It was the middle of the night in Scotland. The Ferguson province had fallen. The Douglas and Wallace provinces were already under attack. At the Edinburgh Castle, William was in bed sleeping and could've been thinking about that, but instead was having a flashback to one of the most horrifying experiences of his life.

OLD-WORLD SCOTLAND, 1301

William was 12 years old. Scotland had been fighting for independence for years. His village was made up of farmers and simple landowners. Longshanks had invited the village's men to attend a parlay at a local barn. No weapons. No deep political arguments or negotiations. Just a one page "proposition". The majority of the village's men had agreed and went to the parlay.

Although he might arrive late, William's father Connor MacKay reluctantly decided to attend. William attempted to go with him. Connor wouldn't let him.

"I thought I told you that you weren't coming.", Connor said.

"Father, I finished my work already. Besides, where are you going?"

"The MacAndrews barn."

"Can I go?"

"No. Go home William."

"But-"

"Go home! Or else you'll feel the back of my hand."

While Connor rode on horse to the barn, William decided to go anyways and took a shortcut to go undetected.

William got to the barn before Connor. There was nobody outside. Not even horses. It was quiet. Too quiet. From a distance, Connor was on horseback and saw William standing just outside the barn. Now mad that his son has disobeyed him, he slowly rode towards him.

William slowly entered the barn. When inside, he was horrified at what he had seen. Every man there had been hanged. By now, they were all dead. He slowly walked around looking at what had happened. Some of the men he knew personally. There were even a couple 12 year olds. He broke down and started crying. He bumped into one body and then screamed. He bumped into several more as he tried escaping.

Connor, who had stood in the doorway for a second, saw William trying to get out. When he reached the doorway, Connor grabbed him and took him back outside. Instead of yelling at him, he hugged his son, who was crying and more scared than he'd ever seen him.

BACK TO PRESENT

William instantly woke up. The flashback was a nightmare. He looked around his bedroom and then stared at the ceiling until he fell asleep again.

THE NEXT MORNING

William awoke and thought about the nightmare. He got dressed and then went downstairs. He was no ordinary king. He never once thought of wearing robes, garments, rings, and a crown. Instead, he wore a brown shirt, and a kilt with the Clan MacKay tartan on it. The tartan was a blue and green plaid pattern. Every clan's tartan was the same as it was in the old world. One of William's books he had with him when he was transported to the Avatar world contained exact pictures of all the tartans of all the clans in Scotland.

After getting dressed and before going downstairs for breakfast, William always went out onto his balcony and overlooked the new world Scotland. It looked very similar to the old world Scotland. There were birch and spruce forests and there were mountains everywhere that had snow on top. Because it was the northern Earth Kingdom, it was also very cold. Regardless, William loved it. It was a landscape that made him happy.

But deep down, William wasn't as happy as he tried to be. There were a few people missing from his life. Ten years earlier, he had separated from Toph when she moved to Republic City. What was even more devastating was that she took both of their daughters Lin and Suyin with her. He hadn't seen any of them since then.

William went downstairs and ate. The castle kitchen, which was on the second floor, had a large window so part of Edinburgh could be looked at while eating. Sitting at a large table in the kitchen were William Jr, Robert, and Campbell.

"Did you sleep roughly, father?", William Jr asked.

"What makes you say that?", William responded.

"You never talk at breakfast after you've had a rough sleep."

"I'm fine, son."

"Father...Were you dreaming about mother again?", Campbell asked.

"Give it a rest, will you lad? If you bring it up again, I will kill you with just my thumb.", Robert said.

"Settle down, Robert. And no, I wasn't dreaming about anything. Now all of you finish eating. We have much to do now that we're in the middle of a war.", William said.

"Sir!", a man said as he ran up some stairs into the kitchen.

"Morrison?"

"Sir, Hamish has returned in the balloon."

"I'll be down in a minute."

William went out front of the castle to the war balloon as Hamish stepped out.

"I'm back, father.", he said.

"And you're still completely in tact", William humorously said. "So, how did it go?"

"Aang was reluctant, but he and Katara will join us."

"Are they far behind?"

"They took their little ones to the Southern Water Tribe. They don't want them getting involved. They'll be here in three days."

"Great. It's probably best to send them there."

Stephen then got out. He hadn't seen his father in months, since he was too busy being king of his own island. He and William quickly hugged.

"How's Ireland, son?"

"Still great, father."

"Did you by chance get any support from your fellow Irishmen?"

"Hamish told the council and I the whole thing. They'll take care of the specifics while I'm gone, but I estimate that we'll have hundreds of soldiers arriving if all measures are approved."

"Well, I appreciate the effort. But at some point we'll need more."

"How much more?"

Hamish interjected. "Well, England has 2 million people, Scotland has 235,000, and your island has 60,000. And only about 25 percent of them are able bodied men capable of fighting in battle. The rest are either women, children, or elderly. So you do the math."

"...I'll do the best I can"

Unbeknownst to William, Aang and Katara were about to take the liberty of recruiting the rest of the Gaang to help out. That included Toph, the one who'd been absent for ten years.