They were almost there. The camp was sure to be just over the hill. And it was. Winry looked around; she saw several things like injured men, a white six-legged bison, and a whole lot of green tents. She looked up ahead and saw an enormous pine green tent. That tent is fit for a king… she thought. Perhaps there was really a king in there. It wouldn't surprise her with these people.
Just then, she shoved roughly into the ground. In front of the prisoners and Winry, was a large, broad man. He wore an intricate green and yellow armor with cape flowing from his shoulders. From the proud, erect posture (and because of his armor and cape, but mostly the cape), this man was obviously highly ranked.
"What do we do with these Fire Nation, General?" one of the soldiers asked.
"What do you think?" asked the General irritably. "Just send them to a prison camp."
Winry now knew she had to speak up for herself now, she might not have another chance again, "W-wait a minute!" she exclaimed.
An escort soldier next to her pushed her forward, "Hold your tongue, filthy Fire Nation!"
"That's the point! I'm not part of the Fire Nation."
The other soldier grumbled, "Yeah… We've heard that before that before. Liars, every single one of them!"
"I'm not lying, I swear!"
"We've heard that too. Why don't you do us a favor and just shut your yappin' mouth-"
Someone else interrupted. It was a young boy. He was bald and wearing orange and yellow clothing, standing out horribly from all the green. In one of his hand was a long staff. Perched on his shoulder was a black and white lemur with big ears and a ring tail.
"What's going on here?" he asked.
The soldier bowed before answering, "Nothin', Avatar. We just got an uncooperative prisoner here."
This 'Avatar' was highly respected. For what reasons, Winry did not know. Perhaps she could persuade him to convince the soldier to let her go. "Please, tell them to release me, I'm not Fire Nation!" she pleaded.
The 'Avatar' tilted his head slightly, "She doesn't look like one of them… Why'd you guys capture her?"
A soldier shrugged, "She was at the raid site, sir."
"What's your name?" the boy asked.
"My master called me Zhu, but my real name's Winry Rockbell," she replied, obviously relieved that someone would lend an ear.
"Does that mean you were a slave or something?" he asked warily.
"Yes, I'm a foreigner captured by the Fire Nation."
"Well, that does explain a lot of things… Like your hair color and your eyes. They're different…" the 'Avatar' smiled.
"Sir?" the soldier on Winry's right asked.
"Can you let her go for just a bit? It's not like she can get away in a military camp."
The soldier frowned, "Are you sure about this Avatar Aang? She could be lying for all we know." His voice held genuine concern.
"Of course! I have an army watching my back, what could go wrong?" Aang asked cheerfully.
The soldier nodded. He quickly untied Winry, who promptly rubbed her raw wrists. "Thanks," she said.
The young boy motioned with his staff, "Here, I'll give you a tour of our encampment."
"Oh no, you don't," a new voice cried. Winry turned to see a girl about the 'Avatar's' age. She walked bare-footed wearing green and yellow clothing like everyone else. "It's time for your lessons, and I'm not about to let you undo all of your training!"
"Sorry, I have to go now. Feel free to explore," he said quickly before being dragged away by the ear.
That's just what Winry did. She walked around looking at everything and looking at their technology. It was horrible. There was almost absolutely nothing to take apart! Those that could be taken apart were so simple, she didn't even need to open it up to know what's inside.
But as she wandered, she found a few soldier surrounding some sort of machine. Feeling a strong pang of interest, Winry walked closer. To her surprise, it was a tank. Sure it was more primitive than the ones back home, but it was still a tank.
"Have you figured out what's wrong with it?" shouted a soldier.
A man, possibly a mechanic, replied, "No!"
"Can I take a look?" Winry asked staring at the tank.
The soldier shook his head, "You just came in with some prisoners. How are we to know you won't hi-jack it?"
"I'm in an encampment of full of soldiers and earth-benders, how do you suppose I'll successfully escape?"
The soldier started grumbling. "Okay… you can go check it out. But no funny business, you hear?"
"Yeah," she said quickly. After climbing inside, she immediately found the problem. From what she knew about technology, there should be an input for energy to make it work. There was nothing behind the grill where the fire should be. (I think that's what you call it, contact me if you know the real name of what I call a grill)
She started to look at the wheels, they were slightly rusted and some parts were loose. Of course she had no proper tools for this.
"I think I found your problem," said Winry.
"So what is it?" asked the Earth Kingdom 'mechanic.'
"It's either there's no fire getting it to run, or the wheels need to be oiled and repaired."
A soldier stepped forward, the same one who escorted soldiers. "I thought you wasn't a part of the Fire Nation?"
"I'm not Fire Nation!" she yelled angrily
"Then how do you explain knowing their machinery?" he asked, gaining murmurs of agreement behind him.
Winry crossed her arms, exasperated, "Back in my homeland, I worked as a mechanic. The technology back home beats the primitive junk you have by a mile! If I can't understand this technology, then I can't call myself a mechanic until I do."
The soldiers started to murmur in thought. The story seemed acceptable. For now…
AN: I haven't watched FMA for months so I think I could've gone OOC on Winry… I'm updating faster, yay! Perhaps I should make my limit 1,500 words instead of 1,000? What do you guys think? I could make it longer, but update will be slower, or I could keep it as it is and update the way I am?
PS: Try checking out "The Unwilling Alchemist" Bad title, but an overall decent story by me! Caution: contains fluffy pet OC. Namely, Nataki
