After a few months, their shop had gone from a grand total of three customers in their first day to people queuing outside to get a table. Amai and Karei were still the only people that served tables there and they were just keeping up with the demands. Luckily all their hard work had paid off the people they had owed money. They had painted Pi-Shou boards onto the tables for decoration, seen as though they had named the restaurant 'The Pi-Shou Café'. But many people actually bought their own Pi-Shou pieces and played on the tables, which had made it a popular gathering place. Even Mushi had been back a couple of times, but never bought Lee with him. On this particular day, Amai had been serving a table of twelve people when she saw Mushi and Lee standing in the queue. She quickly took down the large table's order and put it through to the kitchen when she went outside to speak to Mushi and Lee.
"Afternoon Mushi." Amai bowed, and then turned to Lee.
"Afternoon Lee." Amai smiled.
"Hello." Lee said shortly, not entirely sure of what to make of Amai. He had met her only on the boat, and they were busy stealing food so they didn't exactly know each other.
"I'm sure I could find you a table, seen as though you are one of our valuable customers." Amai said to Mushi.
"Oh no need, we should wait like everyone else." Mushi said, bowing slightly.
"Nonsense, then what's the point of knowing the owners?" Amai laughed, and took them inside. One table cleared out after their meal, as Amai took them in. She told them to sit at the table and handed them menus.
"Anything you would like to order at the moment?" Amai asked, ready for their order.
"Two bowls of the garden soup. I think my nephew would like it." Mushi said, and Lee shot him a look.
"Coming right up." Amai said, going to the kitchen and getting their order.
"Why did you have to order for me uncle? I'm not twelve." Lee said angrily, folding his arms and turning slightly away from his uncle.
"I ordered you soup because I believe you would like it, Zuko."
"And what if I wanted dumplings?" Zuko huffed, and then turned on his chair to look completely away from Uncle.
Amai appeared in the kitchen, where Chijin was stirring the soup and watching the dumplings.
"Hey Chijin, that boy from the boat is here. He doesn't look happy that his uncle dragged him here though." Amai gabbed two bowls and bended some soup into them, then bended some parsley on top by bending the water in it. Chijin had frozen, spoon in hand, looking at the wall in front of her.
"Chijin what's wrong?" Amai asked, seeing that she had stopped.
"Nothing, I feel sorry for the boy. Scarred for life…" She sighed, and carried on with the soup. Amai shrugged and took the bowls to Mushi and Lee, which looked like they had just had a tiff. She put the bowls silently on their table, and made to leave again before Mushi stopped her.
"Oh, and please may we have some juice?" Mushi asked, and Amai smiled to go back to the kitchen. Zuko caught a whiff of the soup and turned wholly on his chair to face it.
"Uncle! This…this is exactly…" He breathed in the smell deeply, and grabbed a spoon to see if the smell matched the taste. As soon as the spoon was in his mouth, his face lit up and his eyes sparkled.
"Where in the world did they find this recipe? I thought…" And then Amai appeared next to them with two empty glasses and a jug of juice.
"Freshly bend…squeezed juice." She smiled, and Lee was eyeing her.
"Do you like the soup? Secret recipe." Amai smiled and winked, and Lee almost choked.
"It's great, somewhat familiar." Lee cleared his throat and then poured himself some juice. Amai smiled, and then turned to go serve another table, but Lee couldn't get over the taste of the soup.
"This soup is just like…just like mom used to make for me when I was sick."
"I told you Zuko, I knew you would like it." Uncle smiled and grabbed his own spoon.