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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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Chapter 221
Ami was helping her mother hang laundry when her brother came outside. Yi Chin was shaking and obviously scared when he ran towards them screaming, “Where’s Dad?”
“Your father isn’t here. He and Min-Sik went hunting. They finally realized we’re going to run out of food with so many people here,” his mother said aggravated. “Why do you need him? What’s wrong?”
“The prince; he wants Ami,” he blurted completely misunderstanding why Zuko requested her.
“What? Oh no! Oh no! Not my little girl,” the statuesque woman replied picking up the stick they’d used to beat rugs earlier.
She stormed up the stairs with all the righteous indignation an angry mother could muster and pounded on the door.
Zuko jumped off the bed and rushed to open the door, “Please be quiet, Katara’s sleeping. I don’t want to wake her. Thank you for coming so quickly. I know this is may be improbable but do you have bath salts and a tub that will hold multiple people?”
“Heh?” the woman muttered in confusion at the prince’s polite request. She answered automatically; his demeanor and odd question made her forget that she had been told he wanted her daughter, “We have a tub that large but no bath salts.”
Her mind shifted from hotel owner back to angry mother just as swiftly. She lifted the stick,” Is that why you wanted Ami? For an orgy?”
“Orgy? What? No! I don’t want her,” Zuko replied equally as confused. “I didn’t care who came so long as it wasn’t your son. I don’t like the way he was trying to look at Katara.”
“That idiot,” his mother growled while shaking the stick once more, “Wait ‘til I get my hands on that boy!”
She realized the action could be taken as a threat toward the prince and set down the rug-beater. “My apologies Prince Zuko, he made it sound as if you had less than honorable plans for my daughter. I will be happy to bring you additional privacy screens, the largest tub we have, and plenty of water.”
“We don’t need additional privacy screens,” Zuko said politely refusing them.
“Oh yes you do,” the woman smiled. “Ami and I will bring those but my idiot son will bring the tub and the water. I see now I haven’t been giving him enough chores to calm those teenage impulses. By the time I’m through with him he’ll be so tired he won’t even be able to see straight enough to notice that pretty little Waterbender is a female.”
True to her word she and her daughter brought two more privacy screens which they placed around the bed. She remained in the room glowering at her son and tapping her foot as he brought a tub large enough to hold a small family and several buckets of water to fill it.
“Is there anything else you need Prince Zuko?” she inquired.
Zuko looked behind him trying to think of all he wanted to do for Katara. All the commotion had not disturbed Katara in the least; her mouth was open and she was snoring lightly. “May I have three sets of towels and fresh bedsheets?”
“Go get the towels boy and be quick about it, Boy,” the woman barked at her son before replying, “We just hung the bedsheets out to dry. They should be ready in an hour. I will bring some then. Is there anything you require? How about lunch?”
She peeked around the screen and sighed when she saw Katara, “If she’s sleeping hard enough to miss my screaming, I imagine the last thing she wants to do when she wakes up is go to that noisy restaurant. My husband is hunting. When he returns I’ll cook enough for you two and have it brought up.”
“Thank you but no thank you. Your offer is too generous; I would never take food from your family to feed us. I’ll order something from the restaurant,” Zuko replied knowing he could always order soldiers to go hunt and stock it or to go fetch one of the animals trailing behind the 58^th division’s vanguard for slaughter.
“Can you bring me a set of stationery? I want to ease your fears about your daughter being harmed,” Zuko said after realizing why the woman was afraid for her daughter earlier. Unlike Jin’s family these weren’t being protected.
“Oh, thank you but it’s not necessary. This morning that scary woman commander took our workers outside the hotel and blew fire the likes I have never seen before. She said that any soldier interfering with her ability to get fresh bathwater, towels, and service whenever she wanted it would be slow roasted in their boots. She was very convincing. Most men see my daughter and turn their heads. After that terrifying display you were the only real concern I had left for her virtue,” the woman explained.
Zuko shook his head, “Katara is the only woman I want. Your daughter has no reason to fear me unless she does something else to hurt her or helps someone else harm her again.”
“Prince Zuko I…” the woman’s eyes widened. She had thought he had not known about Ami’s role in Jin’s actions.
“I know she was just being a friend to Jin. I don’t like what she did, but I can’t fault her for seeing a friend in need and trying to help. More people should be that loyal. The world would be a better place if there was more friendship,” Zuko said absently while brushing a lock of Katara’s hair back from her face.
“Yes, it would,” the woman agreed.
“Prince Zuko,” she stopped when his head rose and he looked up expectantly at her. She never would have guessed the scarred imposing figure was so very young. She was willing to wager his years amounted to less than her own son. “Thank you. It was nice getting a chance to talk to you. My name is Kisa, my husband’s name is Hiro, please do not hesitate to call on us if you need assistance.”
The prince’s reply reverberated in her ears as she went back down stairs to finish her chores. He had called her Aunt Kisa as he thanked her. “Aunt” as though he was a good Earth Kingdom boy raised with proper manners and taught to use the word as a term of respect for older women. She knew he had been banished and a fugitive at the time Jin met him but until that point she never would have associated the Fire Nation prince with the shy quiet boy Jin spoke so highly of.
She had thought the Waterbender was a captive that he was forcing to lay with him. The room smelled of recent sex and his request for clean sheets after they were changed this morning proved their relationship was physical but if she were being forced the girl would not have slept so soundly. A woman only slept like that next to a man she trusted to protect her. Kisa’s troubled mind was reflected in her cleaning; she scrubbed the Dai Li agents along with the wall they were building.
Perhaps she should have discouraged her husband from going hunting.

General Fong’s expression was grave as he listened to Min-Sik and Hiro, his long time friends and former subordinates, as they explained their hometown had been selected as the next Fire Nation outpost and the Avatar was being held in a hotel belonging to one of them. There wasn’t much he could do to help them. His small group of guerrillas had been heavily injured almost two weeks ago. They had been attacked by the Fire Nation on their way to rendezvous with another rebel group to escort refugees from Ba Sing Se to Omashu. According to what Hiro overheard and his spies saw that group had been captured a day prior and the refugees shortly afterwards.
Even if they were healthy his team specialized in hit and run sabotage. They were not equipped to battle head on with the Fire Nation; if not for the men of the Northern Water Tribe they would have already been eradicated. There was no way he could ask them to risk their lives by going into rescue the Avatar. They were completely outnumbered, against both the Fire Lord’s children, the group who defeated them and two others military units.
“Are we gonna go get Aang, Sokka and Katara?” The Duke asked looking at him with eyes full of hope. The boy and his very large friend had come back with the soldiers he sent to the Fire Nation for the eclipse invasion. They were both very resourceful and well suited to unconventional tactics, but sometimes he wondered if the two of them were more trouble than they were worth.
Fong frowned and answered honestly, “I don’t know.”
“But we have to. Katara promised that she’d teach me how to make my own battle cry the next time she saw me. We have to go and find her. What if I get stoleded like she was and need to tell you something? I knew that was her the other week. I knew it. Only she sounds like that; we have to go and get her. She saved us,” the eight year old implored.
“The Duke, calm down. You know there is more to it than that. You heard him say many Fire Nation soldiers are guarding them. We have to be smart. It will do them no good if we get killed,” Fong rationalized.
“But Katara, Sokka and Aang…”
“Yes, I know they are your friends. They are my friends too. You know how you always pick the meat out of stew and don’t eat your vegetables unless someone makes you?” the general replied kneeling down to the eight year old’s level.
The Duke blushed and nodded sheepishly; he never imagined that his throwing away food had been noticed.
“Aang is the meat. Sokka and Katara are the vegetables. If we rush in without thinking the same thing will happen to them that happens to the vegetables in your bowl when you think no one is watching you. You don’t want that to happen do you?” General Fong asked patiently.
The boy shook his head vehemently.
“I didn’t think so,” he said kindly. “It doesn’t sound like they’ll be leaving anytime soon. We’ll wait here, get healed up and try to come up with a plan.”
“Katara could fix us,” Pipsqueak added finally deciding to speak up. “She’s a water healer. She helped Chief Hakoda on the day of the invasion.”
“That wh-” Hiro began but Min-Sik and General Fong stopped him. He glared angrily at both of them.
“Regardless of what we think, she is their friend. Morale has improved since those two have been around,” General Fong stated sternly.
“I already told you what happened this morning and that she is willing to help us save water. I am not saying she is without duplicity; only there is more to her situation than what we are seeing. We too should be patient for now,” Min-Sik advised.
Hiro understood the warnings in their voice and grumbled, “Fine let’s just go hunting. We need to at least go home with a jackalope or singing groundhog to avoid suspicion.”
Fong nodded in understanding. He had already sent four of his non-wounded to hunt for them for the same reason. He left a lieutenant in charge and took a captain with him. They remained silent until they were far out of camp then tunneled underground where they could speak freely.
After a lengthy exchange of information which included the large lakes that had appeared and the number of nearby villages to be raided for slaves to build a railroad linking the Fire Nation controlled port to Ba Sing Se and other plans Hiro had gathered, Fong decided it may be worth the risk to try and rescue the Avatar. If what the Fire Nation was planning was allowed to come to fruition they would never regain Ba Sing Se and would lose the upper portion of the entire continent.
After finalizing their plan the men captured four jackalope. They took the caged animals back to camp and saw the first group had captured a hog. Min-Sik decided to carry a single jackalope back with them. If the Fire Nation thought there was ample hunting ground to the north of the village there would be nothing left of it or Fong’s group so they tunneled underground far to the more barren west and re-emerged when they could feel nothing for several miles overhead.
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Borealis: A Zutara Story