1st Day of Deep Winter 768 n.c. - Name Day
It was the day of my thirteenth Name Day. An exciting time for any person in Easthaven, or across Carn where the tradition was observed. The day before had been church and lessons, and Father Mattias had said nothing further to me about his question. I had given it great thought over the previous tenday, but didn't have an answer. Something about the priesthood drew me towards it, but something else about it just seemed wrong somehow. The offer to apprentice under the Wizard Malkarov seemed almost perfect, too good to be true. The old wizard had never taken an apprentice in my memory and I didn't want to ask Mother about it just yet. Me, a wizard? I tried to imagine doing some of the things that I had seen Malkarov do. He often performed illusions on special occasions, making lights appear and such. But the biggest feat I had seen him perform was when some bandits descended upon the town a few years earlier.
They came on the Long Night, when everyone was in the village. The Mayor went out to greet them and invite them to join in the celebrations but they drew their swords and demanded money to leave. Malkarov strode forward, murmuring some words and a group of glowing arrows flew out from his fingers! The arrows streaked forwards, slamming into the bandit and missing the Mayor completely. The bandit fell down, dead, and as the others turned around to flee the wizard cast another spell and they all fell down asleep! They were stripped down to their underclothes and locked into a storage shed for the night so they town could continue celebrating. In the morning, the wizard and a few volunteers took them in the back of a cart to the Baroness in Eastholm Castle.
My Name Day started by being shaken awake by Kara and Illith both. Each were so excited to almost be one year older that my rude awakening occurred before sunrise. That was okay, Mother would already be awake and looking for help in the kitchen.
Kara jumped on top of me in the bed and I gave her a cuddle and a kiss on the cheek, "Are you ready to be a big seven year old?"
"Uh huh." she said, giggling as I began to tickle her.
"And Illith," I said to my other sister, "are you ready to be a ten year old?"
"I can't wait." she said, holding in her excitement only barely.
"You know that Mother has something special planned for you before we head into town?" I asked.
"Yes, she said that we had to do something important." Illith answered, a little apprehensively.
We had to give Illith her sacrifice ceremony. She might not be ready for a few years yet, I had only just started this past Deep Summer, but the tenth birthday for a girl in our family was always important. I had learned after I had mine, that the same ceremony didn't hold true for everyone. Beka Crownever looked at me strangely when I excitedly told her about it after my tenth Name Day, and I was careful not to mention our ceremonies to anybody else after that.
"Don't worry Illith, it's nothing to be afraid of." I comforted her, then turned her around and pushed her gently, "Come on, let's get ready. There's lots of baking to be done."
We all got ready together and presented ourselves to Mother for direction. Not only did we have to make breakfast for everyone (Father and our brothers would be out doing their work in the fields before we all travelled into town), but we had to bake an assortment of cakes and biscuits to take with us. The Name Day feast would begin after the proclamation of age by the Mayor of Easthaven at midday and was made up of dishes brought in by every family living in Easthaven. Every family had their own things that they made and brought in, it must have been decided an age ago and hadn't changed at all in the years that I could remember. We would make honey cakes, spice cake and shortbread biscuits. The Meadowbroeks would always bring in a suckling pig that they had been cooking over an open fire since the early hours of the morning. Others brought in salads, other meats, sweets, breads and other foods and drinks.
I was about to get started on making the honey cake, which had been my task since Mother first started teaching me six years earlier. But Mother interrupted me, "Sharein, you start on the Spice Cake and Illith can start on the Honey cake while I teach Kara how to make the shortbread. You've watched and helped me enough over the past couple of years haven't you Sharein?"
"Yes Mother." I answered, quietly containing my excitement at being tasked to make the more difficult delicacy. If you didn't get the mix of spices just right, it could turn out horribly.
"Just keep an eye on Illith, especially when it comes time to add the wet." She added.
"Yes Mother." I confirmed and began to set out the ingredients.
I loved baking, and cooking. It was a task where you heard and saw the reward, with compliments and noises of appreciation. The spice cake was always popular and we usually made four of them for Name Days. Some had tried to recreate it at other times, but it was never as nice as Mother's, and she refused to give out the recipe.
I lost myself in my work, preparing the dry mix and the wet, measuring out the spices all in the right quantities to make four cakes. Mother's patient instructions to our youngest sister were a comforting reminder of years past, making sure the Illith was doing okay with gentle prodding of my own to "Put a touch more honey in" and to "make sure to bang the tin on the bench to get rid of any large air bubbles."
Before pouring the mix into my own tins, I made sure to take a small spoon of mixture over to Mother to check over (once, I had checked and corrected the mix myself of course).
Mother hummed appreciatively and congratulated me on a job well done, "These will probably be the best spice cakes yet Sharein, well done!"
I beamed at the compliment and poured the mix into the waiting tins, using the wooden paddle to set them into the back of the large stone oven. Once the oven was full, we set to work cleaning up our mess and preparing breakfast. Mother sent Kara out the front to ring the bell to summon Father and the boys in from the field. Sausages, bacon, mushrooms and eggs were all fried up in short work; as well as a large pot of long grain porridge and a large fresh and warm loaf of bread, sliced and slathered in butter. Father and the boys would all be hungry once they came in from their work. Mother drew a big mug of ale from the barrel and sat it at the head of the table for Father and began pouring two glasses of watered wine. She sat one down at her place next to Father and one down opposite at my place.
I looked at her questioningly, "You're not sixteen quite yet Sharein, but you're almost there."
"Thank you Mother." I said with a smile, it may have only been a few hours early, but it made me feel a bit special that Mother would break the 'rules' this way. The girls filled up mugs of water for themselves and the boys and we began setting the table once we heard Father and the boys come into the house.
The boys came running straight into the kitchen to sit down at their seats and Father followed, giving Mother a kiss on the cheek and a compliment to us "This looks absolutely delicious Mother, girls. What a fantastic feast you've prepared for us. Why, I almost think that it must be a special occasion. It's not the Long Night already, is it?"
I gave a little smile at Father's jest even as Kara and Jara both let out large sighs simultaneously, "Father! It's Name Day!" they said at the same time.
"Oh!" Father said with a wide smile as he sat down in his seat, "Already? But that would make you two big six year olds!"
"Seven!" Kara shouted with a frown, Jara following with "Father! You know that we're going to be seven!"
I started laughing at their antics, Jocam joining me. Illith and Daavid were smiling a little even as Mother gave Father a swat on the arm, "Leave them be Father. Breakfast is getting cold."
We very quickly got started on the task of demolishing our meal.
Once we were finished, Mother said to Father, "Take the boys and Kara out to get the horses and cart ready. We will meet you at the front gate once we're finished."
The three of us washed the dishes and packed everything away before Mother instructed us to come out into the garden at the back of the house.
Mother instructed us to take off our clothes and kneel down around the firepit. Despite all of the children, Mother was still a very attractive woman, slim and curvy. Her breasts and tummy were a bit saggy and she had the marks on her belly from her pregnancies, but she wore it all almost proudly. If I grew up to be half as strong as Mother, I would be happy.
"You are almost ten years old Illith, in the next few years you will start to become a woman." Mother gestured towards me, "Your breasts will start to grow, hair will start to grow down there and on your underarms. You will also start to bleed for a few days, every cycle of Luna, as your womb sheds. This gets you ready to become bear and birth children. The bleeding is your sacrifice for this gift."
Illith knew most of this already, she had questioned me as I got changed about the way my nipples were puffing up and swelling, and the hair that had only just started to grow.
Mother took up the small knife that she had brought out with her and walked around to Illith, taking her right hand in her left and I moved around to take Illith's other hand.
"Sister Luna, light above. This child of the moon is here, ready to sacrifice the first time in the presence of her family. Bless her, allow her body to take in your light, bless her." Mother intoned.
Mother reached over to Illith's leg with the knife and made a small cut in her thigh. A small amount of blood welled up and she caught it with the blade of the knife. Illith was looking down at the cut on her leg and I squeezed her hand, pointing down with my other at the small raised scar on my own leg that matched the one on Mother's leg also. Mother took up some ash from the fire pit and rubbed it over the cut. She placed the knife in Illith's hand, holding it steady so that the blood didn't drip off. She picked up a mug of water, and guided Illith to dip the blade into the mug.
"Once you do start to bleed, Illith." Mother said, "On the first night of each bleeding time, under Luna, you will wash off your pad in a bucket of water and then pour the water onto the garden. But for now, bring the cup over to the vegetable patch."
Illith brought the cup over and Mother instructed her on the words to say, "Sister Luna, Light above. I have my sacrifice, life does not grow in me. Use my sacrifice to grow life around me."
Illith repeated the words and emptied the cup into the garden. Mother gave her a kiss on the cheek and I matched it on the other side, then we all shared a hug before getting dressed and heading out to the front gates.
It was almost time for our name day ceremony!
