Geode Prompts

"Mom." The child called. The pouflon turned her head to meet him. The air of the small home was humid and warm, and smelled of pastries and a slight hint of petrichor. 

"Yes, dear?" She smiled, tiredly. He never used to call her 'momma', anymore. Times are different, she supposed. 

"What did you use to do, before you came to Fluorspar?" He asked. There was a hint of childish curiosity in his inquiry, of course, but his gaze was focused in a way beyond his own age. His mother stared at him, her smile falling. She'd have to answer questions like this, sooner or later. She sighed, and sat down. Smiling again, this time from the happy nostalgy the memories brought, she looked deeply at Chili before she answered. 

"I used to be a knight." She responded, looking up at the brownish cavern walls. 

"Really?" The geode was actually surprised at that. He looked up to face her once again, observing her expression. "Did you like it?"  

"I adored it." Again, that same expression of nostalgy. She could picture happier times at the Obrille Academy, when she was just a young, passionate pouflon, training to become someone that could defend her loved ones. I couldn't even do that when it mattered most, she thought, bitterly. 

"Well, if you liked it so much, then what made you change your mind?" He asked, but he could already think of an answer.

"Love." Venessa stated, simply. "I abandoned my duties to come live with your parent." At that, she looked at her geode with no small amount of melancholy at confessing her sins - if what she had done had been a sin, anyway. There had never been a day where she regretted her actions, and if she'd been put on the same spot all those years ago, she'd probably have done the same thing all over again.

Chili didn't ask if it was worth it. Even him being only a child, he already knew the answer. Mother loved them a lot. 

"Then, I'll become a knight as well." The geode affirmed, looking firmly at his favorite person. She stared at him with no amount of shock. 

"What? Why?" Venessa asked, her expression one of confusion. 

"You got out of something you liked a lot because of love. I'll become a knight because of my love for you, as well. The best knight to ever exist. I don't need to be a pouflon like you for something like that." The geode explained. He watched as his mother's eyes brimmed with tears, and she touched her forehead with his. 

"You don't need to, my love. What would make me most happy is for you to do whatever makes your heart soar." She said, in a hiccup. 

"I'll do it, mom. Proving to them I can become whatever I want regardless of how I was born as is what makes me the happiest." Chili explained. What a dark thing for a child to say, she thought, with no small amount of worry. 

"Who's them, dearest?" His mother asked retroactively, since she already knew the answer to that. 

"The ones who separated our Strata. They made you unhappy, too." 

Venessa gawked at him. She didn't think he'd remember, he'd been so young when it happened. I guess I've been naive, she thought. Chili's mother looked at him with preoccupation. 

"Just promise me you'll let go if you find out it's not for you." She pleaded. 

"I will, mom." He promised. I'll make you very proud of me, mother, that I promise. I'll be the best knight ever, to surpass every other knight. Vespires will sing about my adventures, and pouflons will remember me as the vespire who conquered Bellacoste.