Cal stumbled up the stone path to his house, each step feeling like a mile. His chest was heaving like a bellows and his whole body was soaked in sweat. To add insult to injury, Raff was already there, calmly leaning on the doorsteps, eating an apple. He didn’t look tired in the slightest, munching away at the juicy red fruit. As Cal neared the house, Raff looked up from his snack, to give his friend a laugh and a grin.

“Finally, decided to show up did ya?”

“My…house…is …to…far,” said Cal as he gasped for breath.

“Maybe you shouldn’t look for girls so far away from home then,” replied Raff as he took another bite.

“To…far,” mumbled Cal as he collapsed beside his friend.

“What are you doing? There’s no resting,” commented Raff as he stood up and looked down on his friend. “You lost, so your slave and slave, I need the door opened so I may feast.”

“Ehhhhuhhh,” groaned Cal from the ground as he rolled onto his back and angled his neck to gasp in air.

“Awe, come on Cal,” said Raff as he took the last bite of the apple and threw the core away. “I want to eat.”

The front door of the house burst open to reveal a woman with a hand on her hip and a frown on her face. She was middle aged, with eagle eyes and brown hair wrapped into a tight bun.

“Did you just throw that apple into my yard?” asked the woman as she fixed the boy with a stern gaze.

“Umm,” Raff started to respond.

“And what is my son doing lying by the door? We already have enough animals in this house without him acting like one too.”

“Well…”

“Never mind. Just pick up the apple and bring Cal inside. I swear, boys these days…” said the woman as she went back inside letting the door close behind her.

“You heard her,” said Raff as he got the core, catapulted it onto the roof of a neighboring house and came back to lean over Cal. “Time to go in.”

“To…far,” mumbled Cal, his breathing starting to fall into the rhythm of relaxation.

“Good point,” agreed Raff. “That’s why I’m not going to carry you. Now this might hurt a bit, but hey that’s the idea.” With that Raff leaned back and socked Cal in the shoulder.

“Owwwww!” shouted Cal as his eyes popped open, rest now the farthest thing from his mind.

“What’s going on out there?” called the woman’s voice from inside the house.

“Nothing,” Raff yelled back. “Just getting him up.”

“Getting me up?!” said Cal as he got into a sitting position. “You call hitting me, getting me up?”

“It worked didn’t it?” asked Raff as he looked back at his friend.

“It worked didn’t it?” mimicked Cal as he got to his feet. “Next time you’re sleeping we’ll see if thumping your stones works.”

“Try,” countered Raff. “And one day you’ll wake up bald.”

“What are you two doing out there?” yelled the voice again. “Get your rumps in here right now!”

“Yeah Cal, what are you doing?” said Raff as that he opened the door and went inside.

Cal followed his friend through the now open doorway, growling a string of obscenities under his breath. Once inside, he closed the door and turned to glare at Raff’s back. The boys were standing in the main hallway of the house which had three large doors leading off of it, one to the left and two to the right. Completing the entryway area was a curved stairway attached to the left wall going up to the second floor. However, the glory of the construction of the house was lost on the boys, because wafting in from the first door on the right was the smell of food being cooked and simmered.

“About time, now take off your shoes and come in here,” called the woman from the kitchen.

“Yes mom,” answered Cal as he and Raff undid the leather laces, took their boots off, and laid them on the wooden floor by the door. Their shoes removed they padded their way into the kitchen, noses following the wonderful aroma. As they walked through the archway of the door, a room full of food stood before them. There was bread, cheese, fruit, vegetables, and large hunks of pork lying about on the two wooden tables and a few countertops. Cal’s stomach began to rumble as he looked over the feast of food spread out before him. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was. And of course, in the middle of it all was his mother. She bustled about, cutting vegetables, slicing the cheese, checking on the stove full of baking bread and the large kettle of what looked to be soup heating over the kiln. As she began to stir the soup with a large wooded spoon, she noticed the two boys walk in.

“Took you two long enough,” quipped the woman. “Make a person think you were walking through molasses or the like.” The boys started to respond but she cut them short with the raise of her hand. “And Cal, what were you doing sleeping on the steps? Your father paid good money for that bed upstairs and the Maker knows I wish you’d use it a bit more often.” This time just Cal started to speak, but she cut him off before he even had a chance. “Raff, where is that apple?” Now Raff tried to respond, but like his friend, he had only just opened his mouth when the woman scrunched up her face and said, “What is that smell?!” Trying to look as innocent as possible, and not even attempting to speak, both boys pointed at each other. The woman paused for the briefest second, and then looked directly at her son.

“You’re not fooling anyone Cal,” said his mother. “Acting like I can’t pick out your stink. Who do think changed you all those years? You’re father? Ha! Now go get out of those dirty clothes and wash up. I want all that sweat and grime off, do you hear me?”

Raff started to laugh at his friend’s plight but his mirth was cut short by the woman’s voice.

“Raff go out and get Cal two buckets of water for the wash. And don’t spill them on the floor like you did last time or your not going to get a crumb from my cupboard,” her orders in place, she turned her attention back to the soup.

“But…” said Cal and Raff in unison.

“Is there a problem?” asked the woman, whipping her head up to look at them both.

“No…” said the boys as they averted their eyes, resigning themselves to their fates.

“Good. Now hurry up because the food will be ready soon and neither of you will be having a cold meal under this roof.”

Cal and Raff looked at each other with grimaces and then moved to their respective tasks. As Cal got to the door of the kitchen a wonderful idea popped into his head. With a smile he turned to his friend who was just stepping out of the door on the opposite side of the room, which led outside.

“I’ll be in the upstairs bath Raff. Thanks buddy.” Before his friend even had a chance to respond, Cal shot out the door and into the hallway. He crossed to the stairs and took them two steps at a time, smiling all the way. When he reached the top of the flight he couldn’t contain himself any longer and started laughing. The look on Raff’s face had been perfect. Carrying water up these stairs was a tedious and exhausting task. Cal knew because he had to do it for his mother all the time. Ever since the upstairs bath had been built, she refused to use the one downstairs. But now Raff was the one who would be hauling the buckets up. Cal laughed again. Perfect, he thought. His gloating finished for the moment, Cal turned right and went down the upstairs hallway. A short walk brought him to the door of his room and with a turn of the brass knob, he stepped inside.

It was a fair sized place with a dresser on the left wall and a desk on the right. The dresser had a mirror, so he liked that but he never used the desk. Not that his father would ever hear of getting rid of it. It’s made well and it works well. Two things I can’t say about you but your mother and I still keep you around. That’s what his dad would say.

Directly in front of him was a big bed, right underneath his window overlooking the town. And lying upon his bed where two sleeping mutts. One black, one brown, both of whom raised their heads when he closed the door with a bit of a slam.

“Rusty, Mic, you lazy bums,” said Cal as he moved to rub both their heads. “Don’t you guys even get up when I come home anymore?”

In response the two dogs licked his hands a bit, sniffed about for some food and upon realizing he didn’t have any, promptly laid their heads back down.

“You guys are pathetic.”

The brown dog called Rusty gave a bit of a harrumph and then closed his eyes along with Mic. Cal shook his head as he began to strip down. Off came the brown hide tunic, which he laid on his bed. His white shirt and socks got tossed into the large cloth bag by his dresser, and he was just in the middle of taking off his pants when he heard someone say something down the hallway.

“What?” yelled Cal as he hobbled towards his door, while trying to extract his leg from the clothes. Just as he reached the large slab of wood, it swung open and hit him right in the face, sending him sprawling backwards onto the floor.

“I said, the bath is ready your majesty,” answered Raff as he poked his head into the room. He looked around a bit until he saw that his friend was spread eagle on the ground. “What are doing lying on the floor? Hurry up. Your mom said the food is almost ready.” At the mention of “food” the two dogs perked up and flew towards the open door. Unfortunately for Cal, in their race to be fed they mistook him as part of the ground and ran right over him.

“Ahhh!” yelled Cal as the dog’s claws scratched his exposed chest, stomach and arms, before propelling their owners out the crack in the door.

Raff looked at his friend for a second, cocking his head to the side, “Nice skivvies,” and with that, closed the door.

Cal picked his aching skull up off the wood floor and looked down at his scratched torso to see what his friend had been talking about. Sticking out of his pants was a pink piece of underwear. In fact, the material was positioned in such a way that it almost looked like he was wearing it.

“Awe flames,” groaned Cal as he let his head fall back to the floor. Mellinda had given it to him this morning as a parting gift and he had stuffed it down his pants for safekeeping. That was only seconds before Trell had burst in on them and everything had gone all to hell. The chase, the fight, the race home, somewhere in there he had completely forgotten about them and now he would never hear the end of it from Raff. While still lying on his back, Cal reached down and yanked the offending piece of linen from his pants. With a move he threw the underwear over by his dresser.

“Alright, I need to get up.” With another groan, he righted himself into a sitting a position and then stood up. As he rubbed his head, he shuffled over to the mirror on his dresser. Staring back at him was a boy with a large red mark on the left part of his forehead and scratches all over his body. “Mom’s gonna love this.”

Cal looked down at his chest and stomach to see that most of the scratches were just skin deep, and that only a few had actually drawn blood. One of the cuts however, sliced clean through his scar, leaking red across the raised skin. The burning in his chest came quickly. Piercing and painful, he had to grasp the desk to hold himself steady. With gritted teeth he watched in amazement as the separated skin slowly moved, knitting itself back together as if guided by the prayers of a healer at temple. In seconds, the cut had sealed leaving only stray drops of blood to stain his breast. Slow now the burning and the pain subsided, letting Cal release the desk and stand up straight.

“By the Maker,” gasped Cal as he gently touched the newly healed skin. He had seen this miracle happen a few times before, but it never ceased to amaze him. All the other scratches on his body remained, but if anything ever tried to mar his mark, it would heal. Cal looked at the now whole scar and then glanced up at the mirror to see the reflection of it. Almost seventeen years it had sat upon his breast, and still it felt as if it wasn’t a part of him.

“How can I be Kin?” whispered Cal to himself. “How can this be?” The number of times this question had passed from his lips was beyond count. He loved all the advantages that came with having the mark, but when it came down to it, it didn’t feel right. “Ten days. I leave everything I care about in ten days.” Cal shook his head full of curls. He felt so different from Raff. Raff lived for the Festival and everything it meant. He felt like it was his purpose. And from what he had heard of the other Chosen born they felt the same way. The giant in Paluk who fought bears in the forest and the noble son of Kent who trained even more than Raff did. He had never met them, but he had heard the stories and never was it said that any of them didn’t want to go.

Cal raised his head and looked himself in the eyes. He gazed at the green reflected back at him as he focused on the left and than the right. Emotions tumbled around in him, as if a sluice had opened.

“I must…” said Cal as he looked at his face. “I must…”

“Take a bath,” finished a voice from the door.

Cal spun around to see Raff leaning in the doorway. He hadn’t even heard it open.

“You better hurry up,” said Raff as he took a large bite of bread and cheese. “Your mom’d go berserk if she knew you hadn’t even started yet.”

“Alright,” answered Cal as he turned back to the mirror.

“Alright,” replied Raff as he closed the door. Through the walls Cal could hear him mumble. “Spent more time running and less time looking in a glass…”

Cal smiled at his friend’s remark as he looked in the mirror again. But his happiness quickly faded as he saw his rune staring back at him, the mark that determined his fate. In ten days the Blood Moon would rise. In ten days a coach would come to take him away. In ten days he would leave his family, his home and the town he had lived in his whole life.

“Just ten days,” said Cal to the face staring back at him.