"You mean like the old story about the ama, the paua shell divers..."
"Comb out my strands, and mend what you have done, and never trespass again," Langxue quoted the old spirit-tale. "Defy me, and the sea itself will rise and strangle you. But keep to your bargain, little diver-girl, and I shall give you strength to match your courage, and the power to brave the dark waters." He shrugged. "That's what yāorén are. We can see the spirits. We touch them. But we're divers holding our breath. We've only got so much air."
Saoluan flinched, remembering the rest of the story. It wasn't a happy tale, even if it had a good ending. "But you can't leave the sea, either. And everything tastes like salt."
Quote by Vathara, Chapter 74 of Embers
Anyone know which story they're referring to? It reminds me of something but I don't really know and it's driving me nuts!
Been trying to read this famous/infamous Avatar fanfic Embers, and this part of one of the author's notes finally got me to say "fuck it" and drop the fic.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
On Corellia, Kayaba Akihiko has just released Old Republic Online... a few months before Geonosis.
Three years later, ORO is cleared.
And that's when things get dangerous....
Do you ever have a scene from fanfiction that stays with you for literally years, and you dream of writing anything even close to that level of viscerally compelling?
Because it's been 10 years and I still think about the scene in Vathara's "Embers" where Zuko waterbends for the first time.
Special thanks to @sayornispress for letting me use their typeset to complete these binds for the 4th annual @renegadepublishing exchange! Thanks to the mods and my giftee for their patience while I struggled lol 🙈
I hope my giftee loves them as much as I loved making them. I'm glad they arrive at their forever home.
This is what the gift economy of Fandom is meant to be!
I kinda didn't understand what over 700,000 words meant when I first decided to bind this monster of a fic. But I was excited to learn to round books and do these 2 bookcloth cover designs. I also came in possession of a very large and diverse variety of heat reactive foils... so here we are lol. I think each book from printing to completion took me 20ish hours?
Below the line, you will find more information regarding these binds
Embers book 1
This puppy was so complicated for me to complete that I made it twice. The first one was so horribly made that I refused to show it to anyone.
Made using Colibri Golden bookclothfor the cover with green foil. The back was done using Duo Herb Garden with gold foil, which was a yellowish undertone. The endpapers are Thai Banana Green from ASW. I used warm white 28lbs paper from chirch paper to print, linen thread, and remie bands, and I made the endbands using Herb Garden and 4mm twig core.
It's about 700 pages and 1 1/4 thick
Embers book 2
I kinda loved this one the most. This was the second book made, so it has a lot of the flaws the first version of book 1 had, but I was happy enough with what I accomplished with it and the construction of the book was solid.
Made using Colibri Pearl bookcloth with silver, black, and metalic blue foil for the front, the back was done using Duo Polar from Australia with silver foil. the endpapers are Thai Banan Blue from ASW. I used the same warm white 28lb paper from church paper, linen thread, and rembie bands, and the endbands were done using polar bookcloth and 4mm twig core.
700 pages, 1 1/4 thickness. I'm very proud that the dimensions of all the books are the same 💙
Embers book 3
This one is my all-time favorite, and I blame it on the sky bison on the cover. I can't help it. They are my favorite creatures on the whole show!
The cover was made using vintage Colibri Copper (some company had rolls of these colors from years ago, and they had been discontinued in, I believe in 2010) using gold foil. The back is Duo Sunshine, and I used metalic orange foil. The end papers are Thai Mango Mustard from ASW. I used white warm 28lb paper, linen thread, rembie bands, and 4mm twig with sunshine cloth for the endbands.
It's a bit under 700 pages, but still 1 1/4 thick.
And finally...
Embers book 4
When I completed this one, I almost cried 🤣. I loved working on these binds, but I was so happy to finally be done.
I used vintage Colibri Uran with metalic red foil for the front and Duo Evening Red with black foil for the back. The endpapers were done using Thai Banana True Red from ASW. I used the same warm white 28lb paper, linen thread, and rembie bands, and the endbands were made using Evening Red with 4mm twig core.
About 650 pages yet still 1 1/4 thickness.
Funfact: These 4 books weigh 12 lbs together 🤣🙈
If you would like to learn how to bookbind consider joining Renegade!!!
More than one person has recommended me this fic called Embers because of my post about wanting Teo and crew to become airbenders, so now I’m gonna read it! I started this fic when i was a kid, but i never finished it, cuz it was still being updated at that time and yknow, i was 12 lmao. Im super interested to see if i understand it better, i remember it being hard for my 12 yr old brain to follow, but now im 29 so. Hopefully my reading skills have improved. My question is, should i do a liveblog of this fic? Obviously i am now a liveblogger, so this is my destiny.
