As Mako lifts the spoon to his mouth, he sees her face shine with sweat and anticipation.
Spirits, he hopes it's good.
::
Little Kai Hua eagerly bounds home from school, waving a scroll in her mother's face.
Korra stops waterbending the dishes clean and picks the scroll from her daughter's hands.
"Look what we got at school today, mommy!"
Korra scans her eyes over the recipe. It's a traditional Southern Water Tribe dish, Five Flavor Soup, and she'd make it herself. That is, if she could cook.
"Why'd you show me the recipe, sweetie?"
At this, Kai Hua looks nervous, twisting the strap of her bag. "Well, daddy's birthday's in two days, and I wanted to make it for him." She looks up at her mother with big, pleading blue eyes, the ones that are impossible to resist. "Will you help me?"
Korra ruffles her daughter's hair affectionately. "Of course I will, kiddo."
::
Mako is running late home from work. He checks his watch, checks his gigantic stack of paperwork once more, and decides to call it quits. His wife and his daughter are probably a little concerned as of now, especially his little girl, and, so, he wants to get home.
He guiltily leaves the stack of unfinished work on Chief Beifong's desk, who gives him a lighthearted scowl (if there is such a thing), grabs his coat, and heads out into the swirling snow.
::
While Korra's busy bending the layers of the soup into each other, Kai Hua tends to keeping the fire at a constant temperature. No one in their right minds would trust a five-year-old with such a task, but Korra's not in her right mind, and Kai Hua's a firebender.
They're chatting about school, about the silly boy in Kai Hua's math class, and Korra wishes her daughter always stays this eccentric, this endearing.
Then the key clicks in the lock, and they are nowhere near ready. The table is a mess, the kitchen is a mess, they're a mess, and the food's not even done yet.
Korra sends her daughter out to stall, while she hurries along the speed of the soup folding process.
::
Mako opens the door, and sees his daughter smack-bang in the centre of the door way.
"Oh, hi, daddy," she says, trying to be nonchalant but speaking way too fast. "Where'd you come from?"
He smiles and picks her up for a hug. She plants a slightly slobbery kiss on his cheek, and when he puts her down, she blocks his path.
"Let's go outside and make some snow spirits, daddy." She grabs the tips of his fingers (because her hand can't fit around his) and leads him back out into the cold.
She's not even wearing a coat.
He raises an eyebrow, but lets her drag him outside, because he suspects that they're planning something, and he doesn't want to ruin the surprise.
He can faintly hear Korra cursing in the kitchen, and the thought makes him smile.
::
Korra searches for the set of fine china her daughter insisted they use, and bumps her head on the lip of the cupboard.
Cursing, she carefully draws the box out. It's a little dilapidated, with the paint peeling off and dust accumulating in a thick layer atop it, but the china inside is still pristinely kept. It was hand-painted by the Earth Queen herself as a wedding gift. She traces the intertwining blue and red swirls with her finger, a smile slowly forming.
She precisely bends the soup into three of the bowls, careful not to spill any.
She can hear Mako and Kai Hua playing in the snow outside, and she hopes that they're not freezing.
::
After what seems like an eternity (but is actually only twenty minutes), Kai Hua drags her exhausted self back inside, her father trailing behind her.
She's pleased to see that the kitchen is clean and empty, which means that mommy has probably set the table.
She excuses herself by saying that she "needs to pee" - which is a lie because she doesn't need to pee, but daddy doesn't know - and sprints upstairs.
The night is all working out.
::
Korra fixes her pearls and applies the sophisticated burgundy lipstick. She doesn't normally dress up, but her daughter insisted that she look like a princess, or a queen, or at least like the Avatar.
As she admires herself in the mirror, she can't help but think that it's scary how Kai Hua can be right about everything.
::
When Mako enters the lounge room, he does not expect to be forced into a chair and blindfolded. He almost lashes out, but then he smells the lavender honey scent of Korra's special occasion perfume, and he relaxes into the chair.
Now, he waits.
::
Korra hurriedly sets the table. Candles, flowers, pretty little ornaments Kai Hua made at school for this very occasion.
And when her daughter comes down, dressed in her prettiest Fire Nation dress of silk and satin and ruffles of lace, she grins at the awed expression on her face.
She's so cute.
Kai Hua makes some final adjustments, and then, hand in hand, they walk into the lounge room, grab one each of Mako's arms, and guide him to the table.
::
As Mako sits at the table, he catalogues a faintly spicy aroma. It seems almost familiar, but he can't place where from.
And then the blindfold is removed, and he is wowed by the setup in front of him. Flowers gaze at him from every corner of the table, candles flicker softly throughout his field of vision, and is that a glittery little clay platypus bear?
His wife and daughter sit opposite him, their exuberant faces reflecting the soft glow of candlelight.
"Happy Birthday," Korra whispers softly, a sweet undertone resounding in her voice.
"Yeah, Happy Birthday, daddy," Kai Hua echoes, her high-pitched voice contrasting sharply with her mother's, yet still sounding sweet.
"Thank you, I really appreciate it," he says, his voice cracking slightly.
::
Kai Hua smiles at her daddy in the semi-darkness, waiting for him to lift the spoon to his mouth, to swallow the soup and be proud and happy.
But mostly proud.
Still, he does nothing, and her grin slowly slips away as he and mommy share glances and grins across the table.
She can't take it anymore. She urgently shakes her mommy's leg under the table, and when she looks over, Kai Hua mimes eating soup with her hands.
Come on, she pleads with her eyes, let's eat the soup already!
::
Korra asks Kai Hua to reheat the soup (because, one hour after it's been taken off the stove, it's a little cold), and starts to taste hers.
She and her daughter watch Mako intensely, waiting for his expression. They're both nervous, as it's Kai Hua's first time cooking, and Korra's first dish she's made that she's proud of.
She sees Mako put the spoon into his mouth, and she swears time stops.
::
Mako swallows the hot soup, overwhelmed by the flavor. Salty, sour, sweet, bitter and spicy assault his tongue, bringing tears to his eyes.
He's never had Five Flavor Soup before, and, as it rushes down his throat, he thinks many things.
::
Daddy's crying. Why is daddy crying?
Kai Hua finally comes to the conclusion that her soup isn't good, that this whole idea was a failure, and that she wants to go hide in her room and never come out.
Tears spring to her eyes, too, and before she can count to three, she's running up the stairs and into her room.
Why can't she do anything right?
::
Mako opens his mouth to call out to Kai Hua, but the soup gurgles in his throat again, and he's forced to close it.
Drinking Five Flavor Soup is exhilarating, he decides. The flavors are amazing, but they pack a punch, and he certainly wasn't expecting the intensity.
He gets up, kisses a confused Korra on the cheek, and runs upstairs to confront his daughter.
::
"Kai Hua," Mako calls, knocking on the door, "can I come in?"
He can hear the tears lacing her voice when she says, "Leave me alone, daddy!" and it breaks his heart.
He gently pushes the door open, ignoring her muffled cries of "get out!"
He rubs her back soothingly, and she caves, turning into him and bawling her eyes out.
Finally, she looks up, hiccuping occasionally. "Did-hic-did you rea-hic-lly not li-hic-ke the soup?"
He holds her close, brushing the tears off her cheeks with his calloused thumbs. "I loved your soup, Kai Hua. I just wasn't expecting the burst of flavors," he says truthfully.
She looks down, pouting. "You weren't pre-hic-pared for it to be so-hic-so bad," she assumes, narrowing her eyes.
He tilts her head up to face his. "You know, I've never had Five Flavor Soup before."
She stops hiccuping and turns her blue, blue eyes on him (the same shade that he fell in love with). "You haven't?"
"I haven't. And, to tell the truth, that was some of the best soup I've ever had."
She dries her eyes with her fists, looking up in disbelief. "It was?"
"It was," he confirms. "So how about we go downstairs, finish our dinner, and show mommy that you're okay."
"Okay," she agrees, and he can hear her eternal smile creeping back into her voice.
He's glad it always comes back.
::
Korra's a little worried after fifteen minutes pass, but she can't hear any yelling or breaking, so she assumes that everything's alright.
And when they come downstairs together, hand in hand, she knows that everything's alright.
They talk and eat and talk some more, splashing soup and waving spoons and laughing the night away.
She can't believe how lucky she is.
::
When the time comes to take the birthday photo, as is a tradition of Korra's family, Mako contemplates the evening.
With his daughter in his arms, his wife within arm's length, and the camera flash illuminating the room, he can only come to one conclusion.
It's so nice to have a family.
[a/n] Didn't that just give you a cavity?
While writing it, I never thought that they wouldn't finish on time, or that the soup would make Mako cry (wimp). I love it when things just happen in a story.
Anyway, about Kai Hua's name: I imagine that she's named after Mako and Bolin's mother, because Mako would want to, and Korra would like the idea. And, according to Google Translate (the best source, I know :), Kāihuā means blossom in Mandarin, which I think would suit their mother, who I imagine to be delicate and pretty.
kat xx