The rooster cried as Genesis peeked over the horizon. With it came a low drone of people waking up at its sound, and grumbles from those people who slept too late and now had to experience the horrendous squeak of Hilden's rooster.

 

A young man with brown hair and brown eyes, with a larger nose than most and two ears sticking a bit too much outward, was sleeping peacefully on the ground of his home. His eyes fluttered as he dreamed, and against common sense it wasn't about a girl or lady someone of his age would fantasise about but it was a dream of his mom.

 

She was healthy and walking again, his father was there too. They were happy, yet he felt that their happiness didn't reach him. He was slowly, agonisingly, being swept aside and left in a small corner. Alone. Lonely. 

 

His dream ended with him slowly turning his head, and finding the corner housing a man's head with eyes staring into his soul.

 

Alex opened his eyes and gazed at the ceiling, feeling light emotions of loneliness from a rapidly dissipating dream. When he looked around the room, the feelings resurged and dominated him.

 

Standing up, Alex moved over to his mother's bedside and held her hand, gently squeezing it in reassurance.

 

"Good morning mom. How are you feeling." Alex said, smile wide and eyes warm. His mother didn't reply, her breathing staying steady and eyes firmly closed.

 

"I'm doing great, Jacob joined the guard so he is finally doing something for himself." Alex snorted. Mother always disliked Jacob's laziness. "Father Orkon is in seclusion, which is kind of awesome, wonder if he is getting any closer to enlightenment."

 

The light of Genesis, orange in color, seeped through the thatch on his windows . The light grazed his teary eyes.

 

"You know." He wiped away a tear trekking down his cheek. "It's been hard without you, always was really, but the guy that broke in…that was horrible."

 

He stopped to gather his wits and to pry away his hands from his mother's soft hands. He knew he couldn't hurt her with his strength alone, she was too strong for that.

 

"I remember everything, his head keeps on staring and staring and staring." He closed his eyes. "I don't know how to stop other than just to keep myself busy. The less free time I have, the less he appears."

 

Alex sighed and brushed away his mom's crimson hair from her face. He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead.

 

"I wish you were here mom." Alex stood up and readied himself for the day. 

 

He took his time cleaning the house, not really feeling like abusing his clones for such a mundane task. It wasn't that the house was dirty and untidy, the house was clean and organised, yet the simple work gave him a sense of fulfilment.

 

By the time he had finished, Genesis was well on its way up the sky and the residents of the neighbourhood were walking to their jobs. Alex put on his old clothes and went out, leaving a clone in his mother's room just in case.

 

When he exited, he came upon an eternal argument between Hilden and another resident. As always, Hilden's coop had once again caused the other residents ire. Alex left with a chuckle.

 

Travelling down the street and past the houses and entering the more commercial parts of the district, Alex rounded on a small alcove in a building. An old wooden sign hung over the shop, engraved on it were 'Amath's Cloth'.

 

"Hello!" Alex shouted as he entered the shop. It felt cramped inside, a thousand belts and dresses and trousers and pants hugged every wall and dangled from every surface. It was a consortium of tough cheap clothing.

 

"Good morning to you lad, how can I help you?" A middle aged man came out of a small door from the back, his neck posing as a hanger for rope rulers.

 

"I want a couple sets of different clothing for someone like me." Alex said, picking up a belt with a cool dragon emblem on it. It looked as if someone burned the engraving into the leather belt, yet it didn't necessarily decrease its appearance. In his opinion, it made it even better.

 

"And I want this belt." He said and the man gladly began to measure him. A short time later, he came out with half a dozen clothes, most of them were practical but the others were like the belt, cool to have.

 

He next went to the carpenter and scheduled him to inspect the dimensions of his house in late Prime. The next stop was a mattress maker and he took needed dimensions to work.

 

Now down with the normal stuff, Alex proceeded to carry on his plan of getting training for all of his clones. First he needed to scout each militia training field to gauge if anyone he knew attended it and how many people attended it. 

 

The fewer the people the less chance he could get recognized, also the less people around the more attention the trainers would allocate to him.

 

The city's outer rim had four distinct districts, with the slums being the largest and the industrial area - A whole host of seamstresses, blacksmiths and food makers - a close second. The final two were the two story homes of the moderately wealthy and merchants. The final district was the military district.

 

Visiting the military district first, he noticed that the fields were filled more with grizzled veterans and sharp eyed instructors. The suburbs had relatively few fields, but it had one that had checked all his preferences. The commercial district had none and the slums had the most. Every neighbourhood gets at least one empty field and a trainer, who is mostly an experienced guard.

 

He returned home and set himself for the visit from the carpenter. He moved his mother to his father's room so the man doesn't have any ideas. The carpenter was quick and friendly, getting the job done fast enough to let the mattress seller do his own measurements before Prime slept and Eve woke.

 

Once he had seen them off with a promise to get the furniture ready for tomorrow, Alex contentedly flopped down into his mattress and slept early.

 

Early in the morning, before Hilden's rooster squeaked, Alex waved at the departing four clones as they headed to the train.

 

This was the life, letting other you's do the work for you.

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