"Do... Re... does it works this way? Ahhh... Bribri! Say do-re-mi!"
"Buh"
She stared.
"That's okay, I only started talking when I was 4!"
Fareeha gently tapped the tuning pegs, that immediately rotated themselves, much to her surprise. The girl let out a loud "Wow!" as she delicately checked the strings, playing some notes she had no idea of which one was one. Her fingers kept running across the guitar's neck, as she hummed some murmurs.
"Bribri, what song I should play?"
The baby drooled a line of saliva that wet her bib, as she vigorously laughed afterwards.
"... Uh, okay, let me see if this works..."
She sucked air in and prepared to play.
"HAHAHAABAHAHAHHAHA BLUUUUUUUBLUBLUBLU!"
The baby stared at her with an unsettled expression in face.
"Oh yea? Do you have any better suggestion?" She said as she stuck her tongue out.
A chuckle was heard. "I see you are having fun with little Brigitte."
"Aunt Ingrid! Ahn" She looked away for a while, as the tall blonde entered the room. "Uncle Torby asked me to look over her for a while, so I decided to play her some music. Because... well, my guitar is here and all anyway."
As she said that, Fareeha swing her hand over the guitar's strings, playing a long note. Ingrid chuckled, carrying her child right after and cleaning Brigitte's face.
"Oh, Torbjörn is always leaving this girl in his workshops!" She looked over Fareeha with a smirk. "He has done this for all the others and they still don't have any interest in smithing..."
"That is a little funny. My mom don't want me to be a soldier, even though I came from a family of soldiers..."
"Well, little Fa..." She said, as she sat next to her. "Sometimes, mothers just want the best for their children... I'm sure that Ana just wants your safety."
She ran her fingers through Fareeha's hair gently, getting a faint chuckle from the girl. However, her face immediately changed to a frowned one.
"I know that, but she just... pushes me too hard! With other things..."
"Well, maybe you can deviate a little?" She winked. "Just do something you like almost as the dream of being a soldier, and maybe then you could distract her! Do the talk!"
She tilted her head. "The talk?..."
"Well, It's not that you would hide what you really want, but she can calm down if you don't show you are so interested in being a soldier as it seems. After all, when you grow up to an adult you will be in control of your life."
"You're right, aunt Ingrid! Thank you so much!" She said, hugging the woman right after, who smiled." Soo... would you care if Brigitte grown up to be a soldier?"
"Hmm..." Ingrid looked away, thinking. "I have so many children and none of them do that... Well, I wouldn't mind. She would have the greatest soldiers at her side. Like you!"
Fareeha flushed. "Uhh, like me as I would have too, or that I would be a great one too?"
"Guess it."
She stopped for a moment, until her head clicked.
"Awnn, thank you so much aunt! You're the best! Oh-oh! And dont worry! Brigitte will see the best soldier of me!", she shouted, as she proudly showed of her tiny muscles.
"Oh, you're welcome, korë. You just need to—"
"Oh! I'm late to the karate lesson!" Fareeha suddenly realized, as she picked up her guitar. "I gotta go!"
The girl rushed out of the room as she went throught the corridors.
Ingrid frowned.
"Well... just as your dad, isn't that right, lilla du?"
"Buh"
Ana sat with her legs crossed in one of the dojo seats, sipping from her tea. Fareeha was 7 minutes late already.
The woman closed her eyes, as she kept waving her right leg.
The girl immediately entered the room, with her kimono worn inside out and sweat pouring from her hair.
Ana lowered her tea-cup, opening only one of her eyes; the right one, tattoed with an Eye of Horus under it.
"Seems like you've did some warm-up already."
She left her saucer and cup in a balcony next to her, standing up right after and taking a few steps. They bowed to each other, as Ana looked down on her daughter's feet.
"You have your shoes on."
"Oh!", the girl exclaimed, awkwardly taking her slippers off and throwing them out of the tatami mat.
Ana glared at her. "Fareeha."
She looked away. "Uhh, aren't we too late already?..."
"In fact", she rolled up her sleeves, "I should make you sweep all this room afterwards."
Fareeha swallowed dry.
"Let us begin."
The girl quickly took a gulp of her bottle of water, feeling immediately refreshed as soon as the liquid made it's way down her throat. Today's lesson was a hard one indeed; Ana was know as a teacher who wouldn't take it easy, even if it was her daughter.
Ana stood still, with her fingers crossed, an unsettling glare in her eyes. Fareeha noticed that, as she glanced over Ana. She uncomfortably finished her bottle and proceeded to bow afterwards. With the reverence done, Ana handed the girl a broom.
She sighed.
"Mooom, can't we just pass this? I won't get late again..."
"Care to explain to me why you were late then?"
Fareeha loudly snorted.
"You do NOT snort to me, girl!"
"Ugh! I was just in the middle of something!"
"Well", she crossed her arms, "When you are at the army, you should no be late. Ever. You really want to be a soldier like this?"
The girl pouted, her fierce eyes looking up her mother. Suddenly, Ingrid's words made their way throught Fareeha's mind, making her face shine a little.
"Well, actually..." She crossed her arms just like her mother's. "I was in the middle of checking something, becaaaause... I want a baby!"
Ana continued silent.
"... Pleease?"
"Hah", she scoffed, leaning one of her hands over her chest, like she was indignant. "A baby? Do you even know how do you get a baby, Fareeha?"
"Of course I do!" The girl cried, immediately responding. "And I am willing to do it as much as I am to become a soldier!"
Her mother smirked, gradually wenting from a chuckle to a bursted laughter. "AHAHAHAH, haha, ahh, Fareeha... You really are a comedian, are you not? A baby? You? Do me a favour, girl, go play with your baby things, or guns, whatever... Oh, a baby... Give me a break!"
Fareeha startled, looking her at mother still laughing, as the girl silently left the room backwards – glancing at the broom as she left it next to the doorway.
"Ok... I am... going? B-Bye!", she said, as she rushed out of the dojo.
"A baby." Ana thought out loud, leaning against the balcony as she waved her head backwards. "A baby! Ahahah... ahah... hah... Baby..."
She stopped for a moment, keeping her eyes closed and her hand froze in her stomach.
Suddenly, she turned to the balcony, placing her elbows in it; opening up the holograms as fast as possible, quickly tiping, even almost stumbling in her tea-cup as doing so in the rush.
As she stood still again, the refreshing signal in the hologram stopped, as the 'Waiting for recipient's response' changed to a friendly 'Recipient sucessfuly contacted. Opening the call'.
An unsettled face appeared in the surface. "Ana? What's wrong? Did something happened? You only contact me when there's something urgent!"
"Sam..."
"... And to be honest, I am kind of busy right now, I mean, I have this ton of files to check over some NGO's requests!"
"... Sam."
"I'm not saying that I can't do it right now, but an emergence message would do the trick more properly, you know? Actually, no, calls are already emergency enough!" He widened his eyes. "Is Fareeha ok? Last time she was here she got pox and-and I—"
"Samuel."
He stiffened, looking at her again while she pressed the her nose bridge with the right hand.
"You—", she leaned her hand over the screen, "Did you had the talk with her?"
He approached the screen, tilting his head and pressing his eyes. "Talk?..."
"You know." She looked away, "The talk."
"I have no idea of what you're saying."
"About SEX! For the love of—"
They looked over the doorway as Jack stood there.
"...Am I interrupting something?"
"Ahnn", she glanced at Sam. "Nothing! Just... just family talk. I just went a little overboard."
Jack let his breath out. "Okay, I'll need you in the main room at three. Oh, good to see you Sam."
He waved. "My pleasure, Mr. Morrison."
Ana looked from Sam to Jack, noding nervously. Jack widened his eyes, a little unsettled, as he gave a thumbs-up and left the doorway.
Ana sighed, slowly turning to the screen again.
"What the shi— what are you on about, Ana? Why this all of sudden?"
"I take", she approached the screen intimidatingly, leaning her right hand in her hip and the other in the balcony, "That you didn't had the talk."
"Of course I didn't, for the love of— she's 9, Ana!"
"She is 11 already!"
He sighed. "She was 9."
"And besides, this should be talked about since she can understand someone touching her!"
"Well, why didn't you do it?"
"I was probably busy doing, I don't know, saving the world?! You were the one looking after her!"
"Okay, maybe I should have done it, but you reaaally think you are the only one busy here? Just—", he picked up a book with half the thickness of a finger, "That's how much I deal with! In a WEEK!"
"Alright, alright, sir 'Please contact me later', I got it."
"And besides that", he approached the screen, "I didn't do it because I thought you should do it, because— she's a girl!"
Ana moved a bit away from the hologram, crossing her arms. "Okay, okay, you're right", she waved her head, eyes closed. "I should have done it—", the woman suddenly approached the screen again, "But you could've reminded me!"
"What is all this fuss about anyway? Did she—", he lowered his voice, "Hit puberty?"
"She wants a baby."
He straightened himself, widening his eyes a little.
"A baby."
Ana nodded.
"And what makes you think that she is—"
"She said it!"
He kept looking at her with a stiffened face.
"lol bye"
"Sam!—", she tried recalling immediately. "Urgh!"
She leaned against the balcony once again, taking just the teacup and sipping, the liquid already cooled.
"Okay Ana", she breathed in, putting the cup back in the saucer anyhow, "You can do it, no big deal. I mean, your mother didn't—", she hold back, breathing in and out heavily once, "Fareeha needs it. And you'll do it. For her."
She sighed, going for a change of clothes.
"Bribri, you shouldn't be putting this in your mouth!"
Fareeha took the screwdriver away from her, which immediately sent the baby crying.
"Ok ok, eat it if you want!" Fareeha mumbled, giving the tool back to the redheaded child as she chewed the holding part. "But don't say that I didn't warned you!"
"Fareeha?"
Ana stood in the doorway, dressed in her classic uniform as she had a worried expression in her face.
"Oh, mama! Ahnn", she murmmed nervously. "... Did I forgot something?..."
Ana sat next to her, looking at the baby and then at her daughter.
"We need to talk."
Fareeha swallowed dry.
"You see, habibti... there's a whole process before... becoming an adult, which is when you can truly have a baby."
She tilted her head, confused.
"And before that, comes the teenage, that you'll notice as soon as you start bleeding in—"
"I know that!" She protested, flushing. "Mrs. Zeta told me!"
"And the heavier ones? Like, when the girl and the boy really like each other and—"
"Mooom!" She cried.
Ana let out a sigh of relief, "Well, very well, then."
They stared at each other; Ana, with a worried expression in her face, and Fareeha, with an unsettled one in hers.
"There is an even heavier part, that revolves around more in the... non-physical part."
Fareeha made a disgusted face as Brigitte let out a "Bleh" in the air.
Ana sighed, leaning closer.
"Habibit, it's just— when you want to have a baby, you need to deal with a lot of responsability. Don't you see aunt Ingrid? She's always carrying babies around with her hair all messed up, while Torbjörn does nothing all day!"
"What?"
"Ahem", she coughed. "I may have went a little afar from the point, but..."
The woman breathed in again.
"Sometimes", she held Fareeha's hands, "The problem is doing what comes before that. You may not like it, it may just... screw your life over! All of that because of the person you could end up picking."
Fareeha pressed her eyes, thinking.
"And sometimes, even when you..." She took a moment to pick up a deep breath. "When you don't want to do it—"
"Wait wait wait", Fareeha waved her hands, eyes closed. "You thought that I want to do that?"
Ana widened her eyes in surprise. "You said you wanted to have a baby!"
"No! DISGUSTING! I don't ever never want to date someone in my life! Bleh bleh bleh!"
"But... but— you just wanted a sister, then?"
"What? No no! Aunt Ingrid just told me that I could do something besides being a soldier, and then you were all angry over me, so I just said anything!"
"Why did you wanted a baby, then?"
"Ohh", Fareeha rolled her eyes, thinking. "I don't know if I want a sister, but I really like Bribri so... It was the first thing that went in my head."
Ana showed a warm smile, her eyes watering a little. "Oh, my sweet Fareeha..."
She went to hug her daughter, much to the girl's disapproval.
"Mooom, you're squeezing me!"
"Oh!", she stopped, recomposing.
They stood silent.
"So, are you sure you are not into someone, hmm?"
"What? No!"
"Not even a girl, eh? You couldn't stop talking about Angela!"
"Mooom, stop it! She just helped me get a guitar, that is all!"
Ana chuckled, as she ran her fingers through Fareeha's jet black hair.
"Well, I heard that maybe she—"
They were caught in surprise as a loud noise took their attention, followed by a foul smell and a baby crying.
"Oh!" Ana stood up, capping her nose; and soon, Fareeha did the same.
"Oh! Oh my—", she approached Brigitte, picking her up and checking her diappers. "Oh my!— Ugh, you are a stinky one, aren't you? Oh..."
"You don't want me to call aunt Ingrid, mama?" She said in a funny voice because of her nose.
"Oh, no." Ana walked a few steps to the door as she carried Brigitte. "I need you to do something else."
She tilted her head. "What is it?"
Ana looked her over the shoulder, a deadly glare in her eyes.
"Go sweep the room."