Chapter 10: Out of the Frying Pan

A piercing crash rang out through the kitchen as the bowl hit the floor and shattered on contact. Chili and Cilan looked over to see Cress gawking at the tiny ceramic fragments spinning across the tiles, still charged with the force of the impact. Uncertain what to make of them, the brothers turned their gaze onto Celeste; she stared down at the wreckage wide-eyed, her face blanching.

"I'm sorry," she spoke after a moment. Her hollow voice hung heavy in the silence, feeling sorely misplaced despite being the most rational response. Holding a hand over her mouth, she repeated her apology in that same empty voice. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She knelt down next to the debris and started picking up the pieces one by one, collecting them in the palm of her shaking hand. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Chili bent down next to her. "Hey, it's alright," he said softly. "Here, I'll take those." He held out his hand to take the pieces from Celeste, trying and failing to get a good look at her face, which she kept turned away from him as she handed over the fragments she'd gathered. "Hey, Celeste, it's alright," he repeated anxiously. Celeste only shook her head.

"I—I'm sorry," she whimpered, a tear splashing onto the floor beneath her. Chili's face immediately fell. She was crying. He shared a troubled look with his brothers when Celeste suddenly stood up beside him. She clutched her hair close to her face, refusing to look any of them in the eye. "I'm sorry."

Cress started towards her. "Celeste…" She shrunk back from his outstretched hand.

"I'm sorry," she repeated quietly, and before he could say anything else she dashed out the door.

"Celeste, wait!" Cress called out. He started after her, but couldn't bring himself to continue. Instead, he pressed his fingers to his brow, shutting his eyes and shaking his head.

"Cress?"

Cress looked over at Cilan, who gazed at him helplessly. "What do we do?" Cilan asked. Cress turned away, his eyes cast down to the ground. He didn't know how to answer that question. For once in his life he didn't have all the answers. Chili gritted his teeth. For once in his life he wanted Cress to have all the answers, to tell them what to do, take charge of the situation. His hands began to curl into fists when he felt the sharp edges of the shards he was holding dig into his skin.

"Agh," he winced, dropping the pieces back to the ground. He stood up decisively, wiping his hand against his pants. "I'm going to get a broom," he murmured.

"Chili…"

"Just shut up, Cress," Chili muttered as he walked away. Cress frowned, but didn't protest further. He hadn't actually known what to say anyway.

Cilan stood beside himself with distress as he watched his brothers mill around. There had to be something he could do. He turned to look at the door, clutching his arm uneasily. He had to try.

"Celeste, what's wrong? Where are you going?"

Jenny had watched fretfully as Celeste burst through the kitchen doors into the dining room, hiding her face behind her hands. She had tried to call out to her, but Celeste had run right past her, fleeing outside through the front doors.

What happened? Jenny wondered to herself. Celeste had been in such a good mood when she last saw her just a few hours ago. Jenny had even sent away all the trainers that had come looking to battle so her lesson wouldn't be interrupted and she wouldn't feel so stressed out—it'd seemed to worry her that she might be getting in the way somehow.

The brothers still hadn't come out of the kitchen, and after that crash she'd heard earlier, the place felt oppressively silent. Her ears pricked up when she heard a click. The door to the back hallway swung open and Eevee leapt down from the handle and pounced onto the floor. Did she just open the door? Jenny heard the chattering of the Pans echoing in the hallway, but Eevee ignored them and darted across the dining room in what looked to be a Quick Attack.

"Eevee, what's going on?" Jenny asked, knowing full well she wouldn't be getting an answer. Eevee rushed right on past her, using a Tackle on the door to push it open a crack before slipping outside.

"Pan!" An exhausted Pansage stumbled into the dining room, leaning against the door to catch his breath. Panpour and Pansear ran up behind him, and they exchanged a few breathless words before sprinting over to the kitchen. Pansage looked up at Jenny questioningly, but she could only shake her head and shrug; she was just as lost as he was.

They'd expected it to be a great relief to them when Cilan stepped out of the kitchen, but the distraught look on his face did little to ease their worries.

Pansage scurried over to his trainer, looking up at him with concern. "Sage?" Cilan glanced down at him with a nervous smile, but not knowing what to say, looked over at Jenny instead.

"Where did she go?" he asked.

"Outside."

Cilan turned to his Pokémon. "Pansage, could you stay with Chili and Cress?"

"Pan?"

"What happened?" Jenny asked, unknowingly echoing Pansage's question with her own.

"I-I don't really know," Cilan said. "Pansage, please…" Pansage nodded once before retreating into the kitchen. "Jenny, could you…not mention anything?" He gazed at her with pleading eyes.

"Sure," she replied, though she definitely didn't feel sure about herself.

Cilan slowly pushed open the front doors and stepped outside. It was nice and bright, the sun high in the early afternoon sky, and a faint, late-September breeze blew past him, causing him to shiver slightly. It felt strangely tranquil compared to the tense atmosphere inside the restaurant.

He saw Celeste seated on the side of the stairs, leaning against the stone banister. "Celeste?" Her head perked up slightly before dropping once more. Eevee peered over at him from her place in Celeste's arms, her ears drooping. When Eevee still didn't look away, Cilan took it as a sign to come over, and Eevee watched him expectantly as he approached them. "Can I sit here?" he asked quietly. Celeste nodded, but still didn't look over at him as he sat down on the steps next to her.

They sat there in silence, Celeste gently stroking her hand across Eevee's fur, Cilan gazing out on the plaza in front of the gym. A group of Pidove were flocking around a bush, chirping amongst themselves. One flapped its wing into another's face, and the second pecked the first on the head in annoyance. Cilan chuckled to himself. Confused, Celeste looked up at him and followed his gaze to the group of Pidove.

"It's nice out here," Cilan spoke after a moment. "A little strange we've had so few trainers today though." Eevee smiled knowingly to herself; she liked to think she'd helped Jenny come up with that plan. She snuggled into Celeste's arms and closed her eyes. She'd let Cilan take it from here.

Celeste peered down at Eevee settling down for a nap. So she was on her own now.

"I know how awkward you must've been feeling," Cilan began again, catching her by surprise.

Awkward? She'd been expecting him to say something more along the lines of "ashamed", and tell her how she shouldn't feel that way by asserting that the incident wasn't a big deal. But it was Cilan who had an ashamed expression on his face now, his lidded eyes staring out in front of him but not quite taking in what they saw. He strained a smile for a moment before deciding it was too much effort and letting it simply drop into a frown. "It could have been a lot worse, really."

"I don't see how," Celeste finally mumbled. This time Cilan did smile.

"You could have fainted, for one," he supposed. Celeste blushed, looking away again. That would've been much worse for several reasons.

"I still broke your bowl," she murmured.

"It could have been the special glass bowl our mother gave us," Cilan said. "But it wasn't." There was a short pause in the conversation as Celeste contemplated his words.

"I'd feel much worse if it was," she confessed softly. In truth, she felt worse simply hearing about it. "I'm sorry…"

"It was an accident," Cilan said. "It's not your fault."

I wouldn't be so sure of that, Celeste thought regretfully. She glanced over at Cilan to see him watching her anxiously. He seemed to know she was thinking just that. I'm sorry… I'm sorry for worrying you. She closed her eyes and turned away, too ashamed of herself to look him in the eye. She was being so difficult. He was just trying to help her feel better. He didn't know any better.

Celeste took a deep breath of air, pooling her thoughts together in her mind. She hadn't expected the pea soup to taste like that. In fact, she'd been hoping it would taste nothing like her mother's version. When Cress had told her they'd be adding dried Charti Berry and oregano, she'd thought she'd secured this distinction. Her mother, too, had used certain ingredients in her soup that weren't mentioned in the recipe books. It was a bit like a family recipe, passed down from her grandmother. Celeste knew for a fact that her grandmother's recipe was different from the one they'd come up with today, so it had come as a major shock when she realized she recognized the taste from somewhere else. And that hadn't even been the most distressing part. No, she reflected solemnly. What really got her was when she figured out where she recognized the taste from. It was far too coincidental to bear.

She'd chosen those dishes for a reason. She'd sensed Cress' disappointment easily, although he had tried to be discreet about it, but though she felt bad for disappointing him so, she had to go through with her plan. Her mother's split pea soup was a household favorite. Her grandmother always made pasta salad when they went on picnics. And the first and only time she'd had crepes before was on that trip to Sinnoh when they stayed at Hotel Grand Lake. She'd just wanted to make sure she could handle them. The crepes and pasta salad posed no problems for her, for which she was grateful. She was sure the soup wouldn't have done much either, if it hadn't tasted the way it did.

After all this time, she'd thought she was over it already. Apparently not, she thought. I guess I'll have to try again. She still had a few loose ends to tie up, it seemed. You have to get over it, she told herself. Please… She took another deep breath and opened her eyes.

"Cilan?"

"Yes?" Cilan answered uncertainly; he was surprised that Celeste had started the conversation this time. Celeste smiled timidly, tucking some loose strands of hair behind her ear.

"Thank you. Thank you for…" She paused, rubbing her arm self-consciously. "For helping me." For trying, she thought humbly.

A wave of relief washed over Cilan's face, and he let out a huge sigh which Celeste could only mirror internally. The calm was soon interrupted by a low grumbling noise. Cilan looked over at Celeste in surprise; her cheeks had turned beet red as she tried to avoid eye contact with him and the newly-awakened Eevee. Eevee shook her head in amusement and pawed at Celeste's arm.

"Glad to see I'm not the only one starving right now," Cilan said. He wrapped his arms over his stomach, pouting slightly. "All that excitement really worked up an appetite." He stood up and stretched his arms, Eevee going over next to him and doing the same. "You're hungry too, right?" he asked the Pokémon.

"Vee!" she answered affirmatively.

"Well then, Celeste?" Cilan beamed down at her. "I hear there's a delicious meal waiting for us inside, prepared by four of the finest cooks in the Unova region."

"Should I be worried about the region?" Celeste asked innocently. "Are you sure it wasn't just three amazing chefs and some girl?"

Cilan chuckled. "That girl is you."

"Like I said," Celeste smiled down at the ground. "'Some girl.'" Cilan pondered this for a moment.

"How about 'three really good chefs and their really good friend'?" He held out a hand to Celeste. The shadow of a doubt played briefly across her eyes, but she accepted his outstretched hand and he helped her to her feet. Eevee ran up the stairs in front of them and let out a resounding bark. "I think she wants us to hurry," Cilan said. He began walking up the stairs when he noticed Celeste lingering behind him, clutching her hands close to her chest. She wondered how Chili and Cress would act when she came back inside. Cilan, too, wondered this, and figured that was what was worrying her. "It'll be alright," he said, as much to himself as to Celeste. He trusted his brothers would do their best to act natural, as they wanted as little as he did to upset Celeste any further. "It'll be alright," he repeated quietly, holding his hand out to Celeste once more. She seemed more hesitant to take it than before, and when she did, it didn't relieve him as much as it did just a few seconds ago—her hand was shaking again. Celeste took another breath as Cilan pulled open the door, giving him a wavering smile in a feeble attempt to soothe his worry. She hoped she could act natural too.

Celeste's brow furrowed into a perplexed frown. "This tastes kind of…different," she said, prodding at her soup with her spoon.

"I think you're right," went the voice of the man sitting across the table from her. He took another spoonful of soup into his mouth to make sure his taste buds weren't deceiving him. "It does taste different." He turned to the woman sitting at the end of the table next to him. "Honey, did you change something?" She nodded cheerfully.

"I'm glad you noticed!" she said. "I decided to add a little something. You know, to make the recipe my own."

"You should do it this way from now on," Celeste beamed. "Do you think grandma would've liked it?" Her parents shared a small smile between themselves as Celeste continued to eat.

"I'm sure she would've loved it," her father said. "Although," he turned to his wife with a questioning grin, "I'd love to know what you added to it."

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Celeste's mother answered teasingly.

"Whatever you did, it's really tasty," Celeste said.

"Maybe I should make it again when we get back from Sinnoh," her mother mused.

"Right when we get back from Sinnoh?"

"Right when we get back from Sinnoh, sweetie. I promise."