Far From The Tree: Part 3/3

[feral_shrew]

Original credit for the idea and background still belongs to avocado_love. I would love to know what you've thought about this story, and if you think that anything should have happened differently. "What if..." is one of my favorite questions when it comes to stories, and I usually can go into far too much detail about why I chose A instead of B

Comments

[avocado_love]

Wow, where do I begin? I think you really captured the emotional tone of the fic - starting off right where the original ended. The way you described Uncle Iroh's death was particularly gut-wrenching. I could see the Water Tribe killing him that way... at least it was quick for him

[feral_shrew]

I think I kept going back and being upset that Uncle was gone and so, so much of the series was never going to happen. Zuko never got to challenge Zhao, he was never the Blue Spirit for Aang, he didn't get to see Azula flip whatever switch it was that justified "come home with me, Zuzu," and he never gets the confirmation that joining the Gaang was a good choice

[avocado_love]

Oh, one last thing. I know you're new to LJ, but next time you post a longish fic, you don't need to cut it up in parts (unless it exceeds 8,000 words). You can do what's called a cut and hide it behind a link. Look-up cut in the help section and it will tell you all you need.

Oop. On second glance I realize that it was under a cut. Well, nevermind then. Carry on! :)

[feral_shrew]

Very, very new to LJ. The first testing post took forever for the cut to look remotely function and it still doesn't quite work. I was trying to use the HTML route, but just playing with their rich text settings ended up being easier.

[starsong24]

Whoa. This was a great, gut-wrenching fic. Zuko's constant, lingering paranoia was a potent touch.

[feral_shrew]

That's the reaction that I wanted. It's not a traditionally happy piece of work, but you picked out one of the emotional responses that I really wanted to bring out. It's very common for people who have been sexually assaulted to develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), especially with flashbacks. That's true even in cases that weren't prolonged.

[tawabids]

I came here via avocado_ love and I have to say - argh, I think this whole fic is beautiful for how slow and direct it is. It should be hard to disconnect the Zuko here to the one from the end of canon, but you made it easy to jump back and realise how much earlier in the series this Zuko is coming from. Really great read!

[feral_shrew]

It's very hard for me to pick a favorite character in this series, but quite a bit of the time it's Zuko. He has an absolutely timeless story. I'm a mythology geek by background, and a pattern-enthusiast that reads quite a bit of fantasy. "Redemption of the honorable banished warrior" is a classic for a reason, and I think there's something really cool in what he does through the show. I could babble about archetypes and character arcs for entirely too long, but from the very first episode Zuko has this potential in him.

In the second episode, Aang edges out of a promise. Zuko responds by chasing Aang, and doesn't touch the village. Technically, after Aang broke his word, the village didn't have any protection. Zuko didn't even think of that because his goal was to chase the Avatar. Heroes change through the story. They grow, they learn, they do something different. Villains lose because they stay the same.

[illereyn]

This. Wow. I had tears coming out of my eye. Everything was well in character, and the ending with Zuko on the recovery was very satisfying.

[feral_shrew]

I think it was a little easier to keep Zuko in character because the show gives so, so many different reactions from him. It's still going to be a long process to start trusting people again, but he hit one of the first big points. He decided that he can do it, and that's all that I really needed for him to do.