Wilting Lilies
Chapter 1: A Child's Wish
In the darkest hour of the night a small boy looked out at the sky, and with a sense of pure awe gazed upon the most beautiful sight it had to offer. A small silver streak shot across the sky so close to the earth that it looked as if it would fall down at the youth's feet.
"Mama, look! A shooting star, I saw a shooting star," he proclaimed to his mother. He looked about as happy as if he had just received the most wonderful toy in the world.
"You know, when you see a shooting star the moons give you a wish," she said "do you want to make a wish dear?"
"I don't know what to wish for," he said, and he looked up at his mother as if she was the only one in the world who knew what he should do.
His mother smiled down at him. She knew that the supposed shooting star was probably just a falling moon stone, but as many mothers know, sometimes it is the simple white lies that help a child grow in a world of wonders.
"Wish for something that you really want, and if your lucky it will come true," she said.
"But Mama, I don't know what I want," he said pouting.
"well then, think of who you want to be the most like and then think of what you want to do when you are like them and that will be your wish," she told him.
"I wana be like Papa!" he told her with a beaming face.
"Ahh, so you want to be an air pirate," she said with a laugh. He was the typical boy, always wanting to be just like his father.
Her son adored his father, as any son should, but new nothing of his father's occupation, other than the fact that it was what the man he aspired to be did for a living. She was well aware that her son's blind worship for his father could lead him into the dangerous life of a pirate, but as a pirate's wife she was used to risk. Even though the Blue Rouge pirates only stole from armed Valuan battleships, they were still pirates and therefore were often seen on wanted lists at local ports. In Arcadia having the Valuan empire after you meant that your name would be know on every continent; this could be risky for a pirate especially if the empress put a bounty over your head. Nevertheless the mother knew deep in her heart that her son would choose the right path.
"Yeah, and Papa and I are gonna be famous and tell the Valuans to be nice to everyone," he said breaking her brief trance.
"Ohh, really," she laughed.
"Then when I'm big, I'm gonna get a big ship and be the best captain ever!" he grinned from ear to ear at the thought. Of course he had to be a captain as well, just like his father.
"Is that the end of your wish," she asked with a laugh.
"Not yet," he said with a grin. "I also wanna save the world from all the bad guys," he said.
"Is that the end of your wish Vyse?"
"Uh hu," he said sleepily
"Well, Mr. Vyse if you're going to save the world then you are going to need to sleep first okay," she said lovingly
"Okay Mama," he said
She picked him up and brought him in the house. After she had tucked him in she sat by her own bed and stewed over his wish list.
Was it wrong for her son to want to be like his father? How could a child's love for his father be a bad thing? Stealing was an act against the Moons, and it left a large hole in your eternal soul, every mother's son knew that. On the other hand wasn't it less of a crime to steal from a rich man than to steal from a poor one. The lives of the Blue Rouges were devoted to using their stolen money to help the poor. If her son was to grow up and help people, how could she worry about him being a sinner? She had gone through the same train of thoughts when she had met her husband, Dyne. She knew what he did was wrong on a certain level, but her love for him and his way of helping others, as controversial as it may have been, balanced out his sins. If that was all it took to keep her husbands crimes from becoming marks against him, then shouldn't it be the same for her child. She knew in her heart that it was her motherly instinct to protect her son from everything that threatened his delicate innocence that made her want to hold him back from his dreams, but she also knew that there were some things that a mother should not try to stop; at least not fully.
She started to wonder if all mothers felt such a strong need to protect there children from their destinies. Would a mother from another culture feel a need to protect their child's innocence from something like following a bad career choice? She supposed so, but how would she ever know if another woman was out there struggling against her respect for her family and the morals that she held dear?
It was late and she knew that her son would awaken her at an early hour, so with a sigh Lorena of the Blue Rouges laid herself to sleep.