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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 210
“I found it,” Zuko replied quietly as his thumb caressed her cheek. “It’s just I don’t know how to hold onto it.”
“Why -?” Katara began before realizing he was no longer speaking hypothetically.
“Happiness isn’t something that can be lost or gained. It’s a choice that comes from within. You can choose to be happy or you can choose to be unhappy,” Katara advised before taking up the story where it left off, “After we found the dragon and the Avatar, you went back to the Fire Nation and I went back to the Southern Water Tribe but life wasn’t the same. You got tired of noblemen throwing their beautiful vapid daughters at you and I got tired of doing Dad’s laundry and the parade of big strong warriors attempting to court me so we both ran away. We met by chance in a remote village in the Earth Kingdom. I had set up a clinic but you and Korhi were just wandering around.”
Zuko piped up at that point, “When I saw you I decided to stay. Everyone thought it was improper and I was trying to take advantage of their healer but in time I changed their mind. After every war there are soldiers who don’t know how to lay down their weapons in live in peace. Our little town was attacked by a group of them but they were no match for the Fire Nation and Water Tribe champion.”
“We lived together, I ran the clinic and taught first aid and herbal medicine to the townspeople. You farmed and taught hand to hand combat and swordsmanship so they could defend themselves.” Katara added.
“Me? A farmer?” Zuko blurted incredulously.
Katara reached for his hand and slowly caressed it with hers, “These hands you hate so much are really good at making things grow. When we were at the palace Taiga, the cook, told me your mother’s herb garden wasn’t the same when you were gone but once you came back it was like each plant’s spirit had been rejuvenated. Fan told me the same thing about how you’d take care of the plants aboard your ship during your banishment. He told me you inspired the citrus shrubs and their ambition to turn into trees outpaced your desire to find the Avatar. And don’t say it’s only because you didn’t want scurvy; I’ve seen the wistful way you look at the Ursa’s garden.”
“You were a good farmer Zuko. You grew tomatoes that were bigger than my hand and zucchinis large as my calf but you freely gave them to our neighbors and made sure anyone passing by never went away hungry,” Katara said running the hand that wasn’t holding his along his sides. “You were bigger and scarier when you burst into my village and when we fought at the North Pole than you were under Ba Sing Se. Even if you hadn’t told me about your time as a fugitive I can tell by the way you eat that you know what it’s like to truly be hungry. You don’t leave anything behind; your utensils look like you’ve washed them. Mine and Sokka’s do too.”
Katara lifted his hands to her lips and kissed them, “You feed people with these hands Zuko. Each year we lived together you grew more and more, so much that you began taking them to the markets in the closest cities and selling them. You never set a price but the servants of the wealthy flocked to your stalls and paid premium prices for them. We didn’t need the money so you’d pay poor children to wash off the road dust and help carry them to their new homes. It bothered you that even though they worked so hard for you they still couldn’t afford the produce you grew but you couldn’t sell it any cheaper or else you couldn’t afford to pay them.”
“I’m not that nice Katara,” Zuko interrupted. “You’re making me sound like a candidate for sainthood.”
“No, you’re not that nice, but you could be. If your mother and cousin had lived and your Uncle became Fire Lord you could have been. If we had grown up in the world of Avatar Roku and Kuzon you could have been. This is our fairy tale Zuko. It’s yours as much as it is mine. I want to believe that the man who…that I…that what we did earlier…”
Katara stopped to take a deep breath before once again trying to find the right words, “I want to believe that the man I lay with has so much good in him…”
“It’s okay Katara,” Zuko said kissing her forehead and pulling her closer before taking up the story. “Our village is south of here on the other side of the Si Wong. I realized the reason my vegetables are so big is because you water them and I use Korhi’s manure to fertilize them. We don’t get very much rain so what we get is used for cooking, drinking, and bathing. You do what you did earlier with our used bathwater. You purify it for cleaning then water the garden once there are no other ways we can use it.
“There’s an unused plot of land outside our village so at the next town meeting we ask if we can buy it. The town elders tell us we can have it and take bets on what we do with it. It’s closer to the desert so it’s more sand than dirt. The next time I go to market I come back with a male Komodo rhino, two pig-chickens, and two Komodo chickens, and a grade A male ostrich horse from prized breeding stock.”
“I trade eggs, vegetables, and stud service for manure from our neighbor’s animals and their dirty water. Slowly the desert land becomes arable. I use the seeds from my other vegetables and I start a little garden there. The vegetables aren’t as big because they don’t get as much water but they’re just as good and the smaller plants seem to yield more. The first time I take them to market I beg you to come with me and you start to get suspicious when I rent stall space right across from mine. I get there early and hire the children to help me unload the smaller ones first before stocking my regular spot.”
“You realize the full extent of my brilliance when I give you an apron and put you to work selling the smaller vegetables at affordable prices. The children never catch on but you spend most of the day laughing at the circle I’ve created. I’ve paid them to stock both stalls and they spend their hard earned money at yours, you discretely give it back to me and I pay them again to carry the vegetables to the rich and they use it to buy more food not knowing they’ll have it back within the week.
“You complain about the stench the whole way back because I’ve purchased manure and barrels full of used bathwater from the local brothels but you still help me spread the manure and purify the water before putting it on our vegetable gardens. I take you with me to the next town and the next and the next and do the same thing. Weeks pass by and some of the children have caught on to the routine but they just laugh and keep it a secret,” Zuko narrated.
“Zuko, do you like children?” Katara asked.
“I’m not really sure,” Zuko replied. “I’ve never really thought about it. When I separated from Uncle Iroh there was this town where the Earth Kingdom soldiers sent to guard it were bullying the townspeople. I made friends with a little boy there. His name was Lee. Sometimes I wonder how he’s doing and what happened to him. He was a good kid.”
“Is that how you knew that soldiers became bullies?” Katara asked.
“One of them,” Zuko replied quietly as he shifted to lay his head against hers. “I’m sleepy Katara. Can’t everybody just live happily ever after yet?”
“You don’t know anything about fairy tales,” she murmured. “The prince has to fall in love with the princess before they live happily ever after. We haven’t fallen in love yet.”
Zuko wasn’t as sleepy as she was so he latched onto her admission, “Do you want us to fall in love Katara?”
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Borealis: A Zutara Story