The flame is bright and burns eternal, its' heat fills me, it traverses my body never stopping always hungry. It burns a path throughout my body, starting at my stomach where I fuel the flame, it branches out from there. The flame is a part of my body and thus I can control it so long as my will is strong and my intent is clear the flame will obey. I focus on the fire that courses through my hand and will it toward my fingertips. The pathway doesn’t extend to the tips and I feel a burning as the fire eats through my flesh on its’ way to the tip of each finger. I ignore the pain as giving in and acknowledging how much it hurts would halt the process. Every time I expanded the path in which the fire followed it hurt just as much, the pain was unbearable at first, but eventually after a year of continually pushing myself I was able to maintain my focus despite the pain. When the fire reached my fingertips I checked how much was left in my hands, they were practically empty.

I released my control over the energy in my hands and allowed the fire that I had blocked off at the wrist to finally continue its route through my body. As the fresh fire entered my hands I felt a tingling sensation in my fingertips blood was finally flowing into them again. I looked at network the fire flowed through and it was extensive, flowing down to the balls of my feet all the way up to my cheeks. I hadn’t yet been able to steel myself enough to advance the flames into my eyes and I kept it away from my brain, but barring those two critical areas the fire was able to traverse my whole body.

I opened my eyes and got out of the lotus position and took in the predawn air. The smell was my favorite part of waking up so early. The condensation on our crops made them smell amazing like fresh cut grass mixed with baking bread, it was a little odd, but so intense. I breathed it in then shook off as dew had started to gather on my fur. I looked out at the fields and felt a sense of pride at all my father had done. He had gone from a single plot of Whim which is what our version of wheat is called, and turned it into five plots of Whim, three plots of Potus, a kind of tuber that while red in color tasted like a potato, and a single field of Cotton. Okay it isn’t actually called cotton it’s called zrexia, but it is basically cotton, big seeds that are a bitch to remove, you can turn the fluff into clothing, it is even white, though the seeds are blue instead of brown, so I am sticking with Cotton instead of that foreign word. Yeah zrexia is a Vuohiese word since my people never grew it before we came into contact with the Vuohians.

For those of you wondering what I am talking about, the Vuohians are the little Goat dwarfs that own the nearby town of Meadow Rest. Long ago they didn’t get along with my people the Susi but eventually with threat of the northern savages most of the beast races came together in peace. We are ruled by a council of races, my people are the preeminent warriors among the races and thus we have a lot of clout on the council. The Vuohians on the other hand are merchants and craftsmen, they might not have a lot of power on the council, but they are on average a lot wealthier than any other race. They might not have the same power as my people, but their influence could be said to surpass ours.

The good news is that our two species have been allies for centuries, the bad news is that my mother and father no longer have the backing of our people, we are outcasts and they have yet to explain why. But I suppose that’s enough ruminating on the problems of Galtea, it’s time to focus on the more immediate problem…

Today is the first day in which we begin to harvest our crops and that means tons of back breaking labor for yours truly. Sure I was big and strong for my age, standing at four and a half feet, weighing somewhere around 120 pounds, can’t exactly be sure since my folks don’t exactly have a scale or measuring tape. I was big even for a child of my species, but still isn’t 6 still a little early to make your child start harvesting wheat. First thing I do when we finish the harvest is let Dad know about “the idea I just had” an actual scythe, instead of these stupid inefficient hand scythes.

I walked into our old home and decided on the method by which to wake the field hands, a young couple of Vuohians and their 5 year old son Gurt. For some reason the couple, Kurt and Westra, had trouble adjusting to waking up so early so I had to be a little creative in how I woke them up. It’s not my fault they don’t wake up to my simple presence, and Susi would jump out of bed if they heard someone entering their room. So I walked into our old kitchen grabbed a pot and spoon and slowly crept toward the sleeping couple. I held the pot as close to Kurt’s ear as possible, after all I am pretty sure he is hard of hearing, and proceeded to hit the spoon against the interior of the pot as hard as I could and as rapidly as I could.

Kurt jumped out of bed startled and frightened, and when I say jumped I mean he flung himself forward over the foot of the bed and as he gained his feet and started looking around I started to laugh. As his eyes started to lose their wild look I felt a shoe hit the side of my head. Apparently Westra didn’t appreciate my less than gentle wake up call. Kurt’s eyes narrowed as he looked at me and said, “Damnit Swift Aattoson you could have given me a heart attack, you should know better than to wake a man up so suddenly.”

I simply smiled at him innocently laughter barely suppressed and said, “Sorry Uncle Kurt, I couldn’t help myself, you’re always so hard to wake up I simply figured this might be an effective method.”

He glared at me and looked like he was about to say more when his wife cut in, “Swift, you know it isn’t right to prank people before the sun is even up.” She looked at me and I could see the disappointment in her gaze.

I got a little embarrassed at my immaturity and replied, “Sorry Auntie Westra, but today is the first day of the harvest and I needed something to brighten my day, I shouldn’t have made yours worse just because I was dreading the coming day. I’m sorry Uncle Kurt.” Westra was right, but farm life sucks, and it isn’t often I get to have any fun. Sure I can play with Gurt, and I often do, but playing with a 5 year old is often more of a trial of patience as opposed to actually being enjoyable.

Kurt continued to glare at me for another minute before relenting, “Well I suppose it is my own fault for asking you to wake us up early this morning, should have realized it was an open invitation for this kind of behavior. But at the very least I am definitely awake and ready to start the day so at least your little prank had that much going for it. Of course to make up for your little prank I expect you help your aunt Westra for a candle with separating the cotton seeds from the lint, after you get done with all of your other chores of course.”

I nodded, agreeing to the punishment, then asked, “So why did you guys want me to wake you up so early anyways?”

They both smiled, and Westra answered, “It is an old Vuohian tradition that on the first day of harvest you wake up before the first rays of the sun touch the fields you honor the Goddess Belisia, tiller of the fields and patron of farmers.”

Kurt nodded his agreement with the explanation, and said, “Since it is Gurt’s second time helping with the harvest, he can help guide you through the ceremony. Swift will you help us honor our goddess?” He said all this with a straight face, but his eyes has a wicked gleam that I didn’t trust. I don’t think he was totally over my little early morning prank.

I tried to avoid whatever he had planned and responded, “I don’t think I should, after all my family honors the old gods, and Father Sun doesn’t like when we perform rituals in the dark.”

I started to walk quickly out of the door when I felt a powerful hand clamp down upon my shoulder, I looked over at the owner of that powerful hand and definitely saw a wicked sparkle in his eyes as he said, “Nonsense, while Father Sun might not like it, I am sure Mother Earth would be thrilled. Please Swift I must insist you join us for this very simple ceremony.”

I wasn’t left with much of a choice, I had been caught, and while I could outrun Kurt any day, there was no way I would be able to overpower him and escape, so I simply nodded my agreement knowing I wasn’t going to enjoy the result. We walked outside and Gurt gave me a sympathetic look, apparently he knew what was in store for me and it wasn’t going to be fun.

We went outside to the first field of Whim my dad ever planted and Kurt stopped us at the edge of the field. He removed a single stalk of Whim, roots and all and returned to us, he then bowed his head, next Westra grabbed a stalk and removed it from the field, returning to stand beside her husband, she then bowed her head. I think I was starting to notice a pattern, then Gurt elbowed my side, so I went and grabbed a stalk around the same size as the ones Kurt and Westra had taken. I looked back and saw Gurt shake his head, then hold up six fingers. I looked back at him confused, before he gestured for me to take another stalk. I frowned, but then grabbed 5 other stalks of Whim then returned to stand beside everyone. Gurt was next and after a little searching he grabbed one of the smallest stalks of Whim I available.

When he returned to my side his father spoke, “Belisia Goddess of the farms and fields, Tiller of the plains, guardian of hearth and home, we honor you today on this blessed harvest day by eating of your grain, untouched by the fires of civilization, pure as you intended. We also welcome a guest today, one who has never partaken of the fruits of your service, he honors you with a memorial to all the years he missed.”

Kurt then took a bite from the Whim, eating the entirety of the head. Westra and Gurt followed suit, which left me no choice but to take a bite out of one of mine. I chewed it up and swallowed the uncooked grain, which while not exactly a treat really wasn’t that bad. I then bit the heads off of all the other stalks then looked over at Kurt, as far as revenges go, this one was pretty tame. That’s when I noticed Kurt hadn’t stopped eating the Whim, he was still making his way down the stalk of Whim, only a few inches from the roots. Judging by the expression on his face he wasn’t enjoying the flavor.

I looked over at Gurt and finally understood why he had chosen such a small stalk, oh this was going to suck. I took a bite out of the stalk of grain and it tasted like rope, the texture was similar to the head of the stalk, but all of the sugar was apparently in the head of the stalk, this tasted like an extremely bitter kale, and I had to eat five of these things.

I powered though the five stalks, and didn’t cry, not even once… Why is my face damp, well that’s because of sweat obviously… what do you mean I already mentioned my people don’t have sweat glands, it’s sweat just accept that fact and move on. By the time I finished “honoring the goddess” my stomach was starting to hurt. Not only was five entire stalks of Whim a little much for someone my size, but I am pretty sure my stomach isn’t designed to eat the entirety of a stalk of Whim. When I finally finished Kurt nodded to me and said, “We thank the goddess for watching over our crops and hope she will continue to bless us in the years to come.”

Kurt smirked at me which I noticed quite clearly now that the light of the false dawn began to brighten the skies. I took note of his expression and vowed that next time the prank would be entirely focused on Kurt, then I’d just run away from him instead of taking his stupid punishment. Westra saw my darkened expression and said, “Thank you Swift, it is not often we allow outsiders to participate in our holy rituals, I hope you understand the honor we granted you by allowing you to participate.”

I responded with a sincere yet plaintive tone, “I am happy to have been allowed to participate, but why couldn’t anyone have warned me about having to eat all five stalks, I would have gotten smaller ones had I known.”

Westra smirked and said, “Well we can’t exactly give away the secrets of our goddess to the uninitiated, especially when said uninitiated boy decides to wake up his loving aunt by banging a spoon on her favorite pot.”

I looked at her with a pained expression before nodding and heading back to my family’s new home. It was made of sun baked bricks and was a project my father had started 4 years ago. The house wasn’t finished yet, but it had a roof and three rooms, Dad was working on building another room because I was about to have a baby brother or sister soon.

I entered our new home and went to my room to change my clothing, I put on a set of leather work pants and then walked into my parent’s room. Dad woke up as soon as I entered their room, he sniffed the air, then said, “So it’s almost dawn eh?”

I nodded my head and went into the kitchen to start breakfast. I wasn’t exactly a gourmet chef in my last life, but Mom has been teaching me how to cook and I make a mean batch of scrambled eggs. I relit the fire and placed the cooking rack over the flames, I then placed my pan on the rack to let it hear up. While the pan was heating I cracked an egg into a mixing bowl and began to cut up some sausage. I put some lard into the pan and let it melt, this was followed by the pieces of sausage. While that was frying I cut up a vegetable similar to a bell pepper and a couple of small mushrooms. The resulting pieces of vegetable were thrown into the mixing bowl. I flipped the pieces of sausage and the proceeded to whip mix the egg together with the vegetables. That all got poured into the pan and after a little work with a spatula, something I had carved myself since they apparently didn’t exist on this world before I came along, the scrambled eggs were done.

My parents came out of their room shortly after the eggs were done and I dished them up two helpings. I gave myself a small portion in the hopes that it would settle my stomach, but I wasn’t able to eat more than a few bites before I was almost overcome by the urge to vomit.

Dad looked at me and then my plate. I sighed and pushed the leftovers in front of him. He grinned and said, “That worried about the harvest? You should eat son you will be hungry all day if you don’t.”

I rolled my eyes and said, “I wish I could Dad, but Kurt was displeased with the way in which I woke him up, so he generously offered to allow me to participate in one of his people’s pre harvest rituals. I ended up eating five entire stalks of uncooked Whim before the “ritual” ended.”

Dad just laughed at my misfortune and Mom had to hide a smile. Mom looked at me and said, “You woke them up with a pot didn’t you?”

I nodded my head and Dad laughed even harder. Mom just sighed and said to my father, “I told you that your weird habits would brush off on our son. Aatto It’s your fault if he can’t finish out the day.”

Dad just nodded his head and grinned. He gave me a conspiratorial wink and said, “Well it’s about time we start to harvest the fruits of our labor, let’s grab our tools and get to work. Son you’re making lunch today so make sure you stop work soon enough to get the food ready.”

We left our house and went to the barn, grabbed the tools of our trade and walked up to the first field. Kurt’s family was already waiting for us, we handed them some hand scythes and then proceeded to harvest our Whim.

It sucked, I could talk about how back breaking the labor is, how repetitive, how boring, how monotonous, how utterly awful it is, but I will spare you the details, just know that harvesting whim takes forever, we didn’t even finish the first field and we’d been at it all day. 14 hours of work and we didn’t even finish one field. From experience I knew that the next 6 weeks were going to suck. We would be doing the same long days every day until the harvest was in, then we would have to process what we harvested, you know separate the wheat from the chaff, or I suppose it’s the Whim from the chaff. This of course would be followed by harvesting the Potus and then finally the Cotton. I was in for a long month and a half.

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AN: little bit of a longer chapter, I wanted to introduce the changes that occurred over the last 5 years without it being an info dump. Next chapter will be post harvest when the MC will actually have some free time again. Oh and for those who didn't catch all of the names, our MC is Swift Aattoson, I'll make a character list after I finish introducing everyone.