The Origin of Roh-Shan

Cliffside

"It was probably her father who turned her in." Roh concluded, new rage sparking within her.

To be completely honest, she was still on the fence about her best friend's innocence. Any other alternatives to the cause of the green fire seemed less likely. But the thought of Kota's father being the one to turn her in just angered her, for some reason. It could've been any of her siblings, for that matter, but Roh was pretty sure at least half her siblings didn't even know she and Dagon were firebenders.

"I wouldn't be surprised." Maita muttered.

"Can I go, then? While you two make up your minds?" Haider stood next to the wolf's arm now, clearly having the upper hand anyway with the giant beast on his side.

Roh sighed. "I guess."

"Great. Thanks for blaming the disabled orphan without any evidence. Hope I can have the pleasure again sometime." He shot, before turning.

"Boo-freaking-hoo." Maita shot back, but was distracted by the sound of footsteps and cracking sticks in the woods to their right.

Haider stopped too, hoping it was the police here to tell the girls to buzz off, but it seemed to be one set of footsteps.

A few seconds later, the footsteps slowed at the edge of the clearing, and a familiar face stepped into view.

"Kota!" Roh ran up to her, intending to pull her best friend into a hug, but Kota locked eyes with Haider first. She looked bruised and drained.

"You!" She lunged at him.

"What?" Roh tried to process this.

"He turned me in!"

"I knew it!" Maita shouted.

Kota pounced and had her hands around Haider's throat in a split second.

Before he could even try to hit back, the wolf grabbed the back of Kota's shirt between his teeth and lifted them both off the ground, letting out a threatening, terrifying growl. He tossed them both against a tree trunk, making Kota drop Haider as they fell to the ground.

Within seconds, the wolf was on top of Kota again, baring his teeth at her, but before he could get a bite in, flames struck him on both sides from Roh and Maita. He reared back and the excess flames flew up into the night, above the treeline. Haider pounced on Maita, and she threw more flames at him as he threw punches, landing a few good ones.

"Stop!" Roh shouted, which surprisingly worked. "Someone's gonna see the fire!"

"Huh, maybe you should stop firebending then!" Haider shot.

"Tell him to back down." She pointed at the wolf, who had pinned Kota again.

"Why? I don't care if the police show up. Ennis, bite her."

The wolf opened its jaws wide enough to rip Kota in half, before he was lifted off his feet with a strong swirling air. He snapped his jaws and thrashed his legs wildly before letting out a whimper, but it got him nowhere.

Haider and Maita stared, equally astonished, at the source of the air. Roh, feet planted firmly apart and hands splayed toward the animal. She dropped him and he scampered away.

"What... in the hell was that? Did you just hex him or something!?" Haider cried.

"She's the Avatar, you dipshit." Kota yelled. "And that's not even what hex means!"

He looked at Roh like the Avatar was more implausible than witchcraft.

Before either of them had time to respond, Kota got up and ran over to Roh. "Listen. We gotta go now. We'll steal a boat and get you to the Western Air Temple to learn airbending, and the Nuns will be able to tell I'm innocent too. C'mon Roh," Her voice broke. "They're gonna kill me if they find me again."