The Origin of Roh-Shan

Kota's Family

Even from outside, the small one-story house looked and felt like a cage.

It wasn't terribly small by the neighborhood standards, since it had to fit all twelve children that were raised within its walls. But person-per-square-foot wise, it was even smaller than the orphanage.

Kota quietly opened the door in case the baby was asleep, but the giggly squeal from her youngest sister in the living room told her it was later than she thought. If the baby was up from her nap, but the kids weren't home from school yet, that put the time somewhere between late afternoon and early evening. Great, practically already time to go to work tomorrow.

She walked silently past the kitchen where her mother was adding something to a pot on the stove, and tried to slip right to the girls bedroom at the end of the hall without being noticed.

As she passed the open door of the boys room, a small pebble struck her head. She instinctively reached up to touch where it hit, and bent down to pick up the small rock. She stepped into the boys room, not even having to look at where she was throwing the rock to know it would hit Dagon right on the head back.

"Thanks." Dagon put the rock back on the dresser next to his bed, where he was reclined casually.

"Did you want something?" She folded her arms.

"Yeah. Shut the door for a sec."

She glanced back, noticing the other four beds were empty, most of the kids weren't home yet. She pushed the door closed. It wasn't uncommon for her and Dagon to talk privately, even if it was just a casual conversation, so Kota wasn't too concerned yet. Being the two oldest in the house since Kenja moved out, they didn't relate well to the younger kids. A divide which was only emphasized by their father. He often singled them out for blame, but never the younger kids. He would never hurt one of his own. To him, Kota, Dagon, and Kenja were outsiders. All three of them from their mother's previous relationship, with a man their stepfather had never even known yet still despised. It didn't help that their biological father was a firebender, and their mother and stepfather weren't, so Kota and Dagon were the only firebenders of the family.

Complete outsiders in their own family.

"What'd you want?" She demanded, sitting on the end of his bed.

"Where's your bags?" He said, annoyingly cryptic.

"What are you talking about."

"You're leaving town before dad gets home, right? If not it's your funeral." He shrugged, like he wouldn't care her decision either way. "Once he finds out about the green fire? I'm not sure exactly how much dishonor someone brings to their family by burning down a zoo, but I'm gonna say it tips the scales."

"I didn't do it!" She was tired of saying that today. "If anything, it was probably your little rebel friends trying to frame me!"

He sat up straighter, lowering his voice. "Shh! Look, it wasn't the rebels, okay? It was nowhere in our plans, and besides, nobody even knows how to make green fire!"

She still could come up with no answer. She locked eyes with him. "You know it wasn't me, right?"

For a brief moment, his dark eyes flickered in understanding. Then he looked away. "Hey, if you wanna stick around for dad's reaction, be my guest."

She felt like she was gonna cry again, but didn't think there were any tears left at this point.

"Kota!" Her mother's voice yelled from the kitchen, "Come set the table for dinner!"

To avoid crying again, Kota forced her attention away from her older brother and left the room without a word.

~