"Don't take this lightly, ma'am your son has the makings of a star." The man was dressed in a dark purple shirt which flared open showing his veteran scars. My mother feigned at the thought, you would never guess it by looking at her. She was a reserved woman, "A poor upbringing is never an excuse for poor manners," she used to say.

The man sitting across from us was a head recruiter, not just a recruiter—THE recruiter. He signed more stars than any other recruiter in all of blitzball. He did all of his own scouting and knew exactly what he was looking for—me.

He sat with his back against the wall on a small round, flat-topped chair with his arm resting on the window-sill. Our house was small, 3 rooms with mats rolled up against the corner of our living room—it doubled as our sleeping quarters. We sat on a low-backed love seat that was more comfortable than the floor.

My mind was racing, stars had covered my eyes the moment he walked in the door; he spoke of a life of fame and wealth. A once in a lifetime chance to get out of this pit of despair—nothing was going to stop me. "I don't mean to be rude, but have you ever seen a live blitzball game, son? I mean being there, really being there. Feeling the roar of the crowd around you, you can almost taste the action." He motioned out the "window." In the distance was the south stadium—the Duggles stadium.

That was the main problem here—mom was a huge Abes fan. Though we had never been able to go together she used to go: her father was the head janitor for the East stadium so mom would go and watch the games as her father took care of the arena. She may be a reserved woman but grandpa used to talk about how she would talk trash with the best of them, "even had a chance with one," he used to say.

"No sir, but I'd love nothing more than to be the one the crowd is chanting for." I swear my face had to have lit up a bit just talking about being a somebody got me all excited.

"Well I'll leave you some time to think about it training starts in a month so I hope to hear from you soon." He uncrossed his legs and grabbed two cards out of his pocket and set them on the table." Just show that card if you decide to come see me and they'll let you in; that card is for fare to come out and see me, so you don't have to walk." He motioned at the cards and stood up. "Thank you for your time, I hope to hear from you soon."

My mother led him to the door and let out a slight bow as he walked out of the door, closing it behind him. I knew what was on her mind without her even speaking a word. "No," she said as she looked at me. Well, it looks like I was right.

"But mom, I haven't heard anything from the Abes. Who knows if I ever will?" I had put off two other Duggle recruiters for my mom's sake but I couldn't do it any longer, I had to be true to myself; I owed it to myself, to us, this would change both of our lives. She looked at me with a stern but sad look in her eyes, I know that signing with the Duggles would be driving a stake through her heart but there was nothing I could do, I couldn't wait forever—I could always aim to sign with the Abes after my contract expires. She didn't say another word of it grabbing the dishes off the table as she headed to the kitchen to clean the wares.

I knew bringing it up would only bother her so I headed outside and sat on the dock with my feet in the water. A few kids were treading just a ways off the port tossing a make-shift ball back and forth. "Hey Jecht!" A smiling girl ran towards me and threw her arms around me playfully. "Was that ANOTHER recruit from the Duggles?"

"Yea," I dropped my head and looked at my hands in my lap, "you know how mom feels about them." A lot of the kids in the Pit didn't have parents—my mom was generous enough to take care of most of them when she could Naya was no exception. She was playful and excitable; way to optimistic for the Pit, she never let anything get to her, anything or anyone for that matter.

"What are you gunna do?" by this time she had let go of my neck and plopped down invasively close to me sitting on her hands and swinging her legs back and forth skimming the top of the water. You would never guess she was a "slums kid" with how happy she always seemed to be.

"I think I'm done putting it off, I think I'm going to talk to Zang tomorrow." The words didn't finish coming out of my mouth before Naya cut in.

"THE Zang? As in more-stars-recruited-than-anyone-else, 6 time Memorial cup MVP? Zang?" her eyes lit up in amazement.

"One in the same I'm afraid." My head still hung as I sulked. I was torn: I didn't want to hurt my mother, but I couldn't sit around here forever—something had to be done. I had to make a choice, risk hurting my mother's feelings or wait for a chance that may never unfold.

I looked up at Naya who just gazed out into the ocean with a light smile on her face, clearly dreaming of a life beyond these docks. "Oh, I've been working on my passing and shooting, do you want to see?" A wide smile flashed across her face.

"Y'know I'm kinda getting tired, I think I'll just head in for the night."

Splash!

I wiped the water from my eyes and looked up at Naya, her arms were crossed and her legs were open in an offensive stance, she had a pout on her face that was covering a slight smirk. She lightened up enough to turn and begin walking away. "I'll see you tomorrow super-star!" she said as she walked away. The only sounds were the whisper of the wind over the water and the fading of her footsteps into the distance. The children that were playing had turned in and I figured I should do the same.

I crawled up on the deck and moved towards my house trying to shed the external water weight before tromping through the house.

"What am I going to do?"