Oath and Vow (KafAnju: Majora's Mask)

Chapter 4: Coming to Terms

"There they go," the mother said from inside the homestead, listening to the echoing hooves from inside the rundown house as her daughter and her lover disappeared from the ranch. "Selfish fools. To think my own daughter would make such a careless mistake, disregarding everything I warned her about."

The middle-aged woman huffed as she began pacing around the living room. Near another cracked and deteriorating wall was the old grandmother, silently sitting in her wheelchair as she supposedly listened to the mothers rantings.

"How could she be so careless? Running off with a man that disappeared on her," the mother continued. "She should know how this ends. She's seen it. She's seen my pain, the pain of a woman waiting tirelessly for a man never to return to her. If that boy runs away from her, who knows if he'll ever return."

"Now, Tortus-" the grandmother began to say in a raspy voice, yet the mother raged.

"Tortus isn't here, Mother!" she said loudly. "Tortus is gone. He disappeared and died years ago! He left me alone! He left me alone with you and Anju to look after by myself, hoping that maybe one day he would return! Tortus... Tortus wasn't anything-"

With surprising speed, Granny looked away from the window and directly into the scorned woman's eyes. The mother silenced herself, shocked at the soul piercing gaze of her mother-in-law's black, slit-like eyes. Unable to tell if this was a rare moment of sanity for the ancient woman, the mother lowered her gaze to the floor. After a few moments, she sighed before pulling a chair back to sit down at the dining table that sat in the middle of the room. The woman sat in silence, before the grandmother began speaking to herself.

"What are you doing there, Tortus?" she said. Anju's mother sighed, shaking her head without looking up from the table.

"Mother, please," she asked her senile mother-in-law. "I'm not Tor-"

"She's waiting, you know," Granny continued. "Are you nervous?"

"Nervous?" Anju's mother asked, looking up from the table with her brow furrowed. "Mother, what are you?"

"There's nothing to be afraid of, Tortus. That girl loves you almost as much as you love her. You'll make a great husband... and father. I know you're excited to be with them as a family. You've dreamt of nothing more than that since you met that lady."

The mother's face softened, listening to the woman's rambling memories.

"You wonder if your daughter will find love like yours?" Granny asked her deceased son. "Possibly, though good parent's wish for their children to have something even better than they had, especially when it comes to romance."

The mother's eyes began to water over as she stared at her wheelchair confined mother-in-law. With a loud sniff, she wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes.

"I've been... a horrible mother to Anju..." she said quietly to herself. "I was just so upset with Tortus... No... I was just upset with my own losses and loneliness that I didn't know what to do with myself."

She looked over at the frail grandmother before smiling.

"Even senile, you're still teaching valuable lessons," she said to her before making to get up from the chair.

"Of course I am, silly girl."

The mother's pointed ears pricked as her eyes shot back at Granny.

"Mother?" she asked quickly. "Did you say something?"

"What was that, Tortus?" the grandmother asked louder than usual. "I didn't quite catch that."

Anju's mother raised an eyebrow before shaking her head. She didn't have time to question if her mother-in-law was faking her senility. She had more important things to attend to. Walking over and taking the grandmother's wheelchair by the handles, she moved them toward the door and exited the homestead. After allowing her eyes to adjust to the morning sun rays, she looked around the ranch fields before landing on the two sisters.

Cremia, noticing that her best friend had left the ranch, had come out into the fields. Allowing her sister to test her skills as she had promised, balloon targets had been placed with the help of spare wooden crates that usually sat unused between the barnhouse and homestead. A fair distance away, Cremia stood with her sister at her side, who was pulling back a bowstring with a knocked arrow.

"Are you sure you can handle this, Romani?" Cremia asked, worried for her sister's well-being.

"Grasshopper taught me a thing or two," Romani said confidently as she carefully aimed the bow, "and I'm going to be just like him."

After another second of aiming, the little girl released her arrow before quickly knocking and firing off a couple more. In a row, all the balloons burst, leaving Cremia shocked.

"Amazing, Romani!" she exclaimed, clapping as her sister brushed back her long red hair in a boasting manner. "Wow... That little boy really did our ranch wonders..."

"Cremia..." a voice said from behind.

The elder sister turned to see Anju's mother and Granny only a few feet away. Cremia frowned before looking away.

"Are you on your way, then?" she asked.

"Y-yes..." Anju's mother answered. "And I'd like you to come with us."

"What?" Cremia asked. "Why? What for?"

"To... To attend my daughter's wedding."

"I... I thought you didn't approve," Cremia said with a furrowed brow. "For reasons you've made clear."

"Cremia," Anju's mother called sincerely. "From the deepest part of my heart, I apologize for how I've treated you. I can't begin to imagine the anger you feel, but I beg you not to blame my daughter for my misguidance. It's no one else's fault but my own for how you've been treated."

The mother lowered her head in apology as Cremia stared at her with cold eyes. She looked up at the morning sky before scanning the fields. Finally, she took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry, but..." Cremia said quietly without looking at her. "For more than just what you're apologizing for... I don't think I can."

Anju's mother kept her head lowered for a moment longer before raising it.

"I understand," she said calmly. "I won't force you through any more pain than you've already been through. Thank you for the shelter you provided my mother and I, and the wonderful friend you've been to Anju after all these years."

With that, the mother began to push the wheelchair away, heading toward the ranch exit. Cremia watched before folding her arms. She dug her nails into her skin, biting the inside of her lip as she watched with saddened eyes, yet her brow furrowed at the memory of pain she had felt during the past month. Suddenly, she felt a tug at her skirt. She looked down to see Romani, staring up at her with worried eyes.

"Cremia...?" she called nervously.

Cremia's eyes softened at the sight of her sister before giving a depressed sigh.

"Wait..." she called out. Anju's mother stopped in her tracks before looking back at the older sister. "I'll give you a ride to town. It would be cruel to make you push Granny all the way back on foot."

"Are you sure?" the mother asked. After a long pause, Cremia nodded.

"Yeah... I'm sure."