Ophelia Rose

Ophelia pulled the pillow over her head, as she heard the call from her mother, "Come on! Get in here for your breakfast!" She snuggled deep under the covers, and, pretendeing she hadn't heard, tried to go back to sleep. Her mother called again, but Ophelia insisted upon ignoring her. Ophelia was nearly asleep, a few more seconds and she would be out to the world... The covers suddenly flew off of her, and Ophelia squeeled in protest.

"I said, 'Get up!'" Ophelia turned, the pillow still cushioning around her head, to see her mother, hands on her hipds, the blanket thrown agaisnt the wall behind her. Ophelia groaned, and turned her face back to the mattress, "Alright, alright! I'm getting up!"

"Well be quick, or I'll eat it all myself!" Her mother laughed as she left the room, tail swaying behind her. Fabiana wasn't genetically her mother, but she had raised her as if she was, and Ophelia viewed her as if she was. She'd never known who her genetic parents were, but, to be honest, that didn't matter to her. They didn't want her when she was younger, so why should she care about them... Fabiana, on the other hand, always cared for her, provided everything she had needed. She was her true mother in Ophelias' eyes.

Fabiana had taken her in when she was a helpless baby; no where to go, no-one to look after her. Okay, maybe not no-one to look after her. She was in the orphanage. Even if Fabiana hadn't adopted her she probably still would of had a happy enough life. The staff would of looked after her. But it was nice to have a proper home, knowing that somebody cared about you. After all, if she hadn't of been rescued from the slave ring, she would more than likely have grown up with no-one to care about her. The coalition had managed to rescue her, before she came to be of an age where she would be able to do any slave work, and Ohpelia was grateful for that, she just didn't understand how here genetic parents had let her end up there. Still, she had Fabiana now, who would always make sure something like that never happened. After all, she wouldn't of been allowed to adopt, had it been otherwise... It was strange to think how differently things could of turned out. If Fabiana had married, for example, she would never have had to adopt, she could of had children of her own. Instead, she had adopted, to fill gap in her heart that could only be filled by a child. And Ophelia was glad of it.

She quickly got herself ready, and headed into the kitchen, yawning, and rubbing her eyes. She clambered onto a chair and looked at the food laid out on the table. Raw fishes and meats in a sort of mini-buffet. She picked out her favourites, and filled her plate, her mother did the same. They both began to tuck into their breakfasts, and finished it all withtin fifteen minutes. Ophelia was just about to jump down from her seat, when her mother stopped her, "Hey, just a minute, Lia! I just want to talk to you for a moment!" Ophelia pouted but remained seated. She knew it was pointless arguing with her mother.

"You're getting to be a big girl now, you know. I think its time you started thinking about what other language you want to learn, like I did at your age. There's loads you could choose from. As you know, I chose to learn the Petraergo language, Arcadic, as I've always been facinated by them, so if thats the language you'd like to learn, I could always teach you. But, of course, you don't have to choose it, if you'd rather something else?" Ophelia looked out of the kitchen window. She knew this day was coming soon. At this age, all Rykil children learnt a second language. For a few days, she had been thinking about which language she wanted to learn: there were so many to choose from! Alarcian, Evir, Valan; how were you supposed to know which one?!

Ophelia looked back to her mother, "Well.... I think I'd like to learn...Bemy." Her mother laughed, and ruffled Ophelias' hair, as she cleared the breakfast from the table "Just what I expected you to choose! You are half Bemy after all." She began to wash up, "Go on now, and play with your friends! I'll find someone to help you learn when I've finished in here."

"No no no, Ophelia! It's '......................'! Not, '............... ........... ....' Try again." Ophelia blushed, and looked down at her feet. This was harder than she had though it would be. She'd expected to pick the language up easily. It was in her blood to know Bemy! Why couldn't she get it right?! Slowly, she looked back up to her instructor. He was quite a kindly Rykil, really, despite his cold, aged appearance. But he was a very strict, no-nonsense kind of teacher, and it made Ophelia nervous.

"............................. Ophelia."

"Better! Better!" he encouraged, "You'll get the hang of this yet!" He walked across the room, picking up the flower he had left on the window earlier, and walked back, and sat infront of Ophelia, holding it out to her, "Now, do you remember what this is?"

Ophelia breathed the night air in deeply, and gazed up at the two moons. 25. She was 25 today. It was amazing to think how much she had grown in the past years. She'd mastered Bemy, had crushes, and lost them, learnt new skills, made friends and enimies. 25. She could officially do what she wanted, be where she wanted to be. She could settle down nearby, get a steady job. She could travel all of Rakhilis, see all of its sights, getting temp jobs as she went. She could settle down somewhere, find a partner, raise a family of her own. There was just so many options. But which would she choose?

Her ears twisted around, as she heard Fabiana calling her. She scrambled down from the tree, landing on the marshy ground beneath. She hopped nimbly across the ground, over the deeper puddles and the rocks, towards the direction of her mothers calls, before emerging near the house, to see her mother standing in the doorway, waiting for her.

"Hey, there you are!" Fabiana called to her beconing her to come inside, "I've been looking for you all day! I wanted to give you something..." She hurried inside the house, and Ophelia followed, closing the door behind her.

"What is it?" she asked, sitting down at the table, while her mother fussed about in one of the cupboards, before finally pulling out a small box, wrapped with a thin ribbon. She sat oposite Ophelia, and pushed the box towards her, "My mum gave it to me when I turned 25. Now, I'm passing it on to you." Ophelia gently broke the ribbon, and lifted the lid of the box, revealing the gift inside. A necklace, covered in charms, pendants, stones and shells - almost anything you could think of. She held it up and looked at all the peices on it, "But...but...but this is yours! You've worn it ever since I can remember! I can't take this!!!" She put it back in the box, and pushed the box back across the table, and Fabiana took it out of the box again. She walked aound the table and, standing next to Ophelia, put the necklace around her neck, "It's yours now, so that when you move on, you'll always have a peice of me with you." She kissed her daughter on the forehead, and walked out of the room, calling back to Ophelia, "I'm going to go to sleep now. I recomend you do the same, it's getting late. I'll see you in the morning."

Ophelia fiddled with the necklace around her neck, and looked about the room, one that she had spent a lot of time in over her life. She breathed in deeply, and looked down at the necklace around her neck. She'd suddenly knew what she wanted to do with her life. Rakhilis had been her home for her whole life; she knew the culture and background of one half of her. But she knew nothing of the other half.... She'd dedicate her life to learning about the Bemy; her other half of her being. She'd get a job, and save up until she could afford to travel to Yaolzerac, maybe even move there. Either way, she knew that that was what she wanted to do with her life. She wanted to learn more about herself. And she knew that she would always be welcome back here when she did leave; welcome back home. Smiling to herself, she picked up the little box, and headed into her room. She had a lot of work to do if she was going to obtain her goal.