A few days later, when Lu Ten could stay awake without passing out, Ayeshi's family put him to work to earn his keep while his broken bones healed.

"You're just gonna be helping the family business." Ayeshi said as Lu Ten gingerly pulled a tunic over his broken ribs. "My mom will tell you what to do."

"Following orders." The soldier laughed. "I'm good at that. Your mother reminds me of a sergeant I knew in the army."

"Fire nation army's a well-oiled machine, huh?"

"You could say that. They keep order by threats and fear."

"Hey, so does my mom."

"She's got that in common with the fire nation. Oh. Sorry. Sore subject."

Ayeshi nodded. "Don't mention the fire nation in front of my mom. We've lost a lot because of them."

"Right. Sorry"

"Well, let's get on with it." Ayeshi continued after an awkward pause. "I'll support you on the side your leg's broken and help haul you up the stairs." Ayeshi leaned into Lu Ten's right side and dragged his arm around her shoulders. He tried not to squirm as she wrapped her own arm around his waist, her tiny hand pressing below his ribs. The basement stairs were narrow and rickety, basically a glorified ladder, and he could feel Ayeshi straining underneath him and she half-dragged him up onto the ground floor of the house.

Lu Ten gasped. "It's a noodle shop!"

"That's right, boy." Miyo barked. "You can still use your hands, can't you? You'll be chopping vegetables." She dragged out a stool and threw an apron at him. "Get busy."

"So you run a family noodle shop?" Lu Ten asked.

"That's right." Ayeshi replied. "My mom runs everything. I usually help out in the kitchen while Han and Wei wait tables. It gets hectic during lunch rush because everyone knows we make good noodles. Having you to help with kitchen prep will be a big help."

Lu Ten nodded and picked up the knife. He'd never made noodles like these before, but he literally owed these people his life. Helping them make noodles was the least he could do. Just so long as the noodles turned out better than army rations. He began peeling carrots while Ayeshi fired up the stove and began working on the broth.

"Spirits above, boy, have you ever chopped vegetables before?" Miyo shouted. "Ayeshi's younger than you and cuts carrots evenly. Han's twelve and cuts better carrots than you! What do they teach you in the fire nation?"

Lu Ten's cheeks turned red. "I—I was nobility in the fire nation." he wasn't going to mention the whole royal blood thing. "We never really had to make our own food. In the army we didn't care if things were cut even."

Miyo snorted. "Typical. Out of all the fire nation people for my daughter to find on my doorstep, it's nobility. Gah. Silver spoon in your mouth and everything."

"Try small, quick motions with the knife." Ayeshi advised. "And be careful."

Ayeshi had been right. Lunch service got busy and soon Ayeshi and her brothers were flying in and out of the kitchen with bowls of noodles. Miyo was scampering around stirring pots and filling bowls, while Lu Ten remained at his station in the back of the kitchen madly chopping vegetables and watching pots to make sure they didn't boil over. Miyo refused to let him give her a hand, claiming that fire benders made everything too spicy, to which Lu Ten really couldn't argue. Back in the trenches outside of Ba Sing Se he and his battalion had held a contest to see who could tolerate the spiciest food.

"Mom, table three doesn't like the tea." Han set down a tray with a mostly-full tea cup.

"I knew the tea side venture was a mistake." Ayeshi groaned. "Mom's been trying to sell tea to have with the noodles but people don't like it."

Lu Ten took the cup from Han and tasted its contents. "Why, it's simple, Ayeshi. You've scalded the tea. Jasmine tea is easy to mess up like this." Being careful not to put weight on his injured leg, he moved to the stove and began brewing another pot of tea. "Jasmine is my father's favorite type of tea. He'd have my head if I brewed it wrong."

"You know how to make jasmine tea?"

Lu Ten nodded. "The trick is not to overheat it. You have to be patient and heat it to just the right temperature."

"Patience isn't one of my mother's virtues."

"I've noticed. Here, try the tea."

Ayeshi took a sip. "It's excellent." Her eyes sparkled as she pulled the cup away from her face. "How do you know so much about tea?"

"I told you, my father is a tea fanatic. He passed that on to me. I can't stand poorly brewed tea."

"Wait, the fire bender makes tea?" Miyo turned around. "Let me try it." As she sipped the tea a manic glint appeared in her eye. "You know your tea, I'll give you that. I still hate fire benders, though.

"I didn't expect anything different."

"Tell you what, Ayeshi and I can manage the kitchen. I want you making more tea." Lu Ten shrugged and turned back to the tea pot to brew more. If it meant Miyo wasn't constantly threatening him, then this setup might work out until he could get back on his feet. He reached for another tea pot on the shelf but Ayeshi snatched it away.

"Not this one." She whispered. "This one was my father's." She ran upstairs with it.

Lu Ten watched the pots. Ayeshi hadn't told him about her father, but reading between the lines he probably wasn't around anymore. Maybe that was why Miyo didn't like hearing the fire nation mentioned around her, and why she still carried a knife at her side. The thought made him uncomfortable. Still, he wasn't personally responsible, right? What more could he do, other than wait for the water to boil?