“So,” Zein said, his eyes flicking towards Mae’s propped-up leg. She was wearing shorts instead of her usual long pants. His eyes landed on a small, straight scar on her shin. “Where did you get that scar from?”

She laughed. “You know, you don’t have to dance around my leg,” she said, gesturing to the bad limb. “If you want a story, I’ll give it to you.”

Zein nodded, looking slightly embarrassed.

“Well, I don’t tell this story to a lot of people,” she said, her mask falling away, “but I wouldn’t mind sharing it with one more.” She looked out the window, already getting lost in her memory. It didn’t take long for her to get transported back to that fateful autumn day, seven years ago.

__

Thirteen-year-old Mae sat in front of the fire, her brow furrowed as she focused on the seed in front of her. Once she had collected herself, she flexed her fingers and clenched her fingers. The seed burst open, a delicate flower blooming on the end of a vibrant green stem.

She looked up at her mother, an eager smile on her face. Her mother looked down her nose at the bloom, disdain in her eyes. 

“Maenora, dear, you can do better than that,” she said, condescending. “You won’t get onto the Elites with _that_. Do it again,” she said, handing her another seed. 

After placing it on the floor, she angrily closed her hand into a fist, causing a flower to spring out of the seed, missing two petals and sitting lopsided on its stem.

Her mother clucked her tongue, shaking her head. “Remember, Maenora, anger is a weapon. Use it to your advantage. Don’t let it use you.”

“Don’t let it use you,” Mae muttered to herself, setting the next seed down on the ground and taking a deep breath before connecting with the seed before clenching her fist and opening it up as the flower shot out of the seed, twice as big as the first. She whirled towards her mother, excitement in her eyes. 

Her mother sneered. “Worthless.”

She turned back towards her flower, seeing it quickly wither and crumble to the ground. 

“B-but that was my best one!” she exclaimed. “I’ve never grown one that big!”

Her mother shook her head, rising from her stool. “Worthless. I thought I taught you to be better than this. How disappointing.” She whirled out of the room, leaving her daughter on the floor, staring at her mother’s stool.

She looked at her crumbled flower with tears in her eyes. “I… I thought I was finally getting better.”

She shook her head, drying her tears with resolve on her face. She sat on the floor, hunched over her seeds for hours. By the time her father called for dinner, she had done it. She picked up a seed and ran into the other room, seeing her parents and her half-brother sitting at the table. 

“Mother!” she raced towards her mother, who was already out of her seat. “Look at what I did!”

She opened her fist, revealing the seed on her palm. She let her other hand’s fingers twitch before clenching them into a fist. The seed sprung open, an intricate flower almost as tall as her little brother growing out of it. 

Her father clapped, grinning at the beaming smile on his daughter’s face. But she wasn’t looking at him. She was beaming at her mother. 

“Look at it!” she said again, her smile beginning to fade as her mother stared at her with growing disappointment. “Ma? What’s wrong?”

“Worthless,” she spat, anger seething beneath her surface but not yet spilling out. “If your brother were a mage, even _he _would be able to do that, and he’s six years old!” she exclaimed. “I thought you _wanted _to be one of the Elites,” she said.

“I do!” Mae exclaimed, anger seething in her too.

“Then prove it.”

Mae set her flower on the ground, took another seed out of her pocket, and in her anger, she was only able to grow it to a height of two inches. 

“Remember what I taught you, Maenora?”

“Yes, mother.”

“Work twice as hard. Is _that _twice as good as your last one?” she asked, pointing at the two flowers. 

“No, mother.”

“That’s what I thought,” the older elf said, her voice coming out as a whisper. “You’ll never get anywhere. You’ll just get dragged along with the rest, unable to pull your weight.”

“Dear, I think that’s enough,” her da said, trying to calm the elf down.

“No, I don’t believe that it is,” she said coldly. “I can’t believe my only child turned out to be a disappointment,” she whispered, loud enough to make sure Mae heard her clearly.

Mae stood still, her body tense and her hands clenched, her tiny flower crushed in her hand.

Her mother’s hand swung in an arc, her palm making contact with Mae’s cheek. At this point, her brother started to cry. Her father stood and carried the boy into another room as Mae stood in place, her face burning as anger seethed inside her.

“Twice as hard, Mae,” her mother said, her voice colder than ice and twice as sharp. “Twice as hard.” As she left, she curled her fingers, making Mae’s flower shrivel.

Anger roiled in Mae’s body as she watched her biggest achievement wither and die, her mother leaving the room without so much as a second glance. 

Mae stormed to her room, slamming the door shut and kicking it, breathing hard. 

“Why can’t I just be good enough?” she said to herself. “Why can’t she forget about the stupid magic stuff and just be proud of me?”

She laid down on her bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to calm herself down. She sat up after a moment, determination in her eyes. “I’m going to get into that stupid group if it’s the death of me,” she muttered, standing up and grabbing her bag of seeds. 

She sat down on the wooden floor, scattering the seeds over the ground. One at a time, she focused in on them and pulled them out of their seeds, but none of them exceeded a foot tall. 

_Why can’t you be better? _

_Even your brother could do that! _

_My only child turned out to be a disappointment. _

_I thought you _wanted _to be one of the Elites._

_You’re just dead weight._

_Is that twice as good?_

_Worthless. Absolutely worthless._

Mae flew to her feet, swinging her door open and walking down the hall, not even caring that she could wake someone up. She went into the family room where the fire was nearly completely extinguished. She placed a seed next to it and looked at the table where her mother kept all of her awards from the time she was in school

The young elf focused on the seed, clenching her fist and opening it, swiping her hand to the side. The tiny vine snaked its way towards the dying fire, catching one of the embers. Mae swung her hand to the other side, taking the smoking vine towards the table. Sweat beaded on her brow as her hands shook, the vine threatening to stop. She focused harder, and moved her hand again, pushing the vine the rest of the way to the table. A few papers smoked for a moment before a small flame started up. 

After a few seconds, Mae moved to put it out, satisfied with the small amount of damage she did to her mother’s collection. As she reached towards it, the flame leapt to another paper. She froze, panic replacing her anger. 

“Nononono,” she muttered, her hands shaking as she raced to the kitchen to take a bit of water from their supply. She ran back to the family room with a cup of water in hand, only to find that the flames had grown, consuming the whole table.

“Mother! Da!” she shouted, her panic growing. “Someone!”