Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Romanomicon

by Eduard Tubin

A cross universe epic in which the group finds itself in an odd parallel Earth in which the Roman Empire has advanced to industrialization. The group finds themselves trapped in a province called Estonia and they must find out how they came to be there

Avatar the Last Airbender: The Romanomicon

Part I: North of the Danemark

Chapter 1

In which a young noble of an ancient family meets the Avatar. The young Avatar Aang and his traveling companions arrive in the Duchy of Estonia. Zuko and Uncle Iroh meet another young prince.

Boethius walked along the small trail that ran through the forest behind the old grist mill. He had endured a long Estonian winter and needed the comfort of the long late spring days. The grist mill had a two story high wooden undershot water wheel that slowly creaked and groaned as the creek ran past it. The mill seldom found use any more but the Duke – Boethius's father – kept it in good working order. The centuries old gray stone building had value to the locals as a historic landmark – the first such mill built in the entire Roman province of Estonia. It dated back to the days when the Romans first civilized the Estonians but those resentments had long ago faded in much the same way as the Roman genes of the Boethius family had faded away until they looked like the locals. Roman rule might have meant oppression at one time but Boethius's family had neither slaves nor a standing army. His family did not rule the province as absolute rulers; they stood as constitutional monarchs while elected city counsels and the provincial legislature ran local affairs.

Iohannus Boethius had the long fine blond hair and blue eyes of the Scandinavians although his family line went back to the classic Roman Empire. He stood almost six feet tall and after many generations has as much Estonian or Finnish blood as Roman noble blood and except for the manner of dress he looked indistinguishable from the locals despite being the prince of their province. He wore the black and blue clothes of a noble of Rome and his shirt had a silver pin on the left side that bore the family crest. If one thought that such a distinguished lineage made him pretentious would underestimate the man. He had no sense he had direct control over the lives of the million and a half inhabitants of this far flung part of Europe. His father had a title and opened parliament but he had no power to influence that body. The family had long ago found other ways of making empires. They owned the provincial gas utility, the local hockey team, had interests in steel mills in the province of Sweden along with the King of Sweden and owned lumber mills in Finland.

He found the shade and smell of the pine forests soothing and walked past the grist mill whistling a happy tune in the soft late evening sunshine of Northern Europe. He trudged along the gravel of the path and stopped to watch the crystal clear waters of the creek. With a casual flick he skipped a rock across the surface. The small brown pebble skipped once and sank. His parents, the Duke and Duchess, had left the previous day for a three week tour of the Mediterranean to vacation and meet other important people in royal circles. His parents had left the young prince in charge of the estate but the villa had dedicated servants and ran itself with little work on the part of the young prince so he had a good deal of time to himself. He tossed another small stone into the creek which skipped twice then sank.

"He looks Fire Nation." Sokka peered out from between the cracks of the old wooden shutters that closed in the old grist mill. He eyed the tall stranger as he walked along the path playfully kicking up gravel. "Look at his clothes!"

"Don't be stupid." Katara had endured the hallucinogenic fits of Sokka after he had carelessly consumed cactus juice during their struggle across the Seewong Desert. While they had emerged from the desert they had arrived in this place which seemed to prolong Sokka's symptoms. Sokka still experienced bouts of paranoia and had grown obsessive. "How many silver haired fire benders have you seen?"

"I'll go out and greet him." Sokka announced as he gripped his machete. He got up and walked away before Katara could stop him from acting rashly. "If he attacks me with fire then we know."

"Hello?" Sokka waved at the stranger who stared back with a complete look of stunned surprise. "I'm Sokka of the Water Tribe."

"You have a rather large knife in your hand." Boethius had understood none of what the tall man in the blue clothes had said to him but he did feel uneasy when he caught sight of the knife. Boethius could speak Estonian, Latin and Lithuanian as well as passable German, Russian and Greek. The young man standing in front of him spoke some kind of Asiatic language Boethius identified as some form of Chinese.

"Excuse me." A slender woman in a light blue tunic and barker pants and long dark brown hair came out of the side entrance of the grist mill. "Could you tell us where we are?"

"Can you speak a European language?" Boethius scratched his head as he tried to make sense of the man and the woman. They spoke Chinese but did not look entirely Asian – they had blue eyes. Boethius thought they might belong to the Samoyed people of Siberia or some other related group like the Tungus. Boethius noticed they wore clothes that showed no signs of industrial production and the machete the tall young man held did not look like the product of mass production.

"I can't understand you. I am sorry." Katara tried to refrain from the habit of speaking louder in the manner of ill mannered tourists. The man before her had blond hair but he had the blue eyes of someone of the Water Tribe. He wore fine clothes which bore some resemblance to styles common in the Fire Nation but made of fine blue and black fabric with silver accents.

"I hardly know you young lady." Boethius blushed deeply as Katara placed her hands on the side of his head. Boethius had the typical misogyny found in cultured Roman men – he considered it very abrupt and forward for a woman to touch him – but he found himself too confused to say anything.

"I understand." Katara slowly withdrew her hands. She had a moment of confusion as she tried to comprehend three new languages. She began to make sense of the patterns and even noticed all of them had similarities since they operated with similar rules. She had no clear grasp of any of the languages she had sensed in Boethius's mind but her desperate attempt had given her friends a means to communicate with the stranger.

"We have come a long way and are lost." Katara explained quietly. She blushed as she realized from what she had sensed that Boethius regarded the touch of a woman as a bit off – perhaps he had never had a girlfriend or perhaps she had done something culturally taboo. Boethius had recovered his lost composure and cleared his throat as she spoke. Boethius could make sense of the inelegant phrase and he knew the young woman had no formal mastery of the nuances of the delicate word endings used in Latin. He could understand her in spite of this which shocked him deeply.

"Welcome to the Duchy of Estonia." Boethius bowed deeply as if he had just concluded a grand concert performance on the piano. "You are on the estate of my father the Duke of Estonia: Marcus Boethius."

"We came with the Avatar." Sokka spoke and Katara translated.

"Are you Romany?" Boethius knew of a small number of gypsies that traveled between the provinces of Muscovy and Northern Europe staging circus performances on the edges of Roman cities. Boethius had seen the colorful gypsy camps in the small meadows on the edge of the forest and these strange individuals reminded him of those people. He had no idea what the Avatar could be and decided to lessen his confusion by ignoring that piece of missing information. Boethius could not explain how the young woman could passably now speak Latin and could only wonder about this.

A man in orange and yellow robes and a short stocky girl in tan vest and green pants and shirt walked out together. The monk like fellow held a staff that stood as tall as Boethius while the short, stocky girl looked tough but stared at Boethius with an odd gaze that made him uneasy. The young boy with the blue arrow tattoo bowed politely and spoke but Boethius didn't catch any of it. The young girl pointed at him and looked at Katara.

"Can you help us?" Toph asked as Katara tried to translate.

"How?" Boethius found himself taken somewhat aback. "I can offer you shelter and hospitality but I don't know what you need."

After a brief exchange, Boethius invited the strange guests to stay at his villa. He had not worked out who they were or where they came from but his Roman roots dictated polite hospitality to guests.

The group followed the blond haired man up a gentle slope. Sokka noticed a steel dome reflecting the orange evening sunlight – the Duke's observatory sitting neatly in the middle of a cattle pasture standing at the peak of a gentle hill. Boethius's grandfather had built the large Newtonian reflector many years ago to indulge his love of astronomy when he could not travel to warmer climes to take advantage of hard to obtain telescope time.

Katara and Aang noticed the sun stayed higher in the sky for longer than it did in the Earth Kingdom and concluded they had moved about twenty five degrees north of the Seewong Desert. They talked to each other about how they could fall asleep one evening and wind up in a strange forest the next morning – unharmed but very confused.

"Where can we find the nearest city?" Katara asked Boethius as he opened a cattle gate.

"About five kilometers away." Boethius let his guests pass through the wooden gate and slid the metal bolt closed so the dairy cattle would not escape. The black and white dairy cows looked up and ignored the humans in their midst and continued dining on the tall meadow grass. He pointed to a city in the distance that sprawled along the banks of a river. "Tartu Estonia."

"We need supplies." Katara added glumly. She had begun to realize this world looked very different. She had peered inside Boethius's mind and found no knowledge of bending or the elements.

"I see." Boethius opened another gate and the group passed into the main yard of the Duke's palace. It consisted of a large yard covering many acres surrounded by oak trees and pine trees on all four sides. A large stone paved road ran up the middle flanked by ornamental flowerbeds with a rainbow of colored flowers. The villa as Boethius called it looked nothing like anything Katara had seen. It looked massive with classical Roman styling, carved limestone and a symmetry not seen in buildings before. Whoever Boethius was, he had an important family. Ivy grew up the building and ornamental shrubs sat in an order like soldiers in a garden below the long staircase that led to the main entrance.

They walked across the lawn and across the flowerbed which lined them and up the paved driveway. The vast lawn had a kind of lonely isolation in Aang's mind – it was completely deserted. He missed Appa and he didn't know where he had wound up. He could not force himself to drive these thoughts from his mind.

"Welcome to the Ahornpalast – The Maple Palace." Boethius smiled briefly with some pride.

"What do your family do to live in a palace like this?" Katara asked Boethius as he pushed open the large oak doors and a servant came out to greet him.

"I feel I should explain. I have some travelers to put up for the night." Boethius explained to the servant. "May I use the empty flat next to mine on the third floor?"

"Certainly! it is clean." The servant bowed. "I will go right now and make sure they have all the supplies they need."

"Thank you." Boethius said softly. "I hope this doesn't inconvenience you."

"How many servants do you have?" Toph asked as she felt the perfectly flat marble floor under her feet. She had seldom experienced such workmanship in stone and found it quite pleasing. Sokka could see the delicate marble inlay in the huge lobby which consisted of brown marble inlaid against tan and gray marble tiles to make a delicate compass design. The walls had frescoes of pastoral scenes while a huge chandelier with tiny glass bulbs hung from the high arched ceiling on a delicately carved brass chain.

"We have a dozen in the palace." Boethius answered Toph after Katara translated. "Another eight work the grounds, our orchards and look after the dairy herd."

"Wow!" Sokka stared at the massive chandelier which dangled down from the ceiling. It had large wrought iron rose flowers that formed three circles with the largest at least three meters from the heavy iron pendant in the shape of a rose bud. Small bulbs came out of the roses and gave off a pleasing almost fire like orange glow. He admired the delicate laurel leaves and designs that formed a rosette of plaster on the ceiling directly above the massive light fixture. "You must have a big family."

"My grandparents on my mother's side, my parents and me." Boethius had become used to waiting for the translation. "The first floor has the kitchen, the grand halls for diplomatic functions, the library and offices for our family. The servants have flats on the second floor. My family lives on the third. The others live in the outlying houses with their families. We have a guest house for important guests – not to say you aren't important. It takes time to prepare and we haven't had guests for months."

The lobby had two symmetrical curving staircases made of marble of the finest quality. The lobby could hold a whole Earth Kingdom house and leave room for a lawn. The doors at either end had massive brass fittings and the entire lobby had huge windows made of delicate wrought iron frames painted a brilliant white and fine spotless glass. They followed the arch of the arch of the central lobby and the architect had intended to give the impression of the windows as more glass than wall.

The followed Boethius to the third floor and down an equally immaculately clean hallway with exotic parquet flooring that combine a dark wood inlay that followed the wall with a light tan pine. Light fixtures in the form of an oval glass ball hung from rosettes in the ceiling – the whole building's architectural held together well. Marble and wood floors had similar colors, white plaster walls had frescoes depicting pictures of plants.

Boethius's flat lay on the opposite side of the palace to the ornate main entrance. It proved a baroque festival of fancy plaster ceilings and ornate parquet flooring with tropical hardwoods creating abstract geometric patterns of various reds and dark browns. It had a more human scale with modest sized rooms: the architect had intended people to live comfortably in it. Two wide arched French doors led onto a stone patio that looked out over a large courtyard with a simple stone fountain and paved paths lined with cedar hedges and decorated with beautiful flower beds that held red, gold and yellow flowers. Beyond the courtyard and the tall row of pine trees that marked the boundary of the estate the city of Tartu began to twinkle as the sun set at the streetlights game on.

"May I make you some coffee or tea?" Boethius cautiously asked Katara on behalf of the whole group.

"Tea? Please?" Katara stood in front of the glass doors and watched the fountain spray into the air. 'How very different' she thought to herself as she watched the fountain light up from the bottom and work through a minute long cycle of spraying at different heights into the air. She knew the fountain was a machine of some sort but like the palace it showed a sense of control and playfulness. Rainbows cast in the light of the base played playfully in midair as the soft wind blew the mist off the fountain.

"Certainly." Boethius smiled softly as he took out the glass container with tea. Boethius's flat had a small kitchen with gray granite counters, dark cherry cabinets and an assortment of kitchen gadgets, glass jars filled with basic staples, a delicate blue tea set and a stainless steel gas cooker. He lit the gas ring and place the kettle on the burner. Boethius returned to the room and hit the switch that turned on the living room lights. Several lamps on cherry colored tables around the room came on at the same time with a yellow light.

Aang looked out the large French doors to the City of Tartu. Pumpkin orange streetlights lit up the streets and buildings. Tartu sprawled to the north of the estate and into the low lying hills in the distance. Aang could make out little detail except for a number of tall rectangular buildings finished in metal or glass over ten stories seemed to rise up over the quaint looking older stone buildings. In the distance red blinking lights hung in mid air and blinked on and off at several second intervals.

Tartu had a population of just over a hundred thousand inhabitants and none of them spoke a language Zuko or his uncle could understand. Zuko had explored the city the previous day but he found nothing of any help. The city sprawled for many kilometers along the banks of a lazy river and some distance into the forested hills beyond. The modest sized city had a central commercial district with ornate old stone buildings. To the north the city made a showpiece of newer taller buildings – one appeared to function as the local hospital. The residential areas consisted of homes with lawns, and gardens, parks and schools as well as large blocks of flats with a large area of factories serviced by rail lines on the southern bank of the river. The city sprawled over the landscape and he had not had time to explore it completely. He would not admit this to his uncle but the city had a pleasant and easy going atmosphere to it. Zuko had learned from childhood that the Fire Nation formed the acme of civilization but the people here had missed out on that lesson. The downtown had neat shops which sold all manner of expensive goods they displayed in large glass windows from sweets to baked goods to jewelery. No Fire Nation city boasted the tall pine tree lined paved avenues, neat lawns and large homes he found in this city. The people dressed neatly in a manner akin to the Fire Nation but they seemed devoid of the fear and oppression that characterized life in the Fire Nation.

Iroh had explored the city on his quest for the perfect cup of tea and failed. He had tried to find real tea by exploring the old city and found nothing but dried and bitter orange pekoe and coffee. He could not find a good tea shop in a city as large as this and he pouted as he lamented the large number of coffee houses. Uncle Iroh had long ago concluded they had ended up far outside of the reach of the Fire Nation. The pine trees and vegetation spoke of a location far further north than any Fire Nation held city. The twenty hour long days convinced him that they had ended up further north than any known Earth Kingdom town and the exotic look of the blue eyed, fair skinned people with their almost white hair confirmed this in his mind. He hid with his nephew under a large stone bridge that crossed the river but they had both discovered the heavy steel street cars ran at all hours and made a loud banging as they crossed the old stone bridge. They had both seen the large machines – painted a light cheerful blue on the bottom and white on the top – they made loud rumblings and crackled as sparks flew from their overhead power lines. Neither of them had ridden on one since they had did not know where the machines went.

"Where are we?" Zuko stared across to the eastern bank of the river and out to a large gray stone steeple with a white cross that rose above the pine trees.

"It can't be Fire Nation." Uncle Iroh spoke in his gravelly voice as he sat cross legged on the massive stone blocks that supported the gentle arch of the bridge. "That river has clean water."

"We have no food, no money and can't speak to the locals." Zuko heard a train whistle in the distance. He had seen the long steam driven locomotives belching steam and coal fumes on his exploration of the city and recognized the sound.

"We have no tea." Uncle Iroh complained. "We should pay a visit to the owner of that huge estate outside of town."

"The Fire Nation still wants to imprison us." Zuko said sternly. He dangled his legs off the huge foundation stone. "What makes you think someone here will help us."

"Look around you Zuko." Uncle Iroh pointed his finger and swung his arm in a circle. "You have traveled the world during your banishment but have you seen any place like this? Do you see the scars of war?"

"No!" Zuko placed his hands in his lap.

"Do these people look like us?" Iroh continued in his calm, sage like manner. "Do their buildings look like anything you have seen?"

"No!" Zuko grew morose. "One of the taller buildings had a stylized picture of a flame but in blue."

"I am reminded of your sister." Iroh shuddered as the twilight grew darker. "If she has somehow followed us here then she could do untold harm to these people. I doubt if she has the Avatar to oppose her in this place."

Another street car lumbered over the bridge making a loud banging and shaking loose fine concrete dust that settled on Zuko. Zuko glared at Iroh as he brushed the dust off his shoulder with his hand.

Boethius invited his guests to the Duke's office on the second floor of the villa. He held out a large keyring with dozens of keys and deftly picked the right one and unlocked the dark oak double doors which seemed to glide open on their hinges and had his guests gathered under the light of a green banker's light in his father's office. The office had a huge wooden desk, and shelves filled with books, file cabinets filled with maps and papers. The Duke kept a neat and orderly office. Sokka could see the luxurious wooden floors that flowed through the entire third floor of the villa (or palace as he would have called it). The office took up a huge area – equal to that of Boethius's flat. Sokka spent time examining the various shelves of books and slowly spun the large globe which sat next to the desk as he walked across the room. A large bronze figure half Sokka's height held the stained glass globe on his shoulders and posed as if struggling with the great weight of the world. Aang commented to Sokka that the figure made an apt symbol for his own situation.

His father had large survey maps of the Duchy of Estonia which a team of surveyors had completed several years previously. A large copy of the Atlas of Europe lay on the Duke's large oak desk open to the pages which had detailed maps of Europe. They poured over the maps and Boethius tried to explain their location relative to important places in Europe. The Roman Empire held a huge swath of territory from the Urals to the Eastern provinces of North America, from the Arctic Circle to as far south as Egypt – and had influence beyond the dark red line in the atlas that denoted the formal borders between the empires of the world. Beyond the Urals the Romans shared Siberia with the Nihon Empire. Nihon ruled the Pacific Islands, Korea, the Western Coast of America and Australia as the greatest naval empire the world had ever seen. China had never set out to rule beyond its traditional borders and had chosen to stay as isolated as possible. India maintained its borders against the Muslim World but it too isolated itself from the world at large. The Muslim world controlled Western Asia and most of Africa but sought no territory beyond the lands of Islam. The Americas south of California fell under the influence of the Mayan Empire – a once obscure nation but one made rich by the agriculture of the American Midwest and the resources of South America. Boethius spoke of them as if they were the young upstarts in the world and the most important rivals for the hegemony of Rome.

"The point of all you have explained is that we are no longer in our world." Toph paced the room enjoying the feel of the delicate wooden floor in the Duke's office as much as she could. The little blind earth bender loved the floors of the palace: they had the solid feel of stone or concrete construction and due to Roman expertise in heating and cooling buildings the wood of the floor gave off a gentle heat into the room. Toph had no idea how they had accomplished this although she could feel steel water pipes under the wood of the floor running through channels carved out of the stone.

Katara had easily fallen into the role of translator for the team and feed Boethius the words as almost as fast as Toph spoke.

"I guess not." Boethius said sadly as the bell rung as Sokka flipped the carriage return on the heavy black manual typewriter that sat on the Duke's desk. Boethius said nothing but he politely placed the brown leather dustcover over the machine as a subtle hint to Sokka not to mess with it.

Aang sat cross legged on the floor at a loss for what to say.

"I can't explain how you came to be here." Boethius spoke thoughtfully as he replaced the maps and the atlas in their proper places. He left pauses in his speech for Katara to translate. "I could take you all for madmen escaped from the local hospital but madness tends to have a personal flavor and incoherence. You seem coherent and quite capable of looking out for yourselves."

"Our world has had a century of war." Katara began slowly and tuned her words to make it simple for Boethius to follow. "A hundred years ago the Fire Nation destroyed the Air Nomads and waged a war to conquer the world. In our world, the Avatar maintains balance and peace but he vanished. Aang is the Avatar and destined to bring balance to the world."

"And the Fire Nation is a great power like the Roman Empire?" Boethius asked as he stood behind his fathers massive desk. "We have not had a major war in a century and I have never heard of the Avatar."

"We have four nations: the Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, Water Tribes and Air Nomads." Katara answered as she stood in front of the desk.

Boethius looked down for a moment as he tried to contemplate such a thing as a world of nations named after the four elements of Aristotle. He placed his fists on the desk blotter and waited for Katara to continue.

"Can we go out to the fountain in the courtyard?" Katara decided upon a simple demonstration that would remove all doubt from Boethius's mind. "I have something to show you."

"It has become dark." Boethius stood straight up as if to signal his consent although he had no idea what Katara had in mind. "I'll have to turn on the courtyard lights and I'll warn you in advance that the mosquitoes will come out in force after a few moments."

Boethius left the group in the courtyard and left for a few moments. Everyone heard a loud thump and a buzz and the courtyard lights came on. The lights stood inside translucent glass globes resting on stone pillars. The courtyard filled with the yellow glow of tungsten light and the group saw Boethius walk out from a door that lead from the cellar and approached the group.

"I left the pump off." Boethius jangled his keys as he approached the group. "What do you wish to show me?"

Katara gestured slowly and the standing water in the fountain moved in a huge wave. Boethius ducked behind a cedar tree as if expecting the tree to protect him from a thorough soaking. The water fell back as Katara motioned her hands and settled into the fountain. Boethius watched in disbelief but Katara followed up the trick with something even more fantastic. She made another motion and with a crackling sound the water turned to ice.

"Can you walk on water Boethius?" Katara teased.

"Oh my." Boethius looked at the water which had turned to waxy clear ice, at Katara and back at the water again. He placed his hand on the surface and pulled it back for the fountain had frozen over and the ice felt painfully cold. He struggled to keep the astonishment out of his voice as he spoke. "You can make water do that!"

"We call it bending." Katara motioned again and the water became liquid again. "Toph can make earth do as she wills and Aang can do the same with air."

Toph stomped her feet and a pale tan granite paving stone lifted up from the walk and fell back in place again. Aang gave his glider to Sokka, made a scooter ball and hovered over the ground, raced around the perimeter of the fountain at insane speed and hovered at the feet of Boethius.

"We can't do those sorts of things." Boethius stuttered as the truth of what Katara had claimed flowed over him and melted his stubborn beliefs in reality like boiling water melted ice. "No one can do those sort of things."

When they all returned to the villa, Boethius made sure the servants had set up four comfortable beds with the light blue linens of the household in the empty flat. It looked much like Boethius's flat but had two rooms so Sokka and Aang took one bedroom while Katara and Toph picked the second room. The servants had supplied food and Boethius explained to his guests how the lights and stove worked. He had a headache that refused to go away and he tried as best he could make his injunctions clear. Boethius opened the doors to the patio to clear his head but he felt a dull ache behind his temples.

He arrived at his flat around midnight. He felt exhausted but he did not feel he could sleep and he turned on his large cherry finished wooden table top radio and waited for the vacuum tubes inside to warm up. When he heard the faint static through the speaker he tuned the dial until he picked up a broadcast from Sweden sent out on shortwave from Stockholm by the Swedish Broadcasting System's Swedish International Service. After midnight most Eastern European state and commercial broadcasting networks switched from the program of classical music concerts, sports events, commercial dramas and radio plays to documentaries about other parts of the Empire and the news there and interviews with local noteworthy people. Boethius cared little about the Stockholm Arts Festival or Jazz in Gottingen but the announcer had a soothing pleasant voice and her Latin had a soothing tempo. He turned the volume down to where he could hear it just barely from the couch and lay down to let his mind clear.

The next morning began with rain and a dark cloudy sky. Zuko and Uncle Iroh huddled beneath the bridge and watched the rain hit the almost perfectly still surface of the river. Zuko felt gnawing fatigue and hunger and he unleashed a fire bolt at the underside of the bridge as another street car rumbled over. He had not slept well because of the din from the street cars and because the short night did not provide much time to sleep. Iroh stretched when he heard the fire bolt crackle off the underside of the shallow arch of the concrete bridge. The sturdy Roman concrete didn't even singe and pushed the fire bolt aside. Zuko sat down and his shoulder's slumped as he saw this. He had no idea of the name of the country or people in this city but they built as if at war – heavy stone and concrete. Zuko knew the city lay only a few hundred kilometers south of the Arctic Circle and so the buildings had to protect the inhabitants against the harsh elements.

Zuko climbed the wall of concrete blocks that lined the river and helped Iroh over the ornate cast iron railing that prevented locals from taking a tumble into its cold water. The old city looked subdued on the rainy, cold morning. The street cars rumbled along steel tracks set in the cobbled stones of the city streets. Horse drawn carriages rolled along taking care to stay off the street car lines. Unlike carriages in the Fire Nation these had subdued colors such as black or dark blue with chrome accents, had glass windows and an overhanging roof that sheltered the driver. The odd electric truck or van rushed by ferrying goods and mail around the city. They looked similar to the Victorian era style carriages that carried people but had a bonnet in the front that held the motor and batteries. Very few people walked around in the open and those that did had umbrellas and rain gear. In the distance Zuko could hear a train whistle.

"We have to head this way." Zuko pointed along a wide boulevard leading south. Iroh stepped out but a citizen stopped him and pointed to a three foot white metal flag with a large circular sign at the end that stood out from a pole. It had a black picture of a comic book type stick man in white with a red cross through it. Iroh didn't understand the middle aged man under his umbrella but received the message. An electric carriage with a yellow stripe silently rushed passed him and headed into the old city.

"You have to wait for the green flag sir." The man said politely as he pointed. After a few seconds the white flag swiveled out of view and a green flag of the same shape with a white comic character man rose into view.

The tree lined boulevard ended and turned into a cobbled four lane street as it passed from the old city into a neighborhood of flats to house factory workers. The ornate architecture of the downtown core gave way to four story concrete boxes with brick facades. Beyond this Iroh and Zuko crossed a bridge that led over the railway line that entered the city, past a granary with tall metal silos and an orange painted steel framework and pipes that made it look like an oil refinery. They walked past a milk processing plant, brewery and a meat packers and sundry other industrial plants in bland steel boxes. They reached the edge of the city and passed into the farm country beyond. The road narrowed into a two lane road pave with stone but with a muddy gravel shoulder. Traffic thinned out and most of the horse drawn carriages and truck drivers politely drove around Zuko and Iroh – only a few of them splashed the duo with mud. They walked an entire hour until they reached a large driveway with two large stone pillars on either side and a metal gate and they saw the villa at the top of a gentle hill. Zuko and Iroh looked at each other. Iroh rubbed his shoulders in the cold air. The gates were closed and the villa had a meter tall stone fence covered in ivy built around it. Zuko wondered why these people even bothered with a gate since the wall proved a joke in terms of security.

"What if they have guards?" Zuko spoke for the first time since they left the city.

Boethius had dressed for the day and the servant had provided him with a carafe of fresh coffee. He looked out his French doors and into the gray skies over the villa as he sipped coffee. He went to his radio and tuned the dial to receive the Estonian affiliate of the European Broadcasting Network. He turned the volume up to listen to the news. The radio droned on but nothing caught his attention except for a brief mention of a volcanic eruption in Japan which had met with no reported loss of life. The announcer went on to the sports as Boethius paced the room waiting for the Baltic weather report.

"Estonia have fallen under the influence of a cold, low pressure system out of the North Atlantic. Rain will continue until the afternoon with showers thereafter. The high for today will reach 10 degrees Celsius with lows around 5. Tomorrow will see intermittent clear periods with a risk of showers. The highs are expected to reach 15 degrees with lows of around 5 but the weather is expected to improve over the weekend." Boethius placed his coffee mug on the granite counter of his kitchen as a knock came at his door. He found Katara standing at his door.

"May I come in?" She asked Boethius and she walked in the flat.

"Of course." Boethius said quietly in order to mask his sarcasm. "I hope you slept well."

"We are very comfortable."

"Do you want some coffee?" Boethius nervously offered.

"Sure." Katara watched Boethius pour the dark brown liquid into a gray earthenware mug and offered it to her. He pushed the rack with the honey and cream toward Katara. "You may prefer your coffee with honey or milk – I enjoy it black but some people find it too bitter served black."

"You believe us?" Katara held the mug by the handle. "You do know that our world faces great peril unless we return with the Avatar?"

"I do not know what I believe." Boethius spoke candidly. He walked over to the radio and turned the volume down.

Aang sat on the balcony railing of the guest flat and watched the rain pour off the copper roof. He felt a mixture of guilt and relief as he contemplated that he may have no means of returning to his realm. He felt guilt because he had arrived in what appeared as a realm of relative peace among nations and had left a whole world behind that would perish. He felt relief because he did not have to fear ambushes and attacks by his enemies. He felt safe and secure balancing on the third floor balcony of the villa for the first time in a long while. He had believed he could not escape destiny, but in an odd way destiny had escaped him.

Sokka still held onto his paranoia and he had left to inspect the fortifications. He found the meter high fence around the villa insufficient. He could climb over it with no effort although he could not stop himself from sliding off the slick moss covered stones into a cow pasture. He walked around the villa courtyard and found several large steel gates with a kind of crest – gates to allow the cowboys and their horses to pass – and found it shocking they remained unlocked. He climbed back over and decided to return to the palace and complain to his host – in the most diplomatic manner.

Toph wandered around the palace half expecting the staff to stop her but they acted as if she belonged and went about their business in a professional manner. Toph wanted to explore the villa and find out its secrets but it held none. The basement had a wine cellar, a cold room for storing vegetables, a few servants quarters, a place to make cheese, wine and cider, a machine room that held the massive furnace for heating the building and storage rooms; she found no secret places. Toph could see the entire building clearly for the builders had made it out of very fine stone but it had no tunnels beneath it. She felt bored and decided to find Katara.

"We have the Avatar." Sokka explained to Boethius as he dripped on the floor. Boethius went to the bathroom and handed him a light purple towel. Katara reluctantly acted as the translator for Sokka. "You have no fortifications."

"Fortifications against what?" Boethius looked down at the puddle of water on his floor and scowled.

"People can wander on and off your property at any time." Sokka tried in his annoying manner to remind Boethius of the blatantly obvious.

"Yes I know." Boethius lived on a vast estate and the family had never tried to keep the public at bay for the family lands offered many fine places for picnics and fishing. The villa had servants watching over it and no one ever had stolen anything more substantial than an apple. They had always made the grounds of the villa available for special events and had a hall for hire for ceremonies. "Why do we need fortifications?"

"What if someone invades!" Katara failed to convey the desperation and frustration in Sokka's voice but Boethius heard the message.

"This is a farm." Boethius leaned against the counter in his kitchen. "Not a military garrison."

A polite knock came at the door and Boethius took this as an opportune moment to evade any further argument with Sokka.

"Two very wet gentlemen have come to the front door." The tall butler had a wispy mustache, wire frame glasses and an air of snobbish refinement and a hint of German. Berthold the Butler had served his family with discretion and grace and in the face of odd events he remained his trademark German cool. "They do not speak any language I am familiar with but the young man has a rather serious scar over his left eye."

"Zuko!" Sokka announced.

"Indeed." The servant said calmly.

"See!" Sokka followed behind Boethius as they left the flat following behind the servant like a chain of ducklings. "We have the hoards of the Fire Nation at our doorstep."

"Good!" Boethius said sarcastically having found himself frustrated with Sokka. "What kind of cheese do they enjoy?"

The two men looked like refugees who had crawled on their stomachs to cross the well guarded border of some oppressive state. They sat in their soaked clothes on the fine tan leather sofa set out in the fine lobby. Berthold eyed them with great suspicion but remained quiet.

"Prince Zuko and Iroh of the Fire Nation." Katara began to speak to Boethius.

"You let them in!" Sokka protested. "Hello I am Fire Nation! We will conquer your lands and take your people prisoner. Come on in – we have good food!"

"Calm down and quit acting like an ass!" Boethius's Roman side took deep offense to Sokka's conduct and slapped Sokka upside the face for his insolence. "I have taken no sides in your war and will act equitably! You are here in our Empire and we have traditions we have had for thousands of years and we think they work rather well. One of those traditions obliges us to treat strangers with hospitality! If you want to act like you are full of bull, I will have you put up in the dairy barn next to the manure pile."

Katara translated and Sokka looked at Boethius and seemed to understand the point. Katara had not seen much sign of strength of character in Boethius as he had little to say and remained quiet in most conversations. He had revealed himself as someone capable to decisions if pushed but also as someone who behaved cautiously and made no assumptions about the people he met.

"I know you." Toph rounded the corner from the south wing of the first floor of the palace. She recognized Uncle Iroh at once as he sat on the couch feeling damp and frail.

"You know these people?" Boethius asked cautiously and looked in Toph's direction.

"I have met the old man." Toph said as Katara translated. "He gave me some good advice one time and he fought beside us against Princess Azula."

Boethius had no idea what Toph could possibly mean. He wore a thoughtful look on his face. Boethius had a cautious nature and in the absence of any information proceeded cautiously and decided the situation called for diplomacy. After a moment he decided the two men posed no threat and decided the best course of action consisted of offering them shelter and collecting information.

May I ask your indulgence Berthold?" Boethius spoke quietly. "As you know we cannot abide filth in the Duke's villa. Please supply our new guests with comfortable quarters and make sure they have a chance to take a decent bath, have a decent meal and provide them with decent clothes. I will meet with them in my fathers office when they are presentable."

Katara can you please accompany Berthold and help translate for him." Boethius stood with his arms behind his back like a platoon commander delivering orders but Toph sensed he spoke sincerely. "I do not know what has happened but I appreciate the help of both of you. Thank you."

"I do not wish to be rude but I still have much work to do. I have the mail to sort through and if necessary – forward important news to my parents traveling abroad." Boethius sat behind a stack of mail a full inch thick. Toph and Sokka did not comprehend a single word and nodded politely. He had the cover off the typewriter and several inked stamps at the ready. Boethius began sorting through the pile of mail stacked on his father's desk. He took out a wooden handled letter opener and slit a letter open, inspected its contents and placed it on a pile. He looked at a golden colored letter sealed at the back with red wax as if it contained a revelation from on high.

"Otto von Bismarck." Boethius commented as he held the sealed letter against the desk blotter beneath his hand. Protocol demanded that he maintain the confidence of the Chancellor so he opened a black safe hidden behind the books on the shelf and carefully placed the letter inside it.

Without Katara to translate, Sokka and Toph paced the office impatiently. Boethius decided to let his temper settle down by taking advantage of the lack of a translator to avoid talking to Sokka.

A polite knock came at the door. Sokka made a motion toward the door but Boethius motioned disapprovingly and insisted on answering the door. The little Air Nomad Aang stood with his glider and with Momo perched on his shoulder in the door. Boethius politely invited him in. He decided to say nothing since the language barrier greatly hampered comprehension. Boethius sat back down in the wooden office chair and worked quietly at the stack of mail.

"I saw Zuko and Iroh coming up the drive." Aang told Sokka and Toph and he placed his glider against a convenient chair. "Did Boethius invite them in?"

"Yes. Of course!" Sokka spoke with disapproval. "He sent them off with a servant and Katara to clean off. I guess he won't tolerate dirty people in his office."

"You have to be careful." Toph blew the hair in her bangs up in the air. "You often speak your mind without thinking. He doesn't know you and I sensed you insulted him deeply."

Boethius had heard all of this but ignored it as he worked and waited for Zuko and Iroh. He had no idea what to make of the young boy in orange and yellow garb. Boethius came from a long Pagan tradition – most of Western Europe had never converted to Christianity. When the charm of the old Gods wore off as the Romans progressed through industrialization – most became healthy skeptics. Boethius had seen the supernatural powers of bending and had no idea how to incorporate that in a rationalist world view. He could understand action at a distance mediated by physics. He had read about the possibility of action at a distance mediated by the mind – telepathy, telekinesis and precognition. He had no idea how to explain Katara's ability to peer into his mind – a disturbing power and he could not explain how she could manipulate water. He left it up for time to reveal the nature of these things. He had never encountered religion and had no idea of the Avatar consisted of a religious symbol, a supernatural being or both. In this way Aang seemed even odder a thing than the ability to freeze a lake in summer.

Zuko shoved the door open which gave Boethius an unwelcome start. Katara followed behind him apologetically and in gear to soothe over any offense. Berthold stood quietly at the door with his arms crossed as unmoved as ever. Zuko had dressed in similar blue robes to those worn by Boethius. Katara wondered what the colors meant. The servants and butler dressed in gray and black but she had not seen other Romans.

"Let me guess?" Boethius shoved the heavy wooden chair back and stood up. "Proper behavior is just something that happens to other people in your world?"

"My uncle will come shortly." Zuko replied hastily. "We must talk."

"Thank You Berthold. Please fetch Iroh." Boethius paused and with his fists resting on the desk glared at Zuko. He had become accustomed to Katara providing translation services and she had improved in a very short time. "We are talking although you appear to have forgotten how to behave with propriety."

"Prince Boethius." Zuko stood at the desk. "I come from the realm of the Avatar as the others will tell you. I am Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation."

"You speak Chinese as far as I can tell." Boethius sat back down. "And like the others you come from a world at war with itself."

"Yes." Zuko had trouble taking the young man as a prince of any sort.

"The others claim your nation started the aggression." Boethius and Zuko locked eyes for a moment then Boethius stood up and paced the room. "But if an old man and a teenage boy came to take over the Roman Empire they face many obstacles."

"My father banished me for speaking out of turn." Zuko watched Boethius pace the room. Few Fire Nation leaders seemed as thoughtful or deliberate. Fire Lord Ozai made determined decisions based on power and he sought victory – one did not so much consult with him as obey. "He gave me the scar you see as punishment for my disrespect."

"How old were you?" Boethius trained his blue eyes on Zuko's amber eyes.

"Thirteen." Zuko replied quietly.

"What kind of monster scars a thirteen year old rebellious child?" This shocked Boethius who had used the villa as a vast playground for him and his childhood friends and often caught trouble by doing the sorts of naughty things thirteen year old boys did. He had placed soap in the fountain, planted pumpkins in the flowerbed lining the driveway, stolen bushels of apples, conkers and broken many vases. He once built a hot air balloon out of old linens and he ended up trapped in a birch tree with his friend Aino. The fire brigade rescued them and extinguished the small forest fire set by the crudely designed burner in the balloon. The chief of the fire brigade scolded both boys, his father lectured him, grounded him but accepted this as part of the nature of boys. Education in the Duke's opinion along with careful mentoring would produce a decent human being with proper values.

"My father did and he banished me for my dishonor and I spent the last three years searching for the Avatar in hopes of capturing him to regain my honor." Zuko faced Boethius. "I thought I could earn my father's respect."

"You do understand Aang is a guest of mine." Boethius looked at Zuko nervously. "I will offer him sanctuary here."

"You miss my point." Zuko said in a sad voice. "My uncle and I now have become refugees from the Fire Nation. We are wanted men."

"Wanted by whom?" Boethius had impeccable Latin. Katara found it difficult to sort the sweet sounds of Latin into Chinese because Boethius had at his disposal a language which allowed free word order and played with it for emphasis. Latin had soft consonants and simple vowels and it struck Toph as a language well suited for poetry. Katara had to contend with Boethius's complex constructions such as As for Monsters your father is, what kind that a thirteen year old child rebellious can scar? Chinese used small, simple words in groups to convey ideas, Latin made one word do the work of four with its intricate grammar.

"The Fire Nation considers us traitors and the Earth Kingdom considers us war criminals." Katara surprised Boethius by coming close to the word order a Latin speaker would chose: Traitors, the Fire Nation us considers, yet war criminals the Earth Kingdom. She had begun to understand that in Latin rhetorical devices played a key role and Boethius played word games in everyday speech. The thing deemed most important came first with the other information following with repetitious information omitted. Boethius found himself very impressed to hear a sentence that didn't sound broken.

"All prisoners are innocent." Boethius said sarcastically. "Even on the gallows."

"We didn't do anything." Zuko heard Katara speak but pleaded to Boethius.

"Very well." Boethius waved Uncle Iroh forward. "I am Boethius the Prince of Estonia."

"I am Iroh." Uncle Iroh spoke in his gravelly voice as he tugged on the sleeves of his shirt. "I am the brother of Fire Lord Ozai."

"Wanted by two nations?" Boethius faced Iroh with a steely eyed look in his eyes determined to ferret out lies. Iroh found himself a bit taken aback by the young prince who began to question him so directly. "Have you any insight into the nature of your crimes?"

"My brother accuses us of losing the Siege of the North." Iroh replied calmly as he gently patted Zuko on the shoulder.

"He decided to decimate you." Boethius crossed his arms and wore a thoughtful expression. If a Roman army lost a battle then punishment came in the form of decimating the ranks or randomly killing one out of every ten centurions. "An ancient and barbaric practice."

"The Earth Kingdom...." Iroh began but Boethius held out his hand.

"They have no jurisdiction here." Boethius stopped the conversation. "I can make no sense of this situation – how you all came here remains a deep mystery to me."

Boethius stood and looked out the patio doors and remained silent for a second. He turned around and looked at Berthold and put his hands behind his back.

"Attend to their needs please." Boethius asked of his butler. "Will you and your uncle follow our butler please."

"Very well." Berthold motioned for Iroh and Zuko to follow him.

Shouldn't you do something?" Katara protested after Berthold had closed the door.

"What do you suggest I do?" Boethius asked quietly as he paced the room. "I think you vastly overestimate the reach of my position. I have no evidence to suggest they have done anything in breach of Roman or Estonian laws and I have never heard of any Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom. What do you suggest I tell the police? I can't even come up with a lie that sounds plausible, the truth would make it sound like I had come unglued."

"Prince Zuko can't be trusted." Katara continued.

"Then I have him in the best place possible." Boethius answered back calmly and noticed the stocky earth bender following him around the room while the others remained quiet. "If I keep him in the villa I can watch him."

"He doesn't believe you." Toph said rudely.

"Prince Zuko and his uncle can fire bend." Katara tried to make a convincing argument for her fears.

"I must ask for a demonstration later today." Boethius turned around as he walked past Katara and faced her. The look on his face showed he had taken her bluntness as an affront to his position and she saw that in his view she occupied a subordinate position in terms of her social position, gender and race.

"I wish you would not confront me." Boethius said quietly without anger. "I appreciate your help and effort but I find it difficult to have you countermand me at every turn. Please take into account my feelings – I find it deeply humiliating."

"I only want you to take care." Katara backed up sensing her closeness made Boethius uncomfortable.

"I think..." Boethius sat back in his seat and looked on with resigned irritation when Toph sat on the edge of his desk. "I think you all should tell me about your adventures. I need to understand a great many things."