Cataclysm

Testing Hope

When we make it back to town, I realize that all the group members are scurrying around and trying to prepare for tomorrow. I feel out of place in my own hometown because they are all leaving to fight and I am being forced to stay behind. The entire hunting group will be gone.

We lead the horses back to the stable and I say my goodbyes to the General. I feel worried about him going into the battle without me by his side. If something were to happen to him I would blame myself for not being able to prevent it. I hate myself for thinking of him as a closer relative than my own father, but he is by my side when my father neglects to be there himself. In theory, I look to the General as my real father. It is horrible, but I can't even think of one incident where my father has been by my side in a crisis. He is too cold to care.

I walk down the streets while avoiding sprinting group members. I can recall a time when I was younger that I accidentally called the General my father and I didn't correct myself. I can clearly see the surprised look on his face that later became replaced by a heartwarming smile. He doesn't have much of a family. He has been divorced twice and has never remarried. He has always wanted a child, but he could never find a suitor to provide him with one. Ever since I was little I have always looked up to him and I can tell that he cares for me as one of his own.

"Nora?" I look up from the ground and realize that my father is standing a few feet in front of me. 

"I need to talk to you for a minute."

"Talk to me about what exactly?" I ask, following him down the street.

"What you said to the General the last night. Do you really plan on leaving this town and becoming a soldier in Dumani?"

"It has been a desire of mine for quite some time, yes."

"Why is that your desire? Why do you want to go to Dumani?" He asks impatiently while walking steadily beside me.

"I want to become a soldier like you and General Merak. I want to be trusted, respected, and not looked at as a mere child. Dumani is the heart of our entire nation-state and what our nation is named after. I want to go there and see what it's like. I want to find my own life in the city and not live the life you have laid out for me here." I explain, but his hand quickly grabs me by my wrist and he pulls me into a narrow alleyway.

"Nora, you don't understand. I-"

"You act like I don't understand anything!" I pull my wrist from his grip. "You and the General treat me like I'm some innocent toddler and I'm sick of it! You both-"

"You have no idea what you are even talking about!" He yells, voice cold as ice. "You think we are just treating you like this for no reason. Do you even understand the world around you? Have you ever been to Dumani? Have you ever met a Dumani soldier? I can answer all of those for you with a solid no."

"I want to learn what it's like." I back up into the opposite wall. "I want to see it all for myself. I have grown up in this pitiful town and you had the luxury of living in the city where food was a simple purchase and electricity was something you took for granted. Is it too much to ask for that same lifestyle? Is it too much to ask for a little respect every now and then? I can answer both those with a yes; it is too much to ask for."

"Watch your mouth young lady." He chides. "Need I remind you that I am your father and-"

"And what? You expect respect!?" I laugh sarcastically. "You see father, that's the thing about trust and respect; in order to receive it, you have to give it."

"As your father, that's not how it works." His eyes blaze while he approaches me. "Ever hear of the commandment honor thy father and thy mother? It's a given, not a trade."