11. A FEW DAYS LATER, KATARA AND I ARE KNOCKING AROUND IN THE KITCHEN WHEN SOKKA COMES STROLLING IN, A SERIOUS EXPRESSION ON HIS FACE. This serious expression is quickly replaced by one of amused fascination as he watches me carefully mix and prepare rice while Katara carefully dresses and slices a few fish. He observes for a few moments, scratching absently at his chin, before he finally says, "Mind if I ask what you two are doing?"
I don't bother to look up at him, focused on beginning the process of laying out the rice, pressing handfuls of it into oblong mounds which I then lay on a long, rectangular plate that I brought with me from the ship. "Making sushi, of course."
He blinks, nods, and gives a great amount of consideration to this information. "Naturally. What else could you possibly be doing? I mean, really, that explains everything." He turns his attention to his sister, who is beginning to lay the cuts of fish very carefully into a deep wooden bowl. "Care to translate?"
She pauses just long enough to blow some stray hair out of her face before making a reply. "This Fire Nation dish that's pretty delicious. Zuko's showing me how to make it."
He nods some more, looking no more enlightened. "Why, of course he is. I'm still a little lost, though."
She sighs, shaking her head at her work. "Basically, it's raw fish on beds of rice, tied up in seaweed strips. You dip it in this kind of spicy sauce, and eat it, and, well, it's good." She tilts her head back at me. "Zuko's crew was eating it for dinner last night, and I was there because I felt like walking him back to his ship, and it looked interesting, so I tried some, and like I said, it was really good."
"That's not what you said after the first bite," I comment, eyes still focused on my own task.
She laughs. "No, that's true. It takes some getting used to, but by the third piece, I was in love."
Sokka is still nodding, still completely lost. "So, you're making Zuko teach you how to make it?"
She shrugs, an intent expression on her face. "Pretty much."
"Uh huh." He turns to me, an eyebrow popped over one eye. "So, you know how to cook?"
I make a bit of a face. "Kind of? Just simple stuff, really. There were servants to do all the cooking when I was growing up, so everything I've learned, I learned on the ship. Nothing complicated, but enough to slap together a meal in a time of need."
"Right on." He allows some thoughts to roll around in his head for a moment or two. "Am I going to have to eat it? Because, I'm not going to lie, it sounds kind of awful."
"So does sea prune stew," I point out, "and yet, what did I find myself eating for lunch yesterday?"
Katara turns around, a concerned look on her face. "You didn't like it?"
I turn to face her, putting on my best smile. "It was lovely, Katara. Didn't I finish the whole bowl?" I turn back to the rice. "I'm just saying that when you first hear it described, it kind of makes you blink a few times." I chuckle. "And it's definitely an acquired taste, especially when your primary experience of it is when some random old lady shoves a bowl of it into your hands and glares at you until you eat it."
Sokka laughs. "Let me guess…kind of batty-looking, bent over, kind of looks like a witch out of a fairy tale?"
"Heh…yeah, that was the lady."
Sokka makes a face. "Yeah, that's Akna. She's pretty much, like, the oldest, craziest person in the entire tribe."
"And," Katara adds, laying out the last cut of fish and moving her hands over to a bucket of water, "let's face it, she makes the worst sea prune stew south of Omashu. Hey, Zuko?"
Without another word, I reach over and stick my hand in the water, heating it up with a few seconds, after which Katara grabs a bar of soap and washes her hands. From the doorway, Sokka gives and appreciative whistle and says, "You know, I gotta say, that is a rather handy little trick there." Being Sokka, he takes a moment to chuckle at his wit, while Katara and I both roll our eyes at him.
When she's down washing her hands, she bends the moisture off and brings the bowl of fish cuts over to where I'm just finishing with the rice mounds. "It really is," she says as she sets the bowl down. She throws me a wink which I return as she continues. "Say what you will, but firebenders have all kinds of uses." We both take a moment to swallow our laughter while Sokka shakes his head and rolls his eyes.
"Well," he says, "I suppose we should just have him around more often, then."
Katara turns to him, eyes bright. "That's just what I was thinking!"
He pinches his nose. "He's been here, like, all day, every day, for almost a whole month."
Katara giggles. "Like I said, we should have him here more!" She strolls over to him, pops up, and gives him a peck on the cheek. "I'm glad you agree, my wonderful big brother. In fact," she pauses, tapping a finger to her chin, "we should just have him stay in the guest room when he comes back from this next trip." She grins, flashing the most transparently innocent eyes I've ever seen. "What a wonderful idea, Sokka! I'm glad you thought of it! You're the best!" She pecks him on the other cheek, then strolls over to where I'd laid out a few sheets of nori.
Meanwhile, her wonderful big brother is gaping in confusion, looking remarkably like a fish flopping around on a beach. "But…I…that's not what I…uh…" He tries a few more times, before finally throwing his hands in the air. "Whatever, like it matters." He shakes his head a few times, as if to rid it of disturbing thoughts, before turning to me. "Also, speaking of your next trip, Zuko, that's why I'm here."
Katara has laid the sheets of nori beside where I've arranged the rice mounds and the cuts of fish. I take out a thin knife, and begin cutting a few strips from the nori, narrating the process. "You see, for the kind of sushi we're making, you want strips about as wide as the tip of your finger. Make a clean, single cut, until you've used the whole sheet." I set Katara to work on that, and turn around to face Sokka. "Sorry, you were saying?"
He sighs. "I was just going to ask you something about this next trip."
"Ah, right." I snatch a towel that I have draped over my shoulder and begin wiping off my hands. "What about it?"
"Right…" The serious expression is back on his face. I get a sense of growing unease emanating off of him. He looks a little lost for words, and his eyes keep darting back-and-forth between his sister and my feet. His eyes do that a few times, before they suddenly hone in on my feet and his eyebrows narrow move in towards each other. "Hey, Zuko?"
"Yeah?"
"Why aren't you wearing any shoes?"
I look down. To my surprise, I'm not. I really didn't even remember taking them off, which, I suppose, is normal. I look back up and shrug. "Oh, I took them off by the door."
Katara looks up from her labors just long enough to say, "He always does that, Sokka. You never noticed?"
He shakes his head, still confused. "Umm…I guess not? Mind if I ask why?"
I shrug. "No reason. In the Fire Nation, we think it's rude and bad luck to wear outside shoes inside someone's home, so, we just always take them off when we come inside." I look down, wiggle my stocking-covered toes. "Normally, we have special house shoes to wear around inside, but I guess I left my pair under my bed back home." I look back up, snap my fingers. "Man, I knew was forgetting something. All these years, and I thought I'd just left the candle by my bed lit."
Katara giggles, while Sokka just kind of…well…stares. I don't blame him. I'm well versed in sarcasm (how could I not be, after going on five years of non-stop travel with my uncle), but it never seems to fit quite right on me. People who don't know me terribly well often seem to be a little thrown off when I toss a line like that out.
However, the shock does seem to serve the purpose of helping get Sokka to his point, about which I am deeply curious. "Right…well, umm…what I was trying to ask was, where all were you planning on going again?"
I ponder that for a moment, conjuring a mental map and laying it out before my eyes. "Well…first, we're heading to Omashu, to off-load the trade goods you guys have been loading on the ship, then we're going to putter around for a bit along the southern coast of the Earth Kingdom, getting some last-minute trade in before the autumn storms."
He nods. "Right, I got that. And then, in about two months or so, you're coming back here, right?"
"Yup, unless you guys changed your mind about that."
Katara turns around, eyebrow raised. "Why would we do that?"
I shrug, giving her a smile. "Just covering my bases."
She sticks her tongue out at me before turning to her brother. "You alright, Sokka?"
He tries to give a confidant nod, but it's not very convincing. He looks no less troubled than he did at the start of this conversation, troubled and befuddled and…and…embarrassed? I shake my head. That can't be right. Guys like Sokka don't get embarrassed.
"Yeah," he says, rubbing the back of his neck, "I'm fine, I really am, it's just…well…" He gives himself a shake, crosses his arms over his chest, plants his feet firmly in the ground, and does his best to look me right in the eye. The unease is still there, though. "I was just…I was wondering if I could ask you a favor." He raises his hands, spreading his fingers wide. "Now, it's okay if you refuse, really, it is, I won't get mad. It's a…it's a rather big favor to ask, and if it messes with your schedule or whatever, I understand, but, if you'd at least think about it, I'd love you forever, I really would, I'd be eternally grateful, and-"
I cut him off with a gesture. "Hey, dude, it's cool, trust me. Just ask, and I'll do my best to get it done."
He chuckles. "That's because you haven't heard it yet."
"Let me guess," Katara says, putting down the knife and turning to face us. "You want to ask Zuko to try to get a message to Dad."
Sokka's mouth drops open, and he takes a few moments to stare and gape, before he coughs into his hand and clears his throat. "Well…umm…if Zuko thinks it can be done…"
Katara crosses her arms, a glare forming with alarming speed on her face. "Sokka, I just…how could you ask that? What, with everything Zuko already does for us, and everything he's going to be doing over the winter, you want to ask him to go sauntering off over a warzone?"
Up until now, the only picture of Sokka that I've been privy to is of a guy so full of confidence that it's kind of grotesque, especially to someone like me, who possesses, well…pretty much the exact opposite. By his own description, he is The Meat and Sarcasm Guy, and he fulfills his self-appointed role with gusto. And yet, standing there in that kitchen, I see entirely different view of Sokka, and entirely new person, really, as he literally wilts under his sister's gaze, stammering and spluttering like…well…me.
"Well…umm…I just wanted to ask if he thought he could do it…and…well…like I said, if he doesn't think he can, then it's alright, it really is, I just wanted to ask…"
Katara takes a step forward, her hand raising and forming into a fist, one finger extended. "Yeah, but that's the thing, you can't just ask something like that, of anyone, and especially not Zuko." She gives a huff, her finger beginning to wag. "Especially considering that-"
"Katara?"
She stops, turns to me, her face instantly shifting from what I can only call a Death Glare into the smile that I still just can't get enough of. "Yes, Zuko?"
I smile back at her. It always seems to give her a little bit of a jolt. It's hard to catch, but every once in a while, I see it, and it never ceases to amaze me and make me feel all warm and fluffy inside.
"There's no reason to get on your brother's case."
She sighs. "There's always a reason to get on my brother's case."
"Hey! I'm right here!"
"Shush, Sokka." She tilts her head, looks deep into my eyes, surprise slowly spilling across her face. "Wait…you're not going to actually say yes, are you?"
I shrug, throwing everything I have into that smile. "Well…yeah. Why wouldn't I? My crew really doesn't need me when they're doing a trade voyage. In fact, all I tend to do is get in the way, because I have to be careful about where I show my face, especially if there's other Fire Nation around. So," I continue, doing my best to sound as nonchalant as possible, "why not spend those two months or so doing something…well…productive?"
I really don't know who's more surprised by this turn of events, them or me. I'm fighting hard against the urge to blush, while Sokka can only stare, wide-eyed and confused. Katara, though…
Katara just gives me this look…
And suddenly, a trip across a warzone doesn't sound so crazy anymore…
When she finally recovers herself, her eyes are wide, but her voice is small, small and soft and not too much more than a whisper. "You'd…you'd do that?"
I try on what I'm pretty sure is something fairly close to a jaunty pose, the kind I've seen my uncle throw on at the drop of a hat, and that I'm fairly certain looks utterly ridiculous, though, somehow, no one seems inclined to comment on it. "Not only would I do that, but I'm going to do that."
There's a pause, a beat, a lull in the action. Time stops, and the world goes very calm, and very quiet. A dropped pin would've sounded like the end of the world just then, and I have this strange feeling that I've reached one of those moments, one of this big deals, one of those instants that you look back on years down the road and nod and say, Yes, at that particular point in time, my entire life changed. From then on, there was no going back.
I don't have very long to think about this, though, because, before anyone (even her, I suspect) has a time to really think about what's happening, Katara has shouted with joy and hurled herself into my arms and then her arms are sliding around my neck and she's popping up on her toes and…well…um…you see…the thing is…
She kisses me.
It's over in an instant, so quick that, for a moment, I doubt that it actually happened. I'm seriously wondering if it was all in my head, until I look down and see that Katara is not an inch or two from me and her hands are over her face and her face is bright red from hair to chin. I tear my eyes away from her, and am treated to the sight of Sokka's chin coming very close to making contact with the floor. The sight is so captivating that it is only with great difficulty that I shift my attention back to Katara, who has moved back by a few very small steps and is messing with her hair and running her hands along her clothes and smoothing some wrinkles from her skirt. Almost in unison, we all take a moment to cough into our hands and avoid each other's gazes as we collect ourselves. By mutual agreement, without a word being said, we seem to come to the conclusion to, at least for the moment, pretend that what just happened, well, didn't happen.
"So," I say, clearing my throat one last time, "was there anything in particular you wanted me to say to your father when I find him?"
Katara smiles, her face still the color of the sun at dawn. "Shouldn't it be more if you find him?"
I shrug with more confidence than I feel. "Well, it's a big country, but it's not that big. It's not terribly difficult to find an army, especially one dressed in blue and full of hairy Sokka-clones." It's true, and to be honest, I'm fairly certain that, if nothing else, I'll be able to find out where their father is campaigning and, most importantly, if he's still alive or not. Still, though, confidence and I have never been the best of friends; when I show it, it's largely just an act, even when it's justified.
Heh…especially when it's justified…
"You know," Katara says, biting her lip and playing with the ends of her hair, "you really should show more confidence. It's…it's nice."
I chuckle. "Really? I'll have to keep that in mind."
"Actually," Sokka says, cutting into our moment with his usual expert timing, "I was wondering if you could…well…write a letter for me. Our uncle Bato can read, and wherever our Dad is, he'll be close by."
I nod. "Yeah, I could do that…" I turn to Katara, flashing her a winning smile. "But, then again, why don't you write it?"
Her face lights up, the blush finally banished into a corner of my mind, where I'll carry it with me until I see her again. "You really think I can do that?"
I reach down, take her hands. "I know you can do it."
She bounces up and down for a moment, the excitement shining from her eyes literally impossible to describe. She squeezes my hand, lets go of one, and uses the other to pull me over to our almost-finished sushi. "Well, then this is perfect, really. We can finish the sushi, and then, while we're eating, Sokka and I can write the letter."
Sokka rolls his eyes. "Great. More time this month spent listening to my sister show off."
"What can I say?" I point out. "She has a lot to show off. She's a natural, really."
He shakes his head. "Suck up."
Katara shoots him a glare. "And for that little comment, you can try two bites of sushi."
His face falls, and for a moment, I have an image of an entirely new Sokka, that being Five-Year-Old Sokka, complete with a foot stomp and a plaintive whine. "But KA-TAR-A!"
She shakes her head. "If Zuko can go running off the Earth Kingdom, looking for Dad, then you can try some of his cooking, and that's the end of it." She turns back to me, waves at the neatly arranged components before us, and says, "So, where were we?"
I stifle a laugh and say, "Well, the next step is actually the easiest. You see…"
And before anyone asks, yes, the first thing I did when I went back to the ship was call my uncle and ship's officers together and inform them of the change of plans, and because the gods have a strange sense of humor, they all immediately agreed, and before I knew it, my solo adventure had turned into a bonding trip with my uncle. That night, laying on my bed, staring up at the ceiling and listening to my uncle jabber away, all I could do was thinking of the amusement I had derived from the sight of Sokka being put in place by his sister and think, Yeah, serves me right…
Hey, look! Plot! It was about time that it showed up!
Also, the promise of a scenery change! For the record, we should be heading off for the Earth Kingdom and Zuko's little errand around chapter…oh…15 or so. But enough of that. We have fluff to enjoy!
And yes, before you ask, I did research on sushi preparation, because I need help.
In the next chapter, Zuko gets dragged into what is (to his eyes, at least) a delightfully barbaric game, and enjoys himself immensely, even as he makes a complete fool of himself. Stay tuned!
