1. Home

A silver moon shone above my sister and I as we walked over the sand. The dunes around us shone with reflected light. The silence around us was complete, except for the shuffling sound of our feet and the low whistle of wind around us.

We had been gone for nearly a week now, hunting in the desert for meat to fill our lean winter larder. We had been unsuccessful until the night before, when we had stumbled upon a group of rather scraggly looking deer. What we had gleaned from the deer I shot hadn't been much, but nearly anything would be better than the lumpy gruel that was our standard fare. I was particularly happy, because my kill meant that I would have something nice to eat after my Ceremony of Choice the next day.

Our journey through the sand was mostly silent, talking felt like it might disturb the beautiful solitude of the desert around us. The few miles left between us and our village melted quickly away, and before we knew it, we crested a low ridge and were able to see the lights of our home shining in the valley below. We trudged down into the valley and through the dusty fields surrounding the town, our packs seeming to grow heavier with each step. That probably had something to do with the anticipation of taking them off in a few minutes.

When we reached the outskirts of the town, we turned left, skirting the edge of the village. It was just before dawn, so most everyone was still asleep. The few people that we did see ignored us, continuing their own quiet business. The village was small so we soon reached our house. I tried to open the door quietly, but as usual, it groaned as loudly as physically possible, waking up everyone else in the house.

"Talan, Karia, is that you?" My mother mumbled from her and father's bed in the corner of the room.

"Yes mom," Karia answered, pushing past me as she walked into the house. I tried to give her a death stare, but she ignored me and continued towards the back of the house. 

"Good," mother said after a short pause, "Take your packs to the storeroom and then go to bed. No, Karia, don't worry about emptying them, I'll do that later. You two need to get some sleep. Especially you Talan." 

I followed Karia to the storeroom, where we deposited my pack, along with my bow in it's leather tube. It didn't take me very long, and I soon found myself creeping back across the main room of the house towards my bed, which I nearly fell into, I felt so tired. I pulled the blankets over myself, turned onto my side, and fell almost immediately into a dreamless slumber.

When I awoke, the sun was high in the sky. I had a headache, one of the undesirable consequences of sleeping too late, and my mouth felt drier than the Great Northern Desert. There was no one else left in the house, so I stumbled out of bed and over to the cask. A few dippers of cool, clean water did a lot for both my thirst and my headache. I scrounged in the cupboards around the cask, and found a rather stale biscuit, which I quickly devoured. My immediate needs met, I went back to my bed and made it up, then went to the storeroom to see to my belongings. It turned out that my goddess of a mother had already out everything from our trip away, so I went outside to see if I could find any of my family. 

I searched the house, but they were nowhere to be seen, so I went out to the garden with a bucket and started pulling up weeds. Several of our neighbors walked by on their way to work or midday errands and greeted me, but none stayed to talk for long. After a while, the traffic ceased and I was left alone with my thoughts.

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My thoughts were, of course, filled with the Ceremony of Choosing, probably just like every other eighteen year old in the country, or even the world. Which divine would choose me? What gifting would I receive? My older siblings had all been blessed by Panesa, god of plants, which was why they were in charge of the garden, and I was stuck pulling weeds all the time. Their gifts were helpful to them, basically amounting to a green thumb on steroids. Such a gifting would probably have been useful to me too, I was likely to spend my entire life as a farmer. The trouble was, I didn't want to be a farmer. I hated the work that it entailed, and not on a physical level. I had no problem with hard work, with spending the whole day outside. I just found it boring.

No, farming was not for me. I wanted to be a healer, more than anything else. I loved the feeling of being able to help others feel better. I wanted to be chosen by Ameli, the goddess of kindness. There was another goddess whose blessing I wished to feel even more, but I couldn't talk of that. Even thinking of such a thing could get me into trouble with my father. Still though... what if.. NO! No. I would lose everything if I asked her to intercede. I can live with my pain, I thought, family and honor are more important. I squinted, trying to keep the tears away

"What's wrong, Talan? You look like you've seen a ghost."

I jumped, and looked up to see my mother standing over me, looking at my face with concern. "Ara mom, you scared me!" I said, trying to stop the well of tears in my eyes.

"You didn't answer my question, Talan."

"Nothing mom," I said, "Just worried about tonight is all."

She looked skeptical, but didn't press the topic, instead asking, "Have you seen your sisters today? They were still here when I left for the market."

"They were gone when I woke up."

"Hrmpf. Well since they're gone, I guess that means that you get to help me with dinner."

She walked inside, motioning with her free hand for me to follow. Typical, I thought, just typical.  Whenever anything needs done, my sisters just happen to not be around. Mom will probably try and pry more too. Still though, she needed help, and I had never minded kitchen work all that much.

"Just a second mom," I shouted after her. I dumped my collection of weeds in the compost pile, then returned the bucket to the storeroom and washed the dirt off my hands. Soon afterwards, I found myself kneading dough in the kitchen, while my mother chopped up vegetables for the venison stew she was making tonight.

"So are you gonna tell me what's wrong?"

"Mom!"

But she had me thinking about it again, and before long, I was on the edge of tears. I glanced over at mom and saw her looking at me expectantly. I sighed, then said. "Mom, I don't want to be a farmer, I've hated it for my whole life. I want to do more with my life that just grow food. I think I want to be a healer, or a doctor."

Unconvinced, she asked, "Anything else? You know that I love you no matter what."

"Uh no mom, nothing else, " I replied, dying inside just a little. I wish that I could tell someone.

I looked down at the dough, and noticed that I had clenched my fists, splitting it into pieces and covering my hands. I cursed quietly, then got back to work with the dough, adding extra flour because it was getting too sticky. Soon the dough was ready, and we had it in the oven to bake while the stew simmered quietly over the fire. Mom sent me off to wash up, taking her turn after I was done. The rest of the family arrived back home a bit later, and we all sat down to eat after exchanging friendly words.

Thanks for reading Matched Blades! I hope you're enjoying my writing!

This story can also be read on Scribblehub, where all 10 chapters are currently posted. I will be posting new chapters on a daily basis.

Toodles!