Zuko was in a council meeting, so Katara was in the harem getting pampered and fed information. Aya was sitting beside her, and they were incredibly entertained when the other women flocked around, obviously excited to report to Katara.

The women that Katara sent to Councilman Shinu went first. "Okay, he's hung, so thanks, but show of hands, am I the only one who had to pretend to be Katara last night? It was weird." Eight different hands shot up. She shrugged, "that makes me feel a bit better."

She then gave an evil grin and said, "he thinks the Fire Lord is slipping. He thought him dancing with you last night was hilarious."

"He's not the only councilman like that," another woman said. She then added, "the one I was with said that Katara looked like a Fire Lady and the Fire Lord's women looked cheap."

Aya laughed, "that's funny with how expensive they must be. Seriously, they spend a fortune."

Katara shrugged, "good. They are doing everyone a tremendous service."

Another woman spoke up, "is it true that Prince Zuko plans to challenge Shinu next?"

"Where did you hear that?" Katara asked.

"Where everyone else here hears things. In bed."

Katara shrugged, "it hasn't been decided. We have to see if there is a chance before we go to Ba Sing Se."

"He's really taking you? Aren't you afraid of Mai retaliating?"

Aya laughed, "Zuko got her guards."

Katara said, "I'm not afraid of her. I'm wary."

"And she's going to be his wife," one woman said.

"Ha!" Was the reply from another woman. "The council isn't full of fools. Ozai is getting unpredictable, and she can temper him. I know for a fact they will be trying to get Katara to become Zuko's wife."

Ozai was having a shit day. Just when he had finally fucked out, his frustration, the council meeting had happened. One of his brutal generals had brought up the idea of making Zuko's whore his wife. He almost killed the man on the spot. He did slam his fist into the man's dumb face.

He slammed open the door to his room and grabbed his nearest whore. He wrapped his hand around her throat and choked her. "Fuck me slut." He then dropped her, and she collapsed to the floor, panting for breath. He loved the terror in her eyes. It made him so damn hard.

Katara was resting in Zuko's room, letting the fire warm her and loving the feel of the heat against her body. It made her think of Zuko. He was off, putting their plan into motion and ensuring that Kei would be on the trip too.

She was pulled out of her daze by a knock on the door. "Come in!"

She was startled to see Rin there looking rattled. "He's crazy," she said after closing the door and locking it.

Katara looked at her in concern. "What happened to your neck?" it had deep purple bruising.

"Ozai, who else? He choked me, and not in a sexual way. He was furious when he did it. He came in irate after the council meeting."

"Did he rape you!?"

"No! I had sex with him, and he wasn't brutal. But when he choked me, his eyes terrified me. I think he could have easily decided to kill me." Her hands were trembling. "I was so scared. I don't know what to do!" She then burst into tears.

Katara stood quickly and grabbed her hand. "Follow me. I'm getting you away from him."

Katara didn't have to pull; Rin eagerly went along with her. And she quickly had them both in the cave. "Stay here. I'm going to send Iroh to you. He's a good man and incredibly resourceful. He can get you away from here."

Rin clutched her arm crying. "Thank you. Thank you so much. I would do anything for you. I believe you saved my life."

"It is my pleasure to help you. I will do what I can for Yin and Jin too. I got you all in this mess."

"We went willingly. He's going crazy, but don't blame yourself. I went from starving on a farm to eating food literally made for the Fire Lord."

Katara hugged her. "Well, you're protected now. You won't starve again."

She sent Iroh to Rin after explaining the problem. And she was glad to be able to leave it in his capable hands.

She then called her guard and addressed them. "I'm about to do something foolish."

"Are we supposed to talk you out of it?" Yamato, the guard with the scar over his eye, asked.

"No," Katara replied. "I'm asking if you want to be involved."

Kyo, the other guard, spoke up, "hell yeah."

"It's going against the Fire Lord."

"No, shit," Yamato replied. "We're in."

"Then let's go," Katara turned and marched through the halls with her guard trailing her. As she did, she said, "don't let anyone stop me from barging into his office."

Yamato laughed, "told you this wouldn't be boring."

She got near the office, and the secretary tried to stand in her way. Yamato grabbed him and pinned him to the ground with an arm hold. Ozai's nearest guard was shoved against the way by Kyo.

She flung the office door open, and Shinu was there too. Good. She was going to make sure he saw the Fire Lord slipping more.

"What the hell!?" Ozai yelled. "How dare you!"

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "I bring you three women straight out of your deviant sexual fantasies, and you almost kill one! Her bruises on her neck are so dark they're almost black!"

"She's mine to do with as I like."

"Not anymore. You won't see her again."

Ozai stood and yelled, "give her back!"

"No!" she screamed back. "She's terrified of you. And she did nothing wrong. You came in mad from the council meeting and almost choked her to death and demanded that she have sex with you."

He stood up like a flash and grabbed Katara by the wrist, and twisted her arm. She glared at him and said, "hurt another of them, and I'll take them from you too."

Ozai shoved her against the wall and growled. "I should fuck you right here and teach you a lesson, bitch."

She laughed in his face. "You can't and follow your own laws and commands. Try again."

"I could just kill you. It would be as satisfying."

She laughed, "try and kill me."

He moved to choke her; he thought it would be fitting. And as he did, he was shocked to find Shinu's hand on his arm, stopping him. Shinu said, "you should let her go, Fire Lord. She's not your enemy."

Ozai released her and turned on Shinu, "if she's not my enemy, what is she!?"

"The woman who turned your sniveling mewling pathetic son into a powerful man. Hurting her would destroy all her work. Your son needs her, and that was why we wanted to make her his wife."

Ozai turned and punched a hole in the wall next to Katara's head. Shinu noticed she didn't even flinch. He wondered how a woman could have balls of steel. Ozai yelled, "over my dead body! She's water tribe!"

"No," Katara countered. "I'm Fire Nation."

A very panicked-looking Zuko said from the doorway, "hell yes, you are."

He then pulled Katara into his arms and cupped her cheek so she would look up at him. "Are you hurt?"

She rolled her eyes lovingly, "I'm okay, Zuko."

He then shifted her and pushed her behind him. "What seems to be the problem?"

Shinu attempted to defuse the situation by saying, "Tempers got a bit high, but everything is fine."

Ozai grumbled, "that whore needs to learn her place."

Zuko felt Katara try to surge forward, and he held her back and said, "everyone else can see her place is at my side, Father. That was what had been said at the council meeting before you stormed out in a rage."

Shinu moved and stood between the two men and faced Zuko, "I think it's time you both leave –the palace. Let your father's temper cool. Head for Ba Sing Se."

Zuko nodded and pulled Katara from the office, and as he did, she shouted out, "hurt them, and I'll know about it!"

As Zuko walked with Katara down the hall with the guards trailing, he asked, "do I even want to know?" His smile took any sting out of the words.

One of the guards laughed, "trust me. It was epic. She faced off with your father and won."

"But why Katara? He could have killed you. What was worth that?" Zuko asked her sadly.

She changed directions and said, "all of you come with me. I'll show you why I went toe to toe with him."

She led them down to the cave, and Uncle was there. When the woman standing with him turned to face them, the men all gasped.

"What happened?" Zuko asked, being the only one that hadn't heard her yell at Ozai.

Katara sighed sadly and said, "your father happened. He was angry, apparently because they wanted to make me your wife, and he took it out on her. This is Rin." Katara then sighed and shook her head. "It's not, though, actually. We changed your name. What is your real name?"

"Tohru."

Katara smiled kindly at her. "Ozai choked her out of anger. She's terrified of him. I was telling him I had taken her, and he'd never see her again. I told him I'd do the same if he hurt one of the others. That was the fight."

"You fought with the Fire Lord?" Tohru asked in horror.

Iroh's response was to laugh. "And who won?"

Yamato snorted, "of course she did. Even Shinu was on her side."

She smiled and said, "men are so easy to lead by their dicks. He was well satisfied by the woman I sent to him." She refrained from adding that the woman had to pretend to be her. She knew that wouldn't be helpful right now.

She looked at Tohru and asked, "is there a message you want me to send to the girls?"

"No, this sounds awful, but I don't really even like them. I get why you asked me, but they are so different from me in a way. I'm able to tolerate things and accept them, but they revel in it. There were three of us. I could handle having a third of the sex for comfort and security. I mentioned I was poor, but I was so poor I almost starved to death. It's why I came here. I was desperate for food. When you are that low, you can put up with a lot."

Iroh patted her on the shoulder comfortingly. Zuko then said, "we're leaving now. Shinu believes it's best, and I agree. We should take her with us. We can get her away from the Fire Nation."

"She would have to be told," Uncle said.

"Yeah?" Zuko asked unconcernedly. He then turned to Tohru. "Would you ever betray Katara?"

"No! Never! I ran to her, knowing I could count on her. I was terrified and hopeless, and she saved me. I would die for her!"

Uncle chuckled, "let's not get carried away, dear child. Just be trustworthy."

"Absolutely!" She vowed.

She looked at Katara, "what… Um…. am I for anyone?"

Katara shook her head. "The next man you sleep with will be your choice. Sex isn't your job. You're now my secretary. Can you read?" The woman blushed and shook her head no.

Iroh smiled, "then I better start teaching her. I'm glad to have a project."

Tohru blushed even harder. "But, you're Iroh."

"And now I'm your teacher. I taught my son to read. He was excellent in battle and had no patience with learning. It will be easier teaching you."

Kyo leaned over to whisper to Yamato so only he could hear. "Think I could convince her to sleep with me?"

"Could you even handle her?" Yamato whispered back.

"I'd sure like to try. I could offer her a shoulder to cry on," Kyo said.

Yamato rolled his eyes. "And a cock to comfort her."

"Like you aren't trying to get into Kei's pants. You're excited we'll all be away from the palace and her six older brothers."

"Ain't that the truth!"

"What's the truth?" Katara asked. Everyone had only caught the last sentence.

"Ummm…." Yamato floundered.

Kyo said, "I will be honest and say you don't want to know."

She laughed. "Thank you for being truthful to me. It matters and will going forward."

Kyo said, "you obviously have more secrets than just a hidden cave."

"I forgot I hadn't shown you this yet," she admitted blushing.

Zuko smiled at her and caressed her cheek. "Let's go prepare to head out first thing tomorrow. I'm assuming we will have dinner in our room."

"I'd like to visit the harem too. I want to talk to the Madam. She needs to know what's going on. Well, a bit of it.

Zuko nodded. "I'll go start preparations, and you," he looked at the guards on the last word, "try to keep her out of trouble."

"No deal!" Kyo said. "We will protect her, though. It's too much fun when she's up to something. I got to shove the Fire Lord's own guard around. I love my job. Kei is the best for going to us that day of the lunch. I'm damn lucky she has a thing for Yamato."

Yamato rolled his eyes, "you whined at first."

"Not now!"

Katara kissed Zuko on the cheek, "I won't start a fight, my love."

"Only because you already had one with Ozai!" He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm… How do I protect you if you're going after him?!"

"But you did protect me without even being there at the time. He threatened me, and I knew he couldn't make good on the threat because I'm yours."

Zuko clenched his fists, and smoke actually rolled off of him. "He threatened to rape you!? Are you fucking kidding me?! I'm going to kill him!"

Katara just laughed at him. "Zuko, listen to yourself. He didn't rape me. He couldn't. And duh, Zuko. Killing him is the point."

Tohru's gasp of shock was incredibly loud. And they all turned as one to look at her. Her hand was over her mouth, and her eyes were wide. "Wha…"

"Do you object?" Katara asked frankly.

"No."

"Good. Zuko will be Fire Lord, and I will be Fire Lady. Don't betray me."

"I won't. I promise to do anything to help you."

Zuko nodded and spun to face his Uncle. "This is going to get interesting."

Kyo chuckled, "it's been interesting since the moment we met Katara."

"You have no idea just how interesting she is," Zuko said, smirking at her. "She's… one of a kind."