They lived in one of the bigger towns of Cretina, one of the many kingdoms ruled by the houses of the beast. “You see, this land was once ruled by the 12 great beasts.” said Jimmy, the second youngest of the group, “The houses of the beast are descendants of these 12 great beasts. Every single noble house or family lies underneath one of the 12 great houses, and they receive a name and animal related to the house they serve. For example, the house of the Lynx lies underneath the house of the Lion, but some swear allegiance depending on politics. Or some are independent! Or at least, some are neutral. Some try to say out of these ‘fights’ all together.” Robert nodded. “Okay. So, do we have a house?” Jimmy laughed. “No, no… Us common folk peasantry do not need to worry about that…” Jimmy’s eyes were not laughing. “We are just cannon fodder in the war of the houses.” Feathers looked at Jimmy’s eyes, then turned away. There was too much bitterness there for a 8 year old.
A couple years had passed. Feathers, still called Robert by the family, had become one with the house. It seemed as if the age of his body and brain had somehow affected his mind as well, for he now could act a bit, if not perfectly, like a 14 year old child. Frank, the old man, of course, took care of them, the best he could. All the children thought of him as a father, but knew that they could not rely on him as much for material goods. Rather, they did not want to, even though Frank argued that he could feed the family of 6 without hardship. However, after following Frank around, Robert decided that it was best if there was someone who puts cash aside for rainy days, as he could never see Frank do anything except go out of town and chop wood for the fire. He also hunted, and the children never grew hungry, but Feathers knew that children did not only grow on firewood and deer meat.
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He spent his nights learning about the houses and learning the language and phonetics of the world, including other countries surrounding Cretina. Frank helped him through this. Then, he tried to teach the other children this, but only Mary, the second eldest, and John, the 4th eldest, had much luck learning how to read and write.