The Dragon Dance

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I'd have to say, during their stay at the Western Air Temple, either before or after the Boiling Rock episode. So you can add self-loathing and guilt on Katara's part.

But, the thing is, it doesn't change the way she treats Zuko. If anything, it gets worse. All of a sudden, the Fire Nation is much more despicable and ruthless than ever before. If they did that to their own Prince, what's left for the rest of the world? This realization brings a lot of issues into the light. And she takes it out on Zuko, because she can't process all of these issues all at once and turning his face into the enemy is familiar, it's safe.

Zuko, on the other hand, doesn't know how to react when Katara reveals to him, in the bring-my-mother-back scene, that she knows.

There are a lot of conflicts to resolve during the Southern Raiders trip.

I can also imagine she wouldn't know how to process that Zuko did all the horrible things he did for a man who did that to him. Everyone tends to assume that the gaang, once they knew, would immediately understand, but it's not something easy to understand if you've never been through it, how someone can continue to be loyal to someone who hurts them like that. So she's angry at Zuko because she's sad for him, and that makes her angrier.

This is Katara we're talking about, who got angry at Sokka for not being as angry as she was at their mother's murderer. Katara is so angry at Ozai for what he did to Zuko that it actually makes her angry at Zuko that he isn't angrier at Ozai. She's angry at him because she offered him healing and he still betrayed her to go back to that. She's angry because she doesn't want to acknowledge how much it scares her. Because if there is one thing that scares Katara, it's the idea of being a victim. And Zuko isn't like the people she's used to taking care of. He's like her. And if someone like her can be a victim like that, then it means she has to acknowledge her own victimhood, too.

Cue The Southern Raiders.

Avatar: The Last Airbender + text posts and stuff

ATLA AU book one: water (1/?)

more people need to give lil izumi the attention she deserves

The Southern Raiders were never looking for Katara

This is one of my favorite theories behind atla and I wanted to share my own breakdown of it. 

SO the raids on the SWT began in 40 AG. They continued until each and every waterbender from the Southern Water Tribe had been captured. (Note: captured) 

Worth noting is that Hama refers to herself as the last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe. 

Here’s where the conspiracy gets juicy. Hama was the only one who managed to escape. She created bloodbending to get out of the prison. And she says herself that she’s the only one who escaped. This could be for one of two reasons: 

The second option is more plausible. Hama displayed a dangerous, powerful, unknown form of waterbending and overtook a Fire Nation guard’s body. She had him unlock her cell and fled. If there were remaining waterbenders in the prison they would have been killed out of fear once Hama escaped. 

They Fire Nation couldn’t risk anyone else in their prison possessing this power. So they were all murdered because of Hama’s escape. 

Look at Hama’s reaction to hearing that the raids continued. A kind of casual “oh, you poor things.” Hama knew that the raids continued because she escaped. All of the waterbenders had already been caught! The only waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe that was known at that time to be free or alive was Hama. 

And she knew better than to return to her home, where they were sure to come looking for her. She stayed and hid right under their noses because she knew they were going to tear the world apart trying to track her down. She was too dangerous. 

When Yon Rha comes to the Southern Water Tribe in 94 AG Katara is still a child. Their tribe has been in shambles for years at this point. Katara is the tribe’s last hope and they’re a tiny tribe at that point in time. Do you honestly think that word of a child waterbender would have made way to the Fire Nation? 

Do you think that the Water Tribe would ever release that information willingly? I don’t. I think that the Southern Raiders had no idea that another waterbender had been born into the Southern Water Tribe. 

Why else would Yon Rha have accepted that an adult was the waterbender he was looking for? The intel didn’t say that a new waterbender was born, the intel said that there’s one waterbender left. The Fire Nation already knows about the last waterbender of the SWT. She escaped. And they’re still trying to find her. 

The Fire Nation is adamant about finding the last waterbender because they’re looking for Hama. Hama, who can control people’s bodies. Hama, who managed to escape a high-security Fire Nation prison without any water. Hama, the only waterbender to best the Fire Nation. And the only one left. 

Kya offers herself up as prisoner to Yon Rha. Because she knows that the past raids meant that the Southern Raiders took the waterbenders prisoner. But that has changed. 

Why would their procedure have changed? Why did they stop taking waterbenders as prisoners? Because of Hama. They stopped taking waterbenders prisoner after Hama’s escape. 

Tl;dr the Southern Raiders were never looking for Katara, they were looking for Hama. 

@pscentral event 07: space

Having thoughts about how Toph found people at the Earth Rumble who treated her as an equal and respected her for her skill and listened to her. How she became the Blind Bandit there and the first people to ever take her seriously were The Gecko and Fire Nation Man and the others.

And then she joins the Gaang, people who also treat her as an equal and respect her skill and listen to her, and she starts calling them Twinkle Toes and Snoozles and Sugar Queen and Captain Boomerang.

She's giving them stage names. Because gaining her stage name was the most empowering thing that happened to her up to that point. Because stage names are earned. Because the people who were kindest to her in her life (by treating her how she wanted to be treated) were people who went by things like The Boulder.

i’ve had this comic sketched out for months but only decided to finish it now, it’s based on something i drew a couple years back of toph and zuko….don’t think too hard on when or how this takes place because i don’t really know either! it’s just a concept i’ve always wanted to draw

Zuko | Sketches

smol Katara and Sokka in the snow

Southern water tribe ambassador Katara. - Ko-fi ♥

some modern babes, two influencers fall in love. sokka’s definitely an artist, zuko probably makes vlogs idk

you ever think about how long hair is technically zuko’s default

the beauty of zuko, ultimately, still not being as good a firebender as azula. he is still not a prodigy, he is still not naturally gifted, and in many ways azula still outshines him in combat, physically and tactically. and this means that in the finale, zuko is forced to accept katara’s help, he needs KATARA to finish the fight for him. reliance on another is something that azula has never afforded herself or has been allowed to afford. zuko passing the torch (lmao) to katara is just so narratively important and just… shows so much growth that happened, bot only with zuko, but with his relationship to others and the world around him

Toph Beifong 💚

one of my favorite characters 👌😌

⚠️ Please do not repost! ⚠️

I had a stressfull few weeks so here a Zuko letting out steam for me. and a comforting Aang. Thank you Aang!  isn’t it kinda cool that firebenders are the only one that actualy create the element to bend. like its actualy them?

art by - @chiptrillino

Twitter      Ko-fi

Also Sokka wants to point out that he can create water too.