The Origin of Roh-Shan

F: Aftermath

Haider, Dagon, and Maita carrying Iden managed to escape the heat and get to their bison. They were in the air when they saw Roh's Avatar State.

As Roh fell back to the water, Maita grabbed the reins and flew after her.

Dagon had seen something on the beach illuminated by the Avatar's glowing eyes, and he saw it again as they flew past the beach toward Roh.

The bison landed in the water and Maita jumped out, pulling her sister from the water once again, although it was a little harder to get her on to a bison than a boat. She pulled Roh onto the bison's flat tail, and the bison lifted his tail to do the rest of the work, sliding them back to the saddle.

Roh looked mostly unconscious, but she mumbled a little when Maita slapped her face. Gently, of course.

Haider grabbed the reins.

"They have healers at the top of the hill there, with the other airbenders." Maita directed.

"Wait. Drop me off." Dagon demanded.

"What? Where?"

"Right here, on the beach." He pointed below. A large dark figure lay on the sand, and a glowing spirit sat curled up next to it. As they got closer, they realized it was two figures.

Dagon jumped out, landing roughly on the sand. He tried to keep his cool but ended up running toward the figures. One had a familiar star pattern on the back of his shirt, and based on that, Dagon could probably guess who the other one was.

The bison lifted off again, in search of a healer for Roh and Iden.

~

Dagon slowed as he approached. There were no lights around, and he kept his eyes trained on the glowing deer spirit. He must have startled it though, because it disappeared as he got close.

The boy was closer, and he could see the other figure's hair well enough to know exactly who they both were.

They didn't look very alive though.

Dagon dropped to his knees and ran a hand over the boy's back, then the girl's, checking for responsiveness, and also checking to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. He checked the boy's neck and found it cold and clammy, with no pulse.

Trying not to process that, he leapt to the other side and reached for Kota's neck. He quickly drew his hand back when his fingers touched two scabbed lines of dark red. His own heart rate quickened as he tried to piece together what possibly could've happened. He rolled Kota onto her back and checked her wrist for a pulse.

He nearly collapsed with relief when he found one. He brought her hand to his mouth as if the pulse would escape if he let it get cold. He watched her chest rise and fall, the comparatively still boy next to her, and bit his lip in a futile effort to keep back tears.

As if the warming of her hand had caught her attention, Kota's eyes fluttered a bit, then opened, first looking at Jaso, then a pause before she recognized Dagon. She propped herself up on one elbow and took her hand back from Dagon, reaching over and trying to shake Jaso awake. "He's okay." She told Dagon.

Dagon drew in a deep, shaky breath. She began to nudge Jaso. He wasn't sure if he should stop her.

She looked back at Dagon. "He's okay. He was just okay a minute ago..."

Every time she's seen Dagon cry, he covers his face with his hands, takes short breaths, and silent tears fall. And she's pretty sure she's the only one who's ever seen him cry.

But now she watched his face break into a short open-mouthed sob, with no attempt at covering anything. The sight alone made her heart clench painfully, and the implications hurt worse than anything Metalman's ever done.

"No, that's not-- no I'm telling you, I just saw him breathing-- no it's... no."

Dagon forced his thoughts to the sibling he thought he'd lost, rather than the one he just had. He let himself feel relief at finding her alive, though he'd never imagined this kind of relief would feel so tainted. Tainted because while he at least had one thing to hold onto, he knew she had nothing right now.

He pulled her into his arms and held on tight.

~

Ara had fought Suley's fuelbending once more. They both knew it would explode. Both of them were willing to give their life to see the other fall. Ara just happened to be in the right place. Maybe it was luck, maybe something else. But when their combined bending did explode, the fire had already reached them. The force of the blow tossed Suley backward, stumbling down the stairs awkwardly on his neck, and into the bridge, which was already engulfed in flames.

Ara had taken the brunt of the explosion, which tossed him into the air. As he prepared for impact on the fiery deck, the red dragon swooped under him and he clung on for dear life.

While the Avatar lit up the entire coast with light and ice, the dragon brought Ara to the top of a hill, where at least a hundred infants and toddlers rolled around, mostly oblivious, supervised by a handful of airbenders. Three healers who'd been on the boat were working their butts off with child victims, of both burning and drowning, which was clearly taking a toll on them.

Ara just sprawled onto the grass.

Looking up at the stars.

Trusting that the Avatar got his sister somewhere safe.

Wondering if he should or shouldn't feel bad about killing his brother.

On one hand, it needed to be done, and Ara wanted to be the one to deliver it. Payback for years of abuse. On the other hand... prison woulda worked too. Now Ara might have a bounty on his head.

But all that was pushed aside when he recognized the small, burned form in Roh's arms... No, it wasn't Roh, but it looked like her... honestly, he didn't care how many Rohs there were. He followed the person, who approached a busy healer with confidence, and set the small form down in front of her.

Ara dropped to his knees at Iden's feet, taking in the sight. The healer started to work her glowing water over Iden's legs first, and Ara brought his hand to his mouth without even realizing it. She looked far worse than when he'd handed her off, if that was even possible.

The Rohs who brought her over had left. After less than a minute of work, the healer drew her hands away. Iden stirred.

"There's nothing life-threatening here." The healer declared. "I really need to move on."

Ara picked up his sister and brought her to a darker, quieter area of the hill. He held her close, but she stirred more and rolled out of his lap, drawing in short, sharp breaths against the grass as she returned to consciousness.

"Hey." He offered gently, not sure what she needed.

She could barely speak between breaths. "Stop."

"Stop what?"

"Everything hurts. Please."

He rubbed her back. "The healer's busy. I know it hurts. You'll be okay, she said it's nothing life-threatening."

"That's the problem!" Iden hissed. With her shaking good hand, she reached over and opened his shirt pocket, where she knew he kept a few capped dart tips.

"Iden, no. That could make you worse--" He tried to grab it from her but she ended up stabbing him in the palm.

They both just stared at each other for a moment.

"Aw, fuck." Ara quickly located a comfortable-looking tree and dragged her over. He leaned against the tree trunk and held her, with her head resting against his stomach. He knew he couldn't stop her anyway, so he just let her grab another dart tip and stab herself.

He got comfortable, watching the sunrise, and waited for it to kick in. "Man, we really are a couple 'a dumbasses, aren't we?"

"It's a miracle we made it this far." She mumbled back.

~//~