Otou-San Said He Picked Me up From the Trash

When was she born?

Were people supposed to remember that? Did other humans wake up one day with crystal-clear memories of emerging into this world? She'd never thought to ask Otou-san, and now the old drunk was gods-knew-where buying fermented mare milk for three months straight.

Ria shifted against the volcanic rock in the onsen. The heat made thinking harder, or maybe that was just the question hurting her head.

"I don't know," Ria admitted finally. "I mean, I know I'm a T'ien-ts'a, and T'ien-ts'ai get pooped out from the sky by Fūsen, right? So probably I just... appeared somewhere and Otou-san found me?"

Lark thought for a bit before waving her hand dismissively. 

"Never mind that question, I forget human years work differently than elf years. The better question to ask was- do you remember when Jin found you?"

"Oh, that's easy." Ria perked up, grateful for something she actually knew the answer to. "Otou-san said he picked me up from the trash while tossing out sake bottles, like all good dads do."

"I'm not asking what Jin told you! What do you remember?"

Ria paused, fingers trailing through the hot spring water as if doing might stir something. There should've been a memory there, shouldn't it? First memories were supposed to be important. She flipped through her head the way Otou-san used to flip through his herb pouches-messily and with building frustration when the right herb refused to appear.

There might've been a forest? Definitely forest. Cold ground, maybe? Otou-san's voice, less old man-y. His hands lifting her up, wrapped her in something that smelled like medicinal herbs and smoke. But the edges of the memory blurred the harder she tried to focus, like trying to grab water with her fingers.

"It's fuzzy," Ria admitted. "I remember... trees? And Otou-san's voice. But the rest is all noise."

"How old were you?"

"I don't know. Little, I guess?"

Lark made an unsatisfied noise.

"Why're you asking me all this stuff anyway?" Ria tilted her head toward where she sensed Lark sitting. "Are you writing one of those... what'd Otou-san call them? Life story books? The ones old people make when they think they're about to die?"

"A biography? Oh, I love those, but that's not the point I'm trying to make here. I've been studying T'ien-ts'ai for the past few decades, mostly out of academic interest. It keeps my mind occupied while I avoid the rest of the world."

"Decades is a long time to read about the same thing."

"I'm an elf, so decades basically pass like your human months. Besides, T'ien-ts'ai only appear once a century or so. Limited sample size makes for slow research and all that."

"And? What'd you find out?"

"There's a pattern. Every T'ien-ts'ai shares a commonality in how they're born. They don't just appear from nowhere like what Jin probably told you."

"So we don't get pooped out from the sky?"

"Quite the opposite. T'ien-ts'ai hatch from stones, or giant versions of Hui-t'ien stones, specifically. They appear shortly after the previous T'ien-ts'ai dies, containing the same elemental affinity as whoever just passed. Earth births earth, water births water, and so on."

"Hatch? Like eggs?"

"Functionally, yes, though the texts describe them more like cocoons." 

"So what if Otou-san told a slightly different variation of the T'ien-ts'ai origin story? Like, leaving out the whole stone-hatching bit?"

"Jin didn't leave anything out. He invented an entirely new creation myth involving bird excrement."

"But it taught me not to shit wherever I wanted."

"I still can't believe that was the lesson you took from a creation myth."

"Yeah, worked pretty well too. I always go behind specific trees now."

"You know what, I've decided I'm going to hit Jin again if I ever see his stupid drunken face again."

"You already hit me for being his daughter, wasn't that enough?"

"No, and I think I'll hit him twice, actually." Lark rubbed her temples. "Anyway, I'm telling you this because I need to know- was there someone else? Another child hatched from the same stone as you?"

The question sat heavy in the hot spring air, mixing with the sulfur and steam. Was there something else? Someone else? Another set of smaller hands, maybe, or a different cry next to her own?

But it seemed like every time she tried to grab for a memory of a sibling, it slipped away like water through her fingers again, leaving only the vague feeling that something should be there.

"I don't remember anyone else," Ria said finally. "If there was somebody, they're not in my head anywhere in a place I can find them."

"You're certain?"

"I'm certain I can't remember." Ria drummed her fingers against the volcanic rock. "I'll just have to ask Otou-san once we find him. He'd know if he picked up one kid or two from whatever trash pile I came from."

"Assuming he tells you the truth this time."

"I'm sure Otou-san wouldn't lie about something that important!"

Lark made a skeptical noise but didn't push further.

"The reason I'm asking is because a fire T'ien-ts'ai was supposed to hatch alongside you. Like your twin, essentially."

"Two people from one stone?"

"It's happened before. A rare phenomenon, but a documented one. It seems like two elements tend to manifest together when the previous generation dies simultaneously."

"So fire and water came out at the same time? But don't they hate each other?"

"Because the previous water and fire T'ien-ts'ai killed each other."

Ria tilted her head. "Killed each other over what? Did one of them steal the others' perch or something?"

"Worse, their own bloated egos led to a war."

"War? What's a war?"

"The War Beneath Heaven. The one that's been going on for over a century? The reason demons and humans murder each other across all of Nanrei?"

"Oh." Ria tried to process this. "Huh."

"Huh'? That's your response to learning about the conflict that defines this era?"

"I mean, I knew demons and humans didn't like each other much. People kept bullying that demon kid in Zui'un, but I figured that was just… people being awful? Like those tiny prisons they cram birds into so they can steal their eggs."

"Ria. The War Beneath Heaven has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives"

"That seems like a lot."

"It is a lot!"

"Well, nobody told me!" Ria splashed the hot spring water around her defensively. "Otou-san never mentioned any war. We just lived in the forest. Sometimes demons would wander through, and Otou-san gave them medicine or directions. Sometimes humans would show up looking lost, and he'd do the same thing. Everyone seemed pretty peaceful to me."

"Jin had you completely isolated, didn't he?"

"He said the outside world would eat me alive because I had no spine."

"I'm starting to think that was less about your spine and more about keeping you ignorant." Lark massaged her temples again. "Anyway, before I buried myself underground, I spent years searching for the reincarnated fire T'ien-ts'ai. Again, mostly for academic interest. Preventing another war would be a nice bonus, but I was more concerned with keeping you both from falling into the wrong hands."

"You were looking for me?"

"And the fire T'ien-ts'ai, yes. I spent a decade chasing leads that went nowhere."

"That's a long time to look for somebody."

"Again, it's barely anything for an elf. The frustrating part was how thoroughly both of you vanished. I assumed someone had found you first - one of the cities within the Confederation or perhaps the Kulung Empire."

"But it was just Otou-san."

"Just Jin, but he somehow managed to hide a water T'ien-ts'ai in plain sight for… How old are you again?"

"Sixteen, I think? Otou-san wasn't very good at keeping track of my birthdays, though."

"Sixteen years. That drunken bastard outwitted everyone on the continent simply by shutting himself away in a forest."

Ria frowned. "You sound mad at him."

"I wasted a decade searching for you while he hid you in some tree somewhere. He probably took naps under that same tree while he was at it."

"Otou-san's really good at napping."

"I noticed." Lark exhaled slowly, composing herself. "Regardless, I know where you ended up now. Jin hid you. But I still don't know the whereabouts of the fire T'ien-ts'ai. Either they're dead, someone else found them first, or there's another Jin out there who's even better at hiding children than your father."

"Can't any of your paper things give you any hint?" Ria asked, gesturing vaguely toward the whole library.

"Paper things." Lark repeated flatly. "You mean centuries worth of compiled research and historical documentation?"

"Yeah, those."

"No, they don't. Believe me, I've cross-referenced every record already. The fire T'ien-ts'ai should exist. Plus, the timing lines up perfectly with your birth, but there's no documented sighting, no reports of unusual fire magic, nothing. Which is strange because one would think hiding fire magic is considerably harder than hiding water magic. Fire destroys things, so it draws attention."

"So that's it? The fire T'ien-ts'ai just disappeared and nobody knows where?"

"I didn't exactly say that. There are rumors as of late of a demon who has seized control of the Kulung Empire. He's said to have white hair, what appears to be four horns, and unbelieve command over fire magic."

Lark had pulled her feet fully out of the water now, facing toward Ria.

"And if the rumors are accurate, his name is Reign."