This was written thanks to two different challenges at the LJ atlaland community. The first was the First Five Lines challenge, where participants were only asked to write the first line for five different stories. The second was the First Five Lines Need Stories challenge, where we could take any of the five lines written (by anyone) and write a story for them. I ended up just using one of the lines I wrote and made a story from it, just because it used a character I've had in my head for a while. I just thought it'd be interesting. Anyway, enjoy!
To the Contrary
Kiet was fairly sure that his father hated him.
His father denied it of course, saying that it wasn't important and assuring him he was loved no matter what. But he just couldn't believe it. He knew his father just had to hate him.
Not that he could really blame his father. He already heard the stories about the man from his mother, his aunts and uncles…from his grandmother. He knew all the things that happened in his father's life: Neglected by his own father, overshadowed by his younger sister…believing he'd lost his mother, being scarred and banished, forced on a long journey for a seemingly hopeless cause. He fought and struggled, was exiled, lost himself, branded a traitor by his own nation and was nearly killed on several occasions. His father had to work hard all his life, especially after taking the crown and becoming the ruler of a nation where half the population hated him for how he helped end the 100-year war. Yet even after all of that, his father's suffering was apparently not over.
What else would anyone call being the Fire Lord and having a son…who couldn't firebend?
If he was born into another family, it wouldn't be much of a problem. But this was the first time in their royal family history that a child was born unable to firebend. There were many, especially enemies of his father or of the whole Fire Nation, who argued how Kiet could never claim right to the throne since he was unable to bend the element. And since the Fire Lord had no other relatives, a successor must come from somewhere else, and his family's reign ended with him. They were convinced that it was a sign of disgrace; some form of retribution for the Fire Lord's actions.
His father refused to listen to them, though. He told Kiet that it didn't matter, and that it was still his birthright, bending ability or not. But Kiet still couldn't believe him. How could someone unable to bend fire receive the title of lord over it?
To Kiet, he was sure his inability to bend was indeed a penance for the sins of his ancestors; the destruction of the original Air Nomads, the start of the war, throwing the world out of balance. But why…why did the punishment have to fall on his father's shoulders? His father, who ultimately was trying his hardest to help the world?
After everything his father worked so hard to acquire, it was all undone by his very existence. And despite what his father said, Kiet was certain that his father hated him for that, at least.
The End