Rorrick
"So this lock down," Sully said as she was lighting candles. "Is it all about you?"
Rorrick suddenly felt a burning guilt. He knew he was putting Sully in danger by coming here but he did it anyway. "Uh, kind of, I guess."
"Oh." Sully lit the last candle and looked around. She seemed uncomfortable. She watched Lotus as the black clad woman inspected the apartment. "I think maybe it's still too dark. I gotta get some more candles."
When she was gone, Lotus moved closer to Rorrick. "You shouldn't have told her all that stuff. She doesn't need to know who you are, what you can do!"
"What else was I supposed to do? Put her life in danger and lie to her? I'm not that kinda guy."
"No, instead you're the kinda guy who tells all his secrets to a perfect stranger."
"Sully's not a stranger, you're a stranger, and you seem to already know all my secrets so where does that leave me?"
"You can trust me, I don't know about her though."
"And how am I supposed to know about you? We just met."
"I saved your life back at your place."
"Mr. Lucky saved my life. Now he's probably dead. That blond woman probably killed him, she seems like the type to hurt small creatures."
"Ugh, not that cat again."
Rorrick waved his hand at her. "Aw, you'll never understand, animal hater."
"I don't hate animals."
Sully came back into the room, a candle in each hand. "It's a good thing my cousin works for Wicked. She gives me a new scented candle every time she sees me. This one's chocolate raspberry tort, and this one's." She sniffed the second candle and grimaced. "I don't know, yesterday's left over puke or something. Maybe we won't light that one." Sully fidgeted with her lighter. When she'd lit her last candle she turned to the others with a nervous grin. "Why so tense? Did I interrupt something?"
"We were just--"
"Nope," Lotus interrupted Rorrick.
"Nothing."
"Oh, that's good." Sully took a seat and the three of them stared silently at each other. "So, who are you anyway?"
Lotus looked at Sully and Rorrick could sense that she wasn't pleased with Sully's questions. "Rorrick's friend."
"Oh." Sully nodded and everyone went quiet again.
When he became uncomfortable with the amount of time which had passed in silence Rorrick asked, "Should we play a game?"
Sully scratched her head and scrunched her nose. "I don't own any games."
"You don't own a single game?"
"I don't really like games."
"You don't like games?" Rorrick laughed. "That's ridiculous."
"Not everyone likes games," Lotus chimed in. "Games are stupid."
"Games are fun. What's wrong with you two? You don't like games, you don't like animals. You are the most boring people to be on lock down with."
When Sully responded her voice was darker, heavier. "Well if you would stop fighting ToCo like this then we wouldn't be on lock down."
Lotus suddenly stood up. Her head was shaking back and forth as she moved for the window. "We shouldn't be here."
"What?" Sully was up too but she didn't move to stop her guest. "No, it's fine, you can stay."
"We can't go out there, not right now," Rorrick said and Lotus turned to look at him. He'd only known her for a couple of hours but for most of that time Rorrick would have described her face as serious. However, the scowl she gave him in that moment provided him with a new context for the word.
"We have to!" She said.
"Why? Why do we have to leave right now when we're safe here?"
"Because we're not."
There was a knock at the door and Rorrick looked at Sully. The light from dozens of candles was glistening off the sheen on her forehead. "Sully, what did you do?"
"I had to."
"No you didn't!"
"Rorrick, let's go!" Lotus opened the window but Rorrick didn't follow. His gaze was locked on Sully. He could feel his rage growing inside of him.
"They're getting away!" Sully shouted and her door splintered in.
The blond woman entered the apartment. three long gashes had been cut into her cheek, no doubt the result of Mr. Lucky's attack. They looked deep, and she allowed the blood to flow freely over her chin and down her neck. "Thought you'd get away nice and easy, huh?" There was something in her eyes that wasn't there before, a sick glimmer that would have frightened Rorrick if he wasn't so angry.
He turned to Sully and his fists clenched at his sides. "You betrayed me!"
"I barely know you," Sully said, "We're work acquaintances at best! I can't risk my job, my life, for you!"
Lotus was trying to pull Rorrick back but he fought against her. He lashed out with his tight fists, sending the flame from one of the candles into a raging pyre. It died back down and Sully, Lotus, and the blond woman all seemed shocked but Rorrick still only felt anger. Another candle roared towards the ceiling, and then another. The flames were raging all around them, licking at the walls and burning everything they touched.
"Thought you said this guy was a windbag!" The blond woman said into her fist as she turned to flee from the burning apartment. Sully ran out after her but Rorrick and Lotus remained in the fire. Lotus was looking at him differently now, almost like she respected him.
"We gotta go!" She finally said as the look of awe vanished from her face, replaced with a look of urgent panic. Fire was swirling around everywhere and Rorrick knew it was his fault. He felt a fiery rage and it manifested in the real world somehow, just like he had controlled the wind when he needed to escape.
"What's happening to me?"
"We'll talk later, but now we run!" Lotus pushed Rorrick out the window and his body instinctively created a cushion of air to catch him. Lotus landed gracefully beside him and helped him to his feet, then they ran. Sully's building was quickly being consumed by fire, and as it spread to the next building, and then the next, the distraction was more than enough for them to bypass the lock down measures. They got out of the neighborhood and Lotus took Rorrick to a black hovercycle parked down a dark alley. She turned it on and it lifted off the ground, emanating blue light from its engine. They both climbed on and Lotus drove quickly out of the city. She took the Great Mountain Pass, a road that led west. On their way up and over the mountain, Rorrick asked Lotus to pull over.
They both looked east, towards Capital City. The fire that started as a few out of control candles had spread quickly. Sully's entire apartment building was a pillar of flame and five other buildings on her block had caught fire as well. "I did this," Rorrick said.
"It's not you're fault. You don't know how to control your abilities yet."
"People could die. I mean, a lot of people. How am I supposed to explain what happened?"
"You won't have to. The place I'm taking you is safe."
"And just what place is that? You keep telling me it's safe but you haven't told me where it is yet."
"It's like a colony of benders."
"And what are benders?"
"People who can control the elements, like you. Except, clearly you're unique."
"How so?"
Lotus took a deep breath. She seemed excited. Too excited for someone who was watching a city burn. "You were fire bending back there, but earlier tonight you were air bending."
"Okay, I think I'm keeping up so far."
"Regular benders can only bend one element."
Rorrick rolled his eyes and let out a frustrated sound. "So you're telling me I'm not only some sort of element bending freak, but even after you take me to this colony I'll still be the freakiest freak in freak town? Great."
"No, that's not it at all. You're not a freak, you're a great hero! I think you're the Avatar!"
"The who?"
"It's a long story, but the condensed version is you're a spiritual leader and a hero who has been reincarnated throughout history to bring balance to the world." Rorrick felt his insides compressing under the pressure of Lotus' words but she just shrugged and said, "No big."
He tried to speak but found it impossible. He gaped his mouth and shook his head. "You... You mean I? And I'm this, uh, the, uh, what? No big? You're telling me I'm some kind of, of--"
"Calm down, it's not something you need to do alone! Long ago The White Lotus was more than just one person. We were a group who aligned ourselves with the Avatar in the quest for peace and balance. I'm all that's left. Trained by my mother, who was trained by her father, who was trained by his and back and back farther than you could imagine. There is only one White Lotus now, existing only to watch for the return of the Avatar."
"The return? What does that mean? Where have I been?"
"There hasn't been an Avatar in ten thousand years, no benders at all."
"So how are there now suddenly enough to populate an entire freak town?"
"They're starting to appear again. At first it was just a handful, but the number of new reports is growing quickly. You're lucky I got you, if I'm gonna be honest we lose more benders than we save."
"That's reassuring."
"But the ones we do save live happy lives. They don't have to be afraid of ToCo and they can develop their abilities together. They're lucky, you're lucky! But you won't be for long if you don't get back on the bike and let me take you there."