The Origin of Roh-Shan

Mayor's Palace

Roaring red-orange flames filled the massive fireplace, illuminating the center of the room in erratic flickers, leaving the dark corners untouched. Odei sat in his reading chair as he does every evening, feet resting on an ottoman, with a book in hand, sipping his bedtime tea.

Bound books were a luxury, and he had plenty of them. Many acquired during his travels, mainly given to him as gifts from other leaders around the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom. He'd never really taken an interest in them, but his wife had been an avid reader, and she collected scriptures from the water tribes and air temples as well.

Now that he's been absorbing book after book for a few months, he wonders why he never took time to enjoy them before she died. An attack on the Earth King's boat by rebel forces of the Earth Kingdom nearly a year ago had taken her from him, because she'd been unable to swim. Since then, he'd made it his goal to absorb every piece of information in the books she'd collected, longing to see the world as she had. And he was. The more he learned about the world, the more he second-guessed the way he'd been ruling his city all these years. Nearly halfway through her book collection, he was already forgetting the details of the very first books, and couldn't wait to go back and enjoy them all over again.

A soft rapping at the door drew his attention away from his thoughts. The three knocks told him it was from his long-trusted butler, who moments later, stepped through the door. He bowed to Odei.

"What is it?" Mayor Odei asked.

"The General of your Police Force is here to see you." He stepped aside.

"Let him in."

General Suley walked in with the measured steps of a soldier. He stopped ten feet from Odei and bowed. "I bring you news from our ground forces in one of the rural villages. They put down an uprising attempt last night."

"Very good." Odei clasped his hands together.

"That chapter of the Black Iris has been wiped out."

"Wait," Odei paused, "what do you mean wiped out?"

"They have been killed. Every Black Iris member that attended last night's secret meeting will no longer be a threat, our police forces guarantee." General Suley's strict face slipped up in a small smile for a moment. Odei wasn't looking.

"Oh... I didn't know they would be using lethal force--"

"As you instructed, sir. The rebel forces are violent and must be met with violence. You instructed us to take no prisoners." Suley made sure to use the term rebels, still a sensitive subject for the Mayor.

Odei didn't remember saying the take-no-prisoners part, but he trusted his general.

The butler dared pitch in, "Mayor sir, remember the Black Iris rebels are not the rebels that attacked your--"

"Who invited you to speak!?" General Suley turned and challenged, fire in his eyes.

"My apologies, Mayor." The butler made sure to not address Suley, and left quickly.

Odei thought it over. "General, if there is another Black Iris uprising, I think it's best we hold them for information rather than killing them outright. They could lead us to more--"

"All due respect, Mayor, I trust that our men on the ground are handling this in the most appropriate way, considering they're the ones out there, not you."

"I understand, Suley, I'm not asking you to spare all of them, but as your commanding officer I'm instructing you not to kill--"

"How about we discuss this in the morning over breakfast?" Suley made sure to start his sentence loud enough to cover up what Odei was saying and force him to stop. "It's late, you've already had your bedtime tea and might not be thinking clearly."

Odei narrowed his eyes at his general, not in anger, but analyzing. What was his angle here? He knew something was up. "Alright. We'll discuss this in the morning." He stood, leaving his empty teacup and saucer on the side table and clutching his book close to his chest. He walked swiftly past the general and out the door.

~

As usual, the day had been draining. Odei shut his bedroom door and climbed into the grand canopy bed he used to share with his wife. Her side of the bed still perfectly made. After his initial grieving period, he'd taken up reading and had been able to get completely lost in her books, finally able to shut out that overwhelming grief and he immersed himself and found joy once more. But as time wore on, he realized he couldn't do this forever. The guilt of ignoring his city had begun to weigh on him, making every day exhausting even when he didn't do anything but read.

Sighing, he set the book down on his wife's side of the bed. He knew he'd have to start paying attention to his city again soon. And with fresh world perspectives, he finally felt ready to do that.

He blew out the light, closed his eyes, and let his mind wander to faraway lands and tales, both fictional and real, swirled in his head, ready to enrich his dreams once more.

He thought he hadn't fallen asleep yet, but he must have, because when he opened his eyes again, his bedroom was in flames.

Wide awake now, fire seemed to have reached every flammable surface in the room, which, considering the stone structure, were mainly décor. By design, a fire shouldn't be any threat to anyone within the palace. Tapestries on the walls appeared to shrivel as they turned to ash. The rug was smoldering. And the light fabric draped over the canopy --right above his head-- was completely ablaze.

Odei sat up straight. Well, his brain sent the signals to do that, but his body didn't answer. He frantically sent more signals to his fingers, toes, anything, but he couldn't move anything but his eyelids. He had a perfect view of the canopy fabric as it fell onto his bed, catching the blankets and pillows on fire. He inhaled smoke but his body couldn't even reflexively cough.

He stopped trying to fight, forcing his imagination to transport him far away, as the pure green flames washed over his body.

~//~