20th Day of Early Winter 768 n.c.
I headed out of the main Church hall, herding my brothers and sisters before me, into the classroom attached to the side of the building. It was a bare room, with a slate board up the front for Sister Tera to write upon. Mari was left behind, having had her thirteenth name day, she now had to sit through further sermons and lectures from Father Mattias. Sister Tera taught us almost everything; from reading and writing, history and geography to numbers and the human body (For those especially interested, she taught the rudiments of healing as well). As one of the oldest in the room, it was my job to assist with and help the younger ones.
Sister Tera stood at the front of the room and waited patiently for everyone to sit down cross-legged on the floor. We all quieted down quickly, anxious for her to begin teaching. It was everybody's favourite part of the tenday and nobody wanted to disappoint Sister Tera by being rude.
"Today's lesson is on both our currency, the coins of the realm and on the realm itself." Sister Tera began, passing coins around the room. The coins circulated, each child taking a look and passing it onto the next.
"We have Platinum Crowns, Gold Suns, Silver Moons and Copper Bits." she continued.
I had seen my fair share of copper and silver and had on a few occasions seen some gold coins when Father had been paid for his grains. You very rarely saw a Platinum Crown. It had a large crown on one side.
"The platinum that makes up the Platinum Crowns is a very expensive metal and as such the Platinum Crown is worth five Gold Suns. The crown on the coin is a picture of the Royal Carnian crown, worn by King Herrod Carn the second. The other side has a portrait of the King." The Sister lectured, continuing to admonish a child, "Bill, keep passing the coins around please."
"Who has the Gold Sun?" She asked and my sister Illith tentatively raised it up in her hand.
"I do, Sister!" she exclaimed, then shrank a little when everyone turned to look at her. I put my hand on her shoulder to give her comfort as she got a little shy sometimes. Completely unlike my sister Kara who would happily run up and introduce herself to a stranger, not that we had many strangers visit Easthaven.
"The Gold Sun has a picture of a Sun on one side and also has a portrait of the King on the other side. Remember that five Gold Suns make a Platinum Crown. One Gold Sun is worth ten Silver Moons."
"I've got the Moon Sister!" shouted Wit, the Bakers youngest son, a young excitable boy who always seemed to have a never ending supply of energy.
Sister Tera smiled at him, "Thank you Wit. The Silver Moon has a picture of a crescent moon on one side and again has the portrait of the King on the other side. Ten Silver Moons make one Gold Sun. Five Gold Suns make one Platinum Crown. One Silver Moon is worth twenty Copper Bits. Who has the copper bit?"
I had just been tapped on my elbow by little straw haired Sara Blanchfield to be handed the Copper Bit, so I raised my hand and said "Me, Sister."
"Thank you Sharein. Can you tell me what pictures are on the Copper Bit?" she asked.
I didn't need to examine the coin at all, I had seen enough of them to know the answer, but I showed the coin around to everyone in the room, spinning it around in my fingers so that they could see both sides.
"There are no pictures on the Copper Bit at all Sister, the Copper Bits are blank on both sides." I said loudly enough for everyone to hear.
"Thank you Sharein." Sister Tera acknowledged, "Twenty Copper Bits make a Silver Moon, ten Silver Moons make a Gold Sun, five Gold Suns make a Platinum Crown. These are the coins of the Kingdom of Carn."
With that, Sister Tera pulled out a familiar rolled up piece of cloth attached to a long wooden pole. My heart beat a little quicker in anticipation. She hung it up above the slate board and let it unfurl slowly. It was a map of Mithras. I loved to look at all the places on the map. Although worn in places, it had once been lovingly and painstakingly copied and showed an outline of the continent, with mountains, and forests, and places all drawn in different colours.
"Other countries and places have their own coins, which you will sometimes see." Sister Tera instructed, "Their coins are also worth different amounts. Some merchants will accept coins from other places, but will weigh them on scales to compare them to our own coins first. A silver coin from Fenn is only half the weight of a Silver Moon. How many Copper Bits would that coin be worth?"
Some of the younger children had their faces comically screwed up, trying to think of the right answer. I left it for a moment before raising my own hand and giving the answer, "If ten Copper Bits make up a Silver Moon and the Fennian silver coin is only half the weight, then it should be worth only five Copper Bits. Because half of ten is five."
"Well done Sharein, that's correct." Sister Tera congratulated me, smiling broadly. She liked it when the older kids phrased their answers in a way that would help the younger ones understand.
Looking back at the map, my eyes went straight to Easthaven. This was where I always first looked when studying the map. We sat near the middle eastern edge of the continent, at the far Eastern Border of Carn. Above us were the Irongap Mountains, labelled 'DWARVES' in red ink across the middle. To the East, before the ocean was a forest labeled 'Shadowmark Forest', which we all just knew as forbidden. Our farm was the Easternmost farm in Carn, backing onto the forest. My eyes were then drawn to the large forest above the northern border of Carn, the forest labelled 'Sarillion' with the word 'ELVES' written in red across it.
"Can anyone tell me the name of our Shire?" Sister Tera asked, watching a number of hands raise in the air. She called on Eli Westwood, a farmer's son from out west, who had stretched his hand so high that his was lifting his backside up off the ground.
"It's the same as our town, Sister!" he answered eagerly, "We live in Easthaven Shire."
"That's right Eli." Sister Tera acknowledged, "Very good. We live in Easthaven of Easthaven Shire of the District of Eastholm. Baroness Eastholm resides in Sunhaven Shire to our west."
Sister Tera pointed out our two Shires and our District on the map on the wall. "There is only one town in Easthaven Shire, but there are two towns in Sunhaven Shire: Sunhaven and Eastholm Castle. Can anyone tell me how many Districts there are in Carn?"
I raised my hand and was only among a few this time. "Sharein?" Sister Tera called.
"There are ten districts in total, Sister." I answered.
"Very good, yes." Sister Tera responded, "Carn is ruled by King Herrod Carn the second, but has five vassal Barons. Each Barony is made up of two Districts and each District is made up of two Shires. Can anyone tell me, then, how many Shires there are in Carn?"
Anwen, the Mayor's daughter raised her hand immediately and was called upon to answer. "There are twenty Shires in total, Sister."
"Yes Anwen, twenty Shires in ten Districts in five Baronocracies all under one Crown." Sister Tera explained, pausing for a moment to let the lesson sink in.
I smiled a little to myself as I watched the kid's eyes widen around me.
"Just like the coins!" one of the younger ones yelled out.
"Yes," said the Priestess, "Just like the coins. For this reason, you might hear the Shires being referred to as the Bits of Carn. This is also why the Barons are occasionally referred to as the 'Suns of Carn'."
Sister Tera continued on to describe the other Districts and Shires, pointing out that every Shire had between one and four towns in it, except for Nightholm Shire. Nightholm Shire of Darkholm District of the Barony of Oscura was a lost Shire. It had been raided thirty years ago by the Orcs over our southern border in the Badlands. While it appeared on all of our maps, the Shire was now the home of Orcs and worse monsters. Darkholm Shire was now a fortified bulwark against the hordes that raided from the Badlands, no farmland, populated entirely by soldiers manning a series of strategically located forts and walls.
"Castlemere, the home of the King, is in the middle of the Kingdom." Sister Tera said, pointing it out on the map, "Protected by the Baronies but separate from them. The King's Guard patrol the Highways leading to the Baronsholm, but the Baronies themselves are protected by the Baron's armies. Except in the case of Darkholm district, where soldiers from all across the Kingdom have been sent to help."
When Sister Tera ended the class, we all eagerly ran outside to play (or in the case of myself and some of the older kids, supervise the younger ones playing). It wouldn't be long before the adults were finished inside, so the kids were eager to catch up with their friends. It invariably ended up split into two, with the boys having play sword fights and the girls playing hops, a game played on a set of squares drawn in the dirt. The older ones usually stood to the side and talked (gossiped) and helping the younger ones if they got hurt (usually the boys).
Eventually the adults began filtering out of the church and I collected Jocam, Illith, Daavid, Kara, and Jara and herded them over towards Mother and Father who were talking to Father Mattias. The old Priest was nodding to the things Mother was saying to him as we approached and gestured for me to step to one side. As Mother and Father continued to walk down towards the Common's Paddock, Father Mattias spoke to me.
"Now Sharein," he said, "It is almost your thirteenth nameday, a day where great responsibility is heaped upon you."
"Yes Father." I said, nodding gravely.
The old Priest smiled at me, his shock of white hair bobbing on his head as he nodded also. "I shan't embarrass you by going over the things your Mother will soon be instructing you, but I am aware that most won't really apply."
I looked at him with confusion, waiting patiently for him to continue, "All of our young boys and girls have a year to experience being an adult before they decide upon their future. Most boys will start an apprenticeship on the fourteenth nameday and most girls will marry shortly after their first Long Night dance."
I continued nodding, curious as to where the Father was heading.
"You never struck me as the sort to look forward to being a wife, Sharein." the Priest said, and my heart stopped.
He knew? How did he know? I knew that I was different to the other girls, like Mari. Mari could only talk about the boys at the moment and although I nodded, smiled and gossiped as well, it was all a lie. For the longest time, I thought that I was just… late. That it would come. Mari confessed to me her dreams of this or that boy and I could never admit that *those* dreams always featured her, or the other girls. My mind swirled around and around. I felt like I had stopped breathing, that all the breath in me had just disappeared and my whole body was weighted down.
Father Mattias was still talking, but I didn't hear a word he said. I must have gone pure white and round eyed, for he stopped and reached out to me. "Sharein?"
"Sorry Father." I said, shaking my head and searching frantically for something to say, finally stammering out "I don't know what you mean, Father. Of course I want to be a wife."
"Not everybody does Sharein. It just so happens that I never wanted to be a husband. Sister Tera never wanted to be a wife. The Priesthood is a good place for people like us," he said with a wink and a conspiratorial smile, I didn't know whether he was referring to all of us or just himself and the Priestess, "but it's a calling, and I do not think that Mithras is calling you."
I stood gasping at him. In a matter of moments he first revealed that he knew my deepest darkest secret, then gave me a solution only to follow up by telling me that it wasn't an option. I felt lost.
He chuckled a little and a sudden strong anger rose up in me. How dare he laugh at this? "Actually, Sister Tera and I both agree that you would make a fine Priestess. But it is obvious, that you don't hold Mithras in your heart as much as we would both dearly like, or as much as would be required."
"Sharein." he said gently, "Sharein. Through the next year I would like you to give great thought to something. I have already discussed it with him, and with Sister Tera. It is an option, if you are interested."
I looked at him in what must have been hopeful confusion.
"Don't answer straight away. Think about it." He said, "Would you like to take up an apprenticeship with the Wizard Malkarov?"
