OKAY It's still Monday where I am and I'm so sorry for the delay, but here is the snippet as promised. This is the first little section of SoC Chapter 9 ....
By the time they arrived in Chenbao the sun had long since sunk below the horizon, but the Blue Dragon Festival was not to be deterred by anything so trivial as the setting of the sun- the riverside path along the regatta route was teeming with tourists and food stalls, lit surprisingly well by paper lanterns strung close enough together to be a fire hazard.
Arriving this late on the first day they had missed the opening ceremonies and a number of competitions, involving mostly novice local rowing crews- nothing Kazuo seemed too concerned about. He had spent the better part of their journey dealing cards and explaining the different function of each individual seat in a rowing crew, which Lin found to be rather tedious on its face, but the enthusiasm with which he spoke was so endearing she found herself asking a remarkable amount of follow up questions. Though she did roll her eyes when she asked what seat Kazuo had occupied in his crew and he replied, “eight- the stroke seat” with a suggestive wink.
She half expected him to lead her to bed as soon as they checked into their room, but instead he suggested they go out in search of a quick meal and walk along the promenade. It was just as well since Lin was starving and had it on good authority (the concierge) that every vendor along the riverfront would be serving up some version of Dragon Ear Dumplings- a favorite street food of hers back home. From the moment they set off Kazuo was pointing out the various grandstands and enclosures for viewing the races and sundry seacraft moored along the banks or tucked neatly away in their boat slips. His ardor for this regatta was nearly tangible and Lin wondered aloud why he is only just now attending for the first time.
“No room in my calendar,” he shrugged casually, before spotting something in the middle distance, “look at this,” he declared, picking up her hand and pulling her toward a food stall with a sign touting Dragon’s Beard Noodles made with purple scorpion pepper. “How is it that this place in the middle of nowhere has purple scorpion pepper, but when I ask about it in the Fire Nation district of Republic City people look at me like I’m insane?”
“Our noodles are very good,” a little old woman, reminiscent of a stunted root vegetable admonished from inside the food stall, “if you don’t like the pepper then go somewhere else.”
Kazuo reeled back a little, caught between shock and humor, “What?”
“Middle of nowhere,” the woman muttered angrily, “look at all these people! You are somewhere, yes? Somewhere standing around like an idiot blocking my shop.”
Kazuo laughed incredulously, looking to Lin, and then back at the old woman, “You are talking to me, right?”
The woman on the other side of the counter looked positively incandescent, “are you deaf or just stupid?”
While Kazuo seemed to be taking this unprovoked lambasting in his stride, Lin felt a swell of ire raise. “Hey!” Lin barked, taking a step forward and pointing one stern digit in the old lady’s direction, “he wasn’t talking to you.”
The old woman’s maw snapped closed, startled. From the corner of her eye, Lin could see Kazuo’s eyebrows raise in surprise, “and the only stupid thing I see here is charging ten yuans for boxed noodles.” She hooked her arm at Kazuo’s elbow, marching forward haughtily “Come on, Kaz.”
They had only made it a few steps before Kazuo spoke, barely containing his laughter, “were you-” a laugh escaped, “were you going to fight that old lady for me?”
Lin chanced a look at him, meeting his eyes in her periphery for only a second, but it was long enough for the tension to break over a sputtering laugh of her own. He matched it and somehow that just made her laugh harder, which in turn made him laugh harder until they were both completely overcome, leaning against each other for support.
After a prolonged moment Kazuo managed to catch a breath, wiping at his eyes, “is that your cop voice? Did I just hear your cop voice for the first time? She looked so scared.”
Lin drew a breath amidst her laughing fit long enough to choke out, “it’s my regular voice.”
Somehow that made Kazuo laugh harder, “No, it’s not. I was afraid for that woman’s life.”
Lin returned his mirth, “I didn’t- I didn’t intend for it to come across that forcefully.”
He waved her apology away as their shared outburst began to subside, putting his arm around her shoulders to squeeze her in closer as he joked, “Are you kidding? Baby, that was the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me- I have some legislators I’d love to introduce you to back home.”
Though he said it in a teasing manner, the use of a nickname like that sobered her entirely, though she didn’t reprove him for it. Instead, she leaned in and let him kiss her temple, smiling all the while. “Alright, let’s find some dumplings, but keep your voice down– and in the name of the spirits don’t mention scorpion peppers,” he warned.
Eventually they found their dumplings and a retaining wall at the edge of the river on which to share them. Over a modest take out carton they exchanged more laughs and stories from Kazuo’s rowing crew days and Lin’s training days at the Metalbending Academy.
“I promise the venue for tomorrow’s dinner is a step up from this,” Kazuo assured apologetically.
But as the lantern light glinted off the river before them, Lin decided there was no amount of money, no grand setting that could possibly compare to this moment.
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