I awoke the next morning to sounds from my childhood, those of my parents chatting about their daily plans as they ate breakfast. It was a workday, so it would be something simple and filling like a billnut and grain gruel, or maybe eggs and bread. The aroma of garleek was wafting through the air, covering any more subtle scents, yet clearly indicating eggs over gruel. The hollow feeling inside me had faded yet a little more, but I was famished. I quickly got out of my bed, and promptly smacked my knee into my trunk, proving my mother right again. Fully awake, with absolutely no tears leaking from my eyes, I pulled on some old, comfy pants and a tunic, and headed to the kitchen, hoping dad had made something for me.

My wish is granted, there’s a plate out on the table in my old spot. A glass topped dish contained scrambled eggs, and some warmed bread was in a basket with a cloth over it. I quickly made a sandwich for myself, and stuffed my face for a minute, chewing as fast as I could with my banged up lip and jaw. When I’d mostly finished the first sandwich, I noticed that it’d gone really quiet, and looked up to see both my parents looking at me, a bit of worry showing in their eyes.

I swallowed my mouthful. “Sorry, I just missed dinner last night. I got the stuff into my room and collapsed.”

“We know, son,” my mother responded, “it’s not your awful manners, it’s your face.”

“Well, it’s the only one I’ve got. Anyway, as I told you, I fought the floor, and the floor won. It was a tricky bit of floor, deceptively flat and unimpeded.” It wasn't my line, but it was a great one, so I'll shamelessly take credit for it here.

She chuckled as she gathered up the dishes, putting them in the washbasin, whether she was humoring me or found that funny, I don’t know, but right then I wasn’t above accepting parental pity chuckles.

“Well, if you can eat like that, it’s clearly not as bad on the inside as it looks from this side. Anyway, we’ve got to open the shop today, but tomorrow is Nineday and the shop will be closed, so we can catch up more tonight.” She paused briefly, then finished with, “You finish up the eggs that you’re staring at and then clean the dishes, please.”

Since that was her method for issuing a polite parental edict, she didn’t even wait for a reply. She swept out of the room, taking my father with her as they headed to the bookshop.

“See you tonight, son.” His low voice carried back over his shoulder on the way out the door.

Nothing she had said was unkind, but her words brought me some pain anyway. They were an unintentional reminder. It’s a workday, but I was workless. Which feels way too much like worthless inside my heart. Right or wrong, both worlds I’ve lived in tended to measure a man first by what he did for a living. How well he did it generally came in a distant second. More than a half century of that combined cultural conditioning can carry a considerable weight.

As I cleaned up the dishes with a rag, some soap, and the warm water from the large basin left on the back of the stove, I reminded myself of my resolutions from last night. For my own sake, I added “get a job, again” to the list of professional goals. Then I spent some time brainstorming what kind of job I should get.

I know how to work on my intellect, I could do that with books and study, both of which are readily available to the child of booksellers. What I’m not as familiar with, having been a “nerd” in two worlds now, is how to best get my endurance up. I knew the basic idea, get out there and do moderate intensity work for an extended time. I had the willpower to force myself to do that, but I recognized that there are miles between the basic theory and the most effective methods.

So, what job came with physical endurance training? The only options I could think of are joining the town guard or the state militia. I thought a bit longer, searching for other options, but I came up blank. I weighed out the pros and cons of those jobs. On the one hand? I’m fairly certain they would accept almost anyone for evaluation and training, and then wash out the undesirables during training. On the other? I’d never been all that good at coloring in the lines, and my mouth tended to go off faster than my brain could stop it. On the gripping hand, as one of my favorite old books would say? This would work on both my willpower and my endurance, possibly even memory and acuity since I’d be in a completely different world than I was accustomed to. Hopefully, that phrase would stay figurative and not literal, I was still getting used to this one, even after 17 years.

That problem resolved, or at least planned for in my mind, I checked my status and saw that I was no longer depleted, and down to only one point lost for the concussion. I also note that, the adage of “that which doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger” did hold true for this case. I’d gained willpower, acuity, and endurance. My memory indicated that all this was true when I had checked my status after the incident, I just hadn’t been thinking straight enough to pay proper attention and do the math.

{Status: Minor Concussion

Name: Grintel Coddlestahl

Age: 17

Mental:

Acuity:

Perception:

Memory:

9 (-1)

7

9

Psyche:

Wisdom:

Insight:

Willpower:

6

6

13

Physical:

Strength:

Coordination:

Endurance:

5

5

10

Skills:

Energy Conversion

2.494

Energy Emission

2.527

Energy Control

2.069

Channeling

0.024

Meditation

2.369

Walking

4.988

}

Nice improvements. A few skill gains, including a big bonus for the meditation. Since I had used it almost constantly during my recovery, that was expected. A little more recovery to go, but overall I'm doing better. Several skills are close to leveling up, whatever that may mean, and walking looks like it will become my first skill to hit level 5. I wish I had some kind of external references for what the levels meant. Without access to any external comparison points, I just hoped there’ll be some impact from it.

I spent part of the morning unpacking my trunk. Once I finished that up, I changed into clothes more suitable for leaving the house and went for a walking tour of my old haunts. I might as well work on a skill while I worked out some of my issues.