The Yellow Brick Road
Chapter 3: BURDEN – Cagalli laments
June, C.E. 76
When Cagalli would see young women her age out on the street, her mind wanders. How different would her life have been if she's one of those girls? Going to university, hanging out with her friends, going on dates, having a stable and normal job?
Sometimes, Cagalli hates how her life has turned out. Since childhood, she has always been expected to be someone greater than herself. Surrounded by veterans and politicians, often she'd find herself under the judgemental gazes of old men. She always had to fight for her place and her dignity - she still does to this day. And the constant need to prove herself worthy of respect is tiresome. So really, Cagalli Yula Athha is simply tired.
She wishes for a normal life, where she is expected to take care of only herself and her family and nothing greater. She wishes for a life where her decisions affect no one else but herself. She wishes for a life where she only has to worry of her own happiness and can put that happiness above anyone else's.
Cagalli wishes for many things. Truly, she does.
And yet, she'd see children playing in the park or walking to school. She'd see families eating together or having picnics or shopping in the mall. She'd see tired people like herself doing normal things expected of normal people. And she'd think, "Maybe all this is worth it."
So Cagalli wakes up every day and does her work the best she can because she knows there are people out there who are doing their best to live too. So she does all this for them and for herself.
Because perhaps this isn't the life she chose to live, but it is the life that was given to her.
So she takes life one day at a time and makes peace with her burden.