Chapter 4: a couple years later
It has been a couple years since I was born and by my own estimations I am now nearing 3 years old. I have managed to start walking and talking to my parents’ delight. My name that I was given is Endo but I shall choose a name for myself once I have completed my first hunt. I have made good progress when it comes to enlarging my Mana levels and I now have roughly 3 times the amount I had when I was born which made it so that I could soon start practicing more useful spells that could actually do something, even if I could only cast them once every couple of hours. I also wanted to see if I could use magic more efficiently by reformulating the effects. For example: would a more accurate description, say, conjure flame one cubical centimetre, be more or less efficient than flame 1. I currently don’t have time for that though because my father is coming back from a long hunt, having been away for roughly a week now, and a feast is being held with the whole village. I saw my mother coming from the kitchen and we both got ready to leave for the feast.
“Are you ready Endo?”
“Yes mom, I made sure to pack the present for dad as well” I said in a cheery voice, after which my hair got ruffled by her.
We walked together, me holding my mother’s hand.
“So, how have you been enjoying playing with the kids of the village? They’re not bullying you, are they?”
“No mom, the kids are nice, especially Hana, I’ve been playing with her a lot.”
“Any boys you hang out with frequently? You might have more shared interests with them.”
“The boys are all a bit annoying but they’re not too bad and I still hang out with them”
“Alright, as long as you are having fun”
And they both left it at that, walking to the feast where there was barely anyone there yet. They were very early to be amongst the first to see his father.
The hunting party returned roughly an hour after they arrived and by now the centre was filled with people. The village had only roughly 200 residents but that was plenty to fill up the small centre. The hunters appeared carrying quite a lot of hunted prey within a sort of carrying bag. They were basically a stick carried horizontally with a hide attached so it could be filled. It was meant to be carried by two people but if done so, it could be used to move an entire deer. Looking at the bumps in the carrying bags it seemed that we would have quite the feast today. Tables were already set and the food was quickly prepared to be roasted on a spit. Me and my mother went to my father as soon as we saw him and we hugged for a moment. My mother smiled at him “good to have you back, I hope everything went well?” he absentmindedly nodded. “Is everything alright dad?” I asked him since it didn’t seem like so. He ruffled my hair “Yes everything is alright my little Endo” he smiled at me, clearly trying to calm me but it wouldn’t work very well on me since I was in reality of course quite a lot older than three. My mother looked concerned for a moment which did not escape my gaze but she quickly changed it to a smile, acting like nothing is wrong.
The feast started and I was seated next to the other kids at a separate table from the adults. I quickly looked for Hana and we managed to take a seat next to each other. I was thinking about how worried my father looked and was wondering what was going on. The three main possibilities that I could think of were A) A very dangerous animal was encroaching on the hunting grounds or even the village which could lead to fatalities in the worst case. B) Would be that there was not enough prey left in the area due to overhunting which could lead to food problems because even though there was farming, it was not enough to fully sustain the village. The last option, C), is that-
At that moment I felt someone poke my side. Hana looked at me somewhat annoyed “What are you spacing out for, we are at a feast! Enjoy it!” I looked at her “It’s nothing, do not worry about it. I was just thinking of something I heard.” She replied angerly “If it’s nothing, do not space out for it!” I sighed “Yes, yes”
We continued eating and enjoying ourselves. Every now and again I would chat with another person besides Hana but since we were good friends, we mostly talked to each other much to the chagrin of the adults since they felt it was inappropriate for a girl and a boy to be good friends, probably not realising that even if we wanted, which we don’t, those feelings would usually not start to appear until a much later age. It’s good to keep in mind though, knowing the social values of the place you life is always a good thing. I looked over to the main table where the Shaman and Chief were seated and saw the head hunter talk to the Chief with a look of trouble on his face. I assumed this was about what my dad was worried about and it seems to be quite a big problem although the distance was more than enough that I could not hear the faintest whisper of what they were saying. That would be next on my list of things to learn, a spell to eavesdrop. It should not be too difficult so I will get started on it as soon as I can. The advantage of being three years old is that I have no obligations. The feast continued on for quite a while but since we were just kids, our mothers escorted us back to the house. I waved goodbye to Hana
“Sleep well Hana”
“You too Endo!” she said in her usual, cheery voice albeit a bit less energetic due to it being late. Me and my mother walked home where she tucked me in bed “Good night my little smartie” yes, smartie was the nickname my parents gave me. I returned the good night and went to sleep.
