A year earlier on a family farm in a town called Oiho in the Missacon region found north of the Finger Lakes. A brother and sister work together, reconstructing the low stone wall marking their property line.
“Stop that,” shouts Teum as a good-sized rock hit him squarely in the back.
“Ah come on you can take it,” counters Bejide, his older sister.
“That still doesn’t make it ok for you to throw rocks at me. You know I could do the same with you.”
“I can’t gather like you, a rock that big would hurt me, you wouldn’t want to hurt your favorite sister, would you?”
“I could throw small rocks,” Teum hopes the subtle threat would put an end to her pummeling him with rocks the size of his head every time he turns his back to her. She can hold almost as much kinetic energy as Teum, but her gathering is too slow to be useful and her spirit is too weak to command it with any control. That’s the case with a lot of people, they can slowly store up enough energy to be dangerous but releasing it can be as dangerous to themselves as to whoever they target. Most people walk around with enough hold to kill someone and probably themselves. People give each other respect; the Free’er’ gift makes sure of it.
“One more I promise I’ll get back to helping with the wall,” pleads Bejide.
“Fine but I pick the rock.”
“Nope, I’m not falling for that again. You’ll pick something small or something so heavy I can’t lift it. I’m going to hit you with this,” she gestures to a small boulder at her feet, “with your consent or I’ll continue taking the wall apart and pelting you with it.”
Bejide picks up the indicated rock with two hands; it easily weighs half as much as herself. She’s 13-years old and will be considered an adult soon. Her weight and height fit well within expectations at 68 pounds and 51 inches. Her slender frame is beginning to show signs of womanhood. Her yellow hair with a single stripe of blue matches her blue eyes. Both brother and sister have allowed their skin to darken from their winter white to a light beige, perfect for the lengthening spring days ahead.
Teum has always been big for his age, at 47 inches he’s only three or four inches away from being mistaken for an adult, despite being six. He has father’s grey eyes and black hair; his nose is almost identical to his sisters except it was broken when he was born and is now crooked. Resigned to his fate but also wanting help with the wall, he turns his back on his psychopath sister.
Bejide didn’t wait long, he felt the potential impact the moment the rock started towards him. The rock hit him square between the shoulder blades, he gathered the kinetic energy as it was transferred from the rock into him. He had been hunched a little forward the rock gave more kinetic and some thermal as it slid down his back. Teum wasn’t hurt, the same couldn’t be said of his clothes. The cool spring air contacting his bare skin proved there were holes in it now.
“There, now that you’ve ruined another one of my shirts can we get back to work?”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Of course, did you think I wouldn’t honor my end of the bargain?”
“No, but you didn’t say when you’d start helping. Can it please be right now?”
Without another word, Bejide went to work collecting fallen rocks and placing them back on the wall.
Hours later with the sun low on the eastern horizon; the siblings finish repairing the damage done to the wall by the winter’s snow and ice, and eventual spring melt-off.
Teum welcomed the simple chore and was glad that his sister eventually did her part and helped. He was doubly glad she didn’t talk the whole time. He also knows her silence never lasts so he’s not surprised when she restarts her continuous banter.
“You know father will want you to come with him to work on the sawmill roof.”
“Yeah, so?”
“He’s just going to have you there so you can shield him from stuff falling on him.”
“Yeah, so what about it?”
“I don’t know much about anything, but that sounds a lot like having rocks dropped on you.”
“Except it won’t be on purpose and probably won’t even happen.”
“I know, but that sounds so boring. Do you know what I’ll be doing while you stand over dad?”
“No, but you’ll tell me anyways.”
“Yes, I will. I’m going to go listen to a band of musicians.”
“Didn’t dad tell you not to go?”
“Exactly, and that’s why I’m going. You should come too.”
“Why would I do that? I don’t even like music.”
“It’s not about only the music, this band sings about being independent and free and rebelling against your parents and all authority. They are so unique. There’s never been anything like them.”
“That sounds terrible, dad is always looking out for us.”
“You’re so predictable. Every time something fun comes up you find a way to ruin it.”
“How am I ruining anything? I’m going to go stand beside dad all day and you’re going to go listen to a band of weirdos playing boring music. Everyone gets what they want.”
“What about you? What do you want?”
Teum is quiet while he thinks his answer through, it’s not often he gets asked a real question, so he decides to give a real answer, whether she wanted one or not, “I want to feel like I belong, I want to be valued as something more than a shield or a target, and I want you and dad to forgive me for killing mom.”
Bejide rolls her eyes, he brings this up once or twice a year it seems, “This again? How many times do I have to tell you. You had nothing to do with her dying. Sometimes mothers die when they give birth. You are not special because that happened. You’re special because whenever I want to kill you; I can hit you with a rock or stab you with a knife. My friends are so jealous that I can do that to you.”
“You say that, but dad barely talks to me and like you said, you want to kill me.”
“All big sisters want to kill their little brothers, in that you are nothing special, and dad barely talks to anyone. I was six when you were born, I don’t remember dad speaking to mom either. He’s just not a talker like us.”
Teum hates talking and realizes maybe dad is more like him than he knew or is it the other way around, he’s more like dad than he knew? Whatever, it’s something they have in common, that’s nice. This thought cheers him up a little, enough where for once, he wants to keep the chit chat going.
“Where is this band playing?”
“Are you thinking about coming with me?”
“No, I’m just making conversation.”
“You, Teum the silent! Making conversation? I don’t think so. Admit it, you want to go.”
“I most certainly do not want to go.”
“Yes, you do; I can tell. In fact, I dare you.”
“What kind of dare is that? Ewww, go listen to a bunch of weirdos play stupid songs.”
“That’s not the dare. I dare you to skip out on dad tomorrow and come with me. They’re playing in the bowl where the acoustics are fantastic.”
“What’s the big deal about this band?”
“You’ll have to figure that out on your own, when you take the dare and disobey dad and come with me. I dare you. I double-bear-dare you.”
“Fine, I’ll go.”
Bejide claps her hands in victory because she of course has an ulterior motive for bringing her handy little brother along.