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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 243
Katara thought Zuko had gone back to sleep but that thought was dispelled by the sound of a crash followed by something heavy hitting the floor.
She waited a few moments before cautiously opening the door. Books, towels, a pitcher and basin of water had all been placed on the dresser by the bed so it was likely he had knocked them over. She wasn’t expecting to see him lying on the floor halfway to the restroom in a pool of his own blood and urine. She checked to make sure he was breathing then bended his bodily fluids into the latrine.
Guilt washed over her as she assessed him. He was injured and she ignored him to wallow in self-pity. He had bled so much his bandages no longer had a single white spot on them. Zuko had such a strong sense of pride. He’d been insulted to the point of fury when the doctors suggested the use of a bedpan. It was too close to his childhood shame of wetting the bed. She knew he would be unable to face himself if when he remembered what happened.
Katara lay one of the sheets on the floor beside the tub and poured hot water into the tub. She refilled the pot and placed it back on the fire wishing she had fuel that burned faster. She washed Zuko first with her bending then froze the medicine to his back so he wouldn’t feel it when she drug him across the floor and placed him on the sheet.
She scrubbed the floor first. She didn’t want him to wake up to the scent of urine and see the puddle. He was wearing a pair of shorts over his loincloth; she removed them and washed them next. The water in the pot was taking too long to heat. Katara picked up the bottle of isopropyl alcohol. Amayu had told her the antiseptic was flammable. She poured some out of the bottle and used her bending to catch it in mid-air. Like drinking alcohol it was lighter than water.
Katara searched the bags that had been left for a bottle labeled as ether. Toshio had chastised Amayu for giving the flammable drug to a Firebender. She found one in Amayu’s bag it was half-full. It too was lighter than the water when she poured it. She mixed it with the alcohol and dumped both in the tub. As a safety precaution she pulled Zuko across the room before spreading it evenly across the water and using the torch to set it on fire. She summoned the water that had been heating in the pot and held it so that it floated above the resulting flames. She backed away slowly to put up the torch. Once it was secured she went back to Zuko. He was attempting to sit up. She should have known the Firebender would be woken by the proximity to fire. She lowered the water over it to extinguish the flames before Zuko did something to it in his incoherent state.
“Why am I naked and on the floor?” he groaned clutching his head and attempting to sit, “and why does everything hurt so damn much?”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I wasn’t there when you needed me. I’m so sorry,” Katara sobbed dropping to her knees beside him.
“I’m going to be sick,” Zuko blurted as he listed to the side to vomit. He thought he had imagined wetting himself then tripping and falling in his own fluids but Katara was too apologetic for it to have been a dream.
Katara had forgotten she’d been warned about that particular side effect. When he finished she cleaned it up and helped him back to the tub. She guided water over both their bodies then helped him to get in it. He winced when the water hit his wounds and it took all of Katara’s willpower not to heal them. She knew if she did any lingering infection would be trapped. She lifted the towel and soap, “Zuko I…”
“Just hurry!” he yelled.
Katara quickly and gently washed all but his private areas. She closed her eyes and positioned herself in front of him so he could clean those when he began cursing.
“Zuko?” she called his name softly. He didn’t respond so she parted her eyelids to look up at him.
He laughed harshly, “I can’t reach behind me. My arms are perfectly fine but my damn back hurts so fucking much I can’t reach behind me.”
His laughter turned into choked sobs as Katara did what he couldn’t. She worked in silence completing his bath, drying him, helping him dress, mixing the mint powder with water so he could clean his mouth, dressing his wounds and reapplying his bandages. She gathered the nerve to speak only because she knew he needed nutrients and the antibiotics shouldn’t be administered on an empty stomach.
“I’m not hungry,” he replied angrily.
“But you need to eat,” Katara insisted bringing a bowl of stew to him.
He knocked it out of her hand, “For what? So next time I can shit myself instead of just pissing because you’re having too much fun seeing my misery to keep pretending you want help me?”
Katara yelped in pain. There were tears coming to her eyes as she stepped away from him and ran towards the remaining pitcher of clean water.
“Oh so that hurt? Good!” Zuko yelled at her as he forced himself out of the chair. He leaned heavily on it, then the dresser, and the wall as he made his way towards her, “You can’t heal me but you can heal yourself? Pathetic. You act like…” Zuko stopped when he saw her fumbling with the buttons of the ruined shirt she was wearing. Her hand was red and blistered so was a portion of her arm, leg and foot.
“Katara?”
It was his shirt. She was wearing his shirt. The front was covered in piping hot stew that steamed against the fabric as well as her blistered skin. She knew the temperature at which he liked his food. His hands were steadier than hers as he began working at the buttons exposing skin that had turned a dark red. He stepped away from her not caring that he leaned back first against the wall.
The pitcher didn’t have enough water to heal her burns. Precious time that could have been spent fixing herself was devoted to filtering the bathwater he’d just used before it could be applied to them. She was sweating and whimpering after doing so. She'd forgotten Amayu's warning about the drugs affecting his temper. She shifted the liquid she'd been planning to use to heal herself into a battle stance.
“Katara I…”
She cut him off before he could apologize, “Was it fun? Seeing me hurting from something that would not have injured you fun?”
“No! How could you even ask me that?” he growled defensively.
“The same way you asked me. Seeing you hurting this way, when I’m not the one who caused it is not fun for me either. Earlier you asked if I hated you. I do. I hate you so much, but I’m not a monster like you Zuko. I can’t just sit back and happily watch as you perish. I never thought anything would make me wish I’d been born in the Fire Nation but I was wrong. I wish I was Fire Nation Zuko. I thought it was just the royal family and military leaders but there is something about your people that is inherently cruel. I wish I had been born among them so I would possess the callousness needed to make a sport of your death. I wish I could laugh as I watched you die without feeling a single shred of remorse or one iota of guilt. Just knowing the amount of pain you must be in and that I’m the cause makes me feel bad for even saying I hate you. I hate you. I hate you so much but I can’t help feeling like this is all my fault. This is my punishment; you are my punishment for being so selfish."
“And I thought Azula and Father had the world’s biggest egos. I also thought the person who told me to stop thinking everything was my fault wasn’t stupid enough to do it herself. I guess we were both wrong.”
They were still staring angrily at each other in the same position when the lock turned signaling someone was coming to their room. Katara wrapped Zuko’s shirt around her and did her best to cover up.

It had not taken very long to stabilize his patient but Toshio decided to stay and check the others then waited for his shift to start. Amayu had filled him in on what happened when she reported for duty and asked her to check in on them when he got off. He had planned on doing so anyway but he wasn’t expecting to see the half-naked Waterbender huddled in a corner while Prince Zuko leaned against the wall a few feet away from her. They looked like two injured animals primed and ready to attack.
“Prince Zuko, I am glad you feel well enough to stand but medically it is unwise to do so at this point. Lady Katara I realize this is not my room and I have no authority over you but perhaps he would be less inclined to stand over you if you were more modestly dressed,” the doctor stated diplomatically.
“Leave. Katara is my concubine. I will not allow you to speak to her like that,” Zuko demanded.
“Prince Zuko I apologize if my words were taken out of context. I am merely concerned for your health. But I like Captain Mu do not share my colleague’s blind faith in your prisoner, her abilities or her concern for your health. I will be happy to leave after ascertaining the status of your wellbeing,” Toshio stated bluntly.
“Mu? What does he have to do with anything?” Zuko asked ignorant of what he had said to her earlier.
Katara shook her head when Zuko turned away from her. Toshio had already begun to speak when he registered the action and her meaning. He amended what he was going to say to “Mu simply expressed concerns that in light of the circumstances she may not be the best person to care for you. It is no secret she would have already left you if she were able to free the Avatar and her brother.”
Zuko laughed harshly, “I am well aware of that. The fact is that she hates me but Katara isn’t like us. She was just telling me she wishes she truly were Fire Nation maybe then she could harden her heart to do what most of us wouldn’t think twice about doing to our enemies. She’s too kind hearted and compassionate. No matter how badly she wants to be rid of me, she just can’t leave me helpless on my deathbed unless she’s the one who put me there.”
Zuko took a labored step forward and stroked her cheek and laughed again as she bristled like a cat at the action. “What is it you told me? You wish you could make a sport of my death and laugh as you watched me die without feeling the tiniest amount of remorse and one iota of guilt. Ironic isn’t it, Toshio? How one can possess the royal signet and crown of the most civilized and refined nation on earth but remain too much of a Water Tribe peasant to make sport of death.”
Toshio’s eyes narrowed at the comment “making sport of death.” He had seen the mob earlier and heard the man’s screams. He had come to the infirmary and banged on the door desperate to be let in. The doors had been locked to bar his entrance but one of the apprentices almost opened them. A physician from the man’s division had been the one to stay his hand by explaining, “He tried to rape a woman on the grounds of the Ursa House. He attempted to plead ignorance even though he forced her down next to the sign bearing Lady Ursa’s name. If we attempt to help him, we’ll share his fate.”
The man had run from one end of town to the other. He had banged on both the front and back doors before taking off again. The infirmary was on the same side of the street as the hotel. They were on the second floor. He moved away from the prince and his concubine and noticed the broken bowl and food on the floor as he moved to look out of the window. He could see crushed grass and bloodstains. Toshio walked back to the mess on the floor. Most of it had started to congeal but the middle of the largest pile still contained traces of warmth. He cleaned them up then checked the pots. The one whose contents matched the spilled food had moved away from the direct fire but was still hot enough that he had to raise the temperature of his hand before lifting the lid.
He scanned the room again, the Waterbender was huddled in the corner next to an empty pitcher. She wasn’t wearing the shirt so much as it was wrapped around her as if she had hastily used it to cover herself when he walked into the room. There were large spots on it that matched the stew on the floor. The girl who could heal herself using water had bypassed a larger tub and was cowering in the farthest corner of the room next to an empty pitcher.
He was missing something.
The prince’s hair was not greasy or matted. A wet towel hung over the side of the tub. The pants he was wearing earlier were knee length beach trunks. He was now wearing calf length long breeches. The front of one leg was dotted with brown stains. The Waterbender who could have chosen to leave the room was huddled in the corner like a frightened injured animal and the prince stood over her like an injured predator. It was a waiting game.
Toshio spooned a bit of stew from the pot and tested its temperature as an image of what had happened came to his mind. It was hot but he doubted it was nowhere near the temperature of the bowl the prince had thrown at her. There was no doubt in his mind the Waterbender had witnessed the lynching but he still had no clue what had taken place between her witnessing that and the prince throwing the bowl of hot food.
The doctor walked back over to the other side of the room and maintaining a safe distance from both unstable teenagers. Amayu had been right and saying he should have never given the prince that medication. He should have trusted her instincts about the Waterbender and not given the prince something that would stimulate his mind, increase his heartrate and relieve his pain. The feeling of invincibility and paranoia that came along with it could very well get all of them killed. He should have stuck to a euphoric something to make the prince calm, peaceful, and out of his mind.
Toshio decided to take a gamble had seen how protective Prince Zuko was of the girl and asked the one question he hoped would diffuse the situation, “Lady Katara are you injured?”
Katara eyed the doctor warily. It didn’t make sense that one moment he was saying she shouldn’t be trusted and should not be left alone with Zuko then the next he was asking if she were injured.
“Amayu considers you her patient and also asked me to inquire on your welfare. I would be remiss in my duties if I did not do so,” Toshi explained hoping the mention of the other doctor’s name would calm her. “Lady Katara, are you injured?”
This time the Waterbender nodded.   Zuko frowned at her admission. “You called the water from the tub. I saw you. Why didn’t you heal yourself?”
Toshio continued his assessment, “Can you stand?”
Katara looked at him then Zuko; he was angry. Zuko was angry at her. She deserved it for letting him fall and wet himself but she didn’t deserve to be burned.
“Lady Katara, can you stand?” Toshio repeated.
Katara did not reply. Instead she shaped liquid from the tub into sharpened droplets of ice,   “I won’t let you hurt me. Either of you.”
“Katara why didn’t you heal yourself? Is this some kind of trick to make me eat? Pretend to still be hurt so I’ll feel guilty I pushed away the stew and eat the next bowl?” Zuko snarled.
“I will ask the hotel employees to bring more water Lady Katara. I have no intention of hurting you. Please remain calm,” Toshio said slowly backing towards the door. The hallway was empty. It wasn’t quite lunch time and most of the hotel occupants had duties to attend to. He flared his hands sending flashes of fire in each direction three times using the common military distress call.
Mu was on his way up the stairs to Mai and Ty Lee’s room when he saw the dancing shadows. He asked calmly while drawing his knives, “Is something required?”
“Mu, yes. Thank Agni it’s you. Have the hotel people bring some water. Lots of it, a tub full,” Toshio blurted in relief.
“Why?” Mu asked harshly. “What has that bitch done to him?”
“No, it’s Lady Katara, she’s injured,” Toshio explained.
“She’s injured? But how?” Mu asked as as the sound of arguing and footsteps could be heard rushing up the stairs.
“I’m telling you I saw a signal flare coming from the second floor.”
"Who would signal from the second floor? It's probably just a glare from those strange windows. They're designed to keep the sun out."
Toshio’s eyes widened as he heard the approaching soldiers, “Prince Zuko doesn’t want anyone to know about his condition.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Mu deadpanned pulling out two of his larger knives and angling them so they reflected the incoming sunlight back through the windows at each end of the hall.
“Thank you. I need to get back in there. Those two…”
They heard a loud high pitched yelp of pain and moved toward the room.
“Stupid peasant, why didn’t you tell me how badly the stew burned you?”
There was another yelp and they heard Katara scream “Let go of me!” before she rushed past them out of the room.
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Borealis: A Zutara Story