firelady to her topknot. She’s wearing the reds of his-their-people, but the blue of her homeland hugs her throat. She kisses him, hands clasped tightly to his, and the nation cheers at their joining.

During the celebration ball, he spins her around in the courtroom, her dress billowing out around her, her joyful laugh tinkling like bells. Zuko is the happiest he’s ever been, surrounded by family and friends, in the arms of a woman who loves him.

And later, when they’re out by the turtleduck pond and he’s tucking a loose fire lily behind her ear, she looks up at him, love burning in her blue eyes. This is all he's ever wanted- peace in the world and love in his arms. This is what he needs, his beautiful Azure Dragon, and nothing else. She leans close and cups his cheek.

“You love me,” she whispers.

He leans in, kisses her softly, tasting their future on her tongue.

“Truth.”

Notes: Ok, so I know Zuko was lowkey cheesy throughout this fic, but lets be honest. Boy literally used his firebending to light up a fountain to impress a girl- this kid's cheesy as heck and you cannot change my mind.

I tried to keep the truths mostly to Zuko, but Katara is my girl and she couldn't help but bleed through in a couple places.Anyway, thank you so much for reading, please let me know what you thought. Also, please don't hesitate to talk to me so that we may revel in the beauty that is Zutara.

See you for ZutaraWeek (UNLESS I find inspiration for another story, which, let's be honest, I most likely will).

#zutara #zuko #katara #zutara month #wolfspirit44 on ff.net #my fav ship #zukoxkatara #zutara month 2020 #zutara fanfiction

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hiccanna-tidbits · 4 years ago

Photo

So y’all seem to like my Moanida aesthetics, so...*smashes glass against the ground* ANOTHER!

I was struck by a sudden inspiration last night and remembered the memes about how the next batch of gay fanfiction is gonna all be quarantine-themed, and BOOM it was time to make a “Moana and Merida are roommates who get quarantined together and fall in love” moodboard! This one complete with a list of headcanons I wrote to go with it :D

~With the beaches, lakes, and pools closed, Moana misses swimming and sailing SO MUCH and resorts to fancy aromatherapy flower baths to still get her “submerged in water” fix. Merida buys her a little plastic boat partly as a joke, saying “here, lassie, ‘t least yeh can sail that one!” One day, Merida is walking past the bathroom while Moana is taking one of her flower baths, and she overhears Mo making boat noises and dramatically narrating the Adventures of Moana the Epic Sailor before pretending the be a vengeful ocean goddess and sinking the entire ship. Merida grins so big her face can barely hold it because that’s the cutest shit she’s ever seen. Besides, she’s not about to judge--the quarantine is making everyone go a little crazy.

~Merida is the kind of person who likes to constantly stay active as much as she can--whether that’s going to archery ranges, going on runs, or hitting the gym. The roughest part of quarantine for her is being cooped up inside with barely any space to move around, so Moana buys her some home exercise equipment so the poor redhead doesn’t go totally insane. Whenever Merida lifts weights or does stretches, Moana is her biggest cheerleader.

~Merida has had the same stuffed horse, Angus, since she was a kid, but of course she hides him in the darkest depths of her room during the day because she wouldn’t be caught dead harboring even one stuffed animal. One day, Merida doesn’t hide him well enough and Moana catches a glimpse of him through Merida’s open door. Poor Merida is mortified, terrified Moana will never believe she’s tough again. Quite the contrary--Moana is delighted, and upon seeing Angus instantly goes “A new friend!!!! :D” Moana campaigns for Angus to become the new apartment mascot and Merida, after quite a bit of convincing, agrees. Angus earns a spot as the new centerpiece on the kitchen table. Sometimes Moana likes to make him little flower crowns.

~Merida would never in roughly 10,000 years admit it for how unduly “feminine” and “domestic” it makes her look, but she’s actually a pretty incredible baker. Her little brothers are absolute FIENDS for empire biscuits, and for years Merida and her mom have been making lots of them for the boys’ birthday. One day, upon seeing Moana especially bummed out from being away from the ocean for so long, Merida makes her a big batch to cheer her up. Moana is absolutely wowed by how good they are, and begs Merida to teach her how to make them. Merida reluctantly agrees. By the end of the experience, there is flour and icing all over their kitchen...but it’s totally worth it.

~Tui and Sina have taught Moana how to make some INCREDIBLE homemade tropical cocktails. Naturally, the girls get to a point in the quarantine when they both start drinking a little more just to keep from getting bored. Moana decides this is a good opportunity to teach Merida how to make said tropical cocktails, partly because hey, if they’re going to drink anyways, might as well drink the good stuff, and partly to repay Merida for teaching her how to make the empire biscuits. Turns out Merida has some apparent natural talent for mixology, and together they whip up more tropical cocktails than they really have any right to.

~The first night they do this, they celebrate by both getting extremely drunk and binging Broadway bootlegs. During the romantic numbers, a bit of drunk kissing may or may not have happened. Both claim the next day that they blacked out and don’t remember anything that happened after like 11 pm. Both are lying.

~Merida has known she was a lesbian since she was like 16 (I imagine the girls are like early 20s in this AU) but she’s got a fear of commitment and would never even ENTERTAIN the idea of something as long-term as marriage, mainly because she’s terrified it would take away a lot of her freedom. She’s hooked up with lots of girls and had a few short-term flings, but she’s never been in a serious relationship before. Moana, meanwhile, just...hasn’t really given much thought at all to her sexuality or romance in general, mainly because she’s always had better things to do. Because of this, the tingling sensation they now get whenever they see each other or accidentally brush hands passing in the hallway is a rather alarming development for both. Mo has never had a crush on really anyone before, and Merida, well...she’s had dozens of crushes, sure, but never a serious one.

~They end up making tropical cocktails and getting drunk together as a regular thing. Friday night becomes Cocktail Night. On the next Cocktail Night, Moana drunkenly decides she’s going to teach Merida some traditional Polynesian dance, even going so far as to cobble together a poorly-made grass skirt and flower crown for the redhead. Merida can feel her heart speed up a little every time Moana puts her hands on her waist or her arms to try and show her how to do certain dance moves. As soon as Mer realizes what’s going on, she’s just like “...oh. Oh no.”

~Merida suggests a karaoke night solely so she has an excuse to listen to Moana sing. Merida secretly thinks Moana has the most beautiful singing voice she’s ever heard in her life, even when drunkenly singing along to Broadway bootlegs. She tries to play it off by playfully teasing Moana about it, rolling her eyes and saying things like “Yeh’ve got thae voice of ae siren, lass, yeh know that, right?” Meanwhile, behind closed doors, Merida fantasizes about sexy siren Moana leaping out of the ocean with the moon glinting off her scales, come to save Merida from drowning or something else equally romantic. Merida tells absolutely no one about this.

~One Cocktail Night, they put on some nature documentaries (partly so Moana can chip in with the ridiculously large amount of marine biology trivia she knows). Merida comes back from the bathroom to find Moana drunkenly full-on sobbing because the current documentary is showing a bunch of baby turtles struggling to make it to the ocean and several being picked up by various birds and other predators. Poor Moana is sprawled out on their couch, wailing “IT’S NOT FAIR, MER...THEY’RE SO SMALL...SO SMALL...” over and over. Merida hugs her tight and consoles her to the best of her ability and also gets far too much pleasure from feeling Moana’s boobs up against her tbh.

That’s all I can think of for now! Pic credits available upon request!

#merida x moana #moana x merida #moana #merida #disney femslash #aesthetic #moodboard #oh my god they were quarantined #oh my god they were roommates #moana waialiki #merida dunbroch #meridana #moanida #merana #brave #crossover

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spectraldragon2024 · 4 years ago

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Finding Peace Q/A

Questions and Answers: (WARNING: Many of these questions and answers have spoilers for Finding Peace.)

Q: How did Whiteout find out about the Realm Between and the Dream World? I thought only Adder and his close contacts knew.

A: A personal headcanon of mine is that the NightWings were one of the few tribes in Darkstalker’s era that focused on advanced theories in the same way scientists today have theories about Darkmatter. In Finding Peace: One of these theories was about the concept of there being worlds that existed parallel to the world dragons inhabited. Even when the NightWings relocated to the volcanic island, NightWing philosophers did not abandon these theories overnight since it’s implied the volcano did not become active until centuries later. In her twilight years, she would learn about this theory (which came from a NightWing philosopher’s circle that was formed by the students of the Seer Omniscience, a controversial Seer in NightWing history.) While Whiteout was not a Somnus, not knowing the full nature of these worlds, she eventually gained access to the Realm Between. How she exactly gained access to this realm is something I plan to explore in later stories. However, I can explain how she managed to communicate with her brother across the centuries. In the Realm Between: Time is a concept, not a law. This means those who enter the Realm, whether physically or mentally, can communicate with individuals from across time. But to do so requires two individuals to be in the same location of the realm. By sacrificing her foresight, Whiteout was able to use the Realm Between to communicate with Peacemaker through various times. The final time Whiteout speaks to Peacemaker is a month before her passing.

Q: Are we going to see Moon have that important conversation with Qibli? It was left open-ended in the final Winglet.

A: Yes, I can say with absolute certainty that we will see this conversation. However, what will happen after this conversation will be up in the air. Going into the Winglet: I wanted to show that even though characters like Moon and Qibli have their “Happy Ending”, that does not necessarily mean all trials are done when a relationship begins. In Darkness of Dragons, I felt that there were some unresolved points of concern in Moon and Qibli’s personalities that I imagine would cause their newfound relationship to suffer if those concerns aren’t addressed. Ms. Sutherland once said that because both Moon and Qibli are young dragons, anything can happen between the end of Darkness of Dragons and fifty years later. Some core issues that have caused Moon and Qibli to hit a bump in their relationship stems from differing priorities. Moon is a representative and the only active Seer in the world. Her word is valued by not just the Queens of Phyrria, but Pantala as well. But she knows this isn’t just going to be her future, that there is more on the horizon. She wants the perfect ending with Qibli...but she focuses too much on that ending and tries to take steps to make it perfect.

On the other talon, you have Qibli. Despite his love and loyalty to Moon and his friends, Thorn remains the big centerpiece of his world. After all, Thorn was his mother figure who brought him out of an unstable life. He owes everything to her. That means he will be what Thorn needs him to be: An advisor, a soldier...he will be any of those. Unfortunately, this means he puts a lot of other things on the back burner, his relationship with Moon in particular. This causes a lot of distance between the two. Into the Darkness and Our Sanctuary will not show this much-needed conversation, as these stories will follow Turtle, Kinkajou, and Winter’s storylines respectively. But as I write Braving the Tempest, I do hope to write a story that runs parallel to it that shows Winter, Qibli, and Moon...and how their subplot resolves.

Q: In the Winglet that focuses on Tempest's POV: You have her meet Clearsight. During the conversation, it looks like Tempest blames Clearsight for what happened to Darkstalker. I was wondering if you believe this and if you think Darkstalker did nothing wrong?

A: Do I hate Clearsight? No, absolutely not. I thought she was a very intelligent dragon with a good heart. She loved Darkstalker and tried to turn him from the dark path he was on. I do not blame her for Darkstalker's descent into madness. Darkstalker's actions were his own, he had every opportunity to turn back and be happy. He was the only obstacle to his happiness (as Peacemaker pointed out.) That being said, while Darkstalker is the cause of his madness and sadness, I do believe Clearsight could have helped convince him to abandon his ambitions and to just be happy. The scene in question was not meant to be a sign of hatred, but rather a critique of Clearsight's decisions leading up to Darkstalker's descent. When I originally wrote the scene, I wrote it with something in mind that Tui herself once said in a Q/A Biohazardia was in and posted on their Deviant Art page. The Question asked was along the lines of what could have Clearsight have done to turn Darkstalker away from his path. Tui answered that she believed that Clearsight did love Darkstalker, but deep down she did not trust him. That was the point of the earring she had Darkstalker give her in order to keep him from reading her mind. Tui thought that, if Clearsight had shown the visions she was afraid of, then Darkstalker could have chosen a better path. I admit while Darkstalker was to blame for his actions (nobody else made him kill Arctic, that was his decision, and his alone.) I do think things could have been different as Tui said. But I like to think Clearsight knew that if she had trusted him enough to share her visions, then maybe Darkstalker could have changed. Instead of focusing so much on the future Darkstalker (good or bad) and focused on the dragon, she loved in the present, then maybe things could have been different. When Tempest and Clearsight did meet in Tempest's limbo state, Clearsight used the personality she had while she knew Darkstalker as a way to test to see how far Tempest would go for Peacemaker. The reason she tested Tempest, was because the SeaWing had a personality Clearsight wished she had when she knew Darkstalker: And that was to focus on the present. That was the basis of Clearsight's personality after she arrived on Pantala. She urged her descendants to live their lives, day by day. The future was theirs to write. With Tempest, she needed to make sure that she held firm in her beliefs, that she could save Peacemaker even if the future was dark. So while I believe Clearsight could have done things differently, I want to make it clear that I do not consider her responsible for Darkstalker's own actions

Q: Will you explore quantum mechanics in future stories? (i.e. Time Travel.)

A: While I think time travel would be an interesting concept in Wings of Fire, unfortunately, it's not one I will be exploring in The Darkest Eclipse AU. My thoughts on time travel as a plot device are that it is a can of worms, one if not handled correctly can leave the readers confused (I know I have left many unanswered questions in Finding Peace, but that was simply because the answers to those questions I felt would be better explored outside of Peacemaker's POV). While there are ways for individuals from the past to communicate with someone in the future (such as Whiteout reaching out to Peacemaker throughout the story) there is no way for individuals from the future to physically travel to the past. The Darkest Eclipse prophecy focuses more on the Paranormal and how it relates to established magic and laws of physics in Wings of Fire canon (like how Somnus magic interacts with Animus magic.) That being said, if I were to explore Time Travel: I would follow the theory that time is a closed loop (as in the past cannot be changed, it has already been decided, and that any changes done to the timeline must occur in the future). This, I feel, can be properly explained and leave little confusion for the reader.

Q: TempestMaker or PeaceCliff?

A: Wait, there are ship names?

Jokes aside, I will say that at the end of Finding Peace: Peacemaker does not view Cliff or Tempest in a romantic light. He does love them as much as he loves his mother and Moon, they are important dragons to him and he cannot imagine his life without them. But he does not love them romantically. Will this change in the future? Likely. But for now, Peacemaker is not in the right space mentally to have a romantic relationship. He needs to discover what he wants with his life now that he is free to make it, discover what he wants to do with his future. Once all of the uncertainty in his life is cleared up, that could change.

Q: Apple Juice or Orange Juice? Also: Any tips for keeping a decent writing schedule?

A: I like both, but I lean heavily towards apple juice (always nice to start and end the day with something sweet to drink, but nothing too unhealthy.)

When it comes to writing schedules: What I did with Finding Peace was setting up deadlines for myself. I have always worked well under the knowledge that I have a deadline that I need to meet. Now, that being said, my preferred deadlines may not be for everyone. One of my best friends and colleagues, DONOVAN94, is able to get chapters for her stories out in a single week when she has everything planned out and ready! But that is because she has chapters outlined, and afterward all she needs to do is write in critical info. This works for her, but I always focused on posting one chapter a month. Now I explored posting multiple chapters in a month during the tail end of Finding Peace. While it worked out okay, it left me exhausted...and honestly, I am still tired after doing it.

All in all: My biggest advice to writers (whether fanfiction or writers who want to become published) is to work at your own pace. Set deadlines for yourself that you think you can meet, and never hesitate to experiment.

Q: Who is Omniscience? He is only mentioned at the end of the story when you posted The Darkest Eclipse Prophecy.

A: Omniscience was a NightWing seer who lived during the founding of the NightWing tribe, many centuries before Darkstalker’s era. During Darkstalker and Clearsight’s generation: Omniscience is regarded as one of the wisest seers in NightWing history, as well as the most controversial. Omniscience was born on a night when all three moons were full, but entered a “Thrice Lunar Eclipse'', with each moon eclipsing the other. Instead of receiving both mindreading and foresight NightWing abilities, Omniscience received only the power of foresight. However, because all three moons were technically full that night: The eclipse basically “overcharged” Omniscience’s foresight. This allowed him to see multiple millennia into the future with clarity even Clearsight did not have. However, despite this great power: Omniscience suffered from severe psychosis, causing him great difficulty in his early life to tell the difference between his visions, tricks of the mind, and reality. It’s because of his friends and family’s support did Omniscience learn to embrace his entire self, and became one of the wisest seers in NightWing history. He was controversial because of his philosophy that a wise Seer is not one who tries to map out the future for other dragons, but those who embrace the unknown of the future. In his prophecies he did not address large audiences, but instead, his prophecies addressed dragons in the future, offering them wisdom in difficult times he saw them face. The Darkest Eclipse Prophecy is one of his two final prophecies, alongside another prophecy. These two prophecies have long since been stored in a secret archive, somewhere in Phyrria.

Q: Which character was difficult for you to write in Finding Peace?

A: This might come off as strange, but the one character that was difficult to write throughout Finding Peace was actually Peacemaker himself. The reason this is the case centers around the circumstances of his “birth.” While, in canon, he is not the first year-old dragonet we have seen: But he is the first that was born out of Animus magic and his personality was made from that magic. While we have witnessed the perspective of those influenced by Animus enchantments (when Winter very briefly became Pyrite), Peacemaker is different as he will be living his life following an enchantment. Throughout Finding Peace, I had to balance the enchantment’s dictations and, yet, try to write Peacemaker so he was not simply someone being dictated by magic. In the end: I settled for the enchantment is in place in certain areas of his personality, while making Peacemaker strong-willed enough to actually have a choice of what he likes (as seen when he starts to show interest in food outside of strawberries or standing his ground when his friends were harassed.)

Q: Which is strongest: Animus or Somnus Magic?

A: At their core: Animus and Somnus magic are equal and capable of the same things. However, because of the rules around magic in the AU: It is too dangerous to use Animus magic in the Dream World, or Somnus Magic in the Waking World. As shown in Finding Peace: If you use them in worlds where they are not meant to exist, those worlds will seek to eliminate the magic and its user. The only place both magics can coexist safely in is The Realm Between, where it’s believed both magic originated from. In Finding Peace’s climax this happens, and from there: The power of the magic all depends on the skill of the user. So, long story short, neither magic is stronger than the other. While both magics have advantages and disadvantages depending on the realm of existence the user is currently located in when they are on the same playing field both magics would be left at a standstill.

Q: Most Peacemaker centric fics have Peacemaker be best friends with both Prince Cliff and Princess Auklet, why wasn’t Auklet in the story?

A: Truth is, Auklet was originally going to be one of Peacemaker’s friends in the Quartz Winglet. In my original outline: The main trio would have been Peacemaker, Cliff, and Auklet. Tempest was going to be The Jade Mountain Academy’s counselor, in which she used her Somnus magic to see what bothered the minds of the students. However, the more I thought about it, the more I felt Tempest would have a better role as a Clawmate of Peacemaker and Cliff.

Q: Are Tempest and Cliff reincarnations of Clearsight and Fathom?

A: Yes, Tempest and Cliff are both spiritual reincarnations. While they do not physically resemble Clearsight and Fathom, their spirits are connected to the two dragons. When I drafted Tempest and Cliff’s interactions with the spirits of the two dragons who had such a significant impact on Darkstalker’s life, I drew inspiration from the belief that reincarnation is spiritual, rather than physical (like pouring water from one cup into another cup.) Now, it’s important to note that while they are reincarnations of Clearsight and Fathom, this does not mean Tempest and Cliff are actually those two dragons. Rather, it just means their souls are similar. This allowed Tempest to speak with Clearsight, and Cliff speaks with Fathom when they were in a state of limbo.

Q: Where were Turtle, Kinkajou, and Peril during Finding Peace?

A: Peril is currently living in the Sky Kingdom. While she and Clay live together in the Academy, for the last few months Peril has been staying in the Sky Kingdom...waiting for an important day to occur. Once this day happens, she will be returning to her home in Jade Mountain.

As for Turtle and Kinkajou: Their whereabouts during Finding Peace will be addressed in Into the Darkness. But I will say that what is happening by the climax of Finding Peace is not good for Turtle or Kinkajou.

Q: Why did you include Somnus magic in Finding Peace?

A: When writing Finding Peace, I took into consideration how I could allow bits of Darkstalker’s memories and personality could bleed into Peacemaker. Given the nature of the enchantment, it would not be as simple as putting on a copy of Qibli’s enchanted earrings (Tui confirmed that Peacemaker would die if he put on the earrings.) So I needed to come up with a way that could allow Peacemaker’s slow rediscovery of his past life: And that was with the inclusion of Somnus magic and Adder, while also implying Peacemaker’s strong will allowed only part of the enchantment to take effect (it’s been shown that dragons with strong wills can overcome Animus enchantments.) With Adder tormenting Peacemaker’s dreams by pushing memories of Darkstalker into his mind via dreams, Peacemaker would still be Peacemaker, but the Somnus magic allowed that anguish and confusion in his mind to occur. Needless to say, I was nervous about the introduction of Somnus magic, as I felt readers might think I was “Jumping the shark.” In order to make Somnus magic make sense, I focused on the rules and limitations of this magic and how it interacted with Animus magic. This way Somnus magic is not instantly more powerful than magic from canon.

Q: Why did the group of bandits refer to Lynx and Bobcat as “Cursed ones” in the Winglets for Finding Peace? Why is there a group dedicated to killing them?

A: In the Darkest Eclipse AU there exist multiple secret societies that are aware of the paranormal of the world (such as The Dream World and Realm Between, though they are typically named differently depending on the organization.) As for this particular group, the Bandits that raid the border between the Sand and Ice Kingdoms hunt for the paranormal while seeking to make a profit off of them. As for why this organization targetted Lynx, in particular, has less to do with who she was as a dragon, but everything to do with her ancestry. As Qibli and Hailstorm discovered: Lynx is descended from the Somnus bloodline, making her a very distant cousin of Surf’s family. When she traveled from the Ice Kingdom to Sanctuary, the bandits targetted and killed her because of this bloodline...and the fact that she was married to Winter, who has ancestors from a line of animus dragons. As for why the bandits would want to kill Bobcat: in essence, he is a dragonet of the Somnus and Animus bloodlines. While Lynx does not have an active Somnus Gene, and Winter does not have an active Animus Gene, the bandits viewed this union as cursed, as no dragon has ever seen an Animus or Somnus descendant have a dragonet. Fearing what they do not understand, the bandits killed Lynx to prevent the hatching of a dragonet of the Somnus and Animus bloodlines. Ultimately the bandits failed in the objective of killing Bobcat before he hatched: As the last act Lynx did before succumbing to her wounds, was hiding her son’s egg in a place Qibli would find when he, Hailstorm, Winter, and guards of the boarder arrived.

As for if Bobcat’s existence will remain secret to the bandits and other groups like them: That remains to be seen.

Q: Are there any more stories planned for The Quartz Winglet? Will we see Peacemaker’s life in the Sky Kingdom with Cliff, or the Quartz Winglet reuniting during the Winter Solstice festival in the Sky Kingdom?

A: Yes, to all.

Sometime before the summer: I plan to do a short story that takes place two weeks after the end of Finding Peace, in which we see a day in Peacemaker’s life in the Sky Kingdom and how he is faring. I feel this short is important as it will show one last POV dedicated to Peacemaker and how he is starting to rebuild his life.

We will definitely continue to follow The Quartz Winglet in future stories. Braving the Tempest will follow Tempest’s point of view and show the Quartz Winglet reuniting in the Sky Kingdom during the winter solstice festival. The relationships between these young dragons will continue to progress in the sequel to Finding Peace, named Braving the Tempest, and I look forward to showing you all what new adventures they will have in the future.

#Wings of Fire #Fanfiction #Finding Peace #The Darkest Eclipse Prophecy AU #Question and Answer

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