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 090
Seven days later Bingwen decided it was time for his charges to leave. Zuko had taken up residence in Katara’s bed. If he was not at her side apologizing he was in the bathroom doing things the physician would rather not think about. He’d done what he could as far as buying her time to heal but he knew of Ozai’s edict stipulating she was a royal concubine so long as the prince showed interest in her. Bingwen was not so naïve as to think Zuko’s teenaged hormones were not a factor in what happened between them. He had four sons and six grandsons who had been quite terrible at that age. The boy would soon realize the absurdity of spraying his palms while her vaginal opening recuperated.
It was only a matter of days before he or one of his assistants walked in on something they really didn’t want to see. There was no doubt in his mind she would fight if the prince decided to make use of the numerous other pleasures offered by the female body. Katara was their patient; Zuko was their patient and their prince. They were morally obligated to defend her but legally bound not to intervene. He knew Toshio, Hibiki and Saori would ignore anything happening before them but Amayu would most likely do something rash due to her family situation.
Bingwen decided to place his faith in Zuko being serious about not wanting to hurt the Waterbender. He would to teach him what he could to lessen any future injuries to her and hope it would also preserve his favorite assistant’s life and medical career. The doctor brewed a large pot of tea and sat the prince in front of two large medical tomes opened to the same subject, “This is the female reproductive system.”
Just as his sons and grandsons had done, Zuko blushed and shoved vivid graphics away. Bingwen was expecting that so he had requested a few items from the kitchen as educational aids. Once he recaptured Zuko’s attention, the blushing boy was willing to hear what he had to say.
Zuko had to admit that his uncle’s talk about dragons, caverns, dewy flower petals, and magic buttons made a lot more sense combined with Bingwen’s plain spoken lesson about female anatomy, function and erogenous zones. Well that and being asked to compare jerky on dry toast versus gravied meat on buttered bread.
He’d experienced the chafing produced by the lack of lubrication firsthand. Being inside Katara wasn’t as bad as what he’d done to himself when he first discovered it felt good to rub his penis but he never would have imagined the dry choking feeling in his mouth after eating jerky and crumbling hardtack was what Katara felt between her legs. At first he’d thought the man was crazy for telling him to rub his breakfast against each other before eating then tell which one left him more satisfied.
“Prince Zuko, do you know what this is?” Bingwen asked placing a fuzzy petri dish on the table in front of him.
Zuko’s nose turned up at the scent, “It looks like one of the experiments we did in science class at the Royal Academy. Please don’t tell me these are the antibiotics you’ve been giving me?”
“No, it’s a pregnancy test,” Bingwen said calmly. “These spores only react to pregnancy hormones in a woman’s bloodstream. Normally the test is done by cutting a finger and taking a blood sample. This was done using the blood from the floor. You did more than hurt the Waterbender during that attack.”
Zuko’s stomach dropped as he stared at the overgrown dish. It was one thing to hear his actions had most likely left her barren and another to see physical proof Katara had been pregnant with his child. He had given her a baby and he killed it. His father had burned him but he killed his unborn infant.
The greenish gray fuzz seemed to reach for him as Bingwen stated “We do not know the long term effects such a violent attack will have on her reproductive abilities. She may never menstruate or conceive again. If she does it is unlikely she will be able to carry a healthy child full term. Katara has shown a remarkable ability to heal herself; in the miraculous event her body can repair the damage you must take the proper precautions.”
The physician gave him a small bag of contraceptive lubricating oils and a packet of tea to prevent future pregnancies as well as detailed instructions for their usage. The herbs the cook had given Katara were sitting on his dresser at the palace. He had refused the koalasheep skin prophylactics Zhao 2 had given him citing Katara was a virgin; those were only needed if the woman was dirty. 2 had rolled his eyes, slapped the condom against his forehead and said “Use it dumbass.”
In his haste to reach orgasm (another subject Bingwen addressed) he had forgotten the possibility of fathering a child and that it was a man’s job to make sex pleasurable for his partner. It sickened him that his penis enjoyed being inside her. Considering their circumstances he never imagined she would enjoy receiving him but he was willing to do whatever was necessary to make things better for her.
“Dr. Bingwen, what can I do to make our joining easier on Katara?” he asked quietly while lifting the dish and lightly fingering the fuzz. It disintegrated as he touched it.
The doctor gently removed it from his hand and placed it outside his range of vision. “Do you really wish to know?”
After drilling Zuko on sexual techniques and ways to make their coupling easier on Katara the physician brought out the dish once more, “Prince Zuko, you have taken her as your concubine. As a man you have a duty and responsibility to her as well as the child you fathered. Remember that the next time you lose your temper.”
Zuko was reeling from the repercussions of his actions as Bingwen declared them dismissed. There was still a small amount of fuzz on his fingertips as he took Katara’s hand in his. It was all that remained of the life created between them. The Prince looked down at the Waterbender limping beside him and felt an overwhelming sense of shame, guilt and sadness. He had gotten her pregnant and caused her to lose it during that awful lesson. He only wanted to show her what the crew would do to her but he was angry while doing so. He lost control and did that to her; to his baby.
It pained him to think she had been carrying a child, his child, and may never have the chance to have another all because of his foolish pride and childish temper. He had committed an act as heinous as his father all because he had been laughed at and his sense of authority had been questioned. His father had killed his mistresses’ children out of respect for his Mom’s wedding request and not in a fit of anger. He was an even bigger monster than his father.
Zuko took her to visit her brother and the Avatar then took her on deck to see the bison. He wasn’t ready to take her back to his cabin or face what had happened the last time they were there. He knew that if she were to remain under his protection he would have to reassert his claim that she was his royal concubine and prove that he hadn’t lost interest but thoughts of dry toast, petri dishes, lost infants and Katara lying motionless in a pool of blood filled his mind.
Visions of being stuck with a miniature Azula and becoming another Ozai were all he ever thought about when he contemplated children and possible parenthood. At the time he meant it when he said he’d never wanted children. But now that he knew he had the possibility and lost it he remembered the little boy Lee from the Earth Kingdom and how he’d enjoyed teaching swords to him and the cute little baby Hope on the refugee train. Uncle Iroh’s eyes had lit up while playing her and the baby had even gurgled at him. Zuko had seen the toy he sent to her once they moved to the Upper Ring and heard him muttering about grandchildren when he sent him on the date with Jin. Even Tom-Tom had been fairly amusing when Mai’s family had come home for Mu’s wedding. He had no clue what a katamo was but it was funny to watch how their parent’s faces screwed up when he asked for it.
Children weren’t like adults. They never shied away from his scar; they stared and asked what happened. Ching-Mei wasn’t the only child to offer him a bandage for his owie. His scar may have frightened them but as least they accepted it as a part of him; just like Katara did. He imagined any child she would have given him would have done the same.
They’d been out of the infirmary for over two hours and Katara still hadn’t said a single word to him. She hadn’t spoken to him at all in six days, not even to tell him to go away. She just ate, slept, and healed herself. Bingwen and Amayu had said it was shock. It was normal after severe trauma, miscarriage and news of infertility. Katara had just undergone all three. He should be gentle and patient with her. Every woman recovered differently.
Zuko wrapped his arm more tightly around her, there had been several times he’d caught her staring into space her spoon frozen halfway between her lips and the bowl. He’d take it from her fingers and lifted it the remaining way. Those days she didn’t seem to be aware of him or anything; mouth opened, closed, and she chewed automatically.
Zuko led her to the rear deck and stood behind her at the rails, protectively placing his hand over her lower abdomen and shielding her from the breeze with his body. He kissed her temple before softly speaking, “I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you so badly. I would have loved any child you gave me. I mean it when I say I don’t have to have children. Please stay with me and give me a chance to make you happy.”
After getting no response he contemplated using the magic words Bingwen had taught him. Zuko had first thought the doctor was referring to his uncle’s tea group when he asked if Iroh had taught him the phrase “guaranteed to right the most egregious wrongs, charm the tightest of locks and grease the tumblers to allow him smooth entrance”. Bingwen had explained Grandfather Azulon used that phrase to advance Fire Nation interest in the Earth Kingdom and that Uncle Iroh had always been calculating smooth talker but was far more cavalier when he was younger. Any perceived slight was repaid upon the transgressors’ sister or mother.
Zuko didn’t think he could stoop to that level with Katara but he was getting desperate. They’d been on deck for close to an hour and he’d even encouraged her to Waterbend, but she continued to ignore him. He needed a way to apologize to let her know what he was feeling since she didn’t seem to acknowledge any of his words or gestures.
“Katara, I…” he stopped. The words should have been easy. It was the surefire way to assuage a woman’s hurt feelings. He’d hurt Katara badly so they should have come easily.
Zuko blew a puff of smoke in frustration. He had no clue Bingwen didn’t tell him that the words were only difficult to say when there was a chance you meant them or that they should not be spoken if there was the slightest hint of affection. Otherwise one ran the risk of bending themself into a room full of flammables by giving root to fledgling feelings that may never have blossomed. “Katara, please, I lo-…I care about you. Stay with me, let me make you happy.”
Katara stared at the water as his voice polluted her ears. He’d been spouting that same nonsense ever since he woke up: stay with me, I don’t have to have kids, I’ll make you happy. It was garbage, pure and utter soggy whale shit, not even suitable for burning. They were escaping as soon as they got the chance. The only way she was staying with him was in chains and that went doubly if they made it back to the Fire Nation.
Who cares if he didn’t want kids? She did. She’d had one. She’d never wanted to have his child, but now that she may not ever be able to have any his was better than none at all. She was fourteen. She never imagined she’d captured, raped, and be contemplating motherhood and loss when she left home a few months ago.
She focused on remembering what Mu said to her after uttering the damned sentence that caused the original blowout. Her brother and Aang were on the lower decks, the people she wanted to hurt had access to life rafts. Aang would be saved but Sokka and Appa would drown. Without the three of them as insurance Aang would exist. She could not refer to being blinded and amputating as living. There was always the chance losing Appa would be the one thing capable of triggering the Avatar State but then he’d kill them all.
He’d kill them all, her, Sokka, Zuko, Azula. Mai. She could die, would die and be with her mother and her little tadpole. But Dad, Gran-Gran and Toph would be alone.
Zuko wrapped a second arm around her waist as she contemplated her chances of survival if she went overboard. She had stopped bleeding two days before so sharks wouldn’t swarm her as soon as she hit the water. They were in the middle of the ocean but the large ship had ten smaller faster escorts in addition to the ships in the cargo hold. They would chase her.
She stared at the water contemplating if she should jump and take Zuko down with her. It would be easy to send a wave to sever the ropes connecting one of the life rafts. Zuko had told her each one was stocked with a week’s water, blankets and sea rations for ten people as well as a compass and a map. Even if she didn’t steal a ship they were almost midway to the Earth Kingdom. Tho had been a stern taskmaster; she had to be capable of doing ten laps around the swamp before he would teach her anything or she could begin Huu’s lessons on plantbending. She could go far enough, fast enough to get away from them.
She could survive, would survive leaping into a ring of Fire Nation ships in the middle of the ocean. She knowing that she would live was not a good a thing. She would live, but Sokka would die. Aang would be blinded and mutilated but she would live. It would be far better to believe that if she jumped she die along with the rest of them. They would be reunited in the spirit world but then Toph, Dad and Gran-Gran would be alone.
She could jump over double back under water and come get Sokka and Aang but who was to say they would even still be alive by then. Aang would not be much help. He was allowed to change position four times a day and each one was designed to inhibit chi flow. But he wouldn’t leave without Appa. Even if the salt water didn’t eat into his open wounds Appa was too large to hide easily beneath the water. He’d be a target until she reached a depth where the Fire Nation could no longer see them.
She would have to wait a little longer. For their sakes she would wait, could wait, endure being in the presence of the monster who hurt her so badly and thought it would be possible to make amends while breathing.
Mimi Feye: Thank you. I’m glad I was able to grab your curiosity. I’m glad you were able to guess she was pregnant. I didn’t want it to just come out of left field. I hope I do justice to Katara’s happiness and feelings as well as I think have without turning her into one of those “he hurt me I love him heroines”.
Arraye: Thank you. Katara will definitely make Zuko aware of the flaws in his logic. And yes he truly does believe all of the things he is saying. Canon Zuko searched for the Avatar for three years fully believing that he would be the one to find him then strode into the Eastern Air Temple with the belief they would accept him. To say it mildly Zuko has a rather unique thought process. I'm glad you like the cultural differences. It will come into play more later and explain some of their behavior.
While AFF and its agents attempt to remove all illegal works from the site as quickly and thoroughly as possible, there is always the possibility that some submissions may be overlooked or dismissed in error. The AFF system includes a rigorous and complex abuse control system in order to prevent improper use of the AFF service, and we hope that its deployment indicates a good-faith effort to eliminate any illegal material on the site in a fair and unbiased manner. This abuse control system is run in accordance with the strict guidelines specified above.
All works displayed here, whether pictorial or literary, are the property of their owners and not Adult-FanFiction.org. Opinions stated in profiles of users may not reflect the opinions or views of Adult-FanFiction.org or any of its owners, agents, or related entities.
Website Domain ©2002-2017 by Apollo. PHP scripting, CSS style sheets, Database layout & Original artwork ©2005-2017 C. Kennington. Restructured Database & Forum skins ©2007-2017 J. Salva. Images, coding, and any other potentially liftable content may not be used without express written permission from their respective creator(s). Thank you for visiting!
Powered by Fiction Portal 2.0
Modifications © Manta2g, DemonGoddess
Site Owner - Apollo