Meixiang

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  • Rec *

    Embers by

    Fandoms: Avatar: The Last Airbender  

    17 Apr 2016

    Tags
    Summary

    Dragon's fire is not so easily extinguished; when Zuko rediscovers a lost firebending technique, shifting flames can shift the world...

    Language:
    English
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    704,200
    Chapters:
    91/91
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    104
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    16,207
    Bookmarks:
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    Bookmarked by dumpinglands

    17 Aug 2021

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    Bookmarker's Notes

    Exceptionally well written. Enjoyable even as a reread. I first read it in ffdotnet.

    Embers by Vathara
    Summary
    Dragon's fire is not so easily extinguished; when Zuko rediscovers a lost firebending technique, shifting flames can shift the world...

    Memorable Excerpts: "It's wrong, Uncle! 'The Avatar has to save us. The Avatar abandoned us. The Avatar's returned, and he's going to fix everything.' That's all I hear, everywhere we go. And it's crazy! The Avatar is twelve years old!"
    He's… what? Xiu thought, stunned.
    "The Avatar is a child! An idiotic, naïve, hyperactive little airbender who thinks everybody deserves to live! And people think he's going to save them? How? Ask the Fire Lord to think really, really hard about the war and decide to play nice?" Knuckles were bone-white in clenched fists. "You want somebody to save you from the Fire Nation? Grow up and do it yourselves!"
    Jinhai's a firebender, and you're his parents, and he loves you. No matter what I teach him, he'll always look to you first. Always."
    Tingzhe tried not to start, recognizing the archaic phrase from one of the old letters he'd recently found in the university's collection.
    "Who do you look to, dragon-born?"
    "I am cast upon the waves, for my clan is fled, and our stronghold ashes."
    "Who would you look to, dragon-born?"
    "I seek a great name, one worthy of my blade and fire."
    “We don’t need papers!” That obstinate look was back in gray eyes. “I’m the Avatar.”
    Huojin lifted a brow, arched with all the skeptical disbelief of a Guard who’d heard every drunk spirit-tale under the sun. “Sure you are.”
    Heh. This could be fun.

    "Sometimes you can't eat. Sometimes you can't sleep. Because the nightmares are waiting behind your eyes... and the only way you can get rid of them is to give them to someone else. To make us feel your pain. To get your revenge." He smirked, cold and bitter. "Well, guess what, Katara? You're going to get it."

    "My people will die. They'll die by the thousands. Streets will run red with blood. And then, then, you'll come for us. The Water Tribes, and the Earth Kingdom. After all, we deserve it. We killed the Air Nomads. We've savaged the other nations. We murdered your mother."

    "We'll die," Zuko said, soft and bitter as air of a winter dawn. "We'll die hard, but we'll die. And the bodies will rot in the streets, with no one to give them a pyre; and the rivers will rage red, until all you bend is crimson and copper nightmares." He shook his head, slowly. "And you won't even have to lift a finger, Katara. All you have to do... is wait."

    Hey Umbrella. We're coming.

    "They've forgotten," her little waterbender said grimly. "Everyone's forgotten. The longsword is water. The saber, earth. Paired swords are fire, steel for the dragons' claws. But the katana..."

    "There's a saying I ran across, in a book from Avatar Yangchen's time. If you want to besiege a city, use waterbenders. If you want to hold it, use earthbenders. If you want to take it, use firebenders. If you want to destroy it..."

    "You mean... commoners can choose their nobles?" Kuei shook his head, dazed. You mean I'm going to keep them? "That's - that's chaos! People are the land. Land doesn't get up and move to follow one lord. Not when he's not even an earthbender! How could any noble sit still and make arrangements with his fellow lords when part of his own demesne is trying to go somewhere else... oh." Kuei leaned against the inside of the stone hollow, eyes wide, feeling the world tilt askew. "They don't sit still, do they? He said they need to fight. If your commoners can just - just leave... Oma and Shu. How could they ever stopfighting?"
    You're the heir. Do what you must to survive. "Creative," Azula acknowledged. "We're going to need to be very creative in the next few weeks, ladies. Our nation needs us to be very, very useful."
    A subtle warning. But from Mai's stillness and Ty Lee's nibbled lip, clear enough.
    If we're not useful, we'll be dead. If Father thinks I'm not useful anymore...
    Well. He was going to be wrong. One way, or another.

    "I know." The young man's voice was bleak. "The Avatar bends the truth and nobody ever calls him on it. I tell people what I'm going to do, and nobody believes me. I don't understand people."

    "You - Azula - nursery," Toph managed to get out.
    "Dolls lined up in siege ranks," Zuko snickered back, leaning on black feathers. "Ladies-in-waiting were kunoichi, shopkeepers and nobles got drafted. 'Forward, my minions!' Kind of cute. At least, if she didn't know I was there..."