The gentle but relentless jabs at my shoulder finally dragged me awake.
The long, rexing yawn couldn’t be stopped, but while I drew that deep inhale, I rolled off the cushion in the corner that I called my own. I twisted my ears upward as I blinked my eyes, trying to clear the sleep from them.
“I’m up, I’m up. I’m not that te, am I?” I mumbled.
The grinning snout of my house-brother came into view as my vision cleared, and he poked my shoulder one more time with the short, smooth stick he held.
“I’ve already eaten,” he replied. “Get up, get up. Mother will want you practicing before she returns.”
I swatted the stick aside with the tip of my tail before climbing to my feet. “Okay, let me get cleaned,” I replied sleepily.
Gathur grinned at me, but didn’t keep poking… just danced away from my swat and ducked out of the shelter.
He was annoying, but I knew he was almost as excited as I was. Many of my friends had been given a lot of trouble by their fosters, but Gathur, even though he pestered me, was always prodding to see if today was the day. We both knew I was close, and while I wasn’t old enough at the time to appreciate it, I think part of me – even as young as I was – knew that I would miss him once I had chosen my own foster.
Of course, at the time, I only saw him as the annoying older brother. Gathur had come to live in Mother’s house three Moves before and was already able to smooth and straighten fresh sticks. He still couldn’t protect them from rot, but he had plenty of time to learn that before he had to choose his Path.
At least he was fortunate enough to know what he wanted to do, even at this age. Despite my excitement and my own anticipation for choosing, I hadn’t settled on what I wanted.
I grabbed my tunic and followed him out, heading down to the stream where I tossed my tunic on a nearby rock before wading into the cold water. The chill served to wake me far better than his prodding, the shock of ice tracing over my legs and the tip of my tail.
Eyssa, my younger part-sister, was not far away and gave me a friendly wave while she squeezed the water out of her mane. I waved back and flicked my ears up in a friendly gesture before spshing some water on my face and getting to my own bath.
The stream was crystal clear today, and the short tingle of the nearby forest’s scent was strong in my nose. It mingled with the faint, sharp aroma of the rest of the cn behind me. It was rare to have such a clean scent in the morning, and I spent a few moments reveling in it before looking up at the sky.
Despite Gathur saying I was running te, the sun was still crawling toward us from some distance. The daylight was still morning-dim, and I sighed as I realized he had just gotten ahead of himself. Mother probably wouldn’t be back until well after I had eaten.
The dip in mood didn’t st long. I shook myself off with a shiver, the chill of the water tickling at my skin, and hurriedly grabbed my tunic to run up toward the heating rock to dry.
A few of the other children were there, swapping stories and pns for what to do today. That was another sign that I wasn’t really running te. My mother usually returned ter than many of the other Hearthbound, so I often woke up even ter than this.
One of the other girls gave me an excited ear perk, and I answered with a slightly less enthusiastic one. Her menu had already appeared yesterday, just before sun’s fade, and she was going to have her Choosing today.
I was happy for her, I really was, but that just put an edge on my own impatience.
I could hear some of the older children practicing nearby. They were being much louder than they should, and I knew one of the adults would come by to chastise them soon enough. It sounded like some kind of argument over who had thrown a spear farther.
Stupid.
Maybe I would become a [Hunter], since I could already throw farther than some of the aspirants who had been practicing for three or four moves already. It was a passing thought, though, as I wasn’t sure I was cut out to be a [Hunter]. I dismissed it as the others started to disperse, and quickly pulled my tunic on.
Then I sniffed it and frowned. The faint dry odor was already starting to creep through again. I thought it hadn’t been that long since I’d had the weaves redone. Perhaps I should learn to do it myself… but I was certain I didn’t want to be a [Cloth-Weaver]. Learning that skill so close to my choosing would set me on that path, I was sure.
My wandering thoughts vanished the moment I saw who was in charge of distributing meals today. My ears perked up brightly, and I broke into a run toward the stores.
“Father!” I called out.
The nky older elf’s ears rose in gentle amusement before he dropped down to one knee to give me an affectionate shoulder pat as I ran up to him.
“Hello, Tastka!” he greeted jovially. “You’re growing so fast. Tell your mother to bring you by so that I can see you more when I’m here.”
I ughed lightly back at him. “You never tell us when you come back,” I argued.
He didn’t lose his amused air. “That’s true,” he admitted, “but I know your Menu should be showing up soon, and I wanted to be here for it. So I asked for some time off from gathering.”
My tail flicked excitedly as I heard that. It wasn’t uncommon for fathers to keep abreast of how their children were doing, and some were much more avaible than mine, but my father had always been very attentive when he was here.
I liked that better than the ones who kept their distance. I never really understood why the adults argued about that so much, but I guessed they had their reasons. I just knew that I liked my father, and I liked that he took an interest in how I was growing. Even when I had told him I didn’t want to be a [Gatherer], he just ughed and said mysteriously, “We’ll see.”
For now, though, he had his duty and was already handing me my morning meal. The dried meat was a smaller portion than normal, but that wasn’t strange this close to another Move. Soon we would be traveling again.
I couldn’t remember what was next or what game would be found, but it would be nice to have a different fvor. The berries and mushrooms provided with the meat more than made up for the smaller portion, at least.
I had heard stories that in the past our cn had gone hungry, but I could never remember a time when I didn’t have plenty of food.
I gently touched snouts with my father in a fond farewell gesture and promised to let him know the moment my menu appeared, if it happened today. Then I tucked my meal into my tunic’s front pouch and hurried back to the hearth circle, where some of the other children were still lingering and finishing their morning meal.
I quickly grabbed one of the bowls of water that today’s meal tender had left for us and took a seat next to Eyssa. Her hands were full, so she gave a somewhat rude flick of her tail to greet me. I let it go… she was still six Moves younger than me, a full turn of seasons, and was only just learning such things.
Fisk, a boy roughly my age, was teasing her about a smear of red that had gotten on her nose, but he cut himself off to give me a friendly greeting as I sat down across from him on the ft stone next to my part-sister.
“Did it happen?” he asked in a hushed tone, voice aquiver with excitement.
I wiggled my ears in response, and id out my meal. “Not yet. I’m sure you’ll hear as soon as it happens.”
I tried to be nonchant about it, but I couldn’t keep the tip of my tail from quivering. I remembered pestering the older children in the same way when we knew their Menu would appear soon. Now I understood what it felt like from this end.
I tried to hide the quivering of my tail by tucking it behind the rock while I chewed on a piece of jerky and picked up the rest of my morning meal.
“Maybe you’ll get a skill for being so picky about eating,” my friend teased.
Fisk’s eyes were locked on my fingers as I arranged the berries on the underside of the hood of the inverted mushroom I was holding. I swallowed the dry meat and gave a passive roll of my shoulders.
I didn’t answer him, because he was right… I was particur about how I ate. I just found that putting the sweet berries on the mushroom countered the earthy taste. It made them easier to eat, and the juice from the berries helped wash away the saltiness the meat left in my mouth.
I enjoyed little experiments like that… trying to change the fvors by eating the foods together in different ways.
Eyssa giggled at the tease, but she didn’t say anything. She didn’t like to talk much, but she was warm and friendly toward me. My father had always been very careful to pay attention to both of us.
I bit into the mushroom and felt the soft flesh give way to that rich, savory, woody fvor, immediately bathed in the tart sweetness I’d piled on top. It wasn’t a great fvor – I’d never been all that fond of mushrooms – but it made them much easier to eat. I was satisfied with this, as I’d done this trick many times since we’d started eating the mushrooms in this region.
Status Menu Unlocked Attributes Physical: 1 (…) Mental: 1 (…) Spiritual: 2 (…)Skills (3/8 and 4) Identify Pnt: 1 Throwing: 2 Meal Preparation: 2Css:
This time I couldn’t help my ears from shooting all the way up and my tail from whipping and shing back and forth in excitement. Then my tail tip froze, even as the two beside me lifted up and gasped in delight, already guessing what had happened.
“Meal Preparation?” I mumbled.
All that teasing… and Fisk had been right.
It wasn’t strength or speed or hunting… but it was me.