Домагой Курмаич - Mother of Learning

"In regards to living your life, we can humor you, but you have no right, no right at all to tell me how to raise my daughter!" Mother shouted angrily at him, stomping threateningly straight into his personal space. "You are way out of line! Andir, you tell him!"

"What, me?" Father said with a look of exaggerated surprise. "I thought we agreed you would be the one to talk to him?"

Mother gave him an angry, venomous look that promised later retribution, but didn’t press him further.

"You have no idea what’s in Kirielle’s best interest, Zorian," Mother told him warningly. "Don’t stick your nose where it does not belong!"

"I’m afraid that, if I don’t get an actual explanation, I’m still going to go through with my idea," Zorian told her.

"You can’t take a child from her parents, even if you’re her brother," Mother told him angrily. "We can call the police!"

"But would you actually do so?" Zorian challenged. She shrank back a little. They both knew she wouldn’t. "Besides, I bet that marriage is of questionable legality to begin with."

"The marriage is… negotiable," Mother said, pacing around the room in agitation. "You’re making a mountain out of a molehill. It’s just an informal agreement, not a legally binding document. It’s not like we’d force Kirielle to go through it at all costs. But magic is absolutely off the table! She can never, under any circumstances be taught magic!"

"Why?" Zorian frowned.

"I’m trying to do her a favor!" Mother shouted, turning to face his again. "Don’t you know what her roots are? What my mother was?"

Zorian gave her an uncomprehending look. Her mother ? What did her mother have to do with anything? He knew they didn’t get along well, but he never really heard anything too shocking about her. Besides, she had been dead for a while now.

"Wait," he said. "Are you talking about–"

"She was a witch!" Mother said, preempting his conclusion. "She was a witch and she was so damned proud of that fact. She never let anyone forget it! Once, she even threatened she was going to poison the town well when a bunch of customer tried to get out of paying her for the potions she made them. You know, just like the witches of old were said to do when someone wronged them!"

Zorian winced.

"You have no idea what it’s like to be the daughter of a witch," Mother continued. "A son is fine. Witches didn’t care about male children. Everyone knows this. They firmly believed that magic was transferred to the child through the womb, so only a daughter can continue the lineage."

Zorian raised an eyebrow at her. Why would they–

"I don’t know why they believed what they did!" Mother said, as if reading his mind. "I never cared to know. I just wished she would shut up about witches and let me live some semblance of a normal life. But she never did, so everyone around me saw me as a soul-stealing, mind-ensnaring, poison-wielding witch-in-waiting. And if Kirielle learns magic, she’ll suffer the same fate."

"Mother…" Zorian sighed.

"I was really lucky to marry your father," Mother said.

"Well, you were a pretty fine catch yourself," Father said, grinning. He had been silent while Mother ranted about her childhood frustrations, but apparently he now felt it was safe to throw in a comment or two.

Mother ignored him, though. She was probably still angry about his earlier quip about her being the designated speaker.

"My daughter won’t have to fear for her future and rely on luck to find a good husband. She won’t have people cross to the other side of the road when they see her or spreading vile slander about her completely unprovoked," Mother continued. "Unlike my mother, I’ve done everything I can to distance myself from our family legacy. So long as she takes my example and stays well away from anything magic related, anyone that tries to start something will end up looking petty and paranoid. But if she starts learning magic, then everything will be ruined !"

"You don’t know that," Zorian pointed out.

"Why take the risk?" Mother challenged. "Maybe if she married early, to a wealthy and respected husband… but you already said you are opposed to that, didn’t you? So where does that leave us?"

Zorian stared at her. This was the side of Mother that he had never really known before. Was this why she was so obsessed with family reputation and social position?

He looked at Father, but the man was uncharacteristically skittish. He just looked away, refusing to meet his eyes.

Though he didn’t actually say anything, Zorian understood the message: he was on his own here. Kirielle was Mother’s project, and he wasn’t going to stick his nose in it unless he had to.

"What if Kirielle doesn’t want to go along with your plan?" Zorian asked slowly.

"She’s nine," Mother said. "She doesn’t know what she wants."

"She’s not always going to be nine, though," Zorian pointed out.

"Yes, well, we can continue this conversation when she gets older," she told him firmly. "You didn’t start learning magic when you were nine, either."

She had a point there. In all honesty, he wasn’t willing to push this matter further than this. He mostly just raised the issue to gauge her reaction to it. He hadn’t expected this sort of response. On top of that, while Kirielle said she wanted to learn magic, she was also rather impatient and flighty. Who knew whether she was even capable of the discipline required to become a mage.

Besides, the most important thing was that the arranged marriage was apparently just an informal thing and not something his parents would push for at all costs. He couldn’t claim with certainty that it would be a good idea to teach Kirielle magic, but he knew for a fact that she hated the arranged marriage thing.

"Right," Zorian said finally. "I’m not informed enough to make a decision here, so I’ll withdraw for now."

"You’re damn right you’re going to withdraw!" she told him. She still sounded outraged but the anger was visibly draining out of her now that he was no longer challenging her. "What the hell made you think you have the right to give me parenting advice? Not even your father dares to tell me how to raise my daughter and you, an immature brat that has never even been with a woman, think you can tell me what to do. Why don’t you make a daughter of your own if you think–"

This was going to take quite a while, wasn’t it?

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Father staring at the scene and smiling faintly in schadenfreude.

Zorian sighed. Yes, this would definitely take a while.

"So, I discovered a new function of the orb," Zach said.

Zorian stopped working on the metal, flower-shaped construct on his bench and gave Zach a curious look.

"What do you mean you found a new function?" Zorian asked.

"I mean, one completely unrelated to its role as a mobile palace," Zach said, waving the orb in front of him. "Look. Take the orb and try this…"

It took a while for Zach to convey to Zorian what he had to do to activate this new function he discovered. After all, the way Zorian interacted with the orb was completely different from the way Zach did. Zach’s way was more instinctive, almost automatic, whereas Zorian had to take the initiative and actively grope around for a way to interface with it.

Eventually, though, he succeeded. He connected with the orb in the new manner that Zach found and immediately found himself connected to… something. Some kind of empty space, maybe?

"Weird," Zorian eventually said.

"Yeah," Zach said. "I have no idea what this does, though."

"Neither do I," said Zorian after some tinkering. He handed the orb back to Zach. "Keep tinkering with it. You’ll probably have more luck with it than I would."