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The Admiral had lost his mind. Li wasn't sure when it happened other than it was noticeable when he came back from chasing the Avatar with the lady bounty hunter and worse yet after he went after the Deserter Jeong Jeong. All the healer and medics had been thrown in the brig because he seemed to think they were all spirits. His temper had gotten worse, something Li hadn't thought possible a few weeks before.

Li had been Lieutenant Zhao's cook when he first got his own ship. He had stood beside him when he read about his promotion to Commander a few days before the death of Prince Zuko at the hands of Earthbenders. Now, he was going to murder the man before his madness got the whole fleet killed.

"Chef Li, sir? Are you sure you want to do this? What if someone finds out it was you?"

"Shen, I would rather die than let all these ships get destroyed by the watertribe in the North. If anyone asks, you didn't know I did this, alright? Now go take your break. The less you know, the better."

"Yes sir… It has been an honor."

Li watched his friend and best assistant bow deeply before leaving the galley. He hadn't told Shen what poison he was using or which dish it would be in, so now that he was gone, the work could be done. While the men usually had stews or curry, the Admiral always wanted his own special meals.

Today, he was getting cherry almond chicken porkchops, tea eggs, papaya salad, and seaweed soup. Each dish was laced with a different poison. The chops had cyanide, arsenic in the eggs, a strong muscle relaxer in the soup, and the salad had slivers of unripe nightshade mixed in. It looked so innocent laid out on the tray, beautiful even. 

He made sure it was covered before he delivered it to the man he had served for years. Crossing the deck, he saw Shen give him a quick salute, drawing attention to the both of them. Thankfully, the crew seemed to think the gesture had been a sign of well wishing as he was about to face the man that had them all scared stiff. Li just prayed to Agni they wouldn't turn in Shen too when what he had done was exposed.

Not that he had to worry about that. Zhao never got to eat a bite. That cursed cat that had returned with the landing party spilled the whole tray onto the man's lap. After that, Li laced every meal he brought to the man, but the cat always stopped the man from so much as tasting the food, let alone eating it. It was a bit of a nightmare.

To be entirely honest, the chef wasn't sure what Admiral Zhao was living off of because all the food he was given was deadly and wasted, so how had he survived long enough for General Iroh to arrive? The Dragon of the West  took one look at the man and talked him into eating the curry with rice the crew was having and then drugged his tea. The madman went down like a rotten tree in a typhoon.

After that, Li had no choice but to stop trying to end the man's life. He had hoped the General would end the suicidal invasion plan, but he hadn't. The passed over prince even managed to tame the furry terror, now that there were no toxic meals to relocate to the floor. It was infuriating.

The man then had the audacity to pretend like everything was fine. Their leader had to be drugged or someone was going to put him down like the mad dog he was, they were heading to attack the Northern Watertribe in the dead of winter, and he acted like they were just on a pleasure cruise to Ember Island.

Li was a grown man, so he bit back his anger and resentment. He chewed up his barbed words and swallowed them. After all, everything was edible once, even poison. The chef just hoped his spite killed him before the old doused his inner flame or a waterbender drowned him.