Strength In Our Bonds (The Strength in Generations Accompanying Book)

Mother-Daughter Day

The Saturday within the second weekend of June was an important day in Balambese culture. It was on this day that the mothers of the country took to the streets to spend time with their daughters; Mother-Daughter Day. There were days where a mother could spend time with her son, or a father could with their offspring as well, but Mother-Daughter Day was the first one of the year, and as such kicked everything into motion in a way.

For the first time in... actually, for the first time period, Quistis had been able to convince her mother to visit Balamb in time for the celebration this year. She wanted her along, as well as Aurelie and Nora, to all enjoy each other in the spirit of feminine familial bonds.

"This year, I've booked us all a spa day," Quistis told the three. "All of us work hard throughout the year, and I believe we need a bit of pampering, even if it is a day. Well, two days. I got it for the weekend."

"I think that's a great idea, Mom!" Nora said eagerly.

"Thank you, Nora. Oh, by the way, every meal served in the spa's kitchen can be served meatless, Mother and Aurelie."

Aurelie smiled, and turned to Floriane, who also looked happy.

"Or full of meat if you so please, Nora."

Nora smiled this time, feeling a happy warmth in her center.

"We leave this evening, as soon as Hope can drive us, so now you have a little time to go pack anything you may have missed the first time around."

Nora was the only person to remain on the couch after that. She loved her mother and grandmother- when she had them to herself. Her grandmother especially seemed to ignore her when Aurelie was around. Was she that boring? What did she need to do to look interesting? This weekend would be nothing more than a lesson in how many ways a person could get ignored. Nora was so not ready to get into it that as soon as her father dropped everyone off at the spa, she went straight to bed.

"Where is Nora?" asked Floriane, as she sat with Quistis and Aurelie in the spa's lobby.

"She went to bed early," replied Quistis. "I think she's been tired lately."

"That is disappointing. I was looking forward to speaking to her, but I suppose we have tomorrow and Sunday for that. Aurelie-"

The mentioned girl looked up from the book she was reading.

"When did you begin to wear glasses, Aurelie?"

"Sometime around Christmas. My vision isn't what it used to be," she replied. "I should have listened to Mom's warning about working in low light, but I didn't want to waste energy."

"A shame that the Academy has yet to switch over to solar energy," Floriane said, casting a look toward Quistis.

"Mother, it's complicated. Hope has had problems with power outages since before I even joined the Academy. It's been difficult to convince him to switch completely to solar power."

Aurelie looked down at her lap as her mother and grandmother continued to talk. Even small talk sounded like business-talk with them. That had to be why she herself struggled with being casual; it ran in the family.

The next day, all four women got together and went to the spa's mud bath to try that out. Even walking with them, Nora felt out of place. There was the towering Floriane at 6'2", her mother and sister- both 5'7"- and then there was Nora, in all of her 4'11" glory. Not to mention that they were all so thin, and she was kind of chubby. They even all wore glasses, although Quistis and Aurelie only needed them for reading.

"So kind of you to grace us with your presence," Floriane said to Nora when they'd all sat down.

Nora just stared at her. She didn't always grasp when her grandmother said things like that.