Borealis: A Zutara Story

Chapter 240

Mu sat in the chair facing Zuko. His face stung where Amayu had slapped him. She had slapped him. Her official job title was physician but Lieutenant Major Amayu was fully capable of performing the combat duties of any soldier who had earned that ranking but she had chosen to slap him.  The woman knew thousands of ways to inflict pain and suffering on the human body and was sometimes called in to consult on the torture of difficult prisoners but she had slapped him.

She slapped him. It was insulting. She slapped him because she wanted him to feel insulted. She slapped him because he insulted the Waterbender. He was a noble.  True he was the second son and his family wasn’t considered to be elite among the elite but he was still a nobleman. That peasant doctor had just slapped him. Slapped him like he was some rival floozy who had made advances towards her man. Slapped. As if he were unworthy of receiving a punch - slapped. She. Had. Slapped. Him.

His father had been the last person to slap him. He was ten and had spoken out of turn. His father had explained that men, real men, are never the recipient of a slap. Floozies and fishwives slap each other as a matter of recourse and it shows their lack of decorum; women slap rakish males whose actions prove they lack the character to qualify as men and children slap each other because they are children.  He was slapped as a matter of correction for disrespecting his mother. His father had explained that if he were older, son or not, he would have been punched in the mouth for what he said as no man was allowed to speak to his wife that way. As he was a child he would be treated like a child.

A swat on the bottom is corrective tool for those who are still learning while a slap to the face is reserved for those who knew they were committing an infraction but thought they were above punishment. A slap is a physical means to deflate a swelled ego. A slap is more insulting than a swat on the bottom as the attack is head on so you are forced to face the consequences of your actions and think of what you did every time you look in the mirror.   A slap is a reminder that you have disrespected yourself in a manner to deserve the gesture. A slap is an indicator that the person striking you sees you as beneath them and it would insult their honor if they were to deliver the punch their actions would have earned a person of higher regard.

Mu was still pondering his father’s words and the humiliating gesture when Zuko began to stir.

“Kah-tah-raah,” Zuko groaned as he opened his eyes searching for the Waterbender. He frowned and squinted when he saw the room’s other occupant, “Mu what are you doing here? Where’s Katara?”

The veterinarian sighed, even though his friend’s words were slurred he understood him, “I brought a message from Dr. Toshio and medicine.”

“Where’s Katara? I’m hungry,” Zuko rasped.

“Katara is not here at the moment,” Mu replied curtly.

“She promised she wouldn’t leave me,” Zuko muttered before closing his eyes. “She left me. She promised she would stay with me.  Mu, why does everyone lie then leave me?”

Mu looked briefly to the medicine packet Toshio had sent and sudden understood why Amayu had not administered another dose of it.  Combined with some of the others he saw in the room it had a depressive effect.  Zuko did not need depressants even though they would most likely provide the most immediate pain relief.

“Mu, I’m thirsty. Get me some water.”

He found a glass and poured some water out of the pitcher for his friend.  He set the cup on the dresser then helped Zuko into seated position.

“It’s hot. Katara cools it for me with her bending. Is she coming back? I want her to read to me,” Zuko said dribbling water down his chin and chest.

Mu wiped him off then rearranged the pillows Zuko had been propped up on. “I’ll read to you.”

“She does voices and sings to me. Where is Katara? She promised to look after me. I should have known she was lying,” Zuko said quietly before turning his head away.

Not sure of what else to do, Mu picked a book and began reading.  He stopped when he noticed movement on the bed and the state of his friend’s bandages.  “Zuko are you hurting?”

“No,” Zuko replied, the lie as obvious as the nose and lips on his face.

Mu took a deep breath; he should have known how Zuko would have answered that question. He’d heard it enough times during their childhood to know that only the weak felt pain and no child of Ozai especially his firstborn son was weak. He decided to try a different approach, “Your bandages are dirty, can I change them?”

“You’re a veta-neb-re-yan. Is that why Katara left me? Because she thinks I’m an animal? Mom and Mai do too,” Zuko mumbled as he buried his face beneath a pillow.

Mu bit his fist, placed his hand on his top-knot and pulled.  This was one of the many reasons he preferred animals. They may have hid signs of weakness and pain as a matter of survival but they didn’t waste time feeling sorry for themselves. “Katara will return Zuko. She will be angry at both of us if she gets back and sees that you didn’t let me take care of you.”

“She will?” Zuko’s voice perked up. “She’ll get mad if I’m not doing well?”

“Yes she will,” Mu replied. “I am certain she will be very angry.”

“Did she leave because she’s mad at me? She told me I shouldn’t have hidden how much my back was hurting from her. She could have fixed it before it got to that point. She confuses me. She hates me but she gets mad when I’m hurt and tries to make me feel better. Katara always tries to make me feel better and doesn’t make fun of me. She wouldn’t do that if she really hated me would she? Mu you’re married, is Quanli this confusing?” Zuko mumbled as he pushed away the pillows to lay flat on the bed.

Mu smiled at the mention of his wife, “Quanli is confusing, but she is also someone I completely understand.”

“I understand Katara. She understands me to. She’s the only person I can talk to about Mom. Her mom’s dead too so she knows…arrrggghhh” Zuko shrieked as Mu yanked off his bandages.

“It’s best to get it over with quickly,” the veterinarian explained as means of apology. He cleaned Zuko’s wounds and covered them with something from his own bag before re-bandaging them.  It was his family’s special medicinal blend which contained a painkiller, antibiotic, and vitamins specially formulated to use on wounded animals to increase the healing rate while not sticking to bandages. It, like all of their medicines, was safe to use on humans.

Feeling better about himself now that he was able to help his friend in some manner he smiled. He patted Zuko’s head like he did when they were children and said, “You will be extremely sleepy once this works its way into your system. Do you need to use the restroom or want something to drink before it kicks in?”

Zuko blinked; his eyelids rose and fell slowly as the narcotic ointment went directly into his bloodstream via his open wounds. He passed out again as his friend counted.

“Thirty, perhaps I should have taken his already weakened state into account and diluted it more for him?” Mu mused as he added more aloe to the jar intending to leave it for Amayu.