Children of the Forest - Sagas of Yryan - Completed #Wattys2017

Chapter 1: When old friends meet

It was a morning like any other. The sun was rising slowly over the mountains, the birds started singing and Faolan could hear his father Merak working in front of the house. Despite all that, he felt as if something wasn't quite right that day. He got up and went downstairs. As usual, Moira was faster than him. She had already grabbed a plate and was preparing her breakfast as he came down the narrow stairs, yawning. The twins didn't talk in the morning. Not ever, at least not before breakfast. Otherwise, it would always end in a fight. However, having learnt that lesson years ago, they now spend most of their time together peacefully.

When he was ready, Faolan went outside to ask his father what work needed to be done today. Merak was a tall man with gentle eyes, but when he was tired, his face would turn very dark and he reminded the twins of a stone statue, not moving, not blinking, just staring.

While his sister went into the henhouse to collect the eggs, Faolan stayed to help their father chop some wood. It was spring now, but the nights were still quite cold, therefore they needed more firewood than just the usual amount for cooking their meals.

'Is there anything special for us to do today?' Faolan asked his father.

'Why would there be?' replied he in a low voice.

'I don't know, I just thought, you know, I could possibly go hunting with you or do something...,' Faolan said while picking up a big branch.

His father laughed. 'Hunting, you? Well, I didn't plan to head out today but you can ask your sister, so the two of you can go together. I wouldn't mind. She could surely teach you some tricks with the bow that not even I know of.'

'Very funny, really... You know why I want to go with you and not with her. She's my sister, she's not supposed to be better than me at everything. How am I supposed to ever catch up with her, if I only get to learn from her?' Faolan said in a low voice, hoping his sister couldn't hear him.

His father stopped and looked at him. 'Son, don't be a fool. I've taught you better than this. Your sister is strong and fast, but you are patient. And if for once you'd stop trying to be better than her at everything, you'd be able to see what a great young man you're becoming. Now, either you go and ask her to go on a hunt with you or help me here. We still have a lot of work to do.'

Faolan looked down, feeling stupid. His father was right, of course he was. But still he didn't feel like asking his sister, so he stayed with Merak.

Later in the morning, Faolan went inside and started a fire because it was his turn to cook lunch. It was part of his father's idea of how to raise the kids. They both had to be able to cook, they both had to be used to hard work and they were both taught to read. Faolan liked cooking quite a lot, since when he did it, he could decide what to cook, although there usually wasn't a big choice. That's why he was already looking forward to summertime and autumn. These were the seasons when there were lots of berries and fruits to be gathered in the forest and around their lonely farm. The family also grew vegetables but now in early spring they mostly ate meat, dried fruit and bread.

When the meal was finished, Faolan called the others in. They had just sat down at the table and started eating when Faolan suddenly stopped chewing and looked at the door. He listened carefully to make sure he had really heard what he thought he had.

'What's wrong, don't you like your own food?' his sister asked between two bites.

'There's somebody coming...,' he replied when suddenly there was a knock at the front door. His father got up and, after glancing through the window, opened the door. A man was standing there looking at their surprised faces.