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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 216
Zuko exhaled a stream of smoke and set to work on the lock. After a few moments it turned and Zuko lifted the letter from the inside. He felt his anger rising the further he got into it. He was about to burn the pages when Katara snatched them and folded them the same way she’d folded hers, “Now read it.”
Like hers, his also had reply instructions. He wrote his response and gave them to the soldiers along with the instructions to reveal its existence to no one. They bowed and left.
Zuko sank onto the sofa clutching the refolded letter like a lifeline:

My son,
I wonder if this message will reach you or if like countless others it will go unnoticed?
I have always wanted the best for you. Every action I have taken has been to draw out the potential you sporadically show then hide away without knowledge of what you’ve done. Any fool can make a well timed outburst but only a true man can stand up for what he believes in; that is all I have ever wished for - to see the depth of my son’s strength, determination, and willpower.
As you know, Mai was never our choice for you. She lacks the energy and spirit needed to take hold of your soul and truly elevate you. In spite of her birth nation and ethnicity Katara has already proven what a poor fiancée my father selected for you. If she were Fire Nation, the two of you would have my utmost blessing. One night between her legs and you stand up to me, something several encounters with Mai failed to inspire you to do. Even Agni seems to disapprove of your fiancée. You were separated from Mai for three years but nothing came from your reunion but the first time you laid Katara she was gifted with what would have been your firstborn.
There is a burn scar on my chest from the day you pushed me for insulting it. Each day I smile upon seeing this imperfection as it reminds me of the strength of my son.   I am so very proud that the sniveling child who begged for mercy finally learned the lesson I attempted to teach you even if I am not the reason. It brings me great joy to know the weak little boy who hid behind his mother’s skirts has grown into a man capable of fighting back. It is proof the blood of dragons I passed onto you runs strongly in your veins – just as a male had to overcome a female to mate, a young male had to overcome his father to leave the nest.
I both fear and anticipate how Katara’s strength will further influence you. I imagine this conflict is what my father felt when I insisted upon no other woman than your mother. My Ursa and your Waterbender share certain asinine beliefs and the reckless boldness that comes with them. My darling thinks I am unaware of the equality dribble she’s hidden in your signets; out of love for her I feign ignorance and out of love for you I dispel those foolish notions.
Zuko, my son, there is a life price to be paid every time you sheath your dragon. You take a part of the woman’s soul each time her wetness surrounds you and lose a portion of your own with each release inside her.   The spirit of a weak woman is not adequate compensation for the portion of yourself you leave behind; such a coupling leaves you physically drained but otherwise unaffected. The body of a true woman, one with strength, substance, and character, has power over a man and can change the very fiber of a man’s being. We both have seen how Katara has empowered you, be mindful that you do not let her loyalties and beliefs influence your own.
Despite my sincere affections for Katara, I firmly by stand my decree - do not impregnate her. Motivation to sway the Katara to our cause or not, as your firstborn, the half-breed child of the Fire Nation’s Crown Prince and the Avatar’s Waterbender would not been allowed to live. It would have been my first grandchild, further proof of your manhood, and devastating blow to the opposition but more importantly the child (your heir apparent and third in line to the crown) would have been a blight upon the purity of the throne.
It saddens me to say this, but perhaps the will of the spirits acted in all our best interests? I would have killed your child Zuko. I would have welcomed it into this world and set it ablaze the moment I held it in my arms. I would have slaughtered those who attended its birth so word of its existence would not reach those who oppose me. I know full well that you would have killed me in return, but Katara must not be allowed to birth your firstborn.
Do not think me callous or unfeeling, as Fire Lord I must think of the nation before family. We barely averted civil war when I, the second born son, took the throne instead of my elder brother. If your firstborn was half-Water Savage and male news of it would polarize the nation. Some would view my tainted line as proof my reign has the disproval of Agni and use it as motivation to restore Iroh. Others would view it as a sign Agni grows tired of the war and has given the throne of our country to those who oppose us. A girl would not have been much better, every Fire Lord since Irohulon has fathered a first male first born. If Katara would have born a daughter it would cast doubt on your strength to rule. Irohulon was weak and almost ruined the nation.
If Mai were to later birth a son I do not have to tell you what would happen. Kozulon slaughtered all of his siblings with the exception of his co-conspirator to claim the throne. There is no doubt in my mind, that any child born to a woman who would threaten me while chained in my throne room and describe how she would end my live and the lives of my children as a captive aboard my own ship would not hesitate to do the same. Civil war must be avoided at all cost as domestic instability would cripple us before foreign enemies. A coup led by a child whose mother havoc upon our shores when she invaded would be the end of us.
My son, do us both a favor, do not tempt fate and her medical diagnosis. The heartbreak increases with each pregnancy that ends in loss. You were too young to remember this but your beloved mother carried two of my precious children after Azula. Those children, like yours, passed into the spirit world unborn. As a man and a father I truly I had truly hoped you would never experience this unbearable pain. The small shrines you always questioned but never received answer belong to your lost siblings. I have erected one for your child next to them. Each day I light incense and say a prayer for our lost infants as well as for your mother’s return.
If you get this message (if I have not overestimated her Katara will ensure you do) write me and tell me the ways in which you have become a man since I last saw you. Not one of these upright hairless hogmonkeys, but a true man in the eyes of Agni, master of all things and fit to keep what you have conquered.

With all my love,
Father

Zuko read it over and over again wondering how many such messages he’d missed during his banishment. Each month without exception his father had written him. The notes were all very similar to the one on the unfolded paper and each had all been set aflame seconds after a cursory inspection did not yield permission to come home or the restoration of his honor. They all berated him for his foolishness, for thinking and acting as a child well beyond the years when he should have stopped doing so.
“Katara come here,” His voice cracked and he was trembling when he called her to him. He had not missed the threats among his father’s advice and encouragement. If he wanted to keep Katara safe he had to prove himself capable of doing so.

Kain: As much as I appreciate your enthusiasm, your health is far too precious to risk, (I have a neurological disorder courtesy of a car that introduced itself to mine). Red lights and traffic jams – go for it! Jin was raped by Azula in Chapter 185 and her mother was gang-raped by members of the Dai Li.
As you can see, Ozai is an oddball indeed. Azula doesn’t have to search very far for the source of her issues.
Canon Katara is a complex character with her own sense of morals. She’s a goody-goody with a bad temper. She beats up the boys in Gaoling who won’t tell them about Earth Rumble, she helps the citizens in Jang Hui and she helps to send Hama back to jail. We really don’t see her interacting much with soldiers who aren’t attempting to fight but the fact she didn’t let Hama go free after saving Sokka and Aang makes me think she would be nicer to the soldiers in a non-battle situation. She’s also learned from what Mu and Zuko told her about Sokka. He was an easy target for the soldiers to vent their anger. She knows that if she angers the soldiers they won’t vent their frustrations on her. She's also still emotional from the night they spent in the meadow visiting Ursa.
Katara also doesn’t know the Water Tribe soldiers have been captured. Mung’s division hasn’t finished moving into the town and they are being held in their camp until they can be sent back to the Fire Nation.
Aang is cut off from the Avatar State. He use water, earth and air but not to the full extent of an Avatar’s power. Not to mention everyone, including Katara, is actively working to keep Aang ignorant.
That Gif was too funny!
As for the fate of Zuko, the soldiers and the townspeople you’ll have to wait and see…muahahaha
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Borealis: A Zutara Story