It only took a few minutes before Ranvir’s legs steadied underneath him. By that point only Esmund and the representative were waiting for him.

“Put on your robes before you leave, it’s hotter in here than you might think.” The representative warned, handing them their clothes. “I already told Sansir, but I’ll see you guys tomorrow at noon. If you’re not ready to go then, I’ll drag you out of bed and tie you behind the wagon.” He slid on an almost boyish smile despite his thick beard, and stepped through the door.

Another crackle of yellow nervousness ran through Ranvir, this one tinted by purple fear.

“Better not drink too much tonight then!” Esmund slipped on his robe as he spoke. Ranvir noticed their clothes had completely dried since he’d exited the pool. It seemed too fast to him, but maybe it was like the representative said.

Eying the pool, Ranvir finally noticed that it had emptied.

“Well, you heard Taggir.” Esmund said, walking towards the door. “We can’t stay up too late, so we’ll just have to begin the celebrations early!”

Taggir! That’s his name! Ranvir felt a little better, finally putting a name to the representative.

“You would know better than I do!” Ranvir replied, pulling his own robe on. Together they opened the gate and stepped out of the ceremony room. The sudden influx of daylight caused both of them to squint and raise their hands to protect their eyes.

“I feel like it should be dark.” Esmund grunted, as he scowled at the morning sky.

Ranvir cocked his head, realizing that he’d felt the same. “The ceremony seemed tailor-made for midnight, during the height of a full moon.”

Esmund chuckled as they headed towards the village. The Ceremony hall wasn’t located too far out of the village, but it was still a couple of minutes’ walk.

The two boys half-ran all the way, both trying not to put too much weight on their bare feet. Trying and failing, filling the air with their complaints. They even passed a few of the boys that had better foresight than them, and had brought a pair of shoes, even if they weren’t allowed to wear them during the ceremony.

Finally reaching the village, the two young men split up. Ranvir waved goodbye to Esmund, as the smaller boy ran up to his family’s large house. He then turned down the main road, following it to a smaller house with an attached stone building.

His family home was a simple affair. Wooden walls with a few framed glass panes in them. When he’d been younger his mother had put in great effort to keep them clean and presentable. Since they didn’t have anyone that could work glass in the village, they had come at quite the expense. Now that responsibility had mostly fallen on him, or his dad.

The stone attachment still had a little of that ‘new’ look Ranvir saw on some buildings that were exquisitely maintained, or recently built. They did a decent job of maintaining it, but not to that point. Good enough to extend the time it looked like that, but not to maintain it.

“Mom, dad! I’m back!”

He didn’t pause in the small entryway, since he wasn’t wearing any shoes. Instead he continued into the kitchen, where both his parents were waiting for him.

“Hey kid!” Gunnor said. He had his arm wrapped around Frey’s waist, as he helped her jump over to their son.

“My little Hearthfire!” His mother exclaimed, touching his cheek with her free arm, the opposite wrapped over Gunnor’s shoulders.

“Hey mom.” Ranvir replied, bending down to his mother and hugging her, before turning to his dad. “Hey dad.” Hugging him was less awkward, he’d always been more comfortable hugging someone taller than him.

Gunnor’s blond hair was just starting to show a few grays mixed into it. He had a strong wide shouldered build, befitting a lumberjack. With the forest near their home, it was unlikely he would run out of a job before he stopped for good. With a kind face and early wrinkles he always had a look of good humor about him. He’d been a rock for Ranvir while Frey had been sick.

Ranvir had always looked more like his mother. They had the same brown hair, that turned more auburn during the summer. Though hers had gone mostly gray, with only a tint of her normal color. Same light brown eyes, and while he did not have her gap between her front teeth, their smiles were very similar.

The kettle started whistling, causing them to break from the impromptu family embrace, leading Ranvir to slip an arm around his mom. “I got her, you get the tea.”

“You gotta tell us how it went! Am I looking at one of the new tethered of the Elusrian War Academy?” His mother asked, as they half-jumped, half-walked to kitchen table. Helping her sit down, Ranvir stepped around to the opposite side of the table. Watching his mother, he saw her shift a few times on the chair to make herself comfortable, before resting her arms on the table.

She could move on her own at this point. It took her a couple months to relearn her balance after the accident. The crutch helped a lot, but she could almost do entirely without. And Ranvir knew she enjoyed getting her husband and son to wait on her as much as she could. ‘A benefit of the crippled.’ She called it.

“Wait for me!” His father called out, bringing down three cups of steaming tea before settling down next to his wife. “Tell us all about it!”

Ranvir felt buoyed by their excitement. He wrapped his fingers around his mug, feeling the heat seep through the clay.

“Esmund was nearly unbearable, of course.”

“Of course.” They both replied, at the same time.

“But after the Manifestation, he calmed down considerably…”

“He did?” Gunnor asked, sitting up straight.

“Honey, if it was going to be anyone, it would be Esmund. But what about you, Hearthfire?”

Ranvir couldn’t stifle his smile anymore. Raging rivers of golden joy rushed through him in a white-frothed storm, running through him so strongly he couldn’t sit still. “I did! I Manifested! I’m one of the tethered!” He nearly tipped the cup in his hand as he kicked at the ground with his feet.

“That’s incredible!” His mother exclaimed.

“My little baby boy!” Gunnor reached out grasping Ranvir’s shoulder with a heavy hand.

Ranvir watched his parents with amusement. Frey was shifting back and forth, like a giddy child. Next to her, the broad-shouldered muscular man with the sun darkened skin and hands tougher than bark was tearing up.

Letting go of the mug, Ranvir reached across the table, grasping their hands in his. “We’re going to be leaving tomorrow, at noon.”

“So soon?” Both of them stilled as they looked at him.

“You will send us letters!” His father demanded. “You will have to tell us all about what it’s like in the capital. We didn’t teach you to read and write for nothing.”

While Ranvir could read and write, he was not particularly adept at either, but he could string enough letters into words, into sentences, into letters.

“Don’t worry, of course won’t forget my parents. I’ll tell you so many stories you’ll choke on them.”

“You better!” His mother pulled the conversation back to the ceremony. “What was it like? To Manifest?”

Ranvir pulled away from his parents, considering how to explain it. “It was… dream-like. I don’t know if I could explain it. I- I think the… Goddess touched me.” He rubbed at his chest, frowning. “There was this presence, hovering above me. Bigger than…” He shook his head. “Anything. And it lowered down a fragment of a fragment of itself, and…

“I don’t remember much beyond that. The next thing I’m aware of, I’m out of the water and exhausted.”

“Well you’re back now.” His father said, thumping the table.

“And you don’t look exhausted anymore.”

“I’m not really, it passed pretty quickly.” Ranvir injected some energy into his words. “And he said I was a spatial manipulator.”

“So what can you do?”

Ranvir frowned. Closing his eyes, he reached for the power that had appeared inside him… Searching deep within himself…

Opening his eyes, Frey and Gunnor were looking at him with bated breath. “I dunno…”

They both let out a deep breath. “I guess that’s what the academy is for.” His mother said.

“Yeah, it’s pretty far away though. Maybe he’ll teach us a few things on the road.” They were at least three weeks from the capital, but that was only if nothing went wrong. The representative, Taggir, had arrived in a carriage, so it would likely need some maintenance throughout the travel. If it rained that would also slow them down a lot.

“Enough of that! Have you heard about Alser and Miny?” His father asked.

Ranvir didn’t give a lot of time to gossiping. He was usually too busy helping his mother, but word traveled fast between the lumberjacks. Ranvir had once heard them called the second wife’s circle.

“What about Alser and Miny?”

“Alser got her pregnant, so now they’re waiting for the City Lord to arrive so she can marry them.”

Ranvir raised his brows, white disbelief spearing through the drizzle of golden excitement. He’d known about the City Lord’s looming arrival. Her mansion had long been under construction, though he hadn’t known she would be arriving so soon.

Alser and Miny on the other hand, he hadn’t been prepared for. He knew him well, having lived next to Alser and his parents his entire life, . Though they weren’t the best of friends, some friendship was almost inevitable just by sheer proximity.

Alser was only two years older than Ranvir, it felt odd knowing he was going to get married. Though with the way he and Miny had been around each other for the past few years, it was bound to happen at some point.

Ranvir and his parents continued talking back and forth, mostly small talk, before Ranvir felt a new weight of exhaustion suddenly set over him. Seeing his yawn, both his parents quickly sent him off to get a nap.

He had a big evening coming up, and it wouldn’t do if he fell asleep during the ceremony.

“You can’t go in that shirt! Are you trying to vex me?” His mother snapped at Ranvir, before he’d even managed to set foot outside of his room.

“Why not?” He looked down at it. It was fine. It was a white shirt that fit his shoulders very well, and with it tugged into his black pants he felt it complimented him nicely.

“You have the older one. The slightly gray one, put that on.”

Throwing his hands up, Ranvir turned around closing the door behind him.

“Damn it.” He muttered looking down at himself. The older shirt had once been white, but over time and use it had gotten a gray tint to it. He’d hoped he would’ve grown out of it by this point. Granted, it had been very big for him when he first got it.

Now looking down at himself, he noticed just how well it fit him. How did she do that? I haven’t worn this one in so long. There’s no way she could’ve possibly known.

With a knowing sigh he opened the door to the kitchen. Both of his parents were waiting for him. His mother was wearing a nice dress that he was sure his father appreciated more than him. He did notice the slightly deflated look on one side of the dress, and how it seemed slightly off center from the foot that stuck out beneath it.

Beside her, against the counter was her crutch. She usually only brought it along when she would be spending time walking on her own.

On her opposite side stood his dad. He was wearing an outfit similar to Ranvir’s, except his shirt seemed to strain to contain his father’s absurdly broad physique.

“Much better.” His mother’s approval came swiftly, as she scanned him.

He, of course, couldn’t tell as easily as others could, but even just putting on the shirt he’d known it looked better. It was worn in, as opposed to his other shirt. Where it had fit him well, it had a stiffness that would only go away with wear.

This older shirt did not have that problem.

“Let’s just go, we don’t wanna be late.” He said, trying not to think about it too much.

Twice a year the village held a celebration. Once when the women’s envoy came through. She would perform a ceremony, that Ranvir could only assume was similar to what he’d experienced. She took all the fourteen year old girls in the village, and, if any of them Manifested, brought them to the Elusrian Royal School in the capital. About three months later, the Elusrian War Academy’s representative came through, picking up all the seventeen year old boys and performed his own ceremony.

After each of these passes, the village held a celebration for the kids that would be leaving. It was also a way of celebrating the tethered that were sent to the village. Though their community was growing, mostly due to the growing lumber demands through Elusria and the neighboring nations, it still wasn’t big enough to warrant a true tethered tending to it.

The City Lord who’d be moving in within the year, would be the first.

Now Ranvir stood together with Sansir and Esmund—who kept nudging him and grinning—as the mayor finished her long-winded speech to the rest of the crowd. The old woman was weakly Tethered and could do a few tricks with ice. The best thing she did was stockpiling ice in her basement, then handing out a ration every day during the summer.

A cold anything under the summer heat was a blessing from the divine. Especially after helping Frey at the forge all day.

He rubbed the ring around his index finger. It was the first item he and his mother had made together. He’d hammered out the general shape and it hadn’t looked great, but tin was a soft metal and his mother had made him do it again. Together they’d worked on the filigree, just a simple word on the inside of the ring.

They’d made three in all. ‘Mother’, ‘Son’, and ‘Father’.

Usually he would wear it around his neck, since he didn’t want to dirty it. But for the occasion, it had gone on his finger.

Esmund nudged him again, causing Ranvir to look over. Esmund nodded his head towards one of the long tables that had been pulled out onto the square. It was largely occupied by young men and women around their own age.

Esmund wiggled his eyebrows, but he clearly wasn’t as good at communicating as he thought. Ranvir was sure he was referring to someone at the table, but if he had to guess who, he would be standing there until Taggir left in his carriage.

Turning back, he hoped the mayor would finish up her speech soon, but, remembering previous celebrations, knew she wasn’t.

Ignoring the rest of Esmund’s increasingly less subtle nudges, Ranvir looked out over the crowd. His eyes first landed on Taggir, sitting at the center table. He already had a mug of their finest in his hand, and was sitting closest to the feast table. Ranvir didn’t think he’d seen the man spare two glances for the mayor, his eyes locked on the roast. Though he might need to dry his beard, if the mayor didn’t finish up her speech soon.

His eyes wandered over to his parents, sitting at one of the outer tables surrounded by friends. With his mother’s condition, she needed more space to get around and the village accommodated her. She sat at the front corner of the outermost table. As close to the feast table as she could get while still having plenty of room.

“…I would like to thank you all, one last time, for coming today, but let’s not hold up these young warriors for too long!” The mayor exclaimed loudly, causing a murmur through the tables. “Long live the Queen!”

In a flash, Taggir had a plate in hand and was standing in front of the roast. Ranvir started down from the podium, heading towards his family, when a hand locked around his arm.

“No. You’re coming with me. You’re celebrating your last day with us!” Despite his small frame, Esmund was a lot stronger than he appeared. Ranvir could’ve sworn he heard his mom’s laughter as Esmund dragged him away.

He soon found himself sitting at a table filled with people his own age.

On his right sat Esmund talking excitedly with his neighbor, a girl Ranvir couldn’t remember the name of. Opposite them sat Alser and Miny. Though with how close they were sitting, there could easily fit another person in and still count as sitting opposite them.

“My name is Shiri.” Ranvir looked to his left. A young woman was holding out her hand for him to shake.

“Ranvir.” He replied, and shook her hand.

She had thick, lightly curling light reddish-brown hair that reached down to the middle of her back, blue eyes and a smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks.

He smiled at her, before turning to look at the feast table. He was pretty hungry, but there was a huge crowd surrounding the table already. He could wait a little while.

“You’re the jeweler’s son, right?”

Looking at Shiri again, he nodded. “Yeah, she does good work.”

“Is that her work?” She asked, gesturing towards his hand and the ring on the index finger.

“Yeah, I helped with this one.” Ranvir replied, holding it so she could see it.

She grabbed his hand in both of hers. Her hands were soft and warm as they held his. He felt electric blue excitement bubble up in him, as she examined it closely.

“So, you can make jewelry and you’re tethered?” She asked, after thoroughly examining the ring. She looked up at him, still holding his hand.

Ranvir shifted awkwardly, shooting a glance towards the feast table. “I help her with some things, but she’s really the artist. I mostly just hit the stuff.”

That got her to laugh and he relaxed a bit. She finally let go of his hand and he turned back to see Alser and Miny looking at them. Both red faced, with Alser looking like he was about to choke.

“Are you okay?” Ranvir asked, leaning over the table.

Alser let out a sputtering noise and bowed his head into Miny’s shoulder. “He’s fine, you’re just adorable.” Miny replied, with a laugh.

Adorable? Ranvir wondered with a frown. Before he could reply, he felt Shiri shift closer to him, her hip now firmly touching his. Her touch sent a rush of confusing tingles, with all the colors of the rainbow through him. Miny broke apart into laughter.

He looked down to Shiri on his left, into her wide-eyed and attentive gaze. “So you like jewelry?”

Time passed quickly once the feast table cleared enough for Ranvir to get some food and drink. The sky darkened, the bonfire was lit. People were dancing. The elders retired.

Ranvir saw his father dancing with his mother, which consisted mostly of him swinging her around as she clutched onto him and laughed.

He froze as a hand landed on his thigh. “My dad recently got us a new mare. She’s a real marvel, rides like you wouldn’t believe. You should come see her.”

Ranvir frowned, looking at Shiri who’d been plastered to him all night. He was starting to wonder if she was unfamiliar with the village, and maybe a little scared to be alone in it. She apparently lived a ways outside of the border, so maybe she hadn’t been here often.

“I don’t know. I’m not a big fan of horses…” Maybe she just wanted to go home. It was getting late. If he was going to join the academy, though, should his first action be making woman walk down a dark country road?

“But…” How should he phrase it? He didn’t want her to feel like she should outright ask for help. “If you think it’s worth it, I’ll come take a look…”

“She’s worth it. Can ride all day and night.”

Who would ride a horse at night?