"Now that you're a part of our group, it's time for Phase One of your initiation process," Sokka announced. Zuko, deciding to play along sighed and asked,
"What's Phase One?" Sokka grinned and stood up, savoring that fact that Zuko was responding.
"Phase One is... Cooking dinner for us!" Zuko's jaw dropped.
"What?! Why? I thought Katara does that!" Zuko cried. Katara shot him and icy glare in return. That did not win me any points with her Zuko glumly thought wishing he could take back the outburst.
"Look, you have to prove that you are a valuable asset to the gang in ways other than just burning things with you jerk-bending," Sokka explained. Toph and Aang nodded in agreement, and the devilish smile playing on Toph's lips was not missed by Zuko. He narrowed his eyes at the little earthbender before remembering the obvious. Stuttering and looking around for some kind of help he relented.
"Fine," Zuko huffed, It's just dinner. He thought, how hard could it be? He got up and made his way to the kitchen of the Western Air Temple. Once he arrived, he did some surveillance. Why didn't they just ask me to take down Azula or my father? He thought in despair. Sighing, Zuko headed towards the cabinet. He pulled out the ingredients needed for the one dish he knew how to cook.
His mother taught him how to make it. Before she had disappeared, Zuko and his mother would make it and eat it next to the turtle-duck pond – his favorite spot in the whole palace. He thought back to the day before his 10th birthday. His mother had woken him up and the two were eating breakfast together. The entire palace was shrouded in a blanket of peace and silence. Hardly anyone was up. Zuko loved this time of the day.
"Tomorrow is your special day my little prince. We won't get much time to spend with each other because of your party so why don't we do something today, just the two of use. Anything you like," Ursa offered with her signature warm, comforting smile. Zuko pondered over what to do until finally being coming up with the perfect idea.
"Can we make lunch and have it by the turtle – duck pond?" Zuko asked. Ursa smiled and nodded. Later that day, the two headed down to the kitchen to make lunch. Ursa kindly refused all the help the cooks offered.
"Today, the Prince and I will be cooking for ourselves," Ursa smiled and set to work. All throughout the cooking time, the two laughed and joked, enjoying doing all the little things. An hour later, Ursa packed up the lunch and the two headed to the pond. They picked a spot under a shady tree and next to the pond. The sky was a gentle blue and the pond was tranquil. The turtle – ducks were leisurely floating across the surface of the pond.
"What do you think?" Ursa asked as the two began to eat. Zuko tried a bite and smiled in approval. The two enjoyed the rest of the day without interruptions. That day was one of the last days he spent with his mother which made it all the more special.
As he started, he could hear Ursa's voice recite the directions. But it didn't bother him, it comforted him. It made him feel like she was right there with him, helping him cook for his newfound friends. Zuko smiled, thinking back to the days when he and his mother would spend countless hours together. Those were much simpler times filled with happiness; when Azula and Ozai weren't pure evil and their family was content with everything they had.
Of course, now things were completely different. Zuko had scars, inside and out, to prove it. Shaking the thoughts out of his head, Zuko looked around for a pot to cook the raw noodles in. It may have looked like just a kitchen to others, but to Zuko, it looked like a foreign city, nearly impossible to get through. It's just a stupid pot, why can't I find it? Zuko asked himself angrily. He could feel the frustration gradually building up inside him. But it wasn't the fact that he couldn't find anything in the kitchen that was bothering Zuko, it was the fact that something as simple as cooking dinner would make him look helpless in from of the others. He was sure escaping from the Fire Nation was easier.
He decided to stop the search for the pot and begin chopping vegetables. He started to cut when suddenly he yelped out in pain. As he was cutting carrots his grip on the knife slipped, causing the blade to slice across his finger. He yelped in pain and cursing, looked down to see a crimson gash running down the length of his index finger.
"Ugh!" Zuko yelled. Before he knew it, he was blasting the kitchen floor.
The rest of the group had been sitting outside the kitchen, eagerly awaiting whatever "delicacy" the fire prince managed to concoct when suddenly they heard a cry of pain, a string of curse words that made Katara want to cover Aang's ears, and a burst of fire erupt out of the door way. That little display was swiftly followed by the cacophony of cascading pots and pans on the kitchen floor and more cursing.
"Looks like he found the pots and pans." Toph snickered.
Katara rolled her eyes and got up.
"Where are you going?" Aang asked.
Rolling her eyes once more she replied, "I might as well go see what in the name of the spirits he's doing before he finished what Combustion Man started and blows us off the temple." With that she stalked off in the direction of the kitchen
"Why is it so hard to cook these stupid noodles?! I can't find the stupid pot and I can't cut these stupid carrots!" He yelled out and continued to toast the floor. Never let your anger get the best of you, Zuko could hear Iroh tell him. Slowly, he began to breath and as he did, he could feel his anger recede. Just as he was about to walk out of the kitchen in frustration, an unlikely visitor walked in: Katara.
"What are you doing here?" Zuko asked quietly expecting more dirty looks and snide remarks.
"I came here to see if you needed any help." Zuko couldn't help but give her a look of utter disbelief.
"Why?"
"Because princes are clueless when it comes to doing things by themselves."
"Actually, I was planning to make a dish my mom and I made when I was younger. You're welcome to stay and help or leave, whatever you want," Zuko finished and turned back to his hunt for a pot. He had expected to turn around a minute later and see Katara gone but instead received a shock. She was still there.
"I used to cook with my mom too. Some of my favorite memories of her are when she and I were in the kitchen," Katara said softly looking at the floor.
"Me too," Zuko replied. Katara looked up and cleared her throat.
"What do you need me to do?" She asked. Zuko allowed just a trace of a smile before answering,
"If it's not too much trouble, could you cut up the vegetables?" Katara nodded and set to work. Zuko started on the secret sauce for the dish.
As he leaned over the cutting board for one of the ingredients, Katara suddenly grabbed his hand.
"You're bleeding," Katara said.
"It's nothing. Clearly I can't cut vegetables," Zuko said trying to brush the minor injury aside. Katara pulled out a small amount of her healing water from her side pouch and covered Zuko's hurt finger with it.
"Thanks," Zuko whispered. Katara looked up at him.
"You're welcome," Katara answered back, even quieter. Katara cleared her throat and looked away.
"What do you want me to do with these?" She asked pointing to the vegetables.
"Could you put them in the pot?" Katara nodded and added the neatly sliced vegetables into the bubbling pot of noodles.
"Now what?" She asked.
"Now, I finish the secret ingredient and add it to the noodles."
"Can I help?"
"If you did, it wouldn't be a secret would it?" Zuko asked smiling. Katara nodded realizing it was the first time she had heard him make an attempt at humor and smiled.
"Thanks a lot for your help. I can take it from here."
"No problem, just make sure you get dinner ready soon. I think Sokka is about to eat Momo." And with that, Katara left.
Zuko finished the last part of the dish and added it to the pot. Then he carefully placed the noodles into five bowls. He walked out of the kitchen with the bowls balanced on a tray and a huge smile on his face and not just because he had cooked dinner. For the first time since he had joined the gang, Zuko felt like he and Katara were one step closer to becoming friends. He walked out to the courtyard and heard Katara yelling,
"Okay guys he's here, dinner is rea – SOKKA PUT MOMO DOWN!"
He laughed, handed each person a bowl and sat down next to Katara who gave him a small smile. Sokka, Toph, and Aang began to dig in.
"Wow Zuko! This is pretty good. I'm impressed! It's –" Sokka stopped mid-sentence. Suddenly he thrust the bowl down, ran to the fountain, began lapping up water and was soon followed by Toph and Aang.
"SO SPICY!" The three yelled as they lapped up water.
"What is this?" Sokka asked frantically.
"They're just noodles!" Zuko exclaimed. Sokka finished at the fountain and stomped over to where Katara and Zuko were sitting.
"JUST NOODLES! They must be what you give to war prisoners to punish them!" Sokka yelled.
"Well… they are from the same place that brought you fire flakes and fire gummies so… I guess they would be a little spicy," Zuko sheepishly answered.
"A little… A LITTLE SPICY! Are you kidding? They burned off my taste buds!" Sokka yelled back.
"I'm sorry! You asked me to make dinner and this is all I can make!"
"Yeah well I sure learned my lesson. We sure won't be asking you to make dinner again anytime soon. Unless we need a way to knock someone out! You my friend FAILED Phase One!" Sokka screeched.
"And now we know for sure that the only way you are a valuable asset to the gang is jerk-bending!"
"Maybe we should ask him to fix the hole in the ceiling of my room for Phase One," Toph suggested.
"NO He'll just firebend the entire ceiling… just like how he firebent my mouth with his stupid noodles!" Sokka yelled. Zuko couldn't help but burst out in laughter, causing everyone else to join in. Because despite the fact that he didn't pass Phase One, Zuko still made it into the gang.