Hello and welcome!
I’m glad you decided to check this page. I feel that my current story requires a bit of explanation, clarification and all-around clearing of the air before you dive right in.

So, what is "Fire Burns"? (You ask knowing full well that I will answer). It is an Avatar the last Airbender fic, as told from the third person limited perspective of Zuko. You will no doubt be pleased to hear that books 1-3 are DONE. Simply waiting in my good docs drive for final review (and possible re-writes should I decide they need them)

The first arc takes place pre-cannon. Hopefully, it sets the tone for the rest of the story. I think it does anyway. The rest of the story will follow along (roughly) with the events of Canon. There will be changes, but where appropriate I will try to stick to the script as much as possible. You might think of them, as I do, as echoes of the Canon.

The series is a “mash-up” or “fusion" between Avatar the last Airbender and a table-top RPG called “the legend of the five rings” or L5R. As one of these fandoms is a wee bit smaller than the other I will give a basic overview for the rest of you people.

First things first, if you like samurai movies and/or tabletop RPGs I highly recommend giving L5R a look. It is essentially a game world based on a highly romanticized view of medieval samurai culture. It is the “a knight’s tale” version of western European chivalry kind of romanticized. As such it is not intended to be an accurate historical interpretation of the times, more simply the flavor and inspired by it.

Correspondingly, this story, which you will hopefully read, is in turn inspired by L5R. I have made changes and alterations where appropriate and where I simply felt like it. The story is, for the most part, written so that people who have not played L5R can still appreciate it. You might get a bit more out of it if you have played the game (which again I cannot strongly recommend enough).

DEVIATIONS FROM STANDARD:

HEIGHTS: why on earth are the Gaang so short? Obviously, Toph and Aang are only 12 in canon but Zuko and Sokka are 16, right? I don’t know about you folk but I was only maybe an inch shorter than I am now (early 30s) at 16 (YMMV). Expect heights to be different, expect people to be taller and more adult.

BUSHIDO: Canon Avatar has a very Chinese/Japanese feel to it. This is obviously intentional and, in my opinion, very subtle and well done. THIS work has a much stronger Japanese influence, (hence why it is a mash-up with L5R) the Earth-Kingdom remains more Chinese in aspect and style, but the Fire-Nation is straight up Tokugawa Shogunate, Akira Kurasawa, Badass, movie Japan. Expect katanas, wakizashi and some light (very very light) uses of the Japanese language. No, I will not be using “san”,” sama” or” BAKA!” in this work. Please stop wincing like that.

SURNAMES: This one baffled me when I thought about it. Why is it that only Toph has a last name? (or in this story just a family name as it will be placed first in keeping with L5R flavor). What makes this amusing to me is that they obviously have knowledge of the idea of last names, as whenever the make a fake identity they give themselves surnames (Bonzu Pippinpaddleopsicopolis the Third & Wang Fire). In this story they ALL have surnames. You get a surname! And YOU get a surname! EVERYBODY GETS A SURNAME! These surnames are directly lifted from L5R and very relevant to status, politics and other mishegoss.

DARTH VADER: So, you may have noticed from my profile pic and my screen name that I am a bit of a Star Wars nerd. That being said one of the main things I tried to focus on in this story is morality. The story is from Zuko’s perspective, and in the beginning of the story, Zuko IS the villain. I tried to make that clear throughout. Zuko is still the villain, he is the son of a classical super-villain, from a LONG line of villains. To be fair most of those villains will be the snark and sarcasm kind of villain, less “the Joker” more “Dr. Doom.” Classy but still very much NOT concerned with what other people think of them. That being said Zuko has strong undertones (and a few overt OVERtones) of Darth Vader. It just clicked for me, the scar, the failure to capture those pesky rebels, all of it. I regret nothing.

ZUTARA: You will note that first book does not HAVE the “Zuko/Katara” tag in relationships. That’s because she’s not IN this one. But if you’re a devout Kataager I felt I should warn you. This IS a Zutara work, featuring (what I hope) is a decently slow burn. Again, I regret nothing.

And now the obligatory disclaimer section!

I own nothing, even my car is a lease. I most certainly do NOT own nickelodeon or alderac entertainment group (who own Avatar and L5R respectively). This is a non-profit fan-based fanfic, if you paid for this well A) I’m flattered and B) you got ripped off cause I ain’t seen a dime of it.