Chapter 8: A Mother's Word

Later that night, someone knocked on the door of a small house in the village. A charming lady, with red hair tied in braids, in her forties opened the door and found herself face to face with a young woman with green hair, accompanied by 2 familiar faces.

"Hi, Mom."

"Ah, welcome my dear, you too Hope, and...?"

The young lady placed a hand on her face which briefly lit up, when she pulled it back, her face had changed in appearance.

"You, you are..."

"Just and friend of your son, sorry for the intrusion." Elizabeth smiled and we closed the door behind us.

We were sitting in the small living room, Mom had served us tea and Elizabeth had explained the situation to her. Mom remained thoughtful for a moment.

"... I see, I was surprised to see that you were an acquaintance of my son, but it makes sense. Dora, you wish to join the academy?"

"I'm not sure... I want to be sure you're both safe, so I would rather stay here honestly.'

"I heard that, what I ask is, without thinking of me and Wendy, do you personally want to join the academy? With your potential, it would be a great opportunity, you can't stay here forever."

I was very concerned by the situation, at this point in their life, most people already have an idea of ??what they want to do in the future and work to achieve this through school training, private entertainment, or in the case of emissaries, training specials. But even in the best of worlds, the poor were cattle.

"The royal academy is normally only accessible to noble students, for people of our caliber to have access to it they would have to greatly outclass the others thanks to their talent. I was a commoner and look where I am now. I'm very sure that you can even do better. You'll become famous in no time and you'll get enough money to give your family everything you ever wished for"

"We're going to be rich?" Wendy asked, stars in her eyes, what a low blow to convince me, Hope soon joined her.

"It's not just about the money, can't you feel it? The excitement of facing so many other fighters like us, everyone is training, everyone is progressing, everyone is hoping to be the best, you don't want to challenge them, and get all the glory in the world."

"Dude... Stop projecting yourself into me."

While they kept testing me, my mother observed me for a moment, thoughtfully, then, with a slight smile, called out to me.

"Dora, could you come for a moment? I want to talk with you in private."

The kind of sentences I dreaded. I follow her and we leave the house. She looked at the stars for a moment, in this silence that seemed like an eternity, before turning to me.

"Tell me, for how many years have you taken care of me and your sister?"

"... I don't know, I'm just doing what I have to do as a son, there shouldn't be a problem with the time."

"You're right. It's normal to help each other in a family, we shouldn't need permission or another motivation, we are a family and that's all, and that's why we only want the best for each other."

"Mom... I know what you mean, I haven't said that I'll give up on Elizabeth's proposal, I just need you and Wendy to be safe."

"We've been safe for a long time, and why do you think there is a guard post near the village?"

I wanted to tell her what I had learned about the rifts, but the weight of secrecy prevented me from doing so. Mom's serenity was understandable, she had the same point of view as me a few hours earlier, I bit my lip, unable to answer.

"You know, when we saw you use magic for the first time, your father and I were amazed, for us it was a miracle to have a real emissary in the family... Later, when you were revealed to be an Avatar, I was overjoyed. I knew that not only were you special among people, but even as an emissary, you were elite."

Those few words had the effect of a hammer blow to my head.

"... You were okay with that? Even after..."

"The death of your father?... Yes, of course, you think I would suddenly hate you because of that?" historical

"No, of course, I mean... I didn't think you would be okay with me fighting in more dangerous places."

"If you get serious, you'll be the real danger." She chuckled.

It was a little shock for me, my father was killed a few years ago near a rift, and mom locked herself away for months after that. When I joined Leon and we became a known team, she asked me about it but never reacted after learning the truth, so I always assumed she would be against me, fighting for rifts. This revelation changed the world for me and gave me a burning desire to give back to her a thousand times what she expected from me.

"Then... I think I'll join the academy, I'm really motivated now, I just need one last thing."

"Is it me coming to the capital?"

Her calm tone and the fact that she knew my concerns were slowly demoralizing me, I knew where it was going.

"Dora, I think you already know why I'm still here, don't you?"

"But Mom, you said yourself that he died, like everyone else, there's no point in staying here, especially if you want me to give it my all!"

"So after everything I've done to raise you, you still can't live on your own? You need me? So I'm a failure as a mother?

"That's not what I'm saying!

I walked away slightly then stopped staring at the ground, breathing heavily, Mom followed me and put a hand on my shoulder.

"*sigh* Why are you so stubborn? It's a mother's happiness to see her children succeed, that's all I need to be happy, to be sure that your father will be proud in heaven Everyone has their own story. You have huge potential and a great future, so your story will be beautiful, that's my wish, mine begins and ends in this village, I have always lived, all my experiences, my memories, my life, and the people who are dear to me are here, alive or among the stars, tell me what will I have to do in the capital?

I didn't answer, everything was settled from the beginning, and I never had any chance.

"You know, one of the reasons I can't leave is that I have a debt here."

"A debt? What debt?!"

"Not that kind of debt. My parents both died a few years before I met your father when I was still studying at El Ciero. When I found out about that, I used all my savings to come back here, that going to be hard to believe but I never believed in their death."

I watched her carefully, in the village, Mom was known to avoid any event related to death, she never went to the cemetery, she did not celebrate funeral anniversaries and I suspected the reason but understood it. So, to hear it from her mouth was very striking.

"It sounds silly, but I figured if I didn't see their grave that meant they weren't dead, that's ridiculous, isn't it?"

She was holding her shoulder, looking embarrassed, this woman who was respected throughout the village as an imperturbable, strong, and dominant face was now more vulnerable than ever, I looked away.

"So you see, I owe them a first visit, it's cruel for such caring parents to see their own daughter avoid them so much, but I need a lot of courage to do that, so I'd like to make a deal with you ."

She held out her pinky to me, and instinctively I held out mine, looking crestfallen at first but when I saw her face I was speechless, it wasn't a person's eyes sad or moved, they were eyes full of pride, pride for her son, the miraculous.

"If you graduate to the academy, and become a fine man, I'll go to see my parents, do we have a deal?"

My eyes shone in the night and an electrifying feeling ran through my body, eyes filled with new life.

"Deal."