When I first heard of you, I was intrigued.

A blue-clad warrior who loved to invent,

Loved to do the same things I did.

It made me wonder, would he like me as well?

~a Jaya tale~

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M PREGNANT?" I threw the little pink device across the room, not feeling at all satisfied when it shattered into a thousand pieces.

     My hands touched my face, my shoulders, my stomach in a panicked haze. There was a living being inside of me. There was a human being growing inside of me.

     "Nya, dear, we planned this." Jay peeped from beside me, reaching out to massage my shoulders.

     I jerked away from his touch in surprise, trying to steady my shaky breaths. As if I could forget. Jay had spent month after month going through baby books and picking out the perfect items online. He already had a nursery set up inside the still-being-built Steepest Wisdom II. I kept finding little blue onesies mixed into my laundry, even though they had never been used.

     "I was an idiot to agree to this—I have a literal human being inside of me—oh goodness I'm going to lose so much sleep and money and time and—"

     "Nya."

     "Jay, there's a human being growing inside of me." I pointed to my stomach, which looked no different than usual.

     "Yes." He gave up trying to argue with my shock, instead reaching over to rest his hands on top of mine.

     "It's the most wonderful thing ever." I whispered as our hands intertwined. Jay pressed a gentle kiss against my fingertips, a smile lighting up his freckled face.

     So many emotions were coursing through me. I was still shocked about the revelation, even though I shouldn't have been. A baby meant I would have to take time off the team to care for it. A baby meant a new member of our family. A baby meant leaving my old life behind to become a mother. A baby meant joy, love, and the most happiness I had ever experienced.

     If I had ever guessed how much pain I'd have to endure to get the baby out, then I would have never agreed to it in the first place. Jay was with me through every step of labor, holding my hand and promising it would all be okay. Even though I was loaded with pain medications, I still thought I was going to die at several points throughout the process.

     All of the suffering vanished when the nurse placed the baby girl into my arms. Jay nearly suffocated us in affection that evening, which was not at all helped by my sobbing brother. The rest of the team spent their time messing with my baby girl's fingers and toes, smiling wider than looked comfortable.

     I nuzzled my firstborn (whom Jay had dubbed Bequeath) with all the love I could give. I was too tired to argue with Jay's assertions, and it didn't really matter. She was as much his as she was mine. In that moment, my doubts of having a child flitted away, leaving me with only pure joy.

     Pure joy died three days later.

     Bequeath would not stop crying. It did not matter what I did, she would wail at the top of her tiny lungs for hours. I spent half of my sleepless days wearing earplugs, and the other half trying to get her to listen to music that would calm her down. Jay was out of the house most of the time due to his day job, which did not help my anxiety at all.

     Jay was the only one who stood a chance against my very loud child; he would tease her in a cooing voice until she drifted off into sleep. Often, I would find myself falling asleep on Jay's shoulder as he attempted to lull Bequeath into a calmer state. I became the image of gross oversized hoodies, sweatpants, and messy buns just to keep my hair out of Bequeath's grasping fingers.

     Without time or energy to keep up our vigorous ninja exercises, Jay and I became less of elemental masters and more of everyday parents.

     Her toddler years were just as hard.

     As soon as she could walk, Bea would carry off whatever she could collect, whether that be books or discarded parts of our gis that we felt were too fancy to wear anymore. Jay and I had to install little baby barriers around the house to keep her from getting her hands on things that were dangerous for her. Yet, she still started to find ways around our walls.

     I swear I spent half of my days trying to collect all the bookmarks she had ripped out of our books.

     Kai finally started bragging that he was getting a kid of his own, to which I wickedly grinned as I patted the head of my 'well-behaved' child. In front of my friends, she was the sweetest thing to walk the planet. Even Jay was holding back laughter by the end of Kai's very long video call on how we overexaggerated parenting.

     He wasn't bragging as much after six weeks of his screaming daughter.

     Bequeath was an intelligent child, apparently my and Jay's tinkering brains had rubbed off on her. She caught onto reading pretty quickly and spent a lot of her later toddler years filling sketchbook after sketchbook with her messy drawings. Her intelligence was more artistically inclined; she was a very creative three-year-old. She didn't get into as much mischief as long as she was entertained, and for a while it seemed like having a kid wasn't that bad. I actually enjoyed it.

     I should have never mentioned that to Jay.

     Before I knew it, I was trying to dance around the question of why mommy was getting so fat as Bea studied her little sibling's handprints in my stomach. She lit up when I told her the news, which was surprising since she had never connected with Aureole. Kai and I had tried to get them to befriend each other, but Aureole was too young to fully understand anything Bea was doing.

     When it came to little siblings, however, Bequeath was more than thrilled. Jay was ecstatic as well, so we spent a lot of time at the local stores trying to shop for the baby. I smiled every time Jay would help her mark off another day on the calendar.

     "Another day closer to meeting your baby brother or sister." Jay would announce, handing her a giant red marker. Bequeath would mark a neat 'x' over the day, sometimes adding little flairs to the writing that weren't necessary. Her handwriting was so neat it outshined mine, which was kind of embarrassing to admit.

     "I hope I get a brother." Bea announced to us one day as we were tucking her into bed. "I don't want to have to share my room with a sister."

     Sure enough, my next child was a bouncing baby boy who couldn't stop smiling. From birth, he had curly dark hair springing from his head, and was constantly babbling his baby talk. Jay let me decide what to name this one; it took me a while to come up with something perfect. We named the boy Storm after Jay's mother, not only since the original Storm had such a big role to play in our future, but also because Storm was the perfect name to go with both lightning and water powers. Jay and I weren't sure which child was going to get what elemental power.

     Storm was an amazing baby in every way Bequeath had annoyed me.

     He didn't scream all night while we were trying to sleep, he didn't get into a bunch of mischief, and he certainly didn't attempt to play with my old weapons when I wasn't watching. Bequeath adored her little brother; she helped me take care of him even when she wasn't asked to. I should have seen right through her little innocent act. By the time Storm was walking, she had him sneaking through our defenses and accompanying her on her little missions to get into my closet (which was filled with my and Jay's old ninja gear).

     Jay was amused by this.

     He told me Bea already had the makings of a master ninja. She was a clever little girl, with a creative mind and a stubborn heart. She was reaching the age of discernment, which was when Jay and I had decided to start training our children.

     One weekend, Jay and I finally took her outside to start on basic self-defense training. Jay was convinced she'd be delighted to learn that she was going to carry on our legacy and one day inherit one of our powers. He'd even been trying to use his lightning less so he wouldn't have as much withdrawal when he gave it away.

     Neither of us expected for her to run back into the house and lock herself in her room.

     "BEQUEATH PHOSPHORUS GORDON COME OUT OF THAT ROOM RIGHT NOW!" I pounded on the door, squaring myself to ram it down.

     "No!" She squeaked.

     Jay motioned for me to take deep breaths. He started massaging circles into my back, using his most soothing voice to calm our stubborn girl down. "Bea, we just wanted you to learn some self-defense. It's a lot of fun; no one is going to get hurt."

     "I don't want to be a ninja!" Bequeath insisted from behind the door. "I want to be a mermaid-fairy-princess."

     Indignation flared in me. She was old enough to understand that was not an option for her future. She was definitely smart enough to know that she wasn't getting out of this. So, why was she resisting?

     "Sweetie, being a ninja is a lot of fun." Jay tried. "You get to go on a lot of spy missions, fly on dragons, and—"

     "Being a ninja is BORING." Bequeath cut him off, making me snap.

     "Don't you dare interrupt your father, young lady." I hissed. "You have one hour to come out and go through the exercises. If you don't come out, then you are grounded."

     "Nya—"

     "She needs to learn some respect." I told Jay, crossing my arms as something crashed downstairs. Storm started wailing, and I was forced to leave to attend to him.

     Bequeath didn't leave her room until the next morning. In fact, every time we brought up ninja training after that she'd go up to her room and stay there until we gave up trying to get her to come out. It only got worse after she started going to school.

     While Storm was a sweet little child, Bequeath only grew more resistant as she grew up. She wanted nothing to do with being a ninja, going so far as to run away from home the night of the blue moon just so she wouldn't have to go through the ceremony to inherit Jay's elemental power. She said such hateful things to us that night I didn't know how to feel towards her anymore.

     Don't force me to be like you! I never want to be like you!

     "I just don't understand. Being a ninja is an honor. Why can't she come to her senses and see that?" I yanked at my own hair, trying to control my temper. I wasn't sure how much was my anger at Bequeath, or how much was my sadness over losing a maybe pupil. I loved being a ninja; I couldn't imagine how my own flesh and blood could reject it.

     "Perhaps she is being called to a different path in life." Jay sounded tired, rubbing his arms as he paced around the bedroom.

     "She has everything it takes. She just needs to get her priorities straight." I insisted.

     "Cole's father wanted him to be a dancer. Yet, Cole's calling in life was to be a ninja. What if Bequeath has a different purpose?"

     "The world is literally going to end if Lloyd's kids can't beat the Overlord, and she wants to sit in her room and... and—"

     "If Bequeath doesn't want to follow in our footsteps, then I'm not going to stop her." Jay turned to face me. "We'll just have to train Storm to take on the responsibility of both powers."

     "What if... what if he rejects us just like she did?" My voice came out barely a whisper.

     Jay crouched down in front of me, gently lifting my chin to study my eyes. "Then we'll learn to live with that too. Bea's a lot like you, Nya. She's stubborn, but she's strong. Let her live her life. Let her follow her own path. You'll both be happier that way."

     Bequeath's teenage years were almost too much for me to handle.

     Storm quickly latched onto our training with enthusiasm. He was very close to both his cousin and Lloyd's boys, all three who were on the path to becoming elemental masters. Storm not only liked training with them, but he also looked forward to it. Bequeath started leaving her younger brother alone as he started fawning over the topics she despised.

     She developed into an odd kind of beauty. Bea enhanced this with hours practicing her makeup and wearing the strangest ensembles. She liked bright colors that didn't seem to go together, and I couldn't catch her dead in any shade of blue. All of her talk centered on gossip among her superficial friends. If we brought up anything else, she'd click her tongue and remain silent.

     The distance between us felt like it was growing wider.

     Bequeath never talked about anything personal. She spent most of her time out with friends, and any time she spent at home was mostly in her room. I didn't try to push myself into her life, seeing as every time I had tried, she always pushed me away. Jay was still able to get her to talk about something other than her social life every now and then, but Bequeath refused to talk to me.

     Her room had been silent for a while.

     Normally every night she would stay up late on the phone, chattering about the latest boy band. Recently, her room had been quieter than a mouse.

     Slowly, I climbed the house stairs, holding a plate of chocolate chip cookies to use as a peace offering. She hadn't come down when Jay made them earlier, which was unusual. It was past midnight when I finally resolved to stop worrying about her. I had left her alone long enough; it was time to see what she was up to.

      I used the emergency key to open the door, finding her room's light on. Her bed looked like it had been sat on, which was supported by the various school books scattered on it. Various creams and bottles laid open on her vanity stand, and so many crinkled posters lined the walls that they resembled a terribly pasted on wallpaper. A cool breeze greeted me as I took another step into the room.

     Her window was open.

     The plate of cookies slipped from my hands, falling onto the plush pink rub below.

     Just as I was about to call to Jay, a frizzled mess of dark curly hair poked its head above the window frame. I took a step back as Bequeath pulled herself over it. Her makeup was smeared with leaves and twigs, but her face was glowing with delight.

     That's when she saw me standing there.

     We didn't say anything.

     We just looked at each other.

     Watching.

     Waiting.

     Then, slowly, I picked up the plate of cookies and set it on her bed. I backed out the room, making sure to lock the door behind me.

     I fled to my closet, holding back the sobs of a troubled mother.

     Three months later, Bequeath stumbled through the front door in the middle of lunch, holding the hand of a dazzled blonde man. Jay and I looked up from our shared plate of noodles, surprised that anyone would visit us in the middle of the day. Storm was trying to battle through the midterms of middle school, so he was away from home most of the day. Bequeath was supposed to be at high school, but somehow, I wasn't shocked at the prospect of her bending the rules.

     The man met our eyes with a clumsy grin, immediately straightening up and fixing a neon green bowtie. I blinked, not sure if I was seeing things right. Indeed, this man was not only wearing a neon green bowtie, but a bright orange suit with hard to look at polka dots scattered across the colors. He messed with his overly slicked back pale blonde hair, shyly smiling at Bea.

     I dropped my chopsticks.

     "Mother, Father, I'd like you to meet..." Bequeath gave the man a gushy smile in return. She seemed way too giddy for her normal self. "I'd like you to meet my fiancé, Milo."

     "FIANCE?" Both Jay and I rocketed to our feet, though Jay's tone was considerably less angry. I went into some sort of momentary shock, pressing my hands so hard against my forehead it hurt. I didn't even know Bequeath had a boyfriend. She wasn't even out of high school yet. How in the literal world did she get engaged?

     Jay didn't say anything for a long time, his expression paling as he looked between me and our daughter.

     I personally didn't know whether I wanted to show this 'Milo' fellow where the door was, or demand that Bequeath sit down and explain everything. Neither Bequeath or her boyfriend seemed to know what to say, so the silence stretched so thick it was almost unbearable.

     "Bea, honey, this is the first time I've heard of this." Jay said softly. He motioned for both of them to take a seat. "I think we need to know a bit about Milo and how you two met."

     My sweet precious Jay, always being so calm and supportive when I couldn't think. I loved him so much.

    "Oh," Bequeath chirped, her fake smile returning. "Father, I've told you about Milo before. He's my friend who wants to become a fashion designer."

     "You got engaged to a friend?" I blurted out, making her rosy cheeks flush even darker.

     "You and Father were friends before you started dating." She replied nonchalantly, laying a hand on her crazily dressed boyfriend's arm.

     "Bea and I have been dating for quite a while," Milo added in, "We've thoroughly discussed this topic several times, so we aren't just jumping into this blindfolded."

     My anger swiveled towards him. First, my daughter refused to be a ninja. Then, she sneaked out and partied with her school friends, rejecting her entire life with us. Finally, she gets engaged to a boy I've never met and has the guts to leave school just to tell us. I had never been so frustrated with Bequeath in my life.

     Jay studied the two, calmly nodding. "I only have one question, Mr. Milo."

    "Fire away." Milo attempted to sound cool, but only succeeded in making me want to shove him out of the door.

    "Do you love her?"

     Milo blushed, slowly encompassing Bequeath's hands in his own. "Your daughter is the most creative, most intelligent, and the most beautiful girl I've ever met. She meets every problem we face with a spunky demeanor, and every moment we spend together brightens up my life in ways I couldn't describe. I can't imagine my life without someone as amazing as her by my side, so I hope you both, though not knowing me very well, will bless our marriage. I promise to take care of her through the high and low, through every challenge that life brings to us. Yes, I love her and would gladly die for her."

     Jay looked on the verge of tears when Milo ended his little speech. I turned away so they wouldn't notice my face. He sounded so much like Jay when we were just teenagers, playing the game of romance. A game of hormones and personal growth, a game that led to the greatest decision I'd ever made.

     "Well then," Jay smiled at them. "I expect at least ten grandkids and visits twice a week."

     "Dad!" Bequeath sounded horrified, then started to laugh.

     Despite our strange first encounter with Bequeath's fiancé, we soon grew to accept him. He wanted to get to know us better, which led Bequeath to spend more time with us. He'd constantly come over for dinner and entertain us with strange stories from working as a fashion-designer-in-training. Storm enjoyed it when he came, and it wasn't long until I begrudgingly admitted he would be good for my daughter.

     Bequeath had everything packed by the time she reached adulthood.

     I knew she wanted to leave and live by herself before she was married, so I didn't stop her. The night before she left, however, I had some things I wanted to say.

     "Bequeath."

     She looked up from a designer magazine, her face looking tired without layers of eyeshadow. She raised a perfectly arched brow, expecting to get a lecture on her life choices.

     "I...I'm sorry."

     "About what?"

     "I held you back." I said, feeling my hardened heart break open. "You were obviously being called to a different path in life, and I ignored that. I wanted to turn you into me. I was excited to turn you into me. Over time, I just got more and more angry at you. While you shouldn't have snuck out and ignored us, I can't deny I was also in the wrong. Milo is amazing, and I'm glad you've found someone you're going to be happy with. I'm sorry I didn't accept the real you sooner."

     Bea blinked, trying to process my words. "I guess..." she said after a second. "I guess I'm sorry too. I was a bit of a stupid kid. But thanks for apologizing. If it helps, I don't think ninja are boring. I just... I just wanted to be normal."

     I sat down beside her on her bed, feeling more of a mother to her than I had felt in a long time.

     "Then be normal. I'm not going to stop you anymore."

     When Bequeath sent me an invitation to her wedding the next year, I nearly choked on my own gasp.

     "She's getting married at nineteen, Jay, nineteen! That's way too young. I thought she was going to wait a couple more years."

     Jay looked up from the loveseat in our living room, his fingers moving the knitting needles he was holding with precision. I squinted at the little blue blob he was making.

     "Is... is that a onesie?"

     "You got married around her age." Jay commented, returning to his knitting project. "And I'm pretty sure we both agreed it was the perfect time."

     "Why are you making a onesie?"

     "We need to get Bea something for her wedding."

     "I'm too young to be a grandmother!" I was pacing so fast that I was getting dizzy.

     "She's not having a baby." Jay groaned when my frantic levels reached an all time high. He patted the seat beside him, showing me his project when I consented to sit down. "But I thought knitting might make a nice hobby, so I decided to prepare her for that day."

     I fondly remembered his own baby onesie shopping sprees before Bea was ever born. Jay apparently had a thing for adorable baby clothes.

     He fingered my hair, smiling when I leaned against him. "Though, for the record, we're going to be the best grandparents there ever were."

     I expected Bequeath's wedding to be eccentric, but I was still surprised when I showed up.

     The wedding was going to take place on a beach. Bea and Milo had worked for hours lining the path up to the front pavilion with seashells. We were told to bring lawn chairs, which helpers were lining up in neat rows. A few plastic tables were set up around the chairs, each of them lined with stacks and stacks of sushi. The five-tier cake somehow already had a piece missing. When questioned about it, Cole swore on his life that he didn't touch it.

     I almost found it ironic when Bea walked up to us licking icing off of her fingers.

     Her wedding dress was a bright canary yellow, puffing out in petal-like layers at her waist. Blood red peonies had been sewn onto the dress in random spots throughout the skirt, giving her an appearance of a giant flower. Milo's suit hurt my eyes too much to describe properly; its saturated palette outshined the one he wore when Bea announced their engagement. The only thing that wasn't an eye-popping hue was his extra tall top hat, which was black with peonies sewn around the base.

     While everyone was getting seated, Bequeath asked me to stay behind for a second. She pulled out a peony flower crown and handed it to me shyly.

     "For me?" I asked, thinking it would look much better resting on her head than on mine. I was wearing the blue kimono I had worn before the Oni attacked, which had brought so much more nostalgia to this special day. Sure, the blue colors were faded, but it still was one of the nicest outfits I had.

     Bea's smile was unsure. "I suppose I should thank you. You helped me learn to be rebellious. If I had never gone to those parties, I would have never met Milo. Your insistence on making me like you helped me form my own identity, and I wanted to show my gratitude for that." She reached up to place the flower crown on my head. "You can match us now."

     I reached up to touch her cheek, happy tears welling in my eyes. This day, even after such a long time of strife, was worth every minute. My heart expanded at her joy, and it made me so jubilant to see her finally finding her place in life. Even though her life wasn't going to be closely intertwined with mine, she was still my daughter, and I loved her.

     "Promise you'll text us every now and then?"

     Bea smiled as Jay took one of her arms, preparing to lead her down the aisle.

     "I promise."

     "I'm proud of you, Bequeath." I said, meaning it more than I would ever know. A wobbly love song sounded over the various speakers, signaling the start of the ceremony.

     "I love you too." She winked as Jay led her to their starting point. "I'm proud to be your firstborn."

Finis.