Tart

"Oh, wow, it's so big," Suki gasped.

Sokka grinned at the compliment. "You know, anyone overhearing us would probably take that the completely wrong way."

Suki grimaced. "Don't be crude. Now, come on, tell me about your thingy here."

Sokka nodded. He stood up tall and puffed out his chest, the better to set the mood. He and Suki were outside, on the covered back porch of their temporary home, as the sun set past the Great Walls. They didn't visit Ba Sing Se often, but one member or another of their circle of friends was always stopping by the ambiguously-titled Impenetrable City, so the group maintained a large house there that any of them could use at need. Currently, Sokka and Suki were enjoying a quiet stay in the city where 'what happens in Ba Sing Se stays in Ba Sing Se, probably because someone erased your memory or locked you up in a cave somewhere.' The young Water Tribe man motioned in front of him, and said, "This is my lemon-lightning-producer."

"Oooh," Suki said as she looked at the rather large example of the yellow fruit sitting on the table, and the simple machinery that was built around it. "The name really fails to do it justice."

"Yeah," Sokka sighed. "I'll keep thinking about it."

"So come on, explain to me. You know that's your favorite part."

Sokka instantly unwilted. "Very true. See, it came to me the other night when we were... uh..."

"What, now you're concerned about speaking delicately?"

"Hey, we're outside. Someone could here us."

Suki rolled her eyes. "Okay, one: this yard is the size of Kyoshi Island, so I doubt our neighbors even know we're out here. Two: being overheard sure didn't concern you the other night when we-"

"Suki, as much as I'd love to hear your detailed reference to how we expressed our love for one another, I think we're getting off track."

"Okay, okay." The Kyoshi Warrior massaged her forehead with one hand. "So, we were talking about your big lemon."

"Yes! Well, the idea came to me the other night, when we left the window open and that breeze came through and put out all the candles, and we were in the dark. Remember?"

"If you think I could forget by now, you're not very confident as a man, are you?"

Sokka glared at her. "Now who's the crude one?"

"Sorry, sorry," Suki cooed. "I don't know, something about the smell of fresh lemons always puts me in a mischievous mood."

"But, I thought that back on Kyoshi Island, one of the staples of life is plain-broiled fish with lemon." Sokka scratched his head in confusion, belatedly realizing he was probably getting lemon scent in his hair.

Suki just nodded. "And now you know why I was so frustrated when we first met that I was going to throw you to the Unagi just for being comically ignorant."

"Huh." Sokka was lost to pondering that for a few moments. "Well, as fascinating as that is, I do have a lemon here I'd like to explain."

"Please do."

"Okay, so there we were in the dark, and I was thinking that it would be great if we could harness all the energy we were producing to somehow light the room up."

Suki grimaced. "Is this about you wanting me to be a Firebender again? Because let me tell you, it doesn't make feel very good, and especially after that book was published about you and Azula last year-"

"Oh, sure!" Sokka crossed his arms and leaned over the table to really get in Suki's face. "You're fine with explicit stories about my sister and Zuko having passionate affairs in uncomfortable settings, you collected every single print variation of that book about Aang and Mai practically writing an anatomy text book together, and now all of a sudden you're mad about a book about me and Azula."

"You got the author to sign your copy!"

"That was for the irony! I didn't tell her that I'm me!"

"Ugh, never mind," Suki growled. She leaned back, crossed her arms in mimicry of Sokka, and said, "Hit me with your lemon thing already."

"Fine." Sokka took a few deep breaths, and then started anew. "So, I got to thinking about how energy could be used to produce light, and you were on the right track with the Firebending, but what could normal people do? So, I remembered how embers can glow, even if they're not actually on fire, and I got to wondering if that could be done with different materials to produce a range of brightness. Of course, that leaves the question of a real power source. My, ah, inspiration wouldn't be the most efficient method."

Suki could help but smirk at the imagery. "True."

"But then I remembered Azula's lightning!" Sokka waited to see if Suki was going to get upset again. "No comment?"

Suki's expression didn't change. "Not for now. Just so long as we're clear that Azula is an alternative to a two-person power source."

"Clearer than my sister's ice."

"Good."

"Okay." Sokka grinned again, fully in his element, and lifted the lemon. "So, I remembered that lightning is a form of energy that travels through metal and can ignite things on fire! And, well, you remember that time me and the Mechanist talked about acids and the way they interact with certain metals, right?"

Suki smiled politely. "Let's assume I do."

"So, I realized that if I insert a sturdy rod made of the right stuff into the succulent lemon, the juicy fruit will interact powerfully with the mighty metal, and the results could totally heat things up and light a fire!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...moving on, I figured out that if I put certain strong kinds of wood in a sealed glass ball with little or no air, it will glow and won't burn. So I connect the wood to the rod to the acidic fruit, and I get a little source of light!"

Suki processed all that, looking over Sokka's contraption, and matching what she saw with what she had heard. Her eyes lit up and she smiled at her boyfriend. "That's amazing! Let's go try it out in a dark room!"

"Okay! Which room?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...oh." A smirk overtook the young Water Tribe man's face. "Recreating the original conditions for the experiment, huh?"

Suki's expression matched his. "You might say that. Let's just say that the lemon smell has put me in a mood."

Sokka happily grabbed his lemon, and together the couple trotted back into the house. Their minds were ahead of them, so it was perfectly understandable that it took them both a few moments to realize what they were seeing in the main living room. Sokka and Suki both stared at Aang, and the Avatar himself stared back with a rapidly reddening face.

"I... didn't know you guys were here," Aang said.

Sokka didn't bother responding to the Avatar's obvious statement. "That's an interesting use of a lemon, bro."

Suki blinked. "He's wearing the lemon."

"That he is."

"And only the lemon."

"I'm guessing my sister is out in front, unpacking Appa."

Aang coughed. "Yes, actually. And, uh, this is a really awkward situation, isn't it?"

Sokka blinked. "This is actually not new for me. Right Suki?"

She grimaced in response. "Thanks for including me this time."

Silence dominated the room for a long moment. Eventually, Sokka planted his rodded-lemon down on the nearest table, and said, "Here, let me know if this lights up your love life. Suki and I will be staying in a hotel in the middle ring somewhere."

"Okay, good luck."

"Just don't squeeze the lemon too hard."

The thing Suki said, before Sokka dragged her out of the room, was, "Which lemon?"

"Hush with your freakish citrus fetish."

END