File 13 - Home

Sam exited the manor for the first time, and while walking in the streets, he noticed the look of surprise on every villagers faces.

Feyd said : ”Aaron…” while looking around nervously.

Cursing, Aaron said: “Well, that’s expected behavior coming from poop huggers”. “Your condition of these past fourteen years led people from the village to fear you, that won’t change in a day”.

Sam saw the gazes, but it did not bother him. Considering his body's condition, it was an expected reaction.

There was nothing he could do about this.

He asked: “Where is the wood…workshop?”.

Aaron, surprised asked Sam :”What do you need ?”

Sam answered : ” I need….a five centimeter……thick plank of wood”. Aaron and Feyd looked at each other, then Aaron answered, “The wood workshop is not far away, we can make a small detour”.

Sam followed Aaron and they soon reached the place.

An old man was sitting in front of the entrance carving what looked like a deer. The workshop looked old and in front of it, wooden beams and planks were stacked orderly.

When the old man saw Sam, his face changed. Three steps away from the old man Sam said:

“I need a five centimeter….thick wood….plank, and some….. twines if you….have”.

The horrified old man looked at Aaron and Feyd’s delighted faces before answering: “Y-yes, we do have what you need, that will cost half a copper coin”. The old man ran inside his shop and came back few seconds later with a roughly five centimeters thick wooden plank and twines made of leather.

He gave the goods to Feyd to carry as Sam's condition did not permit him to, and both started walking toward Philip's home.

On the way, Aaron asked :”What do you intend to do with these things?”

Sam smiled and said. “I’ll use this…to stabilize…my footing for now”. Not understanding Sam’s intent, Aaron and Feyd grew curious.

After a while, they reached Philip’s place.

Philip's family lived in a house with a big courtyard, the roof was flat and the white colored walls looked old.

When they entered the house however, Sam noticed the inside was so clean he could see his face in the wooden floor. The walls were white and the furniture although not as extravagant as the one seen in the manor, gave nonetheless a feeling of dignity.

A nice fragrance remembering Sam of grilled chicken came flowing in his nose.

------

Aaron and Feyd as soon as they entered the house yelled :”Mom, we’re home!”

Few seconds later, a middle-aged round woman with a jovial face came into view.

Her blond hairs were trapped in her grey scarf, she had a straight nose and her brown eyes showed happiness as she was beaming at her children. “You are finally back, where is your father?”.

But at this moment, she paused noticing Sam.

With a smile Aaron said: “Mom, let me introduce you to our cousin, your nephew, who woke up after all these years. Sam!”. Then patting Sam's shoulder he added, “Father and uncle Brian decided that he was going to live with us from now on until uncle Gerad comes back”.

Aaron an Feyd’s mother stared emotionaly at Sam for a few seconds, and said with a trembling voice:”Gerad’s and Sedina’s son?”.

Taking a few steps forward, Sam bowed and said : ”Hello….aunt Lisa…Nice to…meet you” “I’ll…be in your…care”.

If he was to live here, Sam had to show proper etiquette in order to fit in the best he could.

But his greeting sent a pale color through Lisa’s face who was not prepared to hear him speak. She took a few seconds to calm down and answered: ”Seeing you like this is like a dream. If Gerad could see this!” Lisa then said with a tone filled with motherly love: “Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of you”

“There's a room we use for storage upstairs, Aaron and Feyd will help you clean it up in a few days”. “In the meantime, you will share Aaron’s and Feyd’s room”.

“Boys, show your cousin the house and help him get familiarized with our place”. “When your father comes back, we’ll have a celebration!”

-------

During the dinner, Sam was seated in the honor guest seat, and everyone was merrily chatting.

Having drunk quite a bit, both for his return home and for his nephew's revival, Philip was speaking to Sam about his father.

"When you were born with your condition, you father was destroyed and spent almost nine years in closed door training and mediation. When you uncle Brian told him of a cure, he did not hesitate and immediatly went adventuring" "However, we would have never imagined that you would wake up before his return!"

Philip intoxicated with alcohol and feeling of guilt described the pain he felt when he saw the villagers behavior toward Sam all these years, adding: "However, you must understand that the villagers viewed it as a curse because your illness was very mysterious, making you look like a faintly breathing corpse for fourteen long years."

Hearing Philip talk about this matter, Sam understood that these shunnings came from superstitious beliefs ingrained in their culture.

When Sam thought of his own culture's history and superstition back in the middle-age, it made sense.

Philip then spoke in behalf of Gerad. Saying that even though his father did not spend a lot of time with Sam, that did not meant Sam was not important for Gerad.

Sam understood the point.

Moreover he heard Carla speak about his father’s state of mind after his birth so Philip's speech did not give him any more insight about Gerad.

Sam asked:”Did you….knew…my mother?”

Philip answered :”Yes, your mother’s name was Sedina of the Reuben’s family” “You parents met at the Heaven Moons School when they were young”.

“That was so long time ago..” Lisa said, her attention focused nowhere in particular as if gazing at a distant scenery born from her memories.

Sam thought: “So my mother’s name is Sedina Reuben. Is her family also living in Amos?.”

He asked: “My mother’s…family do they….live here?”.

Lisa woke up from her dreamy state, and adding potatoes in Sam’s plate said: “Your mother’s family is not from Amos”.

“Her family live in Shiloh, the prefectural city that manage our area. She moved here fourteen years ago in order to....”

Lisa stopped here visibly troubled. She did not want Sam to feel guilty about his mother's death on top of the hellish life he had up until now.

Philip came to her rescue, “Sam, your mother’s family did not come to see you all these years because they thought you were dead” he paused then said “If you have one day the occasion, go visit your mother’s family in Shiloh”.

Noticing the grief his mother's death gave to Lisa, Sam thought that more time would be needed in order to pry into her memories. He nonetheless sighed in relief. His mother’s family was not living in Amos.

Sam was not at all the family type. Of course, if he one day visit Shiloh city, he would go visit just in order to satiate his curiosity as to where he is supposed to come from, "but there would have no other feelings associated with this demarch" is what he thought at the moment.

Feyd whose mouth was full of meat gave an elbow blow to his brother seated to his side. Aaron looked at Feyd and through some sort of eyes signal, somewhat got the explanation from his mute-due-to-meat little brother.

Aaron asked his father: “Father, what is Sam going to do with us?”

Philip glanced at Lisa then answered Aaron. “Sam is going to be teamed with your activities from now on.” “Gathering herb, compounding, potion making and of course selling”.

When he saw Feyd and Aaron’s faces changing into a dangerous one, Philip knew that this was not the end of the story.

But being teamed up with his own children was the best protection Philip could provide to Sam, so for now he had to endure and be prepared to wipe his children's ass.

“Starting tomorrow, you are going to drill into Sam the basis of our work; we’ll see which one is best suited for him”.

Sam nodded, he was not against the idea, but the feeling of being the center of attention during his trip to Philip’s house made him uneasy.

He decided to ask Lisa later if she had some clothes he could use in order to draw less attention.

-----------