The one-eyed Avatars

Chapter 5

  The firebender put his dress shirt on, a fine one he had ironed just yesterday evening, he had asked Kuei for his ironing supplies. Lovino had quit his job at Sadıq and Gupta's restaurant after he had finally deemed it too dangerous, their exchange pupil Tarkan had given him a weird, suspicious look. Perhaps he was overreacting, but the risk was too high, not only because of the exchange pupil.
  Lovino looked into the small mirror in the room, clipping his hair back and slipping into his new, fashionable tweed vest. The restaurant he was going to today for the job interview was a better restaurant, were people with better-paid jobs went for lunch and people went for dates in the evening, the other restaurant had been more for people drinking a little after work or people who wanted to eat out but didn't have much money, in other words, the other restaurant hadn't been bad, but fairly simple.

  This was a league above, but he thought he could do this, he had proven himself to be a fast learner in cooking as well, the teenager could already handle poultry, pork and some smaller mammals like rabbits, he was learning about horse meat and he'd also start working with beef soon, or so he was hoping.
  The firebender splashed some water in his face in the bathroom, looked at his reflection with grim and mumbled "You got this" to himself.
    "You got this."

  When he showed up in the backyard of the restaurant another girl stood there, about his age, wearing clothes Lovino had never seen before, a solid leaf with a bend as a hat and a deep blue dress, she was standing on a lantern and playing with some water by bending it in a circle with ease. Her two long, black pigtails were held together by pretty ribbons made of reed and straw that colourwise matched good with her darker skin tone.
  She noticed him and smiled. "Hi" she casually said, she seemed to be a very open personality.
   "Ciao" Lovino said and tried to smile, but he was both too afraid and too nervous. "You're here for the interview as well?" He asked, maybe it would distract him from his emotions. He leant against the lantern next to her.
  The girl nodded, smiling lightly. "I am. Good luck to you" she said, and Lovino noticed something else in her smile and her eyes, something fearful, or rather broken, but before he could say anything else the house's rear door was opened and a beautiful woman in her fifties stepped outside, dark hair and white clothing, it felt like she had something mythical to her.

   "Hello" she said and both teenagers knew directly who she was, she was the owner of the restaurant, Alexandria Karpusi.
  Lovino's "Buon Giorno" and the waterbender's "Bonzour" mixed, but the message got through and they were both waved inside. She had a nice but small office with pictures hanging everywhere, her and her two sons, her at different locations and iconographics of different gods Lovino had never seen.

   "So, Michelle, Angelo." She began, the smile from before was now nearly gone, but she maintained the friendly tone. "I've looked through both of your applications and I must say, you both have very specific, useful skills. I appreciate young talents, so convince me why I should pick you. Michelle, you start. This is an easy interview, remember that, I wouldn't make it so easy if you two were older."

  The waterbender girl who's name appeared to be Michelle nodded, smiled, and began to talk. "I have a wide experience in the field of fish, dried foods and spices, and I am trained in using my waterbending to dry and cook food, we used to do it all the time-"
   "I know all of these things, you wrote them in your application and I must say I am very impressed" Miss Karpusi interrupted the teenage girl. "I need other things than background information."

  Michelle nodded apologisingly and continued. "Well, I am very good in teams and very motivational, and I love what I do, because I do it for others."
  Lovino was impressed by her small speech she had improvised, but soon Michelle was finished and Miss Karpusi looked at him, his heartbeat suddenly got a hundred times faster than it had been before and he swallowed heavily.
   "No stress, not yet" the owner said, looking into his eyes with a calculating look.
  He quietly cleared his throat to focus. "I can work concentrated and I am a very fast learner, so what I might not know yet, I will learn very fast. I'm determined to do exactly that, but I don't underestimate the importance of breaks either."