Blood in the Soil, Gaze to the Stars (Otherwise Untitled)
#89 of Short Stories
The child of farmers tries to impress upon them her desire to strike out and travel the stars.
~ "Your great grandfather helped settle this colony, though! It was his hands and equipment that turned that field out there into its first crops!", the old coyote pleaded with her daughter. Her daughter, sitting across the empty table seemed to deflate slightly. As the mother began to feel the settling impact of her own words, she was rescued by the whistling of the tea kettle. "Ah, I'll get the tea made.", rising swiftly to duck into the kitchen before her daughter could formulate any agreement or disagreement into words.
~ Over the cups, teabags, and steaming water the old coyote's expression cycled through the sort of range that one withholds until in the company of solitude. She sighed, gazing into the pale blue of the refrigerator's door. "She's not wrong at all.", lifting up a pair of teacup saucers that each bore their own cup of fairly plain tea.
~ The mother strode out of the kitchen with some renewed confidence, "Before you say anything, I take that all back.", setting down a saucer in front of her daughter. "I'm sorry. You should do what you need; though I don't know how we'll explain it to your father.", setting down to attend to her own cup of tea as her stunned daughter stared blankly into her own portion of pale brown liquid.
~ Her father's defeated sigh could be heard from the hallway as he stepped out into view. For immediate explanation, "Something broke, I came back to the house to wait for it to cool.", his expression a sort of defeated disappointment. He looked to his daughter, who seemed all the more stunned by this additional surprise. She stared back into him with terror as he continued, "You go do what you need."
~ The father's face shifted to a forced smile, rational thoughts driving him to conceal his earnest feelings, "If the place for you is in the stars, then go to it. I can find an apprentice to take the land over from me when I go." She continued to stare up at him during his approach, his stiff grin melting into the honesty of a softened smile as he raised a hand to rest on her shoulder.
~ "You're a better person than I've ever any right to raise. I'd rather that you carry happiness with you in your steps, than our family legacy around your neck. Go to that academy, and show those spacers the mettle of someone who knows what dirt tastes like.", having found his way to a mischievous grin as all three began to cry.