The Call of the Beachwick

Chapter 6: Lying

Kesi slammed the door shut and ran down the street. Try as she might, she couldn't help but keep the tears from running down her golden bronze face. Her mother had just accused her of stealing coin from her and after being confronted with the evidence, she blatantly lied to her face. The worst part about all of it was not her mother's accusation, not the fact that she was guilty with a capital 'G', not the fact she had forgot to return to her Mimi with the promised tea, but that she was allowing herself to slip down the rabbit hole of degeneracy. It was nobody's fault she was in this mess and even though she wasn't happy about her life before all of this started, she had no one to blame but herself.

Kesi was lonely. As much as she loved her mother and Mimi, she knew from a long time she was different. As a toddling, she came across a clock her Mimi had just broke in the midst of one of her deliriums, and fixed it to her mothers' astonishment. She had been too young to understand at the time, but as she got older, she realized she saw the world differently than those she loved. Not that her mother didn't try. 

When it came to Kesi, patience plastered every inch of her mother's face. Her mother tried harder than anyone to understand. More than that, she gave Kesi what she needed. It was because of her mother she had the tools of her trade. It was because of her mother the scouts came to see her. It was because of her mother Xara was an important part of her life. Still, it wasn't enough. All her mother could do was provide and be patient; she could not understand.

Out of everyone Kesi met, Xara came the closest to understanding. In a lot of ways, Xara was a lot like her. They had both been cut from the same cloth. Xara's gift was the process of learning. Her mind was a vast repository, a sprawling library where the tomes of countless subjects found refuge. Like a sea sponge, she absorbed information with an insatiable curiosity, soaking in the intricacies of facts, figures, and theories. In the labyrinth of Xara's mind, ideas connected like the intricate gears of a well-crafted machine. The synergy between her capacity for learning and her adeptness at applying knowledge rendered her an intellectual artisan. Xara's gift was truly a beautiful gift, but compared to Kesi's it was mediocre. If Xara consumed knowledge, Kesi was born with it.

For Kesi, understanding the intricacies of the world was an innate gift. She could effortlessly discern the inner workings of any object, unraveling its mechanical mysteries with a mere glance. But that was just the start of her gift. The precision of her mind extended beyond gears, measuring the space between them and counting the teeth with supernatural accuracy. Gazing at the sky, she effortlessly calculated the vast distances between stars, mapping the celestial landscape with her unique perspective. Her mind perceived waves of sound and colors, revealing a spectrum of sensory experiences beyond the comprehension of a typical Saintain eye.

Kesi's extraordinary gift, while a source of fascination and wonder, was the reason she was lonely in the first place. She was lonely because she could see what other people could not and they judged her for it. At one point, when she was around ten completions, she had been staring at one of the jungle flowers that was white then blended to black. Between the two colors was one she didn't know. Therefore, she asked her mother. Even today, she could recall the conversation between the two of them perfectly in her mind.

"Momma?" she asked wide eyed.

"What is it sweetie," her mother replied. At the time, her mother was haggling for dinner, a process Kesi often found her mother engaging when the sun started to set.

"What color is this?" she asked gesturing towards the center of the flower.

The merchant and her mother looked over in her direction. It was one of the things that she loved most about her mother. She always made time for her, even over things that mattered.