The sun shone down on the Fire Nation Capital. The gardens loomed with summer flowers. Voices could be heard only a few yards away. Just behind the lush green bushes lay a boy just to wake up.
"You and Mai are alright with this arrangement are you not Ty Lee?" Said Princess Azula.
The boy rustled where he lay. "Where am I?" He grumbled. Then stopped when he could hear others in the background.
"Of course Azula. Whatever is necessary…we're a little disappointed about missing the fun. But the eclipse is a necessary—" Azula put a quick hand in a stop signal.
"What?"
Azula was staring toward the brush. "We're not alone." She went over to the spot.
"Crap." The boy said, waiting for the demon ladie's approach.
"What do you think you're doing here?" She asked as he rose when he found he was caught.
"I'm, um, I'm not sure exactly."
She smirked. "Well, I could fix that for you. Have you ever been to a Fire Nation prison?"
The boy wasn't confused anymore. He knew where he was. "I'm serious. Someone must have put me here because I wasn't here last night!"
Ty Lee skipped over. "You look a little young to be drinking." She questioned. "Azula are you really going to put him in the dungeon?"
"Well, if he can't answer my questions as to how anyone who had put him here had passed the guards, then I don't see why not." The princess said nonchalantly. "Get a pair of guards over here will you Ty Lee?"
The girl skipped off.
"So. What have you got to say?"
The boy was still clueless. "I told you, I don't know how I got here!"
"By the look of your clothes you look pretty suspicious to me. Give me a name."
"Travis."
Azula looked at him, puzzled. "Odd name."
Travis made a mock sound, but he quieted when she glared at him. "Oh look. Guards, take this one to the dungeon. Hmm, let's let him go visit Uncle shall we?"
"Uncle? You're—" He didn't finish his words when two guards took hold of his arms and led him away.
Travis squirmed and kicked, trying to get himself free of the men's grips but was over powered. The soldiers dressed in red armor didn't say a word as they led him down hallways, eventually walking him down a pair of narrow fire lit stairs. Barred men called and pleaded as they walked by, it took a locked metal based door and another flight of stairs before they reached a smaller cell hallway, where at the end they stopped.
The boy glanced over to see a short gray haired man with broken eyes stare over at them. He turned back to the given cell however when the soldiers threw him in.
"Now don't try anything old man. Or you'll answer to the Princess Azula." The two soldiers mocked as they secured Travis's cell and could be heard walking away, shoes tapping on the metal floors.
Travis took a glance around him. The small square space; the walls were of a dull metal, a bed sat at the opposite wall to his right (if you could even call the rough cot a bed at all), and the ceiling above him were thick bars that cris-crossed, and another ceiling was seen higher up. A small shimmer of light showing through a hole in the wall.
Then his eye sight fell onto the man across the room. He knew who he was; the once great General Iroh, though he knew that he must be that man still. However, looking across from him, he didn't seem to fit the profile. Iroh sat still, slumped on his cot, head bowed and hair strands around his face.
Travis sat and wondered what he was going to do next. And wondered why Iroh sat there like he was nothing at all.
"Um," He choked up on only a whisper. "Um, you wouldn't happen to be Iroh would you?"
The man didn't stir.
"I know you are. You're the great General Iroh. Why are you just sitting there like that? Why don't you just bust out of here?" Travis asked.
Iroh glanced up at him. "And who might you be?" He spoke softly if not on purpose, but of lack of speaking to anyone else probably.
"Oh, I'm um, Travis…I'm not from around here. Azula threw me in here."
He gave a questioning look. "Well had you done something wrong?"
Travis grunted. "No. Last night I was laying in my bed, and this morning I woke up and I heard Azula and Ty Lee talking and they caught me and she threw me in here. Probably part of her sick humor."
"Odd story you have there." He said, sipping his…tea?
Travis fell silent when there were foot steps heard down the corridor.
It was a young woman, dressed in the same red clothes as the other guards had been dressed in. She took a glance over at Travis questioningly; then turned to Iroh's cell, opening the door and setting a tray of small rationed food. They whispered quietly for a moment, and Iroh nodded once. The woman then turned and made her way back down the long corridor.
"Are they going to bring me food? I'm starved."
The old man had begun to eat his food. "Yes. She will be back; rest assured you are in good hands."
He grunted. "How is being in a Fire Nation Prison being in good hands?"
"You should not worry."
"Alright, whatever you say."
Silence fell while Travis was brought similar food from the same lady that had came only a handful of minutes before. Iroh had already finished.
"Are you of the Fire Nation young man?" Iroh asked, now sitting on his rough fix cot.
Travis shook his head. "No—yes, yes I am."
Iroh stared him down for a moment. The boy had made a horrible excuse for a lie.
"I don't believe that you are. Where are you really from?"
The boy made an over exajerated sigh. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
The old General made half a grin. "You would be surprised Travis, why don't you try me."
"Err, ok…I'm from…lets say—another dimension." He waited for the disbelieving. Iroh didn't answer. "Seriously, I'm not lying, I'm not on cactus juice I'm not—ya' just got to know I'm not lying sir."
He seemed to be in thought. "Could you explain that in more detail then?"
Travis shook his head. "No. That's all I know as far as how I got here. But I'm not from this world. I'm from a different one. Way different than here."
Iroh shrugged, "Alright then. At my age I suppose anything is believable. Besides, you don't look from the water tribes with that hair, nor Fire Nation, and defiantly not Earth Kingdom."
He gave a short laugh. "Even better I guess…but it would be so cool if I was a fire bender like you! With the flaming fists and stuff."
Iroh chuckled. "Being a Fire bender takes much discipline and responsibility. Do you have either of these two?"
His face dropped slightly. "Not really. But I could learn. That would be so awesome to learn from you! You're practically the best there is."
The old man chuckled again; then seemed to go into deep thought. "Well, can you keep a secret?"
Travis nodded.
"I could teach you how to defend yourself. This at least comes in more need in times of war. We would have to be careful—"
Travis jumped up from where he sat, a jolt of knowledge he'd forgotten coming to the surface. "Did you know about—" he glanced in the direction of the long hall, "About the Eclipse? It's suppose to be soon…I don't know when but—"
Iroh raised his hand and cut him off. "Calm down. The Eclipse?"
Travis nodded. "Yeah, the day of black Sun. Fire benders lose their powers and stuff.
"This is powerful information my boy. Where did you learn it?"
The boy sat back down. "Well, the Avatar."
"He lives? After what—"
He nodded. "Yeah, after Azula shot him with light—I mean, yeah."
"How do you know all this?"
Travis mentally slapped himself for opening his big mouth. "I told you, I'm from another dimension. I know this stuff."
He nodded in understanding.
"So," He dragged on, "When do we start?"