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Borealis: A Zutara Story	By : jaded_priceless Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > AU/AR - Alternate Universe/Alternate Reality Views: 33524 -:- 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
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Chapter 159

The Ursa began moving when the sun came up the next morning. Zuko and Katara wanted to be certain the Fire Lord was gone so they ate breakfast in the mess hall. The crew members no longer seemed like they were walking on eggshells and Fan joked about the dead being resurrected twice in his lifetime. He never joked when Ozai was present. The two of them were able to relax enough to keep down the food they were eating.
When they returned to Zuko’s room, Ty Lee was inside waiting.
“Mai is a person and has feelings too,” she said angrily. She chi blocked Zuko, but Katara drew water in from the porthole and froze her when the acrobat turned towards her.
“I’m also a person and have feelings. If Mai does not want me to say rude things to her she should not say rude things to me first,” Katara argued. She thawed Ty Lee’s legs and gave her a push toward the door, “Now leave.”
Ty Lee stumbled out of the door and headed for the showers to melt the ice covering her arms and torso. Mai’s aura was a mess, but it still wasn’t as muddled as theirs. She wondered if she’d been too hard on Zuko; she’d managed to strike him several times and by Mai’s own admission he’d done nothing. Katara and Ozai were the ones who attacked her. She dried off and put on one of the large robes over her clothes and returned to her room. Doing nothing was worthy of punishment. She was his fiancée, Zuko should have defended her.
Mai was still lying in her bed where she’d left her and Mu was gently reminding her that she had caused many of the problems she was now having with Zuko. She didn’t keep in touch with him when he was banished even though he wrote to her frequently. When he did return she didn’t try to get to know the new him but instead made assumptions about his behavior based on how he was when he was thirteen.
Ty Lee listened, not once did he bring up that Mai didn’t place enough faith in him to make their relationship official and truly bond with him. “Wow, Mu, I’m surprised. You give really good advice. I thought all guys thought about sex, especially the ones our age. I’ll have tell Quanli that you aren’t as big a pervert as I thought since you haven’t blamed Mai for not sleeping with him. I even told her she wouldn’t be so miserable if she’d trusted Zuko and believed him when he said he was virgin and taken his first when he offered it to her.”
Mu looked at his cousin. She had asked him to ask a proxy on her behalf but at the time he thought it was simply a tactic to save face not a significant revelation. “You refused his first sowing? You refused your fiancé’s first sowing? You refused your fiancé, the crown prince’s, first sowing?”
“So the Waterbender…?” he asked finally realizing that Katara was in fact Zuko’s first woman and that Mai’s request for proxy was legitimate and not a mere ploy as he suspected. It certainly explained why Zuko had been almost as angry as the Waterbender.
“Thanks a lot, Ty Lee. I thought I could trust you,” Mai huffed as she rose from the bed and stomped towards the door.
“Mai I’m sorry, I thought he knew since you asked him to petition to use Katara as your proxy,” Ty Lee said quietly.
“No, I did not,” Mu answered for her. “I thought it was some trick to save face. There wasn’t a ceremony so no one really knows if they slept together. Most people assume they have. I thought she was pretending to be a virgin so people wouldn’t think he fucked another woman because he was tired of fucking her. No wonder he’s so enchanted with Katara. She is actually a nice person and she’s the only woman he’s been with.”
Mu looked at cousin, “Mai, do not take this the wrong way. I speak from experience when I say if you want him back everything about you will have to change. Forget that crap Aunt Thanh and Aunt Su Ying taught you about being the perfect woman. No man wants a perfect woman. They want a woman who is comfortable being themselves around them and is willing to show them their fears and imperfections.
“Be more like the person you were when you were younger. You were more fun to be around back then. I’m sure he’ll come around” Mu said encouragingly.
Mu’s words had unintentionally echoed what Katara had said about her upbringing. Mai turned on him viciously, “Of course you wouldn’t know anything about living up to your potential. Your mother gave up marrying one of the most powerful men in our country to marry some dragon moose herder whose family earned their title because they stole their master’s livestock to provide mounts for Kozulon’s rebellion.”
“You are even more foolish than she is if you think I’m going to give up the title of Fire Lady for something as quaint as Sunshine. At least Quanli knew she didn’t have much chance for a strategic marriage when she agreed to become the second son of a lesser lord’s Sunbeam,” Mai finished insulting both Mu’s wife and mother in one breath.
“I know you are unhappy but that is no reason to insult my sister or our situation. Quanli has always liked you Mai and treated you as part of our family,” Ty Lee said angrily jumping in.
“I know Meili’s marriage is considered a good one since she is the third of seven daughters and she managed to snag the firstborn son of a noble but she, Quanli and Mu’s mother are luckier than we’ll ever be. They and their husbands were in love with each other before they got married,” the acrobat continued with tears running down her face.
“Why are you crying?” Mai asked harshly. “You may be your betrothed’s third wife but the other two are dead. Your children will have half-siblings but they are all much older. They received their share of his estate when they were married. The considerable fortune he is currently amassing will be given only to your children. You don’t have to worry about him coming to your bed from another’s. Or what gifts and titles will taken from your children and given to a bunch of little half-breed bastards he got on his water savage whore.”
Mu draped his arm over his sister-in-law’s shoulders. He knew the reason Ty Lee was crying had nothing to do with what her fiancé could give her and her children but lie solely with the man himself. He consoled her as he escorted her from Mai’s room, “Don’t let her upset you Ty Lee.
Mai clearly has a different view of the world than the rest of us. She will never understand what we are trying to tell her. Just as she will never understand why Zuko loves Lady Katara and will never want her. Like her mother and Aunt Su Ying, Mai is a selfish bitch who thinks only of herself and her station. She foolishly thinks happiness has monetary value. By the time she is even capable of understanding even a tiny iota of what we are telling her she will be lucky to be trapped in a loveless marriage with a man who doesn’t want her.”
Ty Lee looked over Mu’s shoulder at her friend and his cousin. They had all been happy this summer at Mu and Quanli’s wedding. Mai had been Zuko’s date. Afterwards Mai confessed she spent most of it wondering if she would look as beautiful in her wedding gown and if the two of them would be so deliriously happy.
It had only been a few short months but Zuko, Mai and Azula had changed since then. Ty Lee turned forward wondering if she ever knew any of them. That night when she snuck Sokka in her room she realized the same was true of herself.
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Borealis: A Zutara Story