Songbird

Chapter Four - Decision

"Kal? Kal!"

Kallan blinked, his thoughts returning to reality. "Y-yes?"

His father frowned. "Pay attention," he said. "Are you ready?"

They were mending a damaged section of the fence that encircled the animal pens, and Kallan was holding a post steady while his father replaced the crossbeam.

"I'm ready," he said. "Sorry, Da."

"It's alright, son. Steady now...there!"

With that done, they moved on to another section of the fence.

"Da?"

"What is it?"

"What does it mean to have mage-blood?"

His father lowered the mallet he had been using. "Why do you ask?" he said. "Where did you hear about such things?"

"Well, this might sound crazy, but..." He told his father about what Wren had said in his dream.

His father stroked his beard. "A girl in a dream...I'm no expert, but magic has been dead for centuries, Kal."

"What happened to it?"

His father shrugged. "It used to be that certain people had magical powers," he said. "Control over the elements, of forces of nature...magic made their will into reality. And they fought over that power for generations. Eventually, they wiped each other out."

"None of them survived?"

"That's what the historians say, at least," his father said. "So this dream girl, is she why you're so scatterbrained lately?"

"I suppose so," Kallan said. "But this was no ordinary dream, Da, I'm sure of it."

He had begun looking forward to seeing her when he closed his eyes. This time, she sat with her legs folded beneath her, humming quietly to herself. She looked up as he appeared.

"Still coming back, are you?" She spoke in a monotone, but mirth lit her eyes.

"Doesn't seem like I have much choice." He sat cross-legged, a strange feeling when he could see nothing beneath him.

She laid on her stomach, hands on cheeks and legs kicking idly to and fro. "Where are you from, Kallan? Will you tell me about it?"

"Oh—well...I'm from the countryside," he said. "I've never seen a large city, just the farm."

She tilted her head. "The farm?"

"That's right," he said. "I live there with my Mum and Da, and my brothers and sisters."

"A farm boy," she said. "I've never met a farm boy."

For the first time, she smiled, and Kal was left speechless. She looked like a different person with her face lit up like that, her eyes shining with joy instead of tears.

"Will you tell me about your family?" she asked

"Well, we've always been farmers," he said. "Since my great-grand-da. But Da was a soldier when he was young."

Her eyebrows lifted. "A soldier!"

He nodded. "He doesn't like to talk about it much," he said. "But he's proud of his service."

"He must be very brave," she said.

"He is," Kallan said. "I'll be lucky to be half the man he is."

She grinned. "You really look up to him."

"I do," he said. "He's taught me so much. And all of my siblings."