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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 272
Unlike the others, Mai slept well that night. Her favorite cousin had been safely returned and she’d been able to work off her anger against those who’d dared to hurt him. She woke shortly after sunrise then woke her sleeping roommate to remind her to check the food before going next door to wake up the twins and Mu. Azula had risen earlier and based the fire burst she could see coming from the meadow, she assumed the princess was sparring with Chu-hua.
As Fan predicted the food ran out after shortly after Mu pried open the second pot. Ty Lee was the one who guessed where he’d left the third pot. She turned her nose towards Sokka, “Water Tribe, come fetch.”
Sokka frowned but followed her outside the room. The acrobat apologized and tucked her hand inside his as soon as the door was closed. He gave her a quick hug and kissed her forehead before knocking on his sister’s door. They didn’t get an answer and Ty Lee remembered she still had a key from when they were injured. She opened the door slowly then stepped into the room. Zuko startled awake immediately but Katara continued to sleep. Sokka turned away citing his lack of hunger and went back to the room where Aang was still being held. He’d seen too much of his sister’s back when Zuko sat up for her to be wearing proper clothing.
A fully dressed but still sleepy Katara stumbled into the room ten minutes later. Zuko walked in behind her carrying the pot of food. Katara curled up on the floor between Sokka and Aang after half eating and being half fed by Zuko. Zuko took a spot between Mu and the Zhao’s then watched her as she slept.
No one answered Aang’s questions of if there had been a festival. He’d heard everything and seen nothing while being chained to wall next to the window. It hadn’t taken long for the tortured’s screams to be overtaken by their tormentor’s laughter.

Mai had been wrong about Azula’s whereabouts. Chu-hua had been sparring with Mung. On her way outside she had seen the princess having the first of many lessons with her great aunt but neither was in the kitchen when she returned. Chu-hua chuckled, Azula had finished her lessons with Bong Cha earlier than Chu-hua thought, or rather Azula had been sent away earlier than Chu-hua anticipated. The older princess had inherited her fair share of the royal temper and Azula had no knowledge of the true nature of her mentor. The admiral wondered if the hotel had any china left as she walked up the stairs, Bong Cha always began her students’ lessons with the fine art of humility and she had smiled upon seeing the grumbling princess washing dishes.
She looked at the crowd in her room and uttered a terse, “Out, all of you. It’s safe, that sly old coot drugged them. None of the troublesome ones will be waking before noon today. Waterbender, go bend water. Mu, go sleep in your cousin’s room. Zhaos, go babysit Zuko. Mai, Ty Lee go put them in the box.”
Despite Chu-hua’s intention to send Mu off with Mai he returned to the room with Katara and Zuko. By the time he and the twins got settled Katara was far more awake than she planned to be. She decided it would be in everyone’s best interest to follow Chu-hua’s advice and retrieve the town’s water before the Fire Nation was missing a prince and the Ursa was missing a veterinarian, a communications officer, and a supply officer.
She had just walked down the stairs when a voice called out to her, “Well, I was wondering where you were hiding and here you are. Might I say you’re looking much lovelier than the last time I saw you.”
Katara stopped short and turned slowly at the sound of that voice. General Mung was coming from around the pillar and now stood between her and the stairs. There were other people in the room, soldiers but none of them had the numerous buttons and stripes to indicate a higher ranking. She took a step back not wanting to take an eye off of him as she slowly made her way towards the door. Mung was faster than he looked; he crossed the room in three steps, cut off her exit and backed her against the wall.
His breath burned her nostrils as he spoke, “Now, Waterbender or shall I call you Painted Lady, now don’t you think that you owe me something since you and your friends were the reason I had to leave my very comfortable home? I raised my daughter in that home. Her name was Lily. She died at the North Pole. She was eighteen and had her whole life ahead of her - a life that you and your kind stole.”
He punched the wall next to her head and yelled, “Don’t you think that you owe me something?”
Katara flinched as his hand settled next to her face and he took another step closer. She jumped when he screamed, “I asked you a question, bitch! Don’t you think that you owe me something for killing my little girl?”
“No, General Mung, she does not. My concubine owes you nothing,” Zuko snarled as he made his way downstairs. He realized Katara was alone when Ty Lee had come back to the room to accompany Katara on her morning chores.
“So that’s why I couldn’t find you, you were spending the time with our little prince,” Mung said derisively. He had been present when the little coward had cried and begged for mercy from the Fire Lord instead of fighting like a man. He stepped closer, Katara could taste his breath and feel the heat radiating from his body as his hand made its way up her thigh, “Wouldn’t you like to have your water boiled by a real man?”
Mung was snatched backwards and slammed face first into the wall before he realized the prince had gotten closer. He craned his neck backwards as fire covered palm flared inches from his face.
The prince’s onion-tainted breath was hot on his skin as he growled, “Dung, Flower. That’s how she introduced herself was it not? Lily Mung was not an interesting name or very pretty face but your daughter was an extraordinary young woman. She was the first to seek me out after learning the reason for my banishment. I will never forget her or that introduction. She was dripping wet having jumped from her ship to swim to mine. Dung, Flower; fertilize. Her goal was to open a Firebending school for girls after she retired. She wanted to give the girls in poor towns like Jang Hui all of the things you were able to give her but that bastard Zhao cut her dream short.
"You are here but your wife is at home in Jang Hui overseeing construction on the Lily Mung Schoolhouse. Didn’t you think it was odd the initial payout happened to match the quoted cost to bring in lumber and builders down to the copper? Or that the monthly pension coming to your home is abnormally high for one so young and low ranking? The building is ahead of schedule and larger than originally planned. I am inclined to think there was to build a dormitory or have I forgotten something?”
Zuko’s raspy voice shook with restrained rage when he stepped away from Mung, “You are lucky, so, so very lucky to have had someone that I respect and owe a debt of gratitude for a daughter otherwise you would already be dead for breathing so close to my concubine.”
Mung turned around slowly as the prince withdrew. He had indeed thought those things but his wife attributed it to the Fire Lord adding the promise her future held when he determined her life’s value. He knew better but he did not have the heart to tell his wife that promising or not a young dead soldier below the rank of Chief Petty Officer was worth 4 coppers a month for half their time of service. He had also left home for that reason. He was a 36 year veteran who had achieved the rank of general. His salary while deployed plus combat bonuses and colonization payouts would be enough to see to his wife’s needs, keep the school open, and save for the day when someone realized the accounting error.
“Prince Zuko, I…” Mung stopped. The prince had his fingers in the Waterbender’s hair and was piling it messily on top of her head. A crown belonging to one the former Water Tribe consorts was secured between his lips. Its final destination was all too clear. The Water Tribe bitch was official but all he could think of was his daughter. His Lily who grumbled about the dirty water of Lake Jang Hui and relished their vacations on Ember Island knew the prince. The prince knew his Lily. He could see her shucking off her armor to jump into the ocean, swim to his ship and then greet him with her bright smile. His Lily. The prince knew his Lily. He knew of her pension. The banished prince knew his Lily and of her overly generous pension…
Zuko managed to corral enough curls to fit inside the diadem place while growling, “From this day on, don’t leave the room without this.”
“I hate wearing this thing,” Katara grumbled as Zuko secured her crown.
“Too bad, I leave you alone for less than five minutes and you see what happens?” he replied gruffly as he wrapped his hand around her wrist and led her out of the door.
They nodded in passing to Chu-hua and Natsumon who were walking in. Mung remained still as a statue staring out of the door at the young prince. He hadn’t? Surely the sniveling little boy was not the person behind the generous payments? And it was a rumor about the 41^st? High Admiral Bujing hadn’t? His former mentor hadn’t been willing to wipeout that many children. Had he?
“Oh Mung, I’ve been looking for you. I should have known I’d find you in the garden. When are you going to build a suitable home for that child?” she asked while glancing at the child playing with others under the watchful eye of her mother.
Chu-hua shoved a set of papers at him, “Natsumon’s transfer - all it needs is your signature to be done.”
After getting no response she shoved the paper at him again, harder, hitting him squarely in the chest and using his military academy nickname, “Hey, Beans, snap out of it old man, play time is over. Get to work.”
Mung’s eyes lowered from the force of the blow. He coughed and looked up at Chu-hua, “You hit abnormally hard for a woman.”
“You’re abnormally distracted for someone who claims to enjoy living,” she replied. “These are the papers for Natsumon’s transfer. All it needs is a signature for you to have him and his sweetly delivered cow hippo shit.”
“Oh yes of course, where is it?” he muttered turning his head to follow the trail of water floating alongside Katara.
“Are you sure you need to be signing this or anything else for that matter? Fan swore your food was untouched,” Chu-hua said suspiciously while peering into the room that held the women.
He snapped out of it when she took a step forward while muttering “wouldn’t be the first time a good man died because he couldn’t resist a certain bitch’s scent”.
“No, Chu-hua, it’s nothing like that,” he said placing his hand on hers before she could draw her sword. “The prince, he knew my Lily. He remembered the name of my little girl.”
Chu-hua nodded as she ordered Natsumon away and motioned for Mung to follow her outside. Once they were away from all ears, Chu-hua placed a hand on her friend’s forearm, “He wept just as loudly as Captain Mu when he learned that she died.”
Mung frowned, Mu was in Lily’s class at the Military Academy and a squad member from the 41^st. He was one of the soldiers Chu-hua had brought back from the North Pole. As far as he knew the boys hadn’t been in contact until the Prince returned from his banishment. Niu, Mu’s father and another old friend of theirs, had said Mu barely remembered going to the pole. “How would you-?”
Chu-hua raised an eyebrow, “Do you really want to finish that question or hear my honest answer?”
“No, I suppose I do not,” Mung replied. Chu-hua was a very honest and very well connected person. Her family was rumored to have dirt on every Fire Lord. He had seen men kill themselves after learning one of the secrets she effortlessly held.
Mung thought for a moment then spoke, “Lily’s monthly pension is 47 golds, 24 silvers and 18 coppers. Why do you suppose he feels my daughter is worth so much?”
She clapped him on the shoulder not much gentler than she’d hit him earlier, “Now that I can tell you, Zuko has always doubted himself. From the time he was born up until now he has questioned his place in the world and whether or not he was worthy of filling it. In spite of his doubts, Zuko thinks big. His failures are not due to the fact that he is incapable or inept it’s that he wishes to conquer dragons while naked and carrying a slingshot. Azula is the exact opposite. She also thinks big but she carefully plans for each step and masters it before moving forward. Success often attributed to her sheer genius is also due to her meticulous nature and work ethic. I’m sure you’ve heard that Azula crawled at five months and walked at nine but Zuko didn’t learn how to walk until he was two.”
Mung nodded.
Chu-hua continued, “That tale is common among our people. Zuko’s heard that all of his life, his younger sister walked at nine months but he walked at two. What few people fail to realize and what fewer have told him is that he never crawled nor walked but at thirteen months he suddenly began to run. Walking was a step backwards for him. The desire to tackle things head on that he is not ready for, not ineptitude or inability is the true source of his many failures. The boy still wishes to run without knowing there are other things that must be accomplished first.
“Lily is one of the first people outside of his inner circle to show she believed in him. He values her so much because of the great lengths she took to show her undying faith to him. The amount is not random. She swam to his boat on the 47^th day of his banishment, during that three year period their paths crossed 24 times, 18 is the age at which she died. The first time Zuko and Lily met he was struggling to regulate his Breath of Fire. One of the reasons he holds her in such high regard is because he never felt as if she were talking down to him or made him feel inept after witnessing struggle with something so basic, something most of his teachers including Iroh and myself have done.”
Mung frowned; the breath of fire was a basic Firebending lesson. Coward or not he’d seen the boy’s power at the Royal Academy’s Exhibition day. The prince’s bending was wild and sloppy but no one could detract from the size and heat of his flames. “But the exhibition…”
Chu-hua shrugged, “I just told you that boy is ass-backwards. The only reason it was done outside that year was so no one would notice our little prince could not control his flames. Lily is the one who able to put him on the proper path of control. I am told her exact words were to ‘to inhale slowly, taking in all the air he could, then exhale as if he wanted to take his time and savor the slow roasting of Bujing’s pompous ass’. Iroh says he was much easier to train after that and each of her visits. Apparently she taught him something each time she saw him, nothing big, only basic fundamentals of Firebending that he’d struggled with since he was a child and that Iroh was unable to pound into him. In some of Iroh’s more difficult moments he even considered having Lily reassigned to the Albatross not caring if it ruined her future just to get a break from teaching Zuko. Can you imagine the man who shaped the idiot brigade into military elite was ready to give up on his own nephew?”
Mung shuddered; he had met Chu-hua, Niu, Liang, Zhen-Fu, and Chan during basic training. They had the misfortune of being taught by a Prince Iroh who’d returned home to recover from battle injuries. He decided teaching would be the best way to make himself useful during his recuperation. All those who survived his lessons had earned their names in the history books as a direct result of his relentless instruction.
As if reading his mind Chu-Hua smirked, “Our Master firmly believes he would have much more hair if Zuko hadn’t given him so many headaches. The tension forced his hair out of its roots.”
Mung gave her a knowing look and chuckled, “Our Master indeed.”
Chu- hua’s voice softened, “Did you know the death of Lily caused Prince Zuko to rearrange his cabinet?”
Mung shook his head dumbly as Chu-hua explained, “The title of Minister of Education is now vacant. Lily had the ability to teach the unteachable without making them feel stupid or inferior. She made him understand in hours what the nation’s best tutors could not do in years. He had never met Fire Lady Ilah but heard stories about her from Iroh and his grandfather. He thought she would be proud of him if he placed Lily in charge of the education system she created. Lily shared his grandmother’s belief that every person contains immeasurable potential but most lack the guidance and opportunities necessary to tap into their hidden talents. He was a disgraced vagabond without home or honor yet he had faith he would return home triumphant and planned to give one of the most coveted positions in the nation to your daughter. Lily would be directly responsible for what was taught in our nation’s schools and how it was taught. He trusted Lily with shaping our nation’s future.”
Mung inhaled deeply and whispered, “My Lily?”
“Yes, Mung, your Lily. You might not think much of him but Prince Zuko has accomplished everything he has ever set out to do. It might not be in the timeframe it was expected but he has always managed to come through. It is no secret how the Fire Lord feels about his son but the persistent dreamer inside Zuko is something that Fire Lord Ozai has always acknowledged. Do you remember the day we received confirmation the Avatar had been found?
Mung nodded, “We were all surprised the banished prince had stumbled upon him but the Fire Lord maintained his calm demeanor.”
Chu-hua nodded as well, “Fire Lord Ozai later told me that he knew Zuko would be the one to find him. Fire Lord Ozai truly believes the Avatar woke from his century of sleep because his loud son would not stop calling him. He had to get up and see who was causing the disturbance. Every member of the royal family from Soizin on down has searched for the Avatar without success. What do you think it means that Zuko, the weak prince who got down on his knees in front of the nation to beg his father for mercy was the one to find him?”
Mung tilted his head slightly to look over Chu-hua’s shoulder at the approaching sound of bickering. The prince and the Waterbender were arguing their way down the street.
Chu-hua sighed, “That Water Demon is also a challenge the boy thought it wise to take on.”
“What do you mean?” Mung snorted gruffly.
The admiral shook her head, “I must be going now, I have already said too much.”
Mung was still watching the prince and Waterbender and puzzling over Chu-hua’s words when Natsumon approached him. What did it mean that the only member of the royal family without pride found the Avatar?
Mung shook his head; the young prince had plenty of pride. It was hubris he lacked. The overbearing self-importance present in every royal he’d ever met including Lu Ten was absent in Zuko. What did it mean for a potential ruler even at the age of thirteen to recognize the futility in fighting someone overwhelmingly stronger and bow his head before him? What would it mean if the supreme commander of the military was a person who understood face must be weighed against the cost of lives? He had seen several lives squandered by leaders who would rather die than surrender or those who equated caution with cowardice and boldness with recklessness. Bujing had raised him to be such a man. The dead bodies of his troops taught him otherwise but it was the death of his daughter due to Zhao’s arrogance that hammered home the lesson.
He had not given much thought to the rumors about the 41^st until Chu-hua mentioned it. She was the one woman and only military officer he knew who did not gossip. He and Admiral Liang had been known to have a giggle about the antics of Admiral Chan but she would always excuse herself when the conversation took a “hennish” turn. He could tell there had to have been some truth to it by her tone and by what she was not saying. Even if his former mentor’s plan had been implemented his daughter could bend. She would not have been among the ones sacrificed but a good friend would have lost his youngest son. Several other acquaintances would have also lost children and his daughter would have lost her friends.
Lily lived for her friends. He didn’t want to think about the type of person his Lily would have turned into had the prince not saved her friends. He pushed those thoughts aside and greeted Natsumon. Mung had heard several of his soldiers mention the bonus pay that came with the hazards of colonizing but the young offer was the first to express a genuine non-financial interest in staying.
Later after a nice meal, hot bath, and good lay he would sit a drawing of his Lily next to little Lily and contemplate what Chu-hua had told him. Watching the sleeping face of his daughter had always eased his troubled mind and helped him to make good long term decisions. He knew reminding himself that he was in charge of the future of the little girl he’d found would help him to see far more clearly.
Mung kept his voice neutral and expressed no emotions as he spoke to the younger man, “Tell me, what do you hope to accomplish in this dustbin.”

Arraye: Don’t apologize! I am thrilled that people read this story and absolutely amazed it has attracted non-native speakers. I know how much time and effort it takes to read a foreign language so I thank you and everyone who does so.
Translation: Fan sighed, “Your cousin always did say you were a little stupid, your Mom is a member of the Kumanishi but she had to earn her mother’s name. Her mother is the youngest daughter; she married the House of Zhuán’s oldest son. She lost status when she took his name and became a member of that damned clan. Your mother grew up with the stigma of the Zhuán name. It didn’t help that her worthless father was the way he was and everybody knew it. Well and then there’s you. Children don’t pick their fathers so they shouldn’t be held accountable for their father’s actions.
There’s a more detailed explanation here - http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/43352-borealis-a-zutara-story/?hl=borealis
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Borealis: A Zutara Story