Bonus Short Story

The Secret

“Mom, what do you like about Dad?”

One day, while I was sitting in my school dorm room, listening to Maris and the others chatter on about their love lives, I recalled a question I’d asked my mother as a young child.

All of us in the room had gotten to be good friends by this point in our fifth year, and so Benjamine had said, “Let’s all have a chat before going on vacation,” which had led to seven other girls and I sitting around talking about exactly what you’d imagine girls of our age to be talking about.

“He’s just, like, so handsome I can’t help but literally adore him for it,” one of the girls says to me, as I play the role of listening to all of my friends’ worries and concerns about their “love lives.”

Her words echo the answer my mom had given to that question I’d asked her.

“I like how handsome he is, I suppose.”

“How is he handsome?”

“I don’t know, he just is?”

“Mom, that doesn’t tell me anything!”

My mother had replied without the slightest pause for thought, so I remembered being quite suspicious of her answers.

“Your father, when I met him, really annoyed me for how mean and nosy he was, you know. But he took me out of a tiny little box, with nothing in it at all, and showed me so many new things. He showed me a whole new world.”

My mean dad had taken my mother out of a box and showed her something nice. That’s how I’d understood her words at the time.

“Your grandmother and your grandfather were against us getting together, so in the end we eloped. I was glad we did, and I still am.”

“Even though he has a big belly now?”

The only thing I’d known about my grandparents on my mother’s side was that my mother had cut all ties with them upon leaving home, and every time I asked her for more details she got this very sad look on her face, so I hadn’t pushed her for an answer. All I knew was that they weren’t from this country. I was curious to find out more, and did want to know where she came from, but I’d refrained from asking more questions—until that day.

“Mom, where did you come from?” It’d been quite difficult for me to ask that question to her, knowing she might get sad again.

My mother, who was washing the dishes, stopped what she was doing and turned to look down at me.

“I came from a land far, far away: the Land of the Sea.”

She’d said this with a cheerful, sing-song voice while looking out the kitchen windows, up at the bright blue sky.

“Whaaaat? No way, you’re lying.”

“Goodness, was it that easy to tell?”

“...—nalie, Nanalie? Hey, are you listening to me?”

Shoot, I was completely lost in my memories. I don’t think I’ve heard a single word of what she’s just said.

Just as Benjamine and Maris began chiding me for my lack of attention, one of the noble girls called out from her spot by the window. “Look! It’s Sir Alois!” She went on to tell us, most excitedly, that he was strolling in the courtyard, and so the rest of us simply must come to watch him. Every other girl except me dashed over to the window. Even Nikeh and Benjamine, who normally showed no interest in Rockmann, ran over there. Maris, noticing that I had stayed put and was merely rolling my eyes at the rest of them, came to yank me over to the window to join the rest.

“Nanalie darling, be a lady and stop insulting Sir Alois all the time! It wouldn’t hurt if you tried liking him even, hm?”

Frowning at this unwanted lecture from Maris, I looked out the window and saw that Rockmann was indeed in the courtyard. Today’s a day off, so he must be just walking around by himself, to relax or something.

“I’m not about to fall in looooove with someone I haaaaaaate,” I say. “Never ever—oh!”

Our eyes met.

“Did Sir Alois look at us just now? WHAAA! He noticed us, even though we’re so high up...! It must be fate!”

Dear Mom,

What, exactly, do you like about Dad?