Risho of the Black Snow (ATLA Fanfiction)

Chapter Three: The Meltdown

    Risho backed away from her half-dazed father, her opaque breaths nearly missing. If she didn't play her cards right, this would ruin her. Haona would never trust her again. Their bond would be broken. "...Good morning, papa." Risho tried. Her smile was forced, which made it nervous-looking enough for her back-up plan. She could still win.

"Risho, it's the middle of the night. What are you doing up?"

Without being a Waterbender, Risho turned on the waterworks. She scrunched up her face and did her best to cover it with her hands. She wasn't fond of embarrassing herself- but this information was worth it. For what she took, she would pay. "I had a bad dream," Risho bawled "I thought you might have Yating in your drawers...because she always helps me sleep and-" Mohu came waddling over to the girl and wrapped his extra arms around her legs. He chirped his reassurance and Risho couldn't help but smile.

Her father's concern remained etched into his burned face. He wasn't buying her. Risho tensed. "You were looking in my drawers for your old doll? I told you that she's in the pantry."

Risho told him that she must have forgotten and turned to go back to bed. She'd found out what she needed to know. Her mission was over, and no ties were broken. Risho, for once in her life, had succeeded.

She kicked off her slippers, wincing at the cold air that pricked at her toes. She crawled into her fur covers, and just as she closed her eyes, Haona called after her. "Risho?"

"Yeah?"

"What did you find in my drawers?" The igloo grew even colder than it already was.

Risho knew that he wouldn't accept 'nothing' as an answer, and did her best to save face. She buried her face in her pillow and sighed. "I found practice betrothal necklaces," she said. It wasn't exactly lying, so it made Risho feel a little bit less guilty as she knew she should have been. But still guilty, she thought. It was better to deflect than to absorb. "Were you and my mother married, papa?" she asked.

After a long quiet, Risho heard Haona shift in his bed. The question made him uncomfortable. "No," Haona replied. "We were engaged, but we never had a formal ceremony."

Risho was rather proud of herself. "Why not?" she tried in her most childish voice. Her father had surrendered so much information to her tonight without even knowing he was doing it. Risho would bleed him dry of it. She wanted answers and she was not going to stop until she got all of them. She was sick of ignorance. She wanted knowledge, and if knowledge was power; Risho wanted all of it.

"...Because the chief would not consent to marry us. But in our hearts, your mother and I were- and still are married to this day. She still wears my betrothal necklace."

Risho gasped. "She....she's alive?" This was big. It wasn't good, but it was the most information her father had ever given her on the subject. The farthest he'd ever come to confirming her theory. Her mother was alive. Her mother loved her father, but she didn't live here with them. She must have gone back to the Fire Nation. It was the only logical explanation! Her father agreed, but Risho decided to go even further. "Where is she then, papa? Why haven't I met her? Why doesn't she live with us? Why can't we be one, big, happy-"

"Goodnight, Risho."

NO, thought the girl. No. She would not let him turn away from her again- not when she'd come so close to her answer. She would not let Haona ice her out once again. She couldn't take it any more. "STOP IT!" she cried, crawling out of her bed and onto her feet. Mohu groaned beneath her covers, but Risho had bigger issues to deal with right now. Her breathing was deep, she felt like if she got any angrier she'd breathe fire. "STOP LYING TO ME!" Calm down. Calm down, Risho. But the girl's mind had no control over her body, which screamed for more anger, more rage. She'd kept her feelings, her fear inside for far too long. She couldn't hold it in any longer. "I'M TEN YEARS OLD, PAPA, AND I'VE KNOWN FOR A LONG TIME THAT YOU'VE BEEN HIDING EVERYTHING FROM ME. AND, PAPA, I'M SO LONELY AND SCARED AND YOU'RE JUST MAKING IT WORSE- JUST..." her tears were real now. She couldn't make them go away. "I love you, papa. I will always love you no matter what you've done in the past I- just tell me what-"

"Risho..." her father said in a breaking voice "I'm so, so sorry...you'd hate me."

Risho's body shuddered. "I hate you when you're like this." Her hands clenched into fists and they shook like a volcano about to erupt. She felt like she was going to erupt. If her father turned her away one more time- just one more- Risho was certain she'd combust.

"Please, just go back to bed."

"NO!" Risho cried "I WILL NOT GO TO BED! I'M NOT A KID ANYMORE, PAPA- AND I'M NOT SLEEPING UNTIL YOU CONFESS TO WHATEVER IT IS YOU'RE HIDING-" All of this yelling was giving Risho a migraine. Her head felt like someone had driven an pick into her brain.

"Risho...?" Haona asked. For some reason, Risho could make out the expression of terror frozen to her father's face. She looked around- but the candle beside Haona's bed wasn't lit. So where was the light coming from? Risho turned her head and looked under the curtain, her heart pounding as she realized that it was still night. No, she thought. NO. NO. NO. "Risho," her father stammered again "Calm. Down."

"P..Papa?!"

"Risho, stop it. Calm-"

Risho's whole body shook, her tears growing fatter and multiplying the more she comprehended her situation. If only her tears could put out the fire. If only she could bend them instead of the lethal weapons that covered Risho's hands like a glove. Risho didn't want to be a bender anymore. She wanted things to go back to the way they were- she suddenly craved her solitary, pathetic life with her father and Mohu and not a friend in the world. She'd never asked for this. She'd never wanted this. Risho closed her eyes. She had to be dreaming. Had to. This was all just a bad dream. When she opened her eyes, the igloo would be dark and Haona would be sleeping. This isn't real. This isn't real. She took a deep breath and prepared to open her eyes. It will all be gone, she told herself. It will all be-

But it wasn't gone. When Risho opened her eyes, the room was still set in an ominous red and orange light.

When Risho opened her eyes, she was still a firebender.