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Borealis: A Zutara Story	By : jaded_priceless Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > AU/AR - Alternate Universe/Alternate Reality Views: 34026 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 4
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, Avatar: The Legend of Korra, any historical figures or events, or easily recognizable persons, places or things. I make no profit from this work of fanfiction

Chapter List
- 159
- 160
- 161
Chapter 157
Warnings: Mention of Minor 1 and Minor 2 rape.
Azula sat up and backed away from the holes in the wall slowly. Her father had told Zuko to look after her. He had never told Zuko to look after her. It was always her he told to look after him. She tiptoed silently to the nursemaid’s chamber and then used the back passage to get back to her own room. She’d been sent there after being chastised for damaging the Ursa.
She was sitting on her bed seething over what her father told Zuko when he entered.
“Azula my child.”
She looked up at him, silently acknowledging his presence.
He was looking at her with disappointment. It was a far worse expression than the anger he’d shown her earlier. Anger expressed hope in your ability to meet expectation that were not met; disappointment meant your abilities were lacking and all hope was lost. Azula shook with anger. Tears slowly began to sting her eyes from the force of holding it in.
~*~*~
Ozai’s head tilted slightly in confusion, Azula was trembling and on the verge the tears. Surely she wasn’t that upset from being scolded? He yelled at Zuko and threatened his life rather frequently but he’d never seemed so distressed about it; frightened, yes, but not distressed. He stared at her and to his surprise Azula began to blink rapidly under his gaze. He wagered her the tears she were fighting back would fall if he were to utter a cross word at her.
Perhaps he had done her a great disservice by putting so much faith in her?
Ursa had warned him of the dangers of showing her the affection fathers normally reserved for sons. Daughters were different; they were fragile. The strength they held within was not for their own use; it was to be used to for the benefit of their children and husbands. At conception all children were given enough of their parent’s strength to get them through childhood but after a decade the strength of the opposite gender parent began to wane. It dissipated at a slow and steady rate until the onset of puberty; then it hastened exponentially as the spirit their same gender parent placed inside them kicked into high gear.
Even now, he could see how Ursa’s spirit had begun to shape Azula’s feminine form. His daughter looked just like her mother had at fourteen. Aside from her smile and facial expressions, he could see very little of himself physically. But there were only trace amounts of a father inside most girls by the time they experienced their first menses. It was gone by the second and their own strength had began to emerge by their third. All traces of their mother’s spirit was gone by the seventh cycle and the strength inside was the result of their own life-force.
A girl’s spirit peaked after 12 cycles then it began to wane. It continued to slowly dissipate with each passing cycle unless it was reinforced by the childhood innocence shed at the boy’s first sowing.
He had not arranged a marriage for her because she, like him, contained the blood of the dragon and spirit of the phoenix. He wished for her to have the opportunity for her heart to hear the phoenix calling for it and for the dragon inside of her to rise up and claim it as he and Ursa had done. He knew only one way of selecting a man and as Ursa had frequently told him, “The admirable qualities of a good soldier are not necessarily the traits one desires in husband.” He’d most likely have done a poorly for her as his father had done for Zuko.
Ozai also did not believe in forced mating just as a child’s strength was beginning to emerge. Yes, it bonded a girl to a male and allowed her to claim a portion of his life-force but it also irrevocably changed their futures. It broke their forming spirits. Between the age of ten and fourteen the part of a girl’s life-force which fed upon her father’s spirit was dying of starvation. Like all starving things if deprived long enough it began to eat away at itself. That starvation and inner hunger forced a girl’s spirit to grow stronger to support itself as a matter of survival.
If that critical self-emergence never took place a competent, self-fulfilled woman never formed.
Introducing another life-force during the starvation period crippled those bright and brilliant girls. Instead of drawing strength internally they latched onto boy whose semen had filled her. Their starving spirit clung to his and twisted around it sucking out all of his childless weakness and impulses including the ability to form a lasting attachment and love completely without reservation.
Or rather those things were shed as a matter of self preservation as the boy’s spirit felt his own life being threatened. It was normal for boys to lose the overly emotional spirits of their mothers as they transitioned into men. But the stages of their transitions were different. It took longer for a father’s spirit to die within his son as it supported the stage of rapid physical growth. Without the additional support a boy would be killed by the constant generation and depletion of life as his body began making and discarding semen. A boy’s spirit did not truly become a man until Agni strolled a thousand times across the world after his first true emission.
At sixteen Zuko had now just reached the age of manhood. The newly awakened strength inside him was the only explanation as to how quickly and easily he’d impregnated the Waterbender. Each time he saw Zuko, he still blamed himself for allowing Iroh to bring Zuko into the war chamber knowing he had not completed his first sowing. Physically he was of size but the physician monitoring his emissions stated he was still a child. As much as he hated tying his son to Mai a part of him had been eager for his son to get rid of his childishness.
It pained him that Zuko had his shape and form, but was nothing like him. The firstborn son whose birth he’d eagerly awaited had belonged to Ursa from the moment he threatened to take his wife away from him. Zuko had taken his wife away from him. Ursa had forsaken him and all she believed in for Zuko and still remained with him. Zuko stood up and yelled at his guest because the spirit of his mother was screaming inside him. He got down on his knees and begged for mercy because Ursa always shed tears when she was ready to make up after fighting.
He burned his son, Ursa’s son, to prove that Zuko also came from him. The portion of his spirit that resided in his son was supposed to knock away his hand, fight his fire with fire of his own, scream, yell, hit, do something other than cry and beg for forgiveness. Ursa was gone but the spirit she left behind continued to weaken their son and mock him. He’d forgotten Zuko was at the stage where the spirit inside himself was slowly emerging. He too had once been afraid of his father, but that changed after sharing Ursa’s spirit; at twelve and fourteen they had laid head to foot and tasted of each other.
The equal wife allowed them to reinforce each other’s life force while allowing their own spirits to emerge. He would forever be grateful to Chu-hua for leaving the scrolls meant only for the clan heiress where he and Ursa could find them. They both owed their independent spirits and adult lives to her. He knew what would have happened if Iroh and his father had not walked in to see Ursa’s head between his legs while his was also between hers. The scar on Zuko’s face embodied what happened when a boy did not let go of his mother but the scar on his brother’s soul was proof of what happened when a boy’s fledgling spirit was destroyed by starving girl’s.
Ozai was certain Iroh had loved Tenko. He grew a full foot taller watching his older brother doggedly pursue her. Her lineage made her the perfect Fire Lady candidate. She was counted number one among the dragonflies before birth and listed as eldest daughter of Lord and Lady Asami. However, Tenko, unlike the other women slated as potential Fire Lady, did not want the position. She had been raised to cater to the crown prince. She was forced to take lessons on his likes and dislikes while her younger brothers were playing. She resented Iroh for stealing her childhood and often ignored his older brother to play with him. She regretted not being born a third daughter. Ladies in that situation often had more freedom than their older more advantageously tied siblings.
As the years passed Iroh’s persistence eventually won her over and she fell in love with him. She consented to become his bride not knowing the lengths Azulon had taken to ruin Iroh for any one woman. His first sowing had been parceled out among three girls - virgins Azulon had personally selected from peasantry for their strength. Their fathers had each made a name for themselves in the military without the benefit of nepotism and achieved high ranking based solely upon merit.
The girls had been given to Iroh when they were on the cusp of the starvation period. Their father’s strength was surging one final time to fuel their emerging life-forces and Azulon ensured Iroh was in position to steal all of it. They had been placed in bunk beds specially crafted so Iroh could easily access their parts by bending his knees or standing. Azulon remained in the room as an active participant. He placed his hands upon the twelve year old’s back and pushed Iroh forward to ensure he did not waiver as the girl’s screamed beneath him. As the aphrodisiacs given to Iroh took effect, Azulon continued his fatherly duty by grabbing Iroh’s hips and guiding his intoxicated son from one hole to another ensuring Iroh did not tie himself too strongly to either of them.
His brother flourished while those little girls chosen for their test scores and potential languished. After that first horrible morning they remained caged in the palace and were only women allowed to ease Iroh’s lust during his first three years of manhood. Or rather two of them were; the third was quietly replaced by a different virgin after one of the original three died during labor. She was eleven and five months pregnant. Iroh never noticed she had been replaced with her younger sister. Azulon made sure to keep Iroh away from them unless they were providing services. There was never any conversation, only sex.
Ozai had learned the gruesome details of Iroh’s first sowing and the state of his conquests while snooping through his father’s things. He was eleven. The underside of his penis still bore the knife marks from where he threatened to cut it off if they tried to break his attachment to Ursa by doing what was done to Iroh to him. Fifty-four years later those three girls whose early childhood exploits were just as impressive as Azula’s remained in the palace.
They shared a wing with Li and Lo. Unlike the lively older twins who’d been bonded to Azulon at the best age to preserve their spirit these poor girls were living corpses content to sip tea, knit, sit quietly in the gardens while reading. They had lost all interest in life after their spirits were stolen. It was rumored two of them had stopped Firebending. The third used her gift to warm her tea. Those once promising and vivacious girls were content to remain broken housecats licking and being licked by stronger more predatory women.

Ozai did not want their miserable lives for his daughter nor for her to lead the solitary lives forced upon Li and Lo as a chosen protector. Just as he wished Zuko would find a woman who made him as happy as Ursa made him, he wished his daughter would find a man who loved her as dearly as he loved her mother. He wished for both of his children to experience the joys of a true love bond.
There had been a few bold nobles who’d dare to slyly inquire about her hand but none had been willing to prove themselves. They cowered at the prospect of facing her in a battle to prove their seriousness about courting her. He’d cut off their penises for thinking his daughter would be so easily bed, their tongues for insulting him with the insincere request for her hand, and burned away their spines for daring to approach him when they were not truly men.
That was three years ago as she was approaching her last years in the Academy and the standard age for betrothal ceremonies. Now none dared to make a single inquiry about Azula. There weren’t even rumors. He’d heard stories about the Avatar’s bison having a love affair with his flying lemur, Iroh making love to the dying moon, and his son leaving home at thirteen because he’d dreamed about the Waterbender but not one single whisper that a boy had taken interest in his daughter.
It was his fault. His love as a father had placed his daughter in a difficult position. Azula had no romantic interests, no marriage prospects, female in appearance and close to the age for marriage but thanks to his doting possessed no traits of a woman. Her body was now fueled by its own life force and if left unchecked he feared the duality of the phoenix would take over. Dragons could spend centuries searching for the right partner but a phoenix was only given two.
The first hundred years was spent as its born gender. If no mate was found during the first century it began the painful physical transformation to the opposite gender. It normally found a mate during the second century of its life. The cry for love was enhanced by the mourning of their true form and lost parts. If no mate was found, the loneliness and grief caused its heart to explode.
Humans born from the union of those legendary creatures also shared their infinite need for love but not their extraordinary life-spans or physical ability to transform; their transformations were spiritual. It had already struck once in the royal family. He did not wish for Azula to be next.
Prince Toshi was supposedly cursed with impotence by this stepmother. His father presented him with a new woman each day hoping to cure his defect. Ozai did not believe in curses but he did believe a spurned wife would tamper with child of a rival who was more likely than her own to inherit; plying him with saltpeter would preserve his life and draw all suspicion away from her while making him unsuitable as heir. In spite of his inability to properly bond with a woman the desire for love was strong inside Toshi.
It caused an international incident when twenty-five year old Toshi’s dead dragon sprang to life upon seeing, Chiyo, the youngest son of an Earth Kingdom noble during treaty negotiations. He ejaculated as the queen of the country hosting the negotiations attempted to make a formal introduction. The only way to salvage the situation was to admit he was not reacting to their beautiful hostess but to the handsome young man she’d waved over. Toshi and Chiyo were the youngest members of each delegation and she hoped the two of them would get along. A friendship between the Fire Lord’s son and the Earth King’s favorite great-nephew would mean there would be a chance for lasting peace in the future.
Her plan worked better than expected, Chiyo was equally enamored. After the first negotiations failed Chiyo ran away from the battlefield to be with him. His and Toshi’s disappearance led to a second set of negotiations. Their marriage solidified the fragile peace between formed between the Fire Lord and his father-in-law the Earth King. Toshi was the second born son of the Fire Lord and his mother was reason the two nations had been fighting for three decades. She had been named Fire Lady instead of the Fire Lord’s first wife, Princess Miyuki of the Earth Kingdom, daughter of King Kuei Chin, the first man to declare himself Earth King.
Kuei Chin happily agreed to the marriage. A union between men yielded no offspring so it meant his grandson would inherit the throne and he’d be one step closer to world domination. Luckily Chiyo understood the need for Toshi to have a blood heir. He invited the most agreeable and least politically connected of Toshi’s wives to share their bed. Toshi became a father and eligible to inherit a year after they were married. Their marriage was still regarded as one of the most loving and successful among the Fire Nation monarchy.
Azula was approaching the age he could no longer dismiss the way certain families pushed their reluctant daughters toward her during balls and their subsequent disappearances as friendship. He could no longer pretend his household possessed substandard pillows and their incessant need for fluffing was the reason servant girls entered and exited his daughter’s room all hours of the night. Azula was becoming like Toshi. Everything needed balance, yin and yang, male and female. If there was no infusion of the life force from the opposite sex to take the place of the loss influence of a parent a soul would begin to change. In its desperation to regain the lost harmonious balance once more its gender identity and desires began to shift to create its own.
But Azula was a daughter not a son, she had to give birth in a sanctioned marriage if she were to meet the heir requirement to become Fire Lord. Her husband had to come to her as a virgin and marry into their family. Most of the suitable boys her age were already betrothed or cowards. He also knew better than to think she would utter a vow promising to give up a portion of her godhead to her husband prior to the final portion of the marriage ceremony or temporary relinquish the crown during pregnancy.
Just as she ignored his warnings about Zuko, he had ignored Ursa’s similar warnings about Zuko. His wife had often said a mother knows her children and it frightened him that her prediction about Azula could be just as true as the words she’s spoken about Zuko.
Azula watched the expressions play across her father’s face and became angrier the longer he stared at her without speaking. She choked on fumes as her ire attempted to display itself in a puff of smoke. She knew what her father did to children unable to control themselves and did not want him to mar her beautiful face.
Azula’s cough pulled Ozai away from his concerned thoughts about her future. He placed a hand on his daughter’s shoulder and spoke, “I’ve asked your brother and Chu-hua to look after you. You’re at a delicate age for a young lady and I fear you’ve remained too long under Li and Lo’s tutelage. They were sworn to Father as protectors and sacrificed their lives as women to serve him. Chu-hua will continue your lessons. She is far more suited to teach you the things all proper young women must learn. Listen well to her; it is rare for a woman to maintain a husband and family while holding on to her military career.”
Azula stiffened and her mouth fell open in shock. He had the nerve to tell her to listen to Zuko to her face?
Ozai smiled and kissed her forehead, “Azula you are fourteen. All of your friends are engaged. Surely you must have thoughts of boys? It’s only natural. Look at Katara, as much as she claims to hate your brother her instincts as a woman have taken over and she enjoys bedding him. You needn’t listen to their activities and imagine what being held must be like. There is no shame in allowing yourself to become a woman, finding a husband and learning for yourself. Your mother and I also spoke of receiving grandchildren from you.”
Ozai patted Azula’s back when she began coughing then pulled her into an embrace, “Fare well my daughter. Listen to your cousin and your older brother.”

Ozai spoke to Chu-hua one final time giving her instructions about Azula and drafting a royal decree to Sokka then just as suddenly as he arrived the Fire Lord left.

Author’s Note: I know Ozai seems a little dense in this chapter but he has never seen Azula truly angry. His little princess always smiles or smirks when she’s around him.
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Borealis: A Zutara Story