Lost Arrow [A:TLA au]

ten

CHAPTER TEN
( BAD DAYS )

10 YEARS AGO

WITH FIVE OLDER SIBLINGS and two loving parents, the house had never been quiet, exactly. Even when their mother and the second youngest passed away, just a few months apart, due to an illness no one could cure, their home wasn't silent. It was just that the carefree laughter and shouts got more serious; there less goofy banter between annoyed brothers and sisters, and more tense arguments about some things Flo yet understood at five years old.

Said girl was playing outside when it started. The bow and arrows Kuron had been helping her practice with were discarded beside the house as she struggled to climb a large tree close by. Her oldest brother went with Hachi into town to get some cheap ingredients for dinner a bit ago, and after getting bored Flo decided to try and entertain herself. Her small hands finally grasped the lowest branch. She tilted her chin and squinted through the sunlight, dangling from the branch with no knowledge on how to pull herself up. She huffed and struggled for a moment, only to freeze when raised voices met her ears.

"–smart thing to do!" That was Lei.

"It's not smart if it's wasting the little money we have!" And that was Ju-Li.

Flo dropped to the ground. She landed on her butt and winced at the hard impact, and then quickly pushed herself up to stand. Slowly and quietly, she made her way to the opened window that led to the kitchen where her sisters stood. The youngest sat on the ground, just below the window, and listened.

"Letting Flo actually go to school isn't wasting money," Lei snapped, the eleven year old sounding oddly mature.

"We can't afford it, Dad said so," Ju-Li said. "Even before...before... Things were tight. What good would it do anyway, Lei? She still has trouble with the alphabet and the nearest school is two villages away! It's not like Dad can take her, he's working more."

"I- The letters just get mixed up for her, it's not that big of a deal." She paused. Flo heard Ju-Li sigh before Lei spoke again, on the verge of whining. "This is Flo, Ju! She's got the best shot out of all of us to actually do something, Mom said it all the time!"

"Geez, what do you expect a five year old to do, Lei?! Learn to read and take down the Fire Lord with a child's story? She said that about Biming too, and look where he is! Look at us! None of us went to school, and we're doing fine without it–."

"Maybe that's the problem!"

"No, the problem is that we're dirt poor! That you're daydreaming too much! I get it, you wanted to go to school and now you're trying to live through a five year old. Get over yourself, Lei!"

"You get over yourself! Just because you're the oldest at fifteen doesn't mean you get to boss us around! You're not Mom!"

"I'm not trying to be!"