I dropped the deer carcass with a grunt onto the ground, I smiled weakly at my father while sitting down heavily, his features were alight with pride.

“Son, I am very proud of you, but the work doesn’t stop here. In order to make use of this deer for meat as well as using the hide we have to dress the carcass.” These words came out of my fathers mouth and my shoulders sagged even more than they had been from sheer fatigue. Truth be told, I had expected something similar.

“Deary,” Ma interjected, “I can do it, let Godrak rest.”

“Harumph, this is a skill he needs and there is no time like the present, beside it being his first kill, he should dress it. Need I also remind you that my family has a tradition that on our first kill, out on the hunt, no one can touch the heart before the one whose hand felled the beast. I won't have it said in the halls of my fathers that I was the one who broke tradition, enough will be said about me as it is.” My father ended his words with a dead tone, as if the pain was too much to even contemplate, so he ignored it.

I could see Ma’s upper lip quiver in anger, I knew that there was going to be a family feud if I did not step in.

“Ma, I want to dress the deer, Ma. I still have strength left.”

Her gaze shifted to me, at first I thought I would be joining my father in the crossfire of my mothers wrath, but then her gaze soften and she replied, “of course sweets, I will bring you something to drink.” Off she went towards the house her head held high as if she was a victor in a major battle. The pride of dwarfs can kill or so it is said.

“Well, that went better than expected”, my father said with a sigh, “you should know son, you mother and I have fought more in the past couple days then the entire year, truth be told I did not think she would give in, honestly, this is one of the most important skill to have. Come bring the carcass to the butcher stand.”

I left my pack and bow on the floor, picking up the deer I followed my father towards the northwest corner of our homestead. My father had over the years added to the homestead, now we had a special butcher corner where we could have the carcass and dress it without the smell getting into the house or the barn. Yes we were from the “upper class” of our little world.

Stepping up the hard gravel floor of the butcher spot, which was slightly raised from the surrounding garden, I dropped the deer on the floor. Although I had watched both my father and mother dress carcasses I had never actually done it myself, I usually held the entrails or pulled the hide while my father handled the knife.

“Ok son, you’ve seen the process done many times. Now it is your turn”, that said he handed me a small knife, it wasn’t truly a knife rather more like a crescent shaped razor. It was very sharp. The sharpness was necessary so that the hide would not be damaged.

“Now son, don’t forget, we don’t want to damage the hide, otherwise the uses for the hide will be limited. You can be a good smith but still be poor if you don’t maximize and utilize all the raw materials you have. That applies not just to metals but also leather and other stuff as well. Best get started then.”

I took up the knife and got to work. I won’t bore you with the entire process but trust me dressing a carcass didn’t have to be messy, as long as you knew what you were doing. I knew what I was doing, but my muscles did not, so my work was not top grade but passable.

As I was cutting away Ma joined with a mug of beer, which my father took. Also a wooden plate of cookies. I gave my parents a wishful look, but Ma just frowned, “what are you gonna do? Eat my cookies with bloody hands”.

I kept working, Ma would throw pointers here and there. Da just watched silently.

Finally the job was done. Ma took the meat and walked off towards the house.

“Listen Godrak, Priest Gotthard Reldret is coming over for dinner tonight, after dinner he will examine you and see if he can’t figure out what is ailing you, you best wash up, can’t have you smelling like this at our table”.

“I really need to sleep, Da, I am collapsing.” I replied to my father, hoping he could see my tiredness and maybe give me some time to myself for a few hours.

“I understand son, go get yourself tidied up, I will wake you for dinner”

A short while later, clean and feeling decent again I lay in bed, with my eyes closed thinking how my life has changed since turning sixteen. I silently prayed that Priest Gotthard would have some answers. With the murmur of Ma and Beatrice in the kitchen I calmly drifted off.

*****

I woke to the murmuring conversation between Priest Gotthard Reldret and my parents, I looked at the window, dusk had fallen. My stomach rumbled, I got out of bed and walked barefoot downstairs.

Around the table sitting alongside my parents was Priest Gotthard, he was a pudgy old man with a gentle smile plastered on his face all hours of the day, however don’t let his pudgy look, he was both wise and sharp, nothing in the village escaped his eye. The creaking of the stairs alerted the diners that I was approaching.

“Ah Godrak, you just beat me, I was going to come upstairs and wake you,” my father said.

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I settled down in my chair at the table, Priest Gotthard was giving me the once over pretty strongly. I cringed internally while trying to hold his gaze, wondering what he had in mind.

“My child, your father told me about your ailment, I was hoping you would allow me to examine you, my examination requires your consent, otherwise my ability won't work.”

There was a slight intake of breath around the table, I assume my parents did not know about that requirement, they were obviously nervous, I knew for a fact my father was very nervous even though externally he wasn't showing it, i was his first born son, kin was all that mattered for dwarves, well that and honor.

“Sure, I am very anxious to get this over with, I don't even know what is wrong,” I replied.

“So Godrak, I will now examine you, see what is wrong”, Priest Gotthard said as he got up and came around the table, laying his hands on my shoulders he closed his eyes and started muttering archaic words.

I felt a slight warmth in his hands and a strange tingling sensation emanating from his body traveling through his arms and into my shoulders.

“Something is very wrong”, Priest Gotthard finally said. “I cast a simple examine spell on Godrak, there is something blocking my vision, I tried empowering the spell and still nothing”. You could hear the failure in his voice, not despairing failure but most casters were not used to their spells failing them.

“Well what do you propose?” my father asked, his facial expression intense.

“Let me think for a second, also Mrs. Blackthorn could you perhaps get me a cup of mead, it helps me think”.

Ma grabbed a mug from the cupboard and poured the priest the mead he requested.

“I know Godrin, that you think I am very well read and knowledgeable, but honestly I know less than you think. The Pathway is unique to every person and no one person has the same journey, even in the same class there are different paths and ways to advance. As far as I can recall, I never heard of anyone whose Pathway didnt work the morning of his sixteenth birthday. Whatever is ailing Godrak is obviously not something common or simple, my spell did not show anything. I don't know how to proceed at this moment”.

The eyes of the priest told the story, he was literally at a loss. Trying to save the situation, as well as any hope a father had for his son, my father waded into the conversation with more finesse than I would have thought of a blacksmith, even if he was an amazing blacksmith.

“May I propose to try and understand the issue better, let us question Godrak, maybe he can shed some light on the issue. Godrak, have you picked up any skills on your hunt, perhaps archery or hunting? Any skill will do”.

“Yes father, I did indeed pick up archery as a skill. I was practicing, firing repeatedly at a tree and eventually a message appeared in my mind but it was all messed up, I could not read it, but it must have been archery that was the only thing I was doing at the time”.

My last words were directed at Priest Gotthard, nodding his head slightly, he looked at my father, “well Godrin, astute as usual, must be your skill, fascinating. So if i understand you correctly Godrak, your Pathway is actually fine, your Pathway is active, rather you dont understand what it says and you can't interact with it. Is that correct?”.

“Yes, at least that is what I think, right now I can’t really tell for sure because it is all I know”.

“I need to think this over and make some enquiries with my colleagues, you see I have heard of people without the Pathway, their lives are very hard, anything they try their hand at they are worse off than their equivalent with the Pathway. Imagine a tracker who has special abilities to help him being pitted against a tracker who has the skill naturally but without the special abilities, there are abilities that will show you where the tracks are going, highlight broken branches, and anything you can imagine. If a person has the imagination and tenacity to work hard enough on any skill or ability he could think of, the Pathway would grant him his wish. I have a friend who can meditate, granting a calming effect on people in a huge radius. He was hired by all sorts to manage crowds and riots, this is just one example of many, of the adverb that ‘the limit of your Pathway is your imagination’. Back to you, Godrak, I will contact my colleagues, the smarter ones at least and see what they have to say”.

I thanked him, I wasn't sure if there was more to say. This was the perfect timing for Ma, she quickly whipped the meat pie she was cooking out of the oven.

“Well now, I hope you all enjoy a nice meal, this is my specialty. The meat is fresh from the forest, just this afternoon, Godrak brought it in”.

“Well Mrs. Blackthorn, your meat pies are famous throughout the land, it wasn't my good heart that brought me out here, rather my ravenous stomach and strong sense of smell. The whiff of your pie struck me a mortal blow and I came crawling as a supplicant before a god.”

Well there was someone who could control his mood in an instant, while my father and I were still deep in thought, anxiously pondering my future, Priest Gotthard had already moved on in life to more important stuff, such as Ma’s meat pie.

We sat around the table, the conversation was friendly and funny, Priest Gotthard was magical with words, you found yourself hanging on to every word. Clearly the priest class, if that was indeed his class, was giving him bonuses. The conversation lasted quite some time, Priest Gotthard knew all the gossip and wives tales going around. Eventually fully satiated after Ma had brought out dried fruit and other delicious stuff, Priest Gotthard finally left. My father walked him out, I helped Ma clean up, while she gave me her take on the current village in fighting. Whose son was trying to get who’s daughter to show them the barn, I wasn't sure what she meant by that. Beatrice had long ago gone to sleep, she actually was sleeping before I woke up. I was feeling very tired even with my afternoon snooze. I went up stairs and got ready for bed, as I was about to lay down my father softly knocked and entered the room.

“Godrak, I want to teach you an important lesson in life, too bad that you have to learn it on something so personal and life altering. There is a famous quote that our people have ‘never have one milking goat’. I like Priest Gotthard but I am sending out my own enquiries to my friends. I have friends who know things that aren't known to regular folk, they will know something.”

“Da, who are we? What did the priest mean about you being astute? I feel like there are things I don't know about our family. When will you share with me our family’s history?”

My father had a pensive look on his face after hearing my question, “Soon son, very soon, but the time is not yet right. Good night son, may your path be long and joyous.`

With that he quietly left the room, I sat there pondering his words, on many layers my father was being very cryptic and I was starting to really wonder what it could be. Either way my day had been an incredible success. I had succeeded in my quest to hunt the deer and brought honor to my family, what more could I young dwarf ask for.