"How're your rune studies going…" The chief pondered, his gaze falling on a young Belk who drew idly in the sand in the middle of the village, the young boy staring up at his father with a weary expression in his gaze.
"Not doing 'em," He defied, going back to drawing like nothing happened.
"Huh? Not doing them?!" He snapped, wondering if he even heard his son right.
"That's right," he quipped without hesitation, his back turned to his father's twitching gaze.
"Those runes are integral to our ancestor's history! You have to learn them!" He roared, but his boisterous yell fell on the deaf ears of a child, "Are you even listening to me?!"
"Now, now, just let the boy be for today," a soft hand rested on the shoulder of the chief, his eyes darting to a woman with lime green skin, round red eyes and a cheeky smile.
"You can't be serious…" He mumbled, his passionate disagreement quelled by the woman who stood right beside him. "He needs to learn the eight runes in order to be chief!"
"Well he can learn them tomorrow," She chuckled, walking over and kneeling right beside the child.
"Wanna go exploring with me?" She mused, Belk's eyes widening with excitement at the idea.
"Yeah!" He cheered, immediately standing, hardly staying still.
"You spoil the boy too much, Aurelia…" The chief complains, only seeing Aurelia grin from ear to ear at his accusation.
"And you're way too harsh," She retorted, a pout forming on her delicate features as she pointed accusingly towards the man. "Like seriously, loosen up a bit will you?"
"You should really take your role as Chieftess more seriously—" He muttered, his voice soft and hesitant almost as though he wasn't sure if he wanted her to catch wind of his words.
Her playful demeanor sombers at his statement, her hands wrapping around the arm of her child before simply pulling him away, not sharing another word. Leaving the chief with a wave of regret crashing on his back.
The chief sighed, running a hand through his hair as he turned to face the empty space where his family had been just moments ago. The village buzzed around him—children laughing, elders trading stories, the rhythmic clang of the blacksmith's hammer—but to him, it all felt distant, muffled, as though he were standing at the bottom of a deep well and in a fit of rage, he drives his foot through the sand, the dust covering the drawings his son worked so hard on before.
The sun dipped below the horizon, casting the village in a dusky twilight. The chief sat by the hearth, staring into the flickering flames as the weight of the day pressed down on him. He could hear Aurelia in the next room, humming softly as she helped Belk prepare for bed. The sound should have been comforting, but instead, it grated on his nerves.
"Aurelia," he called, his voice tight. "We need to talk."
The humming stopped. A moment later, she appeared in the doorway, her arms crossed and her expression guarded. "About what?"
The chief points outside, before leading the way, Aurelia reluctantly following until they were a decent ways away from the village
Belk slowly slid out of his bed, his curiosity getting the better of him as he slowly followed.
"How long are you going to keep babying him?" His father muttered softly, his voice hushed amongst the many trees that surrounds them now.
"He's but a child," Aurelia responded, her arms crossed to the chief's apparent babbling, his gaze narrowing at her statement.
"You're coddling him," the chief shot back, his voice rising. "You're so busy being his friend that you've forgotten how to be his mother!"
"Who're you to judge my parenting!?" She snapped, her loud voice startling the young boy, who hid in the bushes nearby "You're no better of a man than my father!"
"You're no better of a man than my father!" Aurelia continued, her voice trembling with emotion. "Always pushing, always demanding, never stopping to think about what anyone else needs!"
The chief recoiled as if struck, his expression flickering between anger and hurt. "That's not fair," he said, his voice quieter now but no less intense. "I'm trying to do what's best for him—for all of us. The world isn't kind, Aurelia. It won't wait for him to grow up at his own pace."
"And what if he breaks under the pressure?" Aurelia fired back, her voice rising again. "What if he grows up resenting you—resenting us—for forcing him into a role he never asked for?"
"That won't happen, because he's my son!" the chief shouted, his voice echoing through the trees. His hands tightened into fists, the veins in his temples bulging as his anger boiled over. "He's not you! Always complaining, always escaping your responsibilities! Daydreaming in the sky all the time!"
Aurelia flinched as if struck, her red eyes widening in shock before narrowing into a glare. She opened her mouth to retort, but no words came out. Instead, she stood frozen, her arms still crossed but her posture stiff, as though bracing herself against the weight of his words.
The chief didn't stop. "We married to finally bring an end to war on this beautiful land," he continued, his voice rising with each word. "Because of you, because of your selfishness, that was almost out of reach!"
Aurelia's lips trembled, her usual confidence crumbling under the force of his accusations. She took a step back, her hands dropping to her sides as she stared at him, her expression a mix of hurt and disbelief.
"Selfishness?" she finally managed, her voice barely above a whisper. "You think I'm selfish?"
Aurelia's eyes glistened with unshed tears, but she refused to let them fall. Instead, she straightened her shoulders and met his gaze with a defiant glare.
"If I'm so selfish, then why did I agree to marry you in the first place?" she shot back, her voice trembling but fierce.
"Why did I give up everything to be here, to be your Chieftess, to raise your son? Do you think that was easy for me?"
The chief's expression faltered, a flicker of doubt crossing his features. But before he could respond, Aurelia turned on her heel and strode away, her steps quick and deliberate.
Aurelia sat alone on a hillside, her arms around her knees as she watched the night sky, tears flowing freely from her eyes before she wiped it away.
"Isn't it past your bedtime, young man?" She pondered, listening as the grass behind her ruffled, her young boy appearing by her side with a hesitant look in his eyes.
She looked back at him with a weary smile, reaching to pat the boy's head, "you heard all of that…didn't you, i'm sorry,"
Her lips pursed together tightly, her gaze wavering a little, before dropping to the hands of her son, seeing something within the boy's hands.
"What's that?" She pondered softly, watching as the boy opened his hands to show her.
"I thought I'd give you this, to cheer you up," Belk murmured, holding up a stone covered in dull crystals.
His mother smiled towards the child, accepting the stone in her palms, her gentle fingers caressing his for a moment before holding the stone up into the sky.
"Do you know what this is, Belk?" She pondered, a soft smile on her face as she admired the stone against the cold night sky that stretched over them.
"No, I just thought it looked nice," He murmured, watching his mother's expression carefully as she smiled.
"It does," She reassured, her hand caressing the stone as she continued to look up to the sky, her son walking to her side and leaning against her shoulder. "Belk, do you ever wonder, what could be beyond these skies?"
Her son's head raised in curiosity at her question, the thought never occurred to him, but she talked about it with such nostalgia that it makes him want to know.
"There're planets just like our own, life just like our own, knowing that, I couldn't help but feel trapped on a planet such as this,"
There was a moment between the two, the mother's voice wavering under the weight of it all, "Belk, sorry, if i'd ever been a terrible mother to you…I really tried,"
The sun slowly began to rise before them, the warm touch of its glow radiating on their skins. The crystals in the mother's hands began to glow a bright blue hue as it was caressed with its uv rays.
"I didn't want you to feel like you were trapped in a cage…"