Time slowly began rolling forward again. “No!'' My father's voice was stern and blunt as if he were giving an order. Without knowing it I tightened my grip around his shirt as he held me, and he must have noticed because he immediately softened his voice and wrapped his other arm around me as well. “She is no longer your daughter, you rescinded that right when you considered leaving her to die. This child is now solely my responsibility and I will raise her myself if I must.”
In that moment whatever flicker of pity or sadness that she had vanished. “Even if what you're saying is true Keigan… The elders won't see it like that, neither will the guardians or even the commoners.”
“I am well aware of what might happen, but there must be a way. Even when it seems as though there is no choice, there is always a choice, and even when what is right seems to be the worst option, it is up to me to charge forward at full speed and never look back, that is what it means to be a father, no… to be a man.”
Mara looked down and to the side, submitting to him. “You’re being stubborn”
“Do what is right and sort out the mess after. That is the motto this family was founded on, you know full well that this is who I am.”
“A bloody hero…” she let out the same sigh I had heard too many times to count as she grabbed a handful of her own hair.
“A soldier,” he said, reaching out and pulling her head close to his chest. “Whatever happens, we will face it together… But to kill our own daughter… You could never live with yourself if we did something like that…”
At that moment I had more admiration for my father than anyone else I had ever heard of or read about. He embodied everything it meant to be a hero. The look in his eyes said that if anyone wanted to hurt me, they could only do so if he were dead at my feet protecting me. It was a feeling that still faintly lingered every time I saw him.
After a long pause, Mara placed her hands on his chest and looked up at him. “Then… what should we do?”
“We will toughen her as we raise her, starting her training early and giving her as much as she can handle.” He looked down at me again with pity, it was the look a father might give his child after spanking them. “Maybe even more than she can handle… But she is my daughter and she will pull through… if she can't… she will learn magic to hide her weakness. She doesn't need to be strong, she just needs to be strong enough. For now, let's hide her existence. We will keep her hidden from everyone outside the castle for two years and claim she is younger than she is… It might be hard to do anything more than that.”
“She will still bring shame to the family.” As she spoke she seemed to have given in to fathers will, already accepting the fact that I was going to live
“Then we will have to be strong as well…”
…
My perspective flashed and the memory continued scattering through my mind as I leapt from one to another. I saw blurred images of Mara’s red cloak blowing in the wind as she picked me up, rushing out of the house. Then my perspective jumped again and, Suddenly we were on horseback galloping through the snow. Finally, I found myself lying at the edge of a cliff
Snowflakes gently fell from the sky, dancing like fairies as they made their way down. Whatever happened, there was nothing I could do to stop it. If it was my fate to die, then that was what would happen. The ground was cold, but it was as good a place to die as any.
My eyes slowly looked over to Mara. She was standing over me with a knife to my neck. I was at peace with whatever was going to happen, so I lay in wait, preparing myself for a second untimely end.
It was at that moment that our eyes finally met for the first time. I wasn't afraid of a second death, and some part of me sensed that she could see that. Her eyes reflected the same. A fearless, heartless gaze, the kind of gaze, I imagined, she wore to battle.
She slowly applied pressure until I felt the sting from the cold steel cutting into me, but before she finished the ground began to shake. She slowly pulled the blade away and locked it back in its sheath, turning to look at whatever monstrously large beast was approaching us.
Then, from out of my small field of view my father flew through the air and tackled her to the ground, both of them rolling through the snow. I heard yelling before a long pause hung in the air. All the while I simply stayed quiet, with nothing to do but watch the snowfall.
Before long I was in my father's arms again, and we were riding back to the castle. Mara was left standing in the snow alone as it continued to gently plummet to the ground.
I bounced up and down with every step as he held me in his warm cloak and I slowly began to drift off, everything fading to black.
Time slowly began rolling forward again. “No!'' My father's voice was stern and blunt as if he were giving an order. Without knowing it I tightened my grip around his shirt as he held me, and he must have noticed because he immediately softened his voice and wrapped his other arm around me as well. “She is no longer your daughter, you rescinded that right when you considered leaving her to die. This child is now solely my responsibility and I will raise her myself if I must.”
In that moment whatever flicker of pity or sadness that she had vanished. “Even if what you're saying is true Keigan… The elders won't see it like that, neither will the guardians or even the commoners.”
“I am well aware of what might happen, but there must be a way. Even when it seems as though there is no choice, there is always a choice, and even when what is right seems to be the worst option, it is up to me to charge forward at full speed and never look back, that is what it means to be a father, no… to be a man.”
Mara looked down and to the side, submitting to him. “You’re being stubborn”
“Do what is right and sort out the mess after. That is the motto this family was founded on, you know full well that this is who I am.”
“A bloody hero…” she let out the same sigh I had heard too many times to count as she grabbed a handful of her own hair.
“A soldier,” he said, reaching out and pulling her head close to his chest. “Whatever happens, we will face it together… But to kill our own daughter… You could never live with yourself if we did something like that…”
At that moment I had more admiration for my father than anyone else I had ever heard of or read about. He embodied everything it meant to be a hero. The look in his eyes said that if anyone wanted to hurt me, they could only do so if he were dead at my feet protecting me. It was a feeling that still faintly lingered every time I saw him.
After a long pause, Mara placed her hands on his chest and looked up at him. “Then… what should we do?”
“We will toughen her as we raise her, starting her training early and giving her as much as she can handle.” He looked down at me again with pity, it was the look a father might give his child after spanking them. “Maybe even more than she can handle… But she is my daughter and she will pull through… if she can't… she will learn magic to hide her weakness. She doesn't need to be strong, she just needs to be strong enough. For now, let's hide her existence. We will keep her hidden from everyone outside the castle for two years and claim she is younger than she is… It might be hard to do anything more than that.”
“She will still bring shame to the family.” As she spoke she seemed to have given in to fathers will, already accepting the fact that I was going to live
“Then we will have to be strong as well…”
…
My perspective flashed and the memory continued scattering through my mind as I leapt from one to another. I saw blurred images of Mara’s red cloak blowing in the wind as she picked me up, rushing out of the house. Then my perspective jumped again and, Suddenly we were on horseback galloping through the snow. Finally, I found myself lying at the edge of a cliff
Snowflakes gently fell from the sky, dancing like fairies as they made their way down. Whatever happened, there was nothing I could do to stop it. If it was my fate to die, then that was what would happen. The ground was cold, but it was as good a place to die as any.
My eyes slowly looked over to Mara. She was standing over me with a knife to my neck. I was at peace with whatever was going to happen, so I lay in wait, preparing myself for a second untimely end.
It was at that moment that our eyes finally met for the first time. I wasn't afraid of a second death, and some part of me sensed that she could see that. Her eyes reflected the same. A fearless, heartless gaze, the kind of gaze, I imagined, she wore to battle.
She slowly applied pressure until I felt the sting from the cold steel cutting into me, but before she finished the ground began to shake. She slowly pulled the blade away and locked it back in its sheath, turning to look at whatever monstrously large beast was approaching us.
Then, from out of my small field of view my father flew through the air and tackled her to the ground, both of them rolling through the snow. I heard yelling before a long pause hung in the air. All the while I simply stayed quiet, with nothing to do but watch the snowfall.
Before long I was in my father's arms again, and we were riding back to the castle. Mara was left standing in the snow alone as it continued to gently plummet to the ground.
I bounced up and down with every step as he held me in his warm cloak and I slowly began to drift off, everything fading to black.
