Heart Glass

Part 4

"Mother, please!"
Cassandra Cord pulled her legs up on the bright red love seat. She pinched the bridge of her perfect nose, sighing, like Dex's pleadings were causing her intense emotional distress. Her glossy golden curls spilled around her neck and onto the arm of the seat.
"Dexter, I never meant to keep you uninformed of your father. He's just so painful to talk about." Her pink lips pouted a little.
Dex looked away. "Well, I've got an hour until class, so..." But this was much more important than class. If his mother finally opened up, he'd miss the rest of the semester to hear about his mysterious second parent.
"All you care about is your silly class. You do not even need to take classes. Your grandfather's inventions will keep our family wealthy for generations," Cassandra declared. "Can you not spare a moment for your mother's heart?"
"I have been sparing a moment for your heart for sixteen years," Dex sighed. "Please! I want to know about him."
Garic had been nearly invisible during the whole conversation, silently dusting the drawing room furniture and bringing in Cassandra's breakfast.
"Mistress," Garic nodded respectfully. "It is time."
Cassandra sighed, her bottom lip pouting. "I suppose." She smoothed her long, blue silk dress with gossamer layers cut into an upside down V. "Your father was a handsome man, very foolish. He could've kept his money, he could've kept me--he could've had everything he ever wanted! But he had these crazy ideas that were somehow more important than all that!"
"He...lost his money? What does that have to do with anything? Start from the beginning."
"He donated most of it to some strange cause or whatever. Something to do with Wrecks. At any rate, I don't know his family's names or anything. His name was Nicholas Cord, though. Just tell your class he was adopted. Which might as well be true--his real family wasn't much. But he was an inventor and made something of himself when he was young, advancing your grandfather's research. Then he fell in love with me. And then....just after you turned one...he left, for some reason that I've never understood."
Dex's wheels turned, puzzled. So, there wasn't any tragedy. "But I thought..."
"I know what you thought, Dexter. No one died." She curled a strand of hair around her finger. "Well...as far as I know. I always forget about..."
Dex frowning. "Forget about what?"
She sighed yet again, her expression almost sympathetic. Dex sat down beside her.
"Mother, what do you mean?"
She reached up, her gaze following her hand and refusing to meet his, then reached over to him and took out his ever-present necklace, her fingernail tapping it lightly.
Dex scrutinized her every move. "...Mother?"
"HELLO, CITIZENS OF THE SHINE!" A voice bellowed through the room. Their Coriglass walls suddenly blew up a huge live feed video, featuring a handsome newscaster sitting at a desk that was most likely Coriglass, though it looked like maple oak. "We have our wonderful King Horace with us today for the morning announcements! Please stand and recite the Xylem Sector pledge!"
As the face of the middle-aged king flashed across the screen with a brilliant, blinding gold resolution, Dex, Cassandra, and Garic immediately stood up, stiffly reciting the pledge with memorized perfection, hands crossed over their chests.
"Our Kingdom is golden, our trees are diamonds. We pledge our loyalty to Xylem and her King. We were born Xylem and we will die with her name on our breath."
They listened quietly as King Horace began to speak. Cassandra looked at him with big, yearning eyes.
"If only I were young again and had no child! He would find me suitable and lovely, and we would live all our days in utmost happiness."
Dex resisted the urge to roll his eyes. His mother always joked like that, if one could call them jokes.
"My people," He looked out at them, his dark eyes sharp like a Dia knife. "I bear the worst of news. She is unhappy."
Dex wanted to groan and flop back onto the loveseat in frustration. "How? How could she be unhappy?"
Cassandra pouted her big lips. "She is always unhappy, despite the Shine bending backward for her."
Dex hummed. "Wonder what that is like."
"Hush," Garic whispered. "Let the Ambassador speak."
Dex bit his tongue. He had forgotten that Garic always looked forward to these speeches every morning. He took every bit of them to heart, using the king's highest, most respectful title "Ambassador", as in ambassador between them and Nature.
"The Wrecks continue to destroy our chances to build a relationship with Nature," Horace looked down, shaking his head. "They are cruel. The more we seek Her, the more she will bless us with rains and rivers in the heart of this desert. The Elite shall continue to raise one of her own on their properties to appeal to her kindness, and my courageous Knights will continue to oppress those disgusting animals we call Wrecks.They still float around our fair city. They still congregate in little rebellions that hurt our chances with Nature, therefore making our water supply even more painfully scarce. We must stop them."
"Why are they doing this? We need water. Don't they know that?" Dex clenched his fists in a fit of passion.
"They're a callous people, Young Master Dex," Garic shook his head.
The morning message ended, and Dex felt himself being patted on the head by his mother.
"Now that we've had this lovely chat, why don't you head off to school and pay your respects to Hayda?"
Dex closed his eyes. He'd never get his mother to open up again! "Please, mother, you have not told me a thing--"
"Off to school, now. Garic, would you please?"
Garic took Dex firmly but gently by the shoulder and led him out of the house.