Boiling Point
Big Tile

"I heard they put you into the cooler on your first day for doing nothing."

Lu Ten found himself looking up from where he sat next to Akio at a rather large man. He suspected the man in front of him would tower over him if he stood up, but the urge to stand up and do a height comparison like his sixteen-year-old self would have quickly ebbed into the background.

He let his mouth twist into a smile. "Why would you ask that?"

Even after Akio arrived, the other prisoners stayed away from him for the reason the man in front of him brought up, yet in the back of his mind, there was an inkling that the man in front of him might be one of those looking for a fight. If so, Lu Ten planned on avoiding the face so that he'd hopefully not end up in the cooler. The man continued looking at him. "Well?"

"It's just odd that your even asking, when the other prisoners avoid me because that quickly gets around," Lu Ten stated.

"Then it is true." The man stated, which perplexed Lu Ten, but then he said. "What did you do to get thrown in?"

"Apologies for not saying what that reason is, but to point out that I actually didn't say it was true or not. I simply noted that the other prisoners avoid me because that's what is said."

"He doesn't." The man pointed at Akio.

Lu Ten glanced over at Akio. Akio didn't flinch at all. "We simply knew each other from before we ended up in here. That kind of thing."

"I see." The man watched them as if pondering something. "How long?"

Lu Ten took a deep breath. "Don't know."

"Do you have any news regarding Prince Zuko and Prince Iroh?" Akio asked, making Lu Ten glare at him. "See, I got thrown in here around that time, but my friend here has been in here even longer."

"The banished prince," the man frowned. "Why are you interested in the banished prince?"

In the back of Lu Ten's mind, Akio stepped into it, yet he also found himself trying to think of a way out of the situation. "Why was he banished?"

"Why?" The man looked up, obviously pondering the question, but then looked down. "Neither of you actually know that?"

"No," Akio stated. "And it's not as if anybody is going to tell us."

"Ah." Said man didn't answer why Zuko was banished. "Do you know he's been told that he can't come home until he finds the Avatar?"

"What?" Lu Ten found himself caught off guard. "Nobody talks about the Avatar, but finding the Avatar is as impossible as escaping from here."

"With just the two of you."

Which in turn hit on what the man wanted. Lu Ten frowned, his entire body tensing. "Perhaps not be so loud. That kind of talk is one of the things that will result in you getting tossed into the cooler."

"Even though it is impossible," Akio sighed. His friend, unlike Lu Ten, attempted putting on a smile. "You didn't answer what got Prince Zuko punished."

"Prince Zuko was banished for doing the honorable thing, but you didn't hear that from me. Perhaps we could talk another time."

"Perhaps." Lu Ten looked at his hands, watching the rather large man who he didn't know the name of walk away from him.

"Escaping with just the two of us is impossible," Akio stated what they'd so far not said out loud. "But I think the same goes with just the three of us, with the skills we have. I mean, we don't know what his skills are, what he's in here for."

"He's interesting."

"Interesting?" Akio shook his head. "I thought you outgrew that brash nature of yours, leaving it behind in our youth Lee."

"Father would find him interesting as well, but he'd wonder what tile he was."

"Did you just..." Akio's voice strained.

"What?" Lu Ten looked at Akio. "What did I just do?"

"You waxed words of metaphorical wisdom like your father."

"I..."

"You've been in here too long." Akio let out a sigh. "What do you think of what he said?"

"About Prince Zuko doing the honorable thing." Lu Ten let out a sigh. "It's a relief in some ways, in the fact it means he's still himself, but in that regard, it's not surprising that he'd be banished for that." It also meant Zuko wasn't banished because Ozai learned the truth. "That said..."

"He's chasing the Avatar? What was Ozai thinking?"

"That Zuko will never return home, but that his favorite will inherit instead," Lu Ten muttered. He swallowed, a thought crossing his mind that such a search might harden Zuko in ways that Ozai never could, particularly when Zuko craved the recognition from his father he so deserved. Lu Ten pinched his nose. "I really messed up, didn't I?"

"Come on. It's not that bad." Akio stated calmly, but then let out a sigh. "Okay. That's not something I really can say, but I know that you're blaming yourself again. That you weren't the father you wanted to be."

Lu Ten glanced up at the sun.

Days later, the prisoners started talking about the Avatar being alive, first one prisoner than another, slowly growing bolder once they realized the guards didn't mind them speaking of Prince Zuko's impossible journey, but Lu Ten found himself hearing that it was for doing the dishonorable thing.

"You know, there are a few prisoners who have a habit of spouting off some strange conspiracy theories, but there has never been talk among the other prisoners about the Avatar in here, that he may, in fact, be alive. And now this?:"

Akio shook his head. "You take too much guilt onto yourself."

"But isn't that why..."

"Is it, or are you wanting a hope for the future, for your future. By that I mean Zuko."

In the back of Lu Ten's mind, he couldn't help but think the sudden change in conversation was related to the rather large guy he and Akio eventually learned was named Chit Sang arriving at the prison. Nothing else changed about their situation, yet Chit Sang kept his distance, watching carefully, almost as if waiting for just the right moment to approach him again.