Mother
When I graduated from high school, I thought that I would be able to have one last summer to hang out and do what all young people do during summer. I didn’t factor my mother’s determination to get me up to speed on Vellum history, customs and most importantly the inhabitants. It was at this point I learned about the book of life by the Fates. I had been running my fingers across the spines of the books while mother was gathering books for me to read and saw the title on one book in particular which caught my eye, “Mom, when did Aunt Ness get a book written about her.” My mother was lost in her task but looked up to say, “Huh? Oh, that’s her book of life. The Fates write them as the residents of Vellum are living their lives.” I turned to her curious of what that meant when she explained how that works. My next question came, “How many fates are there that they can write so many books? Is there a book about you and daddy? About grandpa? How about me?” My mother placed the books on the table where I often sat to study when I was in school and pinched the bridge of her nose. She sounded exasperated when she spoke, “Where you always this inquisitive?” I looked at her and shrugged, “Well, yeah but not outwardly. You have to think about what I’m going through. Raised my whole life to believe I’m human only knowing anything about the lore here and bam one day I’m aware I’m not. Naturally, I’m going to want to understand everything and anything.” My mother stifled a laugh, “Then why were you groaning about studying earlier?” I was tapping a book that she had set near me, “Because I want to find out in my own time, ya know? This feels like school and I don’t want to even think about school until the fall.” To that my mother, grabbed my hand and laced her fingers in them, “Come over here to the settee, we need to chat.”
We left my little study desk with the books on it to cross the room to the settee. Father liked to have me around so he didn’t mind sharing the space. He usually tried to do his work in the mornings so that he could share the space with me. On this particular morning, however, he was out in town trying to deal with the Plinkers and their silly threat to sue my family for damages to Sally when I kicked her at graduation. Apparently, the police showed up the day before to try and press charges for assault but father used his ability to talk them out of it. Because of these threats, I was not allowed to go into Everly. Fine by me, I’m not exactly a fan of the town folk here but father had taken Jess with him and I wanted to hang out with her and get to know her so not going was killing me. Mother had insisted that he take her to go get some supplies for the house and foods she may be needed. Apparently, lycans are very particular about their food and anything that gives off certain scents they simply won’t eat it. I was fascinated by Jess from the first moment I met her and honestly wanted to make my first friend. Mother was preventing that today and so I was a little peeved at her for separating us and therefore giving her a hard time about studying.
As we sat down, mother took both my hands in a gesture you see during movies in a wedding scene where the bride and groom hold hands. She looked into my eyes and said, “Xan, while I cannot possibly relate to what you’re going through, I think I can understand. The thing is, I have known you long enough to know when you are giving me a hard time because you are displeased. You’ve been like this since a very young age but I’m asking you to please take this seriously. These studies could mean life and death in Vellum. Because your father thought it best to keep the lore and history of our world away from you, I need to catch you up as soon as possible. Do you understand?” Mother was serious but, in a way, she normally wasn’t, it was worry behind her eyes. Now that, I can’t make fun of but I did have one question, “I can get serious but I’m asking for one thing in return.” My mother reached up to stroke my hair, “Of course, what is it?” I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath and told her, “I would like Jess to teach me about the lycans.” My mother stopped stroking my hair and smiled, “That is a wise decision, who better to teach you about their ways than a lycan. Yes, provided Jess would agree.” I was determined to make a new friend in Vellum so I wouldn’t feel lonely there as I had here. This would also benefit the fact that I had wished Jess would drop the formalities because it was getting awkward for me. I understood that she needed to be diplomatic since she was staying with the Duke and was a diplomat’s daughter but I kept explaining to her that I wasn’t used to it.
Mother got off the settee and grabbed the three books she took out of the shelf and handed them to me, “Xan, I was going to start you off with current events and I had commissioned the newspapers from Vellum from Vanessa but she won’t be here until tomorrow and I don’t want to delay your studies any further. So, this week you will need to learn about pyrios, witches and hearbats. For the first, of course you want to learn about your own kind to deprogram yourself from Terre lore. The second, you should know because of your godmother and also because not all witches are the same and you need to usually be on your guard around them. The third is because your father told me that Jess had mentioned hearbats during your meeting. They are useful to have as an ally but they are very particular about the people they choose to align with. You certainly don’t want them as your enemy, they will use all of the secrets you say out loud against you. When you’re done with those, let me know and I will provide more information.” I looked at my mother and then at my books, “Mom, I know I’ve made your life difficult and I know I’ve hurt you recently when I pushed you away and I want to say I’m sorry.” I bowed my head after saying so to emphasize that I was truly sorry. My mother pulled my face up and looked at me, “While I don’t appreciate your snarky humor at times, it was never difficult bringing you up. It has been the greatest joy in my life to have such a daughter. As for pushing me away, I understand now that you needed to process the information you’ve received in your own way. I’m only pushing you now because I want to mitigate any risk you may face in Vellum. Of course, you will live in the Blackwood manor on the other side and you will have staff there to help you out plus Vanessa lives in a cottage on the Blackwood estate so she will be close by should you need her. Vellum is a dangerous place to the ignorant and I want my girl to be as smart as possible before I let you go. Call it Mother’s worry, I don’t know if that will ever go away but I do know that I can ease my mind by pushing you to get educated now. I don’t expect you’ll know everything before you go but you can know, at least something. I have also asked Vanessa to check in on you from time to time as well.” I nodded and stood up with my books, “Well let me get crackin’, these books aren’t going to read themselves.” I walked out of the study and heard the clink of glass behind me, I could tell mother was emotional in the “letting my baby go” type of way. She hardly ever drank, she only did it occasionally to calm herself down. While she was quick to show her anger, she never wanted to show her vulnerable side. I could tell she was in the study holding a glass of Scotch and silently crying. The one thing that stuck in my brain about that conversation is about how she’ll always worry.
As I was walking up the stairs with the three lead weights in my arms, the front door opened and Jess popped in. She ran up the stairs to catch up with me and took a book from my arms, the one about hearbats. She looked at the book and then at me, “I guess your father wasn’t joking when he said your mother was obsessed with teaching you about Vellum, Your Grace.” I rolled my eyes, “Can we please drop the formalities? I am just Alexandra.” Jess looked down, “I’m sorry Your G- I mean Alexandra. I forget that we are the same age because you are of higher station than me. I know you’re not used to it but I’m not used to addressing nobility by their first name. You’ll have to be patient with me. Is there anything I can do to make amends?” I nodded enthusiastically, “First, at least try to drop the Your Grace thing and second, can you please teach me about lycans? I want to lessen this burden on my mother and I want to get to know you and your kind a lot better.” Jess looked up at me beaming, “Oh yes! I would love to! Perhaps we can become friends in the process, I’ve wanted to hang out with you since the day we met but I had my duties and you had your mother fretting over you for a few days.” I started back up the stairs with Jess following, “Great, I feel the same way. I’ve never had a friend and I felt from the moment we met that we would be great friends.” Jess had a bounce in her step at that, “I’ve never had a friend either. I’ve always been too shy to make them but talking to you comes easy. Do you think our meeting was fate? Do you think they decided it was right for us to know each other?” I stopped as I was starting down the hall to my room, “They? You mean the fates? Do they decide our lives for us or something? I thought they just wrote our books.” Jess had a horrified look on her face when I turned to her, “Oh I don’t know if I was supposed to say anything. I hope your mom doesn’t get mad at me. I know she wants to be the one to educate you.” I patted her on the shoulder and said, “Nah, I won’t mention it to her. Come on, you can tell me all about the lycans.” We set off back to my room.
