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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 81
Zuko narrowed his eyes. Fan had been friends with his Uncle since their days at the military academy and was one of the few people that treated him like a regular teenager instead of a prince. He was sure the man was up to something but nevertheless did the introduction. “This is my companion, Lady Katara Waterbending master of the Southern Water Tribe. Katara, this is one of the Fire Nation’s living national treasures in the area of fine cuisine, Fan.”
The cook bowed respectfully, “My lady, it is an honor to properly meet you. I have often seen you from a distance as you escaped on your flying bison after kicking this whelp’s behind. My kitchen and embarrassing tales of his childhood are at your disposal. Did you know the little Prince here wet the bed until he was-”
“FAN!” Zuko yelped, raising a fist and stomping.
In spite of herself, Katara laughed.
Fan gave her an exaggerated wink, “Don’t worry Miss, I’ll tell ya another time. What would you like to be eatin’? Ya missed breakfast and it’s a few hours ‘til lunch, but I can whip somethin’ up.”
“I don’t really have an appetite,” Katara responded honestly.
“You have to eat something. You thrown up for several days straight,” Zuko said genuinely concerned. “Fan, can you make that rice thing?”
The cook shot a dirty look at the prince. He heard the commotion in the hallway and saw the aftermath of what Zuko had done the first night the prisoners were brought onboard. It was shameful to disgrace a woman in that manner and then parade her humiliation. His voice lacked its joviality when he replied, “No, but I can make that rice stuff. It sits better on the stomach.”
The elderly man made several jokes and told embarrassing stories that made Zuko blush and Katara laugh as he finely chopped leftover vegetables and meat before adding them to this morning’s rice and stirring in a rich broth. It was the consistency of velvet mush when he handed a bowl to the kitchen’s occupants, “Fan’s special rice stuff, guaranteed to ease broken hearts and upset stomachs.”
Katara gave a doubtful look at the mush but proclaimed it fantastic after the first bite. By the time she finished her first bowl Zuko was mopping up his second. Katara laughed at him them covered her mouth as soon as she realized what she was doing.
“What?” Zuko asked as he went back to the pot for another bowlful.
Katara shook her head, “Nothing, I just thought Sokka was the only person who ate like that.”
“I can’t help it if I’m still growing,” he muttered defensively.
Katara laughed until she was sobbing. She’d heard that same excuse several times from her brother. Here she was in the ship’s kitchen dining on the best thing she’d tasted in a while and she wasn’t even sure if he or Aang had eaten.
“Why are you crying? Fan, what’s wrong with her? Did I do something?” Zuko had made Katara cry several times, but he still didn’t like to see it. The feeling of guilt was worsened since couldn’t pinpoint the direct cause of it.
“Now, now, don’t cry. I took‘em somethin’ this morning. Don’t worry about yer brother and the Avatar, old Fan here will make sure they fill their bellies.” The cook said wrapping his arms around Katara and pulling her to his chest.
He shot a withering glare at Zuko and to his credit the teen shut up. He lowered his voice and turned away so Zuko couldn’t read his lips, “You finish that bowl. You three and that bison are going to need every ounce of your strength to escape and I intend for you to get it.”
Katara was shocked. She raised her head to look at him and be certain of what she was hearing.
The old man nodded and lifted a spoonful of gruel to her lips, “There, there, child. You’ll give yerself a headache cryin’ like that on an empty stomach. Here’s a spoonful, eatup. Can you believe I used feed Grumpy just like this when he got that flower on his face?”
“FAN!” Zuko cried angrily. This time there was a flame around both fists, smoke coming from both nostril and when he stomped on the metal floor he drew sparks.
“Calm yourself, Prince Zuko, you would do well to remember you are in my kitchens,” Fan warned, his voice was like cold steel and contained no hint of its earlier mirth. “I meant no offense. I only wanted to let her know she’s not the first person to find herself feeling alone and helpless on ship not of her own choosing. Or have you forgotten all of your uncle’s teachings?”
“My uncle is not here,” Zuko replied in the same manner.
Fan looked at the girl then back as Zuko and sighed, “No, I suppose he isn’t.”
Katara could tell there was some type of hidden meaning to their exchange but she was unable to make heads or tails of it. All she knew was that for the moment she was with someone not afraid of Zuko and he wouldn’t be allowed to hurt her in his presence. She just might be able to survive this ordeal if she were able to stay in the kitchens.
“Wow your auras are really intense,” Ty Lee commented as she walked into the room. Her arrival somewhat eased the palpable tension, “Zuko, Mai wants to talk to you for a moment.”
“I’m busy,” he replied gruffly.
“But you’re just standing there. Please Zuko, she says it is really important,” Ty Lee pouted.
Fan waved Zuko away dismissively, “Go, see to your fiancée, I’ll look after Miss Katara. You have my word no harm will befall her.”
“Fine,” Zuko snapped before following Ty Lee down the hallway.

“Do you believe in destiny?” The cook asked letting go of the Waterbender.
He didn’t wait for a response before sitting beside her and continuing. “When I was a boy a fortune teller prophesied I would find the answers to life’s greatest questions in polar waters. I graduated the military academy with honors and joined the Southern Raiders. I foolishly believed I could find glory and myself at the same time. We’d heard there were new Waterbenders at the South Pole and we set off to capture them.
“Your warriors fought bravely and I cut them down mercilessly as I searched for someone who could bend water. All around me people were falling, both Water Tribe and Fire Nation. My brother was in my unit and I was determined to find a Waterbender before he did. He ran on ahead into the city and I chased after him. The only occupant of the first house I went in was pregnant woman. I let her be and ran into the next house. This one was empty. I tried several houses and didn’t see a single person bending. The last house entered had a girl smaller than the Avatar feeding a little boy. He had fresh tear stains on his face but he wasn’t crying. I guess that was the only way to quiet him.
“I had grown frustrated by that point. I didn’t join the army to fight women and children. I joined to cut down the enemy of my land. I ask grabbed her shoulders and asked where the Waterbenders were. She told me there weren’t any. I thought she was lying. I drew my sword and threatened her. I wasn’t going to hurt them. I only wanted to scare her into telling me where the Waterbenders were hiding. They were children. What type of man deliberately harms a child?” Fan asked wringing his hands and shaking his head in frustration.
He sighed and chuckled dryly, “That little girl grabbed the pot from the fire with two bare hands and poked me in the stomach with the handle. I was so surprised she did it I let my sword slip forward. I sliced off three of my own toes. When I fell she jabbed the handle in my mouth. I was screaming and their dinner fell in my mouth. It was chewy, vile and disgusting.
“I went into shock,” Fan snorted derisively, ““Apparently I was chewing away when my men found me. I saw several bodies, small bodies when they carried me away. I lost my brother, my toes, my teeth, my honor and my military commission that day.”
“The only thing I regret is the fact that I’m not certain those children got away,” he added sadly.
“I was slinging hash in exchange for booze in a dive at the tip of the Earth Kingdom when Iroh found me. He doesn’t pull rank that often, but he used his status as crown prince to get me back in the military as his personal chef. I was with him when he stormed Ba Sing Se, when his son died, when the boy he loved as a son was burned, and when he helped that same boy sneak to the North Pole.
“I saw the ocean spirit that day. It looked right in my eye and spared me. I didn’t know why. All I know is that every fortune teller I’ve ever seen has said the same thing, I’ll find the answers to life’s greatest questions in polar waters. The last time I heard that was last month. I’ve been to the South Pole and North Pole and Agni knows I’ll drown in a vat of fire whiskey and tell Ozai just what I think of him before I ever go back. I’m guessing polar waters everybody told me about is sitting beside me eating leftovers.”
Katara had grown angry listening to how callously he’d spoken of killing her tribesmen, “Is there a point to this story?”
The cook reached into his pocket and flipped a game piece on the table beside Katara, “I’m an old man and tired of war. I’ve lost my brother, my wife, my kids and half my vision. All I really know it’s that it’s too early in the day to be sober.”
Katara looked at what he’d placed on the table. It was pai sho tile, just like the one Piandao had given to Sokka.
“Yuki, the little girl’s name is Yuki. The little boy she was feeding is my father. The palms of her hands are covered in burn scars. When I left home after finding Aang in the iceberg she told me to find that Firebender and ask him how he liked her sea prunes,” she muttered trying to remember where else she had seen that lotus and if it was of any significance.
Fan laughed. “Come here child, look in this storage unit. I’d planned on cooking these as soon as we pull into port. I’m the only one that eats them. The others can’t stand their enticing aroma and delicate texture. I guess now I’ll have some company.”
Katara chuckled when she saw a storage unit full of dehydrated sea prunes.
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Borealis: A Zutara Story