The Origin of Roh-Shan

Ghost Town

The sound of footsteps and distant voices on the street jolted Kota awake. Realizing it was just a few guys on the street and not a threat, she squinted in the hot sun and looked up at the barn door. Still locked, still no Buwei or Paulo or Ashoka or Mani. Nobody. She should be well into the workday by now. Where the hell is everyone?

She'd gotten exactly zero minutes of sleep last night. Roh's words stuck with her, maybe you set the fire in your sleep, and she thought of that as she lay in bed last night. She'd taken one look at her sleeping sisters in the room with her, and decided for everyone's safety, she would just stay up all night, to make sure she couldn't do anything.

The thing that kept her awake though, was the thought that her father actually had seen the green fire and was going to come in the room at any minute and drag her away for bringing dishonor on the family. Actually, she had the whole night to picture how that would go down. The most comforting scenario involved him dragging her to the cliffs and shoving her into the ocean, and telling everyone she jumped. A nice quick, scenic death and a good excuse that everyone except for Roh and Dagon would buy.

Then she thought about what that might do to Jaso, and everything became a mess again. There was no easy way to do anything, was there?

At the first hint of dawn, she'd put on her work clothes and left the house, planning to arrive well before anyone else and nap against the side of the barn. And she did just that. Except now, it was already mid-morning and still nobody was here.

The dew from the grass around her had evaporated, and while it had been cold earlier, now the sun on her face was almost unbearable, and she was pretty sure her cheeks were sunburned too.

She stood up and brushed the grass off her uniform, daring to step toward the street to see who she'd heard. The street should be busy by now but it was desolate, so hearing people around at least gave her a little comfort.

Two men in armored police uniforms walked down the street, chatting casually.

The police.

Kota quickly realized there was a high probability they were looking for her from the zoo fire yesterday. By the time she turned to run back behind the barn though, it was too late.

"Hey, kid!"

She stopped but didn't turn around, as if they had any way of knowing her face.

"What're you doing out?"

"Just going to work." She heard their footsteps grow nearer, and realized facing away was making her seem more suspicious. She turned and smiled at them.

They stopped. "There's no work today, didn't you hear?" One of them said.

"Hear what?"

"Day of mourning." The other one said. "Mayor Odei died last night. Big fire at the palace."

Kota's jaw dropped.

"I take it she didn't know." The first guy said.

"Didn't your parents tell you?"

"Man, be nice, maybe she's from the orphanage, so nobody told her."

All her defenses up, Kota instinctively responded to the last thing she heard. She hated the thought of being lumped in with the orphan kids. "My parents weren't awake yet when I left." She said clearly.

"Oh. Well, go home. Day off."

She nodded, and they continued on their way. The second they were far enough down the road, Kota sprinted toward the other side of the street, headed to the woods. She didn't even want to think about the likelihood of the second major fire in two days being related to each other, and therefore possibly tying her to the death of the mayor.

She reached the wall separating the village from the woods, and leaped up to grab the top ledge and climb over, but a strong hand firmly grabbed her ankle and yanked her back down to the street.

She landed facedown in the dirt and her chest hurt as another wave of adrenaline and dizziness slammed her, this time justified though.

A different police officer, much larger than the other two, stood over her with a club in hand, and three more officers flanked him.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Before she could say anything, he kicked her shoulder and rolled her over onto her back. He looked back over to his fellow officers. A lanky boy stood with them, pointing at her with one arm. Her eyes went wide.

"Yeah, that's her. She's got the green fire." Haider said.

~//~