Terabethia's Tale Part 2: Suitable?

(Terabethia's Riverstone)

My mother’s color had been the dull brown slightly purplish color commonly found on wet river stones before they dried.

From what I can remember my father had also looked ordinary stone-ish, actually he had been of even lower hierarchy then my mother and while he had a side job as an amateur rock carver and she as a little known healer, they both had made their living like most low hierarchy’s of our clan back then, in the back breaking work of mining rocks form canyon sides and chopping down trees for firewood for the blacksmiths.

Neither of them fighters, neither of them contributing anything of great value to the clan, or ‘kingdom’ as it was back then. More important than contribution was the fact that both were one of many war refugees who had only recently joined the clan, and thus they both lacked connections or ‘inns’ of any kind. The only light they could be seen under was their own and what a dim light it was.

And then these two obviously unimpressive people had a daughter whose color was only slightly less dull then them only if you looked at her in the best of circumstances and lighting, and they were so excited by this unexciting hatchling that they decided to name her after a mythical and extremely valuable flower?

If not insane just how outrageously presumptuous was that?

Or at least that is what, in that past, I have heard many others say within my hearing range, and this was the least insulting and kindest of what had been said. And this only got worse when my father died for then she was looked on not just as someone insane, but someone who was insane and also pitiable/wretched depending on your kindness level.

My mother when I confronted her about the inappropriateness of my name in those days always denied and even rejected this obvious truth and said instead, that my name wasn’t inappropriate in fact it was completely appropriate.

Yes, my mother said she named me Terabithia because she felt it was the name that suited me the most, no one outside of our small family of three, later two, knew this, but my mother had a small touch of sight.

Though she never claimed to outright see the future she often knew many things. Inexplicable things that even the most ‘superior’ and knowledgeable brighter colors and higher hierarchies didn’t.

Big things like, what choice would get the best result, or the times when danger was near or coming closer. And small convenient things, like when and where a hunter-butcher union has too good of a harvest so their goods were on sale, or the location and knowledge of when certain kinds of rare herbs were about to reach their peak and best time to be harvested.

Which is how, I think, despite the deaths of my siblings before my hatching, and my father not long after, as well as great deal of unknown family members besides we had always been able to somehow survive, far longer than even skilled, talented, or ‘lucky’ dragons had been able to.

She said she first thought of the name, when we first met immediately after my hatching, (a privilege gained from her occasional work in the hatchery, most low hierarchies at that time could only see their children after they started to gain the ability to reason and after all the nobles(those dwelling in the second to highest hierarchy level) had gone through and checked if there were any hatchlings with talents obvious enough to urge them to adopt them) after she confirmed our blood relation and right to name me through a small gem dragon magic that all adults are taught how to do, and after she had admired my ‘gem’.

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All gem dragons as you may already know possess a single large gem on their foreheads, and there is an old folktale that says that the color and brilliancy of the gem, has much to do with the personality and future power level of the dragon in question.

There seems to be some truth to the story, for most famous gem dragons in our history are often accompanied by mentions of how beautiful their gems and scales were.

However in my opinion, there have been also far too many examples of dragons with that were ‘ugly’ at least by gem dragon standards, who easily managed to move quite high in the hierarchy as well as became famous for their strength and or talents, as well as their contemporaries who were nothing but pretty faces, to be able to say that gems were an absolute indicator of a gem dragon’s future.

This obvious truth didn’t stop many, particularly colorful high hierarchy nobles, and bright skilled dragons from using it as an excuse to flaunt their superiority and continue to perpetuate the myth into becoming undying.

I am not sure which belief my mother truly held but it doesn’t matter if she thought that color usually indicated greatness or not for the result would be the same. For he said that when she saw my dark purple gem that almost seemed to be glowing with its vibrancy, she had a feeling that I would be one of those, whose gem was an indicator that held true.

I thought sarcastically at the time that it was lucky for us, that there mysteriously seemed to be no colorful gem offspring lacking nobles around at the time, or at least ones who were willing to take a chance on an otherwise ugly colored hatchling.

Or perhaps it wasn’t luck at all for my mother had hidden depths that I didn’t even really know about until at the very end, and she could have possibly had done some unmentioned thing that prevented the nobles from seeing my gem or picking me.

But the me of that time, only thought my mother was being ridiculous and plucking reasons out of the air and the final straw which confirmed my mother’s stupidity to me was when she confirmed that the reason why she named me thus was because she felt that I was indeed special.

She told me at that time she had also had a small flash of sight before she had seen my gem, and felt from it that I would be someone whose true worth was hidden, but still would shine at the worst and darkest of times, and solve many problems, just like the beloved and beautiful terabithia.

And according to her this ‘prophecy’ was partially fulfilled by the color of my gem.

That was the reason she gave me my name, and because my many doubts at the time, I didn’t believe her or feel that I would ever really be anything important. I accepted her love for me as my mother but the rest I pushed aside and tried not to think about it.

Wasn’t I, as so many told me including especially those that bullied me, just an ordinary lowly low hierarchy? Someone that would never amount to anything?

A distasteful creature that was not good for anything but trying to support the strong, and sadly in my unusually clumsy case was even incapable of being even the tiniest bit helpful, and not even good for being an amusement for them?

Indeed, the greatly misnamed Terabithia must as they say be worthless to the point that she was better off dead.