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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 225
By the time they finished dressing, washing the dishes they used and doing laundry, it was sunset when the two of them left the room. Katara kept her promise to recycle the water used each day in the town. She collected what little water remained in each room in the hotel; leading it down the hallway and stairs with the ease one would a well disciplined pet.
She separated it in the laundry room putting the purified water in the empty basin before carrying the sullied portion outdoors and dispersing it evenly over the garden. The newly unified room was filled with earthen benches the Dai Li had conjured from the floor and refugees, mostly older women and children, sat huddled in fear of the Fire Nation soldiers posted around them.
“Have these people eaten?” Zuko asked one of the nearby guards.
“Some of them,” he replied with a wink and knowing smirk.
He knew the soldier meant; the attractive ones and those with pretty mothers or sisters had been fed but the others would go hungry until someone took pity on them or decided he wanted to bed one of them. Zuko exhaled slowly, a plume of smoke curled downward from his nose as he did so. It would be hypocritical for him to be angry. He was currently benefitting from the exact same arrangement with Katara.
“How many are there?” Zuko inquired looking over them with a discerning eye.
“In here there are 46. There are 28 at the jail, 40 more at the barracks, and I’m not sure how many have yet to be moved from the 58^th’s camp. I’ve been told there are enough for badgerholes for anyone who wants one to have one,” the soldier replied honestly.
“I see,” Zuko nodded somberly. He spoke loud enough for everyone on the room to hear him, “Make sure that each relief worker is taken to the Ursa House as thank you for their service to our country. Those inside will dictate how long she needs to remain there. The same laws that apply in the Fire Nation also apply here.”
“Yes Prince Zuko”, the soldiers replied in unison.
He was about to ask who among them was a Firebender when he saw one of the Ursa’s engineer’s walk by with another female crewmember. “You two, come here. What are your names and where are you headed?”
The younger replied her name was Li and she was going to check on a friend in the medical ward. The older said her name was Bong Cha she was going to the Ursa House.
“Good women, both you,” Zuko complimented in earnest. “Are either of you Firebenders?”
“I am,” Bong Cha answered. “Forgive my impertinence my prince, but why do you ask?”
“They need to do laundry. My companion has provided water that has been purified but it must be boiled as a precautionary measure first. It will be less stressful and threatening if a female Bender does it. They have seen much and endured much. It is shameful they are strangers to the Fire Nation peace and prosperity Great-grandfather Soizin wanted to share with the rest of the world. Will you help us to show them Fire Lord Soizin’s true vision?” Zuko asked once again using patriotism as a way to enlist help for the people of the Earth Kingdom.
It was all Bong Cha could do not to laugh. It was true they had suffered, needed to do laundry, and that the Waterbender did provide liquid that needed to be boiled before use, but the rest of it was the most telling lie she had ever seen. The moment the prince strayed from the truth his right nostril flared and his left eyebrow began twitching. No truer child of Ursa had ever been born.
She bowed to conceal the smile creeping across her face, “Yes my prince, I will be delighted to share the vision of peace and prosperity Fire Lord Soizin wished to share with the world by providing a means for these Earth citizens to do laundry. Is there anything more I can do to share your honorable great-grandfather’s vision?”
Zuko’s mouth dropped. He hadn’t expected her to agree so easily or to ask that question.
Katara was quicker on her feet. She bowed, “My prince, please forgive the interruption. Lady Bong Cha, if you do not mind me asking; once the water is finished do you mind locating suitable escorts to and from the Ursa House? Prince Zuko has graciously asked that everyone who needs to go be taken but he is a man. He does not understand that some things must be done for women by women or else it will feel like preparation and not the solace and restoration it is meant to be.”
“Lady Katara I would be honored,” Bong Cha replied repressing another smile - at least this child knew to keep a lie simple and not to tell one that she herself could not believe in.
Katara completed several houses then went back to the hotel. Bong Cha informed her that the water had been twice boiled and the hotel owner’s wife had given them laundry soap after learning what she was doing.
Katara began moving the water then added the detergent before addressing the group, “If you put your clothes in here I will wash them.”
They all looked at her and clutched their meager belongings tighter.
“It’s not a trick. No harm will come to them or you. I know what it’s like to travel and put on the clothes you’re carried throughout your journey. It seems like no matter how clean they start out, how carefully you pack them or beat them before you put them on the road dust stays in them until they get a proper washing. Let me do this for you. Please.” Katara implored.
“Why so you can ease your guilty conscience? No thank you. I’d prefer to dress in filth,” one of the women called out. Several others murmured in agreement.
“Fine, what about your children? Don’t they deserve clean clothing?” Katara asked.
“They deserve a safe place to live! We had that in Ba Sing Se before you gave it to the Fire Nation you traitor!” another screamed.
An older woman who remembered seeing the Avatar’s group at the ferry station and riding with Zuko on the train took another approach. She had heard Zuko and Iroh speaking of a fresh start. She knew the Avatar’s group had come to Ba Sing Se to look for the bison. She didn’t really know what was going on between the Waterbender and the Prince of the Fire Nation but she had lived long enough to recognize desperate and confused children when she saw them. These two were pitiful and trying to do the right thing.
She gathered her belongings as well as those of the children she was watching and dumped them in the steaming water, “I’m old, I’m tired and I should be at home resting. If this Fire Nation conspirator wants to scrub my dirty drawers than by Hou-T’u and my aching back I’m going to let her!”
Several others dumped their clothes in the water after seeing the wisdom of that outburst. Katara bit her lips to keep from smiling as she used both hands to agitate the water in different directions to clean their garments. The old woman had winked conspiratorially in her direction. There was at least one person who still trusted her.
Zuko scowled but did not say anything when the hotel owner marched her son into the laundry room and told him to get to work. He picked up a shepherd’s crook and walked to the pool. He stood a few feet away from Katara then moved farther away but still where she was not in his direct line of sight when Zuko glared at him. Under the watchful eye of the prince and his mother he fished the clean clothes out of the water and hung them outside to dry.
After all of the refugees’ laundry was washed Katara lifted the water and carried it the short distance to the community garden. Min-Sik was waiting for her. The Earthbender nodded in her direction and created a large holding tank for the water.
“Can you make it bigger? And put another one over there?” Katara said pointing to the end of the field Zuko had burned. “I’ve filled the containers you brought earlier and I still have several homes to visit tonight. I want to help you save as much water as possible while I’m here.”
Zuko placed his hand on her back when he noticed the direction she was looking. She was staring at the barracks and biting her lip. “They’ll be careful Katara. They know that water is a precious resource this close to the desert.”
She couldn’t tell him what she wanted to. She’d seen how well they took care of their own nation and their own people. They destroyed a lake as beautiful as the one in Jang Hui; she knew they’d happily use all the water here. Katara nodded and smiled sadly at him, “Let’s finish this and go find Amayu.”
Min-Sik watched as the Fire Nation prince obediently followed the Waterbender; despite his so called retirement the former combat analyst could not help but to wonder what it meant.

Kain: Thank you so much for your feedback. Real life tends to have a tendency to do that. My issue is at the opposite end, gotta love clumsiness induced concussions. <insert eye roll>
You are exactly right about Zuko and Katara’s relationship at this point. They are two drowning souls holding onto each other. I was beginning to wonder if I was not choosing the right words, character portrayals or scenarios to convey that instead of making people think that Katara had just given up. She hasn’t and as you mentioned she knows she really isn’t in a good position to fight. Sokka is the healthiest he’s been in months but they’re still in a town in the desert while Appa is in the car of the veterinarians who stayed with the ship.
As for the updates my muse is doing a better job of plot bunnies wrangling so the writer’s block keeping them in town is slowly but surely being chipped away.
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Borealis: A Zutara Story