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Borealis: A Zutara Story	By : jaded_priceless Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > AU/AR - Alternate Universe/Alternate Reality Views: 33965 -:- 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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- 199
Chapter 195
Katara ran for the door but Zhao 1 caught her and passed her back to Zuko. “Let me go I need to get to my brother!”
“I’m not stupid Katara. You’ll escape if you three are together,” Zuko said strapping her into his armor and placing his helmet on her head. “You’re coming with me. Don’t try anything stupid, you won’t be the one to pay for it.”
They were in the streets fighting when it dawned on Katara that Zuko once again chosen to place her wellbeing over his own welfare by giving her his armor. She stood rooted to the spot trying to decide what to do when a fireball came towards her. She instinctively called water from the community well to block it. The first was immediately followed by several others which were also extinguished. The dance between fire and water had become familiar over the past year and Katara quickly fell into routine. She stumbled when the earth beneath her shook. She stumbled three more times before Ty Lee struck chi points in her legs and back.
“This will help you loosen up. You’re not used to fighting Earthbenders. You’re stance is too rigid, you’ll fall and break something when they shake the ground,” The acrobat explained before flipping away.
Katara stopped. She wasn’t used to fighting Earthbenders. She was accustomed to fighting alongside them. She was only used to fighting one. The next attack was fire. She watched the flames approaching but the shock of fighting alongside the Fire Nation didn’t allow her to move. She would have gladly joined her mother allowing herself to be consumed by the flames if Ty Lee had not pushed her out of the way. Seeing the flames meant for her surrounding Ty Lee forced Katara into action. The other girl wasn’t a bender. Ty Lee had shown her kindness after she’d been hurt by Zuko. Ty Lee had placed herself into the path of the fire while pushing her out of the way. Katara couldn’t let her burn to death. She couldn’t watch helplessly as another person who’d saved her burned.
The water slid effortlessly along Ty Lee’s skin, healing the damage, as it pushed back the encroaching flames. A flash caught Katara’s eye; she heard a short scream then nothing. The woman who’d thrown the fire at her had been struck by Azula’s lightning. Their opponent remained standing even though a quarter of her torso was missing. To Katara’s surprise, the princess gratefully nodded in her direction as she berated her friend for being clumsy. Ty Lee waved off Azula’s concern and sprang backwards on her hands to continue blocking the chi of group attacking them as if she had never been surrounded by fire.
An Earthbender sent a large boulder towards the Fire Nation princess but Katara hastily threw up an ice shield to deflect it. Ty Lee flipped over the top of the ice wall and blocked his chi while Zhao 1 moved in for the kill. It sickened Katara how easily she fell into battle with them. Her skills blended more seamlessly with these Fire Nation soldiers that it did her own people’s at the North Pole. There she was given a wide berth and placed on the front line out of sheer necessity. She received countless insults regarding her “manliness” because of her contributions.
The only reason she made out with what’s his hair was to prove she wasn’t hiding a penis. He’d drawn the short straw designating him the one to search for it. Sangok suggested he compliment her and ask her out inside of going with his original plan of following her to the restroom. The scrawny boy reasoned he’d be less likely to be critically injured as their class couldn’t defeat her when fighting all against one. It was a hollow victory. Just like she’d heard the bet she’d also heard him telling the others she’d “sucked him so hard her grandkids could taste it” and all she needed “was a real whale rib to recognize her true purpose”. The next day all the guys wanted to fight next to her hoping to receive the same fictitious treatment. The worse off to be sent to the healing huts had been injured by her not the Fire Nation as they reported.
These Fire Nation soldiers, its prince and princess, her pursuers for the past year, enemies to the world and her people, teased and called out to her, “Damn that was a good shot!”, “Hey put this bastard out so I can put him down!” and “Miss Katara thanks for the mudpie! Hey motherfucker what do you think of your boulder now?” or “We should have had you at Ba Sing Se six years ago. We’d have swam right through those rings!” that comment about Ba Sing Se cut the deepest. Katara knew the group fighting against them pledged loyalty to no country and weren’t battling the Fire Nation to aid the war effort but her stomach turned nonetheless. She was fighting with the Fire Nation. Each shout of gratitude and recognition spurred her to fight harder. Even her own father had not recognized her ability as a warrior and it felt nice to be seen as someone who did something other than cook or sew.
Katara didn’t have much time to ruminate her status as betrayer before she was freezing a man where he stood. This time it was Zuko’s life she had protected. A deep rumbling could be heard and the enemy disappeared beneath the ground. The smugglers realized these soldiers were not the same ones who normally patrolled the area and called a retreat. Chu-hua vetoed using Azula’s Dai Li to chase them down citing caring for the injured was their priority. Katara did what she could without revealing her status as a healer: taking water to the makeshift infirmary, transporting the most critically injured on small beds of water, using her bending to stir the medicinal brews and free the harried doctors and medics to care for patients. Despite the number of injured all but one of the doctors was upbeat. Amayu noticed her discomfort with their cheeriness so she sent her away.
Still feeling unsettled, Katara began helping with the cleanup efforts. Those soldiers were happy as well. Katara had thought witnessing the fall of Ba Sing Se was horrific but the images of troops moving in as they flew away were nothing compared to being in the middle of the Fire Nation victory party, receiving praise for her performance during battle and compliments on her fighting skills. She thought things could not get any worse until she heard the terrified screams coming from the jail and saw what was happening inside. It explained why the soldiers were going in and out of several of the homes or disappearing into alleyways; why they were so relaxed and content and why Zuko scowled at the mention of party favors.
Zuko covered her eyes but she still saw a soldier tackling a woman running from her home. Her shirt was torn exposing one shoulder and breast; he had already ripped her skirt off. Between the gaps of Zuko’s fingers she could see the man prying apart the woman’s legs. The gap closed and Zuko’s arms tightened around her. Katara felt herself be dragged then pressed against something smooth and heard.
“Don’t listen, Katara, don’t listen. Well be inside soon, don’t listen. Please don’t listen,” Zuko’s breath was hot against her ear and his voice trembled. She tried but still heard the woman’s bloodcurling screams over his admonishment. There was laughter then another set rang out then another and more laughter.
Zuko uncovered her eyes to bang on the door with both fists and Katara saw two more struggling bodies being carried out and laid close to the first set. There was more laughter and “I’ll show you a real screamer.”
The restaurant owner opened the door and Zuko pushed her inside. Ming’s father quickly shut it after admitting them. He and his family had hidden in the cellar when the fighting began. He had come out to investigate after it grew quiet. “Prince Zuko, please, please. I know my niece and sister disrespected you but please I have a wife, daughter, a son and a grandson, please. I’ll be happy to send Jin and her mother out if you protect my family.”
Katara’s eyes widened in horror but Zuko didn’t bat an eye at him. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen cowardly men do such a thing. “Cook. Cook everything in this building. When they finish they will be hungry.”
He led Katara to the same bathroom he’d had sex with her in the day before and threw up. Katara covered her ears. They were at the back of the building but she could still hear laughter and screaming. Zuko pulled her to him and held her until things got quiet. Zuko released her from his arms. His voice was mechanical as he instructed her to use Waterbending and clean them both up. He didn’t have to tell her what the quiet meant.
Katara moved the water automatically. There was complete silence in the hours after the Fire Nation raided her village. This arid town with its well cared for gardens contrasted with images of her barren homeland. This place was different. It was along a trade route and not so isolated that fresh blood regardless of how tainted was grudgingly accepted. There was no need for these women to suffer more indignity should they become pregnant. They would have access to contraceptive herbs. If no man claimed them as his wife they would not be called in front of the elders to view the tribal bloodlines and advised to consider their neighbor’s children, grandchildren and the overall future of the tribe. They would not be given a list of the warriors too closely related by blood to father their children, but far enough to avoid the taboo of incest, and told to spend a week in their furs. They would not be forced to lie with uncles and cousins whose spirits were enough like hers and strong enough to cleanse Fire Nation evil from the child growing inside them.
Their chances at marriage and normal life would not be ruined by birthing the child of an enemy or being known as a woman who’d lain with her own kin. They could aspire to better things than becoming a second class fur warmer for a man bored with his wife but able to provide for her. Here there would be no surefooted women falling into the ocean with a golden-eyed child strapped to their back or sudden illnesses due to accidental ingestion of something known to harm infants when nursing a child with pale skin. Or kind relatives explaining why certain children don’t look like their other brother and sisters – why they don’t look like mama or papa either.
She was pulled from her thoughts by Zuko caressing her cheek lightly and kissing her forehead. She noticed his hands. They were busted and skinned raw from hitting the door. She called more water over and studied them as she erased his wounds. He had held her down and beaten her with these hands. He had done so many terrible things to her with these hands but he had not ruined the sanctity of her home. He manhandled her grandmother but he had not pulled her from Gran-Gran’s arms, pushed her down onto the ice and rape her in front of her people. His men had not raped the women of her tribe. He had not injured Sokka for trying to defend them.
He had done so many terrible, terrible things with these hands but these hands had also protected her. She slowly let go of them unsure of the direction her thoughts were going. Zuko hugged her tightly then opened the door. Katara placed her hand in his and squeezed. They peeped out into the empty room before timidly making their way to their usual table at the back of the restaurant and ordered rice gruel.
They were glad they finished eating before the raucous soldiers started to trickle in. It soon became a madhouse and the liquor flowed freely. The laughter and re-enactments grew unruly but no one damaged the restaurant. Jin, Kin, Ming, Sing Se and the other servers were allowed to work without interference.
There were boisterous catcalls and numerous innuendos, but no one touched them.
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Borealis: A Zutara Story