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creativepennywyze · 2 years

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Chapter Twenty-Two A Mother's Advice

"Mom, please, don't be upset with me. You know I can't stand it when you're mad at me. I'm sorry", she pleaded. The last thing the princess wanted was for her mother to be angry. She knew performing magix while she was around Luna was off limits, but went against the rules.

"You know the rules, Ecko. You know the rules, and you deliberately broke them. It doesn't matter that you're over eighteen, because I gave you specific instructions not to use magix in front of your mother, and you did it anyway. Do me a favor? Go to the arena or for a ride. Go do something until I can calm down. Let me know what you're doing so that I know how to contact you when it's safe to come to the house. I just need some time alone, please", Jasmine couldn't remember the last time she'd been so angry with her daughter.

"Alright, mom. If you need me to go, I'll be in the arena", the princess said. She knew that when her mother was that upset it was best to do what she was told. She was also aware of the fact that it was not wise for her to question her mother at that point. Both mother and daughter were upset, and in order to keep from trading hurtful words neither of them could take back, Ecko left the manor.

When Jasmine looked in the kitchen, her own mother was sitting in her chair at the head of the table. Confused by this, she went into the kitchen and said, "Mom, you're sitting in my seat".

"I know where I'm sitting. I'm don't have that forgetfulness, just yet. Have a seat, my child. We need to talk", Gwendolyn said. She'd always been neutral while living with her daughter because she was a guest in her child's home, but this time she couldn't sit idly by without saying something.

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Jasmine was even more confused, but did what her mother told her to do.

"I've always stayed neutral, and you know it. I've done that for quite a few reasons, but mostly it was because I cannot fight your battles for you. Although I will always be with you, even when I've moved on to the afterlife, there are some things a mother has to allow her child to do on their own", the elder said.

"Yes, ma'am. You have always been wonderful for allowing me to make my mistakes without imposing your opinions. Unless, of course I asked you for them. I cannot thank you enough for that", the professor told her mother.

"Jasmine, you've got to see where this is going, or would you like me to paint a picture?" Gwendolyn asked.

"I'm pretty sure I know exactly where it's going, but I'd appreciate it of you'd paint me your picture, please", she said.

"No problem. Before I start, I want you to remember you asked me for my opinion, and no matter what I say here, you are free to handle the current crisis any way you choose. I'm only trying to help", she told her daughter.

"Mom, entertain me, please. The floor is yours, and I'm just listening", Jasmine said.

"Ecko is nineteen years old. She knows a rule has been broken, and she has been caught red-handed with cookie crumbs all over her face. She was not given the opportunity to explain herself because you felt your temper getting the best of you, and you sent her out of the manor until you could calm down. For that, I applaud you. Baby girl, I know that temper of yours, and you were dynamic for sending her away. Now, you're faced with what you're supposed to do. You told Ecko not to use magix around her biological mother, but she has disobeyed you.

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"Because of the time I spent with as an officer, I'm going to use terms from that line of work. It's easier for me to assess everythigng from that perspective. The crime has been committed. The culprit is not only your child, but your daughter has been living as an adult for a year and a half. You're wondering what to do since the crime that has been committed is a serious one, and the princess must answer for what she has done. Or does she? You have to stop and ask yourself if punishing her for this infraction is worth the consequences. You also have to consider if this could be the incident that drives a wedge between you both.

"In my opinion, my granddaughter has grown up a lot since she spent that time learning from Master Fujiri. Based on that fact alone, I believe you should find out why she broke the law", Gwendolyn explained.

"I was dynamic when she was being a little cuss over those birthday presents. If I could've caught her then", Jasmine stopped.

"Exactly my point, baby girl. It wasn't meant for you to catch her then, but it's apparent you were meant to see this tonight, or you would have been somewhere else when she came home. The next thing I would do, if it were my place, would be to ask her what happened to make her do what she did. If she so happens to try and lie, you know your child, call her bluff, immediately. Don't back off if you know she's lying, and you need the truth in order to know how to move forward. Make her tell you the truth, but be patient. We both know Ecko does not deliberately break the rules unless there's a reason. Except those years she broke the rules over her birthday presents, she's been very respectful of your wishes, and very rarely allows anyone else to make you angry. Let alone does she ever make you angry herself. Not intentionally she doesn't", Gwendolyn said.

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"I love your ability to rationalize beyond your anger, mom. Believe it or not, you've helped me keep my anger in check more times than I'm willing to admit. However, you have to admit yourself that she has tried my patience to very end on more than one occasion, and I have not allowed myself to get out of line with her. Though to be honest, mom, I've wanted to choke the life out of her. Does that make me a bad mother?" She asked.

"No, it doesn't. If you had ever acted upon those feelings, that would have made you more than a bad mother. But, you didn't, and that speaks volumes for your own personal growth because I remember a time when you would've raised hell for weeks when you found out someone lied to you. There was also that time you spent in jail for assaulting your best friend, Luna when you found out she lied to you about Jerrardo", Gwendolyn said.

"Mom, she lied to me about something that should have never been lied about", Jasmine rationalized.

"Luna was only trying to protect you from yourself, Jasmine. But, that's not the point. Let's not lose sight of the issues, here. Eventually, your best friend told you the truth, and you both got to where you could speak again. She obviously forgave you one hundred percent because when her back was against the wall, she came to you to ask you to be the mother of her daughter. No matter what, that is an honor, you could never really repay. However, in a feeble attempt to do so, you're raising that child to the best of your ability. And in spite of the challenges she has brought you, she's made it to adulthood", she said.

"Now, do I let this go or do I punish her?" Jasmine asked. She was faced with a conundrum, and didn't know what to do.

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"In my opinion, no, you should not punish Ecko for this minor infraction. The young elven princess took a chance getting in trouble with you in order to get home, and we both know she wouldn't have ever done what she did if there wasn't a damn good reason for it. Think about it, Jasmine. Be reasonable. Firm because you need to know the truth behind her reasoning, but reasonable, darling. That's the only way you will get through this with few hurt feelings. I'm here like always. I'm neutral for the sake of all of our relationships. I love you. I know you will make the right decision", Gwendolyn said.

"Mom, you are excellent. I wish I knew how to find calm inside of every storm the way you do", Jasmine said.

"You do. Every single time you surrender yourself and your fears to me, you have found that calm in the storm because I am what you're looking for at the time. Your anchor. Your lifeline. That's me. That's all I know, anymore. Is how to be my children's lighthouse to guide them to shore. When they follow the right path, my children don't sink ships. When they cause one to go down, I've got their back. No matter what", she said.

"That is what I've always admired about you. Your ability to let go, and let me make my mistakes. Plus, when I do, you're there to help me pick up the pieces. No matter how badly I've shattered the plate", the professor said.

"Do you know what you're going to do?" The elder asked her daughter.

"I do. I'm going to be objective. I'm going to give Ecko the opportunity to explain herself, and no matter what reason she gives, I'm not going to punish her. There has to be a good reason for what she did, and I believe that the time she's spent waiting for me to calm down has been punishment enough", she said.

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"Perfect, my dear. Now, tell my granddaughter that she can come home. I've missed her, and I want to hear how her visit with Luna went. It was the very first time she's ever gone to East Zeerk to see her biological mother without you, and she's got to be feeling many different ways. It's possible something happened to make Ecko angry, and she may have chosen to face your punishment for breaking the rule of not using magix in front of the queen in order to keep from losing her temper with Luna. You may not have given that little elf life, but you sure have passed on that temper. Which by the way, she could stand to reign that in some more before she takes on the crown", Gwendolyn said making an observation she hoped Jasmine could agree with.

"You're right. The only other way I can think of is for her to become a mother before she becomes queen, and there's nothing I can do to speed up that process until she falls in love", Jasmine said.

"Oh, no. You won't even meddle in that part of her life when it comes time. That wouldn't be right", the elder said.

"Mother, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I influenced her to do something she doesn't feel she's ready for. Give me a second. I'm going to tell Ecko to come home, and you know it's got to be quiet", she said.

"Wait. Before you send her the message, I want to discuss one more thing", her mother said.

"Shoot me with it, mom", Jasmine said.

"You haven't ever said one word to me about your chair, except to let me know I was in it", the elder said.

"That's because you're my mother, and no matter whose house I'm in, if you want to sit in my chair at the head of the table, you have every right. You are my boss, mom", she explained.

"Are you capable of understanding why I sat in your chair? I mean, you know me, I'm going to make sure we're on the same page with everything", Gwendolyn said.

"I believe you know that, I've been on the same page with you on that since I realized you weren't going to move, and let me have my place at the table. You were demonstrating to me that I cannot have control over everything, and that sometimes it's best to surrender control to someone else. Especially when that other being knows the waters better than I do", she told her mother.

"Precisely. Now, tell my baby she can come home", Gwendolyn said.

"I cannot very well go breaking the rules set in place for myself, mom", Jasmine said.

"What do you mean by that?" Gwendolyn asked her daughter.

"In all fairness to my child, I've been asked to refrain from using mental telepathy while Ecko is at the arena. That is a rule, and no matter what I have to respect it. How can I expect my child to learn from her mistake of breaking the rules if I do the same thing? I mean, just because I'm her mother. Don't look at me like that, Gwen. You know certain aspects of raising children have to change as they get older. I'm just trying to show my daughter the same respect I want from her", the professor said.

"You mean like the aspect of my child calling me by my first name, even though we're at home, and not in a situation where it would be necessary for you to call me Gwen", the elder said.

"Precisely. You know I don't mean to disrespect you when I use your name instead of calling you mom", she said.

"I know. You were making a point. I'm so glad you and I have a great relationship, and that I know you as well as I do. It makes life easier all the way around", Gwendolyn said.

"Mom?" Ecko asked from the back porch. She wasn't sure if her mother had calmed down enough for it to be okay to enter the manor safely.

"Baby girl, get your behind in here. I was gonna walk out to let you know you could come back, but mom and I got to talking again. So, I figured I'd wait for you to wave your flag of surrender", the professor said.

"The boys said they wanted to give us time to talk, and they'll be in later", she said.

"Thanks for telling me that. I won't worry about them now that I know where they are, and why they haven't come in, yet", she said.

"I'm sorry for breaking the rules earlier, mom. I really don't have an excuse for it, and I'm ready to accept my punishment", the princess said. She tried to act brave even though her heart was pounding, and her palms were sweaty from being nervous.

"I'm not going to be punishing you, this time. Ecko, you are a grown up. You made a mistake, and you apologized as soon as you could. My sending you out of the house, in my opinion, was enough for you to get my point", Jasmine said.

"Did you seriously just psychologically punish me, mom?" The princess asked her mother.

"I did, and you're quick. I can't get anything past you", her mother answered.

"I'm of the royal bloodline, and everyone of us has intelligence beyond compare. It wasn't hard to figure that out at this point", she said.

"I always knew you were smart. I never knew how clever you really are. That's adorable", Gwendolyn said.

"Who me? No way. I'm not adorable, grandma. That's for little ones. I'm a grown up now. I'm beautiful and gorgeous, not adorable, please", the princess said in acknowledgement of the eldest elf's words.

"Come over here and hug my neck, beautiful, gorgeous, grown up Princess Ecko", the elf requested of her granddaughter. Though she lived at the mansion, and didn't miss any of the issues in her family, she always missed her grandchild.

The elven princess went to her grandmother and gave her a hug, and noticed her mother was not sitting in her chair at the head of the table. Curious she asked, "Why are you in mamma's chair, Grandma Gwen?"

"It was a surrender of control by your mother to me", the matriarch said.

"Wow! No way. Mom surrendered her chair at the head of the table to someone who wasn't celebrating their birthday. That had to have been a battle", Ecko said.

"How do you figure? It's not like she gave up the chair permanently. I needed to prove a point in order to save your neck from being punished for breaking your mother's rule, young elven princess", Gwendolyn explained.

"Thanks, grandma", she said.

"You still have one more obstacle to clear with that issue", Jasmine said.

"Set the challenge in front of me", Ecko said.

"I want to know why you broke the rule of not using magix in front of Luna. I know there was a reason you risked geting in trouble for breaking that rule, and I want to know why", the professor said.

"When I went to visit Luna, I asked her some questions I hadn't had the nerve to ask her before. Honestly, I didn't like her answers. I felt like hitting her in the mouth, but I lied and told her that I had to leave in order to be home on time", Ecko explained.

"You risked my temper to keep from hitting your mother? Well, you're bigger than I am because I hit her in the mouth", Jasmine confessed.

"What? You hit my biological mother? That had to be funny as hell, mom", she said.

"She lied to me about something she should have never lied about. At the time, I didn't care about the fact that she was trying to save me from myself when she lied. My point was, she lied to me about something that happened during Jerrardo's last few minutes of life, and when I found out, I punched her in the mouth. To be honest", she explained.

"Jerrardo was your fiance you lost, and whose spirit lives in that place in the manor no one is allowed in", Yuri said.

"Hello, my son. How long have you been standing there?" Jasmine asked her youngest son.

"Long enough to hear how you hit Ecko's birth mother for lying to you about Jerrardo's last minutes of life. Mom, it already bothers me that you allow his spirit to stay in the mansion. Now that I'm home can we please not talk about him?", the young one asked his mother. Yuri always had mixed emotions about the fact that his mother would not make her ex fiance's spirit move on, and he always felt that talking about the elf or his spirit made crazy stuff start to happen.

"I guess I've got some demons of my own to battle, huh? Yuri, I promise that I will deal with all of that stuff, soon", Jasmine said in an attempt to keep her son from delving into that topic.

"Mom, I love you, but I don't believe you until you do what you need to do. I'm sorry, but his spirit has been here long enough. You need to get over whatever it is that keeps you from making Jerrardo's spirit move on, mom. You know I'm right. It really bothers me that you would have made any of your children deal with something like that in their lives, a long, long time ago, but you won't even deal with it yourself. I mean, mom, how can you take one stance with us children, but take a different one when it comes to that mess? To me, you're a hypocrite", the elf told his mother.

"Yuri James! Watch how you speak to our mother!" Ecko said.

"No, baby girl. Your brother is right. I've got to make Jerrardo's spirit move on, but I can't figure out how to do that without living with guilt for the rest of my existence", Jasmine confessed.

"Would you rather live with guilt or allow his spirit to continue the way its been existing since you locked it up? Mom, you know we believe that a spirit must move on from this realm in order to get to its afterlife destination. You taught us that in order for a spirit to move on that no one should keep the dead elf's personal possessions. We should not place their body in a grave because it causes the soul to get trapped in between here and there. You've told us that when a soul is trapped, it grows frustrated, and can turn that into anger. We all know that is true in the case of his spirit because of the stuff that has been torn up in the north wing of this mansion", the boy said.

"For someone who didn't want to talk about this topic, you sure are giving me a once over, Yuri", the professor said.

"I know, but I got to thinking about it. And, I felt you needed to hear my opinion on that subject since the metaphorical book was open to that chapter when Azleal and I came in. Mom, I want you to know that I mean no disrespect to you at all", the young elf told his mother.

"Wait a minute. That's not fair. If I ever talked to mamma like that, I'd be in trouble", Ecko interjected.

"That's not exactly true. Listen to me for a minute before you get upset, and object. The reason he can say those things is because he's not afraid to say what's on his mind. He says whatever he's thinking without fear of the consequences. He has not said one thing out of the way, he's not been disrespectful, either. The way I see it is, he's trying to help", Jasmine explained.

"What about him calling you a hypocrite?" The princess asked her mother.

"I cannot get mad because he's right about everything he's said. He has not called me any ugly names such as 'bitch' or anything of that nature because he knows that would be uncalled for, and he knows that would warrant his being punished", their mother said.

"That's why I don't say those types of things when I talk with mom because I'm nobody's fool, and I don't like to be punished", the young male elf said.

"Hey, mom! Sorry, I'm late. I would've come in with Yuri, but it was my turn to put away the equipment", Azleal said as he entered the kitchen.

"It's alright, my son. I completely understand', Jasmine said.

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