Excerpt: The Road to Unity

"Um...breakfast is served?" Katara said with a short laugh, and Mai groaned.

"Okay, just tell me who the genius behind all this is so I can smack them," she said.

"Zuko was looking in the kitchen first!" Sokka called out.

"Hey, you're the one who suggested we make a whole breakfast, I would've been just as happy with a big bowl of Fire Flakes," the prince shot back. "Besides, Aang's the one who cut the fruit wrong."

"And he wouldn't touch any of the meat," Sokka added, and Aang glared at him.

"Hey, at least I measured carefully, you just sloshed water and syrup around like we were having a food fight!"

"And lest we not forget Little Miss Perfect, Katara thought bending the excess lard from the pans was a good idea," Zuko said.

"Oh, shut up, at least I didn't try to light the ovens with Firebending!" Katara snapped. Mai massaged her temples, staving off an oncoming migrane.

"Would all of you just-" She stopped in midsentence when she noticed Ty Lee was laughing. Relief flooded her before she remembered this was not a laughing matter. "Oh, sure, my kitchen looks like a tornado hit it and you think it's hilarious!"

"It's just that you sound like a mom scolding her kids!" At this everyone else started laughing, and Mai rolled her eyes.

"Fine, then, if I'm the mom and you're the kids, clean up this mess right now before I wash your mouths out with soap."

"Look, Mai, we're really sorry about the mess," Aang said. "We just didn't feel like waking the servants."

"Or waiting for them to wake up," Sokka added. Mai sighed, then smiled a little.

"Just don't do it again."

"You have our word of honor," Katara promised, and together they began to clean the kitchen. Despite the catastrophic mess it didn't take as long as they might have thought, and when they were done they took their breakfast into the dining hall where Ursa and Iroh were talking over a cup of tea.

"Oh, look! The kids..." Iroh trailed off at the sight of the scary looking dishes. "Are trying to kill us! Isn't that nice?"

"Long story, Uncle," Zuko said. "But you and Mother are welcome to join us!" Ursa and Iroh exchanged uneasy looks.