“Are we there yet?” My seven year old voice pipes above the background noise of the forest.

“No Harry, we are not there yet. We still have an hour or two of walking before we reach the transit point. Which is the same amount of time you asked 15 minutes ago” The exacerbated voice of my father growls out.

“Twwwwwooooo hourssss…” At the last statement, my father stops on the trail, turns around and kneels down to look me straight in my eyes. I try to turn away, but the intensity of the glare holds me.

“Harry. I realize this is the first time we have travelled this far through the woods together. I also realize that tomorrow is the biggest day in your life to this point. However, your mother and I have 3 other children, and I don’t think we would miss losing one. Now follow, stop whining, and we will get there before you know it.” His statement complete, my father stands up and begins to walk down the trail again.

With my head down, I slowly follow him down the trail.

Tree. Bush. Purple bush. Red tree. Yellow bush. Bright, yellow tree. A stand of Ardec trees. With the last, my Dad stops and puts a charcoal mark on a rolled up piece of paper. We are not actually taking the fastest route to the transit point. My Dad is a woodsmen and crafter, and is always looking for a good deal. I am guessing that the map he is working with, will be passed to my eldest sister or brothers, and then they can do the harvesting. Ardec trees are in the top 5 for hardest woods. Unfortunately, once harvested, they will never regrow in that spot again. Even if you leave a couple trees behind, they will wither and die. My Dad said that the theory is that they are all connected, one organism, one being. They look like trees to me. Expensive, rare wood. How they manage to still survive is a bit of mystery to my Father, but my brothers seem to think that there is a large stand in the broken lands. The winds blows from there, and it’s possible that the spores, nuts, whatever travel in from there. I have seen one other stand. It was 2 years ago, and my sister commented on the lack of nut or flower. It makes sense I guess…my sister is the eldest and she actually went to school for six years after her Tuning.

That is actually where I am headed now…my Tuning. It sounds really ominous, but it’s actually just a test to see what Domain(s) you have access to, and what strength you have. They test for: Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. There are actually several other domains, but they haven’t developed testing procedures for us non-nobles. Well, that’s what they say. My Dad thinks they restrict the testing to consolidate power, which is possible I guess. My sister and father get into many, many, many, late-night arguments on the subject. When that occurs I usually put a pillow over my head and go to sleep early…as does most of the family. I think my sister just wants to leave. She really liked school and wanted to go to extended schooling, but the cost was way too high. She was lucky my parents have enough pull with the local Duke to even get her in school. Most kids are taught at home and never progress beyond that. Eh, maybe this Ardec stand will alleviate the money excuse. My Dad might cave-in.

The strength test is a separate testing, and, again, they can’t test for everything. They have 5 classifications of strength: Influence, Weak, Parity, Strong, Avatar. My sister explained that the Tuning will only test for Influence, Weak, Parity, and Strong. The neat bit here, is that each strength holds different properties/abilities to the individual. A Weak strength can do different things than a Parity strength. A Parity strength can do different things than a Strong. Etc. The exception is the Avatar strength. They can do everything, and that’s not something you can test for easily. My sister explained this part of the tuning as equivalent to yelling down a pipe, a cave, or a valley. They can test for that, but Avatars are just too different.

With Influencers, I really had a hard time understanding. After an hour of my sister spilling text book descriptions, she finally hit on an example. Why people don’t start explaining difficult concepts with examples, I don’t know, but it worked. Influencers are the scouts of the world. When they connect with their Domain(s), they can feel the presence of objects, people, and/or elementals positioning through that Domain. So most scouts for the army are either Air or Earth Influencers. Water influencers make great fishermen. My sister didn’t go into Fire Influencers, but she made it seem like it was very dark. Maybe if I go to school, I can find out.

Weak strengths are extremely good with detail work. Most craftsmen are Weak in some Domain. Similarly, Parity strengths are builders. They don’t have the ability to do fine work, but they can create constructs about the size of a house or cart. If you are building a house, it will be a mixed crew of Weak and Parity strengths. If you are fishing, the Influencers will identify where the fish are, and the Parity will create a water or air box trapping the fish. Similar concept with most hunters. Fire boxes. Water boxes. Air boxes. Earth boxes. Parity strengths must have the most boring jobs ever.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Strong strengths are killers. If you are tagged as a Strong, you are immediately sent to training camp. The Domain connection for a Strong messes with their head. My sister says she met a Strong once. It was part of the class she was taking. A little, dark haired girl with emerald eyes walked into the classroom with three, adult, Parity strength attendants. They were allowed to ask questions about the usual things. ‘What does it feel like?’ ‘What are the downsides?’ ‘What’s your life like in the military?’ My sister asked what her parents thought of her. That was apparently the wrong the question. The girl got real quiet and all the air in the room began to stir. The attendants caught on real quick, encasing the girl in a bubble of earth, and quickly left the classroom. According to my sister, the class was real quiet for the next day or so. The teacher indicated that many Strongs snap at some point and have to be killed. Lets hope I am not a Strong.

Avatars are rare. They make the Ardec stands look like a common weeds. My sister explained that there are only 2 known Avatars in the known world at this time. Neither are in this kingdom, but on an adjacent continent that we trade with on occasion. In some weird coincidence, both are earth Avatars. They don’t take part in politics, but help during natural disasters, beast hordes, criminals, and the like. My sister further explained that Avatars have better control of self. Unlike the Strongs, they don’t get easily influenced by their Domain.

I asked my sister if it’s possible to increase/decrease the strength you are born with. She repeated something long and drawn out, that her teachers had said, but the short answer was “No”. No matter how much you use your Domain, your connection to it doesn’t change.

Both of my brothers are Weak earth crafters. They are both assholes. Well, I might be a bit biased, but really, they are evil. After my sister’s explanation of Strong strengths, I asked my Mom if I could report my brothers as Strongs. She laughed, tapped me on my head, and told me not to worry. Then again, she is not the one that awakened to 300 wooden penis sculptures in her bed…and everyday after, I find a penis sculpture. It has gotten so old, it really doesn’t faze me anymore. Considering I still sleep in my sister’s room, I think it bothers her more. My sister is a Parity earth. She has been helping my father with gathering and processing wood in the area. She is also my shield against my brothers…and she is scary. She encased my eldest brother, Gerad, in earth for 5 minutes without air holes…and she maintained her control over the sphere for the entire 5 minutes. Most Paritys can’t hold their control for longer than the time it takes to form the object. They either have to finalize the structure or release it…then again, she was mad. I think Gerad had put a penis sculpture in her bed.

Finalization. This is where a Parity shows skill. My sister won 2 awards during her time in school, both were for finalization. Let’s see, a Weak works with some form of material from their domain. To a craftsman, you just need to etch, mold, inscribe, etc. the material you are working with. For a Parity, they can pull/gather the domain like-material from their surroundings and shape it into a crude shape. The final shape contains the material and essence of power they used to shape it. A fairly powerful Parity can form material just from their essence. In either case, to make the structure permanent they have to remove their essence while maintaining the structure. If you are working with material from your surroundings, this is moderately difficult. Umm…think dropping a handful of rice in a bail of hay. It’s hard and time consuming, Paritys are connected to their domain, so they don’t necessarily have to pull the hay bail apart, but it’s still difficult. For structures made entirely of essence(s), you have to convert the essence into material…and I have no idea what that means.

Now, my parents are both Weak earth crafters. My Dad is from a long line of wood crafters, and the land we currently live on was a reward from the local Duke for his family’s years of service. I guess artistry runs in the family. Since my Dad was an only child, the land came to him upon his parents death. We are lucky in that sense, but we also live outside of any formal protections. I think that is why my Dad is holding onto to sister the way he is. She has thickened walls, cleared land, diverted water. According to my Mom, she has done more in the last two years than they have done in the last 50 years of land stewardship. I think my Dad and my sister both hope I will be a Strong as well. It would free her up to travel the lands, and would still maintain the family trust.

I am not sure. If I was another Weak earth crafter, I would get training from my family, but there wouldn’t be enough business to support my efforts. I would probably be sent to another city to find work on my own. The youngest sons are kinda screwed this way. If I was an Influencer, I could join the military. I am not sure I like this idea either, I am not really the stealthy, alert type. If I was a Parity, then my sister could leave, but then I would be left as a lifelong slave of sorts to my brothers…who would be bringing in the money. Like I said earlier, Parity types must lead really boring lives. There is an outside chance I could get the Water line from my Mom’s side. Her Mom was a Water Influencer. So, I might get a Water Domain, or a Mud Domain…which would suck. Mud Domains usually work for city sewer and flood response teams. Or, I could get some combination of Water and Earth Domains as separate connections. It happens. I don’t really know much about Water stuff, so it’s a little more scary, but at least I don’t know what I would be doing exactly for the next 50 years.

“Are we there yet?” My seven year old voice pipes above the background noise of the forest.

My Dad doesn’t even turn around. He just hops up and begins a little jog.