TEA SALT SUMMER

[fulselden]

I jumped on an open prompt (theme: 'dinner party') at fic_promptly. Series: Avatar, naturally. Characters: Iroh, Zuko, Azula.

The theme of the day was 'food', so how could I resist?

(currently eating: 'Supreme Preserved Plum': not as all round awesome as wah plums, but less tooth-achingly sweet than the poignantly-named 'Seedless Lover's Plum').

TEA SALT SUMMER

Comments

[quigonejinn]

He had leant forward over the tea set, his hands around his brother’s as Ozai cupped his bowl, had coaxed him through the fine control needed to heat his tea without the fine glaze crinkling out into little cracks. Ozai had done it on his first try.

. . . your Iroh and Ozai interaction, I would happily read 10,000 pages of it. And this one, too:

Also, “Peasant ware has such integrity, doesn’t it, Prince Iroh?”

Also, Iroh, two weeks home from war, noticed now that there was fear, as well.

Goddamn. I love the way you drop these things into scenes, like it isn't no thing.

[fulselden]

Thank you! And I'm glad you think Iroh and Ozai work well here, given that they're sorta hovering between doomthread illegitimate!Iroh canon and canon-canon. And Iroh seems so naturally the big brother, which I can see Ozai chafing against no end - it's just another thing Iroh is good at, in a soft and conventional way: how dare a prince act motherly?

Which is I suspect one of the questions Azula is asking herself here, as well.

[quigonejinn]

which I can see Ozai chafing against no end

He would hate it so much, omg, it gives me the giggles just thinking about it so much.

Back to fangirling your fic: I love the way you have Azula trying to engage with Iroh as, competitor to the throne/competitor to the throne. It's so deftly and well done, and I love how the Iroh in this reads as being totally nonplussed, but noting it nonetheless. Like, this is part of the background from canon we don't see -- how Iroh decided to help Zuko be a human being, rather than Azula.

(Man, the version of the story where Azula gets herself exiled. It's hard working out how she'd blunder badly enough for that, but it's fascinating thinking about her in exile and how all that might chip away at her Master Royal Firebender of the Line of Sozin thing.)

Also, the line about how Iroh has finally gotten his men to call him Colonel instead of Prince? Still in my head this morning.

[fulselden]

Tiny!Ozai hates many, many things!

And, yes, I was worried that Iroh read a little too much 'get back to the kitchen, girl' to Azula here, but she really is pushing at him. And she doesn't even need to, not if you assume Ozai is secure on his throne! It's just her default always-turned-up-to-eleven mode coming to the fore.

Azula in exile, though ... man. She would hate it so, so much. Not least because, going by her hair-washing, pedicure-having scenes, it seems as though she's willing to allow herself to enjoy being pampered, when it's appropriate in terms of living up to her position. I think Ozai would perhaps have to make some kind of ridiculous blunder - overextending a front or something - for her to speak up and incur his ire. But the thought of Azula with even more to prove is just terrifying in general, though I suppose exile might succeed in rounding off some of her edges. Though one would have to assume some Iroh-type supporter(s), I think, given her canon response to abandonment.

And, heh, I'm glad you liked Colonel Iroh! That's a title he's worked for, you know? (much like 'Dragon of the West', for that matter...). And I'm sure that, since the Fire Nation takes war very seriously, even a prince would start fairly low down the ranks (heh, now I'm imagining a Fire Nation Sandhurst/West Point...).

[terajk]

I am so late, but I just thought of this:

I think Ozai would perhaps have to make some kind of ridiculous blunder - overextending a front or something - for her to speak up and incur his ire.

Yes, I know Azula said she doesn't know much about the tides, but she was totally lying. (TOTALLY). And I like to think that she would know that without the moon, there will be massive tidal waves that will kill everyone--most importantly, her.

What I don't know is if she'd make the leap from "Zhao is an idiot" to "My father stuck up for Zhao and is also an idiot." (I mean, Iroh is a traitor for many reasons--saving her life isn't one of them). I also don't know that even if she did, she'd get herself banished, because she knows how propriety works. Unlike Zuko, she would go through the proper channels (and have the proper deference) to challenge the old man. But it is fun to think about.

[fulselden]

TOTALLY. And I feel Azula has a finely-tuned awareness of the risks involved when it comes to UNLEASHING MASSIVE NATURAL DISASTERS UPON HERSELF. And, y'know, the world at large.

And, hm, good point. I suppose she'd be much more likely to see support for Zhao - a blunt instrument if ever there was one - as a military gamble that might have been worth the risk if things had gone differently (or, obviously, if she'd been on the scene). And, yep, she would certainly go through all the proper channels - or at least make very sure that it looked as though she was doing so.

[terajk]

Woah.

So much good stuff here (Oh, Azula). But I really love bigbrother!Iroh.

[fulselden]

Thank you! And, yes, as I say above, Iroh is so very much the big brother and fond uncle - he's so conventionally functional in many ways! Unlike, y'know, the rest of his family.

And, yes, oh, Azula. This piece was really in part an attempt to see Iroh, once again MISSING THE POINT ENTIRELY in some ways when it comes to his niece: his 'go build a nest' proverb was intended as pretty much a repeat of his hilariously inapropos gift of the doll.

And thinking of Azula (and specifically your Azula) - have you come across this post canon Azula piece yet? It's doing very different things with her than the stuff you might want to (I, um, guess), and I actually love its world building a bit more than its characterisation, I think, but it's a fantastic bit of writing and satisfyingly insistent on tracing the female roots of Azula's power.

[terajk]

This piece was really in part an attempt to see Iroh, once again MISSING THE POINT ENTIRELY in some ways when it comes to his niece: his 'go build a nest' proverb was intended as pretty much a repeat of his hilariously inapropos gift of the doll.

Oh, Iroh! I think of he and Ursa trying to show Azula love, but neither of them can do it in a way that she needs or accepts. (Perhaps part of Iroh's problem is that he sees too much of himself in Zuko and too much of his brother in her, as this story suggests). What would expressions of love that Azula would need or accept be like?

have you come across this post canon Azula piece yet?

Oh, YES. I'm reading it right now. I like it a lot--especially everyone's voices. It is, as you say, very different from what I'm thinking...but can I live in a universe where both happen? I guess that's what fandom is for.

[fulselden]

Perhaps part of Iroh's problem is that he sees too much of himself in Zuko and too much of his brother in her, as this story suggests

Yeah, I was definitely playing with that idea here - and it's another case of Iroh really not getting the full picture (or seeing what he wants to see - I mean, here, the man is grieving: he's lonely, and he's lonely for a son) - because Azula, fearsomely competent and skilled at tactics and bending, isn't so different from himself as Iroh might want to believe. And Zuko of course has a surprising amount of his father in him, I think - both of them ENTIRELY LACKING IN SUBTLETY.

What would expressions of love that Azula would need or accept be like?

Well, she can accept love (or at least adoration) from Ty Lee, and she certainly needed it - I mean, she even apologises to her at the party! But of course Ty Lee is very much subordinate to Azula, not to mention picked out by her in the first place, so she's a special case. And, also thinking of the party episode, she does actually go and fetch Zuko when he's angsting at their old summer house - I can see their relationship as having come to enough of an uneasy rapprochement, perhaps, that she might have let Zuko get close enough for him to want to offer her love fairly overtly and unconditionally? And she might have felt able to accept it, because he'd still be demonstrably inferior by her standards. But then he went off on his Avatar-crusade.

Outside of relationships with pretty clearly defined power structures where Azula is on top, though... I'm really not sure. I think that's one thing the 水火 fic does really well, actually: tracing Azula's gradual acceptance of her sifu without softening her edges too much. And, hm, perhaps I was too dismissive of the voices - I'll have to read it again. I did enjoy what the author did with Mai and Katara, mind you! And, yes, fandom the echo-chamber is good times.