“Haaa…”

Mom had entered the village a while ago, and I was really bored. After walking as close to the lake as I could without stepping into the clearing, I played around with whatever I could find in the area. I knew I’d done all that I could when I began stacking stones into a pile.

That had been a few minutes after mom left.

With nothing else to do, I picked up a stick and started drawing the letters in the dirt. During the last cold season, mom started teaching me how to write and count. Mom said that this stuff would be important to know, but she never told me why when I asked her about it. She would just look away from me and tell me to continue to study.

I was halfway through the alphabet when the sound when the stick snagged onto something. Whatever it was wasn’t all that deep in the ground, so I bent over and started to dig it was up with my hands.

The item was wrapped in a woolen cloth and was almost as tall as me. After pulling the cloth back I a polished black bow. A brown string was attached to the ends of the piece of wood will its center was slightly caved in.

I remember seeing some of the village guards carrying one of these around, but why would someone hide it here.

*Snap*

Before I could think about it the sound of a snapping twig caught my attention.

Someone was heading these way.

I  started to panic because I had no idea what to do. Mom only brought me this close to the village a couple of times before and she always told me to never to be seen by anyone under any circumstances.

I rewrapped the bow and tried to cover it up as best as I could, but the approaching footsteps were getting closer by the second. Even if I ran, I wouldn’t know where I’d be running or how to get back here.

The bushes in the area were too thinly spread out to hide in and it wasn’t like I could…

Within moments of being in sight of the approaching, I leaped towards the nearest tree and started to climb. Once I was completely hidden by the thick layer of leaves and branches I tried to remain as still as I could. I was about seventy feet of the ground and should be within the canopy.

I closed my eyes and tried to listen for those that were approaching.

“... why did she show up now? I thought she only passed through the village every oth─.”

My eyes snapped open when I heard someone speaking. That was weird. I only intended to pick up on their footsteps, but I could clearly hear everything that they had been saying.

But more than that, they had been talking about my mom. As far as I knew we were the only people living outside the village and mom did visit every month or so.

Wanting to hear the rest of the conversation, I closed my eyes again and focused on what was happening on the ground.

“... you did what?! Are you trying to ruin everything?!”

“W-We only wanted to get a bit more practice and we figured that no one would get hurt. No one saw us and we aren’t assigned to patrol that area this month.”

“You idiots!! That woman has a connection to Chief Donovan. Getting her and her spawn involved is only gonna drag him into our business before we’re ready!”

The were at least three people on the ground. The one yelling at his companions had a voice rougher and deeper than the other two and seemed to be the leader of the group. The other two seemed to be younger and afraid of their leader.

“B-But we were already blaming the Darh’ki for the arrows we’ve been taking. What’s the problem with bring─”

The sound of a punch connecting interrupted the member that had been speaking.

“There’s a difference between pinning the blame on those that aren’t there and those who are. If the woman had come on her usual day it wouldn’t have mattered if our lie was found out. We would have been heroes to the people and Donovan would have only been able to give us a slap on the wrist at best.”

The man with the rough voice paused for a second as if he was trying to maintain his composure.

“But thanks to you two, everything is at risk. Now if we don’t act quickly then we’ll lose everything.”

“We didn’t mean to, we just wanted to be what you said we could be.”

Silence suddenly blanketed the forest below and I started to wonder if they were still there. Opening my eyes again, I lowered my head to take a peek at what was happening on the ground.

Although I could only see the from a weird angle, I was able to see the group that had been talking.

The largest of the trio was a head or so taller than mom was and had a slick muscular build. His messy, pale blonde hair was cut just above his shoulders. The man was clad in brown leather armor and wore a specialized glove on his right hand. In his left hand he carried a similar bow to the one I found buried in the ground and a small quiver of arrows was strapped to his back.

His face was rather angular, he had a few wrinkles on his forehead, and his chin was covered a thin layer of hair, however, the rest of his face was offset by the man’s striking dark green eyes.

While he wasn’t talking, he was gesturing towards the two other people with his right hand.

The two people in question were shorter than mom by a few inches looked almost identical to one another. They wore the same leather armor as the older man, but their's just seem a little too big for them. They had the same pale green eye and matching hair styles. The only thing different about the two was that the one on the right had a fresh bruise on the left side of his face.

All of a sudden, the older man notched an arrow and fired it in my direction. I couldn’t move a muscle as time itself drew to a crawl with the arrow’s approach. Everything in me wanted to dodge but my body refused to move. My mouth refused to open as I tried to yell for mom to come save me.

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[Gaaa]

Just as I gave up all hope time sped up again as the arrow flew above my hiding spot and lodged itself in a giant black bird’s chest.

As the bird fell to the ground I caught sight of its razor-sharp beak and claws and the red blood freely flowing from its chest wound.

The bird hit the ground below with a resounding thud. The bird’s blood began to pool around its twitching body.

“Hahaha! Did you see that?! One Shot One Kill! That’s how you do it!”

The older man’s attitude completely turned around from what it was before. His joy bled through his rough voice as he celebrated his kill, all the while his companions looked on in slightly confused excitement.

“That was amazing Mr. Ashin. I didn’t even notice the razorclaw was there.”

The older man, Ashin, really enjoyed the praise on of the younger man gave him.

“That’s because you boys are still to green. Follow my lead and in a century or two you’ll be able to detect a fly in a thunderstorm.”

“Really!?”

“Of course, of course. But you need to get same real experience under your belt first, and you'll get it too if stop fucking things up.”

Ashin’s good mood had disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. The cheerful mood of the was returned serious mood from before.

“Now listen up, it’s only a matter of time before the Donovan send a team out to that woman’s shack to investigate the arrows you left there. The time frame in which we have to act has been greatly reduced due to that.”

“So, what are we gonna do now?”

“Okay, in a couple of days we’re gonna go for a training session in the western forest. Once were far enough away from the village we’ll circle around and gather all the gear we’ve managed to hide so far. Then we’ll head towards the monsters' cave”

“We’re gonna fight the ogres now!? Bu-But I thought you said we need to scout the area first!? You said we’d be going in blind otherwise”

“Now, whose fault is that? Look, ogres usually live in packs of 5-6 members. After we observe their behavior for a day or so, we can kill a some of them off with a few traps when they leave their den. The others can be killed in their sleep if possible.”

Though Ashin’s companions were still worried about the idea they still nodded their heads.

“Alrighty then! Let’s not let this day be a complete bust. Pick up the razorclaw, we’re bringing it back with us.”

With that last order, Ashin turned on his heel and started heading back to the village, while his companions picked up the large bird and followed after him.

Even after the group left the area I didn’t climb down of the tree until I could no long after I stopped being able to hear them. For a while, I simply stood around thinking over what had just happened.

Though I’d over the things I’d heard I didn’t know what to do.

Those people were the ones that shot down our bag but it didn’t seem like they’d do it again. That older person was scary but he didn’t seem to care about mom and me all that much. They blamed me for something I didn’t know about, but that won’t matter soon.

“Maybe I should tell mom about this... Mom!!”

I’d been so caught up in everything that I’d forgotten about mom. Without a second though, I started running the opposite direction Ashin in order to avoid crossing paths with them and I circled back to the spot mom left me.

After a couple of minutes, I found mom looking around the forest with the pack she’d taken sitting at her feet. There was a bit of sweat on her brow and the bandage she had wrapped around her wrist had been undone, revealing the discolored skin beneath it.

When she heard me coming her pale green eyes turned towards me, allowing me to see how deep the bags under them had become.

“There you are, Gaisei. Did you stay out of trouble? No one saw you did they?”

“No one saw me. I practiced writing while you were gone.”  

I thought about telling her what I heard from Ashin’s group but mom said something I never expected to hear before I could speak up.

“Gaisei, we’re gonna be moving soon.”

Her tone was flat when she said that, but her took on the same sharp glint to them she had when she killed boar a few days ago.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while now. The village is only getting larger by the day and that boar incident has decided it.”

“But where are  we gonna live?”

A small smile appeared on mom’s face while she handed pick up the pack at her feet and handed it to me.

“When you were a baby we used to travel around all over Eybevan. In fact, we only stayed here for so long because a friend of mine asked me to.”

There was a hint of bitterness in mom’s voice as she made her way towards the road that leads home.

“Besides, an entire world exists behind this small forest and there’s so much more out there for you to see.”

“But, I’m d… different from everyone else.”

I almost spoke the word that Ashin called me, and I rather avoid explaining where I’d heard it. Before I could say anything else, mom suddenly stopped and looked down at me.

“Honey, no one in this world is born the way they are without a purpose. We may never realize that purpose ourselves that doesn’t mean that that purpose doesn’t exist. While some people may no accept what you are, I have no doubt you’ll find your place in the world.”

I didn’t understand everything she said but I nodded my head anyway.

“So... when do we leave?”

“In a few weeks. Once we get home we’re gonna start getting ready.”

Mom started walking again and I followed behind her.

The news about the move made meI forget to tell mom about Ashin’s group.