A Tale of Torrin

Torrin

Torrin sat on a wood bench. He had carved it himself a year earlier, and now he was working on another project. A staff. It was an ongoing project. In fact, he had started it even before he began work on the bench; it was a slow going project. It's what his people called a lochene.

A lochene represents one's life, the flow of spirit from parents to their child throughout an entire life. The top had the markings of your mother and father. Fathers are represented by a shield. The way the inside of the shield was marked tells a story. Torrin's father had a triangle, meaning he was a warrior that lived according to the three pillars of Primero. Honor, loyalty, and humility. Mothers are represented by the outline of an apple. At it's center was carved a star; she was a member of the village council and, like the north star, was a guide to her people when difficult decisions had to be made. Then came the handle wrapped in cloth and—past it—there were more carvings, now telling Torrin's story. Today, he was adding on to it. I: for first place in a competition of strength.

Should anyone's lochene ever break, they would be put to shame. Some people would say that your ego got too big, pointing at the deep carvings that emphasized the engraving at the cost of weakening the wood's strength. Others would shun you for your choice of wood, claiming that you didn't respect yourself enough to find worthwhile material. There were even some people that would hint at your parents disowning you as a result of breaking your lochene staff. Of course, these were just children exaggerating the situation to a level that exceeded reality.

The bench was placed along a the farmers' fence where livestock was contained. His family didn't work the farm though. It was a gift of sorts. Torrin had taken a woodworking class and part of it was to build something out of wood. He came up with the idea of building a bench while walking by the farmers' lodging, and then when he finished it, he got a farmer's permission to place it where he felt it belonged. Then it became a place to quietly work on his lochene, alone. The loudest part of the area was a farmer boy that liked to play with his own lochene, battling imaginary enemies and cheering with every blow he successfully dealt. Yet, the boy wasn't that loud and usually kept his distance.

Today, the boy played in the untamed fields a hundred yards away. There the grass was tall. No one lived there. It was unclaimed land, free for the taking. Only the local wildlife roamed through that part of the village if you were one to still consider it part of the village. Truly, it was past the official border. Several more yards down that way and the trees started popping up. Only hunters went into the forest; it's where the wolves ruled the land.

As Torrin thought about it, he looked up to watch the boy out in the distance. Not a sound from him made its way to Torrin's ears. It was funny because Torrin was starting to feel as if he missed it. The playful sounds felt like background noise that belonged to the area. Torrin exhaled through his nose, mentally chastising himself for the silly thought.

That's when a flock of birds rushed out of the forest, breaking up in every direction. This scene was enough to startle the farmer's boy who lost his balance and fell to the ground. Torrin stood up for a better perspective, though he already had an idea of what was coming; he broke into a run.

The boy got back on his feet, holding his lochene at waist level. He turned his head curiously to the right, staring into the woods. Torrin didn't hear it, but the forest creature made its presence known more clearly, startling the farmer boy who then turned back to make rush home. Moments later, a deer rushed out of the woods and behind it—the wolf!

The wolf leaped out for the deer at a faulty angle that put a tree in its way; its left back paw scraped against the trunk, sending the wolf tumbling to the ground. Meanwhile, the deer managed to gain some distance as it fled to the right. Hurt, the wolf licked its foot.