"Come in for breakfast."

The two boys were still dragging their feet wanting to stay outside longer when they heard Mwana's mother shout, "We made 'those' pancakes today!"

All that was left as the training spot was dust.

In the main homestead of Mwana's family, there were several people seated around a huge oval table on stools of varying sizes. At the head of the table was a middle aged man on a white wheelchair. The chair looked curved out of some type of sturdy wood. Curved on its wheels were two sculptures, though it was hard to tell what they represented due to the wear and tear.

One could tell that this wheelchair had once possessed a magnificent look. This man had a well built upper body as he sat shirtless on the chair, but his legs had already atrophied. They were covered by a thick purple blanket with white shell patterns, but one could still see from the outlines that his legs were much thinner. He was the head of this homestead, Jua Vumilivu, Mwana's uncle and the one he called 'little father.'

Beside him were two middle aged women, Jua Moja and Vua Moyo. They both had shaved short hair and their necks were adorned with several necklaces made of multicolored beads. Their arms were uncovered but they wore long black dresses that were tied below their arms and flowed to their feet. They also wore belts made of multicolored beads just like their necklaces. On their arms were numerous golden bangles, over dozens of them, each with unique runic patterns.

The woman seated to the right, Jua Moja, was the firstborn cousin in the generation of Mwana's parents. She was older than her cousin Jua Vumilivu, who was only the third son but still the second uncle. This might have seemed complicated since cousins would call each other brother and sister. The other woman, Vua Moyo, was Jana's mother and Jua Vumilivu's wife. She was actually from the Vua clan, another of the main clans within the Jemedari tribe that specialized in fishing.

Beside Jua Moja was another man. He was extremely tall, almost reaching seven feet tall. His hair was deep black with shades of grey that stood out starkly. His beard was thin and sparsely spaced and his dark grey eyes seemed to emit minute suppression as if he was ready to fight at a moment's notice.

Even just sitting there, he exuded a unique air of someone who lived in the battlefield. Despite it being early in the morning, he already had his shoulder guard on and his spear at his side. His upper body was bare and he only wore a short cloth made of an unknown animal's hide. At his waist were two massive knives held in place by a coarse leather belt. He looked like someone going off to war instead of just eating breakfast.

"Brats, you have been training for so long, not even wanting to eat. Let me test your strength."

The moment Mwana and Jana entered the living room they were greeted by their second uncle's Jua Wapili's booming voice.

"No way!" They both exclaimed at the same time when they saw their uncle already standing from his stool. They immediately started running around the house like cowardly rabbits. It was obvious that they had suffered before whenever this uncle wanted to enter a 'test of strength' with them.

"Sit! Don't run around!" Mwana's mother and his third aunt, Jua Jumatatu, had just arrived from the kitchen when they found the two boys running around.

His aunt, Jumatatu, wore an orange robe with a white cap while his mother was still dressed in white just like she was the night prior.

The steaming pancakes which were usually baked using a variety of flours including wheat, cassava and sweetened yams, were set on the table. They had all manner of different shapes and were dressed with a golden syrup made of groundnut extract, honey and other sweeteners.

The adults were already salivating let alone the six children at the table. In addition to Mwana, Jana and Pendo, the other children were Jua Chenga, Jua Sayari and Jua Sawa. Chenga and Sawa were fraternal twins who were just seven years old while Sayari was even younger at five years old. All three had to call Mwana and Jana 'big brother'.

At this time of the year, these six were the only children in their family's homestead. Mwana also had several older cousins with two of them who were girls named Mengi and Shera, having married into other families. Another one of his older cousins, Soko, had joined a travelling merchant caravan that battered goods all over the country so he was rarely in Jua village. As for his oldest cousin, there was rarely news of him after he left the village, even Mwana did not know much about him.

Sana and Jumatatu promptly started distributing the cakes on the table. The family started chatting as they ate making for a lively scene.

"You can have the cloud and maybe that dove"

"A dove?"

"Well maybe it's a bit fatter than other birds."

"Moooooom, I want the deer, I want the deer."

"Nooooo! The deer is mine! I saw it first."

"Calm down kids," their uncle Wapili said as he gulped down on that 'deer'. Chenga and Sawa had an incredulous look as they watched 'their deer' being gulped down. 

"Aaaah, I'll have the… what is that? And the fish."

"Fish…or some animal?" Moyo replied with a chuckle.

"Well it's definitely an animal, haha."

"Not just any animal, It's an eel. At least that's what I think it is."

"When you kids were little I used to label them to hide how bad I was at making those shapes," Sana blatantly admitted. She was more jovial today as it Mwana's big day.

"The flavor is there but I guess the shape isn't."

"Well the secrets finally out."

"It isn't a secret if we all knew," Jana added with a mouth full of food but the moment he said that, he regretted it. He saw his father's eagle-like gaze on him. 'Here it comes. I should have just kept a low profile!'

Jua Vumilivu could see the sheepish look on his son's face. He turned to look at Mwana and felt that this kid fit his personality much better. Every time he would wake up early to train while his own son was deep in dreamland. Jana was basically in love with his blankets.

One time Vumilivu and Moyo had decided not to wake their son up in the morning as a test and the kid slept all the way to the next day. When Jana finally woke up, he didn't even realize that more than a day had passed and thought it was still the same day! Vumilivu could only shake his head internally when he remembered that incident.

"Mwana boy, you're hard working as always, I feel you were even awake earlier today."

Mwana was not someone to shy away from praises so he replied with a smile, "Of course father! The young should be hardworking."

"Bravooooo! Did you hear that, brat? I hope you're taking notes." Vumilivu said while looking at Jana.

Jana already knew this was coming. At this point he was already used to his father comparing him with Mwana. 'Be like your brother this…, be like your brother that…,' he already had these types of lectures at least three times a week.

"Don't let up on him," Jua Vumilivu said while letting out a boisterous laugh.

"You know I won't show this brat mercy," Mwana added confidently. He always took his job at training Jana seriously.

Although the pancakes were tasty, Jana still found himself scowling as he listened to his father and older brother plot for his downfall. His motto had always been, 'a part of me doesn't want to get out of bed at all and the other part of me wants to stay in bed all day.' Simply put, waking up in the dead of night to train hard just wasn't his style.

"Father, didn't you always say, 'Let us find ourselves and be ourselves'," Jana could only protest by throwing his father's own sayings back at him.

"Right, right. However this doesn't apply to you, lazy bones, only to the hardworking. If I let you 'be yourself won't I just be raising a lazy bum?"

Jana could only pout as everyone else chuckled secretly. Seeing his younger siblings taking joy in his situation he couldn't help but smirk. They might be young now with their school activities mainly involving seated learning and a little meditation, but a year later it would also be time for them to begin hardcore training. He might even be their trainer then. In fact just by thinking about it, Jana couldn't help but let out an evil laugh before coughing awkwardly.

Mwana was even more enthused, "My motto has always been, if you cannot be the tree at the top of the mountain, be a tree in the valley by the lake, if you cannot be a tree be a strong vine, be a bush, be a healthy shrub, if not, be the best of the grass! And I'm beating the same wisdom into this brat. In fact…"

He was about to ramble on when his mother interrupted his passionate speech to remind him about his Awakening Ceremony which was always held the same day as ones Bloodline Awakening. Apparently she had informed the village Night Guards as they got off work early in the morning when Mwana was still training. This information would naturally be passed on to the relevant people: the school head and especially the village priest who was in charge of all awakening ceremonies.

New Names/Words:

1. Jua – the Sun/to Know

2. Moja – One

3. Vumilivu – able to persevere

4. Wapili – the second

5. Vua – to fish/to remove or disrobe

6. Moyo – the heart.

Her full name, Vua Moyo, means 'to fish the heart'

7. Jumatatu – Monday.

Her name is basically: 'to know Monday or Monday's sun.' Sounds like hardship.

8. Chenga – to dodge or avoid.

His full name basically means 'know how to dodge.'

9. Sawa – Okay.

Her full name, Jua Sawa, is a play at 'I know Okay!' Needless to say, she is fed up a lot.

10. Sayari – the Stars

11. Mengi – a lot/many things.

Her full name simply means 'know a lot'

12. Shera – travel around or visit

13. Soko – a market