[Legacy of a Martyr #2] Liberation from the Masquerades (A Key Keepers novel)

Episode 8: Moms

I was sitting on a bench in Alain's parents' garden.

I really just didn't feel good when I woke up this morning. It wasn't the yucky feeling of being sick though. It was a different kind of feel bad. It was just sadness that hurt a lot I thought.

I didn't like it no matter what it was. At first, I thought being in the ama would help, but it didn't.

It was warm out. Still, there weren't any other people outside. Wait. No. There was one: Marsh.

He joined me on the bench. "Hey, Lie."

"Hey, Marsh."

He wrapped an arm around me. "Something wrong?"

I leaned into him. Marsh felt nice even though he was sweaty. "I miss my mom..." I had tears in my eyes. "I can't make it go away."

"Sometimes when you try to make it go away, it clings harder. Sorta like a certain spider's so-called 'silk'."

"The sticky stuff Masquerade liked to throw at us?"

"Yeah." Marsh looked at the sky. "Remember how it'd get more stuck if you tried to pull away? Feelings can do that to us, too, sometimes." He was quiet. "Sometimes you have to let yourself feel them, to know they'll go away sometime."

That made sense. That didn't make it much better or less yucky, though.

"Well, I'm going back in. Hot weather still hates me."

"Did you take a shower?" I asked.

Marsh smiled and left.

Things always changed, but some things never changed. Marsh was never good at being hot. He couldn't do much of anything if it got bad enough. That was never fun.

***

Eventually, I got too hot, so I went back inside. Alain's mom was sitting in the kitchen with her feet in a thing of water.

I was going to get my bandanna out of the freezer, but I totally forgot when I saw that. Engrads never did that. We used bandannas since travelers couldn't really stay in one place for too long.

If I tried that a few years ago, it probably would've gone badly, too. I couldn't just run off if I wasn't wearing shoes. He could've easily made them say I was hogging the water. I had it easy if I could sit around. Why did I get to soak my feet if they couldn't?

"Looks weird, huh?" Alain's mom smiled at me. "Cuz Engrads don't do this."

I nodded.

I pulled my bandanna out of the freezer and tied it around my neck.

"Does that ever hurt?" she asked.

I nodded again. My voice came out a whisper. "It's better than being miserable hot."

"I'm sure it is. It's not really something I've tried, but I've lived in this area for a long time. We have other ways to cool off, so we don't need to do that like you must've."

"Only houses in the core have air conditioning. Air conditioning is definitely nice, though."

Tiana came in to get something out of the fridge. "Morning, Lie. Morning, Ms. Sarah."

"Morning, sweetie."

"Morning."

I could talk to Tiana like I did to Recah and the boys. That was a nice feeling.

"Do all Earthlings soak their feet in a bucket of water when they're hot?" Tiana asked.

Alain's mom laughed. "I don't think so. I'm just doing it because I'm too lazy to go to a pool and whoever invented high heels must've been brainstorming a new torture device."

Tiana put her hand over her mouth. "That's my theory too."

High heels were supposed to be a torture device? What made them think that? Wasn't that silly? I got to try sandals that weren't flat. Those weren't so bad once I got used to them.

"Why'd you have to do that? That must not have been fun."

"I have a client who doesn't like wedges. Otherwise, I wouldn't have worn the shoes I did."

"Oh, yeah... Mother had shoes like that. I don't know if anyone could convince me to wear them."

That was a weird conversation to listen to. I didn't get it. But then again, I was just a little girl that hid in the background.

Tiana had pulled juice out of the fridge. "Either of you want some, too?"

I said, "I'm fine."

"I'm alright."

After Tiana got it, she came and knelt in front of me. "What do you think of Earth so far?"

"Different."

"Must be." Alain's mom smiled. "You'd never seen phones before, right?"

"I might have." Tiana furrowed her eyebrows. "But I was born in a different time. The Engrada of old is probably nothing like Phoenix or Recah remember. Lie and Duke are too young to remember."

I tilted my head. "Was it really that different?"

Tiana nodded. "There were more cities. The summers were cooler with fewer dust storms. People like Masquerade wouldn't have had so much free reign. Traveling meant forming second families."

"We got to do that. Did others get to?"

"We don't really know. Leon people said people often formed groups out of necessity, but there was no indication of familial-like bonds forming."

Alain's mom smiled. "What was your childhood like?"

"The one I had before that day came was happy. I loved and respected Mother and adored Phoenix. My caretaker could get frazzled, but she was a kind grandmother figure. My tutors taught but they used games rather than simply forcing me to memorize things."

"I wish schools around here were like that."

I looked into her eyes. "Do you miss your mom, too?"

"Oh, of course, I do, sweetie. Being a grownup doesn't take it away, but it is easier. Feelings don't fry you as bad. That part is nice."

I leaned into her. "I wish my mom was here, too."

"And that's alright. You're not the only one who feels like that."

Tiana was nice. I always felt safe in the arms of people who were bigger than me. Her wind was nice too, cuz it made the wind around us feel cooler. It was a good opposite to her little brothers.

***

Thoughts on the moms? And the girls? Theories? Predictions?

~Shino out!