Setting down her ladle, Chiyo folds her arms across her ample belly. "What did I tell you? For this tea, the first brew-"
"- is to wash the leaves only," Iroh mumbles around his throbbing knuckles.
"Yes. Now rinse out the pot and do it again, properly. And wash your hands!"
Iroh chuckles ruefully as he dumps out the teapot. "You're even more difficult to please than Jeong Jeong."
Chiyo snorts. "If he'd ever brewed his own tea, his students would have a much better grasp of the importance of attention. Besides, if you didn't like it, you shouldn't have married me- no, not that tin! Smell the leaves, don't just goggle at them."
"But they smell exactly the same!"
"For someone who enjoys drinking tea so much, you certainly don't understand how to appreciate it." Chiyo sighs. "Go outside and wait while the water cools. Pour it in too hot and it-"
"- scalds the leaves?"
"Well." Chiyo's mouth curls up at the corner, just a tiny bit. "It's going to be a long road for you, but maybe you won't be completely useless at this by the time I'm done."
She whacks him with the ladle again when he tries to sneak a kiss, but it doesn't sting as much as it could have. When Iroh finally does walk out the door, he has a goofy grin on his face, and the water is stone cold.
hearthfire
Date: 2010-08-07 04:01 am (UTC)Setting down her ladle, Chiyo folds her arms across her ample belly. "What did I tell you? For this tea, the first brew-"
"- is to wash the leaves only," Iroh mumbles around his throbbing knuckles.
"Yes. Now rinse out the pot and do it again, properly. And wash your hands!"
Iroh chuckles ruefully as he dumps out the teapot. "You're even more difficult to please than Jeong Jeong."
Chiyo snorts. "If he'd ever brewed his own tea, his students would have a much better grasp of the importance of attention. Besides, if you didn't like it, you shouldn't have married me- no, not that tin! Smell the leaves, don't just goggle at them."
"But they smell exactly the same!"
"For someone who enjoys drinking tea so much, you certainly don't understand how to appreciate it." Chiyo sighs. "Go outside and wait while the water cools. Pour it in too hot and it-"
"- scalds the leaves?"
"Well." Chiyo's mouth curls up at the corner, just a tiny bit. "It's going to be a long road for you, but maybe you won't be completely useless at this by the time I'm done."
She whacks him with the ladle again when he tries to sneak a kiss, but it doesn't sting as much as it could have. When Iroh finally does walk out the door, he has a goofy grin on his face, and the water is stone cold.