Chapter Seven

Life went on, Crystal still refused to go outside most times and instead remained inside her nursery, playing with the few toys she had. She suddenly decided she hated her lessons and rather play with her fairy bear. I was a little miffed about that, but she screamed bloody murder if I tried to even touch the bear. Oh well.

On this particular day, it was rainy - as usual - and Cinder was tending to his plants. I was doing chores. I never watered his plants for him though, so I didn't really expect help with cleaning the house and whatnot. Plus, he tended to clean his plates after he was done - usually.

"Hey Lefia, today I'm going to be doing some experimentation with my Alchemy Set" He said, as he bent to pick the flowers off one of his strange plants. "It's probably best if you take Crys and have a girl's day out. If you could, maybe run to the Alchemy Shop and see if they have any glowing mushrooms."

I picked up the plates from the table and gave him a look. "Don't do anything dangerous" I knew that asking him not to do whatever it was that he was planning was pointless so instead I just warned him to be careful.

"Sure, sure" He waved his hand and bent to tend to his mushrooms. I sighed and hurried to finish the dishes. He disappeared into the Alchemy room before I was even done.

I heard him dropping ingredients into the pot that sat in there from the living room. Hopefully there would be no explosion anytime soon. I wondered if he had to go to work. I thought he did. Maybe not. I wondered what he even did, he never did tell me. Couldn't be any worse than him shutting himself in there for days. I hoped that wasn't what was going to happen here.

I walked back to the nursery and scooped Crystal up. "Hey baby girl, you wanna go see if the Alchemy shop has anything going on? We gotta try and pick up some things for your daddy while we're there"

"Otay" She agreed easily enough. She probably didn't realize that it meant going outside.

The moment we got outside, she burrowed her head into my neck. It was as if she were going to catch on fire. Really. There was nothing wrong with going outside. Plus if we didn't go out every once in a while, how was I supposed to swipe anything?

Ah...Just pretend I didn't say that.

Well when we got there, this ditzy woman was manning the register.  I walked up to her. "Excuse me, do you have any glowing mushrooms?"

"Huh? Oh...um maybe out back? I don't know. I just started here."  How helpful.

"Well...thanks. I'll try again some other day I guess"

"Yeah....Maybe I'll actually be trained by then" Then she wandered from behind the register and I turned to set Crystal down.

I wondered what Cinder would do without his glowing mushrooms. And why did this place keep hiring useless staff? It made my head hurt. I rubbed my head gently and closed my eyes. I ended up slapping my hands over my ears though as the radio was turned on by the woman. It gave an awful screech and began playing the worse music ever. I hurried over to change it.

There better! I danced a little while Crystal sat on the floor. I didn't dance long before a woman, one of the Cumplebottom sisters, wandered in with her son. I think it was her son anyway. I figured she'd put her boy down and he and Crystal could become friends. It was about time she made some friends. No need to wait till she got to school for that.

Instead her baby cried out and began crying insistently. I think he was hungry. She just stood there and stared off into space. The boy cried and cried. I almost wished she'd put him down so I could feed him myself! Eventually I got fed up with it.

"C'mon Crys, we're going home" I said, grabbing my baby quickly. The woman watched me impassively. Really, it was like she had no emotion! It was creepy!

I hurried out the door as her child began to cry again. Maybe I should stop going out. It seems every time I go out without Cinder I run into the strangest people.

I got home and well...Cinder was dressed like this. I didn't know what to make of his outfit. In fact, I was rather confused by it.

"Cinder....What are you wearing?" I asked him. Crystal even glared at him, clearly confused by what her daddy was wearing. Sure it was colorful but it was strange.

"You know my job? Yeah I work at the old gypsy wagon telling fortunes. My boss said we get better sales if we dress the part. So I did. She said I look regal"

Regal isn't the word I would use for it.

"Alright honey. As long as it makes you happy?" He did seem happy in it. He looked quite at home in the strange outfit. I couldn't make out if I was supposed to be proud or a little alarmed. Working with Gypsies...Well, it couldn't be any worse. I worked with criminals after all.

And to see him walk to his carpool the next day all dressed up in his 'finest'! Well, he was happy, I can tell you that. He kissed me and Crys before he left and trotted out the door as if he were a king. Strange my husband might be, but at least he was happy with himself.

That was more than I could say for myself. I was worried lately. I was going to be aging up that night. I didn't want a party or cake - Crystal's birthday was in two days. I just want to celebrate with my husband but I knew he probably wouldn't be home for the event. It was sad and what was worse, I knew I was getting old. I had done very little for the tribe, except bring Crystal into the world.

So when my birthday came that night, though I was happy, I was a little afraid. What was I supposed to do? I had come here with a mission and I wasn't doing it at all! I could kick myself quite frankly. I knew that with this last stretch, I had to figure out what I was to do. I just had to.

And with that, I aged up, just as Cinder came into the room. Same as ever, but I felt a sense of peace now that I had a plan to figure out what to do. If anything, I would leave something for Crys to do. If I got the ball rolling, perhaps she would be able to figure out what else had to be done.

And two days later, it came to Crystal's birthday. Out came the blowhorn. I was sort of happy now that I didn't have a second child but the second I thought that, I regretted it. I wanted another baby to hold. I was getting on in my years and I realized that I wanted more than one child to carry on my name and legacy.

Crystal was a big girl and blew out the candles herself.

She grew up into a sullen and serious little girl. She looks more like Cinder every day, only with my hair color and a strange eye color. We built another room for Cinder to keep his plants and Alchemy station and used the old room for Crystal's new room. A bit of new paint on the walls and some furniture and she was ready to call it a home!

A little adjustment to her sense of fashion and her hair and she looks quite cute. I really think she's cute. Maybe its just because I'm her mother? Either way, my little girl is growing up so fast. Soon she'll be an adult and then what will I do?



The next chapter should be the last chapter in Lefia's Generation. I'm excited to move onto Crystal. She's shaping up to be an interesting and fun heir!