The Origin of Roh-Shan

Prologue / Arrival

Prologue:

The jungle air was crisp with morning dew, mist hung static as the first rays of sunlight met the cold earth. A short distance away, the peace was disturbed by a man with a hiking stick, poking through the groundcover and then stepping on it.

"Hurry up bachche, we're burning daylight!" He started whisper-singing an instrumental song to himself. "ba dada bowww!"

A tired-looking woman followed a few paces behind, and two teenage girls trudged along after her. He seemed to be the only one enjoying himself.

One girl fell behind, watching a pythonaconda wrap itself around an unsuspecting squirrel toad and begin constricting the small animal. She watched the serpent open its mouth to sink its fangs into its prey with a completely neutral face.

She checked around to make sure her family was out of sight, then crouched down completely unafraid of the pythonaconda and watched with fascination as the squirrel toad's eyes bulged. Frowning, she cautiously raised one splayed hand, and twisted.

After a small struggle, the pythonaconda loosened its grip on the other animal, and dropped it. The squirrel toad hobbled away and disappeared into the brush, but the serpent stayed frozen, stuck.

The girl curled her fingers inward, pulling her hand back slowly.

A visible swirl of air left the pythonaconda's open mouth, its jaw still unhooked and wide enough to swallow the girl's face, but she still crouched right in front of it.

She grinned, enjoying the complete control for another few seconds, the animal completely at her mercy. Finally, she released it, letting it drop back to the ground. The animal recovered for a moment, then quickly disappeared into the greenery.

"Roh-Shan!? Where'd ya go, kiddo?" The man's voice disturbed the morning forest.

After another moment of no acknowledgement, the girl stood up and headed toward the voice.

~//~

Scene 1: Arrival

The sun was nearing the horizon as the Fire Nation leisure ship pulled into port, the bright rays of daylight starting to settle into the evening gold.

"Hope you enjoyed your trip! Come again!" one of the shiphands waved Roh-Shan and her family down the ramp onto the dock.

She caught him staring just a little bit longer at herself and her sister. They're pretty used to that. She and Maita are identical in every single way, so much so that strangers often have to look at them a few times to make sure they'd really seen two different people. The only thing anyone used to tell them apart were their voices.

The solid ground was a little disorienting after four days on the water, but ultimately it was a relief to be home.

Several ostrich-horse carriages awaited nearby to carry the more wealthy passengers, all of which were Fire Nation officials working for the mayor. Roh's father also works for the mayor, but they're not ostrich-horse rich.

Roh-Shan was quiet on the walk home. She never really liked the family vacations they took. It didn't help that their father had learned a new sea chantey and was singing it as they walked up the path to their house, off key and embarrassing. He continued humming as they reached the front door and he sifted through his bag for the key.

"Girls, I want everything unpacked right away this time, I don't want to see your bags sitting around your room for weeks like last time because you're too lazy to do your laundry." Their mother said, right on cue bringing the stress of normal life crashing back before they could even take their shoes off.

As their father fussed with the door, trying several keys and holding another between his teeth, the door swung inward. The warm, welcoming glow of home spilled out and an elderly woman stood just inside, smiling.

"Mother! Good to see you again! I should've known you wouldn't leave the door locked on us." His voice was muffled from the key in his mouth. He took it out, gave his mother-in-law a small kiss on the cheek and stepped inside. He was always very animated after vacations, Roh thought, probably because he isn't immediately dragged into work again as soon as he gets home.

Her grandmother greeted each of them warmly, then added, "You're just in time to change everyone's nappies." The loud wail of a child came from the daycare attached to their house, as if to prove her point.

Maita dutifully ducked into the girls bedroom to drop off her bags, while their grandmother walked back into the main playroom. Roh hung around for an extra minute with her mother. "Uh, Mom, I was actually going to meet up with Kota and Paulo and them when they get off work. Which is right now. Please."

"Nice try. Go help change nappies and wash whatever dishes the kids used today. Then you can go." She said without looking up from unpacking her bag.

Roh let out a long huff of air through her teeth, then marched back to her room. She should've asked her father. He would've said yes.

~//~