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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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Chu-hua peeked inside the restaurant; as ordered her troops had not let anyone leave the building nor had they harmed anyone. She walked around back accurately guessing there were rooms above the area where customers were served. She placed her hand on the side of the building. It had been roughened by the sandy winds blowing from the desert. She reached upward searching until she found places that could be used as footholds then scaled the walls. She was able to creep inside an open window and after searching two rooms found what she was looking for - a little boy sleeping peacefully in his crib; a little boy who bore the same facial features as her middle children.

He began to fuss when he was lifted and she easily calmed him by singing a lullaby her husband sang to their children. His eyes began to close and she whispered “That’s right little one. Go back to sleep.”

She waited until he was asleep to carry him down the stairs. Her song was heard before she could be seen and one of the waitresses rushed forward. “Milady please. He is a child. He has harmed no one.”

“Harm? Why would I harm the brother of my children?” Chu-hua murmured sweetly against the child’s temple before kissing it. She’d never seen the mistress who’d captured her husband’s heart six years ago but she’d heard much about her over the years; including the fact the twenty-five year old was pregnant for the third time and like the children she birthed for the third son of Shinu these Earth Kingdom half-breeds bore their father’s face if not his name. Looking at the woman all Chu-hua could think was that the girl was rather plain. There were dark brown braids on each side of her head, her face was round, her eyes the color of grass. Her freckled skin was without wrinkles of course. Her philandering husband had chosen to bed a woman younger than their firstborn. Her arms and legs were thick but Chu-hua could not tell if that was due to pregnancy or if this was yet another way this woman differed from her.

Ting paled, her lover’s violent wife was holding their second born. Their oldest a daughter, huddled behind her skirts and a third grew inside her. She got on her knees, “Please Milady, please, he is a child. I know I have wronged you but please do not take vengeance on my children. They are innocent.”

Chu-hua sighed then planted another kiss on the forehead of the child in her arms, “Get up. There is a colony to the south of here. I am sending you there. You and your children will be safe.”

“I couldn’t impose on you Milady. Please just leave us, we will be fine here,” Ting protested.

Chu-hua scoffed, “Here? This place will no longer exist after tonight. You can go to another city, but who is to say they too won’t grow tired of having Fire Nation whores and bastards among them? You got lucky with these two. They have my husband’s face but your eyes and hair. What happens if the child inside of you is born with the coloring of its father? Most women don’t cry very hard if they lose a child born of rape. Can you pretend you hated your youngest child’s father and its life means nothing to you in order to save the other two?”

Ting covered her mouth as bile rose up. She knew that she was probably being used; in addition to the beautiful woman before her there was probably another girl somewhere who shared the bed of her beloved but still she gave her love wholeheartedly and when they were together she felt just as loved in return. Despite questions of her place among his other women; she knew among his offspring hers were equally loved.

“Get up!” Chu-hua barked harshly. “I am not doing this for you, Girl, or even for him, or your children. I am doing this for my own little ones. Tell me, do you have siblings?”

The younger woman shook her head, “My brother passed away due to illness. It was only me and my mother until I had children of my own.”

“So you understand the pain of a lost sibling? I do as well. It is something I do not wish for my own children to experience. To spare them that pain, I am willing to help yours,” Chu-hua admitted somewhat truthfully. “Are you willing to accept my help so you never know the pain of a mother who has lost a child?”

Ting was about to refuse but there was a desperation to the other woman’s voice that frightened her. She whispered, “You’ve lost?”

“My life is of no concern to you. Think only of these children.” Chu-hua replied impatiently.

“Thank you,” Ting replied somberly.

“Do not thank me yet. You have three unnamed children with someone else’s fickle husband. Pray your breasts do not sag before you have secured permanent means to support them,” Chu-hua warned before ordering her soldiers to help them carry their belongings to the hotel.

Katara leaned heavily on Zuko fearing the words that woman had spoken had to have been some type of prophecy. She wasn’t a sage by any means but the time she’d spent with Tupilek as a child learning how to deal with the call of the water, with Huu learning Foggy Swamp style and seeing Aang possessed by Avatar Roku and La had taught her how to recognize when someone was being used as an conduit of the spirits. Anyone could have guessed that someone was looking for her and she was looking for a way to escape but most people would not have known her fears of being rejected by her father - the lost one you search for also searches for you. You will meet at the crossroad of joy and sorrow. Even if her father did banish her she would still be happy as it meant that Sokka and Aang would be safe.

There a burdensome gift awaits – if she was allowed to go home then it would mean undergoing purification and admitting her sins. Could she live with everyone she knew and loved knowing that she whored herself to Zuko even if it was to keep her brother safe? There were no lies in the temple of the Southern Water Tribe; the light of the moon and clarity of La’s waters would reveal all that she did with Zuko and the ugly truth that her time with him was not totally unpleasant. She didn’t even want to contemplate what was meant by peace and trouble will take each other’s place. Sword is salvation. Salvation is sword or that her troubles could follow her until the next world. Love, life and death, none will remain. The one you hurt is balm to your pain. In life in death there is no change.

She took a deep breath to force those thoughts out of her mind but it still felt as if the walls were closing in on her, “I want to go outside Zuko.”

“Are you sure?” Zuko replied looked down at the girl in his arms. All this time he thought she was sleeping but he could by the tone of her voice she’d merely been quiet. “It’s bad out there Katara.”

“I keep seeing the bodies of the family burning. The scent of burning flesh…” Katara murmured in half-truths.

“I need fresh air Zuko. Anything is better than…” she said out loud while thinking, peace and trouble taking each other’s place? What if my future at home with my tribe being known as a Fire Nation whore is worse than being here stuck as your prisoner? I’d be an igloo…no one would even want me as a fur warmer….

The Castout! Katara’s mind screamed as the old woman’s words echoed in her mind.

She ran to the door but her thoughts continued to wander farther down that path. You have much to lose before all can be gained. Sorrow such unspeakable sorrow before the day your hearts burst and heal again. The stairs gave way to hard packed dirt that had been polished with footsteps over time and she almost lost her balance when it met the rougher cobblestoned entryway. Sword is salvation. Salvation is sword. Love, life and death, none will remain. She threw a hand out to catch herself before sprinting into the chaos of screams and smoke. A pair of hands grabbed her but before harm could be done another set wrenched them away.

“He lives! The babe you thought dead lives!”

She was pushed away as the wild eyed man rushed into the house another had just run from but the second pair of hands on her shoulders held firm. “Calm yourself.”

Katara began flailing, struggling to get free but the grip on her shoulders tightened and gave her a light shake, “Calm yourself!”

Zuko pulled back the fireball he was aiming at the man holding the Katara when stranger demanded, “My prince! Calm your woman! This is no place for her. Take her somewhere safe!”

Zuko wrapped his arms around Katara and she crumpled against his chest when the first man who grabbed her rushed forward while screaming, “He lives! My son lives! Brother he’s alive!”

The man thrust the child at Katara, “He lives! My son lives! I must find my other children!”

Katara took the child instinctively. Her eyes swam as she looked at the golden eyed babe wailing in her arms. The Castout had a child with eyes of gold. A son. A strong healthy son by the Fire Nation man who raped her decades ago; she’d birthed a healthy son after she had been cast out by the husband who declared her barren. The Castout lived along at the edge of the village; her son had long ago disappeared. She was an igloo whose hut had fallen. But their people believed in community. They did not let her starve but she was not welcomed by them. But because of a golden-eyed bastard who abandoned her after coming of age The Castout who’d been told she’d never give birth considered herself a blessed woman.

Katara felt the child being lifted from her arms as the ground disappeared from beneath her feet.

“Here lay her here.”

Katara woke to the sound of a child crying. The boy she’d held earlier was now being presented to Zuko. His palm was ablaze and he held it a safe distance above the baby. She could see his mouth moving and hear his voice but his words made no sense. The child shrieked when Zuko extinguished the fire and placed his still warm hand around the baby’s wrist. Katara sat up. She lifted her hand calling for the liquid she felt in the room before pushing it forward to soothe the child’s skin.

“It is milk. The one rumored to possess the powers of Fire Lady Nini has soothed my child with milk,” the man holding the child murmured in astonishment. “The name I buried him with was unfit. It was a name of mourning given to a beloved son. This child lives. His name shall be Ankoli honor of blessed Agni and the kindness of Kali who have given me back my child. May the spirits always keep you between them.”

Without letting go of the newborn he was holding the man turned to the bruised Earth Kingdom woman trembling on the bed and snarled, “Where are my other children?”

“I don’t know. I promise you I don’t know. That boy is mine. I swear to you. He is mine! I birthed him a week ago, please don’t hurt my son!” the terrified woman replied.

“You birthed this child? You birthed this child?” the man screamed, “Do you think I would not know the face of my wife and recognize the face of my child? This cloth he is swaddled in is made of cotton picked by my own hand and woven by her! It has been worn by all three of our children! The rattle in his bed was carved by me out of a limb fallen from a tree his grandfather planted and lifted from the ground by his uncles’ hands! Do not tell me you birthed this child! Where are his siblings?”

The woman cowed against that outburst. The floor beneath them shifted as an Earth Kingdom man rose up from the floor shouting, “We have to leave! The Fire Nation is -” His words dropped from his lips. He’d been in fields and saw the troops at the edge of town closing in. He’d ran as fast as he could before seeing more outside the city walls then dipping underground.

“You are too late. We are already here. Perhaps you can be of service since your wife insists upon sticking to her lie. Tell me, where are the children who lived with this one and the Earth Kingdom woman who brought them into the world?” the man holding the child snarled calmly.

The Earth Kingdom man’s shoulders dropped. He looked to his wife and to the man cradling the newborn then whispered, “They are dead. I tried to save them, all three of them but I could only save the newborn.”

“Dead! My children are dead and you have the nerve to weep in front of me!” the Fire Nation man screamed while lunging forward with this free hand. He reached forward, grabbed the man and frowned as inches of fabric bunched inside his fist. “Remove his shirt.”

The man who’d held Katara until Zuko arrived roughly cut away the fabric. Katara turned her head away as the man’s girth landed in a pile on the floor revealing a thin man whose torso was riddled with bruises.

“I tried to save your children; all three of them. We are unable to have them. I would have loved them as if they were my own but the others believed no amount of love could overcome the evil inside them. I tried to shield them, to protect them. I am a small man. I tried. I tried so hard to shield them but I am a stranger. They wouldn’t stay beneath me. I tried. I tried so hard,” the man broke down into tears as his wife screamed behind him.

“My baby! Give me back our baby! That man has our son! Take him from him, please give back our baby! That’s my baby! That Fire Nation whore stole my baby!”

“You saved one; for that I will be eternally grateful. You will receive mercy,” the Fire Nation man said as he reached inside his pocket as if he were wiping his hand before extending it to the other man.

It was a distraction. The Earth Kingdom man crumpled, completely oblivious that the soldier’s brother had moved behind him. His chest lay completely flat on the floor as he glanced over his own shoulder; just that swiftly his neck had been broken.

His wife screamed, “You killed my husband and stole my baby! Give me my baby!”

The man smiled at her, “Prince Zuko, what is the punishment for claiming the birth of another woman’s child?”

Zuko clenched then unclenched his jaw, “If you insist the child of another woman is your own you must make restitution to the family for the harm you’ve caused if the claim proves to be false. You will be put to death unless the family you have harmed shows mercy on you. If they choose to spare your life you will be forever in their debt. The decision will be made by the woman of the house that your claim has upset.”

The father lowered his child where the distraught woman could see his face, “Do you still claim to be the mother of this child?”

“Yes, that is my child. You stole him. You and that redhaired woman stole him. He’s mine!” the brunette woman screamed as she reached for the golden eyed little boy with his mother’s red hair.

The man walked over to Katara and kneeled, “Milady, my wife was from the Southern Earth Kingdom. She has the red hair known among the Kyoshi Warriors. It comes from her grandmother. Every child born to us has her hair and my eyes. This child is mine. I do not have to ask to know that she is dead. Her body would have to have been torn from limb to limb before she let any person harm any one of our children. I ask that you judge this woman in her place. Milady, do you wish for this woman to join her man in death?”

Katara shook her head, “No.”

“Milady, do wish to give her the chance to prove herself by giving birth to a child who looks like this one?”

Katara looked at Zuko for guidance. He shrugged his shoulders, Katara was trapped. The man was paying her a great honor by asking her to judge in his late wife’s place and he would not detract from that.

Katara looked at the child then at the woman, “It is impossible for her to birth a child who looks like that one.”

“Milady what do you suggest?” the man inquired.

Katara thought for a moment before proposing what she believed would spare the woman’s life and be fair, “There is nothing she can do to make restitution for the loss of your loved ones or the hurt her lie has caused. You are a soldier. Your child will need someone to care for it while you are on duty. She thinks of this child as her own. Would you allow her become your servant and care for this child?”

“Yes Milady, your judgment is fair,” the man said respectfully.

He smiled as he rose and gave his son to his brother. The smile was cruel. Katara realized her error as he advanced on the woman. “You have insulted my wife in the worse way possible by attempting to steal the child of her womb. You are not fit to care for her child but you are not ugly. I can think of plenty of ways for you to earn income and benefit our son. New Ursa has a dire shortage of whores. You aren’t fit to be called a woman so you must learn to earn money on your knees like a boy.”

“Come Katara, you have made your judgment and I have blessed this child. Let us say the blessing of peace and prosperity for their family and return to our room,” Zuko suggested to get Katara out of the room.

She absently repeated his words and actions before following him out of the door. Once they were in the hotel room Katara angrily confronted him, “You let me condemn that woman.”

“Would you have felt any better sending her to her death? It would not have been as kind or swift as her husband’s,” Zuko replied tiredly.

“So why let me decide at all? That’s your place! I’m just some peasant you’re forcing to be your whore!” Katara hissed.

Zuko shook his head, “You don’t get it. The resolution of disputes related to matters of home and family unless they involve land or livestock are always resolved by females. Those of great importance are heard by the Fire Lady. This man placed his faith in you by asking you to resolve his dispute instead of summoning Azula. As a princess of the royal family the role of adjudicator should have gone to her. He asked you, his family is at peace because of you. He has his son because of you.”

“What do you mean he has his son because of me?” Katara asked.

“They scouted this town again last night Katara. Our soldiers looked inside of people’s houses as they slept and saw things from our destroyed city. They murdered and robbed our loved ones then slept peacefully beneath covers stolen from their beds. We would have come around front as a decoy while the rest of the division razed the town. I would not have forced you last night Katara. What we did was your decision. If you hadn’t changed your mind we would not have had a reason to peaceably enter this city. It could have been too late by the time he found his son. He could have been the one to kill him,” Zuko explained.

“How does he know you didn’t force me? That I?” Katara stammered afraid that if one soldier knew of her agreement then others would to.

“The night you told me of how your people ensured your loved ones were properly buried he told me that you reminded him of his wife. She was the type of woman to propose strange things if she believed her loss of face would benefit others. She was kind but could be extremely stubborn and shrewish if she believed in her cause. He agreed to try your method because the whole time after we’d incorporated their division he’d been watching me trying to determine what type of Fire Lord I’d be.

“He said Azula upset her friends often and showed no remorse for it but my brow furrowed after speaking cruelly to that Earth Kingdom girl and my whole face tightened if I quarreled with you,” Zuko’s voice softened, “That’s how he knew Katara. Because my face was without worry when I asked for admittance to this city so you could bathe. I would not have looked so peaceful if I had showed you no consideration and used force.’

Zuko placed his hand on Katara’s cheek and caressed her palm, “He sees what you mean to me Katara, that’s why he asked you to make the judgment in Azula’s place. You are not a whore. You are the woman I wish to become my queen and help me rule my nation. He sees that; asking you to make a judgment on behalf of his family was his way of acknowledging you as queen of our nation.”

“Don’t. Don’t ever say that to me again Zuko. I could never be anything to your nation,” Katara replied.

“You can. Katara. I see, he sees it, Bong Cha sees it. You would be-”

“I will kill myself before ever willingly putting on a crown claiming that group of murderers and rapist as my own,” she spat hatefully.

Zuko wrapped his arms around her and stepped closer so her body was against his, “Those people do not have to be yours. My country is filled with people who aren’t soldiers; mothers, children, teachers, artisans, fishermen, farmers, doctors. Would you accept my love and my crown for them?”

Katara shook her head, “I just watched your aunt kill a family, a man murder the man who rescued his baby. He is sodomizing the woman who loved his child as her own and cared for it after his wife’s death. I feel worse for her than I do the dead ones. I can’t become anything to you or your people because you all accept those things.”

Katara stepped back to look up at him while remaining in his embrace, “I was wrong in New Ursa, Zuko. I could never be Fire Nation and I never wish to. Those things are wrong. Those things are so wrong, Zuko.”

Her voice wavered as she asked him, “Why can’t you see it too? What have they done to you that you can’t see it too?”

Zuko lowered his head, he did see it. He saw it and accepted it as how the world worked. It wasn’t a matter of right or wrong it was how things were. He knew he could never explain that to Katara; there were days when it was difficult to explain to himself. He slid his palms over the contour of her waistline before stepping away from her and changing the subject. “It’s getting late Katara. We should bathe and change. Do you want first bath?”

Katara shook her head. She moved closer to the window and crossed her arms to stare at the darkening sky. She hoped the moon would come out although she couldn’t really blame Yue if she wanted to remain hidden behind the clouds. She heard creaking as Zuko primed the well, the flow of water then silence followed by more creaking. She cracked the door once she felt the moisture creeping through the door as Zuko heated the water to steaming.

The Fire Prince paused when he felt the slight breeze of the open door. He glanced sideways at it then lifted the bucket of warm water and dumped it over himself. It flowed down the drain without stopping. Zuko placed the bucket beneath the spigot and began working the ancient crank to lift more water. It paused a quarter of the way then water began to flow freely. “Thank you.”

Katara remained silent until he’d heated the water and was lifting he bucket to pour water over himself again. “Wait.”

This time when he paused the water snaked out of the bucket and over his skin. He placed the bucket in its spot in the corner then lifted the crank he had barely lowered it when the water began to flow smoothly into the tub. He heated the water and stepped in. It was small considering the size of most Earth Kingdom men but he managed to angle his body toward the door and close his eyes. He resisted the urge to warm it further when the water dipped lower leaving previously warm skin vulnerable to the cool night air. He heard the squelch of wet skin against the earthen floor and a brush of a toe against his calf as Katara lowered herself into the tub.

The water level fluctuated once more as Katara turned sideways and curled against Zuko. He stroked her hair absently; it was easy to find with her head lying against his shoulder. Katara pulled the warm water over her body like a blanket before wrapping her arms around his back and closing her eyes.

Zuko felt her words against his skin as she whispered, “I want to go home.”

Zuko kissed her forehead and murmured, “I know my love, I know. I promise…”

Katara pulled the water higher, drowning out his words. Promises meant nothing coming from the prince of corrupt peopl
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Borealis: A Zutara Story