Globe Tracers 6: Chaos Storm

Chapter 46: In Gelborn

"So... I wasn't born in Gelbron. Where was I born?" I asked, doing my best to just coldly follow the story.

"I don't remember. I only stopped off for a few days for the birth and left. In Gelbron I found a well-frequented cafe and dropped you off outside the back door just before they received their first shipment of food for the day. I stuck around to make sure no one tossed your covered basket in the trash or anything, but once a young girl, whom I later learned was named Corness, found you and reported you to her managers, my work had been done, so I left."

"So you have no idea what happened to me from that point on?"

She bit her lip. "I'm a failure at everything. I'm not even good at abandoning. Who knows, maybe that's my real weakness- committing. I couldn't do anything with a sense of finality. I kept finding myself tempted to catch up on what was happening to you. Not sure what I got out of it. On occasion, I would obtain a newspaper from Gelbron and see headlines about the "living wonder" and the "most powerful pharaoh alive". I was so far into the north of Triad no one had seen a storm walker in over two thousand years. In our world Tyrell, the north is kind of the boonies. I handed my daughter over to a bunch of hicks and-"

"Hold your tongue," I found myself saying.

"They didn't treat you very well from what I came to understand, putting you in a large force-field to protect themselves, and holding you there like some kind of animal. A part of me felt a satisfaction in that- seeing his seed suffer."

"And that's why you don't get to look down on the people of Gelbron. They thought I was unique. None of the cities around them knew what I was either so they carried on, doing their best to keep me alive and protect themselves- they could have killed me."

"They wanted to study you-"

"You don't know that." I shook my head and wiped a few tears. "When I was able to gain control, they let me go. The test of if a person was doing a thing for the right reasons is what they do when the choices come. They could have held me forever in that prison but they didn't. They could have killed me when they weren't sure what to do with me. Heck- they could have just left me to die the first few times the power grid feeding my shield failed. The men and women at the Finehorn science facility didn't know what to do with me, if anyone doesn't get to judge them, it's the person who ensured that would be the reality."

"They could have sent you visitors. You were isolated."

Tyrell was the one who snapped this time. "Shut up. YOU could have visited."

"That... that's more than fair," Elain said, nodding. "I looked in on you off and on- eventually I got homesick for Fire Landing. That and I grew tired of hiding my powers in public while I provided the local bumpkins with weapons. No one among them seemed to even know the basics of how to make a real sword- just slap some cyra and iron together and call it a lightning blade- pathetic troglodytes never even realized how stupid it is to actually sharpen a blade you never touch anything with." I glared at her. "They didn't treat you well, I don't see why I should watch my tongue when describing them- just because my own morals were wanting."

"They were people. Some good, some bad, just because you stuck up snots in the south maintained your global network and we stuck to local webs- sure, we were a little behind the times-"

"A little? So few of your cities even had spaceports. Honestly, I should have chosen a little better place for you, but that's my error so-"

"You do NOT get to insult them- I don't care if you insult yourself in the process," I shoved myself back into the sofa with my arms folded. "Besides, the richest man on the planet came from the north- the current freaking president! Captain Joran."