Borealis: A Zutara Story

Chapter 279

Qiaolian moved her hand automatically when Jianjun slide out of her. His left hand held the opening of the animal skin securely around the base of his cock and hers brushed against it as she stroked the length of his shaft until he shuddered in pleasure. He moved his lower half away from her even though the prophylactic had captured all of his semen before kissing her gently. She watched as he lifted the cup of water, filled his mouth and then removed the skin from his penis and placed it against his lips. He emptied his mouth and studied the skin to make sure none of the water he’d just placed inside of it came out before picking up the towel and tending to her. He wiped the sweat from her face, her neck and was moving to her shoulder when the floor shook and someone screamed they were under attack.

His eyes narrowed and he tossed her clothes to her, “Get dressed.”

The room shook again and he thrust out his hand to stabilize the wall, “Hurry, it’s not safe here. We have to go.”

Qiaolian shrugged on her dress without bothering with her underclothing and slammed her hands against the floor to deflect the incoming shockwave. Jianjun quickly girded himself then pulled on his clothes and armor. He slammed the wall with his elbow and the stone went flying across the courtyard. Qiaolian felt the wall which was connected to the floor which was currently under her control being ripped from her grasp by what was most certainly another Earthbender, one with more power than her. Her eyes widened as she stared at the only other person in the room, “You! But that’s impossible!”

“We’ll debate impossibilities later but now I need to get you somewhere safe,” Zhao 2 replied gruffly as he grabbed her wrist and ran the short distance to the hotel. It was chaos. The back wall of the Pussy Garden had shattered with the quakes and there were people screaming and bleeding from the flying glass.

“Hold the wall!”

“They’re beneath us!”

“They’re after the Avatar!”

Qiaolian could see several soldiers rushing in retrieving the injured. They called the names of their pseudo-families amidst screams of “Get them out of here!” She raised her foot and stomped disrupting an incoming wave of earth by sending out one of her own then lifted her arms, forming a cross as she lowered them pushing the ground upwards to form a makeshift corridor. Behind her she could feel Jianjun Zhao of the Fire Nation holding the earth beneath her stable so she could maintain the walls of her escape tunnel.

The water exploded out of the laundry pool and hotel well. Qiaolian could see bridges of ice forming beneath the second story windows of the crumbling building which housed the rape rooms. The ground beneath her shook again and she could feel the familiar motions of Sing Se and Yong fighting.  Each was strong in their own right but neither could match her in one on one; however, in dual combat their team was unbeaten.

A horn sounded and the Dai Li fighting beneath the city reappeared above ground as Firebenders leaned over the holes they just came from and blew fire. She could hear screams as the Dai Li rushed outward stomping more holes in the ground so the Firebenders could cut off the attackers escape passages. There was a terrible rumbling and two more buildings collapsed before the ground finally stilled and the battle ended.

Qiaolian barely heard the “thank you” as a pair of strong arms crushed her “you saved our lives and our home.” The hotel matron was hugging her, a teenaged girl, one of the few virgins left in the village wept by her side.  The Earthbender was about to lower the two walls she made when she realized those were the only two left on the ground floor. The second floor would have collapsed if not for the thick walled tunnel linking the Pussy Garden to the front of the hotel. She almost died and hadn’t even realized it, “I…”

Jianjun placed his hand against her face and caressed her cheek, “You are a hero. Everyone in this hotel including the Avatar they were trying to rescue would most likely be dead if not for you.”

Dazed Qiaolian looked around the room and into the street in front of her. She could see everything in either direction. The outer walls had been the first to go. Mothers and medics were tending to the injured. The Dai Li and the town’s Earthbenders were clearing the rubble from the collapsed buildings while the Waterbender helped to move the injured. She watched mesmerized as people surrounded by liquid were floated to the infirmary.

Zhao 2 noticed the change in her facial expression and called her name, “Qiaolian. Qiaolian?”

“I don’t feel well,” was the only warning she gave before violently throwing up.

She felt a large hand rubbing her back as Jianjun kneeled next to her, “I also threw up after my first battle. It’s one thing to fight and another to witness the horrific aftermath. Lives were lost here today, but your swift actions reduced the number. Remember that. People are alive because you saved them.”

Yong and Min-Sik appeared and together they resurrected the outer walls of the hotel then rebuilt the inner ones so they branched out from Qiaolian’s tunnel.

Min-Sik placed a hand on her shoulder, “You did well Little Sister; that man most certainly would have been proud of you.”

Qiaolian lifted her head and the carpenter flexed the muscles of his face causing his ears to wiggle. Qiaolian remembered he had a daughter who often played with her little brother. He would have been here when Ming was pregnant so he most likely had met her father. She nodded dumbly then shouted after being reminded they had also been in danger, “Ming! Gau Ruk!”

“Relax Little Sister. I was at my wife’s side and Min-Sik was enjoying a meal when the commotion started. The restaurant is fine so is everyone who lives there,” Yong replied smoothly. “That little boy is very brave. Instead of crying he declared ‘don’t worry I’ll protect you, Mama’.  I don’t think either of them realized it yet but the ground beneath them never wavered.”

Qiaolian whispered, “He bends?”

“It is very likely but it will be years before we are certain,” Min-Sik replied. “His great-grandfather was a powerful bender and so was that man. It will be nice to pass my master’s techniques to someone of his blood. Now that you’ve shown yourself its best that you make yourself useful. There are other buildings in need of repair. Go find Ada, the butcher’s wife, she’ll show you what needs to be done.”

Jianjun nodded and Qiaolian stepped into her own passageway then walked into the streets. It was far more chaotic than it appeared from inside.  People ran about searching for loved ones and every bender not clearing rubble was holding a building up. She found the butcher’s wife at the Ursa House. The woman was leaning against a wall with an earthen peg beneath her amputated leg and a stone brace supporting her twisted foot.

She rolled her eyes and spoke, “Don’t tell me, either my fretful husband or over-protective brother told you that I needed help.”

Qiaolian frowned, “I do not know you so I am unable to ascertain the members of your family.”

“Must have been Min-Sik,” Ada huffed.  “He tends to have that effect on people. Never the less since you are here, how about we spruce this place up? You can always tell when a place for women was made by a person with a penis. By the way, my name’s Ada.”

Qiaolian introduced herself then looked around; this was her first time inside the Ursa House, “It is rather drab.”

“And that’s being kind,” Ada muttered as she finished repairing the wall and manipulated the earth encasing her legs to move forward, “There is red clay beneath us and a small deposit of coal underneath that corner.”

Qiaolian watched as the woman began turning over the earth until she reached the red dirt and passed it to her before pulling out a few small lumps of coal, “You seem artsy, make something pretty with it.”

Qiaolian studied the vines along the ceiling then recreated them along the lower portion of the walls. She used the red clay to make flowers blending in the coal and regular dirt to vary their shades. The two women reshaped the functional tubs so they were deeper, less oblong and more rounded. They then created another room behind the individual bathing rooms with benches and a fire pit in each corner.

Ada smiled, “A woman after my own heart, so few people can appreciate a good sauna.”

“That is because we live in a desert. We are surrounded by heat, why would we want to sit in a room that reminds us of it?” an elderly woman asked as she hobbled by searching for injured.

“A proper relaxed sweat is vastly different from the liquid that comes from exertion. That only cleanses the body, a real sweat offers soul purification,” Ada explained. “Now all we need is for that Waterbender and some of these Firebenders to make a proper hot springs.”

Qiaolian felt the walls closing in on her as she looked at the room she had helped to create. Her mother would often take her to the spa where they would enjoy the sauna and hot springs. She’d helped to build this one in a place where she would never be welcome. She managed to yelp, “I need to go” before running outside.