A/N: Aaaand we're back! No more reposts! Hooray!
No new warnings for this chapter.
Enjoy!
The temple's kitchen was bustling before long.
"You got this recipe from Avatar Aang? We have one he passed to us when the acolytes first settled here," one of the older monks said with a wrinkly smile as she watched. "We'd have to transfer it to a newer paper but it's still legible-"
"Bah, I've got it all up here!" Chester said, knocking his head lightly with his knuckles. "I know what I'm doing." His eyes had opened a little more as he pilfered the place for ingredients. "There an apron in this place?"
"There's a few in the closet over there, sir," Dawn pointed out. She felt an aura of great wisdom and calm, oddly enough, surrounding Chester, and was also interested in trying a new version of the pie/cake they'd tried making before with Aang's recipe.
"Perfect! Thank you, little lady," Chester replied, beelining to the closet.
Once everything was assembled, he cracked his knuckles. The apron appeared to have been some sort of freebie from a Republic City restaurant specializing in hot tea and cold noodles. "Here we go, kids, watch and learn!" He began the dance of tossing ingredients and mixing them in bowls.
"Had to come up with my own tactic of whipping the eggs into shape without there bein' an air bender 'round to do it for me. 'Course I got one nowadays, haha!" he chuckled after separating the eggs. "But I'll show you my method first." He whisked the eggs violently while hugging the bowl to his chest.
"That looks exhausting," Korra pointed out, totally enraptured by the bizarreness of the scene and having completely forgotten about her earlier panic.
"Rigorous work keeps you young, is what I always say," Chester said in return, tapping off the excess. "It helps when your arm's already primed and ready." He folded the other ingredients into the egg whites, which he had made light and fluffy with his steadfast whisking.
Soon enough the cake pie thingy was baking, and the small congregation waited around for it to finish. Chester sat and appeared to be fading in and out a little focus-wise, but still kept steady as it was time to take it out and make the topping.
"We'd use whatever fruits were on hand in our little Earth Kingdom corner, but you got the real good authentic options here, so I'll try those," he explained as the plums in his hands scattered on the counter. "I need these pitted and sliced up—Avatar, you can atone for your crimes against fruit by gettin' these prepped!"
"You know about that?" Korra asked, stepping up to the counter.
"Of course I do! Nothing gets past old Chester," he replied. "And when one of my grandkids get riddled up like that, I notice."
Korra got to work on the plums, slicing them with a knife. "How many grandkids do you have?"
"Ah, the number's always been very fuzzy…at least, hm…" Chester hummed in thought. "Four? Last I counted there was four…no, wait…what year is it?"
Someone told him the date. "Nah, you're making me feel old! Never mind, it's five! I think…could be more around somewhere, who knows…only two plums, really? If you can burst a melon at lighting pace you can pit a plum just as quick!"
Eventually the cake was near completion. "Apparently the fillin's supposed to swirl up to a point, but we never figured out how to get that shape smooth and pretty. Instead-" he grabbed a spatula and a scoop of the sugary purple plum concoction Korra had been in charge of. "We freestyle!" He slapped a dollop on top and slathered it around the top surface of the dessert.
Everyone present wound up having a turn with the spatula. Dawn's technique was gentle and precise while Korra's was not unlike Chester's, forceful and a bit chaotic. In the end the pile of purple was misshapen as could be, but it smelled too good for any of them to care.
"Dig in, kiddos," Chester said after slicing and dishing out some to the people in the room. His earlier energy appeared to suddenly be sapped. "I'm gonna take a nap." He sat in one of the kitchen's chairs.
"You're not going to have any?" Korra asked before taking a bite herself. "It's really good!" She already got some filling on her face that she wiped off with a finger and licked clean.
"Mm, nah…" Chester declined, propping his face up with his hand. "I've had it a million times…'ll let 'm taste some for me…" He blinked slowly, falling silent and staring off into space.
"It appears that Chester has somewhere else to be right now. Let's not disturb them," Dawn suggested as took a massive bite out of her slice.
"Hmph. It hasn't ever taken this long for someone to start talking," Korra pointed out after another few minutes had passed. By now she'd polished off her slice and was wanting seconds, but the older acolytes around had insisted on saving some for other people who were off doing work around the temple.
Dawn rubbed her head as she watched 'Mike' sitting glazed over at the table. "Their aura feels weird…it's shifting around like crazy," she noted.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I don't know."
"That's really helpful."
"Pardon me, Avatar, I'm just trying to make sense of the situation." The much smaller air acolyte rose to her feet. "I can't know everything going on in their collective mind. I can see and feel their auras, and their spiritual energy, but nothing more than that." That wasn't true, she could see a lot more. It was muddled right now, however. "Let's leave them for a bit. Maybe someone will come around when they're alone." She walked out of the kitchen with what was left of her cake.
Korra sighed dramatically but took one last look at 'Mike' before following suit. I'll apologize again when you explain your hatred of waterbenders.
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