Author's Note

Round 6 of the Pro-bending Circuit

Words (excluding author's note): 889

Prompts used: (word) Fascinating, (character) Asami, (genre) Family

Korra came home from giving Naga a run to find Asami and Saelee in the kitchen. Asami had brought home a new appliance it seemed. It looked like a box with a glass door. Saelee was looking on in excitement as Asami put a glass measuring cup full of milk inside the box and closed the door.

Korra gave her daughter a kiss on the head. "Hey, Kiddo. What's so fascinating?"

"Hi, Mommy! We're making hot chocolate!" Saelee said, bouncing on her toes.

Korra raised her eyebrows. "With a box?" Just then Asami finished pushing buttons on the front of the machine and it started up. "A noisy box," Korra corrected herself.

Asami smiled. "It's a new product we're bringing out. I thought I'd do a little product testing."

"It's a micowave oven," Saelee declared.

"'Microwave,' Sweetheart," Asami said gently. The little girl practiced saying the word to herself.

"Catchy name," Korra said. Asami looked pained.

"Not every device needs to have an exciting name. Sometimes something simple and descriptive is best. No one ever complains that 'refrigerator' is a dull name."

Korra looked at her wife in amusement. "I sense that you have had this conversation before."

Asami frowned in annoyance. "The marketing department wanted to call it 'The Little Firebender.'"

Korra glanced at the machine. "There's no fire," she observed.

"I pointed this fact out to them," Asami said heavily.

"Microwave oven it is, then," Korra said.

At that moment, the box shut down and a little bell in it went Ding. "OK," Asami said to Saelee. "Open it up and take the cup out. Be careful, because it's going to be hot." Korra saw that the milk was in fact steaming as Saelee poured it into her cute-frog mug.

As Asami added the cocoa and sugar to the mug, Saelee asked, "Mommy-A, what's a mico… microwave?"

"Well, Sweetie, they're like light and radio waves. They actually come somewhere between the two in the energy they carry. And they're just the right energy to get absorbed by the water in the food. So they heat up the water, and then the heat spreads to the rest of the food."

"So what you're saying," Korra said with a grin, "is that it should really be called 'The Little Waterbender.'"

Asami stared at her, "What? I don't even… No, I am one hundred percent not saying anything of the kind." She glared, and Korra burst out laughing.

Saelee's eyes got big. "Mommy-K, do you use microwaves when you waterbend?"

Korra opened her mouth and then closed it. She turned to Asami, eyebrows raised. "I don't know. Do I?"

Asami patted her daughter on the shoulder. "Well, Honey, science really doesn't understand how or why bending works. If I had to make a guess, I'd say microwaves probably aren't part of it. But it's a clever thought."

"So can this thing cook anything?" Korra asked.

Asami gave a little so-so wave of her hand. "Well, it can heat any food, but I think a lot of stuff it wouldn't heat quite right. Like something you want seared or crisp. I want to be able to have a little cookbook that goes with it to help give people ideas of what it is and isn't good for."

"Could you cook an egg in it?" Saelee asked.

"Might be able to do scrambled eggs pretty well," Asami said thoughtfully.

"No, I mean a whole egg."

Korra reflected on how every time she tried to boil eggs, at least one cracked and leaked. "It might be kind of messy," she said. Saelee's face fell.

"It might be very messy," Asami said speculatively. There was a gleam in her eye, and Saelee perked up again.

This sounded promising. "What are you thinking?" Korra asked.

"Well, it depends on how well the shell holds out. If it's weak, particularly in one spot, it will probably just crack early and you'll get half cooked egg white pushing through. But if it's strong enough to hold everything in until the inside heats up above the boiling point... Boom?"

"Can we?" Saelee asked.

Asami knelt down in front of her. "What's the first rule of kitchen science?"

"Don't do it without an adult in charge," Saelee repeated. After a moment's thought she added, "And Uncle Bolin doesn't count."

"Go get your safety goggles," Asami said, giving her a pat to send her on her way. Saelee ran out of the kitchen giggling.

"Most five year old girls don't have their own pair of safety goggles," Korra said elbowing Asami in the ribs.

"That's because most parents are wimps," Asami said primly.

Korra kissed her on the cheek. "Want me to fetch your goggles out of your workshop?"

Asami smiled at her. "Thanks. Always need to provide a good example to her." As Korra walked to the kitchen door, Asami called after her, "Oh, Korra, before I forget." Korra turned and Asami gave her a mock glower. "If any member of my marketing staff ever hears the words 'Little Waterbender' from your lips, you are sleeping on the couch for a month."