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Essek swallows and takes a long, slow breath. This dungeon deep in the heart of the Fire Nation was not easy to get to undetected but he succeeded nonetheless. If this was a test, he thinks with a smug smile, he passed it with flying colors. The flying part is perhaps a bit literal: it’s been his gimmick since he was old enough to airbend with any measure of skill, to make himself float near constantly. It had annoyed his brother, who was born without bending, to no end. It makes him very good at moving undetected. When his peers used their airbending to find balance, he was studying how best to use it as an espionage maneuver, as well as how to manipulate objects to his advantage, and he’s gotten quite good at it. That’s part of the reason the Fire Nation military leaders chose him to complete this job to begin with. Well that, and he’s the only one willing.
The air of the dungeon is oppressive, heavy, almost, and if Essek believed the same things the rest of the Air Nomads did, perhaps he would find it to be an omen of sorts. Instead, he squares his shoulders and slips in the door Ikithon and Da’leth had told him to use, bypassing the guards entirely. He had drilled their instructions into his memory before burning the note but he’s still nervous to get it wrong.
Down the hall until you reach the three loose bricks, the left, left again, right, down the set of stairs to the left, right again and he should find them there. He does as told, repeating the words in his head again and again. He’s careful, light as a feather. The room he arrives in looks exactly like the rest of the dungeon and it’s devoid of people. He blinks and clenches his hand into a fist under his cloak. Perhaps he’d taken a wrong turn? He had spent hours memorizing the passage but he supposed it was possible. He drops to the ground as he releases the cushion of air beneath him, his boots clicking against the floor.
“H-hello?” A voice calls through the shadows. He stiffens and contemplates the direction of the voice. It’s coming from behind a set of cell bars. He approaches slowly, his head tilted. There’s enough moonlight through the cell bars for him to make out the features of a man, hunched over in the cell. Essek takes him in carefully, noting minutiae in his appearance.
Dirty, matted red hair hangs stringy and limp around the prisoner’s face. He’s pale and thin, disturbingly so, and his clothes hang loosely off him, but those are the features of a common prisoner. That’s not the interesting part. The interesting part, Essek notes, is that he’s a Fire Nation citizen, if the shape of his face is anything to go by. A firebender, in fact. They’re easier to identify than other benders, in his experience. It’s the smell of them, ash and woodsmoke, and the soot-stained lines of their hands.
“Who are you?” He asks, softer this time as he squints into the semidarkness. His eyes are not the typical amber that denotes a Fire Nation citizen and instead are a startling blue. Essek flinches despite himself as they lock onto his own.
“Who are you ?” Essek asks sharply. The man does not flinch but his hands flex in his manacles and they clink softly in the silence.
“I asked you first.”
“Desran,” he says. “My name is Desran Thane.” The man chuckles quietly.
“That’s a lie, but I won’t begrudge you your secrets.” Essek sighs, examining the lines of the firebender's face with a careful, calculating eye.
"Strange to see a firebender in chains in a Fire Nation dungeon," he notes, giving a sardonic smile. The firebender's eyes narrow, cutting through the gloom. Just as calculating as him, just as intelligent. Though he'd never admit it, Essek is intrigued.
"Strange," the firebender counters, his blue eyes flashing, "to see an airbender walking around freely in a Fire Nation dungeon." Essek gives a startled, genuine laugh, his laugh echoing in the empty room.
“You’re quite perceptive,” he says. “How did you land yourself in here?” The man shrugs with one shoulder.
“Mistakes in my youth,” he says. “I joined the Fire Nation army as a scholar and strategist young and did many terrible things. I was a refugee for a while, moving nomadically with a group of friends but my old masters found me and...” He gestures to the cell around him as best he can with manacled hands. “Here I am.” Essek’s eyebrows furrow.
“You did these terrible things under orders, though,” he says. The man sighs quietly and his manacles clink as he shifts again.
“It is not as simple as you make it sound,” he says. “I wanted to do the things I did and I… I don’t know.” He leans back, exposing the long, pale column of his throat. Essek swallows minutely. The man sits up a little, locking eyes with him again. His mouth curls into a knowing grin. “Why are you here, Desran?” He asks.
“It’s… It’s Essek,” he says. “My name. Essek Thelyss.” He isn’t sure why he admits it so freely, so simply. Something about the man’s gaze feels like it can see inside him. Besides, it’s not like this man will be able to reveal his secrets any time soon. The man’s smile grows.
“That’s a nice name. And the first truly honest thing I think you’ve said to me. You can call me Caleb Widogast. Didn’t answer my question, though.”
“I’m meeting someone.” Caleb’s eyes flicker.
“Ikithon, then? Or Da’leth? Or perhaps you’re unlucky enough, or stupid enough, perhaps, to have made a deal with both.” Essek doesn’t answer and the man’s smile twists into a grimace. “Mm, and here I thought you were smart. Disappointing.”
Essek’s hands clench. “What do you mean?”
“They fully intend to stab you in the back,” he says softly. “It’s their way of doing things. Who do you think my old master was? What do you think they’ll do with you once they’ve used you for their means?” A chill runs down Essek’s spine. Perhaps not a mistake at all, then, but a tactical move on their part, to see this brilliant and perceptive firebender and learn just how much he was at their mercy. He and Caleb were quite similar, it didn’t take a genius to see that, and Essek was a genius. This was a power play, and a brilliant one at that. Double cross us, it said, and end up imprisoned like him.
“I’ll be fine, thank you.”
“What was your reason?” Caleb asks, shifting a little in his cell. The moonlight plays across his face and Essek is struck with the fact that this strange firebender is very, very handsome. He squashes that thought down and scolds himself for being nothing more than lonely.
Essek wets his lips. “Research,” he says. “I have always been intrigued by the existence of the Avatar and given that she is currently reborn as an Air Nomad, I have been offered an excellent opportunity that I would not get otherwise, living where I do. You must know how orthodox the Air Nomads are, as a scholar yourself. I am not like my peers.” Caleb laughs drily.
“All due respect, save me the sob story, I’m sure much of it mirrors my own. I don’t care about your reasons for selling out your own people’s secrets. Just know that there will come a day when Ikithon and Da’leth will use your secrets for something terrible, and when that day comes I want you to think of me.” Essek raises his eyebrows.
“Is that so? Think of you and feel guilty?”
“Think of me and know I was right.” He tilts his head and smiles. “You’re a very strange airbender, you know that?”
“You’re a very strange firebender,” Essek counters. Caleb chuckles.
“I’m well aware. It’s served me well and it will continue to, I believe.”
“Do you intend to escape this prison?” Caleb nods.
“Of course. Don’t worry about me, Thelyss. My friends will be arriving within the month to break me out.” Essek’s face tightens. “Ah, don’t worry about the things you’ve told me, I have no use for your secrets anyway. There is no one in power who would listen to me even if I cared to tell them.” Essek relaxes a little, even if he isn’t sure he believes him.
There’s the sound of a cane and footsteps echoing down the hallway and Caleb gives him a small, sad smile.
“I’m sorry you’re in too deep to back out now,” he says. “Even if you aren’t sorry. Good luck, Essek Thelyss.” He swallows.
“Good luck, Caleb Widogast.” He swirls the cushion of air beneath him and rises a few inches, sparing one last glance at the moon-drenched man in the cell. “I’d… I hope I see you again, one day.” This seems to shock Caleb. The firebender gives a teasing grin.
“The same to you, Thelyss. In better circumstances, I hope.”
“In better circumstances,” Essek agrees.