Blank Pages

Just a quickie that’s been bothering me the whole evening.

“This war we’re fighting for… it was never for us. It was never for our sake. It was always for our children. If we want a better world for our children to grow up in, then it’s up to us to make it. No one else,” she whispered softly as they sat near the campfire, her face furrowed in concentration.

“But what if we’re wrong?” her student’s voice sounded loud after her whisper. She caught a note of hysteria and uncertainty in that question.

“Then our children live with our mistakes.”

“That’s not…”

“Fair? The world isn’t. But I’d rather leave my daughter a legacy she can look up to than one that will cover her in shame,” both of them fell quiet, leaving the unspoken thought between them that legacies were a very impractical thing to leave a baby.

“Go to sleep, Ariala. The call may come soon,” her voice was kindly as she admonished her student to sleep. The child yawned.

“But I’m not sleepy,” she protested weakly, even as she wrapped herself in the blanket and laid down. Within seconds, she had fallen into the quick sleep that elite soldiers did when they took their rest whenever they could.

They had a good two hours rest before the horns sounded, and they went to war.

Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.