Just a Myth
Day 5: Mythology
The Lunar Chronicles Ship Week
Ship: Kaider
—
"There's a story."
Cinder jumped. She thought Kai had fallen asleep a while ago but apparently that wasn't true. She turned her head from the starry sky to the boy lying beside her on the palace roof. The emperor was gazing up into the night, focusing on the silver moon that stood almost directly above them as he continued.
"My dad used to tell me it when I was little, when I'd ask about my mom."
He paused. Cinder let the silence fall. This was clearly something personal. She didn't want to do anything to make him feel worse.
She listened to her boyfriend take a deep breath in and out. Then he began, voice barely above a whisper.
"Many years ago, my father was a young man. My grandfather was emperor then, and my dad was next in line. My father wanted to prove himself, that he would be worthy to rule, so he took a hover to the outer regions in search of a solution to the hunger that had consumed so many of his people. The Eastern Commonwealth had been torn apart during the World Wars and food was in high demand.
"During his search for a solution, he consulted many experienced experts, but none had a fix that would work in the new conditions.
"Feeling as though he had failed, my father was set to return home when he ran into a woman. She was beautiful and smart, and she had heard of his quest. She explained that Luna, which had in the past created tides that irrigated the rice crops, had blocked the effects of its gravitational pull. This was changing the weather patterns, the tides, and the ocean currents, making it much harder for his people to grow food."
This story was interesting. Cinder couldn't help but notice all the details that were added. This story was clearly one that he had thought of often.
"Anyway, they met together to come up with a plan to fix this and started becoming more and more attracted to each other. They fell in love and my father proposed. They soon married and had a child."
That was Kai. Cinder smiled, imagining a chubby baby Kai surrounded by his family. But by the boy's sigh she sobered up, knowing that the next part wouldn't be as sweet.
"They worked on the project for years. My father became emperor and my mother a beloved empress. Finally, after mamy conferences in hopes of peace, they realized that the only solution would be for someone to go to Luna and shut off the contraption themselves. They didn't know who to trust or who to turn to. My father planned to go, but my mother refused to let him, knowing the chances of him coming back was second to none. My father had an empire to run and a son to take care of.
"The night, my mother … she …" He breathed in and out heavily. "She left. My father tried to stop her, but it was too late.
"She was gone. Somehow, she must have done it, but she never returned. My dad … he'd say that she stayed on Luna. That she was stranded there, far away but only just out of reach."
Kai extended his hand out, pointing towards the almost-full luminary. "Right there." Cinder followed his finger to see a darker spot on the upper half of the orb. Her netscreen was telling her that the spot was actually one of the domes that covered the Lunar city of Bulana, but she pushed that to the side. "That's where dad always said she lives. We'd look out the window and wave, and she'd wave back slowly as the moon went from full to a crescent to full again."
He reached for Cinders hand. Letting his words pass over them in silence, they laid on the rooftop staring into space.
"How much of a myth was that?" she finally asked, breaking the silence.
"I don't know. Maybe all of it. Maybe none of it."
"There's probably records somewhere that could tell you what happened."
"There probably are. But I like this story better."
Cinder slid closer to him, wrapping an arm around him. Her netscreen had presented her with piles of news articles and library records and reports and school textbooks. Though she had tried to avoid looking, she couldn't stop herself from glancing at the reports.
Failed peace conferences. Rare disease. Outer regions. No known cure.
Fatal.
Cinder closed the search manually.
"Me too."