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Borealis: A Zutara Story	By : jaded_priceless Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > AU/AR - Alternate Universe/Alternate Reality Views: 33965 -:- 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 315

She and Zuko quickly showered then dressed while the children marveled at the dancing ice figures. Zuko's speculation about the children's attention span was quickly shattered. The eight year old asked, "Big Sister Katara are you a hogmonkey woman?"

Zuko paled but Katara pulled covered herself in snow and lunged at her, "I'm a snow monster! I find the secret spots on Firebenders and freeze them so they can't bend again!"

The eight year old scampered out of the way and Katara contented herself with chasing her sisters and Zuko. They soon arrived at Fan's kitchen. The children stopped laughing. They hid behind Zuko's legs and peeked out at Fan, "Uncle Wei said he cooks little children."

"I sure do," Fan grumbled. "I'm still kicking myself for letting that no good uncle of yours get away."

"Fan!" Katara shrieked

Fan whipped around waving the carrot at her menacingly, "Don't you know that low down boogerjack let a whole herd of pickens loose in a field where I was picking truffles? I was lucky to scavenge a single one. I sure woulda cooked him if I'd a caught him and by Agni still will if I ever get my hands on a wok big enough ta hold'em."

"Won't he taste nasty?" one of the four year olds asked.

Fan lowered himself to her level and began carving the carrot into a flower. He presented it to her with a flourish, "Little Lady, my name is Fan. I am a living national treasure in the art of fine and not so fine cooking. I can make anything; including that fatheaded uncle of yours, taste good."

She shoved it in her mouth before her sister could snatch it away.

The other twin stuck her tongue out as Fan gave her one of her own. She mumbled around the pretty vegetable, "Even Uncle Mu?"

"Uncle Mu?" Fan yelped in mock horror as he carved more flowers, "He's all skin and bones. Although for you, I suppose I can put him in a stew."

She shook her head, "I don't want you to cook either of them."

"I suppose I won't cook them since you asked so nicely," he replied while pouting. "Since I can't cook your uncles is there anything you want me to cook?"

Fan was immediately barraged by requests, several of them from Zuko. He rolled his eyes and threw the remaining carrot at Zuko. The prince caught it and grumbled, "I just get a plain carrot, no fun shape?"

"You get whatever shape your teeth put it in. Now hush brat and let me cook."

The girls giggled at Zuko as Fan turned his attention to the pots and pans. He entertained them with stories about their grandparents’ younger days before covering the table they were sitting at with food.

Katara looked at what all he had made and said, "We can't eat all that!"

"Yes we can," Zuko exclaimed while eyeballing the food.

Fan looked at Katara, "Let me tell you a little something about Qins. They're like ants at a picnic. We got these five little ones, pretty soon we'll end up with some more."

Fan's prediction proved to be right, the War Minister flanked by Aki and Eun Su soon found their way to the kitchen. Qin fixed himself a plate as he asked, "What are you little ones doing here? You know Byeol is cooking for you."

"His food tastes better Grandpa. You can go back and eat Byeol's vegetables," the seven year old replied.

"How about we both eat this and feed Byeol's food to the Avatar and Water Tribesmen?" Qin asked.

Zuko slammed his cup down, "No. You will not feed anything to my prisoners. You are not to speak to my prisoners. You will not go anywhere near my prisoners. If I hear you or one of your agents has disobeyed me I will execute you for treason."

"Really? Boy you'd best watch your tongue,"

"No Qin, you'd best watch your tongue. Who is it that you think you are talking down to?"

The War Minister stalked over and stood over Zuko, "You listen here, Boy. You aren't the first child to think he's a man because your dragon got wet with something other than your own spit. I know what you did and why you did it. I'm not the one who'd be charged with treason."

Zuko rose and pushed Qin away from him, "No you're the man who'd let some sick bastard face fuck his six month old grandson. Which one of these little girls did you want to be the first one ruined? Which one is better off dead so long as you got your damned machine? Or don't tell me you don't think some grown man sticking shoving his penis in a child this little wouldn't kill them? Tell me Qin, which one of your grandchildren doesn't deserve to live?"

"That's enough! Both of you! What the hell do you think you're saying in front of these children?" Fan screamed. He grabbed his old friend and pushed him towards the store room, "Qin, out of my kitchen! You get your ass in there and sit down!"

The cook pointed at Aki and Eun Su, "You two go get Chu-hua. Missy Katara you shush him up and you shush him up fast."

Not knowing what else to do the two older children dashed into the hall screaming for Chu-hua. Katara placed her hand over Zuko's mouth and pulled him down so his head was buried in her chest. Fan locked the pantry door and attempted to calm the crying children that didn't chase after their older sisters.

Chu-hua heard the children before she saw them. They'd never been particularly fond of her so hearing them scream her name put her on full alert. She had strongly advised against bringing the prisoners to a place where both the Avatar and Waterbender had the advantage of terrain and been livid when Qin ordered them to stay. She swore expecting the worse as she abandoned the landing pad and ran indoors. The footsteps of her mentor and former charge echoed on the stone steps as they chased behind her towards the terrified children.

"Chu-hua! Chu-hua! Grandpa and Cousin Zuko are fighting! Fan told us to come get you! Hurry come help!"

"Where are they?" Chu-hua asked.

"The kitchen!" Eun Su screamed.

"Which one?" the admiral replied as Bong Cha raced down the hallway towards the communal kitchen. She'd known Fan for almost as long as her husband and after serving with him on Chu-hua's ships she knew exactly which kitchen he'd set up camp in. That and her step-daughter in law would never have let him in hers.

"Grandma!" the children shrieked as Bong Cha rushed into the room. She hugged the children to her as Mahnaz put out the flames escaping from the pantry.

As soon as there was no danger of backdraft the Undersecretary snatched open the door, dropped to her knees and punched Qin in the stomach. She spun and swept his feet out from under him then placed her boot on his neck. She smiled at waved at him, "Hello Boss, aren't you glad to have me back."

Qin growled "Get off me."

"Sorry, no can do. You see as a condition of returning to my duties I report to a higher power than you. Isn't that right Bong-Bong?" Mahnaz said sweetly.

"Yes, Mayonnaise it is. Now, Qin, husband dearest, tell me why a man your age is picking fights with my great-nephew?" Bong Cha asked sweetly.

"He-" Qin began only to be cut off.

"I didn't ask what he did. I asked what you did. You are the adult in this situation. What did you do to make things get so far out of hand?" Bong Cha demanded.

Qin quickly recognized he was on the losing end of that argument. "Everything. I did everything my sweet wife. It was all my fault."

"I can believe it. Mayonnaise, I'm going to see to my grandchildren. I'll let you decide if you want to let him up. Miss Katara I trust that you will take care of Zuko," Bong Cha replied ushering the little ones out of the room.

Katara nodded. She let go of Zuko, "Will you sit here quietly while I pack Sokka and Aang something to eat or will I have to freeze you?"

Zuko inhaled and exhaled deeply but smoke continued to filter from his nose as he began to meditate. "Make their food. I won't hit the bastard."

"You little," Qin groaned as he began to struggle.

Mahnaz put her foot down once more, "No, no, no. Adults should learn to behave like adults and children should learn to respect their elders. Are you also in need of correction, Zuko?"

"No Aunty," he replied gruffly.

Katara quickly gathered enough for Sokka, Mu, Aang and the twins with Fan's help. They went to the stables first. Sokka, Mu, Ty Lee and Seon were grooming Appa. They dropped off the food and Zuko gave strict instructions that if anyone attempted to remove Sokka from the stables they were to come get him. He was being further confined for disrespecting his sister on their first outing.

They went to Aang's cell next. There were new guards watching him. Zuko obtained their names and home villages then demanded they go get paper and ink. He and Katara stayed to make sure Aang was able to eat then Zuko showed them the guards the missive he'd penned. The guards paled and nodded when Zuko asked if they understood what would happen to their families if the Avatar were allowed out of his cell while under their supervision.

Zuko was agitated. Katara walked beside him as he stalked from the stables to Aang's holding cell. The lack of sleep caught up to him after an hour of going up and down the stairs. He sat down in the middle of a flight and placed his head in his hands. "Why does this shit always happen? Why can't I do one simple thing without it blowing up in my face?"

"He's going to kill me Katara. Father is going to kill me once Qin tells him what I did. He likes Eun Lee and her kids but their lives don't compare against a weapon capable of destroying a nation. He's going to kill me and he's going to torture you. He's going to give you to the nobles and I won't be able to protect you. Everything I've done will have been for nothing. Nothing. I'm sorry Katara. I can't protect you. All of this hurt and pain, everything I've done will have been for nothing."

"You don't know that Zuko."

"I do Katara. I know Father. He'll kill us. He'll all of us for standing in the way of his weapon,"

"Zuko you don't,"

"No, he's right," a voice said as footsteps came down the hall. "Fire Lord Ozai would kill you, Prince Zuko, me and my children since they stood in the way of obtaining a snow weapon. Water is the only element we have not conquered. Pol and Mao's machine would have given us the leverage we needed to put an end to this war. I set aside my duty to my nation to fulfill my duty as a father."

Eiji placed a hand on Zuko's shoulder, "Eun Lee and I both know the Fire Lord and Princess Azula would have made a different decision."

Eiji sat beside Zuko, "My father didn't see what the two of us saw. He thinks the threat to my children would have been eliminated if Mao and Pol were taken back to the Fire Nation. He's conveniently forgetting I am not his only child that works in this division. Relocating those two would save my children but put my nieces and nephews in danger. The reprieve granted to my children would only be temporary as we do intend to travel back to the homeland."

"Monsters like that tend to fixate on what was denied to them. How can I be sure that even if Father did take them back that years later they wouldn't find a way to harm my children?"

"Mother Bong Cha is here at Eun Lee's request. She sent a message yesterday afternoon as soon as she learned why I killed Mao. I never understood why she insisted we call her that until this afternoon. I thought it was to remind us that she was Father's wife and we were his illegitimate children. She came to make sure Qin understands the importance of family in this situation. How horrible is it that I am unsure of what my own mother would have done? She is so much like Father that I can't be certain she would not have considered the safety of her grandchildren among the calculated risk of such a promising weapon."

Eiji sighed, "Prince Zuko, Eun Lee and I will not reveal your true motive for attacking Pol as it exposed the danger to our children but we also will not prevent the creation of such a weapon if Father chooses to pursue it."

"What about you?," Katara asked quietly, "Will you pursue the weapon if the War Minister doesn't?

Eiji looked at her, "My wife has called you a whore. She has been abysmal towards you due to my own poor behavior, yet you've included our children in your playtime, punished those who used foul language around them, fed them and were ultimately the one who found evidence of the threat against them. At this time I cannot in good conscience say I can I am capable of building a weapon to destroy your people. I make no promises in regards to later but for now, until those horrible images leave my mind, I cannot repay your exposure to the monsters I let into my home with such dishonorable actions."

"My formal account of what happened yesterday will support Prince Zuko's claim he witnessed Pol drawing lewd pictures of you. He searched the room to ensure they were not using your image for prurient purposes but found the images of my children," Eiji rose.

Before he walked away he uttered, "May Agni help us all if Fire Lord Ozai or Princess Azula learn the truth."

Zuko’s stomach clenched. He’d forgotten about Azula. While they were in New Ursa Bong Cha had warned him about acting rashly and giving no thought to consequence. She’d spoken to him at length about the benefits of prudence and long term strategic warfare. They were subjects he’d often heard about from his uncle but Bong Cha had broken them down to two simple sentences, “if you want Katara to remain unharmed you’d best ensure you are around to protect her. Your father will kill you if you don’t learn to think with something other than your heart.”

Once again his desire to protect her had put her at risk. He placed his hand over his mouth and took deep breaths hoping to push away the nausea. He closed his eyes and doubled over as his stomach lurched.

“Zuko?” Katara asked placing her hand on his back.

“I’m going to be sick,” he blurted before rising and running up the stairwell.

Katara followed. She called out directions to the closest door based on how strongly she felt the snow. Zuko burst out of the door and into the woods. He dropped down on all fours and opened his mouth taking in large gulps of air as his body heaved. Katara chased him into the woods and kneeled next to him. Zuko felt her hand on his back as he began to retch. Despite how heavily his food sat on his stomach or the way his intestines seemed to twist all nothing came up. The panic slowly began to recede as Katara rubbed his back.

Zuko pushed himself upwards to his knees and took several deep breaths before speaking, “I didn’t think about Azula; that she’s here with us. What if Mao or Pol had gone to her as well as the War Minister?”

“They didn’t. She doesn’t know, Zuko. Azula doesn’t know what you really did,” Katara said quietly.

“How can you be sure?” Zuko asked.

“Because she hasn’t told us.”

Zuko frowned in confusion but his face relaxed as Katara spoke.

“Enough time has passed for your sister to come smirking in our faces and taunting you by now. She wouldn’t let something this big slide if she knew about it, Zuko. You know it as well as I do; if Azula knew you’d interfered with the creation of a new weapon she would have sent a message to your father and would laughed as she told you about it. She would have wanted to see the expression on your face as she teased you. We haven’t seen her so that means she doesn’t know,” Katara confidently explained to him.

Zuko relaxed and laid his head on her shoulder. She was right, Azula would have shown up by now and lorded his error in his face if she had known.

~*~*~

Contrary to Zuko’s belief, Katara was wrong.

Mao and Pol had come sniveling to her with the idea of a promising new weapon. She also knew what Zuko had done and why he had attacked the brilliant scientists. She also knew why Eiji completed what he started. Byeol had come to her room crying last night. Instead of immediately kicking her out she asked why she was upset. It was more out of curiosity than concern considering Byeol didn’t cry easily. She wanted to know what had transpired to make her shed tears.

It had been hard to mask her anger as Byeol explained Zuko attacked Pol for drawing lewd pictures of the Waterbender and her Father had killed Mao for drawing lewd pictures of them. Eun Lee and Eiji had questioned all of their children about their interactions with the two scientists but only told their oldest why they had been summoned. All she could think of was the weapon they’d lost and that her brother had finally gone overboard. She couldn’t wait to notify their father.

At least she couldn’t until Byeol asked, “Cousin Azula, why would Mao want to use sex to hurt me? To hurt us? Why would someone want to have sex with children as young as Hiko, Yunkumi and the twins?”

Azula remembered seeing Ching Mei in the infirmary. She’d heard the child screaming and ignored it. The fear and desperation distorted normal cheerful voice to the point Azula didn’t recognize it was her little cousin begging for help. If she had known it was Ching Mei and not some lowly servant she would have intervened. Ching Mei had been severely damaged by Lord Asami’s fingers. The Waterbender had been broken by her brother’s penis. Azula knew that if someone older than Zuko had placed his penis inside those little girls what Asami had done to Ching Mei wouldn’t seem so terrible.

She couldn’t imagine seeing Byeol, Eun Su, or the annoying ankle biters broken and bloodied like the Waterbender. She spoke the truth to Byeol, “Men are disgusting creatures. I have no idea how they work.”

She waited until Byeol had fallen asleep by her side to take out her stationary. The words to her father flowed smoothly in her mind but she couldn’t put them to paper. She kept seeing Ching Mei broken and bloody after she’d been attacked by Lord Asami knowing that she’d done nothing to help her. She’d been in the infirmary when her brother and the Waterbender snuck in. She’d watched from one of the hidden passages as Katara placed water between the little girl’s legs and fixed what that monster had done to her. The Waterbender had fixed what she’d allowed to be broken.

If she sent this letter to her father the little cousins who adored her would be broken. Unlike Ching Mei these little hanger-ons knew of their relationship to her, her father and her brother but favored her over the crown prince or the Fire Lord. If she sent this letter she was essentially asking for them to be broken. Her father would not take the loss of such a weapon lightly and he would see to it that those who interfered paid for it. Eiji would pay with his children and this time once the predatory nobles were finished there would be no Waterbender to fix them. She would be taken as the payment Zuko owed; he would watch her suffer before their father ended his life.

Azula put her quill away after drawing two symbols on the paper. She watched them burn between her fingertips as she contemplated the meaning of the concepts they represented. Love and family – two things she didn’t believe in but as she watched her younger cousin sleeping in her bed and touched the hair another had brushed she knew those two things believed in her.
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Borealis: A Zutara Story