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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
- 276
- 277
- 278
Chapter 274
After the threat posed by the smuggling ring had been eliminated an air of tension still lingered about the town. It was so bad that Mung ordered the Earthbenders to build more comfort stations and increased the amount of recreational time each soldier was given. Despite the additional consideration fights had broken out when a soldier casually mentioned one of the traitors had been good for always having tobacco.
Instead of following the standard military guidelines for to punish those who sewed dissention among the ranks, Mung separated them, asked the Earthbenders to create an impromptu ring and declared them the day’s first pugilists. The ring could be used for boxing or wrestling so long as both combatants were willing and stopped if someone lost consciousness. Other than no weapons, no bending, no blinding, and no maiming it was unrestricted and anyone could participate. Two of the townswomen had signed up to settle a twenty year old dispute about a missing apron.
“Let’s go, Katara, I can’t watch this,” Zuko grunted through clenched teeth when he saw the two old ladies enter the ring. Senior Slugfests were standard practice during colonizing, just not the way Mung was doing them. Instead of two old women fighting voluntarily to settle disputes they were often made to fight to secure food for their grandchildren, or to simply save their lives. The fights were done for several reasons, entertainment for the Fire Nation troops, destroying the morale of the original citizens, and more importantly to divide them. The Fire Nation chose the combatants carefully, most often from the families of those attempting to band together and oppose them. Very few people were unable to work with someone whose mother, regardless of reason, beat up their own.
Katara was all too happy to sneak away with him. She had once seen her grandmother fighting. Shortly after the tribe split up her maternal uncle led a group of men into their camp to kidnap her while her father and the other men had gone out to hunt. Her uncle shared her grandfather’s belief that as sole Waterbender Katara should become a priestess and perform her duty to bring more Waterbenders to their people. Gran-Gran, Amnak and several of the other women had been injured while protecting her.
After finishing the lunch they had gotten from Fan they sat in silence listening to the quiet sounds brook babbling nearby. Katara leaned against Korhi and Zuko reclined against her with his head on her shoulder. He had almost fallen asleep when she decided to speak, “I saw it.”
Zuko angled his head to look at her, “Saw what?”
“Saw what they did to those people – the traitors. Saw you. You’ve seen something like this. You knew what was going to happen. All of you but Natsumon had seen this before. He had no idea,” she stated quietly.
Zuko closed his eyes and inhaled slowly before nodding; he had hoped Katara wouldn’t notice. He should have known better; Katara always saw the things he didn’t want her to see but missed those he wished she would see and comprehend.
There was an edge to her voice that he couldn’t identify as she asked, “When?”
“The first time I was ten,” Zuko confessed, “I helped Father drag the man that murdered Mom out of his bed. I chased him into the streets and beat him. I hit him, kicked him and threw fire at him to the point I was on the verge of collapse. I think I would have killed him if Father had not stopped me.”
“He told me he was also angry at the man and to save him some. He was thrown in a wagon and taken back to the palace. A week later I watched as he was chased along the parade route. It felt so good to see the man who took away my mother hurting,” Zuko replied realizing for the first time it had always been easy to get his Father’s approval when he hurt others.
“The last time was before I found you. A private had stolen food from the barracks kitchen. The general in charge had taken it as a personal affront and charged her with treason since she was taking for herself what belonged to the entire division. I agreed at the time and did not reduce the punishment even though she kept crying she didn’t mean to hurt anyone or betray anyone. She was just hungry. I was an ass Katara. I had always had plenty to eat so I didn’t understand what it meant to be hungry. I could have saved her but I was too…” His voice faltered as he continued to speak, “I thought of her often when Uncle and I were fugitives.”
“I stole Katara; I stole quite often to fill my belly but somehow it never seemed to be enough. Even after I ate the hunger always lingered. I thought of her as I took the belongings of people who had no obligation to me but I made them accountable for my well-being. She was a soldier in our army. It was our duty to feed her and ensure she had enough nourishment to perform her duties instead of rationing her meals just to achieve the recommended level of food stores. She was hungry and we tortured her for feeding herself. Sometimes in my nightmares she’s the one that kills you. She doesn’t stab you with a sword like the others she bites you. She bites and bites and bites and bites until there is nothing left. Then she looks at me with tears in her eyes and says, ‘I told you I was hungry’.”
Katara stroked his cheek then whispered, “Is that always the punishment for treason?”
“Most of the time,” he replied somberly.
Katara’s hand dipped lower to the faint line Chu-hua’s sword had left on Zuko’s neck. She caressed it lightly with her thumb as her hand moved to support his head, “So if you were to be found guilty of treason?
“I would be envious of their punishment.” Zuko replied as his hand closed over Katara’s and he leaned down to kiss the inside of her wrist, “But I would die smiling if I knew I had been able to save you.”
Katara’s head tilted in surprise and her brow furrowed in question as his finger circled the ring he had placed on her hand. “This is no whim Katara. It was with much deliberation that I placed my signet on your hand. I only wish I were as eloquent as Uncle and had been able to convince you to go along with me the day you were captured. If I had been able to make you see what I was doing I wouldn’t have had to hurt you.”
“It would have saved you so much pain, so, so much pain if I had known the words to say and the right way to say them,” He added scooting lower and resting his head against her stomach as his fingers began to knead her lower back.
They sat silently in this position until Korhi shifted behind Katara. She leaned forward to give the rhino room to get up and Zuko took the opportunity to reverse their positions so he was now holding her. She settled sideways in his lap with her head on his chest and closed her eyes wondering if things would have been different if Zuko was as convincing as Iroh. Would she have believed that he was truly trying to protect her and not just get her clothes off? Even now after the injuries he received while shielding her and seeing him in tatters after killing a woman to protect her she still had trouble believing all of his actions were for her own benefit. She had seen lust in his eyes too many times as he held her down and raped her. He had enjoyed it far too many times for her to believe some of the things he did were for any reason other than his own perverse enjoyments.
Katara felt the soft fabric of his shirt against her cheek as she shook her head, “No, there was nothing you could have said or done to make me believe you. You’ve hurt me too much for me to ever believe some of the things you’ve done aren’t because you simply wanted to, but I’ve seen enough that when I am with you a part of me has started to feel safe.”
Zuko said nothing, but she could feel the rise and fall of his chest as he inhaled and exhaled deeply in acceptance of her words. Katara closed her eyes and mimicked his actions; this was also confusing. A few months ago he would have become angry and shouted at her for not believing him. Even if he didn’t shout he would have grunted, grumbled, huffed, smoke, trembled or did something to display his frustration or make some sort of protest everything he did was for her protection but this time he remained calm. He remained calm and didn’t argue. Katara wasn’t sure if it meant he was acknowledging the truth in words or if he was simply accepting her beliefs held merit too.
She remained like that head on his chest listening to the sound of hit heartbeat hoping it would somehow give her a clue to what was truly in it until Zuko began to fidget.
Katara lifted her head, “What’s wrong? Are you in pain?”
“No, it just feels funny,” Zuko replied as he squirmed.
Katara didn’t wait for permission before slowly unbuttoning his shirt and moving behind him, “Let me look at it. It sometimes takes a while to get used to new skin. It’s more sensitive.”
She drew water from the small stream and covered his back. Her fingers moved carefully over each inch of newly grown skin, poking, massaging, prodding, feeling the smoothness beneath and working out the stiffness fully aware of the reaction her touch was causing. She felt it too, the heat from his hips warmed the inside of her knees as her hands worked his back.
Zuko placed a hand over hers when she reached his shoulder, “Not that one. I want it to heal normally.”
“But it will scar,” she protested.
He nodded, “I know. I want it to.”
Katara’s face scrunched up in question and he replied, “I have this mark on my face to remind me of my friends. I want to keep the one on my shoulder to remind me of the man I wish to become. I’m not strong enough Katara. Every time I think I’ve grown to the point where I’ve finally caught up to Azula and that I have a hope of reaching Father doubts creep into my mind and all I can remember are my failures. I didn’t feel that when were being attacked. I felt invincible. I knew I could withstand any number of rocks, any size without falling.”
“They could have thrown a mountain at me and I wouldn’t have budged because I knew if I did you would be injured,” his gaze bore intently into her and his voice softened, "I want to have something to remind me how strong I can be when it comes to protecting what is important.”
Katara’s fingers moved forward, brushed over the deepest wound with only a small amount of water, gently aging the skin as she went, marring it as she healed, forming the shapeless blob into something she thought he could live with. She pulled her fingers away, letting them drift slowly down his back and around his sides as she laid her head upon his shoulder and looped her arm around his waist. She remained in that position allowing her exhalations to ghost over his skin as if breathing life into her creation before nuzzling it with her cheek, her lips, then opening her mouth and running her teeth over it and biting. She closed her eyes, drawing her knees beneath his armpits as she shifted forward sinking her teeth deeper into his flesh. She loosened her jaw as Zuko flinched beneath her but didn’t let go. She let the saliva pooling inside her mouth drip onto his skin. She tasted blood as she pressed the top of her tongue flat against the surface and licked.
“Katara,” Zuko moaned, his fingers tightening on her calf as she marked him. His breathe quickened as the sting of spit on an open wound was replaced with light kisses that trailed forward to his neck.
Katara moved forward again, the damp fabric of her panties shifting as she wrapped her legs around Zuko’s waist and brought her hands up to rest over his heart. She inhaled and exhaled deeply, timing her breathing to his as she whispered in his ear in Water Tribe.
Zuko’s hands moved further up her calves, over her knees, reaching beneath her skirt pulling her to him. He turned so that his mouth was next to hers and asked, “What does that mean?”
Katara shook her head and held him tighter. She could feel his heart racing through his spine reminding her of just how much he liked to be bitten; how much she was starting to like biting him.
“Katara, what does it mean, tell me please?” Zuko asked again, turning to get a better look at her.
In response Katara began making symbols against his skin.
Zuko twisted further, pushing Katara on the blanket beneath him, “Please tell me what does it mean?”
Katara pulled water from the stream and formed two frozen disks. She placed one on the ground beside her head and lifted the other behind him. Her eyes followed Zuko’s as he looked into the makeshift mirror and saw what she had done to his scar. This time she whispered in Fire Nation, “Tatsushin Koh.”
“Katara,” Zuko whispered as he lowered his weight onto her after seeing what she had done to him. How she had marked him. He knew immediately why she had chosen it.
Tatsushin Koh was a Fire Nation myth about a girl lost in the woods that was found and rescued by a dragon. He warmed her with his fire and healed her injuries with his blood. He was killed by those who came to look for her. She also died at the hands of her human rescuers. The words of the myth never changed but their meaning varied from island to island and with the spread of war from nation to nation. No matter what island, what nation, what language and what context the story’s outcome was also constant - the dragon and girl died the same day, their blood mingling in a single pool as sworn by those left faceless after witnessing Koh himself rise up to take them. In some versions the girl was an innocent who’d been seduced by the dragon, in others the innocent dragon who’d been seduced by a witch, in others they were both innocents, while other said they were a demon and witch using each other for mutual benefit.
Zuko had been around Katara long enough to understand what she meant but didn’t have the words to tell him – they were bound together until death claimed them. He would die happily by her hand but she also knew killing him, the crown prince of the world’s foremost nation would most likely be the last thing she would ever do.
He pressed his lips against hers as her legs parted beneath him. He kissed her slowly and deeply his eyes unable to concentrate solely on her or the mark she’d given him. His tongue slide along her teeth; the teeth she had used to bite him so the dragon she’d shaped his scar into was held inside a broken circle, just like the dragon of his signet ring. His hands moved between their bodies and he paused after opening his pants and pushing aside her underwear, “Princess, will you accept this humble dragon?”
Katara shuddered as his finger slipped inside her. Zuko had read one of the Fire Nation versions of the story to her while onboard the Ursa. It was different from the story of warning her grandmother had told her. In this story, the girl and the dragon were both innocents being pursued by the same cruel warlord; her for her virginity and the inheritance he could steal once he forced her into marriage and the dragon for the power rumored to come after killing one. Their shared danger helped them to reach a mutual understanding. She stared into his eyes and whispered, “They died, Zuko. They died fighting for their lives simply because someone powerful willed it.”
Zuko’s lips brushed against hers as he whispered, “They perished amidst pitchforks and fire. Bound eternally then locked away by Koh himself along with the faces of their tormentors and those who’d done nothing to help them.”
He waited until Katara nodded then called the name of Agni before slowly pushing into her. She was wet, just like he knew she would be. He rocked gently taking his time intent on giving her as much pleasure as possible. Her heels dug into the back of his thighs pulling him closer, farther down into the abyss with her. He called upon the name of his patron spirit once more as Katara cried out beneath him.

The sun was not as indifferent as the other spirits; Agni took great interest in all of her children and investigated each time one of them called her name. It was mostly out of boredom and not any great desire to intervene but there were some she found utterly amusing. Those she sat with, watched over and listened for each time their voice shaped itself into her name. This little Fire Nation prince had always been one of them.
But now hearing him call her name, in this context, she couldn’t exactly think of him as the same silly child whose antics always entertained her. This time he was calling her name as a man. He’d often called her name as he fucked little Katara but today was different. There was something in his voice that made her take note and respond. She realized what it was as she got closer; Zuko wasn’t the only one calling for her. The part of her lost for centuries buried deeper and deeper as La’s influence grew stronger within Sokkaya’s line was also crying out to her. Katara’s body was united with Zuko’s so she heard it this time.
Katara gasped for air as her body tightened around Zuko. She could feel the water in the nearby stream, could feel him deep inside her, above her, his fingers causing the fabric of her shirt to brush roughly against her skin; his rhythmic grunts echoing her own as the warm sensation spread slowly within before exploding.
Agni smiled as she experienced the feelings of the two souls in front of her. It had been so very long since she experienced this feeling, not the frenzied slap of flesh against flesh but the wholeness of fire and water. She whispered, “La” knowing that even if she didn’t sense the nearby body of water he would come to her.
The ocean spirit rose slowly from the stream and smiled as he took his place behind his companion, “It figures the first time you call me in over a century it would be to a scene like this.”
Agni leaned against him, careful not to disturb the two humans whose heads she cradled in her lap, “I’m sorry my love, it’s just…” She sighed contentedly, “Feel them. I wanted you to feel them. Do you remember when we were like this?”
He nodded and lowered his head to kiss her gently on the lips, just as Agni could feel the Firebender inside Katara he could feel the Waterbenders buried inside Zuko’s lineage crying out to him, “I will always remember this.”
“No matter how badly we disagree and how much our children fight, I always remember this,” he replied watching as the two sated humans rolled sideways to lay in each other’s arms.
He nuzzled his face against Agni’s and felt each gentle kiss and caress as Katara and Zuko drifted off to sleep beneath the darkening sky. The ocean kissed his true spouse’s nose, “Do you realize what you are doing?”
Agni nodded not caring that night, true night formed by the shadows of death, boldly came closer now that she or another of the great elemental spirits were not in a position to keep them at bay, “I know, I just want to stay here a bit longer.”
“So do I,” La whispered against her lips. He removed a finger and tossed it onto the ground, “We can do so, that child is near.”
Agni shook her head and watched as the discarded digit took form and headed in the direction of town, “She will not come. Not for me, not after all the terrible things I and my children have done.”
“No, she won’t,” La agreed, “but she will come for this one and she will come for me.”
Tears came to Agni’s eyes as she watched the clouds slowly began to form in the sky, masking the sun’s absence and closing the void between the realms as the spirit of air answered La’s summons. She knew better than to think the gentle breeze cooling the sweat on Zuko and Katara’s skin or the appearance of spirit the wind had anything to do with her or Zuko. Vayu’s thin form was almost transparent; her wide gray eyes held only pain and betrayal, not the anger Agni expected.
“Vayu,” Agni whispered reaching forward to touch the child she had not seen since the comet’s last passing.
Tears streaming freely down her face, the wind spirit stepped out of reach whispered a single word in accusation then once more disappeared, “Father.”
Agni closed her eyes and wept at the quiet acknowledgment. La had been the one to birth Vayu and was the one the wind called mother.

Kain: It’s good to hear from you again. I hope RL is treating you well. Ahh, the people of the Fire Nation, they make such good villains. Pardon the pun but Mung is a prince among them. J It does still suck to be Katara. It will be a while before that changes. Isn’t it sad that the harshest judgment of women are other women?

FAVOUR: Thank you for your kind words. I love hearing from new people. Katara is slowly growing up but it will be a while before she gets there. I do promise that this story will be completed, but I make no promise as to when. I’m working full time, back in school, and searching for a new job.

Arraye: Mung is Mung. There is so much bad and good about him. I’m glad you like Lily. It makes me tingle with joy when I get feedback about my OCs. That’s not the last you’ll hear of her. Ozai did get the letter and will make another appearance. It’s a strange twist of fate isn’t it? The scorned prince gets the love of the oppressed people while the beloved Waterbender only receives their hatred.

Master Bender: Thank you! Love the name BTW!

Zutara4lyfe: Here you go! I’m not sure when I’ll be back on a regular update schedule but whenever I find time I do try to write. It’s just time, like free money and true love is hard to find.

Reader: I love happy faces. Fanfiction is one of my favorite escapes and it thrills me to be able to give back to others.
1. Which part of the Water Tribe forces? The ones who’ve been captured or Chief Hakoda’s group? They both will make an appearance when it can be smoothly worked in. As for a Taruk and Katara reunion all I can say is Part 3…
2. Zuko’s single-minded obsession comes from canon (and my personal impression of Ozai) so I can safely say his protectiveness won’t go away. It might evolve, but it won’t end.
3. Updating now J but I can’t promise when the next one will be. In the battle for supremacy Real Life vs Me, the score is currently 7:3 but I haven’t given up and free time for a positive reason will one day be mine.
4. Great minds think alike? These are the things I wanted to see but no one has written. I am extremely fortunate and overwhelmingly grateful that this fic has been so well received.
5. Taken! And given right back!
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Borealis: A Zutara Story