Chapter 2: Leaving Childhood Behind
As the day broke, the people of Rerum started out of their small huts, and into the morning sun. The slight spring breeze rustled their tunics, dresses, and hair as it flew in from the bay, where a great black stone sat one mile out in the center of said bay, causing much wonder in the children, but caused no emotion from the adults, who all knew the dark secrets it held.
One such person leaving their small home was Mith. She closed the wooden door behind her as she made her way to the beach. She passed the other huts through town with a feeling of dread for the ceremony later that same day. Thoughts swirled through her mind as she walked. Why must it be a public occasion? Mith had seen many coming of age ceremonies, and loved every one of them. But now that it was her turn, she was frightened. Her eyes were fixed with a look of complete serenity, but her body shook with anticipation.
“Why hello, Mith.”
Mith stopped abruptly, she was so fixated on her thoughts she almost forgot she was still walking through town. Mith looked around to see a bright eyed older gentleman staring merrily at her.
“Oh, hello Mr. Tyurd, how are the birds?” She looked at her feet as she talked.
“Very well, thank you for asking. So, today is the big day, excited?”
Mith looked past the man into the yard around his hut. It was closed off by a two foot tall wood fence. Inside the fence twenty small black chickens could be seen. Mr. Tyurd was a very prominent chicken farmer, who sold his birds to towns all over the Bay Region. He was happily ignorant to the fate of his birds.
Mith avoided the question, “I have to be going now, sir.” She continued her walk, eyes down, toward the beach. She did not feel much like talking to the gentleman and did not want to seem rude by answering the question she had not yet answered to herself. Mr. Tyurd nodded as she walked away and turned back to his chickens.
Only two sat on the beach that day, Mith, of the Hardel family and young Ludus, of the Tinn family. They sat silently, gazing at the great black rock in the bay, at the water, which dazzled beautifully with the sun’s sparkles, and at the pink quartz sand, that felt warm and safe, under their feet.
The silence was finally broken by a simple, yet powerful question.
“Are you ready?” Ludus asked Mith in a whisper.
“Not yet. Are you?”
“I’ve thought about this for a while, and I don’t think I’ll ever be ready. I mean look at the young ones of the town, and then look at the adults. There’s so much difference. I don’t see how we can change into that just by going to the Merchant Region and back.” Ludus explained, rather nervously, he wasn’t used to sharing his feeling with anyone.
Mith looked to Ludus, her blonde hair blowing in the breeze. “I’ve seen the difference too, but I don’t think that the change happens because of the journey itself, I think it has more to do with the complete change in the way we think when we go.” Ludus looked puzzled; Mith continued with a sigh, “Think about it, Ludus, we will be out at night, tonight, for the first time ever. We will be without our families and friends for the first time, all we will have is each other, and we both don’t know anything about journeying or about how to get to a certain place and back.”
Mith was silent for several minutes before finally speaking, “We’ll be alright; I don’t think they would send us on a journey unless they knew we would be safe.”
Ludus had worry written on his face, “But how do they know we will be safe?”
“They’re the elders, they just know.”
Mith’s certainty was too much for Ludus; he wasn’t as optimistic as she was. Mith knew bad things happened in the world, but she also knew that good things can come from them. Ludus on the other hand, was still learning that bad things happened, and was therefore worried over small things.
As the two sat, they began to hear voices far off, coming closer. They knew who it was, even at that distance; they could make out their parent’s voices.
“Hey, you kids.” Ludus’s mother called as she came closer. She was one of the older women in the town, in her mid-fifties, but still had a young radiance about her. She had recently been asked to join the elders, but declined since she was still raising Ludus. Her long, curly, blonde hair blew over her left shoulder as she walked towards the kids. She wore a white dress, patterned with small birds embroidered all over.
Walking right beside her was Ludus’s father. He was of average height, several years younger than his wife, and sported a short, rough beard. He wore a white shirt, tucked into gray pants that were much too wide for his thin, yet muscular legs. Oftentimes known as the master of the bay, he was an expert fisherman, and, with the students at his fishing school, caught at least half of the fish eaten in Rerum.
Mith’s father was walking towards the beach beside Ludus’s parents. A huge smile covered his face. He wore a blue shirt and gray pants, the same kind as Ludus’s father. A successful thirty-four year old, he made his living building huts for the new adults in the town after they got back from their journeys, even though it would still be a few years until they were ready to occupy them. Recently widowed, he was usually found on the beach near sunset. This was the first smile Mith had seen on her father’s face since her mother died almost six months before.
Ludus jumped up and ran to his parents, who embraced him in a long, loving, hug. Mith’s father walked casually up to Mith and put his arms around her.
“Your mother would be so proud of you right now . . . if she were here.” He whispered into Mith’s ear.
“I know.” she whispered back.
Mr. Hardel released his daughter, “whelp, it’s finally here, your big day. How do you feel?”
Mith looked up at her father, the big smile was gone, but he still looked happier than he had been in a long while. “I feel great, a little curious as to what might happen, though.”
“Only a little curious?” Mr. Hardel chuckled, “In the weeks leading up to my journey, I wanted so badly to break into the elder’s home and find some clues.”
“Are you serious?” Mith asked, shocked. “I never thought you’d be the one to break rules.”
“Oh, yeah, I was quite the troublemaker before my journey.” His voice grew with nostalgia, “But then I met your mother, on the journey I might add, and she mellowed me right down.”
“Yeah, I remember that story”
Mr. Hardel changed the subject, he looked to his daughter lovingly, “How about this, huh. After today you will be on the road to being an adult, pretty crazy right?”
“I guess so.” Mith said sorrowfully.
Mr. Hardel nodded his head in understanding, “Not ready to leave childhood behind just yet, huh?”
Mith looked down to the pink sand as she spoke, “I don’t think that I want to grow up yet. I mean who’s to tell me that I have to be an adult when I come back, can’t I still be a kid for a while longer.”
Mr. Hardel sighed deeply, “Let’s sit down for a minute Mith; I want to tell you something.” Mith agreed and sat down with her father in the sand.
Behind them Ludus was still in an everlasting hug with his parents. “How about that,” Mr. Hardel said, pointing over to Ludus and his parents, “That’s love right there.” he mused. He turned to Mith, who was laughing. “Anyway, I need to tell you a couple of things before you go off on your journey.”
“Like what?” Mith asked, wondering if he was going to say the same things that Maows said the night before.
“First off,” he began. “I would like to tell you to be careful; it’s a dangerous world out there. Not that I don’t think you can’t handle it, it’s just that all your going to have is the help of Ludus, another fourteen year old. And the places you will be going through are going to be dangerous, filled with bandits. But don’t be scared, most of all don’t show fear. The people you meet will feed off of your fear.” He paused; looking for some reaction to his story on
her face, there was none. Her face was placid, listening intently. “I want you to be strong, stronger than you ever have been. Anything can be thrown at you on this journey, anything at all. And you need to be ready.”
“I know.” Mith said quietly, she looked to the sand as she spoke.
“Most importantly,” Mr. Hardel continued, putting his hand on Mith’s shoulder reassuringly. “I want—no need you to be patient.” Mith looked up, surprised. Her father continued, “You’ve never been on a journey this long before. Before this, the longest away from this town you’ve been is to the nearest trading post, only an hour away. This journey may take you days, and you have to be willing to continue. Every couple of years, there’s someone who comes back after only a couple of hours, and I don’t want that to be you.”
“I didn’t know that.” Mith said, wondering why she had never noticed, or even heard about this happening.
Mr. Hardel could sense what she was thinking. “We don’t tell the younger citizens about it. In fact—as you already know—most of what happens on the journey is completely secret to all those who have yet to turn fourteen.”
“Why is that?” Mith asked suddenly. “Why can’t we know until the day of the event? That seems kind of mean doesn’t it?”
Mr. Hardel laughed quietly to himself, “You make a good point. That’s a question you’re going to have to ask Maows. I personally think that it’s to keep kids interested, they are always thinking about deep dark secrets, which in reality aren’t that deep or dark, but if we told them that it would dampen their anticipation for it.”
“Yeah, it’s not that dark.” Mith said, absentmindedly.
Mr. Hardel looked at her suspiciously, “You think so, do you?”
Mith was suddenly nervous, “Umm, well, no, I was just caught up in the conversation. I don’t actually know anything about the journey yet.”
“No, I didn’t think you did.”
Ludus sat down beside Mr. Hardel, “So, what’s happenin’, sir.” Mr. Hardel was the only adult, besides his own parents that he felt completely comfortable talking around. It wasn’t because Ludus was friends with Mith, but because her father was always over for dinner. Mr. Hardel, though younger than Ludus’s parents, always tagged along with them when he was young, after he first moved to Rerum, many years before.
“Hey, Ludus,” Mr. Hardel said, now turning to Ludus, as his parents sat down opposite the three already sitting. “How are things with you?”
“Oh, pretty good I guess, can’t complain much.” Ludus answered, sifting sand through his hands.
“Are you worried about the journey, too?”
“Well, yeah. Shouldn’t I be? It is a new experience, something I’ve never done before.”
“Just don’t let it take the better of you, alright.” Mr. Hardel said, putting his hand on Ludus’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry about our Ludus,” Mr. Tinn said proudly. “Our Ludus can take care of himself, can’t you, boy?”
Ludus looked happily up at his father, “Absolutely, dad, I’ll be the bravest ever.”
Mith rolled her eyes, nobody noticed.
“And if you do get scared, Mith will be there to help you.” Mrs. Tinn said, smiling sweetly at Mith. “Isn’t that right, Mith?”
Mith looked to Mrs. Tinn, “Oh, of course, ma’am.” There was slight sarcasm in her voice.
“Oh my,” Mrs. Tinn said loudly over a gust of warm air, “would you look at the sun, it’s almost time for the ceremony.”
Everyone squinted up to see the position of the sun; it was almost ten degrees above the horizon.
“My word, you’re right.” Mr. Tinn exclaimed, jumping up. “You two have to be at the ceremony very soon.” He now turned to the kids. “Quick, you two, go get ready, we’ll meet you at the ceremony.”
Ludus and Mith got to their feet, and ran in the direction of their huts. They were soon out of sight.
Mr. and Mrs. Tinn started towards the elder’s home, where the ceremony would be, when Mr. Hardel called for them.
“Excuse me.” He called to them, “Can I speak with you a moment.”
“Go on ahead of me,” Mr. Tinn said to Mrs. Tinn, he then turned to face Mr. Hardel, who was getting up from the sand.
“What’s the deal, Thurmin?” Mr. Hardel asked, “Didn’t you tell Ludus that this could be dangerous?”
Thurmin Tinn slowly stepped toward Mr. Hardel, “Hey, listen, Kip, I just wanted to give the kid some confidence.”
“I agree he needs confidence, they both do, but he needs to know that this could be dangerous. You know as well as I that there are bandits and thieves and wild animals out there in the Rough, and they both need to be ready.” Kip Hardel said, trying to sound as pleasant as possible.
“Look, old boy, I know that, but it looked to me that you gave Mith enough danger talk for the both of them.”
“Excuse me?” Kip inquired, his anger rising.
“Watch your tone with me, Kip. We live in a town that doesn’t believe in that sort of tone.” Thurmin Tinn warned, taking a step back.
“That’s another thing you know as well as I do, I wasn’t born in this town, I moved here when I was eleven, you remember, and my job takes me all over. I’ve seen the real world outside of this town; I know what kind of people are there.” Kip advanced closer to Thurmin.
Thurmin was now going backwards in full strides, his hands were held out in front of him, gesturing for Mr. Hardel to stop. “I’m sorry, Kip, but today we shouldn’t be arguing, we should be happy, so why don’t we head on down to the ceremony and be there for our kids, the way we should be.”
Kip stopped his advance on Mr. Tinn, “Alright, you go on ahead, I’ll be there in a minute; I just need to cool down.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Thurmin said, relieved that Mr. Hardel stopped coming towards him.
Without another word, Thurmin Tinn turned and walked away, heading for the ceremony. Kip Hardel sat back down in the sand and stared back out into the bay. He couldn’t see it from where he sat, but two boats had just left the giant black rock.