Jay munches absentmindedly on a slice of apple pie.
"Jay dear, do you want another slice?" Asks Edna while holding a plate with the rest of the pie. "Jay?" She gently bumps his shoulder.
"What?" Stammers Jay.
"More pie?" Edna asks again.
"Oh, right. Yes please, this is delicious."
She slides another slice onto his plate.
"Something on your mind son?" Says Ed. "Ya seem troubled."
"No no, I'm fine." Says Jay.
"Ed's right." Says Edna, "something is off with you today, a mother's instinct never lies."
Jay sighs. "I guess I've been thinking, about Nya and Kai, how their parents were missing for such a long time, but now they are back. You two are the best parents I could have asked for, and nothing will ever change that, but sometimes I wonder about my birth parents you know?"
"Oh of course you do!" Says Ed cheerfully. "You have always been a curious kid, but we really don't know anything about your birth parents."
"Ed's right." Says Edna, "you were left on our doorstep when you were just a wee baby."
"I know." Says Jay, "and I know my father was Cliff Gordan, since I got that inheritance, but I still don't even know my mother's name! Only that she was the master of lighting. Maybe she's still out there somewhere."
"Have you asked Ray and Maya?" Says Ed.
"Oh good idea Ed," says Edna, "wouldn't they have fought together in the serpentine war?"
Jay stands up with excitement "of course! Why didn't I think of that?"
"You could go right now, we can see it's important to you." Says Edna.
Jay sits back down. "It can wait." He says. "Today is Mother's Day, and I want to spend it with my mother." He says while looking at Edna.
She smiles warmly and slides another slice of pie onto his plate.
The next day Jay drives one of the Ninja's many vehicles to the blacksmith shop.
He walks inside and is greeted by Ray. "Hi Jay, if you were looking for Nya you just missed her. They headed back to the monastery about an hour ago."
Maya walks in and says "Do we have a customer? Oh Jay! Lovely to see you!" She walks over and gives him a quick embrace. "If you were looking for Nya, you just missed her."
"Actually, I was looking for you." Says Jay sheepishly.
"Me, or him?" Asks Maya, gesturing towards Ray.
"Both of you. You worked with the previous elemental masters right? Did you know my mother, the master of lighting?"
The two exchange a slightly worried look before Ray says. "Yes, we knew her. Maya more than me."
"I have so many questions!" Stammers Jay, "what is her name? What is she like? Do you know where she is now?"
"Why don't you sit down dear." says Maya, "I would love to tell you a bit about her, but you should know, Lizzy died a long time ago."
Jay visibly deflates. "Right, I should have guessed." He says while wiping a tear from his eye. "Please, would you tell me about her?"
Maya tells the story.
After we fought Crux and Acronix, Lizzy had already started dating Cliff Gordan. Now we never saw Cliff, apparently he was trying to keep their relationship on the down low, as reputation is everything when it comes to acting. After a while people started to doubt if they were actually dating at all, or if it was just a tall tale. Lizzy loved to talk, and loved having things to talk about. She would stop by the shop every now and then to chew my ear off while Ray worked. It was about this time that I was pregnant with Kai. Lizzy was so excited about us having a baby.
One evening it was super late and we get a knock at the door. Lizzy comes in absolutely devastated, sobbing uncontrollably. After a while we managed to calm her down enough to form full sentences. The first thing she said was "I'm pregnant". This confused us, because she had been so excited about our baby, yet was obviously upset. "Do you not want to be?" I asked cautiously.
"I told Cliff, and he, he broke up with me!" She sobbed.
A baby out of wedlock could have seriously impacted his career, and a shotgun wedding wouldn't have been much better. She didn't know what to do. I offered to let her stay with us for a bit. Less than a week later Kai was born. I still remember the look on her face when she held him for the first time, even before he was the master of fire, he was melting hearts. She smiled so warmly as his tiny hand gripped her finger.
"I know what I want to do." She said. "I want to be the best mother I can be."
After that, motherhood became her whole identity. She bought all the baby stuff, read all the baby books, went to all the baby classes, and of course came around to see Kai. When she was here she would not stop talking about babies! Honestly it was a little draining, but I figured it was just her way of dealing with the break up.
She was still almost 2 months from her due date when a terrible sickness was going around. It was like the flu, but a lot worse, and highly contagious. Some got it worse than others, and unfortunately me, Ray and Kai all seemed to catch it at around the same time. It was all consuming dealing with being sick, while caring for a sick child, and being worried about one of us getting worse like all the stories they were showing on the news. Thankfully we were fine, but it was only after we had all recovered a few weeks later that I realised that Lizzy hadn't called us in a while. I tried calling her, but no one picked up.
Ray interjected, This was before the age of answering machines, and those fancy mobile thingies you all have.
Anyway, we were still a bit low on stamina, so it took us a while to go check on her. We knew she was close with her neighbour, and they would help if something was seriously wrong. When we got to her house we found a for sale sign, which was very confusing. We asked the neighbour what was going on and they told us she had caught the illness and been taken to hospital almost 3 weeks ago. The illness caused her to go into labour early, complications from labour and the illness combined meant she didn't make it.
We raced to the hospital to try and find you, but because we weren't family, they wouldn't let us see you. But they did say family had agreed to take you in. We assumed Cliff decided to be a father after all, but now, seeing where you ended up, I guess he took measures to protect his reputation.
"She didn't abandon me." Says Jay.
"No." Says Maya gently. "She loved you very much."
"Thank you. For telling me that." Says Jay as he wipes a tear from his eye.
"One more thing." Says Maya, "back then they wouldn't let us see you, because we weren't family, but now that you are with Nya, you are a part of our family. I know you already have two loving parents, but if you ever need our advice or help, we will always be here for you." Ray nods in support.
"Thanks." Says Jay as he gives Maya a hug. "You never can have too many parents."