Here I stand again today.

With a straight posture and a silent forbearance in my designated spot,

I wait patiently for the next set of lessons I will be given and their books,

So that I may begin as soon as possible.

All the while 'Mother' drones on and on, ranting to someone I recognize as one of my uncles, based on information presented to me.

She scolds him for not keeping further contact with the family about where he had been in the past year,

Uncle Sorrow just continues his seemingly idiotic smile as she only gets further enraged when she feels he is ignoring her.

Days like this only fuel my loneliness and...irritation at everything,

Mother being too busy to give me further attention, spending her time arguing with some of her siblings, 

Screaming at them to get work done or to search for more Magic books,

Wheither that was in person, berating my Aunt Rain while no one present would interfere,

Or over the phone, arguing with Uncle Sorrows, about his unwillingness to return to the Ancestral Home for long periods.

It was rare for her to not be agitated with the rest of the family in some manner.

For Mother, her siblings were all imperfect, they all did not fit her vision of how the Flag family should be,

They were not efficient, they were second-hand tools to handle their designated purposes.

Though I might have paid attention any other day, today none of my mother's screaming mattered.

The TV in the nearby room was on, playing a channel I had not seen before,

And what I saw had astounded me,

I believe it was some documentary of sorts, though I don't remember the man's voice between all the screaming behind me.

Though even if I had heard it, I do not know if I would have remembered it anyway.

What had taken my focus away, was the beautiful water I saw. I had never seen the liquid in such quantities before.

It was always in bottles that you could hold in your hand, something easy to grasp and toss aside once finished.

But what I saw, was like liquid crystal, thrashing and teeming with life, with something like soap perhaps? Which was Frothing at the surface.

I would later learn that what I saw next was a great white shark, a mighty sea beast.

Lunging from the deep below, snatching some kind of animal that was coasting on the surface,

The most startling thing I saw as it sank back into the deep sea.

There was no Gloating or Sadism in its action to eat,

It was indifferent to those who saw it as it claimed its meal, 

It was awe-inspiring as it leaped with grace and finality to its meal.

That was only the beginning of the myriad of wonders I got to see in that documentary that day,

As that documentary showed all kinds of wondrous creatures,

Things that even now I wish to see with my own eyes,

Though like many of my sneak peeks of outside before, it soon came to an end,

For Mother had finished screaming at her siblings and then scolded me for dawdling when she noticed my presence,

She handed me my lessons and pushed for me to return to my room, with a nearby Guard ensuring my return to that dreadful space.

Once within, the guard closed the door indifferently behind me, returning to quickly inform my Mother I had returned.

Silence reigned, before the sounds of the same old chair dragged back, to let the supposed 'prodigy' into her seat,

I looked over my new syllabus and all the material that followed with it.

Though even as my heart returned to its coldness, I clutched this memory to me and placed it deep within my heart,

To be held close through all the pain and silence I was made to endure,

Until one day, through introspection of my old life, the memory returned with intensity, sparking inspiration, with it I drew up a new spell for my use.

Old Memory of "Flag of Charity"