Topic: The Pearl from the Oyster

Winter Pearl

Date: 2015-09-26 03:57 EST
I watched from the skybox with the others as Maggie made history. I felt a surge of pride and a sense of deja vu. The biggest surprise was Grandpa Tass arriving. Maggie didn't ask beforehand if I had won my first challenge; she knew I wouldn't tell her. The future is not set in stone and, just like I did, she has to find her own path. She knows very well that the only person she has to prove anything to is herself. Maggie is already making plans for a clinic near the fire station that Da built during Mom's tenure as Baroness of Old Market. The nice thing about that sort of project is that it can continue beyond anyone's time as a title holder.

Being an empath has had its ups and downs over the years, but that night was filled with an overwhelming sense of love and warmth. I stayed in the skybox with Gran and the younger kids. I had visions of Abby trying to climb into the ring with Maggie. We had to explain a few times that once someone was in the ring, they need to stand on their own. Madison appeased her twin by getting two wooden swords from the toy box and clacking them about. Catie and Rick were too busy cheering on their big sister to even notice the play battle going on around them. It's sometimes awkward to think of the tiny Fenner twins as my aunts, but in the grand scheme of things they are my mother's half-sisters, ergo, my aunts.

I don't duel much these days. It's not because I can't or don't remember how. It's simply because this is Maggie's time. My name isn't in the current record books as a title holder, but when I came from, the name Mairead Harker is listed plenty of times. Some people have difficulty understanding and coping with the extended family tree that has been wrapped around and mingled through time. When you have grown up with it, it's normal to you. I took the name Pearl Fand to honor the elder part of my grandmother. Fand is the name of a Manx goddess. Ironically, she was called the pearl of beauty and my grandmother's childhood nickname was Pearl.

Not a lot of people know why my grandmother put wooden swords, staves, and other things in the hands of her children as soon as they could hold them. Despite what some people think, it wasn't just the girls. My uncles can wield weapons and sling spells with the best of them, but they have less public lives. We might not win every battle we face in life, but we will never be helpless victims. That was Gran's pledge to us the moment she laid a weapon in our hands and taught us to use it. Harker's Academy is an extension of that philosophy. It's also the fulfillment of my mother's dream and a promise she had made once upon a time to safeguard the lives of as many children as she could. It's like that old parable about teaching a man to fish helping to keep him fed for life.

Maggie has asked more than once about herself and Doran. The only thing I could tell her for certain was that he would always be her best friend. Uncle Gory and Aunt Rhi's relationship taught me a whole lot about love and patience; it also taught me that age differences don't make a hill of beans when it comes to the people you hold close to your heart. Since I was six, Velen has had my trust and my back. I know to never take anything for granted not even that bond. It isn't that I don't have faith in us, quite the contrary. I have just learned that there will be times when I am on my own and feel like the princess that needs to rescue herself. That is why we learned to fight.

In my heart, I have this feeling there's more we need to do. I can't put my finger on the what or the why. We might never get back to the world as we knew it. In the meantime, we go on living, learning, and dreaming.

Winter Pearl

Date: 2015-12-17 22:35 EST
I can't believe it! She took that step that I couldn't quite bring myself to take. Even if it doesn't happen this time, I'm proud of her for stepping up and taking the opportunity. Can you see it' A little girl as Overlord? I know I can. It's one of the few things I regret, not trying for the brass ring or this case, the belt.