"let them," Kyoshi thought ▪︎ River ▪︎ late 20s ▪︎ og posts tagged r.post ▪︎ main is @jumping-jackalope ▪︎ [icon description: image from the Avatar comics of Ty Lee looking shocked, her eyes wide and hands over her mouth.] made by @vhunnybee
Six years ago, I replied to a post about money in ATLA. However, while I was able to cover many aspects of Chinese currency history, I still couldn't find a solid exchange rate between gold, silver, and copper. Welp! I've finally found what I've been looking for.
I just came across this piece of information on the Wikipedia article for Sycee (Chinese ingots):
During the Tang dynasty, a standard bi-metallic system of silver and copper coinage was codified with 10 silver coins equal to 1,000 copper cash coins.
The source for this tidbit of information comes from the book, The Stewart Lockhart Collection of Chinese Copper Coins by Sir James Haldane Stewart Lockhart. Here is the actual entry from the 1915 edition of the book (Page XI of the Introduction):
"The standard introduced by the Tang dynasty and continuing in theory until today... in value, 1 gold -- 10 silver -- 1,000 copper, these being the metallic exchange equivalents in China thirteen centuries ago."
I think we've found a good inspiration for the coin conversion system in ATLA:
The average of weight of a coin during the Tang Dynasty was about 4 grams. The Waterbending Scroll stolen from the pirates was valued at 200 gold coins. According to this website here, as of May 2026, a gram of gold is worth about $152 USD. Meaning...
The Waterbending Scroll would be worth $121,600 USD in today's money.
Katara basically stole the scroll equivalent to a 2026 Mercedes-Benz S-Class Sedan:
Good thing she stole from pirates, because I'm pretty sure that's a felony...
Do fire nation ppl actually worship fire/agni? Cuz the vedas actually also worshipped fire and a god called agni. Does that mean fire nation practices early Hinduism/vedas
It's hard to say. We only see the word agni used in their name for honor duels (Agni Kai), with agni (अग्नि) meaning "fire" in Sanskrit and kai (会) meaning "social gathering" in Japanese. The fact that "kai" refers to pleasant and non-violent forms of interaction leads me to think that Agni Kais were originally more ceremonial duels to express gratitude to the deity Agni. However, by the Hundred Year War period, it seems that the religious ceremony had evolved/been corrupted to become a form of conflict resolution with legal ramifications.
The impression I get of the post-Sozin Fire Nation is that religiosity seems to be heavily discouraged. The Fire Sages seem to exist only to maintain ancient temples and conduct ceremonies; we don't see them present in any important meetings, so they presumably don't hold much real power in Fire Nation society. We see the children of the elites are taught to pledge their allegiance to the Fire Lord at the beginning of each day (or maybe even at the start of each class period), which implies that the position has developed a cult of personality that supersedes any religion in the country. The one village in the Fire Nation that seems to follow any sort of deity religion, Jang Hui (The Painted Lady village), is literally marginalized and mistreated by the Fire Nation authorities.
As for the Fire Nation of the past, it's possible they worshipped Agni. It's worth noting that Agni is also worshipped in Buddhism as a minor deity, as well as in early Hinduism. Of course, Buddhism descends from Hinduism, so it still ultimately comes back to the Vedas. Especially with many aspects of the Fire Nation possessing a really strong Southeast Asian influence, it's reasonable to assume the Fire Nation's religious history might have went:
Early Hinduism-equivalent > State-Sponsored Buddhism-equivalent > Imperial Cult
I think it's very possible that there are small pockets of the Fire Nation that still practice Early Hinduism, though they probably did so in secret during Ozai's reign.
Since this post has been gaining a little traction, I’d like to share with you exhibit A: the only ATLA dolls in the 2000s. They had THREE different Roku action figures and not a single Katara. I remember checking toys r us every time I went for her. UNACCEPTABLE !!!
And as a fun bonus, here’s an earlier self portrait (unrelated) I found in the same storage box
Fun Fact: One of Mexico's historic Chinatowns, La Chinesca, used to have a labyrinth of subterranean businesses and homes, due to Mexico's scorching summers.
An underground world: Discover Mexico’s once largest Chinatown a century ago | South China Morning Post
One of the issues I encountered when trying to find Air Nomad instruments was that many of the instruments are made with animal product. For the sake of convenience, let's just say that it's part of the Air Nomad's culture to honor a deceased sky bison by using part of the body to create beautiful music.
Dungchen
This instrument was actually featured in the side comic "Relics". Dungchen (དུང་ཆེན།) are long Tibetan horns used in Tibetan Buddhist ceremonies. It is the most widely used instrument in Tibetan Buddhist culture and the sound is sometimes compared to the singing of elephants.
Gyaling
The gyaling (རྒྱ་གླིང་།) is a woodwind instrument from Tibet. It's used mainly in Tibetan monasteries during chants/prayers and is associated with peace and devotion. In terms of construction, it's typically made from a combination of wood and copper with 8 fingerholes and a double reed made from marsh grass.
Playing a gyaling requires a technique called circular breathing, in which the instrument is played continuously, even while the musician is breathing. The reed is placed fully in the player’s mouth but does not touch it; the lips are pressed against the flat metal channel below the reed. The technique required to play the gyaling feels very airbender-like.
Dramyin
If the above instrument looks familiar, it's because Chong plays one. Dramyins (སྒྲ་སྙན) are traditional Himalayan lutes that are often used as an accompaniment while narrating stories by providing ambience and keeping time. Traditionally, they'll have either 6 or 7 strings made from animal gut and a body with animal skin stretched over it.
Piwang
The piwang (པི་ཝང་) is a Tibetan, two-stringed fiddle that's played vertically. The piwang is often featured in Tibetan folk music.
Damaru
The damaru (ཌ་མ་རུ་) is a small two-headed drum used in Tibetan Buddhism and Hinduism. In Tibetan Buddhism, the damaru is used as an instrument in meditation practices.
The damaru is typically composed of a wooden frame, brass resonator, and leather drumheads on both ends. The strikers are typically beads fastened to the ends of leather cords around the waist of the damaru. The instrument is played single-handedly. As the player waves the drum using a twisting wrist motion, the strikers beat on the drumhead.
Lagna
The lagna is a double-headed Tibetan frame drum. It is typically used as part of the temple orchestra that accompanies Buddhist ceremonies & processions, ritual dance, and theater. It played with a sickle-shaped drumstick that has a padded skin tip and handle. The drum itself possesses a carved wooden handle and frame, with the drumheads being made from animal leather.
Tingsha
Tingsha (ཏིང་ཤགས་) are a pair of tiny cymbal-shaped "bells" that are used by Tibetan Buddhist practitioners in prayer and rituals. The two cymbals are 2.5-4 inches in diameter, made from bronze alloys, and joined together by a leather strap. Tingsha are played by holding the middle of the leather strap tapping the sides of the "cymbals" against each other, producing a clear and ringing tone with harmonic overtones.
Silnyen
Silnyen (སིལ་སྙན།) are Tibetan cymbals. They are played by tapping the two cymbals together vertically, rather than horizontally like Western-style cymbals. Like many Tibetan instruments, they are used in prayers, chanting, and other religious ceremonies.
Sorry it's late, but feel free to post your entries later if you need more time. You guys know what to do by now: draw Avatar: the Last Airbender characters wearing kuspuks in accordance with the prompt, keep it "gen" (no ship art) and tag me in it so I can see. The point of this is to celebrate creativity by inserting some needed casual Inupiat and Yup'iit cultural influence into an Avatar context, and yes, this can include characters who are not Water Tribe. My pinned post is list of Frequenly Asked Questions with answers as thought out as I thought they deserved so please check before sending me an ask.
Alright, on with the list
Day 1 (April 15th): "The Sea is Our Garden" seaside work or recreation
Day 2(April 16th): "Rebirth" the cycle beginning anew. The return of the sun, or the spring, rebuilding, anything of the like.
Day 3 (April 17th): "Generational" something passed down from an earlier generation. Could be a technique, an heirloom, or even the kuspuk itself.
Day 4 (April 18th) "Easygoing" relaxing, maybe some chill domestic chores, nothing to worry about
Day 5 (April 19th) "Festival" participating in festivities. Could be a real life festival like, Blanket Toss of Messenger Feast, or one in the Avatar Universe
Day 6 (April 20th) "They Would Take Their Hoods Off" encountering an animal spirit taking human form to some degree, bonus points for the spirit in question actually taking their hood off to show a human face like in the stories
Day 7 (April 21st) "Barely Out of Savagery" when Tlingit political activist Elizabeth Peratrovitch spoke in favor for an anti-discrimination law to end the segregation of Alaska Natives, she made an opposing territorial senator eat his racist words by saying "I would not have expected that I, who am barely out of savagery, would need to remind gentlemen with five thousand years of history about our Bill of Rights." So to wrap up, depict a character living as an Inupiaq or Yup'ik, the people who wore these garments you've drawn for a week, with out traditional arts, technologies, values, whatever else you like, to show we are not a people "barely out of savagery"
Alright, my inbox is open if you have any further questions. Happy drawing!
why do you think tysuki is underrated? because honestly I don't remember them having any moments more than both of them existing in the same group, honestly ty lokka is far more underrated, they had a few tension in season 2,
well I just think ppl don’t consider their potential to be rly crazy together, and that’s a shame. like sure, in canon they fight each other in the boiling rock and that’s pretty much their only significant interaction, but then think about the aftermath of that… ty lee gets imprisoned with the other kyoshi warriors and is allowed to join them, unbeknownst to suki, their ostensible leader, who had no say in the matter. she finally reunites with her sisters in arms only to find a new addition to their ranks, that girl who helped capture them in the first place and then tried to prevent her escape by fighting her on the roof of a moving gondola. and she’s like wtf and they’re like she’s actually really nice and she taught us a bunch of new combat forms don’t worry about it and ty lee is like hehe yayyy!! and while suki is exceptionally forgiving, and probably would come around sooner rather than later, she is also incredibly prideful. she takes a lot of pride in being the best warrior in her village, and she cannot stand that ty lee is the better fighter in a similar martial art (nonbending, close range hand to hand combat, primarily defensive maneuvers). but ty lee is also gorgeous, and suki has a type. when sokka first beats her during their training, suki lashes out and claims she merely let him beat her (an obvious lie), but she’s also highly flustered, and I think that’s the first meaningful moment that she experiences attraction to him. and from that moment on, she is down horrendous for sokka, because he proved that he is just as prodigious, skilled, and talented as she is, and that’s what turns her on, even if it also pisses her off. and ty lee, being scarily perceptive and socially attuned and also just kind of a troll, would obviously pick up on suki’s inner tension — that confluence of mistrust, pride, humiliation, and grudging attraction — and flirt with her shamelessly. and suki of course knows that ty lee knows, and flirts back, just as calculated and competitive in their unspoken game to see who submits first. ty lee is the better fighter, the better schemer, the better coquette, but suki has her pride on the line, and — this cannot be overstated — suki is terribly proud. so the conflicting tensions in their dynamic would be so fun and juicy to explore (especially once you add mai and sokka to the mix), but people are fundamentally uncreative when it comes to f/f pairings, as we all have the misfortune of knowing, so there’s a tragic dearth of actually compelling tysuki content, despite their characters and hypothetical future dynamic being so ripe for further exploration…
ID: an amv of Sokka, Katara, Aang, and Yue set to Children's Work by Dessa. It focuses on the gaang’s early relationships with each other and the heavy responsibilities they carry. Detailed description under the cut.
Intro: clips of Katara and Sokka arguing over their roles in the village and early disagreements about Aang.
Verse 1 & chorus 1 follows Sokka's POV. Clips include young Sokka hugging Hakoda goodbye, Katara crying before the tree in The Swamp that she thought was Kya, Aang at the Southern Air Temple, and Sokka sleeping with his weapons in his bedroll. On “Heard my mother … wonder what she did to get such a serious kid”: Sequence cuts to Kya's face, her killer's face, back to Kya, then fades into Sokka's face, crying in the Day of Black Sun when Azula taunts him about Suki's safety. “I've learned how to paint my face”: Sokka applying his traditional warrior tribal makeup fades into Sokka in Kyoshi Warrior makeup. “Earn my keep… clean my kill” includes Sokka fighting Zuko for the first time and again after training with the Warriors. “Sometimes the past rolls back” Sokka tending a fire fades into young-Sokka and young-Katara playing before black snow falls. “You've learned how to hold your own” shows Katara: Fighting Pakku, speaking to the Earthbender prisoners, Katara with her mother's necklace. “Children aren't as simple as we like to think” Bato applying the marks of the wise, mark of the brave, and mark of the trusted to Sokka, Katara, and Aang
Verse 2 & chorus 2 follows Katara's POV. Clips show Katara waterbending and Katara and Sokka meeting Aang for the first time. “Mom said it was serious, dad said you’d be fine” shows first Sokka telling Aang to get out of their village, then Kanna telling Katara and Sokka that their fates are intertwined with the Avatar’s now. “I thought you were the prophet of 1989” shows Aang standing on a cliff during the series opening credits. “You were so tender… so patient” shows Aang playing in the village and Sokka’s disapproval. Then clips of Aang in the avatar state and as Avatar Roku, Aang having his dramatic fortune read by Aunt Wu. Through “And I made you a library…but smiled”. Katara gives Aang an acorn to show how the burned oak forest will regrow and Aang smiles. “Taught me how to quiet down my mind” Katara laughs as Aang imitates a penguin. “I’ve learned how to paint my face, how to earn my keep, how to clean my kill” shows: Katara healing herself with waterbending for the first time, Katara successfully defending herself with the waterwhip bending technique, Katara waterbending dangerously thin sheet of ice at Pakku. “The past rolls back” shows Hanna's memory of Southern Water Tribe benders freezing a fire navy ship into ice; the image fades into the present-day ship Katara and Aang explore. “I can see us, still” shows the Southern Water Tribe benders fighting off fire nation raids. Kanna stands fighting at the center until she is the last one left. “You’ve learned how to hold your own… but the history’s thick” shows Aang fighting with Zhao, protecting a village from a volcano, Aang finding Monk Gyatso’s remains at the Southern Air Temple. “Children aren’t as simple”shows the monks telling Aang he is the Avatar.
Bridge: During the instrumental break Katara talks Aang down from the avatar state at the Southern Air Temple. Aang comes down from the air and Katara, Sokka, and Aang hug and stand together. “And if I kept quiet, I could hear all the voices in your head” shows Katara in the hall with statues of past Avatars, the statue’s eyes lighting up when Aang enters the avatar state.
Verse 3: Follows the events during the siege of the North, starting with Aang entering the spirit world, Katara guarding Aang from Zuko while Aang meditates, and the sky darkening when the Moon Spirit is captured by Zhao. “I asked god to take the damage out on me” shows Sokka, Aang, and Katara readying for battle while the sky is red. “10 years later, he finally gets the memo… knocked out my front teeth” shows clips of baby Yue being saved by the Moon Spirit, then present-day Yue walking away from Sokka as she decides to give the Moon Spirit life back. She lays her hands on the dead Koi fish and collapses into Sokka’s arms. “But you came to… so we decided not to cry” shows Yue returning as a spirit, kissing Sokka goodbye, and the moon reappearing in the sky. “But I won’t pretend… how unusual we were” shows Aang, Katara, and Sokka at night flying on Appa, right in front of a full moon. The silhouettes of Katara and Sokka hug Aang. “The little mystic, and his handler, all some children do is work” shows an ending scene of The Siege of the North, Katara and Aang hugging, then Katara, Aang, Sokka, Appa, and Momo facing the full moon together.
Outro follows Aang's POV: Features scenes of Aang neutral-faced with Koh the Face Stealer, the Ocean spirit taking over Aang in the spirit oasis, and Aang as the giant “Koizilla” Ocean spirit towering above buildings. “The past rolls back”, as Aang tells Katara a story around a fire, the image fades into a memory of the Southern Air Temple. A younger Aang bows to Gyatzo, who affectionately pats his head. The image fades into present-day Aang bowing before the wooden statue of Gyatzo at the Southern Air Temple. The video fades to black.
Like with other cultural cuisine posts about the Air Nomads, their "sick food" will reflect the ingredients available to them living high up in the mountains and through their symbiotic relationship with the sky bisons. Their dishes would also specifically address the ailments that would commonly befall those who live at high altitudes.
Roasted Barley Porridge
As always, we're starting our list off with a soothing bowl of porridge. For an Air Nomad porridge, the key ingredient would be tsampa (རྩམ་པ་) or roasted barley flour. Barley is a grain that is nutrient-dense, prebiotic, and high in soluble fiber; it also helps to lower cholesterol, regulate blood sugar, and support digestive health. Grinding barley into flour and then roasting it also allows it to be easily digestible.
When made into a porridge, the barley flour mixture is known as tsamthuk (རྩམ་ཐུག་) in Tibetan. This simple and healthy meal involves stirring roasted barley flour with water or milk and then heating the mixture until it thickens into your desired consistency. Like all porridges, tsamthuk is quite versatile in terms of what can be added to it. Typical vegetarian add-ins include butter, panfried cheese curds, simmered legumes, diced mushrooms, and minced root vegetables like droma or radishes. It's also often paired with a flat bread like balep or chapati. For someone feeling unwell, a basic tsamthuk with some panfried cheese curds and minced root vegetables would probably be easiest on the stomach. Overall, I believe this porridge would be a staple of all four air temples.
Lentil & Rice Porridge
Called jaulo (जाउलो) in Nepali, this nutritious and vegetarian-friendly dish is made by cooking rice and lentils together into a soft porridge. It is highly regarded as an easy-to-digest comfort food often served to those recovering from illness. As rice does not grow in the mountains where the air temples reside, this porridge is often made when an Air Nomad is out herding bison in another nation. This porridge would end up living on as "Earth Kingdom" cuisine, often prepared and consumed by those descended from the Air Nomads, although many do not realize what culture the dish actually comes from.
Carom Seed Soup
Called jwano ko jhol (ज्वानोको झोल) in Nepali, this nourishing soup is known for its medicinal properties. It's often used to treat colds, coughs, and digestive issues. It is also highly regarded as a healing food for postpartum recovery, as it encourages milk production and strengthens the uterine walls. The soup is prepared by sautéing carom seeds in ghee, adding water and spices, and then simmering all the ingredients together to create a warm and fragrant soup.
This soup would be a specialty of the Eastern Air Temple, which I headcanon as the temple responsible for looking after pregnant Air Nomads, pregnant sky bison, newborn babies, and newborn sky bison calves. This soup would be fed to both recovering human and sky bison mothers.
Vegetable Noodle Soup
Pretty much what is says in the title: Wheat noodles cooked in a light vegetable broth, often with additions such as potatoes, radishes, and fresh leafy greens. The shape of the noodles is what differentiates the various vegetable noodle soups. Thukpa has long and stringy noodles, thenthuk has short and flat noodles, bhakthuk has noodles shaped like cowry shells, and mokthuk's noodles are actually wonton-like dumplings. No matter the noodle-style, it's a healthy and easily digestible dish for those recovering from illness.
Fermented Vegetable Soup
The Air Nomads would likely ferment and dry their own temple-grown greens and radishes so they could be easily carried and used to create tangy soups all year round and in any location. Soup made from fermented and dried greens is known as gundruk ko jhol in Nepali and is typically comprised of radish leaves, mustard greens, and cauliflower leaves. Soup made from fermented and dried radish taproots is known as sinki ko jhol in Nepali. You can also combine the two (gundruk & sinki) for an even more flavorful soup.
Both of these soups are ideal for those suffering from digestive discomfort or recovering from illness due to their high nutritional value, immune-boosting vitamins, and natural probiotic content.
Milk & Greens Soup
Called jaju in Bhutan, this is a light and creamy soup made from leafy greens, milk, and butter. The leafy greens will typically be spinach, radish leaves, or pumpkin leaves. As you can imagine, this simple soup is nutritious and easy to digest. I imagine that this soup would be a seasonal spring specialty of the Eastern Air Temple, as that would be when the sky bison mothers would be lactating the most and the leafy greens would be freshest.
Butter Tea
Airbending within the high-altitude climate of the air temples can be quite taxing on the body, with altitude sickness being especially common. One way the Air Nomads combat this illness is through the consumption of butter tea, a popular drink throughout the Himalayas. The fat, calories, and salt of butter tea provide immediate warmth, energy, and vital electrolytes to a body suffering from the effects of altitude sickness.
Steeped Millet Beer
Known as tongba in Nepal, this millet-based drink is popular across the Himalayas. The beverage is made by fermenting cooked millet with koji or murcha for several days, then steeping the solid fermented grains in a wood or bamboo container with hot water and sipping the resulting mixture through a bamboo straw with a built-in filter. The alcohol content is generally quite low, at around 2-5%. Tongba is rich in antioxidants and amino acids that keep the body warm and hydrated, allowing the body to withstand the cold, dry climate of air temples and preventing altitude sickness.
Ivory lamellar armor was worn by Arctic peoples such as Inuit, Inupiat, and Chukchi during times of war. The ivory tiles were made from walrus bone, the straps were made of leather from a seal or walrus, and the strings weaving through the tiles were made from animal sinew.
Ice Picks
Also known as tooq in Greenlandic. As its English name implies, ice picks were used by Arctic peoples to pick at or break ice. The handles were typically made of driftwood, the picks were made of bone, and the ties were made of sinew or gut.
Bolas
Also called qilumitautit in some Inuit languages. Bolas are a type of throwing weapon comprised of weights on the ends of interconnected cords. Traditionally, Inuit bolas (qilumitautit) are made from carved bones for the weights and animal sinew for the cords. They’re used to to hunt birds, fouling the birds in air with the lines of the bola.
Due to its large expanse of farmland and diversity of climates, the Earth Kingdom has a broader range of options for its "sick" foods.
1. Rice Porridge
As mentioned before, rice porridge is likely a popular sick meal in the Earth Kingdom as well as the Fire Nation. However, Ba Sing Se's porridges are made in the Beijing-style: Using short-grain or medium-grain rice, rather than jasmine. This results in a chunkier and more granular porridge, as the starches don't break down and congeal as much. In China's northern regions, it's commonly referred to as báizhōu (白粥), meaning "white porridge". Common toppings for this soupy style of rice porridge include pickled vegetables, salted duck eggs, and fermented tofu.
Rice porridge is also a popular sick meal on Kyoshi Island, where it's prepared in the Japanese-style (okayu/お粥). This style of porridge uses short-grain white rice that's high in starch. It's typically served with pickled plums, scallions, nori (seaweed), salted salmon, and/or egg.
2. Millet Porridge
Unlike the Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom's vast land and varied climates allow it to grow a wider variety of staple grains. One grain that's native to the EK is millet, which grows naturally in the semi-arid lands surrounding the Si Wong Desert. As a result, millet is a popular "sick food" ingredient for both the poorer residents of Ba Sing Se and those of the Si Wong Desert.
Ba Sing Se's millet porridge is made in the Beijing style, known as xiao mi zhou (小米粥) in Mandarin. It is made by boiling millet grains until they're soft, fluffy, and easily digestible. Like all other porridges, xiao mi zhou is a versatile dish than can be eaten with any number of toppings. Sweetened versions are typically served with diced pumpkin, sweet potato, kabocha squash, Asian pear, and/or jujubes (red dates). Savory versions can include meat, mushrooms, pickled vegetables, preserved eggs, and fermented tofu.
3. Five Black Porridge
Called wu hei zhou (五黑粥) in Mandarin, its name literally translates to "five black porridge". The "five black(s)" refer to the five primary ingredients that make up the porridge: Black soybeans, black rice, black sesame seeds, wood ear mushrooms and black peanuts.
Each one of these ingredients has a different health benefit, from reducing inflammation (black soybeans) to improving the kidneys (black rice) to reducing colds/fevers/sore throats (wood ear mushrooms). Overall, this is a very creamy, filling, and nutritious porridge.
4. Sweet Pear Soup
Omashu's local specialty and recovery food of choice would be "sweet pear soup" or xiǎodiào lí tāng (小吊梨汤). This traditional Chinese dessert is known to moisturize lungs, sooth sore throats, and relieve coughs. The primary ingredients of this dish are Asian pears, rock sugar, preserved Chinese plum, wolfberry, and white fungus. While popular all over the northern Earth Kingdom, this sweet soup makes great use of Omashu's abundant rock sugar and is especially ideal for combatting the mountainous city's cold and dry climate.
5. Seaweed Soup
Given Song's status as her village's apothecary and doctor, she has quite a few sick meals that she prepares for her patients, depending on the ailment. For women who are pregnant and recovering from childbirth, the meal of choice is miyeok-guk (미역국) or "seaweed soup". Seaweed is rich in minerals like calcium, phosphorus, iron and iodine – all of which are important during pregnancy and lactation.
6. Yuzu Tea
Yuzu/yuja tea is a drink made from yuzu marmalade and hot water. Yuzu is a citrus fruit native to East Asia and tastes like a cross between lemon, orange, and grapefruit. Its marmalade is both sweet and bitter. The "tea" is often enjoyed in the winter or when sick, due to being high in vitamin C.
Working on this post made me realize how hard it is to separate Earth Kingdom cuisine from Fire Nation cuisine. I'll definitely be adding more entries for my Fire Nation sick food posts, incorporating more comfort foods from indigenous-derived Central American cuisine.
Can I ask what your season 1 Lok reboot looks like?
this is about 3k words i checked lmfao dont say i didnt warn u
a key part of the whole thing is that korra gets way more perspectives and more experiences representative of like, normal people in republic city bc i think something that really defined what a good avatar aang was was how many people he met and got to know and how he didnt exclusively or even mostly associate w cops and bureaucrats and leaders. so mako and bolin. well first of all their backstories are a little more fleshed out and we get a less black and white view of the “triads” (lol) and mako and bolin’s experiences w them. cuz the show very much does the whole thing of like Criminals Bad but dont worry even tho mako and bolin did commit crimes theyre not Criminals!! so just a little more nuance on the alleged gang problem and the poverty in the city
korra does start out very naive w very black and white ideas (ex. “you guys are CRIMINALS?”) i think a really good way of developing her away from her sheltered naive worldview is putting her in whats clearly an incredibly complicated city w an absolute cesspool of political conflicts, ethnic tensions, the lasting effects of colonization, etc and having her try and understand the needs of “the people” in a more complicated way than “i have to save the good guys from the bad guys” ykwim? and i think the absolute WORST way to do that is what they did. bc we get mako and bolin who could contribute genuinely compelling thematic elements to the story: one parent who was indigenous and one who was from a colonizer background in the decades directly following the end of the war, kids who grew up in poverty apparently without any familial support, and who now are trying to be “respectable” members of society (especially mako). and then most of that is pretty much tossed aside bc asami swoops in w her capitalist dad and her piles of money and the class issue is just never talked about again.
so the way i’d fix all that is like. introducing more, like, normal people. some nonbenders, more workers, more immigrants, etc, to show what daily life is actually like for people. because. we dont know! we dont have any context about whether the nonbender oppression thing is actually an issue bc we dont KNOW any nonbenders with normal lives! and spoiler: the nonbender oppression thing is not an issue. bc it doesnt make historical sense. lok is set 7 decades after the end of the war. that is not by ANY stretch of the imagination long enough to heal from the scars of imperialism, ESPECIALLY not when lok is also set in a settler colonial state. like that fact should have featured PROMINENTLY in the political and social setting! realistically, nonbenders arent an oppressed class, earth and water nation people are, regardless of bending status! as in all settler colonial states, the colonizers and their descendants (in this case fire nation people) retain most of the financial and political capital, leaving the colonized and racialized immigrants (in this case earth kingdom and water tribe people respectively) generally impoverished and politically suppressed. like aside from the fact that theres no way toph would have become a cop, it’s so ridiculous to think that an established privileged class of fire nation colonizers would EVER accept being policed by earthbenders!
imagine how much more nuanced and interesting it would be to set republic city as a remnant of a colonial past still fraught w the violence and tension that colonialism and the associated ideology imposed?? instead of some vague ideas of criminal who wear 1920s outfits and harass shopkeepers think about why extralegal and violent groups like that might form! earth kingdom people trying to push for the reclamation of their land? ethnic groups protecting themselves against corrupt cops? ESPECIALLY w the history that the fire nation has of SPECIFICALLY jailing and killing earthbenders and waterbenders BECAUSE of the potential they have to resist against fire nation imperialism like it just makes no sense at all that earthbenders would be privileged on land that, 70 years ago, they would have been imprisoned on! like these various paramilitary groups falling along these different ideological or ethnic lines, fire nation or earth kingdom or water tribe, pro colonization or anti colonization, pro cop or anti cop, pro immigrant or anti immigrant, and then you juxtapose that w depictions of a govt thats failing to keep this all under control w tenzin trying desperately to keep it together despite the fact that it’s becoming increasingly obvious that the state has no interest in taking the conflicts seriously and would rather just point vague fingers at criminals and gangs? and THEN you bring in korra, who has no idea about any of this and thinks that all its gonna take is kicking some ass every couple days, meeting normal people who offer all kinds of different opinions abt the efficacy of the state and the different violent or nonviolent groups and ideologies clashing in the city and the way all this shit is affecting people’s lives and livelihoods and relationships w other citizens??
theres so much good shit there so many incredible things u could do w that like Where do we go after colonial atrocities? is it possible for a settler colonial state to take revolutionary or indigenous ideas seriously? is liberal reform enough in a state like this? and then all the growth that korra could do going from a simple black and white life about mastering the elements to this messy complicated sociopolitical knot of a city? and all the different kinds of characters u could introduce in this city? like why would u EVER think that the most interesting characters that this story has to offer is a police chief a congressman and a billionaire????
but anyways. that’s what the Setting of my idealized version of lok is. as for the actual plot, it is as follows
it starts out similarly as the show. republic city is MUCH more fraught w political tension and violence and korra knows this but assumes that it’s just a matter of throwing a few gang leaders and corrupt officials in jail. tenzin manages to come see them in the south pole and intends give korra real lessons while he’s there but they receive news of a terrorist attack in republic city only a few days after he gets there so his family has to pack up and leave again.
korra stows away to republic city (katara catches her leaving and gives her blessing im a SUCKER for that moment). she does have a hard time adjusting but she doesn’t do what she did in the show lol the first person she meets in the city is this older woman who works on the docks, directs her to a place where she can eat and gives her a roof to sleep under for the first night. so korra’s first exposure to republic city is just about forming connections w ordinary people like ship workers and a family owned restaurant and people practicing their bending in the park. and by the time she reaches air temple island a day or so later her head is spinning w all this new information and the way that nothing is really what she expected it to be. tenzin gives her his own perspective on everything and pema gives her her own perspective on everything and even those two seem wildly different from all the people she’s already met. and so korra starts to get a kind of outline of the conflicts plaguing the city as extremely complex and a lot more influenced by older ideas of fire nation imperialism and earth kingdom land reclamation than she had any idea about.
mako and bolin are still pro benders but not like. super famous like they are in the show. korra’s picked up a couple friends by now and one of them takes her to a gym where a lot of amateur pro bending (is that an oxymoron? lol) matches happen and thats how she meets mako and bolin and joins their pro bending team. Unfortunately for korra, this gym is run by lin beifong, and also has the distinction of being one of the most notoriously anti settler state organizations in the country. lin beifong is NOT a cop but she runs this gym (and the pro bending league) as a way to offer support to local earth kingdom/water tribe youth, teach self defense skills, a center of community organizing, and sometimes to act as a front to hide revolutionary/combat organizing against the pro fire nation paramilitaries/police force. tenzin is DISTRAUGHT that korra does this and this is where the friction btwn them comes from bc (from tenzin’s perspective) she does things like this without thinking or even fully understanding the context behind them and tenzin will have to deal w the political fallout of the avatar openly aligning herself w a very divisive figure in the community and (from korra’s perspective) tenzin is too unwilling to take sides in a conflict that’s claiming lives and when the state is clearly not taking sufficient steps to protect people well then why the hell shouldnt she align herself w lin beifong, who IS taking steps to protect and support people?
as korra more fully integrates herself into the city and learns more abt how different people think abt everything going on this is where the real exposition abt the equalists begins. they’re a paramilitary group w an ideology thats gaining increasing support among middle/upper class fire nation people, esp nonbenders. on the face theyre abt putting checks on “bender oppression” but really it’s an excuse to persecute and surveil earthbenders waterbenders and airbenders, bc fire nation people have all this leftover fear about benders who arent fire nation Rising Up Against them and these people who r using their Savage Excuse for Bending to terrorize good innocent (fire nation) people. theres all too frequent terrorist attacks that the equalists claim credit for mostly against monuments to earth/water/air nation people and earth/water nation community centers (one like it was the event that forced tenzin back to republic city) but also like the govt doesnt take a lot of these seriously or if they do only a couple people are charged without doing damage to the entire organization
this is also around the time that they meet asami and she becomes part of their friend group. asami likes pro bending but her dad HATES it so she sneaks out to watch matches at lin beifong’s gym (korra says ironically like don’t u know how ~divisive~ that is and asami answers that the only reason its Not divisive is that gyms like beifongs are the only place where nobody recognizes her). and asami alongside korra is also kind of developing a more nuanced perspective on the city that she lives in cuz obviously the only worldview she’s ever been exposed to is her father’s right? and she keeps pushing it off making excuses not to bring mako and bolin and korra around to her house or even not to be seen w them in certain neighborhoods until they call her on it and she’s like Well honestly my dad might do something awful to u! and i dont wanna risk it!
and as time goes on we see more abt asami’s home life like her father’s hyper conservative politics and asami keeps these secrets abt her hobbies and her friends from him but she’s still clearly under his influence and mako bolin and korra r getting increasingly worried abt it cuz like...asami seems to tend to make excuses for him so that she wont have to be drawn into conflict and originally they think its just her being privileged and thats def part of it but the more they find out abt it the more they realize what a tight fucking grip he has on her and the way that like. asami sneaking out once or twice a week is the Only thing she does for herself. and it really starts freaking them out how influential this billionaire is and all the information theyre getting from asami abt what a piece of shit he clearly is. and so that whole plot thing comes about and shows us how deeply embedded these “equalist” ideas are in conservative republic city politics and how much influence theyre actually having in policy making and law enforcement.
asami suffers in the aftermath of this like being forced to truly confront the harm her father is doing both to the city and to herself. and she ends up leaving home when this discovery really breaks. but bc of the deep corruption in govt and police sato isn’t really....dealt with? like this big story breaks and everyones like Oh, My God! Hiroshi Sato Is Funding An Illegal Paramilitary Group! and theres all kinds of inane political discourse about it and he’s arrested but he bails himself out immediately and his finances are examined but he maintains control over them and after a few weeks the gang (bc they Have become close among all this w much less interpersonal drama lol) has to admit that this news story hasnt done what they thought it was going to it hasn’t dealt the equalists a real hit its just given them a very high profile ally
and this is when things really start to ramp up in terms of action like up until now korra’s daily activities are mostly like hanging around in the city w her friends (which in part entails doing little avatar stuff that people dont feel comfortable going to police with, like Can you help me my ex husband wont pay child support or Please help i got robbed and i really needed that money for rent next month or Help my son keeps skipping school can you talk to him cuz im worried abt him being safe and doing well in school) and pro bending and airbending lessons (which i know ive neglected this part of the story in terms of her whole spiritual/physical conflict but it’s more of a subtle thing like it’s one of tenzin and korra’s more frequent arguments like tenzin says she needs to focus on spirituality and korra asks why she even needs to bc republic city is a sociopolitical problem not a spiritual one) but now the equalist threat seems to really be looming on every level of society like the storyline of equalists preventing pro bending matches happens here and everyones just at a total loss of what to do next. plus increasing and scary rhetoric about tenzin and his family that destroying the last airbenders is necessary to preserving the integrity of the united republic
and so theres the equalist takeover of the city. the people who are mostly resisting this are lin and ragtag group of people who have been resisting colonial rule for a long time (including suyin, who is part of a communist anti colonial community outside the city, because i said so and i think it would be fun), people who have been visiting her gym for years, members of her amateur pro bending league, plus asami and korra and tenzin. korra and tenzin have a sweet moment (bc they do genuinely care abt each other a lot even if their relationship has been marked w a lot of tension and arguing) where tenzin says like you know i think that ive lost focus on the kind of spirituality that might actually help you. korra says what do you mean? and tenzin kind of gestures to where theyre sitting with people buzzing around organizing to take care of innocents and civilians and to fight the equalists and he says this is a kind of spiritual too, isnt it?
and something something plot plot blah blah i havent decided on the details of the plot climax yet but that’s the climax of korra’s character development and what helps her connect w her spiritual side in order to protect the city: the realization that community is its own kind of spirituality. and it kind of represents the real development that i want her to have going from somebody who thinks that the world is divided into criminals and victims and she has to save the victims Into the kind of avatar who understands the people that she’s bound to serve. she becomes an avatar of the people!
and then happy ending lol korra and asami get together lin and tenzin reconcile after years of being at odds the show ends on a hopeful note that the inhabitants of republic city and the united republic as a whole Can move on from the scars of colonialism by reckoning w the remnants of fire nation colonial ideology and reparations to the earth kingdom people whose land this is and destruction of colonial systems that have maintained and enforced colonial violence all these years
how accessible do you think chi blocking as a skill was at the beginning of atla was as a skill? the only person we ever actually saw doing it was ty lee, and we dont learn where she learned it in the show
I don't think it was very common. If it were well-known, I imagine that it would be standard practice to teach it to all non-bender soldiers. I don't think Azula would have gone out of her way to track down Ty Lee if it weren't a unique skill. Obviously, once Ty Lee taught it to the Kyoshi Warriors, it became a very popular martial art and a tool of resistance by Korra's era. I've written before that the Kyoshi Warriors align themselves more with the masses, which includes their willingness to share their techniques with outsiders.
I'm honestly not sure where Ty Lee could have learned chi blocking. I do headcanon that fire cupping is a very popular treatment in the FN. Maybe Ty Lee befriended a fire cupper and was inspired to invent chi blocking after learning about the meridian system (chi pathways)? Maybe it also has something to do with Ty Lee's ability to see auras? That's my best guess.
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