Brother

The observer in his timeless and infinite observation sees everything throughout the whole existence, a great kaleidoscopic panel of lights with infinite colors, all emitting and reflecting light exchanging information, a point of light among the almost infinite other points that caught his attention, a soft glow of blue a little smudged with black, but emitting a lot of luminosity, the observer approached his vision and entered its luminous spectrum.

Descending over the clouds, flying at high speed over the treetops, long pastures and lakes of a small country, but with great pride, running north the observer passes over a gigantic lake connected to several rivers, his gaze falls on a small town called Ical and in it his vision lands on two young people running through the streets towards the tallest building in the city, while they are chased by the screams of people in a hurry.

The street they are on looks dirty, the road is dirt where some weeds are struggling to grow in the battered soil. Chickens roam the road scratching the ground looking for something to eat ignoring the pedestrians although a few pass by doing their chores or just wandering around. The houses seen along the way are simple, the floor is all made of Jambá wood coated with resin, a large tree that grows a lot in the region and with very resistant wood.

The two young men running around appear to be the same age, one is dressed in a simple gray shirt with brown pants and shoes made of sheepskin, a simplistic but very presentable look, he didn't want to make a bad impression on his first day. . His hair is black as night and his eyes are a dark brown hue, and a muscular body for his age, people always say he got that from his father.

"Thanks again for waking me up Lau, if you hadn't done that what face would I have seen them with later, this on the day of the Completion Ceremony." He spoke to his friend next door, who is a few inches behind.

"Humph… Gael leaves the thanks for later, we haven't arrived at the place yet, have we?". Lau replied breathlessly, he is a little taller than his friend and quite thin, in fact, weighing less than the average boy at his age. His parents and friends always tease him saying he was skinny as he has a habit of eating a lot, but this never contributed to his weight gain, what his body does with the food he ingests, he never found out.

Lau is dressed in more elegant clothes, a red cotton shirt with details on the collar and shoulders, brown pants made of thick fabric and heavily padded shoes. His straight hair blowing in the wind as it runs shining dark brown in the sun, his face contains eyes the color of the deep sea.

Nodding in agreement, Gael picks up speed with Lau barely keeping up, fueling hopes that they might make it in time. Lau almost fell in an attempt to dodge a chicken that was absently scratching the ground, as she let out clucks of protest the boy let out a curse between his teeth and heard a weak laugh beside him. Looking at Gael who couldn't contain another laugh and this one came louder than the previous one, infected by her friend's laugh, Lau joined them.

Turning down a street, they continued their rhythm, looking around Gael noticed that there was almost no one on the street, which was no surprise to him considering the upcoming festival, The Day of Completion, an event where young adults who turned 20 years old will show the fruits of their six-year training, where they will finally be able to act in their areas.

An event where, after six years of learning, new adults can effectively be considered an active part of society. Shielding her eyes from the rising sun Gael looked at some stragglers who apparently didn't mind being punctual, some of them even ordered them to hurry up, like Mrs Grimbel Ingris.

She was old when the old were young, that's what the townspeople commented on her age, 'maybe she doesn't even know how old she is now'.

The woman is small even for the short ones, it seems that time has taken the extra age of the woman in size, many consider her a prickly rose, but the rose being very small and withered while the thorns are large and numerous.

Always with shrewd comments and a sharp tongue, she would boss and lash out at people who had the misfortune to meet her. Always using the excuse of age to send someone to perform a task, complaining about her legs, back or something.

But these facts they don't let her be less loved in the region, she gives good advice to those who seek her and even reprimands the mayor and the elders when necessary. Many even say that the old woman is the real housekeeper of the city, someone who can't stand nonsense, even the smallest.

Once Gael, Lau and other friends broke into her backyard, hoping to pick guavas from the guava tree on the ground, of course she found them all on the tree's branches like a group of hungry little monkeys with guavas in their sacks.

When someone ended up letting it slip that this was initially a prank between the boys to show who would have the courage to steal her fruit, but it ended up going wrong with everyone jumping on the ground and forgetting the lady, who could show up at any moment trying to impress others friends.

After a scolding that it would be better if she had spanked them she said she would give them the fruit if they asked, but as they were so hungry she would force them to eat all they had in the bag at once to satisfy their hunger. They were ill for a week as a result of the prank.

Gael still remembers the occasion well and maintains a fearful respect for her after that, never try to steal the fruits bowls again, but he jumps every time the old woman says a word to him. Giving a hasty answer to the lady, he increased his speed, not wanting to spend too much time with her and Lau apparently didn't either, because even apparently on the edge he managed to find the strength to keep up with him.

Looking ahead, he observed the beginning of a large circular square with many people walking, the central square of the city, with benches distributed in several places and many leafy trees providing shade for visitors, some trees blooming at this time, such as Ipê, another tree very common, Lau likes them a lot because of their flowering, the entire treetop is filled with a pink, yellow, white or purple flower.

On the opposite side of the square is the largest building he has ever seen, with a staircase leading up to the entrance made of stone, with arches made of white stone and wooden poles attached to the floor with ribbons of all colors tied and swaying in the wind. The roof of the building has a more acute triangular shape using tiles to stop the rain, the large high walls have wooden windows with shutters evenly distributed throughout the building.

At the top of the building is a large bell attached to a pole with a string to move it and produce the sound, Gael has never heard this bell ring before and his parents have only seen it a few times and most of those times for the wrong reason.

Everyone knows the bell is to warn them if a Lost is in town or some Twisted one, for people to run as far as they can, no one wants anything to do with cursed people. Fear for what this peoples have caused still lingers even after so long. Afraid of being found by a Lost and bitten, the bite is worse than death, this is the citizens speak of.

But that's nothing to think about on a day like this, the king has these cursed people hunted all over the place, and from what he hears from travelers the same is done in the rest of the world, in some places they kill them as soon as they find, the Twisted are less of a cause for concern, they are all confined to the dead areas.

From what he heard of these places, they are regions where men cannot tread, there are all sorts of corrupt animals there. It is said that these places may have the ruins of ancient great cities before the Fall of the Core, but as it is an unexplored area, the question remains. Gael once heard from a peddler who passed through a border region to one of these lands, he said that he cannot see the place, as it has a great wall protecting the rest of the world from these creatures.

Other people say that the Lost are used to defend these borders from these creatures, crazy talk. Or that there is no wall, that is just the power that the ancients left that prevent creatures from crossing the border.

Another crazy talk, whatever power they had in the past is gone like most things after the Fall, what's left now are the Lost going mad and animals that seem to come out of nightmares. Shaking his head, he tore his gaze away from the bell to get those thoughts out of his mind and took the step to enter the square and be greeted by the sounds of conversation and laughter that filled the place.

"Phw… we got there just in time!". Lau spoke breathlessly when they reached the square, her hair was a little disheveled and beads of sweat glistened on her face. "I almost couldn't keep up with you. And the core take me if I wanted to be close to that old woman too.".

"It's not my fault if you don't care about working your body, but it may be that you disappear after starting to do a lot of exercise, I was even afraid you'd lose weight until you disappeared in the race here.". Gael spoke in a mocking tone, being rewarded with a light punch on the shoulder and a laugh from his friend.

Looking ahead, he saw that his friend was right that he hadn't started yet, but was almost there, with the other boys his age moving to their places in front of City Hall. The people who were not participating in the ceremony were distributed in a circle around the protagonists of the event.

Not all people were from the small town, some were from nearby villages like the Majestic Tree to the south or the Queen of Waters to the north. And also some who live in nearby farms, all the participants wore their best clothes for the occasion, many citizens with woolen clothes and the richest in the region wore silk suits.

A piece of clothing made of silk is worth a fortune, he has never seen a piece of silk for sale, but he has observed some peddlers selling fabrics of the material that were so small that three could not be made into a shirt, and each one of those pieces came off. More expensive than a hundred pieces of a size equal to cloth made from good wool.

At the front of the crowd and the participants were Mayor Daniel Arula An`Talia, and the elders of the city, each one with beautiful clothes, of different colors, but on the shoulders a band of white fabric started from each shoulder, and they met at the height from the navel that joined and descended to the floor.

The young people who were participating, boys and girls wore their best clothes and on their heads a tiara with Ipê flowers placed on them, when they were approaching a robust bearded man taller than most of the people of Ical came to welcome them, he was Igor Derua An`Elaine one of the two small town blacksmiths. He was already middle-aged, with a bit of white hair over his ears, contrasting with the intense night in the rest of his hair, with broad shoulders and a square jaw.

"I'm glad you arrived in time, I was about to go after you two, when your parents arrived, and I asked where you were, I felt like going after the two of you to kick each other for the feat of their irresponsibility." He spoke in a serious tone, handing each one a tiara with Ipê flowers on it.

"It's my fault, if it weren't for me Lau wouldn't have been late, I ended up sleeping too much, and he was the one who woke me up in time." Gael spoke with shame putting the tiara on his head followed by Lau, on the first official day of work being late for the ceremony is a bad start.

The ceremony begins at dawn, as a symbol for the beginning of a new phase of life. And it ends at twilight, indicating the end of another. Many parents do not wake up their children in the day to create in them responsibility for the job and create an incentive to fulfill obligations and be punctual.

"No need to be upset about it, you know, I've been through a lot of shame in my life, and this would just be one more." Lau let out a good-natured laugh. "But what matters is that we arrived on time, let's hurry to our seats." Bowing his head in farewell to Igor, Lau took Gael's shoulder and led him to their seats.

When they arrived, they stayed behind the other young people, and some closest to them gave them significant looks. Gael lowered your voice, and asked if your friend had any other shame added to the list.

"Do you know Daria? The daughter of Mrs. Jessa, wife of the builder Rodrigo?". Lau asked and Gael nodded. "I was looking for Glue Stone near Forest of Shadows and I ended up accidentally seeing her bathing in the stream that passes by there, she saw me and ran away. Then her parents came to my house to talk to my parents that I was a Shameless pervert who likes to spy on girls in the bath and if I wanted to see her naked so badly I should marry her first." Gael raised an eyebrow and Lau continued.

"Heavens! The woman even tried to arrange a marriage between me and her daughter! May the Core take me, if that wasn't an excuse to try to tie me to your daughter for the misunderstanding! Look, I tried to explain that I didn't mean to, but it all went wrong and now Daria thinks we were promised and every time I meet her I think I'm in a cauldron of boiling water to the last hair! Not to mention I try to hide whenever she passes by, but she seems to smell me and find me and there's always someone with her to see my misery."

"Well I'm sure you've been through worse, I think it's good you have a conversation with her about it to correct possible misunderstandings, I don't know!". Gael sighed. "My parents do that, and it always works when something isn't right in their marriage. The girl, she's pretty, and almost your age, I wouldn't mind if we were promised, are you sure you don't feel anything for her? I've never seen you often blush, are sure you don't save a space of your heart for her?" Gael flashed a mocking smile at Lau who rolled her eyes.

"She can have you, I deliver her with roses and all decorated for Promise Day, I'm sure she would love to make you blush. You know, she's not ugly until she's pretty, but she's not my type, you know she's a year younger than me, and I'm not interested in girls too young, I…"

"Are you two really going to wait for one of the elders to scold you in front of everyone? The mayor may be his father Lau, but even that doesn't let him escape some good sharp words from those old men, pay attention, it's about to start.". Interrupting Lau, Raul Daris was a friend who spent a few good times with them, he is taller than Lau, but smaller than Gael, he has light, almost blonde hair a little longer than usual and brown eyes, as everyone present at the event is dressed. with nice clothes. His friends glared at him, but they kept quiet, nobody wants to be lectured by the old men, they just aren't worse than old Grimbel.

As a tradition, the boys will receive beer to commemorate the event for the start of coming of age. They will receive alcoholic drinks and celebrate with everyone. Gael is a little anxious, he's afraid that he won't be able to take the glass and embarrass himself but also anxious to taste it, Lau has said that he tasted it once when he was younger, he was playing with his younger brothers and found his father's glass forgotten on a table and drank it thinking it was juice.

They were celebrating Promise Day, when young people promise themselves in marriage, which is made official for everyone in the city. Lau said that the taste is bad, and he got dizzy and laughing about almost anything, his parents when they saw what he had done, they poured a bucket of water over his head and left the boy in a corner to be shivering in the cold of the night as punishment. For Lau it was not a good experience.

With his mind wandering he almost didn't realize that the mayor had climbed the stairs and behind him were all the elders, the opening rites are about to begin, with a light elbow from the friend next to him, he came back to reality paying attention to the top of the stairs.

"May the creator have mercy on us and let us remember what was lost, may the times of glory of men return and may greed no longer prevail and destruction no more repeat." Everyone echoed those words throughout the square.

"May these new men and women build a better world than we currently do, may we guard our anger and wrath to prevent what has passed from happening again, may pride and pedantry not corrupt your thoughts and be safe from the corruption of the core." With a little pause, he looked at all the presents and more excitedly spoke.

"Welcome everyone and I congratulate all the participants, they are already men and women, but they will still have a long way to go to show if they are really adults or just overdeveloped children, now we will start the initial rites, all young participants take just one piece of cloth that is being distributed among you."

Two men in white suits came down the stairs and through the crowd of attendees. Lau, Gael and Raull took their fabrics like all the other boys, all the fabrics were white as clouds on sunny days, they were the last to receive as they were furthest from the stairs. When everyone was in place, the mayor continued.

"This piece of cloth represents your future, the future of each of you, look at it, it's pure white, it doesn't have any detail, it's simple, but it has many possibilities for decoration, you can do embroidery, paint, use props, whatever. This is your future, white, uncertain, but you are the ones who will fill it with details, with your professions and responsibilities, with your paths.". One more pause, letting the last words echo in the square. "As tradition says, the festival is held a week after the first flowering of the Ipê tree, and following her example, you too must bloom to new life."

A while passed after the mayor stopped talking, each elder took turns spouting his rants and giving them hints about adulthood and even talking about adult truths, and receiving in return shouts of agreement. Gael was tired of this, not that he didn't care for the teachings of the elders, but he'd heard it so many times before.

Time passed and he was restless, he listened to everything, but it was something the boy had seen many times, and he could make these speeches on his own for the amount of times he had heard it years before.

Lau beside him was almost asleep, had been since the elders started their boring speeches. It was almost at the end, he thought, so much time listening to it served for something. Until the last elder finally finished his torturous speech, Gael sometimes thought that the elders were competing over who he would say the most, and unfortunately the competition was fierce.

The mayor after what seemed like an eternity returned to the stage, holding a few sheets of paper in his hand, paper was a bit expensive product, a bundle, about ten sheets was ten copper marks, which could buy a lunch and a half in the main tavern of the city, but Daniel and the elders did not care about expenses if it was for records, especially of the people, each citizen who lived in that city was registered and even had his profession saved, lifting the paper the mayor began to read.

"Loren Alrin! He went from a humble Apprentice Blacksmith to a full-fledged Blacksmith!"

He would call the mayor, then the designated one would go up the stairs and the host would talk about his profession, receiving face paint in different colors depending on the activity performed.

This continued for a long time, always someone was called and saying the name after the profession and being painted on the face by Daniel, the symbols vary from person to person and from profession to profession, having their meanings, no one ever knows what the symbol will be until let the mayor draw, it's just a passing drawing, to show the population the qualities for which you were chosen for the profession and the flaws you need to overcome.

The flurry of names continued, like "Bruno.. Renan… Fábio… Asl… Gab…". And their professions "Merchant… Flecher… Slater… Leatherworking…". Many people gasped in surprise when they heard the professions of a certain boy or girl and some shouts of congratulations from the audience. Many names and many professions until the number of people who were not called were three.

"Raul Daris!"

The mayor called, and the boy walked calmly to the top of the steps, Gael was anxious, he was happy for his friends and quite anxious to know what symbols and colors each friend carried. When he reached the top, the mayor spoke in the same tone of voice as before.

"Constructor!". The mayor drew in blue ink on his face lines in circular shapes on one cheek, and three white concentric circles on the other.

The symbols stand for Adaptive and Patient.

Something that Gael found curious, as he was usually the most hurried among his friends, but white meant something in the future, maybe it's a hint for him to learn to be patient. And blue says to be immutable or unshakable, well Raull was the most adaptable of the whole group even in the worst situations. When he came back, he had a smile bigger than his face.

"Lauroe Arula.". The mayor announced, calling his son up the stairs.

"It's my turn, wish me luck." Blinking Lau he got out of his position and walked slowly to the top of the stairs facing his father.

"Librarian"!

Some people shouted congratulating him, when Gael found out about Lauroe's apprenticeship, he was glad his friend picked up such a good apprenticeship. Now that he's become the official Librarian, Lau will be able to read some books he's always wanted but can never have access to. This craft is quite the face of Lau. More curious and intelligent than most people Gael knows, Lau is sure to like him a lot.

The mayor took the brush and began to draw a yellow star on the right side of his cheek, and a red sword on the other side. The yellow star Gael has seen a few times and everyone memorizes the symbols, the colors and their meanings. The star means intelligence and the yellow is care, and the sword means courage and the red is the urgent lack of what you need to have.

After that he was released down the path in a serious way, more than twice he almost put his hands on his face, smudging the paint. Gael greeted his friend with a big smile, which another returned with a roll of his eyes.

"Relax, it wasn't that bad." Said Gael looking at the star painting on her right cheek…

"Liar, I observed the color of the ink he drew with, and at two it doesn't seem to be a good thing. Especially the red one." Gael shrugged his friend off, he was going to find out about the drawings anyway. It was his turn to be called by the mayor, and he was nervous.

"Gael Tarino!". Hearing Daniel's voice, he hurried to reach the place, he was jealous of his friends for walking so calmly while he was worried about tripping in the wind.

Upon reaching the top, he faced Daniel and waited for him to make the announcement. "Soldier!". There were some sounds of congratulations from the crowd, but none of this was surprising, which was to be expected given that his father was also a soldier and from his long apprenticeship, many of the young people who gained apprenticeships followed in the footsteps of their parents or a family member.

Daniel brought two bowls of paint, one green and one white. He started making drawings on Gael's face, the paint was cold, and the brush tickled her cheek, it almost made Gael put her hand on her face the same way Lau did. Now he understood his friend in that. He tried to find out what the drawings would be, but ended up getting lost and finding nothing.

Going down the stairs he couldn't contain a smile, and he was almost as big as Raul's, he arrived at the place where his friends were and waited for the final rites to be concluded as well as the last words of the hosts.

When it was finally over, he moved looking for a place with fewer people, but not before picking up a piece of pie and a mug of beer that was offered to him as well as his friends. Passing through the crowd that offered them congratulations or some joke about drinking and warnings about drinking too much.

When Gael and Lau finally found a secluded spot they started to argue about the drawings and the meaning, they told Raul about the drawings what they thought it could be, he just nodded in agreement and then launched into a comment about stupid old men. Lau had an improvement in her mood when she found out what the first means, and got worse when she found out about the second.

"Why do I have to be careful with my intelligence? And well, I have guts more than most people I know." He commented sourly.

"I don't know, you always get braver when there's a girl, around Lau." One more sour face from his friend, and Gael continued. "I know you're not arrogant, but things change... and stop scowling at me, or I'll have Danise make you a really good concoction to cure that."

Taking a sip of beer, his friend coughed when he heard the mention of the old town healer, known for shutting everyone up with her herbs, only Mrs Grimbel is immune to that. Lau has suffered a lot at the hands of that woman, as a child she had more fever than most people in a lifetime, and yet the medicine she gave her never improved her taste.

"No need, I'd rather be with a Lost than with her." Gael and Rau raised an eyebrow, doubting the boy's words, and he corrected himself. "I'd rather be with Mrs Grimbel than the healer. Never mind, Gael, have you guessed what drawings they made on you?". He shook his head. "Well, on your right cheek you have a green eagle drawn and on your left a white hand."

Gael kept thinking about the symbols, the eagle represents strength, and green means alive, active and growing, he is quite strong like the people in his family. But the white hand intrigued him, its meaning is prudence and white talks about something for the future, he may need to learn to be prudent, but this is something he does not find wanting. He thinks he is very prudent when he needs to be.

"Well strength I think it's about my physical strength, since prudence I've always considered myself prudent I don't know what those old men saw in me, but I believe they are wrong.". He said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Elders sometimes make the wrong choice of painting, don't worry, I've met more people who had the wrong paintings than you can count with two hands. Isn't he mayor?".

Laughing, a man walked towards him, he was Elisio Tarino An'Zyra, Gael's father, a little bigger than his son, being everything that the newly considered man will be in the future, very robust with light brown hair and eyes, dressed in good green wool shirt and black wool pants, with some details on the pants and shirt collar, a hard worker always strives to make his children have the best.

Like all spectators at the events, ribbons were tied around his right hand of various colors. With him came four other people, his mother Zyra Tarino An'Elisio, shorter than he and his father, with black hair and light brown eyes, wearing a wool dress with ruffles on the sleeves and details made with golden thread contrasting with the green of the dress, she always gave him a good spanking when he was caught doing something wrong.

Beside her, Ronnan Tarino, her younger brother, wearing a black shirt and brown pants with gold embroidery on the collar and trouser legs, a very calm boy, a little shorter than Gael, very similar to his brother, with the short black hair, who in two years will be completing his apprenticeship.

The mayor and his wife came with Gael's family, Daniel with a big smile on his face and his wife at his side Mrs Talia Arula An'Daniel, very affectionate, with blue eyes just like her son with long, waist-length locks of gray brown. Gael has always liked the woman, she would give her candy whenever she was at her house playing with Lau as children or when she visited.

"Well, sometimes they get it wrong, but you can be sure that we did our best to choose the strengths and weaknesses." She spoke to the mayor as if she had tasted lemon by looking at the drawings on the boys' cheeks.

"Whatever, the important thing is that they are now in the test period, and it's good not to fail it. Son, I hope you enjoy this day a lot, it's one of the few days off we have for a while."

Elisio, Gael's father, spoke. He who is Gael's superior, and from his six years of apprenticeship, his father taught him a lot, now the boy will act alone and will have to take responsibility for his decisions.

"It's good for you all to enjoy the party, and we want you all to do your best." The boys nodded…

The guys chatted for a while, but eventually they split up to enjoy the celebration with their family or talk to someone they knew. Time passed and Gael was with her father leaning against the trunk of an Ipê tree, enjoying the view with a melancholy air.

"Phww, I see you're thinking about Nathanael, we haven't seen him in a long time." Elisio spoke, watching his son ramble.

"I wish he were here now. I wanted him to see me go up on stage and finally be considered an adult by the rest of the town, I'm sure he would mess up my hair and make some joke about growing up being boring."

Saying this with a heavy heart Gael remembered the day her brother left the house, with a bag of clothes and supplies, hugging everyone in the house and telling them not to worry that when he returned he would bring a lot of money and a beautiful wife who would give many grandchildren to his parents, and would be glorified by everyone in town for the brave warrior he is.

"It's been two years since he left, I hope he's doing well. And he is winning many battles wherever he is." His father said this with a sad smile on his face.

"He may have decided to settle down around Valoran since it's been half a year since the conflict ended. He may be getting a lot of money to get back, too. He said he was going to make a name, didn't he? He will come back.". Gael said this, trying to convey as much confidence as possible to his father, although with each passing day he thinks more and more that his brother died in the war.

The pair sat in silence, just enjoying the scenery and dealing with themselves about how missing an important person makes in their lives. Later that afternoon, Gael joined her family for lunch. The family ate a simple meal, but the company and the scenery of the blossoming trees made the food taste better. They talked about many things, most notably about Gael choosing a girl to marry soon.

The rest of the afternoon went very well for the family, everyone relaxed, many snacks and meals were offered. In the afternoon, Gael decided to take her younger brother for a walk. Ronnan is always distant from other people, with a calm and restrained way with few friends.

"Is something bothering you?" asked Gael.

"No… just the usual one.". Ronnan thought, scanning the landscape, almost as if he heard something that wasn't there.

"It's the dreams again, isn't it?". Gael asks worried, her brother sometimes wakes up some nights in a cold sweat, he never told his parents about it. But since the brothers slept in the same room before Nathanael went to war, Gael eventually noticed. Ronnan never talked about what dreams were about, making Gael worry about her little brother.

"A little…". Gael doesn't say anything and pats her younger brother on the head. "But let's not think about it, this is your day. Mom is already charging you for a wife, do you have anyone in mind?"

"Honestly, no, and I don't even know if I'll find someone for me here in this city." Karen replied. According to the region's tradition, when the apprentices graduated and got their jobs, they were supposed to marry shortly afterwards, founding their families.

The afternoon passed and twilight came, putting an end to the celebration. Gael with the family said goodbye to friends and moved home, before arriving Elisio makes a small detour with Gael , asking for some time alone. They went to the town watch post, where the guards who watched over the small town were off duty and also kept their materials.

Elisio told Gael to take his sword, although they are just soldiers with little training in the arts of sword fighting, they should know the basics as well as the basics in other weapons. Picking up a two-handed sword Gael was used to wielding, her father shifts into a fighting stance.

"Well, son, I'm proud of you. As you are now officially a soldier today, I want to test you, to see if you are fit for the job."

Without saying anything, Elisio ran to his son in a dangerous pose. Gael had a hard time avoiding the first attack. His first moves were more defensive, forcing Gael to retreat as he waited for an opportunity to fight back. Footsteps came and went, father and son spent a lot of time communicating with only the sound of metal on metal, and the sweat covering their bodies was the only thing that showed the passage of time.

In the end, Elísio beat Gael in a surprise move, but the father was proud of his son. They decided to return home, as it was already night and only the torchlight was illuminating them. When they arrived they were greeted by Zyra and Ronnan who wanted to know what had happened.

"Let your brother take a shower first, Ronnan." Zyra spoke, then added. "My baby is already an adult." Zyra speaks with mock regret. "Now all the caresses are left for you." She laughs as she takes Ronnan into a hug and kisses his forehead, while Ronnan is trying to break free but laughing too. Although Ronnan happens to be calm and reserved for other people, to his family he opens up, showing his affectionate side.

"And I, I don't receive affection, do I?". Elisio asks, sounding like a needy dog.

"As long as you're stinking, no. You two go to the shower, I've already prepared the water, it's in a bucket in the bathroom, I don't want anyone inside my house stinking." She dismissed them with a wave of her hand.

They entered the house, it was very simple, with three bedrooms and a living room with a wooden table from Jambá that can fit a maximum of four chairs, a bookcase with some hunting materials or even paper. Through a small partition, a kitchen with a stove connected to a small chimney.

In the corner beside a window and a bathroom, her parents were poor, and the house doesn't provide the luxuries that most other houses have, like a floor made of wood or cut stone, but Gael couldn't think of a better place, his parents always gave the best for the best of their children something he will always be grateful for and what makes them love them the most.

Finishing his shower and wearing a new set of clothes, a gray shirt and pants, he joined the family for supper. Arriving at the table he saw a roasted turkey with vegetables, "today is a special day my parents really wanted to celebrate" he thought. When everyone was gathered to eat, his father left saying he would be back soon, entered his room and returned with a liter in his hand and a smile on his face looking at Gael .

"You tasted beer today, but this one is many times more potent." He lifted the liter, emphasizing his words. "This one was expensive, but worth it, today is the day to celebrate.". Picking up a glass filled to the brim and handing it to his son despite his wife's protests about it being too much to drink, his father warned. "Be careful not to choke."

Elisio waited with a smile on his face for the boy to taste it, he took the glass and brought it to his lips, finding the smell strange he ingested the liquid. The liquid went down the boy's throat burning, as his father warned, he almost choked. Managing to avoid it at the last second, the world seemed a little more out of place, his father chuckled and patted his son on the back.

"Arghh, father, they tricked you into buying, they gave you antiseptic. And I'm sure they must have taken it from Danise's stock."

"The first sips are the worst, then it gets more drinkable." The man comforts him.

Gael has seen liquor before, it was only once, when his older brother became an adult, he would never have imagined that it would taste like this. Ronnan his younger brother was watching and asked his father if he could drink some too which was immediately denied, both Elisio and Zyra said that only when he finished his apprenticeship, and maybe not even that.

Then they started talking about cases of people who got addicted to drinking and ended their lives because of it. Something Gael doubted, who would want to drink something like that in the first place.

"Did you two train?" Ronnan asked.

"He fought his own shadow and lost to it." He mocked his father, receiving a scolding from his wife.

"The training was good, but I almost knocked the father down several times.". Played Gael.

"I hope my baby doesn't have to fight anyone, at most warn if he intercepts an event in the city. He may even fight, but I ask the creator not to. It's a good thing that in this city, the most that happened was a fight over chicken theft."

They all ate their meal and were all talking about past events, how the day went, talking about odd topics, laughing at jokes when they heard a knock on the door. Seeing this, Zyra stands up.

"Must be one of the neighbors." She says this as she walks towards the door, opens it and freezes, brings her hands to her mouth.

"Mother, who is…". Words die in Gael's mouth as he sees the person in front of him. Black hair and eyes, of similar height, dirty, torn clothes, thin face and body reeking of sweat, big disheveled hair, even in this state. Even with such a thin face, the familiar face of someone so dear, so long gone, comes in her mind and Gael can only utter one word. "Brother?"