"Mother is so unfair!
My sisters go around all the Worlds and Planes and I'm stuck here!
They bring me all these beautiful stories and I need to turn them into books that no one reads!
I think I'll stop writin- Ouch! Wait Mama stop-Ouch! I'll write-Ouch! I said I'll write! You will make me stupid if you hit my head so hard!
How are you even here? Why are you even here? Where are you even here?"
Ą͕̮͆ ̢̱̥̱̣̦̺͇̝̂͊ͨM̻̩̥̼̭̜̬̑̀O̡̖͖͆ͥ̋ͭT̸͇͎̻͙̰̺̙̙͐̃̄H̸͎̼̬̮̤̥̽ͨĘ͉̻͕̩͇̃͑ͯŖ̤̦̟͈̺̱̹̏ͫ̍̔ͅ ̺̤̗̬̜̟̻ͩ͝À̢̞̗̼̬̲͔̣̳ͣ̉Lͣͥ͏̗̯̲͙̬W̓҉̲̻͚̠͈̙͕A̱͉͍̤̳͑ͪͥ̒͜Y̵͉̭͕̽͗̍S̵̬͇̾͂ ̢͎̹̻̰̭̠̬̃̓̎͋ͅK̷͉͉̦̩̪̀̎͐N̷͉̼͓̙̰̰̗͂O͎̯͒̾͟W̴͉͍̯̺͛̃̓̚S̴͓̥͇̟̥̮͊͆
-Bee May, the faery of knowledge
"The Faery Queen is a meanie-Ouch!"
After the carovan departed the village returned to its normality... Almost.
The day Fianna's and Sidon's child woke up they noticed he just didn't want to fall asleep. Fianna spent the entire night awake with the child and the day after was really tired. When Sidon noticed the cranky mood of his wife and that the child did not seem interested in sleeping at all. He got out, took some rope, pebbles, sticks and some animal bones. With the help of a very willing and not totally coerced helpful scout, they made a rudimentary game for a baby. Sidon left the baby there and brought his very willing and not totally coerced sleepy wife to their bedding.
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The snow came and went, Mary's curse did show up from time to time. She was the unlucky one but, sometimes it hit others around her like when someone slipped on ice. Or when a handle broke and the stew was almost spewed on the ground, some other even stranger events happened but the villagers were united and supported each others.
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Mary's child Annabelle, a beautiful little girl was born when the heat was near. To Todd's dismay Fianna and Mary became fast friends, maybe best of friends. Mary joined the caretakers, with a child coming it was the most obvious choice. Light work, some cleaning, bringing food around and taking care of the children of the villagers busy on theirs duties. Mary was under Fianna's supervision and she got saved by the older woman different times, as both of them were new mothers they hit it off easily.
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The next snow Fianna taught her Little Wolf to speak, they discovered pretty early that he didn't need to eat or sleep, he could and the First Hunter personally taught him the importance of sleeping well. He would get tired if he moved too much but eating would replenish that energy, he would sleep if he felt too tired or if Sidon gave him that look. Everything that ends into the little pup's mouth turns into energy apparently. He could eat anything, for a period he would eat anything and waste nothing. Making his mom really glad to not have to clean him at home, she already had to clean the other childs during her caretakers duty hours.
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While growing Little Wolf sprouted some red tufts, still his aspect and more importantly his eyes scared the villagers. With Sidon's gentle guidance his eyes were still strange but weren't as predatory and, with both of his partents hard work and reputations the villagers accepted him as one of them.
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Both Annabelle and Little Wolf had lived three snows, they were playing togheter and Annabelle tripped on a pebble covered with wet moss, she skinned her knee a little and was crying. While Mary was fussing over her daughter and was scared about Annabelle showing signs of inheriting her curse Little Wolf took the pebble that made his first and only friend cry. The other villagers were scared or at least a little apprehensive of him and the children felt it so, they treated him a little coldly. Everyone but Annabelle, he wanted to protect her, protect her feelings. He showed the offending stone to her, it had hurt her so he crushed it with his bare hands and then ate the remainings. That brought a giggle to the little girl but Mary made a scene. It was the first time that Little Wolf showed someone that was not his family his uniqueness. Fianna's soothing words and some good wine were needed to calm down the scared cursed lady.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
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Five snows passed and Little Wolf was Annabelle's official protector, the clumsy and slighly unlucky girl had the strange boy always fussing around her and defending her from the things that made her life miserable. Be it other children, adults or the world itself.
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In the village everyone worked, they were inside the forest, had little contact with the outside so every single one of the had to do something and make themselves useful to the village. Take care of the others so they can take better care of you. Being a child did not stop that, when young they played like every child would and should do. But getting older meant that you needed to look after the little ones, to share the burdens with the caretakers. Usually they needed to play, feed and make sure that the younger children would not bother the other villagers. After the children survived ten snows they would start helping with all of the caretakers business. Then, when a little older, they would try the others jobs. The now young adults needed to try a little of everything. They had to do a little bit of everything to see what they were good. Doing your best is good but being good at it is better for the village.
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While clumsy Annabelle just followed in unlucky Mary's footsteps and became a caretaker, for Little Wolf it was a little harder because he was good at everything!
Well not everything... Caretaking was boring: cleaning, making food and bringing it around. Actually wood and bone working was relaxing and taking care of the pens was fun but the animals were scared of him so he couldn't do it!
He could be a fisherman! His reflexes were fast enought to catch fish without using nets like the others but... The fishermen first hated and then loved him!
The fishes felt his presence and fled so the first times they got nothing the entire day! He did catch two fishes as he had two hands, well... They might have been three but the one that ended in his mouth might have been eaten istantly, moving around is tiring and the fishermen did not notice it. He was sure, he could be sneaky when needed!
The next day the fishes hid, the day after there was little movement. It was actually grumpy Todd that gave them the solution!
Place the nets the night before and let Little Wolf jump in the water as the sun got up. The entire village ate fish soup for days, the nets were so full that the fishermen had to ask help to haul them!
Or... He could be a scout! Stalking around for tracks and finding preys was so fun! Trap making was less fun... But he could catch hares just by running at them, he's faster that their fear, that should count for something!
And then the hunters... Mother Fianna said he should become the next First Hunter! He does like Mother Fianna and he think he likes Father Sidon but... Being a hunter is soo boring! Just training with bow and spears all day or watch over the walls hoping something happens to relieve the boredom but, at the same time hope nothing happens and the village is safe. The scouts would find menaces early and tell the hunters, then they would have something do to and resolve the problem. If the problem got to the wall... Well it was a problem problem! Like a big problem, right?
It was not an easy choice, really not at all, but Little Wolf decided he'll become the First Hunter!
Scouts are more fun to him but, aunty Brielle from time to time would give him strange looks and grumpy Todd hated him! Grumpy Todd didn't do anything wrong, probably, but because he was father Sidon's child Little Wolf had always the hardest jobs. He could do them! It was not really a big problem! Really! Still Mother Fianna found out, got really angry and grumpy Todd was even more grumpy after, aunty Brielle was really scared! Then the jobs were divided fairly on the team.
So he will become an hunter, not just any hunter. He will become the First Hunter! Because he loved his parents and wanted to make them happy! Little Wolf knows his guardians love him, even if Father Sidon is always scary, he is caring in his own way. And Mother Fianna!
Well...Mother Fianna is the best mother! The loving and caring woman, he adored her really! Only... Sometimes... She, well... Changed... And if you live in the village you know the first rule: inside the village you obey the Chief, outside the village you obey the First Hunter. Actually that's the second rule!
The first rule is: obey EVERYTHING Mother Fianna says!
Because Father Sidon can and is always scary but Mother Fianna? When she wants she becomes terrifying!