#seriously though the watering down of psychology terms pisses me off SO MUCH

[gloaming-sometimes]

@ all the people who use the term ""delulu"":

(image description in alt text)

by the way, for people who don't understand what the issue with "delulu" is, let me put it this way. i know a kid who uses delulu in day to day speech to refer to her crushes, or her favorite fictional ships, or other people liking things she doesn't. this is common. one day, she found out from an ex friend of mine that i used to honestly believe i was the second coming of jesus christ. when she asked me about it, i told her it was a delusion. she said "honey, you're not delusional, you're straight up insane." if non-psychotics take "delusional" and make it mean anything less than what it does mean, it leaves us with no word less than insane, or nuts, or crazy.

[wiseabsol]

WA Reviews “Dominion” by Aurelia le, Chapter 9: Her Own Blood

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6383825/9/Dominion

Summary: For the Fire Nation royal siblings, love has always warred with hate. But neither the outward accomplishment of peace nor Azula’s defeat have brought the respite Zuko expected. Will his sister’s plans answer this, or only destroy them both?

Content Warnings: This story contains discussions and depictions of child abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and incest. This story also explores the idea that Zuko’s redemption arc (and his unlearning of abuse) is not as complete as the show suggested, and that Azula is not a sociopath (with the story having a lot of sympathy for her). If that doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, I would strongly recommend steering clear of this story and my reviews of it.  

Note: Because these were originally posted as chapter reviews/commentaries, I will often be talking to the author in them (though sometimes I will also snarkily address the characters). While I’ve also tried not to spoil later events in the story in these reviews, I would strongly recommend reading through chapter 27 before reading these, just to be safe.

Now on to chapter 9!

CHAPTER 9: HER OWN BLOOD

Alright, I am tentatively going to try to resume my reviews for Dominion—once a week can’t be too hard, right? Diving right in, the author’s note that start this chapter mentions that “The Legend of Korra” debuted on the same day that this chapter was uploaded, which is a blast from the past.

 In any case, Zuko is sitting on the Burning Throne at the start of the chapter. In a parallel to Azula’s breakdown in the show, now he is the one being haunted by his memories and audible hallucinations. Zuko apparently told Mai all of the gory details of the sexual encounter that occurred between him and Azula, though not the “why” of it—which might have helped her understand it a little better, though I think Zuko’s “why” would be unsatisfactory at this point, since even he doesn’t fully understand what contributed to it, either on his or Azula’s side. As it is, Zuko’s feeling a lot of guilt here, which is better than him blaming it all on Azula, but by focusing so much on his own pain, I don’t think he’s really thinking about her.

 At this point, Zuko hasn’t told the public that Azula has escaped, though if memory serves correctly, there’s a mole who reveals that to the Earth Kingdom. There is mention here of some of Mai’s machinations at court, but which I mean putting some of Zuko’s detractors on his council to look as though he’s taking them seriously, but really getting them away from their supporters and to someplace where they can be watched. Honestly, this shows why Zuko isn’t the best Fire Lord—generally speaking, he has a good heart, but a good heart needs to be backed up by a cunning mind to not get stomped on in a poisonous court. Azula, in a lot of ways, was the more equipped heir, politically speaking, though her paranoia and inability to compromise would have made it difficult for her to maintain her rule for a lengthy period of time. Together, they could probably get farther, though that’s not likely to happen in Dominion itself. Who knows what will happen in the sequels?

 Ah, see, Zuko considers running a nation to be a tedious business. I’m pretty sure Azula would snap at him for being ungrateful of the privilege. This also makes me think that in an alternate universe, he would have had a better time being the “face” of the Fire Nation’s reparation efforts. Beyond providing the appearance of humility on behalf of the Fire Nation—with the only son of the royal family getting personally involved in the rebuilding—that would have allowed him to keep traveling with the Gaang, which would have been better for his mental health. Of course, such an AU would require someone to be ruling the Fire Nation in his stead, possibly Iroh or Azula, provided they hadn’t stacked up too many war crimes to be viable rulers in the eyes of the other nations. But that’s just me spit-balling ideas.

 Anyway, General How arrives, and I’m pretty sure he’s going to be a pain in our butts for the remainder of this story, and sexist to boot. He’s heard that Azula escaped, but more importantly, he comes to tell Zuko that Azula was tried WITHOUT REPRESENTATION and sentenced to death by the Earth Kingdom. Zuko rightly calls the general out on this bullshit, while I’m like, “This was a no-win situation from the start. While Azula was insane, she wouldn’t have understood, let alone remembered, the terms of this agreement. If she was sane, the Earth Kingdom military would have ordered for her to stand trial, and would have found some way to rig it so she would lose, or would kill her on the way to court.”

 While the Earth Kingdom military wants her dead, though, I doubt the Earth King himself is invested in the matter, given how disconnected he was from the war in general, and given that the coup was bloodless.

 Moving on, How asks, “Where were you on the night of her escape? Did you help her?” and of course Zuko can’t answer that question. Then How’s group points out that Zuko could file an appeal, which is more bullshit, because by the time it would go through, Azula would probably be dead. Isn’t the court system fun, Zuzu? I kind of want Zuko to go directly to the Earth King and be like, “Hey, your military broke the agreement that you made that my sister would get life in prison, can you do something about them?” Because really, what even is the point of having a king if the king can’t smack down the corruption in his court with an order or two?

 There is more back and forth about this, where it becomes clear that the Earth King military is mostly pissed that a fourteen-year-old girl pawned them, and will use any justification they can, no matter how flimsy, to execute her. It’s pointed out that Azula stopped acting in an official diplomatic capacity when she went undercover at Ba Sing Se, to which Zuko thinks, “To see Azula’s manipulations turned against her was his dearest desire once. But there had never been so much at stake.” They then list off a bunch of charges against Azula, most of which Zuko also committed during the show.

 We also get the reveal that Azula never tortured anyone, which is refreshing after some of the fics I’ve read that assumes that is the case. The psychological torture argument from How is pretty rich, though, given the brainwashing that the Dai Li did to Earth Kingdom citizens. Anyway, Zuko figures out who the mole was—he was a lot worse than Azula, surprise surprise—and calls How out on it. How then loses his composure and declares that the Northern Water Tribe has agreed to extradite Azula if she’s found there—I personally doubt the Southern Water Tribe would do the same, given Katara and Sokka’s pull there—and yeah, that tracks. The Northern Tribe would be dicks about this, given that it’s a chance for them to get back at the Fire Nation for the loss of their own princess. How then says, “You have to hand Azula over to us too if you find her” and I’m like, “Yeah, keep dreaming, General.”

 Zuko threatens to go to war if they kill Azula, which seems justified in this case. The Earth Kingdom military decided to ignore previous treaty agreements, overseen by the Avatar and the rulers of the three nations, to pursue a vendetta against someone who was, at the time of the war, a minor. This is something you would go to war over. Though first, I’d see if Kuei could address the issue, since he could presumably strip power and lands from General How and his allies, given how they are threatening the peace.

 Zuko goes back to his rooms with Mai and has a nightmare, which is mixing in some memories of Ursa’s departure. It’s revealed in this that Ozai once broke Azula’s wrist while training her—she must have been extremely young at that point, given that she’s maybe eight or nine in this dream/memory—and Azula starts repeating “Never tell,” which Zuko assumes means about where Ursa went. I suspect the mantra more has to do with something he overheard from her on the night of their fight, and backtracking from that, from Ozai’s sexual abuse of Azula. These parallels are reflected in Zuko burning her arm and Azula “bleeding from a hundred wounds he couldn’t see,” which is an apt description of the effects of abuse.

 “Stop it!” is what Zuko says in response to Azula, by the way, as if she can control the bleeding, rather than something more like, “I’ll get help.”

 Ooof, then Ursa appears, and it’s her shadow that symbolically bruising Azula. She echoes the sentiment that something is wrong with Azula and slowly starts to look like Azula’s adult self, repeating the idea that Azula can’t be helped. “No matter how she may seem to change, never forget what she is,” she says, in a haunting twist on Ursa’s words of encouragement to Zuko before she left. Again, we see Azula being dehumanized by her loved ones.  

 The dream shifts over to an Agni Kai, mixing in Zuko’s memories of the ones he faced against Ozai and Azula. It also incorporates Zuko’s current anxieties about his friends not being there to help him—that he’s alone against the world now, rather like Azula is. The dream Azula insists that his friends will hate him for what he did to her, and I suspect it is going to cause some serious damage once it gets out. Zuko tries to deflect that blame for what happened onto Azula—that it was her fault that he got so angry and lost control, which is a classic abuser’s excuse. Dream Iroh calls him out on that—that Azula was mentally unstable and thus didn’t have as much control and agency in the situation as Zuko did.

 “Was what he did so awful that even Iroh couldn’t love him anymore?” Probably? Iroh is a sexist and mishandles his interactions with Azula as a result, BUT there’s no suggestion that he ever sexually assaulted anyone. That’s a line he hasn’t crossed that Zuko now has.

 “Why couldn’t he have [a normal sibling relationship] with Azula?” I don’t know, Zuko. Maybe because your parents pitted you against each other from an early age and you blamed Azula for the painful experiences in your childhood, because that was easier than blaming your parents?

 “Why couldn’t she just be normal?” See above, Zuko. Also you slept with your sister. You have given up any connection between yourself and the word normal.

 Zuko idealizes Aang a little in this, saying that if he can’t forgive Zuko, no one could. It’s definitely not Aang’s forgiveness that Zuko should be striving for, though.

 “What did she have to cry about? She hadn’t just been rejected by everyone she knew and loved—” I’m glad that Zuko cuts himself off there and realizes he’s being a pill, or I would have wanted to smack him. There’s also this repetition of the idea that suffering will be his teacher, which—ugh. Ugh to dream Azula immolating herself, too. It’s symbolic that Zuko’s attempts to reach out and hold her are what “destroys” her, though again, I doubt that these two will be able to walk away from each other forever, even though that would be healthier for them.

 Soooo Zuko, shaken by the nightmare, decides to go talk to Daddy Dearest. Mai watches him go, which I never noticed before.

 “Now all Zuko had to do was convince Ozai it was in his best interest to help capture his favorite child.” I think you mean tool, Zuko. Ozai’s favorite tool.

 Ozai greets Zuko as “Traitor” upon his arrival, which is funny in a dark way. Ozai has guessed that Azula has escaped from the increased guard around his cell, too, saying, “The Avatar took my bending, not my wits.” I feel like this man sank a lot of his character creation points into charisma, rather than empathy.

 “The Earth Kingdom have been our enemies for a hundred years. Because you give them everything they ask, does that make them your friends? Have you learned nothing from your failure with me?” This is a fair point and more self-aware than I want to give Ozai credit for, but it’s not like he has much to do other than reflect on the past, these days. Ozai also seems to have pneumonia or some other potentially fatal lung disease. Tuberculosis would serve him right.

 Then Ozai points out that Azula is a bit like a cat—she has to come to Zuko, rather than Zuko chasing her down. Ozai suggests offering himself as bait to lure Azula out, since obviously she would want to free him—which she does, albeit I have some serious doubts that that will ever happen. I suspect that Ozai is going to die before Dominion ends and there can be a father-daughter reunion.

 “You come here asking for advice, when what you really want is a quick fix.”—Pretty much.

 “I may have been close to Azula, but we are not one mind—” You were too close by far, Ozai. Please drown to death in your own blood and phlegm.

 Zuko reveals that Azula wants to go find Ursa, which shocks Ozai, who starts “staring at his son in something approaching alarm.” Possibly because Ursa could start undoing some of the lies that Ozai shaped Azula with? Maybe. Ursa does have some serious issues with her daughter, so he half-lied at most. Anyway, Ozai goes on to question when this discussion happened, since Zuko doesn’t visit Azula. His tone seems to suggest that he doesn’t want Zuko to see Azula, which is curious, but not unfounded, given what Zuko ends up revealing here. Once Ozai corners Zuko about lying to him, Zuko admits what happened during the fight, including the sexual encounter.

 “Zuko watched him uneasily, his own heartbeat thudding in his ears. He didn’t have to tell him anything, but—but didn’t Uncle always say the burden of a secret grew less when you shared it? But to share this with him, it hadn’t even helped with Mai. It just made things worse. But he knew Azula better than anyone, he was the only one who knew how to help her before. Maybe—maybe he could tell Zuko why she did this? And besides, who would believe Ozai, who would ever believe him if he tried to tell—”

 Zuko, some secrets blow up if shared, hence why you have an intelligence division in your court. I doubt that Iroh meant something like this. Also, giving this information to Ozai is still dangerous, because there are people in the Fire Nation that are loyal to him, and Ozai has the spite to use this against you. Also, there is a tiny reflection of Ozai in Zuko here—because Ozai must have thought the same about Azula. Who would ever believe her about what he did to her?

 “An odd stillness crept over Ozai’s face, but he said nothing.” Because he’s probably remembering how some of his interactions with Azula went and can probably tell where this is going.

 “‘You raped her,’ Ozai corrected flatly.” Yes, and Ozai would know, given that he is a sexual predator and is implied to have been one since his adolescence.

 Then we get that nasty admission from Ozai: “You think I trained her to bed so she could whore herself to you?!” Which confirms Ozai’s sexual abuse of Azula, which he justified by claiming that it would make her a more effective female ruler, with her using her sexuality as a weapon. Given that Azula was fourteen at the time, this explains her seductress characterization. This was present because that’s a common way to write a female villain, but, in universe, is incongruous with her age.

 “And Zuko remembered daggers of flame in her hands, when he overpowered her. She meant to do—she was trying to kill him.” I’m not sure that is true, given Azula’s own perspective on what happened, but I can see why Zuko would come to that conclusion.

 “He sounded proud—proud—of what he did.” I think some of the blame here definitely should go to the twin courtesans, given how their own abuse of Ozai, as hinted at in “The Road,” must have affected him. At best, he realizes that other people would consider what he did to Azula wrong, but considered it necessary to make her stronger. This has a dark echo in many adult fantasy narratives, where rape is often used to break and build up female characters.

 Ozai confirms that he trained Azula by committing sexual acts with her, which horrifies Zuko. During the resulting screaming match, though, Ozai makes a fair point: “And what was she to you? A prize to prove your worth? Spoils of war? When did you ever one look at her as your sister?” The answer to this is when she was a toddler and Zuko was five, before the adults in their lives poisoned their relationship. But this does underscore that Azula and Zuko’s relationship has been warped for a long time, and that this breakdown of their sibling bond is a massive contributing factor to the incest.

 Zuko also shows an ugly side of himself here: “I’ve done more for her than she ever deserved!” Which frankly isn’t true and is the kind of talk that contributes to Azula’s dehumanization.

 Ozai calls him out, saying that Zuko only helped Azula to make himself feel like the better person. While I think that is true, he then adds, “There is no such thing as true selflessness in this world,” which definitely isn’t. However, that does show us one of the cornerstones of Ozai’s worldview: that everyone is selfish and no one will do anything for you just to help you, so why not be selfish and take as much for yourself as you can? That, no doubt, is based deeply in the neglect he went through as a child. If I ever write the Aunt Tam AU, I wonder if that will remain true, given the friendship she and Ozai had when they were young? I suspect it will, since Tam would still go to war when Ozai is relatively young, but perhaps that is an argument they can have someday.  

 Anyway, Ozai wants to know how Zuko managed to “best” Azula, whether it was because she was drugged or had another mental breakdown, but Zuko is still shook from Ozai’s confession. He asks Ozai how he could do it and Ozai is super gross with his response: “Well, who else was going to teach her? Her mother?” This makes me want to reach into the cell and shake Ozai, because that isn’t how ANY of this is supposed to work. Azula should have fooled around with Chan and other interested adolescent suitors like a normal teenager, rather than getting any…practical experience…from an adult, period. That it was a parent who abused her makes it even worse, psychologically-speaking.

Zuko burns the hell out of Ozai in response, which is understandable under the circumstances, and will probably kill Ozai down the road, since his health is already fragile. As the guards drag Zuko away, Zuko realizes: “This look he’d caught on her face during [sex]—The distance in her eyes. Like she wasn’t even there. Like it wasn’t even him that she was seeing. Oh Agni. When she changed, those things she said to him… The things their father—said to her—”

 Yep. She wasn’t seeing you at the time, Zuko. She was reliving one of her encounters with Ozai, thanks to you triggering her by burning her and grabbing the back of her neck.

 Zuko says that he wants to return to the palace, and oddly, there is a palanquin waiting for him—no doubt sent by Mai, who guessed where he was going and knew he might need help getting back home. Again, I never caught this detail before, but it shows how much Mai knows him and how calculating she is as well, to the point of being able to predict this outcome. It’s no wonder that Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee went as far as they did together. Between the three of them, they had a ton of brains and social acumen to help them overcome any obstacles in their way. I don’t know if Ozai’s Angels will ever get back together, but this makes me wish they could someday.

 In any case, that finishes chapter nine! I hope to work on ten soon. Thank you as always for the read, Aurelia.

 Sincerely,

WiseAbsol