All Roads Lead to Home

I was confused and asked "So there is something. What is it? Will you sell me those supplies already or something?". The Village Chief shook his head and said "That is not it. Can I ask you a few questions?". I responded "Sure, Ask away".

The Village Chief asked "Is it true that you come from a village called Freemount?". I was confused and then, I remembered that I said that to Woody. 'He must've told this guy about it but why do they care so much?' I thought and said "Yes, Woody must've told you about that". He then asked "How old are you?", I was confused and said "That depends on what day and year it is but from my calculations, I should be 24 years old".

He said "It's the 614th year of the Endrosian Calendar. Today is the 41st day of summer". I nodded my head and said "Then, I'm 24". The Village Chief looked at the sky again and asked "Who are your parents? You said that you saw an image of your mother in front of the village stone". I was baffled and a bit suspicious. I said "Why do you want to know who my parents were? They were simple peddlers. They died a long time ago. Why are you asking me those unnecessary questions?".

He still looked at the sky and said "Can you just answer one more question?". I said "Ok, I will answer one more question". He asked "What were your parents names?". I was completely lost. 'Are these people obsessed about the history of others?' I thought and answered "Lily was my mother's name and Raz was my father's". I looked at the Village Chief and didn't know what to think. 'Was this over? Can I go now or something?' I thought but then, I noticed a stream of tears coming down from his eyes. 'What the…?'.

He said "You may not believe it but Lily was my daughter". I thought I heard something wrong and asked "The what?" and a while later, I said "Oh, you mean, your daughter also had the same name as my mother. Is your daughter dead as well?". He shook his head "You don't understand. Your mother, was my daughter". The first and initial reaction I had was "Bullshit! Do you know how far Freemount Village is from here? Old man, are you not acting delusional?".

He said "I told you, you will not believe it but you are my grandson. I can also prove it". I was baffled and said "How?". He said "Your name is Nex, right?". I was shocked. He then continued "Do you know why your parents gave you that name and what does it mean?". I said absentmindedly "No. Why?". He said "The name means "Blood". You are the blood of my daughter Lily and your father Raz, this is the name, I chose for you".

I said confused "But it doesn't make sense, how? Why would they live so far away and become some small time peddlers? This village has loads of powerful people, whenever man or a woman" then it hit me "Is that why my father practiced a set of exercises every morning?". The Village Chief introduced himself for the first time. "I'm Trek. Trek Whitehound, your mother was Lily Whitehound while your father was Raz Wintersteed. You are therefore Nex Wintersteed, is that not correct?".

It was true, I never said my last name to anyone while on the journey. Only people that knew my parents or me personally would know that. I asked "So, this is my home? This is where my parents come from?". Trek nodded his head and said "This is your true home boy. This is where your family is. It seems that the world is big but small at the same time. You came here by yourself even though, I searched you for years".

I asked "Why didn't my parents say anything? Why did we live in a different village?". Trek said "Calm down Nex, I will explain everything to you. First, I need to tell everybody that my grandson is back!".

He left like this and I stood there bewildered. 'Is this really my family? Is this where my mother came from? Otherwise, why would he know about all those things? But the odds of me getting here… how unlikely is this?' I thought as I stood there. This felt weird to me, as if something was off. 'If this place is like this, full of strong people and they have their own community. No one goes around hungry, everyone works for the better good of the whole village. So why would my parents leave? Were they cast out? Ran away? Why did they go so far then?' I thought and asked myself many questions.

What Trek said seemed truthful but it seemed that he withheld some stuff as well. I wanted to ask questions but he left. 'I don't understand his actions either. He found his grandson, that has been missing for years and he is not happy enough to come over and hug me or something like that? My instincts are telling me, something is wrong and my instincts were never wrong. I should watch out, I don't know any of these people' I thought and returned to the hut.

Woody was still working on his carvings. I said to him "It turns out I'm the grandson of Trek". Woody stopped his carving and turned around. He said "So, it was you. I thought about that, when you told me that you are from Freemount Village. Your long, black hair obstructed your face but you do resemble your father". I asked "Can you teach me archery now? It seems that people of this village, hide great amount of experience and skills".

He responded "Sure. You are part of the family, so I don't see a problem. We can start tomorrow and you can still do some work if you want but being the grandson of Trek, I don't think you will have to work here hehe". I nodded my head and said "I will do some work once in a while, it reminds me of my profession and the past. I will rest now but tomorrow, you have to show me some tricks!". Woody laughed and said "Sure".

I laid down in my bed and closed my eyes. I didn't know what to think about all of this. One one hand, I was happy that I still had a family but on the other, my instincts were warning me about something. I learned to trust my instincts and the unanswered questions that I had, were bothering me even more. 'We will see tomorrow. I want to hear the answers to my questions first. Maybe this will ease my instincts' I thought and fell asleep.