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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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- 192
Chapter 188
Once the commotion had died down, Mu stayed with Katara while Zuko and Zhao 1 went out to drown their guilt in alcohol under 2’s dubious supervision. He wasn’t sure which of them had drawn the unlucky straw. Zhao 2 had to keep the talkative and highly suggestible drunk from spilling state secrets and the philosophical drunk from advising him while he had to comfort someone adamantly denying their true feelings or acknowledging a genuine reason to be upset. He offered Katara alcohol to help calm her nerves when that failed he offered her a pain pill and tranquilizer which she also refused even though she was wound more tightly than a Chihuahua-rattlesnake.
“This is why I prefer animals,” Mu grumbled. He heard a slight crinkling and his lips turned up slightly as an idea formed. Katara was too busy crying to notice him slyly fingering the small packet of herbs in his pocket. He asked a question he knew the woman who was kind and generally soft-hearted to anyone other than Zuko wouldn’t refuse, “Miss Katara, do you mind following me to check on the animals?”
He had placed the herbs in his pocket intending to use them to work on the abused and neglected animals from the other division. It was a win-win opportunity. She could discretely heal them as she’d been doing the bison while receiving a much needed calming agent. Mu led Katara to a different part of the stables than where she’d met Sokka. He lit dried leaves in a small censure then used an oar like stick to set in a stone stove built in the middle of raised moats that functioned as troughs. Mu explained, “These animals are skittish and mistrustful. I need to burn some herbs to calm them.”

Mu walked back outside searched for an herb he saw earlier. He snuck in and added a small twig knowing it would not be enough to affect the animals then went back outdoors. When he returned all that remained were ashes but the air was still heavy with the pungent aroma. Katara was staring at a reflection of the moon in the water trough.
Mu remained in the doorway giving her a bit of privacy while he contemplated if it was the affect of the herbs or she was lost in thought over the loss Zhao 1 had clumsily mentioned. Seeing her take a deep breath and smile after inhaling the often unappreciated scent of animals and manure he guessed it was the former. “Miss Katara, they are ready for treatment, do you think you could help me? I am afraid some of them might not survive otherwise.”
Katara’s mood continued to visibly improve as she worked on the abused and neglected animals. She saw a camelephant whose coloring reminded her of Appa so she insisted on climbing into its stall and hugging it after she repaired its damaged foot. After every animal had been tended to Katara went back to the camelephant stall. It fell asleep while Katara was brushing its hair and Mu was grateful for the excuse to get her out of the barn. Their trip back to the hotel was interrupted by Fan. He had made a new riceball recipe and was looking for someone to test the stinkweed, offal and trimming, combination before teaching it to the other cooks. This was not an area in which food would plentiful or could anything be wasted. While Mu was a proponent of using the whole animal Fan’s newest creation frightened him - the old cook already used the majority of the animal so he didn’t want to think of what extra parts he had put in.
Katara took a bite of one then ran to the garden. They followed and Mu watched her pick a leaf from a plant he didn’t recognize. She returned to their side, happily munching away, after wrapping her riceball in one of the leaves. She had two leaves in her hand. She stuffed her riceball in her mouth then took another riceball from Fan and wrapped it in the leaf. She gave wrapped a second and gave it to Kentarou before taking hers out of her mouth and mumbling, “Try it.”
Fan slapped himself after biting it; in his excitement he mixed his words between his normal tone and the exaggerated drawl he normally used, “Colewort! Why ain’t I think of that? The bitter spiciness complements the rice and meat so I won’t have to use as many herbs. It is just as plentiful as the stinkweed and I’m certain other types mustard could be grown here as well since they’re all in the same family.”
“Kentaa-ro?” Fan sing-songed his husband’s name and smiled sweetly for confirmation. He knew what to do with edible seeds and grown plants but his better half knew far more about what grew where and the whole seed to plant transformation.
The Earth Kingdom man rolled his eyes, “Yes dear, it can be done.”
“Aww,” Katara cooed as the old cook rose to his tip toes to kiss the younger man’s cheek.
He winked at Katara and pointed at Kentaro, “Don’t tell anybody but he is the true secret behind my fabulous cooking. He’s the reason my hash tasted far better than anyone else’s smashed slop. Here I was thinkin’ my mam was crazy for tellin’ my sisters a good man that loved you was all you needed to be good cook.”
Katara laughed, “Mom and Gran-Gran always said if they didn’t love Dad and Sokka they’d have to do a whole lot less cooking. Sokka’s at a point I think he eats more than Dad does and the last time I saw Dad he ate a lot! I could fit inside that fish and but the two of them gobbled it up without help. I’m just glad we had more than one.”
She smiled sadly, “I miss my Daddy. I want him to hurry up and find us so we can go back home to Gran-Gran. She’d tell us were too skinny then make sea prunes and dumplings with baked tigerseal to fatten us up.”
“That sounds like a nice meal,” Kentaro said kindly.
“Scent be damned, Little Lady when we get back to the Ursa, I’m cooking those sea prunes. You can help me make whatever you want to go with’em,” he declared before looking around and giving her a quick hug. The cook turned in Mu and said firmly, “You scamps best be gettin’ on back. Little’uns like yourself can get in all kindsa trouble roamin’ ‘round after dark.”
The veterinarian took the hint and guided Katara back to hotel. He didn’t know much about the new soldiers but knew all too much about his shipmates. He had seen several small groups of both wandering about and in a town that exemplified the phrase, “make your own fun” he was becoming nervous escorting Katara. He trusted his fighting skills but there were too many to validate his theory that Admiral Chu-hua had chosen which crewmembers would accompany her inland based on childrearing principals. The youngest, the most difficult, and a more responsible helper would always go to market while the marginally disobedient remained behind with the more responsible children who wouldn’t be tempted to give into their antics.
He, the Zhaos, Dr. Amayu and Fan’s two helpers were the youngest members of the official crew and he knew at least six of the men waving at them had been appointed by the Fire Lord. Their families had deep pockets and had no doubt purchased their positions. During the journey over Chu-hua had asked if he had any beasts capable of eating them. He still had trouble reading her expressions so he wasn’t sure if she had been joking or serious. Not wanting to take any chances he made Katara an offer he hoped her herbally enhanced brain wouldn’t be able to refuse, “Lady Katara, would you like to return to your room and look at the moon? You’ll be closer to it since you’ll be on the second floor.”
Katara shook her head, “No silly, I’d be closer to the moon if I were near water but I don’t mind going back to the hotel. I can use the tub in our room and don’t have to worry about so many mosquitoes.”
“No, Milady, you will not,” Mu replied. All of the buildings in the towns were covered by well groomed vines belonging to plants known to repel or eat insects.
Once they were inside Mu realized the scent of barnyard wasn’t due to their proximity to the stables. The scent of camelephant really was wafting across the room. Katara had hugged the large desert animal for quite some time and its scent clung to her. It took almost an hour to convince Katara she needed to use the tub for something other than conversing with the spirits. He doubted she would have bathed if he hadn’t told her “the moon would probably speak to her faster after she’d spent time in the water.
He mumbled to himself as he stepped into the hall, “Who knew that a year spent traveling on a flying bison and sleeping in the wilderness made a person immune to most odors?”
He knocked on the door several times before deciding to enter. He peered around the corner calling Katara’s name praying that the two hours he’d given her was long enough for her to bathe and dress. The last thing he wanted to do was to see her naked; there wouldn’t be enough particles left to enter the spirit world once his wife finished with him. To his relief she was dressed. She was wearing something that would have been decidedly more modest had she not been lying on the floor in the moonlight with her feet propped up on the windowsill.
He was about to lower himself onto the bed then he remembered whose room he was in. He had picked up a chair and was using one of the legs to check for cleanliness when he heard Katara laughing. He thought she was laughing at him until she called out a strange name, “Yue.”
The veterinarian listened as Katara continued to talk to someone only she could see in what he hoped was Water Tribe. Otherwise he really did too good of a job combining the cannabis, psilocybin, and catnip. He sincerely hoped the small amounts of the fourth herb, the hornyweed he’d thrown in at the last minute to make things easier for his good friend Zuko didn’t kick in until he was safely back in the room that he shared with Zhao 1 and Zhao 2. He really didn’t want to be in a room with a woman who was almost as alluring as his wife after exposing them both to a substance known to increase affections.
“Mu, come here,” Katara giggled waving him over. “I want you to meet my friend Yue, the moon spirit.”
Remembering how proficient she was at bending in her sleep and that she could easily access her used bathwater he decided it was best to humor her. He walked to the other side of the room and bowed politely. “Moon Spirit Yue. I am very pleased to meet you.”
He had thought that after so many years of exposure he’d developed a tolerance to the hallucinogenic effects of the mixtures used to calm the animals but he could have sworn the moonbeams brightened, transformed into a beautiful girl that smiled and waved at him before once again disappearing into the light.
Mu blinked rapidly attempting to clear his head, “I think I’m going to go sit down.”
Katara laughed and nodded. “Told you he was not so bad to be Fire Nation; not like Prince Pain in the Ass and Princess I Shoot Blue Fire,” she continued in the common language before switching back to her own.
Mu flopped down on the bed and pulled the pillow over his face so he wouldn’t notice the way Katara’s toes were wiggling and how each movement made the shift she was wearing fall lower on her thighs. “I should have babysat the drunks. Just when I thought it was impossible for me to miss Quanli more than I already do.”
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Borealis: A Zutara Story