Dreams Of Fame
1.31 - Second Mother
“Granny, granny! Come on, it’s story time!” Clara said, jumping off her bed to beg Giovanna, who'd just entered her room to say she was going to bed.
Jacob looked up at her from his bed expectantly.
Giovanna smiled at them, and nodded “Of course, my children!”
The three of them headed over to the basement living room, which acted as an unofficial play room for Clara and Jacob. It was constantly littered with various toys, enough that everyone but them, Giovanna, and Zoe usually avoided it.
“Hmmm…” Giovanna muttered as she took a seat. “Which story to tell…”
Clara and Jacob sat down on the sofa near the chair she’d sat in.
“I know!” Giovanna exclaimed. “The day I buried my husband… there was a girl. She walked up me- with a police officer! She said I slept in her house. And do you two know what I did?”
“Isn’t this the one where you beat them up?” Jacob asked.
“Exactly! I kicked the girl in the face, then the officer was afraid and ran! I defended my husband’s grave!”
Clara frowned. “Do you ever go and visit?”
Giovanna nodded. “All the time!”
“Then where is it? We’d like to go with you sometime,” Jacob asked.
Giovanna shook her head vigorously. “No! That grave is for me and my husband only. Not even Zoe knows where it is.”
Clara and Jacob looked down, disappointed, but Giovanna didn’t let it slow her down. “My next story is about when my husband and I were walking in the city! Then, we were attacked by a strange monster. That was when we realized we had magical powers! Cause we fought back!”
Clara and Jacob shared a look. They both knew her stories weren’t true, but they appreciated them all the same.
A very pregnant Summer walked into the room, a glass of wine in hand. “Clara, Jacob, come on, it’s past time for stories.”
Clara and Jacob groaned, but followed Summer up the stairs anyway. They had to wait for a bit as she tossed her now empty wine glass in the sink, but soon enough, they were outside.
In Liberty’s regular absences, Summer regularly took on the role of mother for Clara and Jacob. Travis did his best, but she could tell he couldn’t raise two kids on his own. So, she and José chipped in where they could.
Summer led them over to the bar, and gestured for Jacob to step up.
“Do I have to? I really don’t see a point in this,” he grumbled as he walked behind the bar
“Believe me, the day will come where this will come in handy! There’s going to be a girl someday, and this is how you can impress her!”
Jacob sighed. “Ugh, girls. And this is illegal, you know? And we’re doing it outside!”
Summer waved a hand dismissively. “We’ve gotten out of worse crimes before, don’t sweat it, Jacob.”
“If you’re going to be such a baby about it, I can do it,” Clara said. “Unlike Jacob, Auntie Summer, I think this is fun!”
“And it should be! This is a very important life skill!”
Clara pushed Jacob out of the way and stepped up to the bar.
“Just never drink so much that you lose yourself, and you should be good!” Summer smiled.
Meanwhile, Zoe watched as the construction workers wrapped up work on the school she’d commissioned. The exterior was, for the most part, finished. The next part they had to work on was the interior.
Sergio, the architect she’d hired years ago for the basement, stood beside her. “So? What do you think so far?”
Zoe smiled and shook her head. “It looks incredible, Sergio. Might sound… odd, but, for the first time, I feel like I’m doing something meaningful that’s actually… good.”
“You don’t think your books were good?”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong, those are my greatest accomplishment and I wouldn’t take back the years of work I put into those for anything. But this school… it just feels right, you know?”
“Well, I’m glad. Have you thought of a name yet?”
Zoe gazed thoughtfully at the school. “The School of Excellency. No- The Presley School of Excellency. Can’t have anyone laying claims to something I’ve refused to put my name to again.”
“Why The Presley School of Excellency?” Sergio asked. “To me, it just sounds like you’re trying to be pretentious.”
Zoe shook her head. “No. I mean, yeah, it does sound that way, I’m an author, so, of course I’d be aware of that… I just want every graduate to be truly… excellent. I mean, I can’t have a school named after me with a bad reputation, right?”
Sergio nodded. “Well, Ms. Zoe, I hope you’re looking forward to the finished building.”
“I am Sergio, I sure am…” Zoe muttered as Sergio walked off.
Up on Sixam, Liberty looked out the window towards home.
“Homesick again?” Beatrice asked, walking past.
“Of course,” Liberty said. “Even after every reassuring thing Travis said to me, and the great interactions I had with Clara and Jacob during the few days where I was home, I still worry that they’re going to forget about me.”
“I doubt they will, Liberty,” Beatrice said. “You’ve done nothing but show them time and time again that you care so much about them- and I seriously doubt that anyone could forget that easily."
“I hope you’re right,” Liberty said, turning around to face Beatrice. “I… I guess I’ve got to hope that they remember me fondly, and pray that Travis, Summer, and José are good parents to them while I’m not there.”
“Come with me,” Beatrice said, abruptly changing her tone.
Beatrice turned around, and headed up to the top floor of the base. Liberty followed her, not asking any questions.
They headed out to the roof of the base, where Beatrice sat down. Liberty joined her, and the two looked up at the stars. The stars on Sixam were different than the ones Liberty was used to seeing at home, and she found herself fascinated as she noticed ones she’d never seen before.
“Oh! That’s totally Sagittarius, isn’t it?"
“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Beatrice asked.
“Very,” Liberty agreed.
“Back when I first traveled to your planet, I regularly found myself stressed out. I was in an unfamiliar environment, and I missed home. But, I quickly found that if I spent a bit of time looking up at the stars… there were always a few familiar ones I could pick out. Then, I wasn’t so lonely anymore."
Liberty didn’t respond, too enthralled by the stars above her.
“Anyway. The real reason I called you up here is because I thought I should tell you more about how the people on Sixam work. It’s what you deserve after all, you’ve sacrificed so much for me. As someone who… used to be important in Sixam society, it’s hard for me to talk to someone who isn’t from here about it… but I’ve got to move past it.”
Liberty sat there in silence, eager for Beatrice to tell her more.
“Let me start out by saying that my real name is Xayri. Though I’ve honestly come to prefer Beatrice. Here, our names grow with us. We all start out with just the letter X. Then, as we make major accomplishments, the royal family bestows new letters upon us.”
“So you’ve only had four major accomplishments?”
“In the eyes of the royal family, yes. Speaking of the royal family, I was once close friends with some of them. First, we have the queen. Xanthippe is her name. After her father exposed our race to your kind, Xanthippe stepped up. She imprisoned the former king, and worked hard to hide our kind from yours, as the reaction of fear her father received terrified her. She’s the one who made sure we all knew how to disguise ourselves. She’s also the one who exiled me for forming a connection with one of your kind.”
Liberty stared up at the stars thoughtfully. “I… I almost don’t want to blame her. It sounds like her interactions with us were terrible, and it makes sense that she’d want to close off your kind.”
“She just went too far with the matter,” Beatrice sighed. “Next in line is her younger brother, Xanther. Unlike Xanthippe, he believes that there is good in your kind. He’s the one who founded the diplomat service I was part of, and he leads it to this day. Xanther… he had a lot of faith in me. Out of anyone, I’ve always felt that I let him down the most.”
When Liberty had nothing to say, Beatrice went on.
“Finally, the youngest of the family is Xa. No one but Xanthippe or Xanther are permitted to see her, but I hear that she’s a mix between the two. She’s being groomed to take over once Xanthippe steps down, and the whole nation is excited to see what kind of queen she’s going to be.”
Liberty didn’t say anything for a long while. The silence that stretched between them was a peaceful one, both of them gazing up at the stars.
Finally, she spoke. “You know what Beatrice? I think this is why I keep coming back up here with you. Outside of just loyalty to you as a friend, it’s fascinating to learn so much about Sixam, more than, I feel, any of my kind has ever known before. Maybe it’s just the scientist in me, but I feel like I’m constantly making discoveries up here. And… I'd like to thank you for that."
Beatrice smiled. “Of course, Liberty.”
The two fell into silence, and enjoyed gazing up at the stars together.