pow.er [pou-er]: political ascendancy or control in the government of a country, state, etc.
cor.rupt [kuh-ruhpt]: debased in character; depraved; perverted; wicked; evil.
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."
If one were to check out Baltzer's family tree they would notice that he came from very good stock. His grandfather, Erik, was a very respected elder in the Dusksmith community. Not only was he extremely wise but he had such control over his emotions that even the Queen was impressed with him. He had been able to manipulate even human made lights -- street lights, light bulbs and on a good day perhaps a television. It really depended on how much artificial light it was giving off at the time. His mother, Sol, was much the same as her father. Although she had more trouble with light beyond the sun, moon and stars. His father that had never been a prominent figure in his life still had his own talents. His emotions were also heavily under wraps so he was able to be all powerful so to speak. All of Baltzer's relatives were very good and they were often praised for being good examples and being favourites of the Queen.
Baltzer, however, was and is -- well. A ditz. No way to really sugar coat that. Sol's son, the son she had thought would be a great Dusksmith just as his family history should dictate, was a slight disappointment. She would never, and still to this day she hasn't, told him that she would like him to be better but her exasperation with him was sometimes too obvious to ignore.
Everyday since Baltzer was old enough to walk and talk (his early childhood was normal for any baby born to a stable Dusksmith home), he questioned everything around him. Not in a negative way, more in a 'wow, what is this?' sort of way. He wanted to know, he just had to! Everything attracted him and everything intrigued him. He wandered away from the base of the mountain that his small tribe had settled themselves in one day because he had spotted a hoof print. Nothing dangerous because it turned out to belong to a deer and not a wild boar as his aunt had thought it might be. Sol had asked Baltzer what made him do that? Didn't he have a better hold on himself? Baltzer told her just liked the way the hoof print looked. He liked a lot of things. Most everything really.
Sol reminded her son of the reasonability he had, didn’t he remember that he had control over light? The very light that governed the humans that lived in the city called Plymouth. He didn’t know what a city was and he wasn’t sure what a Plymouth was but he was sure that he liked knowing there were other things out there besides his race and the Greys. And the Wolves but no one got along with them...
He just learned that being so drawn to everything and being so – free spirited upset the balance of things. He was supposed to be composed. Stoic. But Baltzer didn’t think that at all. He wasn’t composed and he wasn’t stoic. He felt things and he liked others to know that he felt things. Wasn’t that a good thing? He thought it was. Apparently, it did make the stars shine too brightly when they shouldn’t have been or sometimes in times of great depression the sky might be a little to clear because there was only sunshine combating the thick storm clouds. So that wasn't good. It made humans worry. Or it did according to one of the elders.
The Dusksmith elders were also a big part of why his mother wanted him to be more like her and more like his grandfather. His need for a more 'laid back' life was ridiculous and Sol was sure that once Baltzer got his act together, he would be accepted as an elder in due time. He had Erik's blood in veins, surely that would count for something.
When he had some breaks in between his new training regime with Sol, he was permitted some time alone. He was supposed to use that time to practice harnessing the light by trying to make the sunset just slightly earlier than usual but instead, Baltzer used his time to visit the beach. There he was close to the ocean and the sun always looked really pretty reflected on the water. He could watch that for a while and pretend that he was actually making the yellow ball brighten or dim when he willed it to do so.
It didn’t take long for Baltzer to start socializing with people each time he took a ‘break’. He wasn’t that interested in the fact that he was talking to humans, he was more interested that he was just talking to others that weren’t so – driven. While some of them spoke about wanting to go onto do great things, none of them seemed pressured. Baltzer always had felt pressured.
After a while, Baltzer brought up his concerns to Sol, telling her he didn’t want to have to be an elder -- or more-- if he didn’t want to. It didn’t sound like a bad gig at all but he didn’t want it to be his only fate. Sol took it as well as she could, being a mother to a Dusksmith that was supposed to be great but wasn’t living up to his name was difficult. She told him that he had power and he had to use it. If he didn’t then it was a waste of a ‘perfect Dusksmith’. He would make his entire family proud by learning how to be the next Erik – but Baltzer just had to ask her why?
It was his duty. It was what he born for. What more did he want from his life? While she didn’t want him to be something he wasn’t, and clearly he was not what he had been raised to be, she did expect him to hold himself a little higher now that she had confronted him.
Baltzer does keep his mother’s words close to his heart. But what he doesn’t understand is why she lied to him. He does need to forget the person he is to control the light like his talented family. She said he didn’t need to change but he does. He’s still too open and unrestrained with his feelings. Being cold and constantly poker faced seems too dull to him. Isn’t there a happy medium they can achieve? He’s not power hungry and he’s not looking to overthrow the Queen or be—ick—the King, he just wishes that his mother would drop that and he wishes that she would stop getting him interviews with her majesty. Baltzer just wants to swim and listen to ocean and appreciate everything, yes everything, around him.
