Chapter 9 – Ozai's Kitchen Nightmares S8E07: The Northern Lights
This time, I'm back in Caldera City, where The Northern Lights restaurant is in trouble. Twenty years ago, Hakoda Enuaraq, a hard-working Water Tribes immigrant opened the restaurant together with his wife. The restaurant enjoyed some initial success and continued to thrive even through the tragedy that befell the Enuaraq family.
After Hakoda lost his wife some ten years ago, he brought in his children to help. The restaurant continued to prosper, but then, four years ago, Hakoda Enuaraq moved back to the Water Tribes for personal reasons, leaving the restaurant to his two children, Sokka and Katara.
Ever since then, The Northern Lights has been on a rough downward slide. With the siblings struggling to step into the shoes of their parents and spending more time arguing and fighting than doing actual work, it will be up to me and Azula to try and make this stubborn pair of misguided owners see the light, set their differences aside and save the family business.
Katara sighed heavily, having watched Ozai Nakamura's introductory narration to the episode focusing on The Northern Lights. Katara already knew that Ozai was going to present her and Sokka as responsible for all the problems at the restaurant, and while she was only happy to take the fall for the issues that actually were her fault, Katara knew that Ozai's deceptive editing would make her and Sokka appear so much worse than they actually were. Still, Katara had agreed that for the sake of boosting the restaurant's popularity, she would make this personal sacrifice. Now, on a late November Sunday evening, as Katara and her friends gathered in the hangout space above the restaurant to watch the episode premiering on TV, Katara started to suspect that she might regret her decision to go along with the farce of Ozai Nakamura's storytelling.
"This is going to be rough to watch, isn't it?" Sokka also sighed as they watched the first few scenes of Ozai and Azula arriving at the restaurant. Seeing Azula on the screen caused an unexpectedly bitter sensation in Katara's chest that actually startled her. As Katara had expected, keeping in touch with Azula had proven difficult. Katara herself worked very long hours and often did not have the time to look at her phone for many hours straight. Azula seemed to be even busier, worryingly overworking herself just to please her demanding father. Also, Azula was traveling all over the world and they were often in completely incompatible time zones that made staying in touch difficult. It was no wonder that they had largely fallen out of touch, much to Katara's disappointment.
"Well, we already knew that," Katara replied to her brother. "The only question is how bad is he going to make us look."
"Probably really bad," Sokka snorted. "I don't think he likes me very much, not even after flattening my foot with his bloody Lexus."
Following the scenes of Ozai making disparaging comments about the restaurant's décor, it was time for Ozai and Azula to be introduced to the owners. Katara already knew that Ozai was going to make good use of the awkward moment when both she and Sokka had stated that they were the ones in charge, and then they had both bickered with Sokka saying that Katara was more like the head waitress, and Katara shooting back that Sokka was just a chef. Ozai really capitalized on this moment to exaggerate how terrible their sibling relationship was and how the main problem at the restaurant was the clash of their massive egos.
"I wonder if he's going to show himself being incredibly rude and mean to me," Yue wondered as they watched Ozai and Azula sitting down to try the food and make comments about the restaurant's bloated menu.
"Only if he was being mean in a funny way, I guess," Toph commented, keeping up with the events of the episode as Aang helped to fill in the gaps for her.
"No, he cut those comments out," Yue said a while later. "He's such a coward beneath all that fake swagger, isn't he?"
"I don't know about that, but I think it was a really entertaining food tasting part of the show," Jet chuckled. "Say what you want about the man, and I certainly have no love for Ozai Nakamura, but holding that bowl of risotto over Azula's head was a stroke of genius. It would have been even better if it had dribbled down into her hair."
"No, it wouldn't have!" Suki protested, punching Jet in the shoulder. "What a terrible thing to say! Did you not see how terrified Azula looked in that scene? I feel so sorry for her." Katara obviously agreed with Suki, but she didn't want to say anything and make it seem like they were ganging up on Jet. Her relationship with Jet seemed to have improved slightly, but it was still occasionally rocky and Katara was not looking to start some drama over Azula. Jet had been acting all jealous and insecure for a couple of weeks after Azula had left and Katara had no desire to go through that yet again.
"Suki is right, and besides, Ozai wouldn't show something that would make it look like he's humiliating his own daughter," Yue added, also looking upset. Because they had agreed to share everything when it came to being a part of Azula Nakamura's fan club, Katara knew that neither Yue nor Suki had enjoyed more success keeping in touch with Azula, but Yue seemed to be taking it a little bit harder than Katara or Suki. At least, Yue had an extra avenue of communication through Kiyi, who was by now Yue's primary and most trusted babysitter, but Kiyi herself seemed to be having trouble consistently reaching Azula. Also, Kiyi had lately began stopping by at the restaurant at least once per week, with Katara and Suki always making sure to interrogate her for any Azula related news.
Once the segment of Ozai and Azula tasting the food was over, it was time for the scenes of them visiting the cooks in the kitchen, where Ozai did some half-hearted yelling at Sokka before leaving the restaurant in disgust. Ozai's narration once again kicked in to the scenes of him driving off, making several nasty comments about the food and comparing it unfavorably to the worst of fast-food slop.
"I still think he exaggerated how bad the food was," Sokka snorted. "Also, I notice how he cut out tasting some of the items that were actually good. I mean, we know for a fact that he liked the sausage."
"I don't think he had to exaggerate anything about that risotto," Jet pointed out.
"Whatever," Sokka rolled his eyes. "Asshole," he then added quietly.
The show then continued with the scenes from the dinner service on the first day of Ozai and Azula's visit, with Ozai observing and making plenty of scathing comments. With many customer complaints and dishes frequently being returned to the kitchen, there was plenty of footage for Ozai to choose from, and he had made sure to select some particularly embarrassing moments, including highly unflattering customer comments that made Katara's cheeks burn with shame.
"The way this is presented is so mean-spirited," Aang sighed, sounding very depressed. "I really don't like this at all. I know we had some complaints, but I still think most of our customers were happy even before the restaurant overhaul."
"You're so thin-skinned, Twinkletoes," Toph laughed. "You all are. It's like everyone except for Jet didn't know what kind of show the Kitchen Nightmares was. It's there to bash you for the amusement of the audience, right? It's like a freak show with the hope that the curious viewers will then flock to see whether the freaks have improved."
"We'll see how thick your skin is when Ozai gets around to bashing your microwaves," Suki pointed out.
"Anyone saying bad things about my babies will be in for a world of hurt!" Toph exclaimed, immediately sounding very defensive.
Katara felt terrible about the fact that they had held out only for a couple of weeks before bringing back the microwaves. As time passed, the kitchen had still struggled to keep up with the tickets because Ozai had increased the number of seats. While Suki rarely complained openly, Katara sensed that she was becoming more and more frustrated with Sokka's excuses of how he was still finding it hard to get used to the new kitchen equipment. Suki didn't seem to have any such problems, and seeing this, Katara had dared to suggest that Suki and Sokka swap places in the kitchen.
Sokka's dramatic response to that suggestion more or less ensured that Katara was never going to bring it up again. After being told off for sticking her nose where it didn't belong, Sokka had then dramatically announced that he would sooner walk out of the restaurant than surrender the reins in the kitchen. Katara and Suki had both been mad for weeks after that argument, but they had also been forced to back off. Sensing that he had gotten his way, Sokka then brought back the basement microwave station, although fortunately in a limited capacity and only to pitch in with some of the items that were slowing them down when cooking fresh. Unfortunately, Katara and Yue had to immediately deal with some less than happy customers as a result of their meal having been microwaved.
"I'm guessing the moment of Ozai discovering the microwaving station will be next," Yue guessed.
"I think there's more stuff from the dinner service to cover," Jet pointed out as they watched some particularly deceptive edits that were supposed to demonstrate the terrible lack of communication between Katara and Sokka.
"By the spirits," Yue gasped after she had watched the scene. "I remember that moment! Sokka wasn't even talking to you at that point, Kat! He was asking me about my messy handwriting on a ticket I brought up to the window."
"I know, I don't remember us having this conversation," Katara said, shaking her head as she watched a shot of herself standing still and staring off into the distance, as if being in a world of her own and apparently not listening to Sokka. "Where is that shot from, I wonder?" she asked. "I don't believe I had a moment of time to stop and look like a silly lost sheep during that entire service."
"I don't think you were even in the kitchen in that shot!" Aang said. "That was a really bad edit, or maybe they just didn't have anything better to make you look lazy."
"That looked like it was a shot from your office, Kat," Jet spoke, agreeing with Aang. "I guess one of those cameramen must have snuck up on you between services because Ozai needed a shot where you were being idle."
"Sounds about right," Katara sighed. "Great, now everyone will think that I'm both lazy and stupid."
"Oh, boo-hoo, that's so much worse than people thinking I can't cook," Sokka grumbled.
"Well, I'm sure you proved all of them wrong by bringing back the microwaves," Jet cut in, prompting some chuckles.
"Alright, do you want a fight, asshole?" Sokka challenged, causing the chuckles to instantly die down. "Because I'll be happy to kick your ass."
"Nobody is going to fight here, let's make that clear," Katara spoke with as much authority as she could muster, happy to see Suki nodding to back her up. Katara wasn't happy about Jet making that comment, but she had to admit that Sokka had kind of walked into that savagery, and it wasn't even undeserved.
"Also, could you all kindly shut up so that I can listen to the show?" Toph asked, sounding annoyed as she looked anxious for the microwave drama to come up next. Toph didn't have to wait much longer. Of course, the scenes were once again heavily edited to make it appear as if Ozai himself had discovered the microwaving station, after which he then spent several minutes angrily ranting about it. Almost all of Toph's responses had been edited out much to her annoyance. Katara suspected that it was because she had given Ozai plenty of lip and obviously Ozai didn't want to show a blind Earth Kingdom girl giving him attitude.
Next part of the episode focused on Ozai creating and implementing solutions to fix the restaurant. Once again, Azula's input was very much marginalized and her onscreen appearances limited, something that Katara found hugely annoying. While Azula was shown teaching Sokka and Suki the new menu, the menu itself was still being presented like Ozai's creation and Katara was sure that Azula would be deeply unhappy about that.
Ozai also made sure to devote a lot of time to the scripted melodrama of fixing the sibling relationship which featured all the sappy scenes that Katara and Sokka had been forced to act out. Now that they knew what kind of man Ozai Nakamura truly was, seeing him act as their relationship manager felt very gross to Katara, even if it was all completely staged. It felt so wrong to see herself on the screen admitting that she had become too power hungry and allowed the position of ownership to go to her head, and then seeing Sokka say something very similar. It was all so far from the real problems besetting the restaurant that the fakeness of it all felt almost funny in a way.
"So, that's how relationship manager Ozai Nakamura solves problems between siblings," Suki chuckled as they were watching the lengthy segment with Ozai and the owners. "He forced you to make some reindeer sausages from the scratch. If only that worked so well with real issues, right?"
"I think it would have been even more fun if Ozai had made you two actually hunt down a reindeer," Toph chuckled.
"Ugh, let's not go there," Aang winced. "I don't want to think about Sokka and Katara slaughtering an innocent animal."
"You know that both Sokka and my dad are avid hunters, right?" Katara sighed. "And I know how to handle almost any game animal, including reindeer, because I've actually done it together with… my mom," she hesitated a little towards the end, noticing Sokka shooting her a quick sympathetic glance. Time had worked its healing magic over the past ten years, but the hurt was never going to fade away completely. Katara was by now fully convinced of that.
"Anyway, I just want to know one thing," Toph spoke up again. "Did Ozai actually show you making the sausages from scratch? I want to know if he showed you stuffing those sausage casings. I imagine it kind of looks like putting a condom on, am I right?"
"Yeah, he showed Katara stuffing some sausages," Suki snorted, sounding amused despite Katara shooting her an annoyed look of betrayal.
"Hey, Jet, would you say that Katara's technique there looked familiar?" Toph laughed. She was clearly having a ball with this line of questioning.
"Don't you dare," Katara spoke up quickly when she saw Jet opening his mouth to answer.
"I was just going to say no comment," Jet smirked at her.
"Aw, spoilsport," Toph sighed. "I'm just going to assume that Katara is pretty skilled at handling a sausage and leave it at that."
"Yes, let's move on from this disturbing line of questioning," Sokka groaned as they watched the scenes of Katara and Sokka cooking a sausage dish together. Once they were done and Ozai had declared their effort to be acceptable and indicative of their improving relationship, Katara and Sokka then used the teleprompter to read some sappy and generic lines about how despite their constant arguing deep down they loved each other and agreed to set their differences aside for the sake of both the restaurant and family. The two siblings were then shown embracing with Ozai's narration cutting in as he declared that the fake rift between Sokka and Katara had been healed by his ridiculous farce.
"I can't believe we spent almost six minutes on this bullshit personal drama," Suki snorted as the episode was interrupted for an ad break. "It's so annoying because so many more interesting things end up getting cut for drama that only appeals to old geriatrics."
"I'm sure Ozai has his bullshit focus groups that are telling him to stick with the drama," Jet shrugged. "Old geriatrics probably make for a huge part of the viewership."
"You're probably right," Sokka admitted reluctantly. "I'm just glad that he didn't show me burning his hand. Although, I suppose he could still deceptively edit it in someplace later."
"He's not going to do that," Jet shook his head. "Don't you remember that hilarious squeal he let out when he grabbed the hot handle? If Ozai were to show that, people would never stop laughing at him."
"And I still have it on my phone," Aang said. "I think that's where it's going to stay. If we were to post it online, Ozai would probably have us all killed when he comes to revisit the restaurant."
"Yes, let's not make Ozai Nakamura even more mad than Sokka already did," Yue agreed as the episode resumed once again, now moving on with the reveal of the renovations carried out at the restaurant.
Ozai was absolutely milking the whole thing, patting himself on the shoulder for his generosity, but Katara couldn't really hold it against the man. They were all very grateful for the investment Ozai had made, especially in the kitchen. Sure, Sokka still occasionally complained about the new equipment and how it was slowing him down, but on this matter, Katara trusted Suki's opinion more, and Suki claimed that the new equipment was working like a charm. Katara felt that Sokka's criticisms about the rest of the renovations had more merit. It seemed that in some places, Ozai's crew had used very cheap materials and made rushed repairs, so already two months after the renovations, Sokka was forced to now and then take care of some crumbling plaster here and there.
"Don't tell me he's actually going to show himself using dynamite to blow up my poor microwaves," Toph sighed as the proud showcase of the restaurant renovations came to an end. "I can't believe he had a permit to do that."
"I think being a billionaire is the same as having a permit for almost anything," Yus sighed bitterly. "Probably including murder."
"Agreed," Jet nodded. "Anyway, he wouldn't have done it if he thought he couldn't show it. Besides, that whole scene has exactly the kind of big dick energy that Ozai is always trying to project."
"Forget the microwaves, I'm still sad about our poor seal," Katara sighed, watching Ozai laugh gleefully as he placed a stick of dynamite right on top of the poor seal of approval. "I would say that we need to bring the seal back, but I don't want to do it before the revisit. That would just make Chef Ozai really mad."
"Yes! Let's bring back the seal!" Yue exclaimed happily, jumping on the idea as they watched the pyramid made from about a dozen microwaves explode in a shower of bent metal and plastic. Katara had felt so surreal while hiding behind the barrier and shielding herself from the blast, and watching the scene on the TV screen brought that feeling right back.
Katara was then confronted with a very different kind of surreal and also deeply embarrassing feelings, when the show continued with scenes from their sexy bikini car wash ahead of the restaurant relaunch. Katara had figured that Ozai would probably only show a select few scenes from the whole embarrassing event, so she was utterly shocked when the gratuitous display of sexy female bodies barely covered by the skimpy bikinis and dripping with soapy foam and water lasted for almost two minutes, ensuring that by the end of the segment, Katara's face was burning red hot from having watched some very revealing angles of all four of them.
"I swear, Suki, I was only looking at you this whole time," Sokka squeaked unconvincingly after the near-pornographic display finally came to an end.
"Did they just show the bikini car wash?" Toph asked, sounding both amused and intrigued. "I feel like Sokka protests way too much," she continued, having received a quick confirmation from Aang. "That must have been fun watching your little sister shaking her ass for the cameras. Can I get away with an incest joke without getting fired?"
"No!" Katara and Sokka both yelled at once, desperate to silence Toph.
"I thought you looked seriously hot during that shoot, babe," Jet gave her a hungry stare. "Obviously, I only had eyes for you."
"Obviously," Katara snorted.
"Well, I wasn't looking at all. It would have been disrespectful," Aang stated. Katara knew for sure that he had at least taken a few peeks because his entire face was beet red.
"We really should have simply refused to do it," Yue groaned. "What were we thinking?"
"Ah, come on," Suki smiled, squeezing Yue's shoulder supportively. "It wasn't that bad. What's the harm in it, really? Besides, we looked absolutely hot and we pretty much stole the entire episode with this segment."
"That may be true, but Suki, you're going to be stuck in the safety of the kitchen, while I'll be out there, interacting with the customers and getting to hear all their comments. It's going to get very old very quickly," Yue sighed.
"Well, if anyone dares to be a disrespectful jerk to you about it, just tell me and I'll do horrible things to them with my carving knife," Suki promised.
"And I'll help, too," Katara nodded. Having seen scenes from the sexy car wash, Katara felt so embarrassed that she was tempted to stay away from the front of the house for the next couple of months. But hearing Yue's legitimate concerns, Katara immediately realized that she couldn't leave Yue hanging out to dry all by herself. Shared embarrassment would hopefully be embarrassment lessened in this case.
"Is anyone else slightly concerned by how many closeups of Azula's tits and ass there were?" Sokka asked a while later. "It just feels really uncomfortable that Ozai would use his own daughter like that."
"I think you're overreacting," Jet shrugged. "It's not like Ozai is editing this himself."
"Yeah, but he clearly has a say of what goes in and what doesn't, so it's all probably done at his request," Sokka argued.
"I never got a sense that there could be more to it than him just wanting to exploit Azula's looks," Suki said decisively.
"I agree with Suki, and I also think we should not continue this line of conversation. It makes me really uncomfortable," Katara spoke insistently. Yue turned towards Katara, shooting her a quick and grateful smile.
The show soon entered its final stretch to show the immediate benefit of the changes implemented by Ozai Nakamura. The disastrous service of the restaurant relaunch was edited extensively to make it appear smooth and flawless. All of Azula's contributions were cut to instead show that Sokka and Suki were ably coping all by themselves. The same approach was applied to the chaos in the dining room, cutting all the customer complaints about their waiting times. Katara was particularly annoyed by the focus on Kuei Faon and his group, as if pleasing the mayor of Ba Sing Se had been the goal of the entire episode. Perhaps an endorsement from a celebrity was nothing to scoff at, but given that Kuei was an Earth Kingdom elite, Katara wasn't sure how much that endorsement actually mattered. She supposed that presenting the changes to the restaurant as a success story was a positive thing, but the spin with which it was done still left Katara with a sour taste in her mouth.
Of course, Jet's fight with the debt collectors also made it into the final cut of the episode, much to Jet's delight. Katara had to admit that the scripted brawl at least had some comedy value and they all got a good laugh from seeing Jet pushed into the trash cans by his buddies.
"I can't believe that you got to declare victory in a fight after getting shoved into a garbage can," Sokka snorted as they watched Jet picking himself up and then chasing Longshot and Pipsqueak down the back alley after his friends had decided that for some reason, they were suddenly outmatched. Ozai's narration was especially hilarious, making Jet appear like some kind of a hero from bygone age who had just slain a dragon while defending the castle with a beautiful princess.
"It must have been my fierce and intimidating presence," Jet replied smoothly, probably thinking himself incredibly suave.
"Of course," Suki laughed. "There was a banana peel stuck to your pants when you were chasing Pipsqueak and Longshot. Very intimidating."
A few minutes later, the episode finally came to an end with Ozai and Azula parting with the staff and leaving The Northern Lights. Obviously, the scene of Ozai driving over Sokka's foot and causing some painful hairline fractures was also cut because even rich assholes like Ozai Nakamura did not want to open themselves up to a potential lawsuit. The final scenes of the episode saw Ozai's Lexus driving away accompanied by his narration.
Our time at The Northern Lights has come to an end. During the past week, Azula and I did everything we could to overturn the fortunes of this ailing family business, but whether it succeeds or not, will be up to the young sibling owners of the restaurant. If they can keep a lid on their bickering and stop being at each other's throats all the time, they have all the tools needed for success at their disposal. Instead of fighting, Sokka and Katara would do well to listen to their dedicated staff, hard-working and loyal employees like Jeb Patel. I remain hopeful that the owners will use their potential to succeed, but it will be down to Sokka and Katara to wisely put in all the necessary work so that on my return visit, they are met with my… seal of approval. Ozai's narrative briefly cut out as the camera panned over to the smoldering remains of the wooden seal of restaurant's former logo. A fucking seal giving thumbs up? What will these donkeys think of next? And with that, the credits began to roll, signaling the end of the episode.
"Is it over? It sounds like it's over," Toph was the first to speak up. "It seemed like a fun episode with lots going on. Even if I threw up in my mouth a little from all the brownnosing Jet must have done with Chef Ozai."
"You're just jealous, little dumpling," Jet chuckled. "Anyway, I agree that it was a really fun and engaging episode. I'm giving it twenty minutes before it starts trending in a big way on all the social media."
"I guess I'm the only one who didn't enjoy that," Aang sighed. "I get why we needed something like that. And all the renovations will help a lot, I'm sure. Also, Azula had some really good advice for the kitchen. But it was still hard to watch when it was presented in such a way, you know?"
"Yeah, I do know," Suki nodded. "I guess I had a pretty good idea of what to expect, though, so I'm not like… shocked about the way it was presented. Okay, I was a little surprised by the whole sexy bikini car wash, that was not something I expected. But eh, I think the good will outweigh the bad, right? We have to believe that."
"I want to think so as well, Suki," Yue said. "And if it's for the good of the restaurant, then I'm willing to tolerate all the inevitable customer comments about how I should lose my waitress uniform and instead serve them while wearing that bikini from the car wash," Yue added with a sigh.
"Yes, that's not going to be fun," Katara sighed. "It definitely didn't feel good to be presented in such a light. I really feel like hiding for the next month or so."
"Yeah, same here," Sokka groaned. "I'm hunkering down in the kitchen for the next month. I was hoping for some kind of a redemption arc as a cook, but at the end of the episode, I think most viewers will still think that I suck at my job."
"And most viewers will come away thinking that I'm a dumb slut with a massive ego who's also a terrible sister," Katara frowned. "I guess we might not quite reach the infamy of Amy's Baking Company, but that's a small comfort."
"You're really overreacting," Jet said, shaking his head. "There's no bad publicity, remember? Also, guys will just flock to the restaurant now, hoping to meet the sexy owner, the sexy waitress and the sexy sous-chef. Speaking of which, Suki, you should consider making more appearances in the dining room."
"Sure," Suki smirked. "Next you'll suggest that I also get myself a new and sexy chef's jacket. Or maybe a chef's bikini," she added, laughing.
"Of course, Jet would say that," Katara sighed. "Did you know that he actually ordered the Cooking in the Nude book series thinking that it was porn involving food?"
"You promised not to tell that story!" Jet gasped, looking shocked. "Betrayed by my own girlfriend!"
"Whatever, you're such a dork," Katara snorted, even as she was already browsing the social media sites, trying to see if Azula had posted some kind of reaction to the episode. Considering Azula's investment, Katara was absolutely certain that she must have been watching the premiere, although it was also entirely possible that Azula would have been privy to some early screenings.
Katara couldn't spot any activity on Azula's social media, so she decided to try her luck with a quick text. "Did you watch the premiere?" Katara typed quickly. "I'm pretty upset right now."
"Me too," Azula replied faster than ever before. She had clearly been watching the episode as it aired. "I only got a screen time of 9 minutes and 37 seconds in a 45-minute-long episode. I think my father hates me."
Katara stared at her phone display, not sure how to react to that statement. Of course, Azula would have thought of that first and foremost. "I'm sorry to hear that. I thought your scenes were very nice," Katara replied. "I'm upset about how stupid and clueless the show made me appear."
There was a pause in conversation that made Katara wonder if Azula had become distracted by something else, but then she saw the notification that Azula was typing. "I'm sorry. I thought you knew that would happen," was all Azula said.
"I suppose I did, but it still hurt to see," Katara replied.
"The people who matter know you're not stupid, Katara," Azula wrote back. "I only started to get to know you, and I know that you're very smart and hard-working." Katara felt her face becoming very warm as she read Azula's latest text.
"That's very sweet," Katara wrote back. "Thank you for making me feel better." She contemplated adding a heart emoji to her text. In the end, Katara actually went for three hearts. Azula didn't reply for a while, making Katara worry that maybe she'd scared Azula off for some reason. "Anyway, I hope the episode will blow up and you'll get the recognition you deserve," she decided to try and continue the conversation.
"Thank you," Azula replied quickly. "How is the restaurant doing, by the way?" Katara cringed as she read Azula's question. She had been fearing Azula asking about the restaurant. They had gone back to several of their bad habits and Katara knew that Azula would be very angry if she found out. And even if Azula wasn't really someone who was a part of her life, Katara still desperately did not want to lie to her. "Please tell me that you will at least survive until my father revisits in the summer," Azula texted after Katara had failed to come up with an acceptable answer. "If you close the doors before then, I'll come to Caldera and hunt all of you down one by one."
"Are you texting with Azula?" Yue asked, making Katara snap out of her phone conversation.
"Yes, sorry," Katara replied quickly, blushing when she realized that she had completely missed out on the past few minutes of the conversation between her friends.
"What is she saying?" Suki asked, sounding very curious.
"Can I tell you after we're done texting, please?" Katara replied, trying to quickly refocus on Azula's latest text. Azula was threatening to hunt down and kill every one of them. For some reason, Katara felt weirdly into that idea, perhaps only because at least then she'd get to see Azula again. "Is that a promise?" she sent her reply, then mentally slapping herself when she realized that maybe she was being inappropriately flirty and it was scaring off the straight girl Azula.
Katara had to do a double take when a few seconds later, instead of texting, Azula was calling her. "Oops, sorry, I have to take this," Katara quickly jumped up from the sofa and stepped a little to the side, accompanied by the curious stares of her friends.
"Is that Azula?" Yue gasped, giving Katara an excited stare.
"Put her on the speakers," Suki said, looking hopeful. The others were all nodding in approval of that idea, even if Katara herself was not very keen to do that.
"I don't want to scare her off or something, you know how twitchy she can be," Katara explained hastily when all she wanted to do was to answer Azula's call. "I'll tell you everything later," she added, before finally accepting the call. "Hi!" Katara exclaimed in a voice that was several pitches higher than her normal voice. "I mean… hello, Azula, and how are you?" she coughed, having made sure to temper her excitement and get her voice back to normal volume.
"Hey, I'm fine, but never mind that," Azula said. "I am calling because I wanted to make sure you're not mad at me. And also, because I want to know how the restaurant is doing."
"Why would I be mad at you?" Katara asked, surprised.
"Well, you said that you were upset after watching the episode," Azula replied. "I just wanted to remind you that I have no influence over the way these episodes are edited. If my father allowed me to have more input, I would have made sure I had more screen time than this."
"Don't worry, I understand all of that," Katara spoke softly. "It's fine, really. I'm sorry you didn't get more screen time."
"Well, it is what it is," Azula said in a voice that suggested she was more hurt by it than she let on. "Anyway, I want to know all about the restaurant," Azula spoke in a firm and insistent voice, her words making Katara wince. "Please, tell me that you're at least breaking even by now."
"We are definitely a lot closer to breaking even than ever before," Katara said. She wasn't going to lie to Azula, and this wasn't technically a lie. "We had a couple of weeks where we were only like two or three hundred short of breaking even. That's not bad, right?"
"Well, it's not good, either," Azula sighed. "I'm concerned. Please, at least tell me that you've kept all the changes."
"Oh yes, we certainly have," Katara said, again speaking the truth. "All the dishes you put on the menu are still there, and everyone loves them."
"And how many items from the old menu have you added back by this point?" Azula asked pointedly. "Katara?" she asked again when Katara struggled to figure out how to answer in order to lessen Azula's ire.
"Oh, damn," Yue groaned, looking up at her from the sofa. "I would love nothing more than for Azula to call me, but if she's just going to chew me out about the restaurant stuff… suddenly I'm relieved that she called Kat."
"Remember, you don't have to tell her anything," Jet spoke up, frowning. "We don't owe her or Ozai any favors."
"I hate to say it, but Jet is right," Sokka shrugged. "They helped us, sure, but what we do with their help is for us to decide."
"We have added a few items back to the menu, yes," Katara reluctantly admitted.
"They always do," Azula sighed. "How many?"
"I honestly don't know, Azula. I don't really handle the menu," Katara cringed. It was technically the truth, but she knew that the number of dishes they had added back to the menu was between twenty and thirty. The absolute majority of these additions were done at Sokka and Jet's insistence, but Katara had also added quite a few, after hearing the complaints of some of the customers when they could no longer find their favorite meal on the new menu. Katara's soft heart had caved after Auntie Ashuna had cried about no longer being able to order cod poached in milk, and she had promised to call Kanna in Cape Kuruk to complain about this injustice. Katara and Sokka had both been terrified about this threat and they had instantly put all of Auntie Ashuna's favorite meals back on the menu.
"I see," Azula spoke curtly, sounding displeased. "Is Toph still at the restaurant, and what is she doing these days?"
"She's… okay, fine, she's microwaving some of the stuff," Katara sighed. "But we only have a few microwaves now. And we're microwaving far less stuff, I promise."
"Of course, you're microwaving stuff," Azula snorted. "It wouldn't be possible to handle an expanded menu if you weren't microwaving some of the dishes. Why are you doing this to yourself, Katara?"
"I… I don't know," Katara admitted. "No, actually I do know. The first couple of weeks after you left were rough, but we wrote it off to Suki and Sokka getting used to the new menu and equipment. But then they got into the gear and everything was running at what I would call peak efficiency. And yet, we were still a couple of hundred short from break-even point even during the weeks that felt really good and busy."
"I see. You thought that this was as good as it gets, but because it wasn't good enough, you panicked and started to make changes, but all you did was to dig yourself deeper in the shit," Azula remarked. Katara thought that Azula's voice sounded a little odd. It was like all the annoyance had gone out of it, and instead she sounded guilty for some reason. "Of course… I should have known that this would happen," Azula added, now sounding deeply regretful.
"What do you think we should do?" Katara asked desperately. She hated disappointing Azula, but at the same time, she was confused about the way Azula was reacting to the news.
"You should try to limit your losses as much as you can and try to survive until the summer when my father comes for a revisit," Azula replied.
"Okay… and what do you think will happen during the revisit?" Katara asked, her confusion only growing. "Your father will have some kind of amazing suggestion that will magically fix everything?"
"What? Yes… yes, I think that help is on its way," Azula replied, sounding rather evasive. "You just need to hold out a few more months, okay? Please, promise me that you'll try to survive for as long as you can. And don't even think about deceiving me. Remember, I can always send my spy into the restaurant to dig up the truth. Kiyi will happily accept being my eyes and ears."
"You don't have to ask her that, I'm giving it to you straight, Azula. And obviously, we're doing everything we can to hold on," Katara replied nervously. Azula was acting very strangely and Katara couldn't explain it.
"If I find out that you are moving even further away from all the changes we made, I'm going to show up to personally kick your ass, and trust me, you don't want that," Azula said.
"Actually, I kind of do want that," Katara blurted out before her brain could cut in and stop her treacherous tongue. "Azula, I-" she continued quietly when Azula fell silent on the other end of the line.
"I, uh… I need to go," Azula finally spoke up. "Good luck, Katara. With everything." Then she disconnected the call, leaving Katara standing there, seriously rattled by the entire conversation.
"What did she say?" Yue asked, looking up at Katara with her eyes wide with excitement. "What did she say, what did she say?" she repeated demandingly while Katara was stuck processing the slightly confusing call.
"Yes, Katara, what did your girlfriend say?" Sokka asked teasingly, obviously doing his best to annoy Jet. Jet's response was to chuck a cigarette butt at Katara's brother, hitting him on the chin.
"Well, that was weird," Katara said. "Maybe together we can make sense of this. After I admitted that we have gone back to some of our old ways-"
"Because we're a bunch of idiots," Suki commented, looking pissed. Katara could tell that things between Suki and her brother had become much tenser. Suki had been absolutely livid about moving away from Azula's changes to the menu and she loathed the idea of them microwaving stuff. It had been the source of constant conflicts between her and Sokka, and things seemed to be getting worse and worse. On a few occasions, Katara had noticed that her old bed in the upstairs hangout space was unmade, suggesting that Suki and Sokka had taken to sleeping in separate beds following one of their shouting matches.
"We very well might be, and I expected Azula to really chew me out after I told her that," Katara said. "And she started to chew me out, but then, for some reason she completely changed her tune. By the end, she was sounding kind of… guilty and a bit depressed? I don't know, maybe she had something else going on at the same time," Katara shrugged helplessly.
"That sounds weird," Toph said, scratching her head. She didn't seem too bothered by the whole thing, though. For Toph, both Azula and Ozai probably sounded like bad news, because they both were threats to her microwaving business.
"Azula is a perfectionist, right?" Aang remarked. "Maybe she thinks that she didn't do enough to help us succeed, and maybe that's why she feels guilty?"
"You might be onto something," Yue said. "But I don't think Azula should feel guilty for our continued failure. She did so much for us. I should let her know how grateful we are, and that this isn't her fault at all." Yue pulled out her phone and began typing.
"Oh, and there was another weird moment," Katara said, snapping her fingers as she returned to sit next to Jet. "For some reason, Azula made it sound like it was absolutely crucial that we hold on until Ozai comes for a revisit."
"When does Ozai plan to be here?" Jet asked.
"Sometime during the summer," Katara replied. "I don't know, if we somehow manage to limit our losses, maybe we can make it, but it's going to be rough."
"Maybe you're reading too much into it, sis," Sokka shrugged. "We all know that some of you are a bit too overfocused on Azula, not that I'm one to name and shame," Sokka rolled his eyes as he glanced at Suki. "Jet, remember how you claimed that their obsession was only going to last for a couple of weeks? That egg on your face must feel really uncomfortable by now." Jet muttered something under his breath, looking for another cigarette butt to chuck at Sokka.
"No, I disagree, I think something weird is going on with Azula," Yue said insistently. It looked like Azula was not responding to her texts, but then again, that wasn't unusual for Azula. "I can just feel it."
"If Azula keeps mum about what's going on, maybe you can use Kiyi to learn more?" Suki suggested.
"That seems fair, because Azula mentioned using Kiyi to find out what's going on at the restaurant," Katara smiled.
"I don't want to use Kiyi, I don't like how it sounds," Yue frowned. "I can ask for her help in finding out more, though. We're as good as friends by now. I'm sure she won't refuse. If anything, she'll be excited to help. She low-key worships her big sister."
"That sounds good," Katara nodded at her friend. "And I agree with you, Yue, I also think something weird is going on. I have the same feeling as when reading a book and knowing that there's a twist coming, but not knowing what it might be, or whether it's going to be for better or worse…"