The first step to independence
"Why do you persist in helping that madwoman with her self-aggrandizement, mother?"
The older of the two women looked up sharply at the younger who was standing at the sole window in the room and looking out. While the elder kept her face as serene as possible, her grey eyes smoldered with suppressed fury. Her response hissed out of her almost involuntarily, enraged by her daughter's attitude.
"That is no way to speak of your Archon, Marlana Halas. You're lucky you're a student at the Nagelring and especially lucky to be my daughter, else you'd have ended up with the other dissidents by now."
Marlana turned and gazed at her mother with cool, dispassionate eyes. A young woman in her late teens, early twenties, she had grown up to be far more beautiful than her childhood prettiness indicated. The fact she did nothing to try and enhance her looks or dress as becommingly as she should always irritated her mother. That Marlana refused to entertain the thought of considering an alliance match with any of the fine young men her mother had introduced her to hadn't helped, but her attitude now... That was the final straw.
Yet when Marlana's expressionless mask cracked for just a moment, Catharina Dinesen-Maynard almost fled the room. She never dreamed that her eldest daughter held such hate and contempt. Then the mask came back into place and Catharina was able to pretend she'd never seen the slip.
"You aren't doing me any favors, mother. And you aren't doing the rest of our nation any favors either. You as much admitted to me that Katherine had done everything she could so that she could end up as Archon. Because of her hunger for power our nation is being torn apart. I've lost classmates to their own families!"
Marlana took a deep breath and let it out slowly, not bothering to hide how she felt and her blue eyes could have been the lasers from one of the mechs she had learned to pilot. "You have influence with that stupid woman, and even if you couldn't sway her, you have enough clout with your peers to do something. If you bothered to exert yourself a little, you could help stop this damned mess."
Flushing then paling at her daugher's verbal attack, Catharina stood up and began to advance on her daughter angrily.
"Do you really think stopping a war is that easy? Some soldier you're proving to be. And I never knew I'd raise such an ungrateful little bitch." Without thinking about it, she raised her hand to strike her daughter, but the blow never landed. Instead her wrist was in the tightly painful grasp of Marlana's fist. For the first time in her life as she stared eye to eye with her firstborn child, Catharina knew fear of her daughter.
Marlana spoke softly, her tone clearly laced with menace, "Never again, mother. I'm not the child you used to dominate. Try that again, and I'll do more than just stop you."
With disgust she dropped her mother's wrist which was already beginning to form a bruise in the shape Marlana's hand. "And yes, I am a fool. A fool for believing that you might actually give a shit about people other than yourself. Good bye mother."
Not bothering to wait for the older woman to get over her shock, Marlana made an abrupt about face and began to leave the room.
"How dare you threaten me and leave like that! This conversation isn't over young lady."
The young soldier paused, but didn't bother to look over her shoulder. "It was not a threat, mother. It was a statement of fact. And this conversation is very much over."
Despite her mother's increasingly loud shrieks to stop, Marlana continued grimly on her way to leave her mother's house. Her mother didn't concern her, the woman didn't have what it took to make a person's life hell, unlike the instructors and other students at the Nagelring.
Once she was far enough away from the grounds of the townhouse, Lana stopped at a cafe to get a drink and to collect herself before returning to the school. Much to her surprise she found that under her anger, there was relief. She'd finally stood up to her mother and if she didn't come out the victor, it was at least a tie. Her mouth quirked slightly with bitter amusement. She'd pay, and likely very dearly, for this confrontation, but it was her first step to being her own woman.
That was worth whatever price she had to pay.
The older of the two women looked up sharply at the younger who was standing at the sole window in the room and looking out. While the elder kept her face as serene as possible, her grey eyes smoldered with suppressed fury. Her response hissed out of her almost involuntarily, enraged by her daughter's attitude.
"That is no way to speak of your Archon, Marlana Halas. You're lucky you're a student at the Nagelring and especially lucky to be my daughter, else you'd have ended up with the other dissidents by now."
Marlana turned and gazed at her mother with cool, dispassionate eyes. A young woman in her late teens, early twenties, she had grown up to be far more beautiful than her childhood prettiness indicated. The fact she did nothing to try and enhance her looks or dress as becommingly as she should always irritated her mother. That Marlana refused to entertain the thought of considering an alliance match with any of the fine young men her mother had introduced her to hadn't helped, but her attitude now... That was the final straw.
Yet when Marlana's expressionless mask cracked for just a moment, Catharina Dinesen-Maynard almost fled the room. She never dreamed that her eldest daughter held such hate and contempt. Then the mask came back into place and Catharina was able to pretend she'd never seen the slip.
"You aren't doing me any favors, mother. And you aren't doing the rest of our nation any favors either. You as much admitted to me that Katherine had done everything she could so that she could end up as Archon. Because of her hunger for power our nation is being torn apart. I've lost classmates to their own families!"
Marlana took a deep breath and let it out slowly, not bothering to hide how she felt and her blue eyes could have been the lasers from one of the mechs she had learned to pilot. "You have influence with that stupid woman, and even if you couldn't sway her, you have enough clout with your peers to do something. If you bothered to exert yourself a little, you could help stop this damned mess."
Flushing then paling at her daugher's verbal attack, Catharina stood up and began to advance on her daughter angrily.
"Do you really think stopping a war is that easy? Some soldier you're proving to be. And I never knew I'd raise such an ungrateful little bitch." Without thinking about it, she raised her hand to strike her daughter, but the blow never landed. Instead her wrist was in the tightly painful grasp of Marlana's fist. For the first time in her life as she stared eye to eye with her firstborn child, Catharina knew fear of her daughter.
Marlana spoke softly, her tone clearly laced with menace, "Never again, mother. I'm not the child you used to dominate. Try that again, and I'll do more than just stop you."
With disgust she dropped her mother's wrist which was already beginning to form a bruise in the shape Marlana's hand. "And yes, I am a fool. A fool for believing that you might actually give a shit about people other than yourself. Good bye mother."
Not bothering to wait for the older woman to get over her shock, Marlana made an abrupt about face and began to leave the room.
"How dare you threaten me and leave like that! This conversation isn't over young lady."
The young soldier paused, but didn't bother to look over her shoulder. "It was not a threat, mother. It was a statement of fact. And this conversation is very much over."
Despite her mother's increasingly loud shrieks to stop, Marlana continued grimly on her way to leave her mother's house. Her mother didn't concern her, the woman didn't have what it took to make a person's life hell, unlike the instructors and other students at the Nagelring.
Once she was far enough away from the grounds of the townhouse, Lana stopped at a cafe to get a drink and to collect herself before returning to the school. Much to her surprise she found that under her anger, there was relief. She'd finally stood up to her mother and if she didn't come out the victor, it was at least a tie. Her mouth quirked slightly with bitter amusement. She'd pay, and likely very dearly, for this confrontation, but it was her first step to being her own woman.
That was worth whatever price she had to pay.
posted by Reika at 2:07 PM
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