Mooncake
"Come on," Aang whispered. "I want to show you something."
He took Katara's hand and led her out of the rotunda where their friends were seated in a circle on the floor, chatting happily over tea and fruit and mooncakes. Aang had invited everyone to the Southern Air Temple to celebrate the Harvest Moon Festival—the Air Nomad way. Katara and Sokka, Aang's constant traveling companions, had agreed with enthusiasm. Suki jumped at the chance to take a break from her Kyoshi Warrior duties to spend the time she craved with Sokka. Toph, who always canceled classes at her metalbending school during the holiday week, figured it wouldn't hurt to see her friends again.
Zuko and Mai were less certain prospects. But since it was also Aang's sixteenth birthday—which he traditionally celebrated on the fall equinox, which would come two days after this year's harvest moon—the Fire Lord and Fire Lady cleared their schedules to make the trip.
Aang led Katara onto the balcony surrounding the rotunda on the top level of the tallest pagoda in the Southern Air Temple. Unlike the cozy room they had just left, the night air was breezy and brisk. Katara rubbed her arms against the goosebumps that prickled beneath the long sleeves of her tunic.
Before she could say a word, her boyfriend folded his arms around her, burying his hands in her hair. She wrapped her arms around his back and snuggled into his warmth. "So…is this what you wanted to show me?" she murmured into his neck.
Aang chuckled, a low rumble that sent a pleasant shiver through Katara. His voice had deepened quite a bit over the last few months, a delicious change she relished like turning over a candied date with her tongue. "I did want us to get some time alone, but that's not all," he said.
A little yelp escaped Katara's lips as the world suddenly tilted. Aang dipped her body and slid one hand behind her knees. She now lay horizontal in his arms, grabbing the robes draped over his chest with one hand and clutching his waist with the other.
He grinned down at her in the moonlight, his eyes glimmering with mischief. "Are you ready?"
She gave his bare shoulder a playful tap. "I am now."
The wind rushed by her ears as Aang bounded upward, riding the air currents that lifted them to the roof. Once his feet touched the blue tiles of the pagoda, he carefully set her down on one of the eaves that curved away from the rooftop and tapered upward, pointing at the sky. The upturned eaves radiated out from the rooftop like the unfurling petals of a lotus flower. Conveniently, they also created a comfortable cradle for couples who wanted a little nook to themselves.
"This rooftop was the most popular spot during the Harvest Moon Festival," Aang said, as if reading her thoughts. "People who came to our Air Temple for the festival wanted to be as close as possible to the moon—which was on top of this pagoda. The monks and acolytes would take turns carrying people up here."
The harvest moon hung full and bright over the jagged peaks of the Patola Mountains. Even though the sun had set over an hour ago, the glow of the moon was a pale lantern that lit up the night sky.
Once they had snuggled up against each other in the curve of one of the eaves, Aang pulled out a packet wrapped in cloth. He untied the knot to reveal a handful of puck-shaped mooncakes, each one small enough to eat in two or three bites. Imprinted into the flat tops of the pastries were elaborate designs—some with characters for luck or happiness, some with blooming flowers, and others with the symbol of one of the four elements. But what made these mooncakes special were the thin pastry shells wrapped around the filling inside. Unlike the deep golden crusts of their counterparts from the Earth Kingdom or Fire Nation, the shells of Air Nomad mooncakes were snowy white.
But the differences didn't end there. The snow-white skins were a perfect canvas for dyeing, and these mooncakes were brightly colored with the juice of cherries, blueberries, spinach, and persimmons. Since fruit was the main crop of the Air Nomads, Aang had explained to their friends, his people had celebrated the harvest with mooncakes filled with berries and moon peach preserves instead of the usual lotus seed or red bean paste.
Katara picked up a dusty pink mooncake stamped with a flower pattern. She suspected Suki may have made this one, since the Kyoshi Warrior had filled and pressed many of the strawberry mooncakes. Sure enough, when she bit into the soft shell, her mouth was filled with creamy custard and the sweet flesh of the strawberry tucked into the center of the pastry.
She and Aang went through the small pile of mooncakes, guessing at which of their friends had made which ones and smacking their lips over the different flavors. Before meeting Aang, Katara had never seen a mooncake before, since the Water Tribes grew no crops and thus had no harvest to celebrate. Ever since she had started traveling with Aang, she had sampled mooncakes from the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom. She wasn't a fan—they were dry and dense, though she did like the salted egg yolk in the middle. But she much preferred the Air Nomad mooncakes, which were airy and sweet—much like Aang himself.
But even as they giggled and chatted and sneaked in the occasional kiss, Katara couldn't help noticing how alone they were on the roof of the pagoda. They were just two, when there should have been ten or twenty or thirty or more. And many of the missing people should have been monks with shorn heads and blue arrows.
Atop the tallest point in the Southern Air Temple, Katara saw how the absence of his people pressed down on Aang. Even his cheerful manner could not entirely mask the faraway look in his eyes. So she kept her tone light, her jokes breezy, and her touch gentle.
Soon the pile of mooncakes had disappeared, and only one remained.
"I don't think I've tried this one yet," Katara said as she turned the pastry over in her hand, examining the whorls that adorned the crust. "It's stamped with the symbol for air. But why is it green?"
"The filling for that one is made with custard apples. Their skin is green, and their trees only grow in the mountains," Aang explained. "We were famous for growing custard apples. People around the world loved them so much that they would ask for custard apples from Air Nomads who were passing through." The soft smile he gave her then was tinged with lonely nostalgia. "Gyatso always made sure to save one for me."
Katara had never heard of custard apples before, and Aang hadn't mentioned custard apples earlier that day when they made mooncakes with their friends. The fruit wasn't among the fillings they had used, either. That meant Aang must have made this mooncake on his own.
She pressed the round pastry into his hand. "You should have this one, Aang," she said.
He shook his head and passed the mooncake back into her hand. "No, it's yours. The taste is smooth and sweet—it's my favorite, and I think you'll like it, too."
Katara gazed at the lone mooncake in her palm. The three whorls of air enveloped the love of a people who had been lost forever, but still lived on in Aang's heart.
"I can't take this, Aang."
"I want you to have it."
"But it's your favorite. You should have it," she said.
"Katara." He closed her fingers around the tiny pastry. "I made this mooncake for you."
His words confirmed what she had suspected. But she couldn't accept and eat something that held so much meaning for him. "I can't take this, Aang. It…doesn't feel right."
Aang thought for a moment. "How about this…if it'll make you feel better about eating this mooncake, you can promise me something."
"Okay. What's the promise?"
"That I get to kiss you," he said. His face was serious, but Katara thought she saw a twinkle in his eye.
"But that's not a fair deal," she protested as a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "You already get to kiss me."
He shrugged. "It's fair to me."
"All right," she said, unable to keep the smile from spreading across her face. "If you say so."
Katara raised the mooncake to her mouth and was about to take a bite when Aang held back her hand.
"Wait," he said. "There's a special way to eat this mooncake."
"There is?"
He nodded. "First, you need to hold it between your teeth without biting down."
Katara did as directed, sinking her teeth into the slightly springy crust as she carefully held the mooncake halfway in her mouth.
"Now close your eyes."
Her eyes slid shut. She was waiting for Aang's next instruction when his fingers threaded through her hair and his mouth covered her lips. He bit down on the pastry, and a burst of creamy sweetness flooded her mouth. The brush of his lips moving over hers was even more tantalizing with her eyes closed.
Then Katara remembered she could move. She leaned into him, chasing the heady pleasure of his kiss. But Aang had already pulled away, leaving her empty and wanting—and with a mouthful of mooncake.
He was grinning at her, eating his half of the mooncake, when she opened her eyes. As she chewed the pastry in her mouth, the creamy velvet of the custard apple filling made a delicious contrast to the slightly sticky, delicate skin of the crust. After she swallowed that bite of mooncake, she ran her tongue along her lips to lap up any traces of custard she may have missed.
Aang sat back, watching her with a self-satisfied smirk. "So…did you like it? Was it smooth and sweet?"
"Hmm." Katara glided her hands over his chest, thrilling as his heartbeat quickened beneath her palms. "I can't say for sure…" she murmured, leaning in so close that their lips brushed as she spoke. "…until I have another taste."
With that, she covered Aang's lips with hers and found that he was smooth and sweet indeed.
Cultural notes:
- The mooncakes from the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom are based on traditional mooncakes, which are eaten in many Asian cultures during the Harvest Moon Festival (more commonly known as the Mid-Autumn Festival).
- The Air Nomad mooncakes are based on "snow skin" mooncakes, a more modern take on the dessert.