Goodness...

You know, this was my first story on that I read about... 4 years ago? And it has always been my favorite. I never allowed myself to read until thanksgiving every year. I am just about to read it again and I know that I will cry, laugh, and smile all over again. This story makes me feel all warm with the way you express the love between Zuko and Katara. You are an amazing writer and it surprises we everytime I look at the number of reviews. You deserve at least 12,0.

Thank you for writing this story,

Firegirl25

I'm squealing in ecstasy. I loved the way you ended it. :D

i adore this story! yo'ure such an excellent writer!

This was a amazing fanfic! I loved it! I would say it is one of the best I have read. And I have read a lot.

aw I loved it. And a pool full of pudding??

that was beautiful. All of it, absolutely perfect.

Constructive criticism for you time! Lucky you! Ahah. Actually, I love your fic and went to reread it and after chapter one went hmm... Sure, there's eight hundred ninety nine reviews (this'll be nine hundred! Whoopee!) and it's been completed for years, but everybody appreciates nice, solid reviews that poke holes and hurt like picking a scab but you're usually grateful for.

At least, I hope you will be.

Acting like I've not read this four times, so this is chapter one. First things first, we look at it broadly. I have to say that the first person POV is a tad awkward. I don’t know if it was your first time puttering with it or not, but there is a bit of dissonance between Katara’s thoughts, her actions, and her thoughts about actions. Overall I think it’s pretty good, if a bit simple, but that keeps it to Katara’s level of understanding in a way.

Second, check your groupings. I noticed you wrote down "firenation troops." It's good to remember where they're coming from. They are the Fire Nation. Note the space, sorry for the sarcasm. So it would, by default, be Fire Nation troops. Even if the actual characters do start to slur it together when talking, good grammar makes a great fic. This also extends to proper punctuation, which I notice that you need to watch between your dialogues. Most of the time it’s fine, if a bit awkward with the mere fact that you wrote it in first person, but it needs to be kept up. If it looks wrong or awkward, it probably is. Change it.

Next thing I noticed was a bit stupid. I thought to myself: Man Katara, you tripped over a tree root again? And it revealed a vice of yours, because I’m sure there are a lot of different ways to trip while running in a forest than a tree root. Personally, I’ve never seen more than one tree root sticking out of the ground within one hundred feet of another, but I could and probably am very wrong. I understand that the first time she tripped she had covered her face from branches, but the second time was an unexpected act of doom? Ah yeah. Plot hole. Very, very minor though, and only noticed because I’m nitpicking. You could have done something else though, be more creative. She’s in a forest. Why not have her foot land on some of those god awful lychee nuts that’re famous in the Avatar world for their love/hate relationship with Sokka? What about twisting her ankle, that way there would be a legit reason for her to not move on, added to the exhaustion? She could have lost her balance trying to dodge a tree or stray fireball, or even gotten hit somewhere by said fireball. Personally, I think I like lychee nut of doom, but that’s just me.

Next, because you mentioned slamming Zuko into an Oak tree, that’s what my mind latches onto. I see the breed and come to the conclusion that the other tree, the burning one, must be Oak as well. I’m glad you didn’t name the burning tree, but I’d have preferred it if you did, or didn’t name the Oak.

Oak trees are survivors, Burr Oak especially. In the wild, they would grow on the edge of prairies and act as barrier between the forest and grasses. When the grasslands inevitably catch on fire during the summer heat flares, the oak trees are able to withstand the waves of fire and survive. They block the way further into the forest, and so the fires don’t spread very far. Incidentally, the smaller fauna that try to take up sunlight around the Oak die off, unable to withstand the heat. That’s why most Oak trees have what seems like a clearing of their own. The fact that they have all that room to expand, their branches extend out from the trunk, canopy like. You’ll see it more often in older trees, because after industrialization everywhere there was less killing of the overcrowding trees, so newer ones tend to grow straight up.

I imagine that the Fire Nation would be chock full of Oak trees for that reason. They would probably subconsciously (or consciously in the name of researchers and the informed) be continuing the survival of the species.

Uh, lecture aside, my mind hopped to Oak trees, and with everything I knew about them I found it very improbable. I mentioned that I was glad you didn’t mention which tree fell, and that’s because it would never be an Oak. But by not naming the tree type, or even saying not an Oak tree (it could be a Lychee tree for all I care).

Beautiful. Just beautiful. I don't know if there's anything else I can say about the story. The plot, the realistic character traits, the ocs, everything was just perfect. This is one of the best fics I've ever read before. I just loved your story.

...sniffle...it's so beautiful!

*Melts into puddle of romantic goo* This story was one of the best I have ever read. EVER!! I was in tears when I finished reading this! This is the way that Avatar should have ended, to be completely honest. I really hated how Zuko ended up with Mai. Blech.

I also think that you could have given some of your chapters more bulk by combining some of them. The fic had a nice flow, and it was very believeable. This must have took some serious devotion to complete!

Great job! Keep on writing!!

I loved it!. I never like those fics when Katara gets kidnapped, but i never could think of some thing that would bring them together in the beginning of season 2. Your plot worked perfectly! I think you captured all of the characters very well. I like that you uncovered the sensitive side of Zuko. I hope you continue writing. Rock on.

I absolutely adore this story! Thank you for writing such a wonderful piece. ~heflo

Although this is a few years late, I just read it and it's probably one of my favorite stories I've ever read.

Wow this was so amazingly good. I also find it incredible that you wrote this in a little less than two months. Thats like, wow. Great job. I really enjoyed this a lot!

Their arguing reminds me of Ranma and Akane from Ranma 1/2, the dude is to prideful to admit he cares for his girl...