On a String

Chapter 10

"Cast me not away.
Say you'll be with me.
For I know,
I cannot bear it all alone."
Understanding (Wash It All Away)' by Evanescence.

"What should we make besides salad?" Cole asked as he entered the kitchen, Kai close behind him.

He had been expecting Kai to not answer, so was surprised when an actual response was given, albeit quietly. "What other things do we have?" Kai asked, looking around the kitchen.

"I'll check the pantry. Could you have a look in the fridge?" Resting a gentle hand on Kai's shoulder, the Master of Earth gestured across the room. "Zane cleared the thing out a while ago, complaining that we kept it in a really messy state. Get this; he actually put all the vegetables in the veggie compartment and the meat on the meat tray. I don't know what he was thinking. And I still can't find where some of the stuff is,"

Normally, Cole wouldn't have talked quite so much about the fridge. It wasn't a very interesting topic. But since Kai seemed to like listening to him talk, he was willing to chatter on a bit more than usual. "I mean... why does our fridge have separate compartments for fruit and vegetables? It just makes finding the tomatoes hard. What with the whole 'tomatoes are fruit but they don't go in fruit salads' logic and stuff. Does Zane put them with the apples or with the carrots?"

Kai shrugged. "I think tomatoes can also be kept out of the fridge," he volunteered softly.

Cole sighed. "... Great. Well, if you see them, could you tell me? Otherwise we'll have to start putting up 'wanted' posters or something,"

Quietly, Kai nodded, walking towards the fridge while Cole turned to open the pantry. "Argh! He's done the same thing in here! What is it with that Nindroid and logic?"

"So, know any good recipes with eggs, mashed potatoes, bread, flour, carrots, celery, butter or apples in them? I think there's some lettuce around here as well, but that's needed for the salad,"

Kai shook his head.

"Well that's okay. I don't either," Cole frowned at the large pile of ingredients on the bench. "I suppose we could mix the vegetables into the mashed potato and fry it or something. Or we could always go for the scrambled eggs on toast approach. What's the plan of attack gonna be?"

Kai shrugged, but watched on with interest. Cole noticed that he did that a lot- he seemed to be constantly assessing everything around him; quietly taking everything in and processing it. It didn't seem to be out of uneasiness at the moment, but Cole didn't think it was from simple curiosity, either.

He made a mental note to keep an eye on Kai. He didn't want him to find something to be out of place and get upset by it. It wasn't something the 'old' Kai had done, and Cole didn't know if he should be worried by it or not.

"I suppose we'd better use up the mashed potato," Cole decided. "Could you wash the lettuce and peel the carrots for the salad? I'll heat the frying pan up and get the potato cakes ready," he wasn't going to let Kai near anything hot. To do so would be cruel, considering what was on Kai's shoulder.

"Okay," Kai nodded.

Cole was about to go in search of the frying pan, but stopped as another instruction came to mind. "Make sure the water's not hot when you wash the lettuce, okay?" he asked. Kai gave him a questioning look. "It's not good for the leaves," Cole explained. Actually, he had no idea if it was or not. But he didn't want Kai to get burnt.