Chapter 14 – sokka's new technique
Selfishly, Yue greatly enjoyed some of the perks that came in the wake of Katara's breakup with Jet. Obviously, Yue hated to see her best friend and ex-girlfriend devastated in the immediate aftermath, but a couple of days later, Katara was already in a much better mood. After dropping Kya off at the kindergarten, Yue often came to the restaurant early and spent time hanging out with Sokka and Suki, sometimes waking the pair up with mugs of freshly made coffee. Now that Katara had moved in with Sokka and Suki, Yue loved the opportunity of being able to sit down with her two best friends, enjoy a cup of coffee and just spend a while gossiping before the start of another busy day at the restaurant.
The previous day had been Yue's best in a long while, even if it was hard to think of it that way when Katara was still down in the dumps. Still, Katara inviting her along on her shopping spree with Azula's credit card had been amazing for Yue. For the past two years, Yue had done all the clothes shopping for herself and Kya exclusively at thrift stores, so being able to buy things at a proper shop was mind-blowing. It almost took Yue back to her high school days, before she had launched her rebellion and her father had cut her off financially. Yue had made some wonderful additions to her and Kya's wardrobes, and most importantly, she had bought herself two new pairs of shoes, something she was in dire need of. At the end of the day, Yue's heart was melting at the generosity of both Azula and Katara. This help had come at a time when she had already made an OnlyFans account, but before she had actually uploaded any sort of embarrassing content that she really didn't want to create.
Together with Katara, they had bought a lot of stuff not just for themselves, but also for Suki, Sokka, Aang and Toph. Yue's car was absolutely bursting at the seams by the end of their shopping trip, and everyone at the restaurant was delighted to receive unexpected but welcome surprise gifts. It struck Yue as quite remarkable how Katara knew not only everyone's exact measurements, but also what clothes everyone wanted and needed. Then again, it seemed like that was the kind of thing that Katara somehow would know. As far as Yue was convinced, there was nobody better and more practical at buying clothes for her friends than her beloved bestie.
After they returned to the restaurant with all of their purchases, Azula had looked very uncomfortable at all the gratitude she received, and she had fled very early during the evening. Still, Yue couldn't help but find Azula's social awkwardness incredibly cute and endearing. Azula's reign at the restaurant had gotten off to a very rocky start on that disastrous first day, but now, a couple of days later, there was a much happier vibe surrounding the place, which was more in line with what Yue had expected from Azula's arrival.
"Let's see that text again," Yue was yanked out of her daydreaming by Suki's voice as she leaned closer to Katara to take a better look at her phone.
"Yes, I can't stop staring at it," Katara laughed, scrolling the text messages on her phone. "I'm going to take a screenshot, print it out and ask Sokka to make a frame so I can put it on my office wall."
"That would be amazing, you need to do this," Yue agreed emphatically. During the shopping trip yesterday, Katara was constantly agonizing whether they were spending too much of Azula's money, so she had sent more than twenty texts to Azula, asking if it was okay to buy this thing or that. Azula had eventually become annoyed with Katara's behavior and she had sent Katara the best text ever, an enraged exclamation of 'SHUT UP AND SPEND MY MONEY BITCH' followed by a string of angry emojis such as 😡😡😡 😖😖😖👿👿👿🔪🔪🔪. Azula had then proceeded to block Katara's number, but of course she had unblocked her a few hours later.
"I nearly died when I saw that text," Suki laughed heartily. "Especially when Azula later confessed that it was the first time she had ever used emojis in a text message."
"How does it feel to be the one to take Azula's emoji virginity?" Yue asked, waggling her eyebrows at Katara.
"That sounds way dirtier than it has any right to sound," Katara blushed. "I love it."
"And I love this dress on you, girl," Suki winked at Katara. "Come on, strut your stuff for us, babe." Katara got up to her feet and spun around a few times, letting them take a good look at her new dress that was a good couple of inches shorter than what Katara usually wore. It also fanned out slightly, so when Katara did her spins, it rose up just enough to give them a brief glimpse at her panties.
"That's hot," Yue laughed, instantly feeling a little warmer and not just from the coffee. By now, her romance with Katara felt like ancient history, but moments like these made it impossible to forget just how beautiful Katara was. "So, since Azula bought almost everything you're wearing right now, does that make her your sugar mommy?" Yue grinned.
"I think it totally does," Suki nodded in agreement.
"Maybe," Katara winked, sitting back down with them. "But since she paid for all of our stuff, I think that makes her our sugar mommy."
"I can live with that," Suki chuckled.
"By the way, Suki, how did our gift work out?" Katara asked, giving Suki a meaningful stare.
"Why do you think that I had the opportunity to try it out?" Suki asked, blushing and looking evasive. Katara and Yue had bought cute and sexy lingerie for Suki, together with some other gifts. It had never even occurred to Yue that maybe it was weird for Sokka's ex-girlfriend and Sokka's sister to buy sexy lingerie for Sokka's current girlfriend, but by now they were so close that it just felt like a natural thing to do. Both Yue and Katara were rooting for Suki and Sokka to pull through their relationship crisis, and they were both always looking for ways to help. It was the main reason why Katara felt bad about moving in with the couple, because she was afraid that her being there would make things weird or harder for Suki and Sokka.
"Because I noticed you sneaking out in the middle of the night, and you were gone way longer than if you had just gone for a pee," Katara replied. "Also, there were sounds and I discovered that the earplugs just weren't doing the job. I had to spend the next half an hour blasting Olivia Rodrigo at almost full volume."
"Sorry," Suki muttered, red-faced. "But uh, yeah, I think your gift was warmly appreciated," she confessed.
"That's great to hear," Katara looked very happy, with Yue nodding excitedly. "I hope it means that you also agreed to remove the permission to see other people."
"Well… no, not as such," Suki admitted uncomfortably. Yue could tell that it was because Suki knew how much Yue and Katara wanted her and Sokka to work out, and she felt bad about disappointing them. However, Yue thought that it was telling how Suki was still sharing the twin bed with Katara instead of sleeping there with Sokka and letting Katara have the sofa. It was good that Sokka and Suki were still having sex, but it was clear that things weren't completely back to where they had been before.
"Why not?" Katara pressed.
"I don't know," Suki shrugged. "I think we're both in a sort of waiting mode to see how everything works out at the restaurant." Yue realized that Suki was referring to the uncertainty of the kitchen situation. Suki clearly thought that she could do a better job leading the kitchen and she was way too opinionated to keep her thoughts to herself. Sokka obviously disagreed with his girlfriend's opinion and at times appeared very irked by her growing ambitions. The fact that Azula had dropped some hints that she believed in Suki more than she believed in Sokka was sure to stir up even more tensions going forward. It seemed that no matter how hard they tried to keep Suki and Sokka together, their relationship was headed for a real trial by fire.
"Surely you must have had a real good time if Sokka is still sleeping at this hour," Yue pointed out, grinning at the snoring coming from the adjacent room where Sokka was still happily sawing logs.
"Obviously. I mean, you know that Sokka lays solid pipe," Suki winked at Yue. Katara groaned at the lewd expression, face palming. "Breaking up would suck, but… I can't allow him to hold me back forever, you know? The frustration would poison the relationship, anyway."
"That's true," Katara admitted, nodding in understanding. "Smart of you to realize that, Suki. I still hope that things will work out, though. Maybe Azula will think of a solution. She's so clever."
"She is," Yue smiled. "And speaking of Azula," she continued, licking her lips. "Let's assume the hypothetical that she might be bi. Suki, I guess you could theoretically go after her, right?"
"That's one heck of a hypothetical," Suki laughed. "But sure, if… and that's a massive if, Azula was not completely straight, I'd definitely go after her."
"Well, you know, sometimes I just have to wonder how straight she really is," Yue said thoughtfully. She didn't want to hype herself up too much for something that was unlikely to be true, though. Such thoughts could only lead to disappointment. "But if she wasn't straight… girl, you would face fierce competition from yours truly," she grinned, tossing her hair.
"Oh, interesting," Suki's eyebrows rose. "You know I always welcome competition, Yue. And there would be nobody more worthy to battle for Azula's affections than you."
"Umm," Katara spoke up, raising a tentative hand.
"Damn, I forgot all about you, Kat, that's totally my bad," Suki hastily apologized. "Yeah, I didn't think you would be sitting around moping about the breakup."
"Nope, I want to move on and forget all about Jet as quickly as possible," Katara nodded firmly. "I want to explore what's available out there and I want to hook up. And even if I don't think Azula is available, it's nice to think about it," she added dreamily before shaking her head. "Damn, I keep forgetting that I'm supposed to still be a little bit mad at her," Katara sighed. "Not so much about her withholding the truth anymore, I'm quickly getting over it. I'm just frustrated by how she allows her father to control so many aspects of her life even though she's an adult. It feels so wrong."
"It just feels so wrong because Hakoda is such a wonderful parent, Kat. Azula's situation doesn't feel that unusual to me," Yue sighed. Arnook Taqqiq was nowhere near as understanding of Yue's wild college years as Hakoda had been of Katara's. Yue refusing to honor her arranged marriage with Hahn Adjuk and becoming pregnant and deciding to keep her child with Sokka – a decision she had never regretted no matter how tough the times got – had been the final straw for her father. He had completely cut her off from all financial support and he had made sure to let Yue know that for all practical purposes she was as good as dead to him.
"I suppose we all have very different experiences with our parents," Suki said. "I know foster parents aren't exactly the same, but I faced wildly different attitudes during my time in the system. We don't know what Ozai Nakamura did to his children while they were growing up. We know nothing of the ways in which he broke them to make them so compliant. But I am not going to blame Azula for the way she acts towards her father, because I know how hard it is to break such a learned behavior."
Katara and Yue exchanged slightly guilty stares. "I did not blame her as such," Katara said, slightly defensively. "I was just frustrated because I hate that she's not thinking for herself when it comes to her father."
"Agreed," Yue nodded. "Anyway, all this talk just made me want to give Azula the biggest hug yet when she shows up later." Suki and Katara broke out in grins at that, nodding in approval.
For the next few days of her stay at The Northern Lights, Azula focused her attention on auditing the kitchen staff. It wasn't just that she herself felt most comfortable fixing the issues there. The kitchen was the beating heart of any restaurant, and this particular one was sputtering and not performing to the level that was necessary for the restaurant to succeed. It was important to address the problems in the kitchen first before Azula moved on to the other parts of the restaurant.
Azula very much enjoyed this part of her job. Azula's well-trained eye allowed her to quickly spot the issues and she relished the process of eliminating them one by one. Azula had already started to make some small changes to the menu, but since she did not want to confuse the staff too much, she kept the adjustments very light at first. She kicked a couple of entrees off from the menu, but many more would have to be removed over the coming weeks. Still, removing the items gradually allowed Azula to see what was selling and what wasn't, so that she could make informed decisions.
Azula had also further reduced the amount of food that was being microwaved. She had no issues with Toph reheating soups in the microwave, and there were a number of menu items that didn't suffer as much from microwaving, so Azula was willing to let Toph continue in her role, at least for now. But there were several items on the menu that Azula immediately demanded to be either taken off the microwaving roster or removed from the menu altogether. Lasagna needed to be finished in the oven and fish cakes in the cast iron pan, the panko crusted camembert had to be deep fried to order instead of being limply reheated, but most importantly, it was the greatest crime of all to microwave a risotto. Risotto was a tricky dish because its consistency had to be watched at all times, and the rice could not be allowed to become mushy. Microwaving obliterated the rice into mushy paste and made the whole dish look and taste like wallpaper glue.
As expected, Sokka had decided to keep all of these items on the menu, which certainly increased the load on the kitchen staff. However, having to microwave less freed up Toph, and she was moved from the basement to her own brand-new station upstairs. Azula was glad to hear the plan that Sokka, Aang and Toph presented together, which was to turn Toph into a full-time prep cook. This would have been one of Azula's suggestions for Toph, and she was pleased to once again see Sokka arriving at the same idea independently of her.
While Toph still appeared a little nervous, over the past few days, Sokka and Aang had worked hard to set up this new workstation for their friend. They had come up with several creative assistive technologies to help Toph work and make her workspace as safe as possible. Azula was impressed with how they seemed to have thought of almost everything, starting from how the workplace was organized so that everything was within Toph's reach. The boys had also modified some of the kitchen equipment to make it safer for Toph. Finally, they had also acquired a food scale, thermometers and other implements that gave oral readings. With everything in place, Aang was already busy showing Toph the ropes of what it meant to be a prep cook.
Most of Azula's free time between the lunch and dinner services was dedicated to further training Suki and Sokka. Aang and Toph were doing their own prep cook thing at same time and Katara and Yue also liked to hang around the kitchen because they were curious, wanted to remain updated on any menu changes and had ideas of their own they were eager to share. With so many people in the small kitchen, it felt very crowded, but at the same time, it created this feeling of a small and tightly knit unit working towards a common purpose. Azula had done teambuilding exercises in many of her father's restaurants, but this felt very different because now she herself was a part of the team. Azula found that she rather enjoyed this new and strange feeling of being a part of something greater than just herself and her own ambitions.
When it came to the training of the two chefs, Azula wasn't at all surprised that Suki needed very little instruction. Suki had all the training she needed to handle the current menu. Of course, it didn't mean that Azula had nothing new to share with Suki, there was always the occasional tip or trick that Suki didn't know, but that was it. If they were to at some point decide to become a fine dining restaurant, then Suki would certainly need additional training on some of the advanced cooking techniques, and Azula would be happy to provide this training, but for now, Suki could be trusted to handle the current menu with ease. In many ways, Suki was the least problematic employee of The Northern Lights. Suki's issue was the growing frustration from being denied the head chef promotion that she so richly deserved, and Azula knew that it would be a difficult issue to tackle.
Unfortunately, Sokka as the current head chef of the restaurant was a problem that was creating a major headache for Azula. Lack of any sort of culinary education, delusional belief that he knew anything about food and stubborn conviction that only he could save the family restaurant was a dangerous combination that Azula didn't know how to tackle. What she did know was that as soon as she began to ask pointed questions that required sometimes very basic culinary knowledge, Sokka flipped and flopped and often couldn't provide an answer that made any sense. And the worst part about working with Sokka was that he often stubbornly tried to argue even when it was clear that he was speaking out of ignorance.
Still, Azula realized that convincing Sokka to step down from the head chef's position would be difficult and since she was not eager for more drama during her first week at the restaurant, Azula decided to make an earnest effort to see if she could help Sokka become a passable head chef. The first step on this path was to show Sokka how to correctly use the various kitchen implements at his disposal, because the frightening gaps in his culinary education were just that severe.
Azula had already noticed during her first visit that Suki knew how to use the Microplane grater correctly while making orange or lemon zest, or when grating ginger. Sokka, on the other hand, used the grater like some dingus on TikTok, putting the ginger on top of the tool instead of the other way around. This often resulted in accidents that Suki laughingly described as Sokka 'making pink ginger' when he inevitably ended up grating his fingertips. Unfortunately, Suki's advice together with these painful lessons hadn't convinced Sokka that he was doing something wrong, and it took Azula adding her own voice to Sokka finally deciding to use the grater correctly and immediately admitting that it was probably the right way to use the tool because now he could actually see what he was doing.
Next, Azula had to teach Sokka a lesson about knives, something that was considered the absolute basics at any cooking school. While Suki correctly used the five basic knives in any chef's arsenal, Sokka stubbornly stuck to his father's favorite chef's knife, and he was using it for everything. While it was true that a solid chef's knife was the best choice most of the time, the problem was that Sokka wasn't even using his chef's knife well because his technique was appalling.
Together with Suki, Azula had just spent an hour illustrating how much easier it was to slice a roast or butterfly a chicken breast while using a slicer instead of a chef's knife, as well as showing the various uses of serrated, boning and paring knives. At the end of her lecture, when Sokka finally stopped arguing, Azula felt like they had made a breakthrough. As all this new knowledge was still sinking in, Azula then proceeded to show Sokka the proper technique when using a chef's knife, something that Suki hadn't been able to teach her boyfriend. It was truly sad to watch how Suki managed to do most of the prep because her knife technique was just that much better than Sokka's.
"Alright, I think you have figured out how to properly hold the chef's knife," Azula said, sighing inwardly. It had taken way too long to teach Sokka the correct way to hold the knife. For some reason, he had gotten into the habit of holding it in such a tight grip as if he was about to stab someone to death. Certainly, a knife needed to be held firmly, but it was also important to keep your grip as relaxed as possible. Twenty minutes later, Sokka was finally holding the chef's knife somewhat acceptably. "Everyone, let's hear a round of applause for Sokka," Azula sarcastically told their audience, with the spectators giving Sokka some unironic clapping.
"Awesome," Sokka grinned. "Now, can you teach me that cutting technique that Suki uses? I want to go wild on these carrots and celery the way she does. She tried to teach me, but it just didn't stick."
"Not for the luck of trying on my part," Suki rolled her eyes.
"Well, I'll give it a try, anyway," Azula sighed. "At least you're holding the knife correctly by now. Sort of. But enough about that," she said, picking up her own chef's knife. "Okay, so you hold your chef's knife like that and then you hold your other hand like this. What does it look like?"
"It looks like your hand," Sokka remarked logically.
"Ugh, I know it's my hand, you dumbo," Azula groaned. "Look at the shape of my hand and the way I'm holding it. What does it remind you of?"
"Looks vaguely claw-shaped to me," Sokka said.
"Yes, thank you, very good," Azula allowed herself a small smile. "That's why the technique is called The Claw. Let me show you first without actually cutting anything. So, you hold your hand claw-shaped like that and you place the chef's knife here, firmly against the first knuckle of your index finger, just like that. Okay, yes, that's correct," she said, seeing that Sokka had managed to correctly replicate the way she was holding the knife against her finger. "Now just imitate a cutting motion as you move the claw gently backwards and follow it closely with the knife… yes, just like that," Azula continued to explain.
"This doesn't seem so hard," Sokka commented after managing to demonstrate an almost passable technique that made Azula feel like there just might be hope for him. "How about I try to slice something?" Sokka asked, sounding very eager.
"Not before I have demonstrated how to actually do it," Azula smirked, picking up a celery stalk. She pressed it down against the cutting board with her middle finger, forming the claw, and brought the chef's knife against the first knuckle of her finger with practiced ease. "There, this is the correct setup, and now you just start cutting and move the claw back ever so gently. And remember what I told you about the chef's nice, no pressing down on it, just gentle forward motion, got it? Just watch me," Azula said, slowly slicing the celery stalk in perfectly identical pieces.
"Very nice," Sokka remarked. "But you were really slow, not at all like Suki."
"Yes, because I wanted you to be able to see what I'm doing, dingus," Azula groaned. She grabbed another celery stalk and cut it finely at such a speed that her hands seemed to become a blur and the entire process took maybe three seconds at best.
"Whoa, that was amazing!" Aang exclaimed, sounding very impressed. Katara and Yue immediately started to applaud her, the others quickly joining in. Azula found herself blushing as she thoroughly savored the praise.
"Very nice," Sokka nodded. "Can I try it now, please?" he asked with a very puppy-like excitement.
"Sure, but don't go for speed right away," Azula warned him. "Get a grip on the technique first before you go for more, do you understand me?" Sokka frowned, but still nodded obediently. "Alright, go for it," Azula gave the permission. Sokka proceeded to cut another celery stalk into not particularly even pieces and not especially quickly, but it was still a rather admirable first try. "That's not bad at all," Azula admitted, feeling mildly impressed, especially because Sokka had already placed his own personal bar on the ocean floor. "Alright, keep it up. The only way to perfect your technique is to practice. And we have plenty of celery and carrots that need cutting, so have at it, tiger." Sokka made a comical little roar as he launched himself into the task with great enthusiasm. Azula observed him for a while, just to make sure he wasn't about to slice off his fingers, but Sokka's technique actually looked pretty solid, so Azula eventually relaxed, feeling like she didn't have to constantly monitor this would-be head chef.
"So, any more changes to the menu, Azula?" Katara asked, having noticed that Azula had relaxed and was no longer obsessively watching Sokka.
"Not today," Azula replied. "I decided against ruffling any more feathers since Sokka here is still salty about me removing the lobster roll."
"I'm not salty!" Sokka retorted, sounding very salty.
"I guess Azula was never going to tolerate your horrible canned lobster, Sokka," Toph pointed out.
"Let's not distract Sokka from his work or he'll end up chopping off his fingers," Azula warned. "Anyway, the only reason why I removed the lobster roll is because you were advertising it as made with fresh lobster, and I will have no false advertising around here. If any food critic or blogger noticed it, our reputation would be forever tainted."
"Wait, are you saying that if we advertised it as a canned lobster roll on the menu, you'd be happy to leave it on?" Suki laughed.
"No, because nobody would order that, obviously," Azula rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I know that my father would disapprove of me saying something like this on the show, but there's actually nothing wrong with using canned crab or lobster meat, as long as you don't falsely advertise it as fresh. Some brands offer very high-quality product, and there are various tricks to further improve it. And you don't really need fresh lobster to make a salad, a bisque or a gumbo. It's actually rather wasteful to use fresh lobster in those dishes. Tinned meat will do just fine."
"That's very interesting," Suki remarked, looking intrigued. "I'm getting a lot of ideas over here."
"That's good," Azula nodded. "Just because I'm more focused on kicking items off the menu, it doesn't mean that I'm not receptive to adding dishes that make sense. Not everything that you have added on top of my menu is bad, after all. I know you were concerned that I didn't put a single chicken dish on the menu, so your idea to add crispy chicken tenders as a starter was a very good one."
"Yes, it's by far the most popular starter," Yue said. "And a lot of people want it as their main."
"That's telling," Azula mused. "Feel free to come up with ideas for a proper chicken entrée, then. Anyway, Sokka, how are you doing over there?" she asked.
"I'm doing really well!" Sokka replied. His hands were moving very quickly as he seemed to have already mastered this new technique, slicing the crap out of a bunch of carrots like a true pro. "This is so much fun… and so easy! I can't believe it took me so long to learn this! Even a child could do this!"
"There, there," Azula spoke in a comforting voice, her arm wrapped around Katara shoulders as they watched the ambulance take off and disappear down the street. "I spoke with the paramedics and they told me that there's a good chance that Sokka will have full mobility in his finger once it has been reattached." For some reason, the words that had meant to comfort Katara only made her cry even harder.
"Poor Sokka," Katara sobbed. "All he wanted was to impress us, and especially you."
"Well, he succeeded at impressing me, that's for sure," Azula sighed. She had seen plenty of disturbing workplace accidents over the course of her still relatively short career, many of them much worse than Sokka almost slicing off a good chunk of his finger. Still, she wasn't going to forget this incident in a hurry. There had been a lot of blood all over the kitchen, as well as plenty of panic and fainting before the paramedics finally showed up to take Sokka to the emergency room.
"I should have gone with him," Katara repeated numbly something she had already said several times before.
"Katara, it's nothing life threatening. Sokka is going to be perfectly fine in a few days. Well, his finger will need a little bit longer to heal, but the point is that he'll be back and as good as new," Azula sighed, patiently explaining the same thing over and over again. "And there just wasn't enough room for both you and Suki in the ambulance, you saw that."
"I… I suppose," Katara managed before a fresh flood of tears streamed down her cheeks.
"Can we go back inside, please?" Azula asked. They were still standing outside the restaurant minutes after the ambulance had departed, and Katara's hysterics were starting to attract attention from the passersby.
"Alright," Katara muttered, allowing Azula to lead her back inside the empty restaurant. Someone, probably Aang, had quickly hung up a 'closed' sign, which was why the dining hall currently stood empty. Once back inside, however, Katara's tears still wouldn't subside. Azula started to become frustrated when her attempts to calm Katara down weren't working and she was running out of ideas of what to try. Azula was wondering if perhaps Katara needed a harsher treatment to snap her out of this state, but she didn't quite dare to be rough with Katara, or Agni forbid, slap or shake her. Instead, something else occurred to Azula that she felt was worth trying out.
"Let's go upstairs, okay?" Azula suggested, pushing Katara towards the stairs. They walked past the kitchen where Aang was still busy mopping up all the blood before disinfecting every possible surface. Toph had probably stayed with Aang. Unable to see what was happening, Toph had found the commotion more amusing than anything else, wondering why everyone was making such a fuss about Sokka slightly nicking himself with the chef's knife. Azula suspected that Toph still found the situation a little funny even after Azula had explained to her that a part of Sokka's finger was attached to the stump only by a few bits of skin.
Katara allowed Azula to lead herself upstairs and they sat down on one of the sofas. Katara was still sniffling a little as Azula retrieved her purse and began to rummage through its contents. "I have an idea how to help you relax and stop stressing," Azula said, an idea suddenly occurring to her. "But maybe it's not something we should do inside. Do you think we could go up to the roof?"
"Sure," Katara replied, giving Azula a curious stare and finally forgetting that she was supposed to be crying. "Also, we haven't shown you the roof, have we?" she asked. Azula shook her head. "Oh, then you really need to see it. The view is very pretty even if we're in the middle of a big city."
"Alright, let's go then," Azula smiled, letting Katara take charge.
"Hey, guys? What are you up to?" they were interrupted by a soft voice nearby. Azula and Katara both turned to see Yue addressing them. Earlier, Yue had fainted at the sight of all the blood pouring from Sokka's severed finger. Apparently, she was one of those people who could not tolerate the sight of blood. Still, even if Azula herself had high tolerance, and even fascination with blood, gore and violence, she didn't think badly of anyone who didn't share her obsession. In fact, Yue being such a softie felt both fitting and endearing to Azula. In any case, after Yue had fainted, Aang had quickly fetched the smelling salts to help her regain consciousness and then Aang had helped her upstairs to lay down for a brief spell. Azula assumed that Yue had probably fallen asleep, but here she was, still a little pale in the face, but otherwise recovered.
"Are you alright?" Katara asked, sounding concerned. Yue nodded, managing a brave smile. "We were going to climb up to the roof for a bit. Azula said she has something to help me take my mind off from worrying about Sokka."
"You're welcome to join us," Azula said quickly, noticing that Yue immediately looked very curious. "I imagine that what I have in mind will help you just as much as it should help Katara."
"How mysterious," Yue grinned. "Alright, let's hit the roof then."
Azula found herself unexpectedly impressed by the rooftop terrace. The open side of the terrace faced the large park in front of the restaurant, and taking in the view, Azula almost forgot that they were still in the middle of a busy and chaotic urban sprawl. If not for the intrusive sounds of a large metropolis with busy traffic, the rooftop would have made for a remarkable font of tranquility. All in all, Katara definitely had not overhyped the place when promising a pretty view.
"You have a better view up here than I have from the window of my rent apartment," Azula remarked.
"It really is something, isn't it?" Yue smiled. "Wait, are those gears turning and trying to find a business opportunity here?" she asked, gently tapping Azula on the side of her head. "I don't think Sokka and Katara would be interested." Katara quickly shook her head at that.
"No, for once I wasn't thinking about that," Azula said. "Anyway, I think we should sit down," she suggested.
"Sure," Katara nodded, looking around. "We need to do some tidying up, though. We're not really using the rooftop during the winter, and I think we might be the first ones to come up here this spring." Katara then proceeded to open a parasol over one of the tables. Since it was the Fire Nation, even the early April sun had a bit of a bite. Yue quickly wiped the table down, while Azula pitched in by doing the same with the chairs and soon enough they were sat down, with Katara and Yue giving Azula stares full of anticipation.
"Okay, so… here's what I had in mind when thinking about having a chill and relaxed evening," Azula said, retrieving certain items from her purse.
"Wait, is that… a joint?" Katara's eyes widened comically.
"I did not expect that," Yue gasped, looking shocked.
"Let me guess, you've never partaken?" Azula asked. She was aware that Katara and Yue were both very proper and appeared to be stereotypical good girls at the first glance, but in Azula's experience, most good girls still enjoyed weed, they just acted morally uptight about it.
"I mean… I have, obviously," Katara rolled her eyes. "I was dating Jet, duh. Don't tell me you couldn't identify the smell of weed that was constantly surrounding him like a thick cloud. I'm a much more casual enjoyer than Jet was, certainly, but I'm not exactly a novice."
"It's been a couple of months for me," Yue shrugged. "Jet sometimes liked to share and we would occasionally have a smoke session to celebrate the end of a work week. I used to be a really heavy smoker back in the college, though, when I was trying to do everything that my father would disapprove of. But when I realized that Kya was on her way… well, let's just say, my days as an active smoker are behind me."
"Oh, good, I was afraid I would be dealing with complete novices," Azula let out a relieved sigh. "From your reaction I assumed you had no experience with weed."
"I think we were shocked because we didn't expect you to carry around pre-wrapped joints?" Katara replied.
"Yes, I wouldn't have guessed that you smoked weed, Azula," Yue chuckled. "I have heard that your father's restaurants have very strict rules for drug use and they test employees all the time."
"They do, but I'm exempt from testing," Azula smirked. "There are some perks to being Ozai Nakamura's daughter. Anyway, I don't see why you would be so shocked. I want to relax and have a nice, chill time the same as anyone else. And just to be clear, I would never smoke during or before a work shift, only after. That's one rule I will always obey and insist the others obey as well."
"Makes sense to me," Katara replied. Yue also nodded in agreement. "Anyway, are you going to light up or not?" Katara asked.
"Alright, let's do it," Azula nodded, picking up her lighter. She tried really hard to appear effortlessly cool as she took a big hit, but the couple of weeks of not smoking had left a mark and despite her best efforts, Azula still broke out in a less than graceful coughing fit.
"Very suave," Katara winked at her as she took the joint from Azula. Katara took a slightly more conservative hit and almost managed to avoid coughing, but she still lost it a little bit towards the very end.
"Oh, I'll have to cough so hard," Yue cringed as she accepted the joint from Katara. She took a hit that appeared similar to Katara, but true to her own word, she had to cough way more than her Water Tribe friend. "Oh, I hate that…" Yue winced, her eyes watering slightly. "But I love the feeling after. Oh, wow… this is some good weed, Azula. Probably one of those fancy strains, am I right?"
"It has to be, it felt way smoother than anything Jet ever had on offer," Katara commented.
"It's a strain called Blue Dream," Azula chuckled before taking another hit herself. This time she almost avoided coughing. "I should have known from the name alone that you would enjoy it."
"It's great," Katara smiled, accepting the joint from Azula. "I'm feeling way less stressed already. Why was I so worried about Sokka, anyway? He's in the hands of medical professionals, Suki is with him, and the paramedics told you that his finger will be as good as new. Sokka is going to be just fine."
"Exactly," Yue nodded, taking a hit of her own and coughing only very lightly. "He'll be back with us soon, enjoying this amazing herb, as long as Azula remains willing to share."
"Certainly," Azula shrugged. "Speaking of herbs," she said, pointing at the many flowerbeds all around the rooftop terrace. "It seems like someone tried to make an effort to maintain the flowerbeds but then gave up?"
"Oh, right," Katara said, giggling a little even though nothing all that funny had been said. "Couple of years ago when I was living here, I spent a lot of time working on my rooftop garden. And I think it came out looking very pretty."
"It really was," Yue smiled, leaning in against Katara and resting her head on Katara's shoulder. "You're such a talented gardener."
"Thanks, love," Katara smiled at Yue. "Anyway, then I moved in with Jet, and Suki tried to take over, but she never had enough time to take good care of the flowerbeds, and so… well, they were abandoned," Katara explained. "I guess now that I'm living here again, I could try to resurrect the garden. But I'm hoping that I can move out soon because I don't want to third-wheel Suki and Sokka."
"Understandable," Azula nodded. She was really starting to feel the effects of the weed, but perhaps not as much as Yue. The pretty blonde was leaning in against Katara and looking like she was in dire need of cuddling. "I was thinking that we make strategic use of the flowerbeds. We could grow our own fresh herbs up here."
"Are you talking about herbs such as basil and rosemary or do you mean this super friendly herb that we're currently consuming?" Yue chuckled, watching as Katara took yet another hit.
"I was thinking the basil and rosemary kind of herbs, but our super friendly herb also has some uses in the kitchen," Azula laughed. "Seriously, though, I think growing weed on the roof would be a little irresponsible. If Zuko somehow found out about it, he could get the cops to shut us down and then he would win the competition. So, we're not doing anything as brazen. But this is definitely a fantastic spot to grow fresh herbs for the restaurant."
"Mhm, herbs…" Katara spoke dreamily, making Azula laugh, even if a part of her brain was screaming at her that it wasn't something worth laughing about. Still, as the high truly kicked in, everything started to sound very funny to Azula, and also, the previously hard plastic chair suddenly felt so comfortable that it made Azula feel like she was sinking into it.
Azula had no idea for how long the three of them had been talking and giggling about absolute nonsense, when she decided to light up another joint. When the joint made its way to Yue, her eyes lit up with excitement as she pondered upon something. "Hey, Kat?" she asked, grinning at her friend. "Want to try that thing we used to do?" Katara gave Yue a slightly confused, bleary-eyed stare, prompting Yue to lean in and whisper into her ear.
"Oh, sure!" Katara grinned, visibly excited as she turned her chair to face Yue. With rapidly growing curiosity, Azula watched Yue climb into Katara's lap and then lean back as she took a fairly sizeable hit. Azula froze as she then watched Yue press her lips against Katara's before exhaling and passing the smoke over to Katara. The pair remained lip-locked as Katara struggled not to cough, until Yue released her from this marijuana infused kiss, allowing Katara to exhale.
Yue appeared in no hurry to climb out of Katara's lap as she turned her head to face Azula. "Hey, you alright there, Azula?" Yue asked teasingly.
Azula needed an embarrassingly long time to react because she had gone completely rigid from having witnessed possibly the most arousing display in her life. Her entire body was on fire and cried out for some kind of relief. The panic of potentially outing herself as a horny lesbian would have normally kicked in a long time ago, forcing her to react, but the weed induced state of happiness had dulled her reactions. For a good while, Azula could do nothing but stare with naked desire in her eyes and in her burning cheeks.
"I think we may have broken her," Katara commented, laughing softly.
"What? Uh, no, I was just… well, that was something," Azula admitted, lost for words, and not just because she was experiencing a very intense high. "I guess I didn't expect you to… kiss like that," she said, blushing.
"Why wouldn't we? We're both free women," Katara shrugged.
"Exactly," Yue nodded with a grin. "Want to try it with me? We promise not to tell your boyfriend. Who you never mention, talk about or call."
"I… no, I couldn't," Azula stammered at the unexpected suggestion, desperately wanting to accept Yue's tantalizing offer. It was only at the very last moment that her panic of getting outed prevailed. It took an embarrassingly long time for Azula to digest the other part of what Yue had said, making Azula very worried that her fake relationship with Chan was for some reason not fooling these sexy and extremely perceptive Water Tribe girls. "Anyway, I try not to bother Chan during what I'm sure is a very busy football season," Azula said defensively.
"Azula, it's the second week of the off-season," Katara winked at her. "We checked."
"I… well, I'm sure he has a lot of training to do, anyway," Azula sputtered, trying to save her blushes. "If you want, I can call him right away," she said, quickly fetching her phone.
"You don't have to, we're not really interested," Yue said, shaking her head. She finally climbed out of Katara's lap and took her seat again. "Anyway, I only offered to shotgun with you because you looked so keenly interested," Yue added with a sly wink. "I know you're very concerned about people misidentifying your preferences, but honestly, doing that with another girl doesn't have to be sexual. I'm sure it wouldn't turn you gay," Yue snickered.
"Uh, sure, that did not look sexual at all," Azula muttered under her breath, making Katara and Yue exchange amused stares. Azula was sure that if she wasn't already incredibly gay, what she had just witnessed would have turned her into a raging homosexual. "Anyway, I want you to know-"
"This is a raid!" came a sudden yell, startling Azula, Katara and Yue, as well as interrupting Azula's statement that would have surely convinced Katara and Yue that she was as straight as an arrow. "Stick your hands up and surrender all your weed!" Suki burst onto the roof with another cry, quickly snatching the joint from Yue's fingers and taking a big hit before anyone could react.
"Oh, it's you, Suki," Katara smiled, relaxing. "And you, guys," she added, watching Toph and Aang emerge on the roof, following Suki. "Come, hang out with us. Azula is treating us to her Blue Dream."
"Enjoy," Azula said, watching Suki exhale smoothly, without even the slightest hint of coughing. Somehow, she wasn't at all surprised at how cool Suki was in everything she did.
"Damn, this stuff is amazing," Suki gushed with a blissful look on her face as she offered the joint to Aang. "Come on, dude, you have to try this."
"Alright, just a little hit," Aang said, reluctantly accepting the joint. "I deserve to relax after scraping all that blood from the cutting board."
"Well, just pass it over to me after you're done taking your wimpy little hit," Toph laughed. "I'll take a big one for you. I also deserve to relax after laughing so hard about the way you were all running around in panic like headless chicken."
"To be fair, not all of us were panicking," Azula protested.
"True," Yue nodded. "Some of us just passed out right away," she added with an adorable giggle.
"Anyway, Suki, how is Sokka doing?" Katara finally remembered to ask. "Did you stick around until he was out of surgery?"
"Yes, they decided to keep him there overnight for observation," Suki replied. "Apparently, the surgery to reattach the severed digit was a smashing success."
"That's cool and all," Toph said. She had decided against passing the joint on, despite Suki whining at her. Azula was ready to retrieve the last of her pre-rolled joints just to keep everyone happy. "I know one of Sokka's dreams is to have a cool robot hand. He's probably looking at this as a missed opportunity."
"I assure you, he is not," Suki shook her head. "Actually, Sokka was pretty depressed, at least during our ride to the hospital. He was much happier after the surgery."
"That's the high from painkillers, probably," Azula chuckled.
"Oh right, so I guess that won't last," Suki sighed. "I think he's mostly bummed out from knowing that he won't be able to do much cooking for a while after he comes back."
"Damn, that means we're short of a head chef," Katara gasped, giving Azula a desperate stare. "Azula, you'll take over until Sokka comes back, won't you?"
"I'll help, but I won't be taking over," Azula replied. This was something she had decided upon immediately when it became obvious that Sokka would be out of commission and unable to lead the kitchen. "You already have someone more than capable of taking over," Azula smiled, nodding at Suki. "And I'll help out as the sous chef."
"Yes! I get to be the head chef!" Suki cheered, pumping her fist before doing something unexpected by pulling Azula up to her feet and then crushing her in the tightest of bear hugs. To top it off, Suki pressed a sloppy and wet kiss against Azula's cheek, making Azula's face burn once more.
Not for the first time, Azula had to admit that she was experiencing increasing difficulties of remaining closeted in the company of Katara, Yue and Suki.