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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
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Chapter 192
Iroh opened his eyes. He had begun feeling the other presence the first night he spent in Toph’s company. It had grown stronger each night since they had landed in the Earth Kingdom. He rose cursing himself for allowing Toph to win the argument over where they would be sleeping. He should have known such an extensive set of caves with a reputation for disappearances would most likely have a portal to the spirit realm somewhere inside of it.
He sat up slowly bringing fire to his palm when he felt the approaching spirit. The figure that rose from the inner portion of the cave was massive. He stood barring its passage, “I have learned kindness in my old age. I have done many dark deeds in my youth. Take me but leave the child in peace.”
Iroh gasped as the spirit drew the air from his lungs. His heartbeat stopped and he was bathed in darkness as the spirit passed through him.

Hou-T’u lie beneath Toph. He shifted into the earthen floor beneath Katara letting his little one feel the heartbeats and drying sweat before transforming into all of the terrain between them.
Tui remained at his side feeling each shift; shedding tears at the Earthbender’s yearning. This type of feeing she had passed onto Yue. She had never understood a human’s desire for family but after sharing consciousness with Yue she now knew this pain on a deeper level.
She separated from Hou-T’u and crossed over to the Firebender before allowing Hou-T’u to return her to the spiritual realm and Yue. The old man was also was yearning.

“Your destiny has not changed, child of Agni.”
Iroh inhaled suddenly, the oxygen that the spirit had stolen from him rushed back to his lungs and his heart resumed beating. He dropped to his knees clutching his chest. Hou-T’u. The spirit he’d offered himself to had been the very spirit if the earth itself.
In those brief lifeless seconds he saw every atrocity he’d committed against the Earth people. The women and boys he’d raped as a teenager and young man in his twenties. He saw the eyes of the girl whose face reminded him of his mother lock onto his as she screamed for help. One of the generals had recognized the likeness and brought her to their camp as a gift for Fire Lord Azulon. She’d been a virgin. His father had her in every way imaginable in front of all of them. She died chained to his bed after chewing through the flesh of her forearm to bite her veins open. Iroh had been the one to burn her body two days later. It bore traces of fresh semen.
He never forced another himself on another after seeing the way she looked at him but he still continued to murder. Three more decades of stolen lives passed by. He saw himself laughing while asking parents to choose between the lives of their children or decide which one would receive a swift merciful death and which would die slow and painfully. He saw his son’s last moments and in the blink of an eye he understood why he couldn’t find Lu Ten in the spirit world. Hou-T’u took him to pay for his ancestors’ sins.
He saw Lu Ten’s body being broken and heard his son screaming as the spirit of the earth opened its gaping maw and swallowed him. In that brief mortal moment when his heart was stopped and he could not breathe he saw his son, the boy he was raising to be just like him being gnashed between teeth-like rocks. He was there to witness all six years, seven months, four days, thirteen hours, forty-four minutes and fifty-two seconds of his son’s undeserved punishment.
Iroh saw his own redemption as well as his son’s in the moment he offered himself to Hou-T’u to protect Toph. He witnessed his son gain his freedom and the aged Firebender was given a choice. Lu Ten smiled at him briefly and he saw the young man he loved de-age until he was once again a newborn. He saw his wife, the woman he treasured above all others but did not know how to truly love, lift their son and place him at her breast. She was smiling and singing a lullaby to Lu Ten as he nursed. His beloved wife smiled at him and he knew in his heart that all was forgiven.
He had been given gift from the spirits for making the right decision.
The vision faded and the spirit of the moon, not the brave teenager who died at the North Pole but the original one, spoke to him, “Your destiny has not changed, child of Agni. You were meant to be a father. You will have many children to love and who love you in return. She is but one of them.”

Iroh crawled over to the edge of the void beneath Toph. He waited patiently as the shifting cave floor once again resumed its original form. He watched over the sleeping child. His destiny had not changed. She was a part of his destiny. Hou-T’u had trusted him with his very child and with the location of the entry point to his lair.
Iroh pressed his forehead to the floor, prostrating himself in supplication.
There in the crystal catacombs of Ba Sing Se, the city that was tied to his destiny, a short distance from where his nephew faced his greatest test and made his worst decision; where his niece killed the Avatar; beneath the hill where his son lay buried was a gateway to Earth Kingdom equivalent of the Northern Water Tribe’s spirit oasis. Deep in those tunnels was a place where the four winds met and the lair of an ancient Badgermole - the physical manifestation of Hou-T’u.

Toph dreamed of Katara. She often dreamed of all her friends but the ones of Katara were different. After speaking with Sokka during her nefarious stint as the runaway she realized why she purposely angered Katara so much. She used to do the same thing to her own mother, but her mother would never react. Poppy Bei Fong would excuse her behavior as a result of her handicap. The only change would be that the intellectual level of her lessons in proper decorum would decrease to accommodate Toph’s perceived mental defect. Katara acknowledged her handicap but realized she was so much more than her blindness.
When she was crude Katara got tougher. She understood why Sokka said Katara’s face was the one he saw when he thought of his mom. She felt the same way. Poppy would always be her mother, but Sugar Queen was as much her mom as she was Sokka’s and Aang’s. Her dreams of Katara sometimes left her confused, but this one made perfect sense.
Katara was sad, afraid, confused, and worried, but she was also safe and content. The feeling of safety and contentment was surprising until she felt the second heartbeat. Katara wasn’t alone. There was a second person very close to her who was looking out for her wellbeing. She could feel this heartbeat more strongly as though it were beneath Katara’s. It was familiar. She had felt it several times before but it was different. The other times she had felt it was unsteady but this time it was as sturdy and rhythmic as a taiko drumbeat. She flopped over and continued snoring somehow knowing that Katara was well and that if Katara was well so were the others.

The smell of jook woke Toph. She made a face and scratched her butt before yawning and walking towards the pot, “I never thought I’d miss groundnuts.”
Iroh laughed threw a pebble on the ground toward the stream. It was his way of telling her to go wash up before breakfast.
“Yeah, yeah I’m going. Jeez. You’re almost as bad as Sugar Queen with the insistence on hygiene. What is it with all the jook? Don’t you know how to make anything else?”
“Now, now Miss Toph, when we reach the next city we will dine on other fare. Until then it’s jook. It’s cheap, nutritious, filling, and the ingredients can be carried very easily,” Iroh said patting her on the back.
Toph stopped. Iroh’s steady pulse made her remember where and why the heartbeat so close to Katara’s was familiar. “It’s Zuko! He’s the one next to Katara.”
She turned to Iroh, “After I get washed up you’re going to tell me all about your nephew and then we’re going back to the Fire Nation.”
“Wait, what, why?” Iroh sputtered. Toph was there when he learned the Waterbender was being forced to be Zuko’s concubine but unlike that day her tone was more surprised than angry.
“Zuko is next to Katara so I want to know more about him and why she feels safe in his presence. We’re going back to the Fire Nation because I want space metal and there’s a big hunk of it there.”
“What?” Iroh repeated dumbly.
“Space metal. We were in the Fire Nation when a meteor fell,” Toph unbent her bracelet and handed it to Iroh. “I made this from it. Sokka made a sword. I need to go get the rest of it. I’m sure his old one was stolen.”
Iroh felt the metal. It was tactile like gold but stronger. Toph rarely made fanciful demands. He knew better than to think her sudden urge to return to the Fire Nation was a moment of whimsy. He knew what his old friend Qin would do with metal like this. The man had been added to the Minister of War’s cabinet before the age of thirty for a reason. Qin was a visionary. He saw instruments of death where others saw baby rattles. He too would see the possibilities of this new substance. He knew it was no coincidence she made this declaration after their divine visits.
“What city was it in? It will be helpful to determine our route and the best launch point,” Iroh said sagely.
“I’m not sure. There was farmland. It was near a famous swordsman. His steps were fast and fluid so were his assistant’s. I think his name was Piandao.”
Iroh smiled, “Shu Jing. The best launch point is north of here. We’ll cross north back over on Ember Island and make our way down from there. We’ll pass through the capital on the way back and pick up some of the things I left. We’ll blend in with the nobles traveling home for the season. Go get cleaned up. I’ll make our route on the map.”
Toph nodded dumbly. They were going back to Ember Island and making a trip through the Fire Nation capital. She didn’t think anyone could make plans that were as crazy as Sokka’s.
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Borealis: A Zutara Story