>
>> "And no one there had ever heard of the Earth Kingdom, or the Fire Nation,
>> or... or anything from the world I knew."
>
>There's Meiling's point of origin generally confirmed. I do sort of
>wonder if she knows how familiar G actually is with her home realm
>(such as being friendly with no less a personage than the Avatar
>herself.)
>

For all we know, she may be from the era of Avatar Roku.

>
>> She'd take being uncontrollably revolted by licorice over being unable to
>> enjoy half of Gallic cuisine any day.
>
>The reaction of any properly reasoning sentient being that enjoys
>Earth foods. Also, recent news stories have brought back up the fact
>that licorice is potentially lethal even to people who somehow enjoy
>its taste.
>

The danger is in the dosage. A guy drank something like a gallon of soy milk a day for months, and started having hormonal shifts.

>
>> "... Wow," she said at length, wiping the sweat from her forehead with the
>> back of one hand. "How can you eat those by the handful like that without
>> an instantly regenerating tongue?"
>> "I grew up with 'em," Meiling said.
>
>This actually left me wondering, everything so far about Meiling has
>screamed earthbender, or at least that culture, to me but I was under
>the impression fire flakes were rather specific to Fire Nation
>territories and settlements (or deliberately cosmopolitan areas, but
>I'm not sure if Meiling is from Korra's time period) so now I'm
>nursing renewed curiosity about just where she hails from.
>

Another viable hypothesis is that she hails from Aang's time as Avatar, and that Ba Sing Se kept a few Fire Nation restaurants.

>
>For a world quite aware of its reliance on magic for some things, they
>have clearly forgotten a lot of the more mundane utility is can
>provide.
>

Magic, sure. Time travel? Maybe not so much.

>
>> "Get me Septième Bureau," he told the operator. "Urgently. Yes, I know what
>> time it is in Paris! I don't care who you have to get out of bed."
>
>This sort of scene always gets a grin, though I am somewhat concerned
>about this "Septième Bureau." IRL there was a Deuxième Bureau that
>was military intelligence in its time, but I haven't found any real
>life analog to Septième, and I'm really hoping it's more of a
>diplomatic or historical records arm of government than darker
>alternatives.
>

That's probably it; similar to the real-world U.S. Army's G-1 through G-5, but G-6 and G-7 deal with magic-specific intelligence work. G-6 is probably Magical Personnel, while G-7 covers Magical Civilians of Importance.

I'm just guessing, though.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.