Holy moly! The response to these stories both here and on tumblr has blown me away. Y'all're mighty thirsty for Zutara. Well, far be it from me to deny you. I've returned as promised with the next story.
Let me preface today's story by saying that I pretty much never write AUs. Anyone who's followed me for a long time could tell you that I stick to the canon universe like Toph sticks to mud. This is definitely a first for me. That being said, I actually had quite a bit of fun writing this story. I hope all of you are able to derive some amusement from it because it ended up becoming quite long.
Without further ado, please enjoy probably the last historical AU anybody expected to come out of AtLA or me.
Day Seven
Historical AU
Katara muttered a slew of unladylike curses under her breath as she picked up her skirts and marched up the short set of stairs to her Papa's office. In her haste, her foot caught a cotton frill and she nearly fell on her face. She managed to disentangle her boot and catch her balance just in time, narrowly saving herself from public embarrassment.
At the top of the stairs, she threw open the door and stormed in with fury on her face. "Papa!" she seethed, capturing the brown-skinned man's attention as she stomped over to his desk. "What on earth are you doing! Letting those—those crooks take over the steelworks?" she demanded hotly. "You know as well as I do that they're going to ruin this town within a year. We'll never be able to afford their prices!"
Sheriff Hakoda listened to his daughter with an unshaken air of calm. He'd known she would react this way when he made the decision to let the Ember Steel Company buy out their steel mill. She was right to be concerned. The Ember Steel Co. were notorious for moving into towns and ruining their economies with their horrid business practices. However, it was also well known that Ember Steel was the finest in the new world and Hakoda had good reason to have faith that they would not go under like so many other towns. He had not made his decision lightly.
"Katara, listen to me," he said evenly. "You know I would never put our people at risk for money. I worked out a set of terms with the branch proprietor before I allowed the company to buy the mill. I believe this move will, in fact, work in our interest. I have confidence that ours terms will be honored."
Katara puffed out her cheeks in anger. "Honored my foot! Since when has Ozai ever cared about anyone's terms? This is a huge mistake and we're all going to suffer for it."
Her piece said, Katara turned on her heel and stormed from the office just as irately as she'd entered. She'd never taken her father to be a fool, but this decision was by far the most foolish one he could have conceived of making.
Well, she wasn't going to stand by him on this. She was going to deal with this herself.
oOo
The first place Katara visited after leaving her father's office was the mill's main office in town. It seemed likely that whoever had been placed in charge would be in there now setting up his shiny new desk from which he would steal the town's money while his workers squandered their iron. She knew the type. He would be fat and well-dressed with a hideous mustache. He would be the sort of man who looked down on people who made their living doing hard work and thought he could treat her father and the people of this town like stepping stones to a monetary goal. Well, he would learn soon enough that this town wouldn't lie down and let him walk all over them like the other places Ember Steel had run into the ground. Katara was going to make very sure that he understood that well.
Just as she'd done at her father's office, Katara flung the door open with purpose and stormed into the room like a furious thing.
And found it entirely empty.
Confused, she stepped further into the building and looked around. She checked the adjoining rooms and found the same thing. Nothing. The place was entirely barren save for a few office supplies and a scattering of chairs. It seemed the mill's master had yet to move in.
A little put out but no less full of righteous fury, Katara left the office behind and began the long trek to the mill. If the guy wasn't in his town office, he would surely be there.
oOo
One long, hot trek later, Katara finally arrived at the mill. She wiped sweat off her brow and kicked herself for not taking her horse. Her thick, dark hair stuck to the back of her neck and she paused to sweep it up on top her head and fasten it with a clip. She also took a moment to straighten her oceans of pale blue skirts, making sure she looked presentable. It wouldn't do for the proprietor to see her disheveled appearance and take her for some kind of mad woman.
When she was satisfied that she wouldn't turn any spectators to stone at a glance she marched through the large doors and resumed her hunt for whoever was in charge.
To Katara's surprise, when she opened the doors she was met with a blast of hot air. Even though the town office was empty, the forges were apparently lit and running. She'd thought the place would be cold and empty, but workers in protective coveralls bustled about with lively energy and the place was filled with the sounds of productivity. To her knowledge, the buyout had only just been made official, but already the mill was up and running. That was a little impressive, even Katara had to admit.
Taking a peek around, Katara didn't see anyone who looked like the proprietor, but she did spot a foreman directing some workers who were hammering out some manner of long steel beams and she approached him. "Excuse me," she called to the man. "I'm looking for the master of this establishment. Where might I find him?"
The foreman regarded her with some surprise but answered readily enough. "I imagine he's out in the yard right about now, ma'am. Would you like me to send someone to take you there?"
Katara gave the man a grateful smile and shook her head. "No, thank you. I know the way."
Leaving the foreman behind, Katara set out for the massive, mechanically operated shed door that led out to the wide yard that connected the compound's three buildings.
Just as Katara stepped outside, her ears were assaulted by the deafening pop-boom of a rifle. She flinched and stopped in her tracks. Looking around, she found the source of the noise. Two men were standing in the middle of the yard. One was young and held a smoking rifle and the other was somewhat older and stood by with what looked like a catalogue. Several yards away from them a wooden target had been set up. It had several holes in it.
Katara frowned. Neither man looked to be the person she was looking for, but she didn't see anyone else in the area. Just where was this proprietor? Figuring one of the two men might know, she picked up her skirts again and began walking toward them.
"I'm not sure about the design of the stock," the man holding the rifle was speaking to the man with the catalogue as she approached. "I like the English walnut but the shape is awkward. Tell Piao to trim it down by about a centimeter."
The man with the catalogue nodded and penned a note on the paper before walking way toward one of the other buildings.
The rifle man laid down the gun into a case by his feet and grabbed an ornately carved pistol. He was inspecting it when Katara cleared her throat, getting his attention. "Excuse me. I'm looking for this mill's master. Where might I find him?"
The man looked up from the pistol at her question and Katara read surprise in his expression. He regarded her with curious yellow eyes for a short moment before he holstered the pistol in the waistband of his heavy work trousers and straightened. "That would be me," he said, the infection sounding a bit like a question. "May I ask who's inquiring?"
Katara had to stop herself from taking a step backward, so great was her surprise. This young man was the mill's new proprietor? "Pardon?" she said, unable to mask her disbelief. He certainly didn't look like any proprietor that she'd ever seen before. The guy couldn't be older than eighteen or nineteen and rather than sporting the neatly-combed, oil slicked hair and horrendous mustache of a stereotypical evil businessman, he instead had soft-looking shaggy black hair that hung down to his ears and a handsome, friendly face.
The man shifted his weight onto one foot and regarded her with interest. "You asked for this mill's master," he reminded her. "That's me. Can I help you, Miss…?"
"Katara," she said, wrangling back her scattered composure. Reminding herself of why she came, she set her brow into an angry line and continued, "I'm Sheriff Hakoda's daughter. And yes, you can help me. If you are indeed the new owner of this mill, you can pack your things and leave this town. Right now. Immediately."
The man's eyebrows rose. "May I ask why Katara, daughter of the sheriff, wants me gone so desperately when, to my knowledge, we've only just met?"
Katara's eyes narrowed. She wasn't going to play this game. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you of your own company's reputation. Your overpriced steel is unneeded. I won't allow you to trample this town for a quick buck. Now pack your things and go find somewhere else to ruin."
The man's expression changed at once to a look of understanding. "Ah. I see. I'm sorry you think of me that way. Unfortunately, I can't leave just yet. Your father has just commissioned my company for railroad tracks and I'm afraid I'm under contract until they're finished." He crossed his arms and shifted his weight to his other leg. "But," he continued, "I'll be happy to leave after that."
Katara scowled up at him to mask how thrown off she was by his strange reasonableness. "And how long will that be?"
The man made a show of thinking about this for a short moment before levelling his gaze at hers again and saying, "Three years."
Katara felt her blood boil in anger. "Three years!" she exclaimed. "You're insane if you think I'll allow you to do as you please in this town for three whole years."
The man shrugged and held up his hands helplessly. "Whether you allow it or not, my hands are tied until those tracks are finished." He smiled then and held out a hand to her. "In the meantime, I might as well introduce myself. I'm Zuko Redford, branch proprietor of Ember Steel."
Katara thought her blood might evaporate right out of her veins. The audacity of this man! She wouldn't stand for this. There was no way she was going to sit back and allow this loathsome man to have his way for the next three years.
As furious as can be, she spun around and fled back into the mill.
oO0Oo
To be continued in Day Fifteen.
That's right, folks. I've done what few are gutsy enough to try: an Avatar Western. This is a difficult AU for a number of reasons. First, it's awfully strange for a bunch of people with Asian names to be running around in 19th century America. We're just going to ignore this though because I'm not about to go renaming the characters. Second, I actually don't know very much about this time period. I'm just regurgitating what I've seen in movies because doing a bunch of research for a small-scale story like this would be way too time-consuming. If you notice any inaccuracies, please suspend disbelief. Third, there was an awful lot of racism going on in this time period that we're just going to have to ignore. I really didn't feel like opening that whole can of worms so we're just going to pretend that there's nothing weird about America being full of people of very obviously different races who somehow inexplicably get along.
