Not Again!

[Esmerelda Lazuli]

Esmerelda glanced at her watch for the thousanth time after arriving on this cold street. Her daughter was late, again. Esmerelda loved Lapis, with a mother's instinctive love, but the girl could be so ridiculously disobedient sometimes. Lapis was wild, and she let no effort tame her. Esmeerelda had just about had enough of such insolent behaviour. It was rude, and it was pointless. Esmerelda always got her way in the end, anyway.

She was startled out of these unpleasant thoughts, noticing her daughter's approaching form. Lapis's dark hair was streaming behind her in the cold breeze, and her vibrant blue eyes, the colour of her namesake, were cold and angry.
Esmerelda sighed, and mentally prepared herself for another fight with her daughter.

 

[Lapis Lazuli]

Lapis was walking briskly along the cold street, despite her reluctance to meet her mother. She hated the way Esmerelda tried to control her life, and refused to conform to her ideals. Today, Lapis was wearing her usual deep blue skirt, but had put on a brightly coloured top to annoy Esmerelda.

"Hi, Mum." Esmerelda loathed being called mum, and Lapis knew it. "What is it this time?"

 

[Esmerelda Lazuli]

"Hello Lapis," Esmerelda replied, feeling vaguely annoyed already, though she couldn't place what about.
"And isn't a woman allowed to want to see her daughter?" Admittedly, Esmerelda wasn't usually enthusiastic about seeing her daughter, and it was true she had something else on her mind, but . . . She wasn't ready to tell Lapis that. Esmerelda accepted her daughter's stiff embrace, and sighed. She had so wanted to be a good parent, but her relationship with Lapis seemed to never work out.
"What have you been up to?"