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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 229
Warning: Mention of Minor1 rape
Zuko locked the door behind her. Akesato had warned him of the dangers of pursuing information about his family but he never expected to learn his grandfather had fathered children with his own half-sibling. That practice fell out of fashion several centuries back and was outlawed by some ancestor rumored to have only had ugly sisters. Incest was one of the few sexual relationships that was forbidden in their nation but his grandfather had…
He looked towards Katara unsure of what to say but her back was to him. She was placing the bones they’d gotten from the butcher in the larger pot his wife had given him.
“Will you start a fire and chop these vegetables?” she asked quietly setting some of them and the cutting board Min-Sik had made for them on the coffee table.
Zuko nodded. Katara did always have a way of making him see the sense in things. It was no point wondering about his grandfather, half-great aunt, and double cousins when there was work to be done. He started the fire and saw that Katara had arranged the fireplace so a small bit of fuel would warm the stock pot she’d placed at the back of the fire place while leaving a place for the wok. He hadn’t even noticed her going in that direction.
He was more mindful of her than his own fingers as began chopping the vegetables. She was grinding the liver and the seasoning using the mortar and pestle the carpenter had made for them. She then poured a small amount of oil in the wok and added most of the vegetable chunks. Once they had softened she removed them and placed them inside the mortar with the liver mix. She ground them together then placed the paste inside the wok before slowly stirring in water until it was the consistency of a thin broth. Once it simmered to a thicker consistency she added the remaining vegetables and a few thin slices liver she had not ground.
They ate in silence. Once the dishes were washed Katara sat on the floor intending to meditate while they waited for Amayu. Yue had warned her to not interfere but sitting idly by knowing a child was being molested disturbed her. She found the fact that she wasn’t as upset by this as she was when she learned of Ching Mei’s assault even more troubling. It bothered her that she had seen and heard things in the palace, on their journey, and in this village that made what that man, Shinji, was doing to that little girl not as terrible as it should have been. Asami had hurt Ching Mei because he wanted to. Shinji was doing it because he considered it a mercy after the things that had been done to him; things that he had done to his own children. Her father and uncle had almost come to blows because Uncle Mahk bumped into her and called her a clumsy turtleseal and told her to watch where she was going instead of apologizing. Her father backed down after a soft-spoken admonishment from their mother, “Hakoda, Katara is our daughter. You cannot expect a man to treat another’s child better than he treats his own children.”
Shinji the pervert was going things to that girl that he had done to his own children. The little girl whose mother had begged her for help was kicking and screaming trying to get away from him. The child was too young to know exactly what would happen only that he wanted to do something bad to her; things that he had done to his own beloved children. Katara slapped her forehead for rationalizing his actions hoping to knock some sense back into herself. She had seen women being raped in the streets after the battle and she knew it was the reason Zuko had turned her head and covered her eyes when they walked past certain alleys.
She couldn’t allow herself to grow numb to Fire Nation atrocities. She had already hit Jin when the girl made her angry. She didn’t realize it had happened until she felt her palm stinging. The noblewomen at the palace and in the markets thoughtlessly slapped their servants now she was doing the same thing. She had threatened to kill Jin in front of her mother; a part of her felt good while doing so. She had seen soldiers threatening the families throughout her travels before and after her capture. It had always disgusted her but the look of fear in their eyes had made her feel powerful. She could not allow herself to become further indoctrinated into Fire Nation ways and accepting of their lifestyle. This was wrong.
Katara was remembering her home, family, and reminding herself of the morals they taught her when Zuko sat beside her and laid his head on her shoulder. The way his hair flopped forward against her the side of her face and neck and his warm puffs of breathe tickled her shoulders reminded her of her grandfather’s pet. It too was large and seemed to forget its true place as it curled against the much smaller people in her family wishing to cuddle. She chuckled fondly at the memory.
“What’s funny?” Zuko asked wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her closer.
She petted his head, “Wrish-wrish.” The sound was made with two short exhalations of breath between her teeth. “He was my grandfather’s pet monster. One of my older cousins named him when he was two. Sangilak was trying to say ‘Wolf-Wolf’ but it came out Wrish-Wrish. He was half wolf and half polar bear dog. He had teeth like a wolf but the size and claws of a polar bear dog. He was humongous but had the personality of a cat-lemming.”
When she saw how Zuko was frowning she said, “Imagine if Korhi had Appa’s fur, the body and head of a dog and claws like a shirshu or badgermole.”
Zuko’s face twitched as he imagined the animal, “Wow that is huge. What’s a cat-lemming?”
“Cat-lemmings are house pets. They’re smaller than a regular cat and more affectionate. Wrish-Wrish was always trying to crawl into our laps and be petted as though he were tiny,” Katara smiled softly a Zuko, “You remind me of him at times.”
Zuko tilted his head to look up at her, “I remind you of a wolf-bear-dog?”
“A cat-lemming-wolf-bear-dog,” Katara corrected. “You look so ferocious but can be really sweet at times. I forget that you are what you are and always end up get bitten because of it. I raise my defenses and start expecting the worse but then you do something to make me forget how dangerous you are and how much you’ve hurt me then I want start cuddling and playing with you again. Wrish-Wrish wasn’t bad. He was just big, so much bigger than us children and wild. We weren’t supposed to play with him because Grandfather and Grandma knew we’d get injured and Wrish-Wrish would be the one to suffer for it. He had this way of looking at us that made us feel sorry for him so we’d sneak away and play with him again.”
“So what happened?” Zuko asked hearing the sadness in her voice.
“My grandfather had to put him down. We were all playing and he bit off my cousin’s finger. It was an accident but the week before that he’d stepped on another cousin and made her have an asthma attack. He’d almost suffocated Sokka while holding him down licking him,” Katara adjusted her shirt and showed him the parallel scars on her side he’d often seen but never asked about, “He gave me these when I was four. He was running up to me and pushed me down. At the deepest puncture you could see my ribs.”
“Wrish-Wrish was at that stage where he was still a puppy but had reached his adult size. They knew these were all accidents. After it he hurt one of us he’d lick our wounds and whimper trying to make it better. Our parents were afraid as that as he got older and his playfulness left we’d really be injured. We followed Grandfather when he led Wrish-Wrish away thinking he wouldn’t kill him in front of us. He did it anyway.”
Katara looked up at Zuko and stopped ruffling his hair. She let her fingers slide down his face as brought her hand to rest on his chest, “My grandfather told us to let it be a lesson. He apologized to us and told us to never forget that no matter how much we loved Wrish-Wrish and he loved us nothing could change the fact polar bear dogs and wolves should be left in the wild. The true nature of a thing can never be changed; attempting to do so is painful for all those involved and in the end someone pays the ultimate price.”
Katara shifted so that she was facing Zuko and their faces were side by side, “He loved Wrish-Wrish and he loved us. He said he would rather it be the abandoned pup he handfed than one of us.”
Zuko didn’t have to ask what she meant by that story. He was Fire Nation there were certain ideals instilled in him and the all of his people from birth which lead them to view the world in way differently from other nations. He was slowly starting to see the folly in many of those beliefs only because of his mother and uncle’s wisdom but there were still some things Katara felt strongly about that would never make sense to him. He also knew exactly what she was referring to about intentional and unintentional injuries. He’d given so many of both to her but he decided to question that aspect anyway, “Katara, what if you were older and Wrish-Wrish were older. Do you think time would have lessened the number of injuries and you would have been better able to understand the other’s intentions?”
“Wrish-Wrish was an animal, animals don’t have intentions. They have instincts, needs and urges. You are not an animal. You are a person. I am not sure if enough time will ever pass for me to truly understand your intentions,” Katara replied seeing the hidden question Zuko had asked of her.
“I’m not entirely stupid or too naïve to understand what Bong Cha was saying Zuko. I know that right now I have no choice but to depend on you. What terrifies me is what happens later. What happens after all this is over? What happens if my father doesn’t find us? What happens to Sokka if we haven’t escaped in a year and that message doesn’t make it to your father? What happens to Aang if we lose the war? What happens to me? Even if I do kill you and we win the war what happens to me? You’ve seen the way my brother looks at me. If Sokka doesn’t trust me, who will?
“If we lose and I’m stuck in the Fire Nation what happens to me? What happens if Azula becomes Fire Lord? What happens to me if you become Fire Lord? What happens if the war progresses in the same manner and it takes years for either side to gain ground? How long will I have to do this to protect my brother and Aang? What happens if that day comes and I-” Katara finished the sentence in Water Tribe while turning away from Zuko. She brought to her knees to her chest folded her arms on top of them and hide her face.
“What does that mean?” Zuko scooted closer to her, “What does that mean?”
He extended his legs on either side of hers, hugged her against his chest, and laid his head on hers, “What does that mean Katara? Please tell me, what does that mean?”
“It means you are what you become accustomed to. Bong Cha was right Zuko. I won’t be the same person I was once this is over. I have gotten used to you. When I thought you had sold me I missed you. I cried to be reunited with you. It hurt so badly to think you had abandoned me. You terrify me more now than the night I was captured; that night I feared the unexpected. I didn’t know what you would do to me. Now I know what you are capable of. You’ve beaten me, raped me, I’ve carried and lost your child, I know you. I am comfortable sitting beside you, sleeping beside you. I can talk to you and be myself around you. You terrify me. You terrify me far more than your father does,” Katara said quietly.
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Borealis: A Zutara Story