Date: 14th day of the 11th month of the Year 5894 of the Unified Calendar

Location: Fae Continent, Northern Hemisphere, Terra, Tav Universe

Gato awoke with a start in his bed that morning. The orange and red leaves of fall fleeted across the window as the breeze blew them. “Man, that was a crazy dream,” he said to himself. “It was so bizarre, too.” He swung his feet out of the bed, making certain that the covers didn’t entangle his feet again. “Still, I wonder what was going to develop next?”

There was a knock at his bedroom door. “Hey, bro,” Gato’s older brother Delaz said. “You overslept. Are you ready to eat yet? It’s almost dawn.”

“Not yet, Delaz,” Gato said. “I have to get dressed.”

Delaz, the youngest of Gato’s older siblings, opened the door a crack. “I take it you just got out of bed,” he said.

“You guessed it,” Gato said. “I should get myself changed.”

“Good idea, little bro,” Delaz said. “I’ll leave you to it.” With that, he closed the door and walked away, presumably to the kitchen.

Gato stood up from his bed and took off his dark royal blue tunic and crimson red peasant’s pants, before he put on a rainbow-colored plaid tunic and pants, completing the day’s ensemble with a black and blue plaid tartan around his shoulders.

With that, he walked out of his bedroom, and the thought suddenly occurred to him that the bedroom was rather ordinary compared to the luxurious accommodations of a prince, with servants at his beck and call… Wait! How did I know that? I shouldn’t have any idea about being a prince. Still puzzling over that, he walked to the kitchen.

I mean, sure, I have to wonder what is wrong with me to have these strange thoughts in my head lately. How come I’m thinking of being something that I’m not? It doesn’t make any sense… really, how am I supposed to understand the origin of these dreams? Why have I been having the same style of dream over the course of the last twelve nights?

As Gato walked in, his parents and his seven siblings all greeted him from the kitchen table. As usual, he was the last to arrive. “Sure took you long enough, Squirt,” said Jeremiah, the eldest sibling. “Yeah, we were waiting for you so we could eat!” exclaimed Cima and Chuck, the next eldest. One set of twins, Cynthia and Jack, then spoke simultaneously: “Yeah, come on, we’re hungry!” Simon and Andrew, the second set of twins, reminded Gato, “It’s Family Holiday Week, and the tradition is that we all eat together during this time.” With that, Gato quickly sat down and the whole family ate.

As the family finished breakfast, Diana, Gato’s mother, said to him, “Gato, we need your help again today. Our supplies are running low, and we need to replenish them before the first snowfall. We’ll need a bushel of every kind of grain at the market, two baskets of carrots, three baskets of potatoes, and one basket of everything else. I’ll write that on a chalk tablet that you can show to the merchants if that will help, because we know you can’t read or write just yet.”

What I really need is a few days off, but since when was I ever given a break? “Yes, mother,” Gato nodded in due respect. “I will go to the market for you…” He then perked up a bit. “What about meat? Do we have any excess to sell at the market?”

Delaz replied, “No, we don’t have any extra meat to sell right now. Thanks for asking.”

Gato nodded. “Is there anything else I need to know before I leave?”

“Not today, son,” Alexander, Gato’s father, said. “At the end of next week, you’ll need to take our extra wool to the spinstress in town. I’ll let you know when that will need to take place. For today, just be sure to get the supplies that your mother asked you to get.”

“Yes, father,” Gato said. “I’ll be leaving right away. I’ll go get the bags and containers that I’ll need.”

A few moments later, Gato returned from the pantry, carrying the sacks and containers that he needed to take to town. He sorted them and organize them on the table.

As he finished eating, Delaz got up from the breakfast table. “Well, I’m off to my apprenticeship,” he said. “The blacksmith wants me to see about adding some iron to the forge later today, and I need to be there in time for this.”

As can be expected of this situation, Delaz is the junior blacksmith of the family. If there’s anything made of metal that needs repair in the family supplies, he can fix it. At least, that’s what he’s telling everyone about his smithing skills. Frankly, yeah, I love my family as a whole, but I have to wonder whose bright idea it was to give Delaz the apprenticeship to the blacksmith. I mean, the blacksmith already has an heir to the business in his son…

“Okay, Delaz, good luck out there,” Alexander said, as the young man walked off to his job in town. “Anyone else need to go do their jobs?”

The second eldest, Gato’s oldest sister Cima, who was a priestess at the local temple, stood up and stepped over to the kitchen dish cleaning bucket with hers and Delaz’s things from the dinner table. “I have to be going to the temple soon,” she said.

Poor Cima… why do I get the feeling that she’ll be an old maid at this rate? I mean, do the Divine Spirits of Nature really require that their priests and priestesses not have a love life? I would hate to be in the job of clergy for the Divine Spirits. They’d really remove the fun of life, from what my siblings keep on talking about. Now, if only I knew what they meant. Is it something I should know about? Maybe, maybe not… I don’t know, nor do I think I would care to find out at all.

“Yes, you should probably get going,” Diana said. “Have a wonderful day, dear.”

I hope her day is wonderful, as in allowing her to leave the priesthood so that mom and dad won’t have to worry about grandkids any time soon… oh, wait. That’s what Jeremiah and the rest of us boys have to deal with.

“Thank you, mother, I will,” Cima replied. “I’ll see you tonight at dinner.”

As she left the room to do what she needed to prepare for, the third eldest got up from the table as well. “Well, I guess I need to get over to the hunter’s guild,” he said. “I have a long day ahead of me, and will have a long week ahead, too.”

Wait, he’s a hunter? I thought he was a bodyguard for important merchants in town. Does this mean he hunts dangerous animals, or… wait, I forgot that the hunter’s guild is both for animals and for the sapient and sentient races. Now, what sort of thing is he supposed to go on the hunt for today?

“Are you sure of that, Charles?” Alexander raised an eyebrow. “What could be so dangerous that you need to work overtime at the guild?”

“I’ve told you since I’ve started at the guild, it’s Chuck. With that said, however, what you’re asking is classified information, I’m afraid,” Chuck answered. “True, they should allow me to tell you something, but I can’t… that’s guild politics for you, father.” He moved on over to the kitchen dish-cleaning bucket and put his dishes there. “Well, guess I need to go, everyone.”

Aw, drat. I can’t get the details behind his target or his change in profession, now. Wait… why does he want us to call him Chuck when that’s not even a name in the area?

“See you later, Chuck,” Alexander and Diana waved him goodbye. “Hope you catch what you have to for the Guild.”

“Thanks, I hope so too…” Chuck answered. With that, he strode over to the door.

As Chuck walked out the door, the fourth eldest child rose from her seat at the dinner table. Cynthia was a tapestry weaver, working at the local loom. “I better get going,” she said. “Today, I’m starting a new tapestry for Baron Albert Von Riddle. I’ll be back later, hopefully tonight, but don’t expect me back soon.”

Why do I get the feeling that Cynthia is going to be working on that tapestry for a long time? I hope that I’m wrong in this circumstance… maybe it’s just me being super paranoid for no reason. After all, what do I know about this business, anyway?

“Okay, Cynthia,” Diana said, giving her only other daughter a nod. “Please take care of yourself in town, dear.”

“Yes, mother,” Cynthia nodded. “I’ll be back when I can.” With that, she took her stuff to the dish cleaning bucket and left the room.

“Now, what do you have to say about the job your twin sister has to deal with, Jack?” Alexander asked the fifth child. “Is there anything you know we don’t know about this mess?”

Wait… why would Jack know about this? I mean, it’s not like he’s privy to just about anything, right?

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Jack, having gotten up at that position in time, moved over to the dish cleaning bucket and said, “No, I don’t. True, my work as a jester would make it seem like I would know these things, but the Baron is pretty tight-lipped about that.” He put his dishes in the bucket.

Oops... I guess I was wrong all along.

As Jack turned to leave the room, Alexander asked, “What are you doing today?”

Jack answered, “I’m getting a spear from my bedroom. I promised a friend that I would go hunting with him today because his family is starving. If I get a summons, I’ll be hunting for boars.”

Wait… since when did we have actual weapons on our property? I don’t remember that being the case at all. Actually, why is it that he gets to have a weapon when the rest of us boys are prohibited from them, anyway?

“Alright, Jack,” Alexander said, before he turned his attention to the other twins in the house. “Simon, Andrew, what about you two? What are you going to do today?”

I wonder what they plan to do for the rest of their lives? Will they get an apprenticeship of something equally beneficial to the rest of society?

“Same as usual,” Simon answered. “We’ll do whatever chores you’d like us to do.”

“Yep,” Andrew said. “We’ll do whatever it is you want us to do, mother.”

Ugh… why do I even bother? It’s been that way all this time, and I doubt anyone knows why. It’s annoying.

“Well,” Diana put a hand to her chin. “I suppose you two can clean the bedrooms.”

“Consider it done, mother.” As the twins got up from the table, they waved to her. They walked over to the broom closet and pulled cleaning supplies from it.

“Jeremiah, what about you?” Alexander asked.

I get that Jeremiah’s the one inheriting the farm, obviously, but when will he pull off being a father and husband? I mean, he’s supposed to do that part, right?

Jeremiah got up from the table and put his stuff in the dish bucket. “Well, I’m going out to the fields today to see how the harvest is going.”

“Good idea,” Alexander said. “Let me know if the harvest is looking good out there.”

Gato finished sorting through the bags and turned to his mother, saying, “I’ll be going to town now. Are there any supplies you need me to buy? Do you have a list ready?”

“No, not yet. Give me just a minute, and I’ll have it for you,” Diana replied. With that, she walked further into the house.

“Er, Dad, I need to go get the wagon and oxen ready for the trip, do I not?” Gato asked Alexander.

“Yes, you do,” Alexander said. “Be sure to wait for your mother at the barn.”

“Okay, Dad,” Gato said, walking out of the house to do what he said he’d do. As he walked to the barn where the oxen were parked, he saw that Jeremiah was busy toiling away at the earth in the fields, as if hoping that what he was doing would be enough to get the Divine Spirits of Nature to let him get more from the harvest that was almost done. On top of that, the eldest sibling was tending to the fields without a tiller.

I feel bad for Jeremiah. Why is it that he’s doing such a thankless job at this time of the year? Winter is in a few more weeks, last I checked.

“Hey, Jeremiah, why are you not using a tiller to tend to the fields?” Gato asked.

Jeremiah turned to face him. “Gato? Where’s the list for the shopping trip?” he asked in return.

“I was going to get the wagon and oxen ready for the trip to town,” Gato said. “Mom is going to bring the list out here for me to take with me today.”

Jeremiah nodded. “That makes sense. I happen to be in the process of checking where we need to plant more crops for the next harvest.”

Gato put a hand to his chin. “I understand that, brother,” he said. “Honestly, I have to wonder something important.”

“What would that be?”

“When are you going to get married and give us nieces and nephews?”

Jeremiah nearly tripped when he heard what was said. “Gato! Why did you have to ask that question?!”

“What? Am I not allowed to even ask that?”

“Baby brother, I hate to say this, but there is a reason why I do not talk about my love life that may or may not exist.”

“Wait, you actually have a love life?” Gato blinked a few times rapidly as he processed that. “I thought you were not going to give the family heirs for the farm…”

“No comment, Gato,” Jeremiah said forcefully.

“Aw, man…”

“Why do you insist on knowing whether or not I have a love life? It’s not even any of your business what my love life is like.”

“Well, our parents would love to know they can pass on the farm to your family, even if it means the rest of us are supposed to move out of the house at that point,” Gato said, lifting a finger into the air. “Trust me, it’s even better to handle this with you having a family running around on the farmstead.”

“When you put it that way, I can imagine why you’d want to know,” Jeremiah said. He turned to look at the field again. “However, I am not able to share what my so-called ‘love life’ is like.”

“Why not?”

“Because I am not able to get married to who I want to.”

“Who do you want to get married to?” Gato asked.

“Yes, indeed, who is it you want to get married to?”

Gato and Jeremiah turned to face the one who spoke. It was their mother, their father trailing slightly behind.

“Ah, um…” Jeremiah trailed off.

Wait… is whoever he wants to get married to on the taboo list as provided by the Divine Spirits of Nature? I mean, I thought that he was more devout than that?

Gato walked over to Jeremiah and whispered into his ear, “I think I have an idea of who you wish to get married to, but I would rather get this straightened out between the two of us. Are you interested in a man?”

Jeremiah shook his head.

“Are you interested in a prostitute?”

Jeremiah nodded his head.

“Is she from around here?”

Jeremiah shook his head again.

“What’s stopping you from saying her name to our parents?”

Jeremiah opened his mouth, a finger raised in the air, but then paused for a few seconds. He then closed his mouth and nodded. “Thanks, Gato.”

“Any time, Jeremiah.”

“What are you two talking about?” Alexander asked from his position behind Diana.

“Gato was giving me a pep talk, father,” Jeremiah said. “I was afraid that you might want to kick me out of the family for bringing in foreign blood to the family line.”

“Foreign blood?” Diana asked. “You mean from Remalia?”

Remalia? Wait, is that country going to cause us trouble in the near future, or am I mistaken once again? I seem to remember that the Archpriest of the Divine Spirits of Nature resides near their borders… or am I mistaken on that, too, of all things?

“No, mother,” Jeremiah shook his head. “I mean from a land farther to the east, honestly.”

Gato blinked. “How far to the east are we talking about?”

“She’s from a land called Katai,” Jeremiah said, “and her name is Yuuki.”

“Ka-tie? You-key?” Diana asked.

“The name of her homeland is spelled K-A-T-A-I in our alphabet, while her name is spelled Y-U-U-K-I,” Jeremiah said.

Alexander asked, “How soon can we meet her?”

“Uh…” Jeremiah put a hand to his chin. “If I remember right, she’s out of town for another week, as in she’s working to get citizenship for her family members.”

Well, that’s as good a reason as any to wait for her to come back from where she went, I suppose.

“What about herself?” Diana asked.

“She’s working to get her own citizenship at this point in time as well, mother,” Jeremiah said. “It’s just going to be slow going at this rate, since her family comes first in her opinion.”

Gato nodded. “Okay, thank you for the explanation, Jeremiah. I suppose that we will meet her when she comes back to town, right?”

Jeremiah nodded. “I know it will cause trouble to wait for her at the gates leading into town, so please, allow me to lead her here to you when she get back.”

Alexander and Diana looked at each other and nodded, before turning their attention back to Jeremiah. “Very well, son,” Alexander said. “We will allow this to happen the way you want it to. Just make sure to let us know if her family has little ones who need help before we meet her, okay?”

Jeremiah nodded. “I will tell you what you need to know about this,” he said. “She has, in her family, little ones who need a strong support network of family who will take care of them when nobody else will.”

Alexander nodded. “Jeremiah, when you wish to get married to her, please tell us how many of her family members need to stay with us at the farm. We will build new housing for her family to live in, of course, but that should not be an issue.”

“You really mean it?” Jeremiah asked.

“We do,” Diana said. “Please get married to her when she comes back to Alfheimwood area, will you?”

“I will, I promise,” Jeremiah said, nodding in what Gato had to guess was an emphatic manner.

Well… he must really love this woman, then. Now, what exactly is going to be the case with her kids that he will be adopting into the family tree? Will Mom and Dad approve of them if they knew the truth behind them? I mean, who would believe it? I doubt our parents would like that news ever… not one iota.

“Gato, aren’t you supposed to go get the oxen and the wagon for the trip to town?” Alexander asked.

“Oh!” Gato stood ramrod still, before he turned stiffly back to the barn. “I am on my way over there now!”

As he ran off to go get what he needed from the barn and shed, he heard his mother call after him. “Do not forget the list that I prepared for you!”

Like I even would…

“Thank you, Mom!” Gato first reached the shed as he answered his mother, before he opened the door leading inside. Once he stepped inside, he took in the sight of the broken carts that were strewn about all over the busy building.

Who in their right mind forgot to clean up after themselves and throw out the broken carts and their parts? It doesn’t make sense…

He walked over to the nearest cart, one that was not broken beyond belief, and checked it. Surprisingly enough, it was completely intact, nary a scratch.

I guess I know which cart I need to use for this trip into town…

After a short time to pull the cart out of the shed, he walked over to the barn, where the oxen stayed. As he led the oxen over to the cart, he saw that his mother was waiting for him at the cart. When he finished hitching the oxen, she handed Gato a chalk tablet with a list written on it. “Goodbye, son! Have a safe trip to town and back.”

“Thanks. Goodbye, Mom. Goodbye, Dad.”