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Borealis: A Zutara Story	By : jaded_priceless Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > AU/AR - Alternate Universe/Alternate Reality Views: 33555 -:- 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 270
Katara was sitting on the couch with Zuko when someone knocked on the door. She opened it and saw the Zhao twins on the other side. Zhao 2 lowered his head but Zhao 1 spoke, “Chu-hua sent us away. She said the act of punishing traitors was not one to be witnessed by children. May we come in?”
She stared mutely but Zuko put his hand on the small of her back and opened the door, “You may, but where is Natsumon and the girl? We should be able to see parts of it from here. They need to see and know what we do.”
Zhao 1 nodded quietly then looked at his younger brother, “I’ll go. Jun, go inside and be still. You do foolish things when you are upset.”
Zhao 2 obediently walked in, sat then stared at the floor he was sitting on. After several minutes he turned towards Katara, “Do you hate me?”
Katara swallowed thickly before replying, “Yes. I hate you as much as I hate Zuko.”
He closed his eyes and thought for a few moments before speaking again, “If Zuko had never been violent towards you and had only treated you with kindness would you hate him any less having seen and lived through the alternative?”
Katara shook her head, “It doesn’t matter why or how, it’s still wrong to force yourself inside another’s body. There is no justification for making another person feel like that.”
Zhao 2 smiled sadly, “I wish I lived in a world that would allow me to believe that. You’ve been inside the Ursa House and seen what was done to those women and children but your morals have not been tainted. I wish I was still a child and there was enough innocence left inside me to think as you do.
“I wish I had never seen and done the things that tell me no matter how wrong it is and how much I know that I am still hurting her, I am also doing her a favor. I wish I did not know that men could be so cruel or all the ways that a woman could be hurt. I wish it was not a source of pride to know that I have never drawn blood or bruised her,” he lowered his head and paused as his voice began to break, “I wake up every day wishing I wasn’t so fucked up. I wish so very much that I did not grow up the way I did, see the things I saw and do the things I have done. I wish I was still a child and had innocence. I wish I still saw the world in terms of clear right and wrong instead of not right but better than. I wish I had never been born and the evil in this world was something that I never knew.”
Qiaolian paused outside the door; she too wished that she had never seen or done the things she’d been forced to do. Or that her mother’s practicality had not been passed onto her. In addition to her daily food and water Jianjun would often bring her flowers and other trinkets, sometimes several times a day. He always held her hand as he led her from the whore’s gallery. He would come for her even when it was not his allotted time for personal recreation just to give her the opportunity to stretch her legs and enjoy being outside. Many times he would take her on walks through the city or they would eat in a nearby meadow. When they did go to the foul smelling room during his scheduled time it was always clean and there was always enough warm water for her to bathe in private. Most days they’d play cards, have literary debates, or he’d lay his head in her lap and ask her to recite poetry. On the days they did have sex he’d kiss every inch of her skin as he slowly undressed her then whisper the sweetest promises as he gently pulled her to him. He always gave her pleasure before taking his own then showed enough care to always withdraw before ejaculating even though he wore an animal skin. He somehow managed to steep contraceptive tea whose taste wasn’t completely unpleasant that he would serve to her as if she were some great lady and he was a loyal vassal.
She wished she did not know the boy who’d first seen her performing the vilest acts imaginable but still treated her so very kindly was not telling the truth. She wished with all of her heart she had never lived through the hell that made her grateful for his gentle but unwanted touch. She had been bloodied and bruised by men who thought nothing of spewing their disgusting filth on her, inside her or onto the floor then making her lick it up. She knew that no matter how much she hated Jianjun, she appreciated the fact he treated her like a precious girlfriend rather than a whore. Unlike the naïve Waterbender, she knew the Fire Nation boy spoke the truth about doing her a favor. She waited for him to stop speaking to knock on the door not really caring his twin would tell him that she heard everything later. She turned to look at Ming, the older girl looked ill.
Qiaolian asked her, “Knowing these things are you regretting your earlier offer?”
Ming shook her head then lowered her eyes to the floor, “You were right to call me a whore. I’ve done something I’m not proud of. Do you wish to disown me as your brother’s mother?”
Qiaolian and Zhao 1 both pretended not to notice Natsumon’s guilty expression. It was all too easy to guess what had transpired between the two of them to make the Fire Nation soldier who refused to sink to the level of his comrades all so eager to marry a woman who seemed uneasy in his presence and offered no encouragement.
“I’ve always wanted an older sister. I have, had, two but getting to know them was impossible,” Qiaolian responded, “I think it is better that I adopt you. I always felt inferior to the children of Father’s wife but with you I feel comfortable. I suppose it’s because we’re both flawed in certain aspects.”
A look of relief crossed Ming’s face, “I’m glad. Auntie has never said anything but I could tell she was disappointed in my actions and afraid I’d be a bad influence on Jin. It’s gotten worse since-”
Ming fell silent as the door opened. Qiaolian stepped into the room after the prince invited them in. She was unable to hide her expression of surprise at the plainness and normality of the room. True it was a shitty hotel in a backwards city but he was prince. Other than a crown laying sideways on the dresser and three large trunks there were no signs of royalty or opulence.
Zuko noticed her glance and replied, “I’m sorry it’s messy. We left in a hurry this morning and weren’t expecting company. Have a seat, make yourselves comfortable. I’m sorry there’s not any food or something to offer you. We have water.”
“You never offer us food when we come over,” Mu protested from his pallet on the floor.
“That’s because I know how much you eat,” Zuko deadpanned. “You should be bigger than the building by now.”
“Chasing after animals is a lot of exercise. It takes a lot to maintain my stamina,” Mu pouted.
“That’s not what your wife said!” Both Zhao’s called raucously.
“I was a child. Boys don’t get taught those things as early as girls do. How was I supposed to know that’s what it was for or what we’d been doing?” Mu said defensively, “Did she tell you about the first time she gave a blow job? I hurt for a week she blew much air into it. Who knew an eight year old had such strong lungs.”
“Eight?” Everyone who had not grown up with him shrieked.
“Well yes, we didn’t know what we were doing. Her older sister had just married my older brother and all we knew was that they sounded like they were having a lot of fun at night. We hid in the closet so see what they were playing and found what we thought was their book of wrestling moves. It really wasn’t much fun then. It was gross and kind of icky until we turned 12. Then it got to be fun; really, really fun,” Mu explained wistfully.
Mu was still smiling as he asked, "Did you know that strong lungs have incredible suction or that being able to kick someone standing behind you in the back of the head with the top of your foot comes in really handy in the bedroom? My wife is awesome. And when I’m sick and don’t feel good she lays my head on her chest, puts her nipple in my mouth and sings while she holds me as if I were baby just to make me feel better, kinda like you did Zuko after his second surgery. Man I’m such an ass for saying all those terrible things to you Katara. I know how much the two of you want babies, so after Quannie and I have one to keep we’ll give you the second one. I know you’ll be a really great mom to it. Maybe having a child to raise will help you realize how much you care for Zuko even thought he’s been a real piece of shit to you, not a big one that seems like it’s never going to stop coming but one of those little hard ones that get stuck and cause you all kinds of problems because it doesn’t want to fall out or go back up-”
“What do you know, they do have food,” Zhao 2 said coming to everyone’s rescue by removing a mostly bare stew-bone from an unwashed pot and shoving it in his friend’s mouth, “Shut up and eat it.”
“Mumpf, gish ith grud,” Mu mumbled as he immediately began gnawing a piece of gristle that was clinging to the end. “Fuu crooked dis?”
“Katara, did,” Zuko stammered while staring a blushing Waterbender. His voice trailed off and he kneeled in front of Katara, “She cooked everything…all of my food since I was injured. And she fed me.”
He placed his hand on her cheek and whispered a question to which he already knew the answer, “Did you really do that?”
She blushed and tried to turn away but the hand on her cheek wouldn’t let her.
“Is that why I was able to sleep so soundly and recover so quickly, because you actually nursed me?” Zuko whispered.
Katara put her hands on his shoulders and tried to push him away but he placed both hands around her waist and hugged her, “Thank you; I don’t think I thanked you for keeping your promise and not letting me die. I thought I did. Everything went black but I heard you calling my name. I knew I couldn’t leave you. I love you too much to ever leave you.”
Katara lowered her head to his shoulder, using it to hide her face so she wouldn’t see the people looking at her and they couldn’t see her either.
Zuko leaned back slightly so he could look at her, “Don’t hide, there’s no need to be ashamed, Katara, you are my wi-” a loud crack kept him from revealing what he’d been hiding these past months.
Everyone turned to the source of the noise, Mu had cleaned the bone, bitten it open and was now dipping his fingers into the marrow and licking them. He barely looked away from his food and spoke between finger fulls, “Don’t mind me, I want to finish this off before we go up on the roof and show them a good old fashioned Fire Nation lynching. Nothing like seeing people turn albino-catgator on their friends to ruin an appetite.”
He scrubbed all four fingers down the ridge of the now empty bone then slurped then before wriggling them and speaking, “Hey Katara, can you hose these off before we go to the roof? My fingers are slippery. Quannie will kick my ass if I manage to fall off. She’s violent.”
He smirked lecherously then added, “Sometimes it’s scary.”
Katara lifted her hand and the remaining dregs of stew rose from the pot, collected around the empty bone then slowly congealed, “Why don’t you eat a little more and forget about going to the roof.”
Mu shook his head and mumbled around the bone, “bunff davts zwear da grud foo ift.”
“Keep eating, we’ll carry you,” the Zhao twins replied in unison.
“And I’ll help,” Qiaolian offered, revealing her bending for the first time as she lifted the floor and made an opening in the ceiling without stopping until they were safely on the roof.
Zhao 2 stared dumbly at her as she went back down for the others; he had not known she was an Earthbender. He turned slowly to his brother, “Aniki, I’m going to marry her.”
The older twin smacked his brother lightly on the back of the head, “Don’t be a dumbass, Dumbass. You have to get her to like you first.”
Seeing the dejected look on his younger brother’s face Zhao 1 grudgingly added, “Mom and Sis would definitely approve.”
“What about Granny and Aunue?” Zhao 2 questioned as he elbowed his brother already knowing the reply.
“They’d have to fight her first,” the older twin replied.
Both brothers turned to each other and chuckled, “All it would take to please Jingfei is big mudhole to play in and getting cleaned up without bathing.”
The brothers were still laughing at their younger Firebending sister’s fondness for dirt when everyone else came up. Zuko was clinging to Katara with his eyes closed. Ming was holding on to Qiaolian and smiling as Natsumon clutched his belly.
The Fire Nation soldier sunk down to the non-moving ground and asked, “How are you two laughing? Nothing can be that funny.”
He wasn’t sure which twin began speaking first, “Our little sister…”
“…Jingfei…”
“…She’s eight and loves to play in the mud…”
“…But hates it when Mom…”
“…And Granny scrub her…”
“We were just saying she’d like Qiaolian.”
Zhao 1 smiled sadly, “My boyfriend’s nephew is an Earthbender, when they were two he introduced her to the joys of playing in dirt. He was skilled enough to get it back off and reduce the time they had to be washed. Do you remember how mad she got when Granny just picked her up and put her in the laundry tub, clothes and all, to scrub her?”
The younger twin laughed, “I still don’t think she’s truly forgiven her for that.”
“Why would being washed make your sister so angry?” Qiaolian asked perplexed, as a child she’d always loved baths.
“Granny is an Earthbender. She flat out refused to snatch the dirt off. She used two bars of soap washing her,” Zhao 2 replied.
“I didn’t know they had Earthbenders in the Fire Nation,” Ming commented.
“They don’t. We grew up in here; in the Earth Kingdom,” Zhao 1 replied.
“If it was up to us, we would have never left,” Zhao 2 added.
“So why did you?” Qiaolian retorted.
Zhao 1’s voice grew cold and he frowned at her, “You are not the only one whose life has been affected by their father’s choice of careers. I would give anything to be in your shoes even if it meant being hunted to the ends of the earth and dying miserably. Unlike us, you have a kind father and know he actually loves you.”
“Gou!” Zhao 2 said harshly while grabbing his brother’s arm. His grip tightened then loosened when they heard the screams. His hand slid slowly down his brother’s arm and his fingers wrapped around his hand. He closed his eyes and whispered, “It has begun.”
Mu and Zuko moved to their sides and each linked hands with one of the twins not caring that others were staring at them.
“Katara,” Zuko said extending his free arm, “Come here, you don’t want to see or hear this. It will be worse than what you saw from the window.”
Katara looked over her shoulder toward the noise. The screams had gotten louder but she still didn’t see anyone. She turned back towards Zuko then stepped forward into his arms. She was still curious at what she was missing but seeing Zuko, huddled with Mu and the Zhaos was very convincing - all four were trembling.
By the time the outdoor potion of the punishment was over the entire group was sitting; most had thrown up. Natsumon was thigh to thigh against Mu with Ming crying softly against his chest. Qiaolian sat behind Zhao 2. Her head rested against his shoulder and her hand clung to the back of his twin’s tunic. There were times when Jianjun took her that the shorter broader boy would be in the room. He never touched her, only his brother. He would hold his hand while sitting fully clothed in a small chair next to them. He was the real reason Qiaolian was willing to believe her abuser’s words about wishing to protect her. Her already gentle abuser would become impossibly tender on the days his twin quietly sobbed in broken Earth Nation, “Show me there can still be something good in this world between two people. Show me it isn’t just the ugliness we’ve endured.”
The two of them had also been abused, otherwise Jianjun would not cry softly against her shoulders as his twin slumped forward and cried against his.
Katara sat quietly in Zuko’s lap. She had watched. She had watched everything that had been done to those men and women. It had been presented like a sporting event with an opening and closing to each part to allow for teams to be chosen and for individual participants to select an order. Chu-hua had warned her. She had said Zuko had committed to treason to protect her for warning her people. He had allowed her to let their enemies escape, enemies who had hurt and killed Fire Nation soldiers, but for her sake Zuko allowed them to live. Katara’s arms tightened around him as the full weight of his actions settled onto her. Zuko allowed her to live and her brother to live knowing that if he were caught this would be done to him.
She had seen people running the gauntlet on stumps and broken limbs while their former comrades standing in a row on either side hurled stones and struck them with weapons. This was after they’d been free-banded - their feet spread apart and bent forward so their wrists and ankles were banded to stakes in the ground. If they managed to get free before the soldiers riding eelhounds and basilisk lizards zigzagging around them finished cutting off their clothes they could go free. None of them managed to free themselves. Several lost limbs as people unaccustomed to wielding swords bore down on them on fast moving animals. Cuts deemed life threatening were immediately cauterized by benders who didn’t belong to the medical corp.
Katara learned free-banding was not an end itself. It was a precursor to the rapes. The size and skill of the cut determined who went in which order on which person. Two men bled to death; rape was an equal opportunity sport the perpetrator did not have to be male and penetrating object was not required to be a penis. Next came gourd peeling; those still living were tied to stakes and the other soldiers were given knives and blindfolded. The object of the game was to see who could cut the most hair off. Zuko had explained that baldness was a symbol of shame which is why he’d cut his hair as a fugitive. The jackpot was given to a soldier who’d accidentally gouged out his former superior’s eye.
Those who survived that were treated to a game of polo. This time komodo rhinos were used. They were not dexterous enough to weave around the human obstacle course but they were strong enough and heavy enough to charge right through a person running for their lives while riders swung clubs at them. A new match was started each time someone was decapitated. The soldiers got off the rhinos and teams were chosen. Points could be obtained by rolling the severed head beneath the bodies of those who’d died while free-banded or against the bodies scattered around the field. The game was called when a team managed to roll the head onto the neck from which it had been severed.
It reminded her of a game she’d played as a child, penguin waddling. They’d roll a large snowball to use as the egg, and place it inside their nest. The nest and egg had to be protected from marauding penguins wishing to steal your egg or place their egg in your nest. The game was played with only the feet. The hands were held at the waist and the elbows could be used to push away opponents. Unlike their games which ended when their parents called them home, these games ended when there were no longer any heads or chunks of flesh capable of rolling. Champions for each event were declared and the tortures ended with a victory ceremony. Winners were allowed to choose valuables from what Katara guessed had been the traitors’ possessions - not all of them had been inanimate.
Natsumon had wept openly as the dismembered parts were carefully gathered then thrown into multiple cars, “They don’t even honor the bodies. They are scattered in eleven different directions and buried in shallow graves. Their spirits will not even have comfort. They will remain here; earthbound, forever tattered never being able to find peace in the realm of Agni. Their families will never see them again and they will never be able to see their families.”
Zuko’s arms tightened around her as the oldest among them said that. Katara ran her fingers through his hair and pressed her face against his; having spent time with Zuko on his mother’s recent birthday she knew this punishment extremely cruel and excessive. The Fire Nation belief in Kali’s mercy was unshakable. Zuko had told her that when he hugged Azula that morning, she had smelled faintly of grass and he had seen a blade in the back of her hair. She had gone to see their mother too.
“We should go in now. Chu-hua and the others will be coming back soon,” Katara stated somberly.

Arraye: You are right, Qiaolian is rather strong. She’s older and grew up the child of a mistress in a large metropolis. She isn’t as naïve and innocent as Katara. She understands doing what is necessary to survive doesn’t make her a bad person.
Sing Se isn’t necessarily looking for a new master but rather a better pathway to accomplish her goals. She’s always put her city first and the Fire Nation royal siblings are a means to an end. Getting on Azula’s good side and letting the princess think she’s loyal to her gives her the leeway to do what she can to covertly protect Ba Sing Se and its citizens. She is seeing that Zuko is kinder. He actually cares about others unlike Azula. If she were to give him the information that she gives to Azula she will be able to do more to help her beloved city.
Ozai did get the first letter from Azula; others have mysteriously disappeared.
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Borealis: A Zutara Story