mother of learning第１章パート４

彼女は彼に回させてしながら、彼を見つめて、一拍置いて、「まーいい」と言った。彼はキッチンに行ったが、うんざりしたことにマザーが後を追ってきた。今日も静かに食べられそうにないな。ありがたいことに、お父さんは出張に行ったので、ゾリアンに迷惑をかけない。キッチンに入り、テーブルの上に既に置かれていたポリッジを見て顔をしかめた。普段、彼は自分の朝ご飯を作る、こんな風の方が好きだけど、マザーがそんなことを認めない。これは彼女なりの和解のしるし、つまり、彼に何か嫌なことを頼まれたい。「今日はあなたのずっと好きなポリッジを作ろうと思った」と彼女は言った。ゾリアンは8歳頃から、ポリッジを好きじゃなかったが、何も言いたくなかった。「あなた、思ったより寝ぼけてたけど。冷めてしまった。」と彼女は続けた。ムカついてながら、ゾリアンはポリッジに少し変化した「水を温める」呪文をかけた、一瞬でポリッジの温度を上げる。マザーは彼に家族経営の業者の作物の問題に関して話をかけた、わざと本当の話したい事を避けている。彼は思わず彼女を無視していた。カゼンスキ家の子供たちにとって、親の話を聞き流すのが基本的にサバイバルスキルだった、母も父親も、あらゆる話題で長々説教する癖がある。特に一族の恥とされていたゾリアンは、兄弟よりも両親から独り言をさらされている。ゾリアンは普段に家族の周りにあんまり話せなかった、お陰で、マザーが彼の沈黙を咎めしなかった。前から、喧嘩を始めないために、話さない方がいいことを学んだ。「お母さん」と彼は遮って言った、「キリに飛びかかられて起きたばかりで、まだトイレにも行ってないんだ。せめて朝ご飯を食べ終わるまで、邪魔しないでくれ」 。「あの子またかよ？」とマザーは声に楽しみを出しながら言った。キリエルは色んないまいましことをしてるけど、マザーに文句を言うのが無駄なことだ。

She had him turn and pose like a show animal for a while before pronouncing him ‘fairly decent’. He went to the kitchen and, to his annoyance, Mother followed after him. No eating in peace today, it seemed.
Father was thankfully on one of his 'business trips', so he wouldn't have to deal with him today.
He entered the kitchen and frowned when he saw a bowl of porridge already waiting for him on the table. Usually he made his own breakfast, and he liked it that way, but he knew his mother never accepted that. This was her idea of a peace gesture, which meant she was going to ask something of him he wouldn’t like.
“I figured I’d prepare something for you today, and I know you’ve always liked porridge,” she said. Zorian refrained from mentioning he hadn’t liked it since he was about eight. “You slept longer than I thought you would, though. It's gone cold while I've waited for you.”
Zorian rolled his eyes and cast a slightly modified ‘heat water’ spell on the porridge, which was instantly returned to a pleasant temperature.
He ate his breakfast in silence while Mother talked to him at length about a crop-related dispute one of their suppliers was involved in, dancing around whatever topic she wanted to broach. He effortlessly tuned her out. It was practically a survival skill for every child in the Kazinski family, as both mother and father were prone to protracted lectures on every subject imaginable, but doubly so for Zorian, who was the black sheep of the family and thus subjected to such monologues more frequently than the rest. Thankfully, his mother thought nothing of his silence, because Zorian was always as silent as possible around his family – he had learned many years ago that this was the easiest way of getting along with them.
“Mother,” he interrupted her, “I just woke up via Kiri jumping on me, I haven’t had a chance to go to the bathroom and now you’re pestering me while I’m eating. Either get to the point or wait a couple of minutes while I finish breakfast.”
“She did it again?” his mother asked, amusement obvious in her voice.
Zorian rubbed his eyes, not saying anything, before surreptitiously pocketing an apple from the bowl on the table while his mother wasn’t looking. There were a lot of annoying things Kirielle did again and again, but complaining about it to Mother was a waste of time. No one in this family was on his side.