The Courtesan and The Mercenary
Prologue
Disclaimer: I do not own AVATAR THE LAST AIBENDER (or its characters) nor do I own"The Courtesan and The samurai" (or it story line) by Lesley Downer.
"What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us" Ralph Waldo Emerson.
The last of the cherry blossoms were falling, settling slowly on the ground. Autumn had officially started a few days ago ending the three month of intense heat that in Katara's opinion had been the warmest summer she had experienced since she came to live in Gaipan two years ago. Dejectedly she watched as the pink petals floated down and she wondered if her husband would be back in time to see the cherry tree bloom next year.
She could hear him stamping up and down , then a crash as he slammed something down on the floor.
" The enemy is moving closer everyday!I cannot believe they are letting this happen!" he roared, loud enough to make a few servants cower in fear.
" The Fire Nation is almost at the doors of Ba Sing Se, Burning and Killing everything on their way and everything we can do is run! But we will not give up, we will find a way to push them back and kill those traitors that have been selling us out" He burst out of the house followed by his advisor, Lei Ming, he then stood in the entrance way, tall and imposing in his dark green uniform, sword at his side staring round at the servant and at his young wife waiting nervously to wave him off.
There were some noise at the front gate. Some men had gathered there, all wearing green uniforms, swords and other weapons bristling in their hands, their heavy boots crushing on packed Earth of the road as they shuffled their feet. Katara recognised them. Some of them lived in the barracks nearby , others in the apprentice quarters quarters and they often came to the house to do cleaning and run errands for her husband. She always knew they were soldiers under her husbands orders, but they were never obligated to wear their uniforms when in the domain. So seeing them now all ready and exited to go to war made Katara realised that they were always more than mere servants on her family's orders. They were going to war, all of them, leaving behind only herself, her elderly parents-in-law and the servants. Katara wished with all he heart she could go too. She could fight every bit as well as any of them, she thought.
Katara was seventeen. As a married women she kept her eyebrows neatly shaved and her teeth polished white, her long dark brown hair, which when loose , swept the floor, was oiled and pulled into a neat coiffure in the last style all young wives in the Earth kingdom wore. She had put on her best formal robes as she always did to say goodbye to her husband. She did her best to behave in a proper way, but sometimes she wished her destiny might have been different.
She had been married for two years now but in all that time, her husband had almost always been away at war and she hardly ever had any chance to get to know him better. This time he'd only been home for a few days and already he was leaving. He was a fierce master and when he was angry he beat her. But it was nothing she didn't expected, her marriage had been arranged by her parents and she had never expected any kind of love to come out of it.
In normal times she would have been part of a huge household with in-laws, cousins, uncles and aunts and it would have been her duty to to keep the house and serve them but these were far from normal times. The Earth kingdom, the greatest nation on Earth was under attack. Never Katara could have imagined that it could happen. Her family had fled the south pole when she was still a child, running from Fire nation invasion and destruction, to the safety of the Earth Kingdom, the only nation that had up until then succeeded in resisting The fire Nation many attempts of spread. Her father had been the ruling chief of the southern water tribes when the enemy had attacked , they had destroyed everything, killing the men and the benders and taking away the women and the children. Her mother had perished in the attack because she'd refused to give away that her daughter was a water bender and before he'd experienced the same fate, her father had untrusted her brother, Sokka and her to the care of his second in command, Bato who had managed to flee the tribe with the two children. He had took them the Earth Kingdom, To one of his and her father's old time friend with who they fought in previous battle against the Fire Nation. He was the governor's of a small city south east of Omashu called Senlin and a recognised General in The Emperor great army. They had established there and the good general treated them well. Bato had married an earth kingdom women that they took as their own mother as much as they considered Bato to be their father. When Katara became of marrying age, one of the General's freinds, the lord of Gaipan, a neighbouring city, who had noticed her during the many trips he'd made to visit his freind, had proposed his youngest son, who was almost 20 years older than her. He had just lost his pregnant wife to sickness and he was looking for a bride, one that could bear him children. Sokka along with Katara had protested much against Bato's decision to give her up for marriage like that even if they understood that they lived in a society that didn't give much choice to women in that matter. But when the man had promised that he would let her perform her water bending and even find her a master, in that same society that forbade women from any type of bending, Katara agreed to marry Wu Fei and Sokka was left alone to fight for his siter honour, not that his opinion still mattered much. Still sad and angered that his baby sister had married a much older man , He left to join the army in Gaoling under Lord Bei Fong after the wedding assured at least that she was safe and taken care of , he had written once, to say that he had moved to Kyoshi to train as part of a special elite of warriors mandated by Lord Bei Fong himself, that was a year ago and she had yet to read from him since.
Katara watched as her Husband bowed to his old father respectfully before taking his trembling hand in his.
"I'm proud of you my son, I'm proud you carnying on with the fight. If I was still any younger, I'll be in the battlefield with you, fighting shoulder to shoulder" The man said , holding on his son hands so tightly that Katara could see his knuckles turning paler that they already were.
" The war is not over yet father, The Earth Kingdom has not lost yet,Now that they have occupy Omashu we have a chance to stop them. We will rush to Gaoling and there we will join our forces to those of Lord Bei Fong and together we will march to Omashu to stop these barbarians once and for all. The people of Omashu will have to endure occupation until we come back for them and win the city back again".
All the servants waiting in line for their master had tears in their eyes. Although he was a fearsome and demanding master. He was good to them and made they lives decent and they respected him greatly. As he went down the line he addressed them one after the other, giving orders that they would have to carry out when he was absent. Katara was standing at the end of the line next to her mother in law and her personal servant who was also her water bending teacher , Hama standing behind her. She smelt her husband musky scent as he came to stand in front of her and she lifted her face so she could look at his. She saw his strong face and piercing green eyes, his furrowed brow and his thick raven hair tightly pulled into a traditional Earth kingdom top knot. As she studied his face she realised this could be the last time she ever saw him. He lifted one big and calloused hand ,placed it tenderly on her cheek and looked deeply into her eyes before talking softly "You know you duty, Serve my parents faithfully and take care of the house"
Katara shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut before opening them and garbing his hand against her face " let me come with you" she said fervently" There are battalion of women in lord Bei Fong's army I can fight with them!I- I can fight with you..." she finished shyly diverting her eyes from her husbands amused ones.
" You foolish child, the battlefield is no place for a woman, you'd soon discover that. Your job is to stay here, to serve my parents and defend the house. Your water bending has improved greatly so I trust you on this task. I will not be around for a long time and during that time you will assume my position as master of this place, that's enough of an heavy burden"
She sighed in disappointment and nodded to the man.
" Remember, Keep the main gates barricaded and the doors to the house too, don't go outside unless absolutely necessary. My lands are not very big and Omashu has already fallen to enemy's hands. The Fire Nation know who I am and they might want to avenge themselves when I'm gone, by attacking my family. Do you remember what I told you?" she nodded
" If things get dangerous you have to go to Ba Sing Se . You know I've left some money for you that you can use" she nodded again
"Good; once you reach the gates you must ask for... The Jasmine Dragon, It's the upper ring of the city, be very careful and trust no one until you reach the place. They have served our family for generations, they will take care of you."she nodded yet again tears pooling in her eyes. She might have never loved this man but he was a good man and she held some kind of affection for him. He cupped her face in both his hands and lifted her face to look at him once again. Using his thumbs he wiped the small track of tears that were going down her face and in the softest voice Katara had ever heard him use he said "you're a good child, a brave one...I'm glad I married a girl from the water tribes, you have a warrior's heart... I'll remember this lovely face when I'm on the battlefield and when I come back, you'll bear me a son" He kissed he softly on the forehead and stepped back. His authoritative shell was back in place as he looked at her one last went to bow to his father again and asked for his mother's blessing. He then marcher to his men waiting by the gates and they all stood silent as he took his place at the head of the troop.
Then Katara, her in laws and the servants bowed until they could only see dust raising in the Horison as the party made they way north towards Gaoling. People returned to their occupations and duties but Katara stood there until she couldn't see them any more. Praying hard that La protects them all.
Note: AU test fic. EDITED. I realised i had made few mistakes so I had to edit and repost. Thanks to ArrayePL, Affinitive, sadiegirl6,Madgirl03, chakira 16, ImaFREAK and FLO for your reviews. Criticism and flames are welcome. Reviews are love people so Read but also most importantly review! And english is not my first language (french is) so bear with me and tell me where I made mistakes.
