Mist was rising up from the river valley shortly before sunrise. Out of a little cottage on the outskirts of Greenriver Village slipped the slight figure of a girl. Dawn stopped to listen and look around, her long black hair tousled by the breeze. No one in the village seemed to be awake yet. Satisfied, she went down the little path alongside the river towards the forest.
If she hurried, she could collect some herbs for old Marja and be back before her parents would miss her. Like a shadow she slipped into the trees. While collecting some Speartip leaves she thought about the talk with her parents yesterday evening.
Cord, her stepfather was an experienced carpenter. Though generally nobody told their exact levels, she suspected he had over twenty levels in carpentry. He had married her mother when Dawn was still a little girl, after her mother’s first husband had died.
Dawn didn’t know a lot about her father. Marek had been the youngest son of a merchant family in the city of Atelang, who had taken a liking to her mother Elaine when his travels first led him to Greenriver. Unfortunately, he had died soon after the marriage when the caravan he travelled with was assailed by bandits. His parents had never approved of his marriage with her mother and so Elaine had returned to her parents in Greenriver pretty much penniless after his death. Cord had married her shortly after and Dawn’s half-brother Caleb had arrived within a year. After her experiences with her former parents-in-law Elaine was grateful for the comfortable home Cord offered to her and Dawn.
Cord disliked Dawn’s penchant for visits to old Marja and her ramblings in the forest looking for herbs and mushrooms. “You’re almost grown up now, Dawn. It’s time to stop wandering around in the forest all day long and prepare for your Awakening. You need to spend your time sensibly so the Goddess will offer you a good path. Help your mother with the cooking and cleaning. You should soon be able to take care of your own family.“
“I’m helping Marja to collect her herbs. Just last week she let me brew her cough medicine, that is better than simple cooking. And sensible! I learned a lot from her, Father.“ She had cried angrily, but Cord had only scoffed.
“You are not going to be a wise woman, that is out of the question. You will marry and be a good wife and mother, Dawn.” He said with finality and she knew no matter her arguments Cord wasn’t going to listen to a mere girl.
Her mother had only smiled at her sadly. “I know you love spending time in the forest, dear, but it is not seemly for you to wander around in the wilderness alone. Not to mention it could get dangerous if you go in too deep. Besides you should care more about preparing your dowry. If you don’t hurry up you won’t have everything ready on your 15th birthday.“
“But mother, my birthday is still months away. And I don’t have to marry with 15. Nor do I want to.“ Dawn couldn’t imagine being married and having babies so soon. Married, she would have to stay at home cooking, gardening and cleaning all day long. Not to mention the babies who would surely arrive shortly after marriage. She could forget about solitary walks in the woods and baths in the river afterwards. Her husband would make all the decisions for the family and she would be dependent on him for everything.
Cord said: ‘Of course you’re going to marry. I have already talked to Beran and he is willing to have you. You know his wife died last year and he wants to marry again. He needs a mother for his two children and you will be very well situated.’
‘Beran! But he is so old! And with two children already.’ Dawn was appalled. Beran, the smith of Greenspring Village, was older than her mother. He was a stern and humorless man and his wife Carla had been a strict and very religious woman. She had died in childbed almost a year ago together with her third baby. Dawn had no connection to Beran other than seeing him in the temple and at village festivities and some polite chitchat the few times she collected some tools her father had given to Beran for repairs.
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Her stepfather replied: ‘It is a great opportunity for you. And you need someone respectable, that Beran is older than you is for the best. He will put a stop to all that daydreaming and rambling I’m sure. The handfasting will be on your birthday, the marriage can wait till after the harvest feast.’
Dawn had been shocked after hearing these plans. She had tried to protest but it had done her no good. Her stepfather was convinced he knew what was best for her and she would find no ally in her mother who always deferred to Cord.
She had to find a way out of this situation. Her 15th birthday was only four months away on the 13th of Narim. Every village boy and girl experienced an awakening in the temple once he or she was 15. The boys would take their divine blessing from the Allfather or the Warrior, the girls from the Goddess. Of course, there was also the possibility to be blessed by the Trickster or the Moonmaiden but that was not considered proper in the village and no parents would ever allow their children to be blessed by these deities.
Dawn had tried to think of a way out since last night, but she had no idea what to do at the moment. On her birthday her parents would accompany her to the temple and she would get her blessing by the Goddess. The Goddess would present her with several possible paths and Cord would tell her what to choose. As he was her father, the goddess would allow him to make the choice.
Marja, her friend and mentor, was the village’s wise woman but she would not be able to help her. She was old, and though she was needed and respected for her knowledge of herb medicines and her healing path, she was only a woman. Having lost her husband when she was quite young she had chosen not to marry again and lived alone in a little cottage several miles away from Greenriver.
During her musings she had continued her way through the forest, collecting herbs and some roots for Marja. An hour after leaving the village she arrived at the wise woman’s cottage. Marja greeted her with rosehip tea and some porridge. After their breakfast she looked at Dawn and inquired: ‘What’s bothering you? You’re very somber this morning.’
Dawn recounted the talk with her parents and her looming betrothal to the village smith. The wise woman sighed. ‘I was afraid your father would want a quick betrothal for you. He never really liked your friendship with me. I’m an inconvenient influence.’
‘I don’t know what to do, Marja. I’m not going to marry Beran. He can’t force me to marry him.’ Dawn cried.
‘I’m not so sure about that. What choice do you have? You have no way of earning money and staying as an unpaid servant with your parents won’t improve your situation. And I’m certain if you refuse to marry, he will blame me and forbid you to visit me.’
‘There has to be a way. Maybe I’ll get a healing path like you. I could be your apprentice.’ Dawn was not ready to give up, yet.
Marja smiled sadly. ‘Cord will never allow you to choose a healing path even if the Goddess should offer you one. Don’t forget that he has the right to choose for you.’
When she left Marja almost an hour later Dawn was discouraged. She had hoped the wise woman would know what to do, but although Marja lived an unconventional life by village standards, she had come to it by necessity, not choice. Dawn’s idea of rejecting her parents' decree for marriage with Beran did not meet with her approval.
Dawn managed to get back home without meeting any other villagers and found her mother preparing Templeday breakfast for the family. ‘You went to Marja again, didn’t you? Your father won’t like it.’ She said reprovingly.
‘Why is it so bad that Marja is my friend, mother? She is respected in the village and she is kind.’ Dawn asked, exasperated.
‘You should better look for friends of your own age, dear.’ Her mother told her.
‘But they are only interested in boys and clothes and dowries. I don’t care for all that.’
Dawn went with her family to the temple after breakfast. During the long mass with Father Jergen she was distracted, still looking for a way out of the trap of marriage. The only way she could think of was getting a path where she could earn her way to a life of her own. But how to get such a path?
She looked at the niches with the figures of the deities. In a few months she would touch the figure of the Goddess and ask for her blessing. But on her Awakening day her father would make the choice for her. That would no doubt be something boring like weaving or gardening or cooking. Would the Goddess grant her the blessing before her 15th birthday? And would the Goddess allow her to choose for herself if her father was not present when she got the blessing? If anyone had ever tried to get the blessing early, Dawn had not heard of it. But perhaps the possibility existed. She would have to try.