Peaches
-In which we make fruit pies and get into a food fight
I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or Legend of Korra, but I do own my driver's license as of today!
A big thanks to someone who reviewed but didn't log in, their name was 'Nobody'. Your review is the reason I wrote this so soon after the last…coughbutdidn'tpostitforawhilecough
True to Suki's word, when Aang and Katara returned home there was a similar invitation waiting for them. Aang was still having trouble wrapping his head around the fact that his Earthbending teacher, his strict, dirty, rude Earthbending teacher was going to get married.
As Kya, Tenzin and Gyatso walked through the door they could be heard mumbling under their breath
"I didn't want to go home"
"I was having fun"
"Didn't even get to show Uncle Sokka my new trick"
Katara sighed. They were grouchy from their bison trip. That and they were hungry. Those two were a very bad combination.
"What do you want for lunch, kids?" She asked, but only got mumbled responses back. She shot Aang a pointed glance.
"How about we make some fruit pies?" He suggested
Aang could be a genius sometimes. The kids perked up and the mention of one of their favourite foods, and their smiles grew even wider as he explained how they could go and pick the fruit themselves as most of the fruit on the island was in season.
"Ok!" was the general response as Aang picked up Kasami and led the children to where the majority of fruit trees were located.
This part of the island held many special memories for Aang. He use to do exactly what his kids were about to do. He usually gathered peaches from the abundance of trees, and although it was never a competition he always gathered the most.
"What kind of pies do you want?"
The response was an overwhelming "Peach!" Aang smiled in reminiscence.
"Great! Your mother is working on the pie bases right now, so all we have to do is gather the peaches, I'll cut them up for you and we can all add some other ingredients and stir"
The team of four children got to work. The trees were a bit bigger than from when he was a child but they found ways of collecting them anyway.
Tenzin and Gyatso first tried standing on each other's shoulders, but that ended in a couple of bumped knees and endless giggles from Kasami. Next, they tried blasting the peaches off with Airbending, but they only blasted off the leaves.
The looks on his sons faces as they looked up at the bare tree, with only peaches hanging from it in confusion was priceless, Aang was the one to laugh this time.
"Want me to show you something?"
Aang ran up the base of the tree, propelled by Airbending. He landed on the closest branch and picked a peach from under him.
This way was a much bigger success.
Kya had thought about the best way to get the peaches down for a few minutes, eventually deciding to copy her father and use her bending. She carefully moulded some water into a sphere around the peach and then froze it. The weight caused the peach to fall, although it would bruise. The ice would either crack from the impact or it wouldn't even leave a dent and she would turn it back to water. Aang looked on proudly as his daughter displayed such creative and intelligent thinking.
Kasami took a much simpler approach than her brothers or sister; Aang held her up high enough to grab a peach.
In the end, they collected a lot more than their quota, but Aang didn't mind. As they returned to the temple, Katara revealed she had made extra bases for the pies. They both laughed at this.
Aang and Katara both cut up the peaches, and then placed them into 4 separate bowls. Aang explained the ingredients that needed to be put in one step at a time. Katara sat with Kasami to help her and Aang made sure the twins didn't cause any trouble.
If you looked at the children's smiles you wouldn't have guessed they had been in a grouchy mood earlier. They were having fun mixing their bowls of peaches and adding new ingredients as their father instructed them.
All too soon, it was time to pour their mixtures into the bases. Katara put them near the fire in the kitchen, explaining that they had to cook for a few minutes before Aangs Airbending trick would work.
Not even this couple dampen the children's spirits now. Aang led them back outside where they put out some of the extra peaches into small bowls set around the island for the lemurs to eat.
Soon, the smell of fresh fruit pies filled the vicinity of the temple and Aang smiled as the feeling of nostalgia took him over. Katara set the many pies onto various window sills and instructed them not to touch them until they were cooled.
Aang used a different Airbending technique to cool the pies before beckoning Tenzin and Gyatso over for him to how them the move.
Kya was a little jealous that she couldn't do anything to help the pies rise but Katara thanked her for her ingenious way of collecting peaches. She said she was proud and if it were Katara that age she would have probably just cut the tops of the peaches and the rest would have fallen into a mushy heap into the ground.
Finally, the pies were ready. Aang turned away from his sons, proud of how they picked up the moves, and walked over to his wife.
"The pies are rea-"
He stopped as he felt something hit the back on his neck and something start to run down his back.
He whirled around; Gyatso was staring at the ground, whistling, so Aang knew who had thrown it.
If it were any other situation, Aang would have probably just explained to the twins what they did was wrong. But today, when they had been making fruit pies and Aang had been reminded so much of his childhood, he fell into the familiar pattern of what to do when a fruit pie fight happened.
He ducked behind a nearby tree, but not before sending a blast of air that ensured a fruit pie fell onto Gyatsos head. Tenzin laughed loudly at this but Gyatso just threw what was still on his head at him.
Kya decided to get in on the fun by throwing another one at her father. He sent one back, and she dodged it gracefully, the pie hitting Tenzin instead.
Kasami was in hysterics at this point, laughing so much she had to sit down as she watched most of her family get covered in peaches.
Tenzin threw a pie back at Kya and Kya sent one at Gyatso who sent on at his father.
Aang had just propelled a pie back at his son, as his wife walked onto the battlefield, hands on hips.
"What is going o-"
She paused, just as Aang had, as his pie landed, covering half her face.
"Who threw that?" She asked through clenched teeth. Aang and the children watched in fright, nervously awaiting an explosion of anger.
"Haha, at least they taste good" She said, licking her lips and lobbing one back toward her husband.
The kids looked at each other in disbelief, they were sure she was going to punish them.
"How about we save the rest of the pies for eating?" She suggested, her husband coming out from behind the tree with his hands up.
"Now that you mention it, I am pretty hungry" Aang admitted, one hand on the back of his head. Kya, Tenzin and Gyatso also felt their stomachs rumble and ran towards the kitchen.
"Not so fast" Katara spoke, blocking the door. "Kasami gets to eat since she didn't throw anything, but you four have to go and clean yourself up before eating. No bending either"
Aang looked down at his stomach helplessly "But…"
Katara raised an eyebrow at him; he stopped talking and started walking toward one of the many ponds on the island.
Once out of earshot of his wife, he turned to his kids and asked "So, none of you are Peachbenders?"
Kya replied as she lifted some water toward her face in cupped hands "Hey, you're the Avatar, master of all the elements, should that include peach?"
Tenzin and Gyatso tried to blow the peach off each other, but Katara knew what had happened the minute they returned to the kitchen.
"But how did you know!?"
"Boys, your hair is sticking upwards from your skull"
Aang laughed, "We use to do that all the time when I was a kid, I guess we didn't know it make your hair stick up since we didn't have any"
Katara found the humour in the situation and allowed her sons to eat the pies before washing their hair herself.
They were the best anyone had ever tasted.