The sun came up the next morning and joined my mother for breakfast.

“ Did you stay up reading again.” She asked.

“Uh no, of course not.” I answered.

There may have been some reading. My lack of sleep though was from waking up gasping for air when my breathing pattern relaxed.

“Mmhmm guess your eyes are just naturally bloodshot,” She smirked.

How did she do that; crack a smile and go on as if nothing had changed. Breakfast continued a little longer, we caught up on what chores I had been assigned and she assured me I could do with my earnings what I pleased. I frowned at that.

“I want to help out.” I said.

“ Hhaha you doing chores and not getting in to more trouble is all the help I need. Now go get started, here take some tokens[1] for lunch.”

“ Trouble, me? I wouldn’t dream of it.” I laughed as I left the house.

I arrived at the stream a short while later and started filling the water jugs. The only staff around seemed fairly heavy; I just shrugged and continued on. I paused for a second to recall the steps to the way of eternity. I stamped my right foot to the ground and pushed off with my left , the weight of the water jugs threw off my weight distribution and I had to take an extra step. As I was steadying myself a piece of parchment landed in front of me. It read “Balance or else.”

I ignored it thinking Edjudan was still spying on me. My next step was sliding my left foot back around my right and I did not push off enough to make the motion fluid with the added weight. The ground around me shook and a small sinkhole formed. I fell to the ground and smashed one of the jugs. I heard a faint rumbling and assumed somewhere far far away, Edjudan was laughing with wild abandon.

“Murste” I shouted turning around to get another jug.

I got a little further with my new jug until another parchment landed at my feet. This one said “ Balance and dodge.”

The blood rushed from my face and I looked around, from the corner of my right eye I saw a small stone coming towards me. I took a step, sliding my feet and turning my body to the side, the stone smashed my left water jug.

I shouted “Ahhhh how is this training? You goddess forsaken spawn of Dreluk.”

My shout was met with silence and I started the process again. At one point I made a successful trip to the cistern and went to grab the copper ingots, I went to grab a wooden sled to transport the copper. All I saw were some wrappings and a sack with a note.

“One set of copper must be worn and only deposited at the end of the day.”

I slapped my own forehead. I asked for more training, this was my fault. Aghh, the other kids were jumping on poles and playing in water. What was this; I shook my head but relented knowing an exploding paper or hail of rocks could strike me down if I continued hesitating. Wearing three ingots added an extra 1.5 stones[2]

Fortunately the next few trips were without major incidents but I was exhausted and could not finish all the day’s chores. Because I had to catch up on my chores there were no days off in my future.

I didn’t get through an entire day’s assignment until the 7th day. By day eight there were no warnings. Rocks came at all times from every angle. My body spun constantly, 180 degrees, 360. Sometimes small quarter turns, occasionally I would have to jump or duck.

Stop, start,left turn, jump,right turn, right turn, duck. My path looked like calligraphy at this point. I stamped the ground hard or skimmed it with my toe, my mud walking left a gouge in the earth when I needed to slow my speed or stop my spin. Each sharp turn lead to a quicker push off on each subsequent step; there was a rhythm. My speed was not dramatically faster but I couldn’t wipe the smirk off my face. I felt in control; each breath and movement was in harmony.

[1] Seagreen Gorge like most moderate sized villages in Arlen uses an internal money system to control taxes, inflation and exchange rates. ( tokens can be exchanged for food or goods inside the village and at the trade post for raw materials. Value is controlled by the Village Council of elders)

[2] A stone is approximately 10 lbs.