“Mom, you remember when I was kit. When you would always teach me about fire magic…” Imena asked looking at the ground. She shook slightly, the clutches of something around her heart as she sat at her mother’s feet. She knew the elder fox was looking at her with those kind eyes of hers.
“Of course I do. Why do you ask?”
Imena looked up at her and saw the curiosity burning in Media’s eyes, she took note of that warmth she exuded; that same warmth that wafted over the entire surrounding area. Imena just shrugged “You’ve never pressed me on it. Ya know? Dad always pushed Kaden and Nina with his own magic but I can’t do what they do so he’s never bothered with me.
“You say you’ve always been proud of me but you’ve never tried to pass down the knowledge that you have. You’ve never talked to me about what you have planned for me to do or what you expect of me. I ask you if I’ve messed up, if you’re at all ashamed of me yet you never tell me what you want me to do… I want to know why.”
“Is that all?” Media chuckled and got to her feet. Imena looked up to see her offering her daughter a hand. Not knowing what else to do Imena took it and her mother pulled her to her feet with that same soft and caring smile she always wore. Media then wrapped her arms around Imena, the two were practically eye to eye, nearly identical in height.
“Why?” Imena asked returning the embrace and burying her face in her mothers neck.
“You’re my daughter” Media said stroking Imena’s back and nuzzling her. “I may not have given birth to you but I carried you, I nurtured you. I raised you. You won’t understand this until you hold your little one in your arms but everything it does belongs to you. It’s one of the few things that is well and truly yours.
“You ask me why I’ve never told you my expectations or plans for you. I know I’ve told you about my mother and how she always expected something from me or had some plan that I failed to meet and, failing that; telling me that because I’m just so defective, such a failure I must have some disorder or mental disease to make me such a wash-out. No matter what I did I just couldn’t do right, I never met her expectations. Nothing I did was good enough for her. I began to hate her so I left her.
“If you could have seen me after that; I was shy, nervous about every little thing. I never spoke to anyone, I was always alone and I was content to believe every little thing my mother had told me. I’d never amount to anything, I wasn’t worth the air I breathe, I’d never do anything with my life. I’d be lucky if I ended up dead in a ditch or someone’s back alley bitch. I’ll never forget the things she said to me and I’ll never forgive her. That’s why she never got to know you, that’s why she’s never been a part of your lives. I hated her and everything about her because of her and her expectations.” She gently put a hand on Imena’s cheek, the elders soft blue eyes gazing into the youngers fierce red ones. Imena just looked at her, red eyes still confused and searching for an answer from her mother. “I don’t want you to feel like that, I don’t ever feel like you have to run away because you feel I’m expecting too much from you. I want you to be happy. Everything I’ve learned about firecraft I’ve learned on my own and I could only learn it after I found my fire. That didn’t happen until after I left. You were always focused on school, and drawing, creating and that little studio of yours. You had dreams and I didn’t want to come between you and what made you happy. Even now with Ghere, you’re happy with him, the two of you are in love and I don’t want you to feel like me or your father and I expect something greater from you or that we had a plan for you and you are just messing it all up with some silly boy.
“Don’t do something because you think I expect it of you, I want you to do whatever you want to do. Whatever makes you happy will make me happy and I’ll stand behind you every step of the way.”
Imena hugged Media again, burying her nose in the fur of her mothers neck. Media put her arms around the younger fox and caressed her head giving her an affectionate nuzzle. The air seemed warmer as well as even Media’s tails began to encompass Imena. Imena wiped tears from one of her eyes, she was crying a little, she sniffled and smiled looking at her mother.
Imena saw it now. Media had always been so given to her family. Selfless. Even when she had the opportunity to be selfish with no consequences she’d always ensured the best for her family before doing anything. Imena saw the difference between herself and her mother. Up until this point Imena had been selfish doing whatever she wanted. Media would always talk about how the two of them are similar but in that moment Imena saw the very opposite. She was different and she realized that on her own. Loyalty to ones family.
She’d never crossed her family but she’d never done anything solely for her family either. She’d never considered anything beyond herself because everyone around her had always been taken care of. She rubbed her abdomen absently and she nuzzled Media making a vow to herself. Several times in the past she had told her mother that she wanted to be just like her but until now she’d never given it any real thought. She was carrying a child now. She was starting a family with Ghere. She had matriarchal responsibilities now even though they were minor while her child still resided in her womb.
“While we’re on the topic there is one thing I do expect from you.” Media said taking her daughters hands. Imena looked at her in questioning and tilted her head. “Just smile for me. Smile and tell me you’re happy. That will make me smile and then I can be happy too.”
They both heard footsteps coming to the clearing as the two embraced. Imena gave a final sniffle saying “I will, mom” before Media sank down onto the bench. Her tails enveloped the younger kitsune as they usually did when she showed affection. That would be a trait Imena learn as she grew older, especially now that she had a mate. Media had seen the way Imena had Ghere wrapped up that one night… over time it would become an automatic response.
“Ummm… is everything okay here?” The two foxes looked up to see both Ghere and Sheri standing between the gate posts. Little Atlys looking at the two from behind his mothers leg as usual.
“Yeah, we’re fine” Media answered first. She wasn’t too shy when it came to family. She just smiled as always and waved at the wolf pup. “Hey there Atlys.”
Imena blushed lightly when she heard a males voice but she quickly smiled and extended an arm for her mate to join her as Media stepped away to join Sheri and her son. The elder vixen teasing and tickling the pup with feathersoft tails. The pup, while bashful and shy, playfully growled and swatted at them being comfortable in his grandmothers presence. While the two adults and pup walked off Imena hugged Ghere, her tails almost stiffly swaying behind her before snaking around him. He noticed that and laughed cupping her cheek and kissing her. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah” she wiped tears out of her eyes before leaning her head right under his chin. “Just talking about mother-daughter stuff, everything is alright now though.”
He put his arms around her and held her close. This was one of the two places she felt safest, what could possibly go wrong with his arms acting as her castle around her. He kissed him on the chin before working her way up to his mouth before pulling him along to follow her mother. “I love you-“
“I love you too. Are you sure you’re okay?” Imena just nodded and hugged his arm telling him she was fine. She was beautiful leaning against him the way she was, only the faint glow of her pregnancy showing. He loved this vixen and the child inside of her that he had sired. Truly, he did. He wrestled his arm from her grip and put it around her shoulders so that she could nuzzle his chest and put her tails around him almost defensively. She was his to protect and vice versa….. “Yeah, your dad and brother are back too. They brought fish.”
“Oh, that explains why Sheri had Atlys. Come on, lets catch up.” She smiled and bounced her head against his shoulder leaning into him as he walked. They caught up to her mother and Imena began talking to the elder vixen about lessons and firecraft. The two talked the whole way to the riverside about mysteries, inner fire, the breath and things along those lines. It sounded to him like a recap but still Ghere listened intently with an arm around Imena.
Fire was subjective. It was neither physical nor spectral but still it can be perceived. It was alive. It couldn’t exist without air to breathe and food to sustain it. It even reproduced, this was evident in a fires spread. Still, fire existed in many forms. Luminous, or common, fire was controlled by the breath. For the two foxes they had a fire within them and the breath allowed access to the spark. Imena interjected that she remembered the breathing exercises that Media had taught her when she was a younger teenager.
Media then asked if Imena remembered how to render spectral fire to which Imena said no. Media then turned to face Imena while still keeping pace. She clapped her hands and rubbed them together before opening them to show a little cinder she’d created using only the friction between her palms. She even showed Atlys and smiled seeing him go wide-eyed in awe. Media then held her hands close to her face and gently blew into the cinder. A small flame, no bigger than a candlelight sprouted from her palm but it grew with each breathe she fed it. “Common fire is rooted to the physical body, it causes physical damage.”
She separated her hands holding the newly kindled flame in one hand. “Spectral fire is similar but it is different. It is rooted to spectral body.” In her other open palm a little glob of blue light filled the cup of her hand before it immediately kindled into a small flame fully capable of rivaling the common flame. It eventually grew until the blue glob ran between her fingers and it dripped to the ground whistling and zipped through the air though once separated from her the fire consumed the energy contained within the blue substance and extinguished in midair. Atlys exclaimed seeing, and hearing, the fire.
