Red Lotus: Origin Stories

Chapter 2: A Friend

The police was chasing the kid through the town, but he was fast and quick to jump over obstacles. The policemen with their batons in hand ran trying to catch up with the spik \y haired bandit, but they were out of shape compared to the boy of fourteen. Eventually, the young man dodged a cart of cabbages and hid behind the alley of an abandoned building, the policemen tripped and fell over the rotten cabbages and lost trace of the thief.

As the boy was catching his breath in the alley, a voice surprised him. "Hi," said a timid voice in the dark.

"Who's there?" The thief turned around and took a fighting stance with his hands pulled into fists. "I'm warning you, I'm not afraid!" From within the dark shadows a boy about 13 with dark shoulder length hair appeared.

"I didn't mean to scare you," he said.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Ghazan," he answered. "What's yours?"

"Zaheer." Suddenly, they heard the police shouting nearby. "Kid, do you have a place I can hide or something?"

Ghazan then made a hole in the ground wide enough for the both of them, no questions asked. "C'mon," he said jumping inside. Zaheer jumped after him without a second to spare. "The place we're going to isn't far away from town. It's a cave actually, I hope you don't mind."

"I won't, I just need to get away from them for a while." Zaheer walked behind the boy as he earthbended the tunnel. "So you're an earthbender," he said after a while.

"Yup," he said.

"Not a lot of earthbenders around here," Zaheer acknowledged.

"My parents moved here after the war, they used to live in the colonies of the Earth Kingdom."

"Were they benders?"

"My dad was but he was a firebender," Ghazan said laughing at the irony. "My mom comes from long line of earthbenders but somehow it skipped her." Ghazan stopped walking and opened a hole above them and climbed out, Zaheer followed. In front of them was a big spacious cave with cavehoppers jumping from place to place.

"This is a sweet place!" Zaheer said excitedly. He walked over and found the softest rock and lay on top of it setting his bag to the side.

"Thanks, I found it when I was trying to chase a chicken-pig," he said.

"Did you get the chicken-pig?" Ghazan shook his head sheepishly. "Good thing I got this," Zaheer said reaching for his bag. He got two loaves of bread out, fried frog legs, and a couple pieces of fruit. "You're welcome to eat," he invited the other boy.

"Thanks," Ghazan said drooling over the food displayed in front of him.

"It's the least I can do, you saved me from the police," he gave a smile. As they munched on the food Zaheer asked, "So where are your parents now?"

"They died in a mining accident years ago," he answered.

"Mine left me in an orphanage," Zaheer spoke before his new friend could as the question.

"So where are you headed next?"

"I don't know, but I think it's time to change towns." Zaheer thought about it for a moment and suggested, "You should come with me. I'm gonna need someone like you to watch my back."

"Thanks," Ghazan said munching on a piece of papaya. After they finished their food, Ghazan looked up and asked, "Does this mean we're friends?"

"Yeah," Zaheer smiled. "I guess it does."