I keep forgetting to say this, so I'll say it now: I do not own Avatar, but would accept it as a gift.

The Next Evening

"Still sick, Katara? How're you feeling?" Aang asked gently. He took a seat on the earth by his friend mentor somewhat nervously. He didn't want to get sneezed on again. The healthy blaze of the fire met with the cool dark night, casting shadows onto his mentor's face. Her eyes still shone blue, but it was duller. Aang smiled to himself. Even when Katara looked like she'd been stranded in a bog for a week with no sleep and a case of pneumonia, she was still one of the loveliest people he knew.

"Yez, Aa'g. I'b still sick." Katara replied glumly, sniffling, if you could call it that. Katara's sniffle sounded more like a water buffalo having a panic attack. "I ting I'b doig bedder doh, thanks for askig."

"Sure." Aang said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

" 'EY LAZIES! SOUP'S ON!" Toph's voice nearly made Aang jump. Zuko and Sokka came slowly from wherever they were, exchanging glances between them in the darkness. They didn't look thrilled at the prospect of a tiny, tough blind girl with 'a healthy coating of earth' making them dinner, but it seemed they had no choice. They sat by each other, whispering a little. Toph ladeled watery liquid into five bowls and passed them out, allowing a brief silence to linger around the fire as each member of the crew sampled the, uh, cuisine. The silence was broken in about ten seconds.
"Wait…what is-?OH, COME ON!" Sokka whined, tossing his bowl onto the ground.

"Sokka, you're wasting food!" Aang said in disbelief. Usually Sokka was Mr. 'We must conserve precious resources, blahblahblah'

"No I'm not, Aang! Look at what you're slurping, man!" Sokka said, his head in his hand. "Oh god, not another one…"



"It's…water." Zuko concluded quizzically. He dipped his index finger into the bowl as a summer breeze blew. "Burnt water."

"That's not even physically possible!" Bleated Sokka. "And yet, you do it!" He broke into a long monologue. "How do you even burn water, anyway? Oh my god, stuck with crazy women and the cooking virgin! And no meat! NO meat. She couldn't even put meat in the water..."

The rest of the crew pretty much ignored him.

Toph ran a hand through her hair. "I said I'd cook. Nobody told me you didn't like burnt water. Nobody said it had to be good."

"Toph, have you ever cooked before?" Zuko asked, trying to be kind. He wasn't doing so well, because it came out more than a little annoyed.

"Oh, sure, Sparky." Toph said. "They tried teaching me back home…I just suck at it." Aang looked down at his burnt water. It wasn't even an attempt at soup. He looked at Toph, trying to choose his words carefully. "Um, Toph, I think somebody else should cook."

"Well, who else iz dere?" Katara said, looking around the circle.

Short blind girl: Cooked.

Gentle Avatar: Cooked.

Brother: Cooked.

That meant the only person left was…

"Oh, doh. Doh, doh, doh. I dohn't trust hib. He'll probably poison da foo' or sobeting." Katara said, pouting and folding her arms under all the blankets.

"But Katara, he's the only one left. You're too sick to cook and frankly, the rest of us suck." Aang said as persuasively as possible.



"Duh-uh! I lub you guys cookig! Burd water! Mmmmm!" She said, taking the bowl from the dirt and attempting to choke down a mouthful of Toph's cooking. She ended up spitting it out, creating a puddle of mucus and nasty-tasting water on a patch of grass. Katara pitied the grass she'd just inintentionally watered.

Zuko was busy trying to get out of cooking, too. "I don't really cook, I mean…why would I? Like Katara said, I still don't totally, uh, trust you guys. How do you know I won't poison you? Especially the avatar!"

Aang and Toph deadpanned him. Elsewhere, Sokka finished his monologue with "Unbelievable!" And spun around to see two people glowering at the prince. He shrugged and joined in.

Katara and Zuko knew when they were beaten.

"Oh, fine." They said in unison.