Arielle's Blossom of Adventure

Before I started, I had a dream. It was a vision, really. In my dream, I saw myself traveling through the world. I was on a quest. A journey. An adventure!

I was excited. I couldn't wait to start my journey.

But...my mother wouldn't let me leave. She said it would be unsafe for me to travel the world on my own. She said there were bad men out there who would try to hurt me or take advantage of me if I didn't have an escort or some sort of protection. But I wanted to see it all! The big city! The sweeping plains! The towering mountains!

My mother was so unbearably dull and rigid in her thinking. She wanted to keep me safe, but she never thought about what I wanted or needed.

"Arielle!" My mother called from the parlor where she sat, sewing by the light of a flickering lantern. "Arielle! Are you in here?"

"Yes mother." I replied, speaking over my shoulder as I continued reading the book in my lap. "I'm just reading."

"Well stop that this instant and go fold up the linens in the closet." My mother scolded, wiping away a tear with her sleeve as she worked on the dress she was sewing for me. "Your father will be home soon and he'll be tired and will want his dinner when he gets here, so you need to be ready to serve him."

"But mama..." I began to protest once more, but my mother cut me off again before I could finish my sentence.

"No 'buts' Arielle." She said sternly, putting down her needle and thread and turning to give me a look that made me shrink back into myself like one of those flowers that closes up when it rains so it can water itself inside its own petals instead of wasting it all on something silly like being visible and known in the world outside itself. "You know your father has been under a lot of stress lately with the harvest being so poor this year." She wiped away another tear with her sleeve and sniffled loudly as if to emphasize what she meant by 'poor'. "He needs his dinner before he goes out again tonight." She sighed heavily and bit her lip before continuing on with her speech in an attempt to stave off another sob just barely restrained behind her quivering lower lip. "Just please do this one thing for him? He's only asking you to fold up some sheets, not ask for your hand in marriage!" She wailed and began crying into her handkerchief before standing up from her stool and escaping from the room without giving me a chance to speak or object further.

I watched after my fleeing mother in dismay. Why did she keep doing that? Why did she keep crying? How many times had this happened already? At least ten times a day since father got back from town last week, according to Lula who brought us our food every day (and sometimes more than once a day if we were lucky). And how many times would happen again today? Twenty? Thirty? Fifty? One hundred? When would it end? When would things get better? Would they ever get better? Was there something wrong with us? Did someone curse us somehow? Was God punishing us in some way that I didn't understand yet because we didn't pray hard enough or give enough offerings at church or read enough books from church or do enough chores around our house or something like that?? Or maybe it wasn't God punishing us at all- maybe it was one of those ghosts walking around outside at night causing everyone else's harvest (and even their children's moods) to fail as well!!! Maybe we were just cursed by one of those ghosts!! Or...or...or...could it be everyone else was having similar difficulties? Maybe people put their daughters on quests across the world to save their families. We needed her!! We had no other choice!! We had to rely on our daughter's bravery and strengths to save us all!

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"Have courage Arielle!!! You can do this!!! You can do anything!!! Your future is yours for the taking!!! You're going to change everything!! You're going to fight dragons!!! You're going to save your father's farm from being foreclosed by throwing yourself against an army of demons who are threatening your entire village!!!! It won't be easy, but you can do it Arielle! You're special! You're different! You're brave and strong! So don't let anyone tell you otherwise!!! Don't let anyone doubt you!!!! Don't let anyone scare you away from your dreams!!!! Your destiny lies out beyond these fields!!! Your future is not here!!! Your future is not safe here!!!! No matter how nice everyone says this place is, your future does NOT lie here!!! Not if you want more than what you have now!!"

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