love the story, and mai getting her thrills. hope its continued at some point

How you do Bumi is probably my favourite part though. Not just the awesome descriptive work when he reminds the other delegates WHY he is King, but how craftily the Mad King manipulates events without even seeming to try :-)

You really are developing the Mai and Aang interaction beautifully, and hoping for more :-)

Incidentally I also really appreciate how you juggle how Zuko manages the details of governing without anyone he can trust. Original and clever solution

Those men are afraid because the deep down they know that Katara and Toph could succeed them. Heck, Toph could walk right up to Earth King Kuei and ask if he had an opening for Chief Minister and he would hand it to her on the spot and tell her to take any room she wanted as her office. Except for his throne room, which they would share because he knows it would be hilarious. And Toph would get down to work with all her considerable abilities and intellect, and a lot of those delegates would probably find themselves fired for corruption.

Very heavy-handed with the 'flaws' of the Air Nomads, except a) no society is perfect and no point pretending that, especially one that has to balance 'detachment' with 'reproduction,' and b) Bumi doubtlessly piled all the shocking ones on top, with the articles that explain the Whys down near the bottom.

Hoping you get back to this!

A very amusing story indeed, but what also sets it apart is how you handle the post-war issues. Your work is deep and insightful, yet does not get bogged down in detail. Superb craftsmanship

Such a pity this is not complete, I really enjoyed the story. Thank you anyway

This is a really excellent story. I enjoy your writing and love the interactions between Mai and Aang, especially with the young Avatar still acting like a teenage boy! Looking forward to seeing what happens next!

...eggs are unfertilized and nothing died to make them. If Life is sacred, then taking something that had the potential to bring life but failed and using it to fuel your own life should be fine...

You have turned me into an Aang/Mai shipper. Good job

This is a good and interesting story. I mean, I don't ship Mai and Aang (I have the same issues with that as Kataang) but it's nice to see Mai's character expanded and it shows how good she is with adventure which hanging around Aang would provide.

Or any instances between Julia Gillard and the Opposition, for a close-to-home example. I don't agree with all of the things she did, but the way she was treated was unacceptable.

Wow! what a rollercoaster!
Yikes! What a fight!
What a great read! It was well worth the wait!

So Katara is amazing in this chapter. I love how she's still clearly a teenager who is just trying her best. She's in such difficult situations and she just puts her chin out and faces it and tries her best and I just love that so much about her character. I just want to make her soup and give her a gold star.

Oh that meeting, how I cringed. But how realistic - smelly old men are always so quick to label any woman saying something they disagree with a whore. Very realistic (if maddening and depressing) outcome. I was reading this educational study about speaking time in class. When boys spoke 80% of the time people actually felt that was a fair distribution - when girls and boys both spoke 50% of the time - most people assumed that girls were dominating the discussion. Gggrrr - makes me cross. Anyway, this scene with Katara reminded me of that. She's trying to have her say, and they try to bully her into submission.

Proud of Pakku and Hakoda though. They've both being very supportive, and for men which may not have had a very progressive view of the ladies, they have come such a long way - especially Pakku. Katara is such a trailblazer here, but gosh I just feel for her. She is going to be having to deal with these sexist shenanigans and fighting these battles for possibly her whole life.

I don't think it would matter how calmly, or logically Katara stated her position, I don't think it could've gone any other way. I hope some sense gets slapped into those EK delegates soon though, because yikes - there will just be too much collected stupid in one room for any peace process to be effective. Bravo for Katara refusing to hide tomorrow! though after what went down between her and Aang I don't know if she has the desire for any more arguments.

That fight with Aang was intense! I've kind of been waiting for a scene like this ever since I read the bit about the Air Nomads in promises to keep. Not like I've been waiting for them to fight - but this was something that was always going to be such an issue between them. Like this is not something either of them will give any ground on. Their attitudes to family are such a huge and fundamental difference between them. They both cling so hard to their beliefs and these beliefs are complete polar opposites.

If Aang wont give any ground on killing a pyschopathic war criminal to save the world, it is hard to see him giving any ground just to please katara. As the last Airbender, he wants to continue his people. And he remembers his childhood as so much fun, so he doesn't see anything problematic with what happened to poor bayarramma and her baby boy. Like I totally get that it was this lush peaceful existence, and I mostly see Aang's side - but as soon as he said that poor woman was selfish I just felt this overwhelming urge to bop him upside the head. Or hire "The mistake guy" to follow him round singing "Miiiiiiistake" anytime he ever says anything so dumb.

But Katara will never, ever, not in a million years - be down for that Air nomad system. It completely goes against who she is as a person. Family is such a big thing in water tribe culture and Katara puts so much of her identity into being a nuturer. Her motherly tendencies are a way for her to define herself, and she is understandably horrified at the Air Nomad system.

Without making either of them "wrong" or the "bad guy" and keeping them both in character, and following through all the threads and information about their cultures that was in ATLA, you have beautifully illustrated why Katara and Aang would not work as a romantic pairing.

Flameo my good hot woman, flameo.

Interesting direction. Bumi's plan to get Aang out of the way seems to have quite far-reaching and beneficial consequences, forcing Zuko and Katara to up their game as diplomats, and I like dynamics you're bringing into things. Bumi's taking charge and suddenly being serious was a really nice moment. (Also, every time I see "slush" used as profanity, I grin.)

I wonder where things are going with the Air Nomad stuff, and I'm a bit more tentative about this plotline. If it's about positioning Mai as an ideal partner for Aang by showing her being more in tune with his culture's emotional detachment, then I'll at least appreciate this story for reversing the standard Zutara plotline. XD However, I do question Bumi having read (or thinking he's read) everyone's character so well that he can predict which girl would be most efficient as Aang's mate.

Also, I'm not sure about everything being depicted about the Air Nomads themselves. The idea of there actually being Nonbenders born into the nation who needed to be given up is an interesting attempt to explore how they might not be perfect Spiritualists, but drugging mothers who won't surrender their babies seems like it's going a bit too far. Wouldn't it be easier exile the mother with baby if she won't abide by the rules? The population couldn't have been in that much danger if only one mother every hundred years explored this option. And it makes the Air Nomads seem more like a cult, that they won't let people leave. I know they certainly weren't "perfect," as shown in the cartoon with Aang's troubled upbringing, but out-of-touch elders is a far step from kidnapping cultists, at least for a story that isn't diving fully into a deconstruction of the whole ATLA world.

Also, Aang should tell Katara about the long and 'dignified' history of Temple Whores. XD Just because her culture has lost its culture and history doesn't mean that nuclear families were the sole option for all the surviving cultures.

So as often as you bring up the air nomad culture (and this is not a bad thing) I expect you'll do the same with other cultures as you did in Sacrifices. So if I may make a suggestion for the Fire Nation. Japanese society had, and perhaps still has, and adoption/apprenticeship setup where a child from one family that wasn't well suited to that families profession would be adopted by a family with a profession that child was good at. Seems like something the Fire Nation would do to me.

With Zuko, I wonder if he'll get tired of the Earth Kingdom delegates bullshit. Cause when you think about it from a realpolitik perspective the Fire Nation is in the best position. Most of their army is intact, they have solid control of most of their land, and their leader is sensible with a fair understanding of war. The Earth Kingdom on the other hand, recently got back their major city which was under occupation, being freed by an international task force, still has much of its land under foreign occupation, and has not even the figurehead leader it had with most of the military leadership gone. They are in no position to demand anything. Newsflash guys you lost, and it was only intervention from two separate third parties that means you're not currently the Fire Nation's bitch.

So much drama lol.

Your author' notes are always good to have when your defending your writing, because I whole heartily agree with them, although I think another reason for the change in LOK is that the Air Nomad Nation, is simply to small so they need to procrete and raise families to help build their numbers back up. Cultural clash indeed, but that's why there are anthropologists to help find ways for cultures to coexist