AN: Happy Birthday, Deffie! (It's about 12:01 AM down here =P). I know I usually ask you what you want but this year this just popped into my mind so forcefully I couldn't ignore it. I hope you like it even a little bit. If not, feel free to request something else or ask for changes etc. It is, after all, your birthday gift and thus I want it to be perfect. There ARE GOING TO BE TYPOS. It's late and I'm tired so… But I promise to fix them ASAP. Sorry it's so short, too. There's only so much I can write on this type of topic :/
Also, please just note that none of these follow a set time pattern or anything like that. Each one is just… there. All post-war, though.
Disclaimer: Avatar is Bryke's. This fic is Deffie's. Happy Birthday!
1. Taste
You know, people are actually ignorant. They think that the same type of food tastes the same at all times. They also think that people who love food and eating are fat idiots who know nothing else. This is not the truth.
For one thing, I love to eat. Eating is wonderful. It is needed and it is pleasurable and food is one of the very best things in life. And just because I love eating does not mean that I know nothing about anything else. I can hunt, for example. And now that I've had even more time to train with Master Piandao I am a very competent warrior. I know about Water Tribe rituals and Kyoshi culture (even though I suppose that's mainly because Suki literally beats it into me) and so it's obvious that I'm nowhere near idiotic. My instincts have also honed themselves in the few months since the war has ended and so they're really strong now.
I can also tell you that food differs almost every time you eat it. You might still be eating sea prunes, but they'll taste different if you eat them together with your family than they will if you eat them while out on a lonesome hunting trip. This difference is owed to many factors. These included the seasons, the tree if its fruit you're talking about, the place you find it, the quality and so on and so forth. And, yeah, another one of them is the person who cooks the food. I'm a guy, okay? I'll never even attempt to sell the fact that I can cook better than my sister.
But it's not only the skill of the cook that plays a roll. It's also the mood of the cook. I can tell you with every conviction of my instinct that Katara's rice tastes better when she's happy than when she's mad. The difference is very, very subtle- almost not there. But to someone like me who has eaten and appreciated food for so long it's there. That's why I always prefer to appease Katara before any meal time- it's in my best interests as well as my stomach's. But, unfortunately, this logic has never really sunk into other people's brains- not even hers- and so my appeasement hasn't helped sometimes. And lately it seems that nothing I do can keep the sting out of her food.
In fact, now that I think about it, her food hasn't been happy since round about the end of the war. The taste changed from rich and love-filled as soon as Zuko joined our group. That was to be expected, of course- she hated his guts. We all did but Katara… Wow. She was something else. And that anger and hate showed in her food. The first night he stayed there with us her food was so spicy I swear I burned every bit of my digestive system. It got less angry as time progressed, but it never really went back to Calm Katara food.
I did try and talk her out of hating him- I was missing her scrumptious concoctions and Zuko proved himself to me when he helped me save my dad and my girlfriend. But it just made her angrier so I gave up. And then Zuko came to me and asked me how he could make her less angry and although the things he asked me to remember were… horrible… I did it. Because I owed him. And because I wanted the good food again.
What? After a few weeks of Angry Katara food you get desperate, okay?
I don't know what they did when they rode off on Appa together. My instinct has made it clear that I shouldn't ask. But when they came back Katara's food changed again. Strangest part is it didn't change to Calm Katara food again. It turned into… something new. Something I'd never actually tasted before. It lost its bitter, hate-filled taste and became sweeter, richer, warmer in a way. But there was also a hint of something else in it that I couldn't- and still can't- place. Some… secret ingredient that her soul was subconsciously pouring into her cooking.
The new type of food continued even as stress of the coming comet crushed all of the air out of our lungs. I wanted to ask her about it but I knew she wouldn't understand. She would probably even get mad. So I kept quiet, ate the food, and planned our invasion on the Fire Nation. It was great-tasting food, anyway, so I had no reason to complain. It only really changed the time we stopped to rest Appa as we flew to try and locate Aang. That night her food was tinged with guilt and worry and the hints of pure fear. But all of us felt that way. Even Zuko, who had tried to comfort Katara. The guy's not great with words, especially not comforting ones. But it gave the rest of us something to tease and smile about. Katara didn't tease too much, just smiled in this weird way that somehow reminded me of her new food.
Then the final battle happened and even I didn't have enough time to eat. The only taste I can remember having is bile and adrenalin at the back of my throat. It was constantly there, constantly a reminder that at any second we could die. For long, killing moments I'd been sure I'd never see Suki again. But the spirits were kind to us, and Aang kicked The Loser Lord's butt. The food I next ate was not Katara's but some kindly Fire Nation lady who was making mounds of food to feed any hungry soldier or civilian nearby. Her food tasted hurried- which was understandable- and almost overripe with pure joy. It tasted nice, I will admit.
And for the next few days the food we ate was either luxurious feast-food made by the Fire Nation servants or quick on-the-go things because we had to get to meetings or negotiations or signings or whatever. In fact, the next time Katara cooked for us was almost three weeks later when we all went to Ba Sing Se to visit Iroh before all of us headed home. Her food was a surprise to me. It was the same unknown type as before in the Temple except… Stronger. Like somebody had kick-started whatever feeling thing it was that she poured into her food and made it sour to new heights. The food was really divine and she served it with a smile. And a little while later I saw her kissing Aang. I wasn't too happy about it, but I suppose if anybody could have my sister it's the guy who saved the whole world. And I thought then that I'd figured out the mystery behind the taste of Katara's food. It was love. The emotion really did fit.
But I was proved wrong after we went back home. Aang came with us and they kissed and cuddled (although not too much or I'd intervene. She's still my sister, okay?) and everything else but her food changed again. The emotion I'd thought was loved diminished quite rapidly even as Aang stayed by her side. At first her food… This is going to sound crazy but it tasted guilty. And betrayed. But now… Now it's different again, and we've only been home a month.
Now it tastes… Hold on, let me take another bite…
Yeah. It has the hint of exotic spice in it. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was desperately longing for the Fire Nation and all it holds.