This was exceptionally well written. I'm rather shocked by the beginning that Piandao has, but there's this kind of beautiful irony in it, if such things exist. Even though he does excel, I still feel the poignancy of his rejection keenly, and the way you have him cross paths with his oblivious family is very intriguing. "As if young Zuko would ever look anywhere but his own lady now that he has her; he's too much like his uncle for anything less." I like how this shows his familiarity with Iroh, and the connection he has with all these people his family would be flattered to know. The relationship between Sokka and Piandao is really touching, a mixture of respect and affection that you get across very effectively. I actually can see how people might suppose Piandao and Sokka are related, and I can definitely see the irony (and almost hypocrisy) in Piando's Dad's perception on Sokka (especially because Sokka's father is incredibly proud of his son).

I really like the ending because I can't quite tell if Piandao is at peace with what happened to him or just moving on or what, but there's a definite sense of healing and unblemished joy in his relationship with Sokka. It's the kind of story I feel like perusing multiple times to see if I'm missing anything. Very well done.

Exceptionally short and sweet. :)

Wow, that was so powerful for something so short. Beautifully written. I always thought Piandao's backstory was amazing. He was never a bender, but such a formidable fighter anyway. Worth so much more than the average fire-bending son, for his skill and determination. So very awesome _

K

loved it.

AW! *U* Seeing their relationship like this is amazing! *U* Rock on! This is GORGEOUS! *U* The ending, especially, is BEAUTIFUL! *U* Rock on!

This was so sweet! I loved it. Very touching.

So, I was looking through your profile, and I kept seeing this fic, but I just scrolled past it. However, after a few times of re-reading the summary, I wanted to see what it was about.

Actually, at first, I thought that this was going to be a story about how Sokka's parents abandoned him, not Piandao's. But while it would be interesting to read about Sokka's parents abandoning him, Piandao's past is pretty much a blank, which allows for a lot of speculation.

Now, I must say that I loved this. I love fics like this, that explore the ideas of biological parents vs. people that actualy behaved like parents. I especially love to read about fics focusing on the father's relationship to his children, probably because my relationship with my own father isn't so great.

I read through this story's reviews before typing up mine, just in case someone picked up on something that I missed, then I could realize that I liked that as well. So, like someone else has said, I like that it was Piandao's own father who reminded him about the important bonds in his life.

So yeah, I liked this as well. I find that I like a lot of your fics, actually, and I'll probably be reviewing more of them in the future.

This is adorably bittersweet; I love seeing the world through the minors and the father-son relationship vs. the real paternal love is just awesome. :D

that's...

...

I loss at words. Good job. Though I don't think they would leave a child simply because he's not a bender. There's many non-bender in fire nation army.

I really liked this piece. It was sad, yet very sweet.

For want of something more creative to say... n'awwwwwwwwwww! That was so sweet!

What a great oneshot. It might be relatively short, but it's got an emotional punch to it that is rare to find on a site like this. :)

Personally, while I loved every part of this story, it was the life affirming nature of the ending, as Piando's father inadvertently reminded the swordsman about which bonds were really important to him, that I found particularly moving. _

Beautiful, sad and heartwarming. I love PiandaoSokka in fatherson relationship. It's ironic that Piandao's father is speaking about pride.

Ooh, I really liked this. I loved the past that you gave Piandao, and I think it's very sweet that Piandao sees Sokka as a son. Overall, fantastic one shot. :D

wow that was good! great short story

Ajj