Fanfiction: The Good Servant (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

[nebroadwe]

Title: Ficlet: The Good Servant
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Character(s): Ming, with a cameo from Iroh
Pairing(s): None
Rating: G
Word Count: 150
Warnings: None, as long as you've seen through "The Day of Black Sun."
A/N: Couldn't quite pare this one down to the size of a canonical drabble, confound it, but honor is a complex subject. Concrit welcomed with freshly brewed peppermint tea, because that's all I've got left (the plotbunnies have eaten everything else). Crossposted from nebroadwe to avatar_fans and avatarfic.
Dedication: For arielen, who also takes risks (and copes heroically with my high-school German :-).

---

      She has always wanted to serve with honor.

      Which means (she's been told since childhood) performing her assigned duties, however menial: no one found wanting in small matters is worthy of great. "Prison guard" was not the duty Ming hoped for when she took her oath to the Fire Lord, but she does what she is ordered to do, competently and courteously. Once the prisoners learn there is no advantage to be taken of her, she even finds room for kindness: a smile, a friendly word, a proper cup of tea.

      Then the Fire Nation's greatest traitor repays her compassion with dubious counsel: to report herself falsely ill, to play blind, deaf and dumb despite his hints of coming trouble. You do not want to be here, he says.

      But she takes his advice, because in order to serve with honor, you must also know honor when you meet it.

---

[Acknowledgments: Avatar: The Last Airbender was created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko; copyright for this property is held by Viacom International, Inc.]

Comments

[jill-rg.livejournal.com]

10/10. Excellent insight, all well-phrased.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Whee! [waves to mother from the kiss-and-cry, then retreats backstage to watch the other competitors on the monitor and gloat to coach]

[plushulala.livejournal.com]

Fantastic! Thanks for sharing. :D

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! Thanks for reading and commenting.

[crystaldrake.livejournal.com]

Very nice.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

It's fun to work with the minor characters.

[artemisrae.livejournal.com]

I give the Fire Nation credit: I've noticed that they seem to be equal oppportunity employers, with the number of female soldiers and students compared to males.

The last line is a clincher. I always feel - and we've gotten no confirmation of this, like we did with the "Zuko remeets his mom" sequence that got cut - that we were supposed to get more Iroh in S3, and it got sliced for whatever reasons. It just felt so dramatic to have his character just... disappear, which I understood for Zuko's growth, but not in terms of, hey, here's one of your major secondary characters, and he's not really active in the plot anymore. Nngh.

Wonderful work. You're on a roll, aren't you?

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

I give the Fire Nation credit: I've noticed that they seem to be equal oppportunity employers, with the number of female soldiers and students compared to males.

I give the production/animation team great credit: in any given scene in season 3 with a group of red shirt firebenders, you're not only as likely to see females as males, you're almost as likely to see female officers as males. All with absolutely no fanfare. Heh.

The last line is a clincher. I always feel - and we've gotten no confirmation of this, like we did with the "Zuko remeets his mom" sequence that got cut - that we were supposed to get more Iroh in S3, and it got sliced for whatever reasons. It just felt so dramatic to have his character just... disappear, which I understood for Zuko's growth, but not in terms of, hey, here's one of your major secondary characters, and he's not really active in the plot anymore. Nngh.

Well, it can't have helped that Mako passed away, of course. And you're right that there's the character point of having Zuko step up and be his own moral arbiter in S3, which is what Iroh has been urging him toward all through S2. Somewhere in the commentary Bryke point out that they had planned Iroh's silence from the first, but there's a strong implication that they scaled his presence back to accomodate the loss of his original voice actor. (The replacement does a decent job, but he's no Mako.) On the other hand, Iroh's absence makes the reunion scene at the end that much more poignant (for me, anyway: the actors do such a good job with it that I always get a little sniffly).

Wonderful work. You're on a roll, aren't you?

Thanks. And yes -- if I weren't going home for Thanksgiving, I'd probably spend the entire holiday writing. But now, sadly, I will have to make time for food, church and relatives. ;-)

[artemisrae.livejournal.com]

All with absolutely no fanfare. Heh.

I seriously love it - same reason I love that two of the Avatar's teachers are women too. I understand as the Avatar there's a level of natural talent, but it'd still be a struggle if he had poor teachers, and I kind of totally love that the show is well rounded enough (and not just trying to appeal to young boys) that they can give two women that level of talent. (And that's to say nothing of Azula and the magnitude of her firebending vs. Zuko's...)

there's a strong implication that they scaled his presence back to accomodate the loss of his original voice actor.

I feel kind of like we got ripped off on his backstory - we were teased with the story of Lu Ten and his spirit journey from season one (when he can see Roku's dragon) - and again, yeah, Iroh's not a main character and this is Aang's journey, but I will just always feel like we were totally supposed to get that and it got cut. Which turned out fine, considering the pacing issues they ran into in the third season. Which is an entirely new kettle of fish.

(The replacement does a decent job, but he's no Mako.)

I always felt the replacement spoke with more of a purr, while Mako's was more gravelly. I can't describe it, but for as close as they are there's just a little "OOH so close" factor there. However, that reunion scene... yes. I know both me and Josie get a little wibbly around there.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

(And that's to say nothing of Azula and the magnitude of her firebending vs. Zuko's...)

Not to mention her drive, intelligence and wit. She's never written as stupid; when she loses a battle, it's because she's been genuinely outfought. I love smart villains; they make a story so much better.

I feel kind of like we got ripped off on his backstory - we were teased with the story of Lu Ten and his spirit journey from season one (when he can see Roku's dragon) - and again, yeah, Iroh's not a main character and this is Aang's journey, but I will just always feel like we were totally supposed to get that and it got cut.

Maybe Bryke were just thinking of all the 'ficcers and leaving them somewhere to play. :-)

[arielen.livejournal.com]

I like the drabble. It fits well into the story and the few moments with the charakter of Ming, where she showed herself so understandable and kind to Iroh.

I also thank you for your dedication. It makes me proud and helped me to start an new fiction which isn't ready yet, but longer than my first one. Yes I am taking new risks, and I am happy with it.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

I like the drabble. It fits well into the story and the few moments with the charakter of Ming, where she showed herself so understandable and kind to Iroh.

I was surprised to discover that I had something to say about her -- she has so little time on stage. I wrote the first line and thought about it, and then I wrote the last line and knew that I had a story. :-)

I also thank you for your dedication. It makes me proud and helped me to start an new fiction which isn't ready yet, but longer than my first one. Yes I am taking new risks, and I am happy with it.

Bittesehr. Und "Ganbatte!" ("Do your best!") wie man auf Japanisch sagt. :-) Ich freue mich auf deiner nächsten Geschichte.

[arielen.livejournal.com]

Sometimes the minor characters are the most interesting I think - and they are free for own speculations. and so it is easy to use them.

And if you like to look in my LJ you can see, that I have returned the dedication. The longer story is still in progress, but I have written another scene which spooked around in my head for some days after I have watched "The Boiling Rock 1&2" in TV again.