Chapter 17 – into the dragon's den
"Come on, Aang, you're making the Dragons wait!" Sokka yelled impatiently, pacing back and forth in the small kitchen of The Northern Lights.
"Stop rushing me," Aang shouted back, reentering the kitchen. He had left for a few minutes to change into a very dapper looking grey suit that made him look very severe and official.
"Was the suit really necessary?" Yue sighed at Sokka. It was the break between services on Wednesday afternoon, and Aang was getting ready to present his vegan menu options to the three Dragons waiting upstairs, namely Katara, Azula and Suki. Yue had allowed herself to be recruited by Aang to help serve the dishes, probably because Aang was a bit nervous and didn't trust himself to carry all the trays up the narrow staircase. Agreeing to assist was an easy decision for Yue because aside from helping a friend, she was always interested to learn as much as she could about their menu options. Yue would never recommend anything she hadn't tried herself to a potential customer.
"What kind of question is that?" Sokka scowled at her. "Of course, the suit is necessary. You want Aang to impress the Dragons, don't you?"
"Stop calling them Dragons, you're talking about our friends," Yue groaned.
"Our friends who are also Dragons," Sokka retorted. "Anyway, don't listen to her, what does she know about a sales pitch, anyway?" Sokka clapped Aang on the shoulder. "So, how do you feel, little buddy? Do you feel ready?"
"My middle name is 'ready'," Aang shot back, trying to project confidence.
"You don't have a middle name, dumbass," Toph laughed. While to a casual observer it might have seemed as if Toph was treating Aang's big day as a joke, Yue knew better. She had seen with her own eyes how hard Toph had worked at her little prep station to make sure that Aang had all the ingredients to construct his dishes.
"True," Aang laughed uneasily. "I always say something dumb when I'm the center of the attention."
"Hmm," Sokka mused, looking concerned. "Maybe don't talk too much, then. Let the dishes do all the talking, how about that?"
"But what if they ask questions?" Aang asked, suddenly appearing nervous. "Azula is bound to ask me a lot of questions about the ingredients and the techniques I used."
"Sokka, back off," Yue decided it was time to intervene. "You're scaring Aang."
"Well, don't be scared, Aang," Sokka exclaimed, grabbing Aang by the shoulders and shaking him. "One of the most important moments in your life is right around the corner! You cannot get nervous now, because if you do, it will be a disaster, a DISASTER!" Aang began to scream in panic, looking like he was about to cut and run.
"Sokka!" Yue shouted, grabbing a nearby pot and throwing it at Sokka, fortunately missing by a few inches. Still, it worked as a distraction, forcing Sokka to finally release Aang. "What are you doing, you maniac? Leave Aang alone!"
"I was just trying to help," Sokka replied nervously. "Anyway, we really need to get going, even if I may have slightly overexaggerated the impatience of the Dragons."
"You think?" Yue sighed, picking up the trays with the starters. She then chased Aang and Sokka out of the kitchen and up the stairs, following them to face the illustrious Dragons. Yue had to admit that Azula, Suki and Katara appeared to take this very seriously. They were all dressed in formal business suits that must have been loaned from Azula. Azula and Katara were of a very similar size, so Yue was not surprised that Azula's clothes would fit Katara so perfectly. Suki was slightly taller and more broad-shouldered, but not by so much that Azula's suits wouldn't be a good fit. Yue was surprised that Azula would have some business suits that weren't bright red, so Katara had chosen dark burgundy and Suki was sporting very dark blue that almost looked black in the bright afternoon sun bursting in through the windows.
"Mighty Dragons, allow us to present you with the first starter," Yue grinned as she approached the severe looking panel of judges sharing the sofa and placing the tray on a table before them. "I hope it will be to your liking."
"Please, describe the dish," Azula said in a very business-like voice, staring down Aang.
Aang gulped as he stepped forward, or rather, was pushed forward by Sokka. "Okay, so… this is what I call the vegan grazing board," Aang began to explain. "Here we have homemade roasted garlic hummus, Omashu olives, two types of vegan cheeses, spicy tomato chutney, baby gherkins and caperberries, onion and beetroot crackers and artisan bread with rapeseed oil and raspberry balsamic reduction."
"I love the name," Katara chuckled as the three Dragons proceed to taste the dish.
"There's a lot of stuff here," Suki remarked a while later. "Granted, all of it is very tasty."
"It's intended as a starter to share between two people," Aang explained. "Or it could work as a main for one person. It's customizable that way."
"These sharing boards are coming back into fashion, so I like the idea," Azula remarked. "I'm leaning towards approving this dish. There's nothing on here that I find objectionable. Also, all the main types of food usually found on these sharing boards are represented. Unless you two have any objections, I'm happy to keep this as is." Suki and Katara both nodded in approval, making the smile on Aang's face grow big and bright. Also, while the Dragons were sharing their impressions, Yue had snuck closer and stolen a few bites herself, finding everything very tasty. Yue also gestured for Sokka to join in on the tasting, only for Sokka to make exaggerated silly faces that supposedly represented the deep personal affront he was experiencing from the mere concept of vegan food.
"I think we're ready to move on," Suki said after the Dragons had cleaned up the vegan grazing board, assisted by Yue.
"Right," Yue remembered what she was here for in the first place, dashing off to pick up the next tray and quickly deliver it to the Dragons. Yue removed the lid to reveal a rather elegant looking vegan salad.
"What are we looking at here, Aang?" Azula asked again.
"It's just a simple vegan salad. I decided to combine smoked aubergine with sweet red peppers and walnuts. Then we sprinkle some pomegranate on top of it all and serve it with toasted flatbread," Aang explained as the Dragons dug in and Yue once again snuck up to also have a taste.
"I like it," Suki said, having taken a few bites. "It's simple, but I think you have a good mix of flavors here. Especially the smoked aubergine. It adds something that's usually not found in vegan dishes."
"Agreed," Katara nodded. "The aubergine is tasty, and so is the overall dish. But I'll be honest, I kind of prefer the salad that Azula made us taste last week."
"Yes, I thought you would be trying a variation of that, but this is something completely different," Azula said.
"Sorry," Aang apologized. "It's just that you said to go for something that would be easy to execute. But then again, that other salad wasn't all that difficult to make either. Do you want me to go back to that?"
"It would have my vote, even if this is good as well," Azula said. Katara and Suki both nodded in agreement. "Alright, in that case, we're canceling this entry and instead we're approving the salad I stole… I mean, appropriated for a noble cause last week." Everyone laughed at Azula's slipup and Yue used the little break of merriment to slip downstairs and pick up the trays with the prepared mains.
"Yue?" Toph asked, doing some cleaning at her prep station. Yue could never stop wondering how unmistakably Toph always recognized all of them by their footfall. "How is Aang doing up there?" Toph asked.
"He's two for two with the appetizers," Yue replied joyfully. "I'm about to bring the mains upstairs."
"I'm keeping my fingers crossed," Toph nodded. "Aang is one seriously talented kid, you know that, right? He deserves better than to be stuck washing dishes."
"I'm fully confident he'll nail these entrees," Yue said hopefully. "He's done great so far. If we had more vegan cooks like Aang, maybe the whole world would be vegan by now."
"Oh, don't even go there," Toph laughed, shaking her head. "You know that Sokka and I are unabashedly on Team Carnivore and that's never going to change."
"Yes, yes, I know you're both savages and proud of it," Yue chuckled as she grabbed the trays and ran back upstairs, placing one of the dishes in front of the Dragons, removing the lid and revealing what looked like a very appetizing vegan curry.
"Oh, I was hoping for a nice curry," Katara looked happy. "I've always wanted to have a curry on our menu that we could be proud to serve. Which wasn't the case with the who knows how many times reheated slop that we ended up serving."
"Unless you're going to serve a good curry, it's better to not serve one at all, especially in the Fire Nation, " Azula nodded. "Anyway, Aang, present the dish."
"Right," Aang nodded. Yue was pleased to notice that after the successful presentations of the starters, Aang appeared to have regained most of his usual confidence. "Well, this one really is very simple. We have a sweet potato, chickpea and red pepper curry with wild rice, poppadom and some mango chutney. Just let me know if it's too basic!"
"There's nothing wrong with simple," Azula shook her head before proceeding to dig in. Nobody batted an eyelid when Yue unashamedly sat down and also partook in the tasting, forgetting that she wasn't supposed to be one of the Dragons.
"Oh, wow… this is perfect," Katara was the first to react, looking very impressed. "I don't think I could ever go full vegan, but I definitely see myself having many vegan meals at the restaurant if the food is going to be this good."
"I think the flavor profile is spot on," Suki said. "But it's just not spicy enough for my tastes. What do you think, Azula?"
"You read my mind, Suki," Azula nodded. "It's nowhere near spicy enough," she shook her head. "Remember that we're in the Fire Nation. You have to know your audience. You can't serve something so mild here and expect to be taken seriously."
By now Yue had also had a taste and while she thought that the curry was as close to perfect as it came in regards to heat, she understood where Azula and Suki were coming from. Seeing that Katara was about to speak up and disagree, Yue hurried to cut her off. "I think this would be the perfect curry to serve in Agna Qel'a, Kat, but I believe Azula and Suki are spot on about it needing to be spicier if it's going to work here," Yue said.
"Fortunately, heat levels are easy to adjust," Aang said, looking relieved. "As long as there's nothing else wrong with it?"
"I don't think so," Azula said. "Just crank the heat way up, and we'll have another solid vegan option on the menu. Now, let's see if you can make this four out of four," she added, gesturing at Yue to bring them the final tray. Yue did so, removing the lid to reveal a couple of appetizing looking vegan burgers.
"I will feel like such a fraud serving these," Sokka sighed, glaring at the delicious looking golden buns. "These abominations give honest burgers a bad name."
"You don't have to be here if all you're going to do is whine about vegan food," Katara glared at her brother. "Besides, you're being ridiculous and you know it."
"I know, but dunking on vegans is kind of fun because they are so thin-skinned," Sokka grinned.
"Maybe it's fun for a bored man-child with nothing better to do," Azula snapped, making Sokka pout at her. "Anyway, Aang, even though we can all see that this is clearly a burger, you should have the opportunity to present it properly."
"Thanks!" Aang grinned broadly. "What we have here is a vegan BBQ pulled jackfruit burger with gem lettuce, tomato, red onion chutney, vegan coleslaw, dressed salad, chips and onion rings. Also, I just want you to know that I'm not really big on burgers myself and despite Sokka's dramatic whining, he actually helped me a lot with this."
"Lies! Lies and slander!" Sokka cried dramatically. "I would never touch the abomination that is vegan food!" He then suddenly appeared completely serious. "For real though, everything that Aang has been presenting today is totally solid and I'd be happy to have all of these things on the menu. And in case someone is still confused, my anti-vegan whining is mostly just an act, I hope you all understand that."
"It's still really annoying," Katara sighed. "Then again, it's you, so I don't think anyone here is surprised."
"Hey!" Sokka glared at his sister before chuckling. "Anyway, how is the weirdo burger?" he asked curiously.
"It's really good," Katara said, having taking a bite out of the burger she was sharing with Azula. "I can't believe how jackfruit feels so similar to meat. It has such a meaty texture."
"I like it," Azula also looked approving. "Especially the choice of pulled jackfruit is inspired. It will really make our burger stand out among its rivals, because most of the other places that do vegan burgers will just go with boring black bean patties, and I think people are starting to get tired of those."
"They also make you fart up a storm," Sokka added sagely.
"That too," Azula snorted. "Also, I think that our burger needs a bit more crunch from somewhere, the lettuce alone is not enough. I would suggest some pickled carrots and maybe even bamboo sprouts."
"Oh, that sounds like a great idea," Aang nodded excitedly. "Does that mean the burger is also approved?"
"What do you think, Suki?" Azula asked.
"I think it's worthy of being on the menu," Suki replied. "But it reminds me of this one vegan burger I had many years ago while still back in the Earth Kingdom, and instead of the pulled jackfruit, it had this amazing huge portobello mushroom, grilled to perfection and then basted in garlic butter. It was fantastic."
"Suki, you're making me drool," Yue complained. She had just enjoyed a bite of the jackfruit burger, and while it was very tasty, Yue found the texture of the jackfruit very weird. The way it almost but not quite felt like meat was slightly creeping Yue out. The mushroom burger, on the other hand, sounded very appealing.
"I'd be happy to swap the jackfruit for mushroom," Aang offered, as always keen to please.
"You won't have to," Azula said decisively. "We're putting both the jackfruit and mushroom burgers on the menu. It's not going to make the job of preparing the burgers any harder, so it's literally a no brainer not to include both."
"That's a great idea," Katara nodded approvingly. "If we could become a hit with the local vegan community, that would be a big boost for our business."
"So, does that mean I've got the promotion?" Aang asked eagerly.
"Most certainly," Azula nodded. "Even if some of the dishes need further tweaking, I think my fellow Dragons will agree that we've seen enough to convince us that you deserve the promotion." Katara and Suki giggled and nodded in agreement. "You're starting the new position next week." Aang cheered and pumped his fist.
Sokka walked up to Aang and clapped him on the shoulder before giving his friend a fist bump. "Congrats on nailing that presentation and soothing the Dragons," Sokka laughed. "And welcome to the kitchen… where it feels like there might be too many cooks by now," Sokka said before turning around and walking back downstairs.
"You're going to have to do something about that," Yue said, shaking her head as she looked at both Azula and Katara. Yue had noticed that Suki was looking more and more miserable as Sokka's return as the head chef neared, and Yue was frustrated that Azula and Katara were being so indecisive about handling the issue. Then again, as someone often criticized for being too soft and indecisive, Yue freely admitted that she was throwing stones in a glass house.
"I have plans, don't worry about it," Azula replied hastily. Yue hoped that Azula was speaking the truth and really had something up her sleeve, because she hated to see Suki being so anxious and unhappy. Suki was a fantastic chef and Yue loved her for hardly ever having to return dishes back to the kitchen because of customer complaints. However, Yue also acknowledged that Azula was in a difficult situation because Sokka was one of the owners and couldn't be pushed around as easily as some rank employee.
"Anyway, the dinner service is about to begin and we need to change out of these awesome suits," Suki said. "So…" she glared at Aang. "Shoo!"
"Oh!" Aang jumped, looking startled. His head was still clearly in the clouds after receiving the coveted promotion. "Alright, I'm out of here. You coming, Yue?"
Yue found herself hesitating. Azula, Suki and Katara changing out of these sexy business suits was not a spectacle she wanted to miss out on. "You just… run ahead, Aang. I'll stay behind and make sure nobody walks in on our girls while they're changing," Yue rallied with a swift excuse. Aang shrugged and walked away with a massive grin on his face. Yue then turned around to face Azula, Suki and Katara all smirking at her. "What?" she asked innocently.
"Nothing," Katara laughed. "Well, it would be rude to chase her away, wouldn't it, girls?" Suki and Azula both seemed to be in agreement with that, slowly starting to undress and making Yue's day better and better by the moment.
Jet Patel approached the chaos of the opening day of The Blue Spirit restaurant with his usual attitude of staying out of everyone's way and doing as little as he could get away with. Currently, that involved fixing a light switch in a storage room that was used to keep cleaning supplies and didn't even need to have any lights. Also, the light switch had stopped working only because Jet had stabbed it with his pocket knife in order to create this perfect timewasting task for himself.
The past few weeks in Jet's life had been tumultuous and had made him question some of his choices. Bee and Longshot seemed very insistent that the whole debacle with Katara and Azula was a sign from some higher power that Jet should embrace a more honest way of living. Jet agreed that this whole mess very well could be the sign from a higher power, but it was a sign to tell Jet that his schemes were wholly inadequate, and in order to succeed in life, he needed to step up his game. At this interpretation of events, Bee had done some shouting at Jet, but had failed to convince him.
The way his relationship with Katara had ended was still a sore spot for Jet. Losing a gorgeous girl that would normally be out his league really hurt, and this girl also being amazing in bed only compounded the misery. At the height of his delusions, Jet had earnestly spent a while believing that Katara would come crawling back to him, but Katara demanding for all of her things to be returned and her hostile tone when talking to him had made it clear that the relationship was broken beyond repair. This was not an amicable separation and Jet was aware that if he was to show his face at The Northern Lights, he would probably have to dodge a shower of cutlery being launched at him.
Certainly, Jet was not quite as deluded as to deny that he had wronged Katara greatly. And he would have been happy to admit that and beg forgiveness, but Katara also seemed to believe that Azula Nakamura rupturing his ball sack was an adequate punishment, and that was something Jet simply could not accept. Azula had no right to insert herself in this situation, not to mention inflict upon Jet the worst physical pain he had ever experienced. Perhaps he deserved to be punished for his lies and theft, but not like this. Three weeks later, Jet still hadn't made a full recovery, and he had already reconciled himself with the horrible thought of having to see a specialist about his problem.
Normally, after breaking up with one of his girlfriends, Jet would have spent the next few weeks, or possibly months, by sleeping with as many women (and men) as possible, but that fucking bitch Azula Nakamura had made it impossible. It was especially annoying because he had been on the cusp of having sex with Ty Lee Watanabe, who was perhaps the sexiest girl Jet had ever laid his eyes on. His inability to perform had come as a complete surprise, because during the trial runs involving his hand, all the systems had been functioning normally, but when Ty Lee had gotten her hands on him, the excruciating pain had put a stop to that sexual encounter. Azula definitely deserved to be taken down a peg for putting Jet through something so undeservedly horrible.
The discovery that Ty Lee was best friends with both Azula Nakamura and Mai Syun, the co-owner of The Blue Spirit, was an especially unpleasant surprise, because Azula and Mai were not among Jet's favorite people, albeit for very different reasons. After Jet had shit-talked Azula to Ty Lee, both Ty Lee and Mai had been acting very hostile, but fortunately, Ty Lee had the memory of a goldfish and quickly forgot why she was supposed to be upset with Jet, while Mai could be plied with free weed quite easily. Still, it was very alarming to know that Azula had if not outright allies, then eyes and ears sympathetic to her at the restaurant. This was definitely important to keep in mind when it was finally time to deploy some of his schemes to bring down Azula and The Northern Lights restaurant.
Jet's plan at The Blue Spirit was pretty much the same as it had been at The Northern Lights – to ingratiate himself with the owner (preferably by sleeping with them if they were hot enough, and Zuko definitely met Jet's standards of hotness) and then enjoy the easy life by doing as little as possible. Both restaurants having co-owners definitely presented an additional hurdle, however. Just as Jet had quickly realized that Sokka was not a romantic option for him, he was quickly learning the same about Mai Syun.
Jet still hadn't figured out what exactly was wrong with those few women who for some reason could resist his manly charms, but he suspected that some kind of genetic deficiency was to blame. For some reason, when she wasn't high as a kite, Mai plainly didn't like him, and since keeping Mai permanently high was not a viable option, getting with her romantically seemed out of the question. This left Zuko as Jet's prime target to zero in on at The Blue Spirit.
Getting with Zuko would present some serious challenges, however. First, Zuko was currently with Mai, and while their relationship seemed contentious at the first glance, they also had a history that Jet didn't want to underestimate. Second, Zuko had a couple of fangirls at the restaurant, both of whom were eager to jump his bones. Both Jin and On Ji were various levels of obsessed with Zuko, while Zuko himself remained totally oblivious. And as for the third obstacle, Zuko was clearly confused about his very obvious bisexuality, which presented yet another hurdle for Jet to overcome if he wanted to end up with Zuko. Fortunately for Jet, he always relished a challenge, the tougher the better.
Understanding his new coworkers was key to Jet's plans, and he had spent the week since his hiring in getting to know everyone better. Their smoke sessions were especially invaluable, because they made people drop their guard quickly and reveal things about themselves that they would otherwise not share. The information Jet had gleaned was already helping him come up with various schemes on how to overcome the considerable opposition for Zuko's affections.
For example, Ty Lee was very trusting and easy to manipulate, and she had direct access to Mai's ear, so if Jet wanted Mai to believe something about him and Zuko, he only needed to casually mention it to Ty Lee. Jin was similarly easy to manipulate, however, Jet had discovered early on that she was literally insane and simply would not believe anything that cast even the slightest shadow of doubt over her precious Zuko. Getting Jin to back off would be very difficult, unless he created some kind of crazy situation where Jin ended up breaking the law or possibly even killing someone for Zuko – because Jet legitimately believed she was that insane. However, even though Jet had done many fucked up things in the past, intentionally getting a coworker arrested was too scummy even for him.
On Ji Takeda was a very pretty and charming girl, and a damn good sous chef, which made her particularly dangerous because Zuko was interacting with her the most and had already developed some appreciation for her that seemed to be only growing. On Ji also seemed mostly sane and had a sound head on her shoulders, which meant that she wasn't easy to manipulate. Jet figured that the best way to neutralize her was to somehow sabotage her efforts in the kitchen and make Zuko upset with her, but on the other hand, Jet didn't want to go too far and get the girl fired. That was another one of his lines that he was unwilling to cross.
Ruon-Jian Ogawa was a useful tool to have around the restaurant. He seemed to do very little while at the same time appearing particularly desperate to please Mai. And while Mai clearly found Ruon-Jian amusing at most, Jet had crucially realized that Ruon-Jian's mere presence triggered unreasonable levels of jealousy in Zuko. This could be easily exploited to undermine Zuko's trust in Mai, and Jet had already made some inroads in this endeavor. Something that was also working in Jet's favor was the realization that Mai was quite upset at Zuko for his obliviousness regarding Jin and On Ji, and she seemed to be using Ruon-Jian to get back at Zuko. Mai was playing right into Jet's hands without even realizing it.
When it came to Zuko himself, Jet was keeping his strategy simple. Even if he found Zuko stupidly cute, Jet forced himself to hold back on the flirting and suggestiveness because he didn't want to scare Zuko off. Instead, Jet resolved to make Zuko feel like he was irreplaceable. It was clear that Zuko's conflict with his sister was the key to exploit here. Mai and Ty Lee were Azula's friends, while Jin, On Ji and Ruon-Jian cared little about Zuko and Azula's mutual vendetta. Jet made sure to present himself as Zuko's one true ally in this fight against Azula, always with a ready ear to hear about Zuko's plans, while at the same time encouraging Zuko and pitching more and more of his own schemes to try and bring Azula down. As a result, Jet had already managed to worm his way into Zuko's circle of his most trusted people, especially when it came to this conflict with Azula. Jet felt like for once his scheming was coming along beautifully and nothing could interfere with his plans-
"Where is that good for nothing slacker?" Jet winced as Zuko's raised voice suddenly disrupted his so far very chill evening. "Why is Jet literally never around when we need him?"
"At least you have noticed that," Mai remarked acidly as Jet heard them approach. He quickly grabbed his screwdriver and pretended being hard at work as Mai and Zuko rounded the corner and spotted him.
"There you are!" Zuko shouted, sounding also a little bit relieved. "What the fuck are you doing here, Jet? We were being absolutely savaged out there! We got slaughtered, I'm telling you!" Zuko yelled dramatically.
"What's going on?" Jet put on his best surprised face. "I had no idea there was a crisis. I was just trying to fix this damned light switch."
"Why?" Mai shrugged. "I can literally grab those cleaning supplies while standing out in the corridor, there's no reason to fuck around with those lights right now."
"I just know that if I don't fix it, someone is going to enter this here storage room, trip and dislocate their ankle," Jet rallied magnificently. "Anyway, you didn't answer my question about what was going on," he said, trying to distract Mai from the very clear fact that he had been completely wasting his time.
"Some bitch poured her drink all over Jin's uniform for some reason-" Zuko began, only for Mai to interrupt.
"Because that poor bitch had the audacity to say that you're hunky within Jin's earshot," Mai snorted, rolling her eyes.
"Well, whatever, Ty Lee decided to stand up for her fellow waitress and between the two of them, they fought that bitch and threw her out," Zuko continued, seemingly completely missing the meaning of Mai's words. "And a while later, the cops showed up to speak with Ty Lee and Jin."
"And we were trying to find you to help out because you claimed to be such an amazing waiter," Mai said bitterly. "While Ty Lee and Jin were arguing with the crazy bitch and the cops, Ruon-Jian and I had to jump in as replacement waiters. And I hate customer service, Jet. It puts me right into my PMS mood. Especially when Ruon-Jian then also had to drop out."
"Why? What did he do?" Jet asked.
"He brought the wrong order to a table, and an angry child stabbed him in the thigh with a fork because he wanted curly fries instead of those big hand cut ones," Mai explained with a sour look on her face.
"Of course," Jet was about to burst into laughter, but the look on Mai's face made him reconsider. "So… you want me to help with waiting the tables now?" he decided to offer.
"No, the service is over, so forget it," Mai sighed.
"I hope things went better in the kitchen," Jet gave Zuko a hopeful stare.
"It went really well," Zuko nodded. "Everyone loved the food. Things were so busy, but that is a great sign for the kitchen. It's just a crying shame about the incident with On Ji."
"Wait, what incident?" Jet asked.
"Didn't you hear?" Zuko blinked. "A stray dog wandered into the kitchen and stole a prime piece of filet mignon. On Ji started to fight the mutt, but then it bit her. I had to rush her to the ER to get rabies shots in the middle of the service."
"We still have no idea how that dog got inside," Mai said, keeping her voice neutral. "It's almost as if some irresponsible idiot left the back door open and that hungry animal simply wandered in."
"Well, as far as I remember, the backdoor was always closed, so it's a real mystery, alright. I suppose we'll never know the truth," Jet said quickly. Of course, he had left the door open to air out some of the weed stench that was surrounding Jet after he had enjoyed his afternoon joint. Still, Mai and Zuko probably didn't need to know the inconvenient truth. "Anyway, why was On Ji even fighting that dog?" Jet asked instead. "She could have just let that poor mutt have the piece of meat."
"It's probably because On Ji didn't want to pass on an opportunity to impress Zuko," Mai snorted.
"Well, it was kind of impressive the way she tackled that poor mutt," Zuko laughed. "It actually dropped the meat and fled through the dining room, howling in fear. I don't think it's going to mess with On Ji again. Also, that filet mignon was only a little bit chewed. We served it to some food blogger who was very condescending towards Ty Lee."
"Okay," Jet said, not sure what to make of all this information. He was starting to regret having missed out on all this insane chaos during the service. "So, I'm guessing that the opening was a complete disaster, then?"
"What?" Mai stared at Jet as if he had lost his mind. "No, we took in almost twelve hundred, which is absolutely amazing."
"But we had our waitresses involved in a scuffle with the police, and the sous chef had to be rushed to the hospital," Jet blinked. "How could the dinner service be successful if something so crazy was going on?"
"Ty Lee has a proverb that I'm starting to believe in more and more," Mai snorted. "Ty Lee says that the way to become successful is through embracing the chaos. Maybe it makes sense to me only because I'm surrounded by chaotic people like Zuko and Ty Lee, but it does seem to be working."
"Hey, there's a method to my madness," Zuko scowled. "And sure, maybe it doesn't involve violent waitresses and stray dogs, but… err, actually, I don't know where I was going with this."
"Don't look at me, I have no idea where you were going with it," Jet laughed. "But it seems like we have a reason to celebrate our successful launch."
"That's right, we're about to hit the pub across the street to celebrate," Zuko nodded, snapping his fingers. "That's why we wanted to talk to you in the first place."
"Excellent," Jet grinned. "Let me just go and grab my jacket."
"No, you misunderstand," Mai spoke with what looked like an almost sadistic mirth on her face. "We wanted to let you know that there's a massive tower of dirty plates in the kitchen that someone needs to take care of before they can join us in the pub. And we all agreed that it should be you, because you hardly contributed during the service."
"But-" Jet attempted to protest, facing Zuko with the saddest imaginable stare, rivaling that of a hurt and abandoned puppy.
Zuko's resolve seemed to be wavering, but after shooting a quick glance at Mai, he reluctantly shook his head. "Sorry, but someone really needs to take care of those plates, Jet," Zuko said. "If you work fast, it shouldn't take you more than a couple of hours. And you want to work fast, because you don't want all those nasty bits of leftover food to congeal. Anyway," he shot finger guns at Jet before wrapping his arm around Mai's waist as they turned to leave. "Hope to see you later in the evening, buddy."
"Sure, sure," Jet muttered absentmindedly, even if deep inside he was seething. It seemed like there was a lot more work to be done before he managed to successfully drive a wedge between Mai and Zuko.
Despite The Northern Lights seeing an encouraging turnaround for the better, Suki was having a hard time enjoying their much-deserved success. With every day that passed, Suki felt like her coveted and hard-earned head chef position was about to be stripped from her. All of Sokka's talk about his imminent return to leading the kitchen felt doubly unfair because she had clearly done a great job in this new position, and yet Sokka stubbornly refused to acknowledge that. It felt like everyone had more confidence in Suki as the head chef than in Sokka, and perhaps that perception was something that was now forcing Sokka to double down and really dig his heels in.
So, on a sunny Friday afternoon between the services, Suki found herself hanging out on the roof terrace all by herself, not wanting to inflict her sour mood on her friends. Azula and Yue had taken Kiyi and Kya out to a nearby ice cream parlor, disappointed when Suki had refused to join them. Earlier, Azula had finally come up with the final version of their spring menu that everyone had agreed upon. Now, Katara was busy haggling with one of the local printers about having a fancily printed and laminated menu, as it would serve them for the next two to three months. Aang and Toph were chilling and doing some prepping in the kitchen, and as for Sokka, Suki really had no idea what he was up to.
Suki discovered what Sokka was up to sooner than she would have liked, because when she eventually proceeded downstairs to help Aang and Toph with prepping, she came across Sokka, working at his old station and busy preparing one of the dishes from their new menu, a stuffed chicken breast. It didn't seem to be going particularly well, given that Sokka had already maimed three chicken breasts while trying to butterfly them.
Suki had to bite down hard on her tongue not to make any sarcastic comments as she watched Sokka producing yet another failed attempt, as always cutting way too deep into one side of the chicken, so that when he opened it up like a book, one of the pages was almost transparent, with several holes in it. Instead of saying anything, Suki simply took another chicken breast and neatly sliced it down the middle, then placing the perfectly butterflied breast in front of Sokka so that he could continue working on the recipe.
"I really wish you would follow the old proverb of not trying to fix that what isn't broken," Suki sighed a while later, her resolve to stay quiet finally crumbling. At least Sokka wasn't making any more mistakes while forming the stuffed breast and wrapping it in layers of ham and bacon. "The kitchen has been working perfectly this past week. It's not broken and doesn't require you trying to fix it, you know." Aang gave her a very alarmed look as she spoke, clearly fearing an argument, but Suki felt like she could stay silent only for so long.
"Suki, we've been over this," Sokka groaned, looking frustrated. "I thought you understood why I have to be in the kitchen and I wish you would stop thinking of me coming back as a sign that I don't trust you as the head chef. I do trust you, and I think you've done a great job, but-"
"But you're still making me go back to being the sous chef," Suki frowned. "And yeah, your reasons for wanting to be the head chef? I've heard them before and frankly, I think you're being very misguided. Just because your dad was the head chef, it doesn't mean you have to do exactly the same. You can still contribute to the restaurant in many other ways. I'm sure your father would tell you the same thing."
"You can't speak for my father," Sokka said, a little sharply, but then softening. "Look, it's not just about following in my father's footsteps. It's also about the weight of responsibility. This is a family-owned restaurant, which means that Katara and I have to shoulder the most responsibility and work the hardest jobs. And being the head chef is one of those critical jobs. It's my responsibility to bear. No offense, Suki, but if the restaurant sinks, then you will be able to just move on to something else, while for me it will mean ruining our entire family fortunes. This is my burden to bear, okay?"
"Wait, you think I'm not responsible enough to be the head chef?" Suki gasped. "Also, how can you say that I could just move on? Maybe it's a good thing you told me that you don't think of me as family, so that there are no misunderstandings. Because I totally saw us as family, but I guess I was wrong."
"Well, legally-"
"Oh, you know, fuck legally," Suki snapped, cutting Sokka off. "And seriously, fuck you for saying something so insulting," with that, Suki pushed past Sokka and quickly made for the exit, feeling her face burn with hurt and anger.
"Great job, Sokka," were the last words heard by Suki before she left the kitchen, spoken by Toph while accompanied by slow clapping.
Suki hurried outside through the back entrance as fast as she could. Her fingers trembled slightly as she retrieved a cigarette and lit up. Of course, this conversation with Sokka would go badly, just as it always did, she should have known as much. There were some things that were impossible to discuss with Sokka because he could be so infuriatingly stubborn. Suki always ended up experiencing regret for even trying, but this was not something she could ignore any longer. She was suffocating, not just in their expiring relationship, but also professionally, and this was not a state of mind that Suki wanted to be in for much longer.
Still, feeling like she had no other options but to leave both Sokka and the restaurant was a painful thought, ripping Suki's heart asunder. The very idea of abandoning her friends, and also this new and fascinating thing they had going with Azula and that nobody knew what it was, felt unbearable. Suki thought of herself as the badass motherfucker who never cried, but now, sitting on an old crate with her back against the wall and inhaling the cigarette smoke that was supposed to calm her down, Suki still felt like breaking down and having a good fucking cry.
"Hey, Suki, are you out h-" Suki jumped at the unexpected sound of Azula's voice as the Fire Nation girl emerged from the back entrance and froze upon spotting her. Suki immediately turned away and quickly wiped her cheeks, trying to be subtle about it, but the way Azula had frozen suggested that she had seen the tears on Suki's cheeks. It was by now common knowledge shared by her, Katara and Yue that Azula was socially very awkward when it came to expressing genuine feelings and emotions, and Suki knew that something like comforting a coworker would pose massive challenge for Azula. Suki could tell as much from how Azula stood there on the threshold, looking petrified, like she was considering turning around and fleeing in fear.
"Just grabbing a quick smoke," Suki tried nonchalantly, but her voice failed to maintain any sort of steadiness. "I didn't think you'd be back so soon."
"Yes, I… I just got back," Azula replied stiffly. "Yue is taking the girls back to her place." Azula then went silent for a long time and Suki expected that her next words would be to offer some kind of lame excuse before returning to the kitchen, and in all honesty, Suki wouldn't blame Azula for not wanting to get involved. Still, Suki felt a pleasant lightness in her chest when Azula eventually pulled up another crate and sat down next to her, their shoulders bumping lightly.
"Sokka's not backing down from coming back as the head chef," Suki spoke up after a few moments of comforting silence. "And I don't know if I can go back to being a sous chef, I just… don't think I could take that."
"What are you saying?" Azula asked, sounding worried.
"If there's something I don't want to do, then it is to leave," Suki sighed. "But I'm starting to feel as if I have no choice."
"Suki," Azula spoke in a very serious tone, one that Suki didn't hear her use often. She had also turned to face Suki, looking straight into her eyes. "At the risk of insulting everyone else at this restaurant, all of whom are good and hard-working people… now that Jet is gone, but I have to tell you something. You are the most important person at this restaurant. I know it's the Enuaraq family restaurant, and both Sokka and Katara are trying their best. But in my mind, I've always imagined you as the foundation, the rock I want to build this place around. I… don't think I can do this without you, Suki."
"That's… the nicest thing anyone's ever told me," Suki exclaimed, barely able to believe what she was hearing.
"Well, it's the truth," Azula gave her a slightly nervous smile. "Please, stick around for a while longer, and I promise I'll make you the head chef. I have a plan for how to address the situation with Sokka, but it will require your patience. Sokka wants to be the head chef, and I say we let him try. Starting next week, I'm going to push him hard… not unfairly hard, but I want him to show me that he can deliver the necessary quality while handling multiple tickets at once, the same way we did."
"He won't be able to do it," Suki shook her head resolutely. "His brain just isn't wired to think that way."
"I'm with you," Azula nodded. "I also think that he'll fail. And that's a part of my plan. When Sokka fails and the restaurant begins to suffer, it will be so much easier to get Katara on my side and between the two of us we will force Sokka to step down. I swear we're going to make it happen."
"It's going to suck for Sokka, but he kind of deserves it," Suki nodded. She smiled at Azula. "Thank you for believing in me." Azula returned the smile as their eyes met and they both froze. Suki suddenly felt like the air around them was charged with electricity, almost crackling with the magic of the moment. Suki was certain that there was no mistaking her intent as she began to lean forward slightly, watching for the reaction in Azula's eyes. Azula's ember orbs widened in surprise as she clearly understood what was about to happen, but much to Suki's astonishment, Azula did not move away in disgust. Still, this moment of hesitation cost Suki. Azula broke the eye contact and instead of letting the kiss happen, pulled Suki in for a fierce hug.
"You make it easy to believe in you," Azula said. "You're a very good cook, Suki."
"Thank you," Suki replied, lamenting her hesitation that had cost her the discovery of just how much Azula was into girls. "You're a good friend."