Fallen Stars

Chapter 1

TYGRON

The sheets of white filled the landscape outside with singularity as fir trees tried their best to carry it all through the cold air that was still at peace. Some of them died and stood still like the bones of a fish without a tail pointing to the dark sky with scattered clouds hiding stars here and there.

With two rocky summits on the east and the west and a downhill right in front of our house. This valley, our renowned home is where we will spend the rest of the winter as our parents have always planned until the time comes for us, their children to find our spouses.

Everyone was busy for The Eve. Busy as preparation is what we need for a coming storm that will blow which my father had sensed three nights ago.

As far as I know, we were one of five of the family branches to celebrate such thing as a long tradition of the Silverheart. I kind of understood the reason why we moved here in the mountains just to celebrate this evening. The church calls us witches because of our customs and traditions that they considered pagan. The Celebration of this Winter Eve.

Mother was preparing her deer and stuffed turkey and Father was fixing and reinforcing the windows.

There were four children in the family. Theogrin the eldest, Caroline the second, Me, and Catherine.

When Theo and I are busy putting up the planks on the ceiling and hammering it in the upper timberwork of the house helping father, Carol, and Cathy are busy assembling the fig leaves and forming the decorations.

"You need to create the reinforcements on the ceiling faster, my children, Theo and Tygron. You also have to help me in here strengthen the windows after that! No one in here wants to freeze to death," Father shouted at us while at the front porch applying reinforcements on the window edges with stacks of planks behind him. We were right inside the door hammering things above it in place, while on our ladders.

"Soon after midnight the snowstorm might blow here and the windows could shatter again. You know Silverhearts are not well enough to afford that right?" Father continued while making a small scratch in the crotch of his brown trousers that had his fur coat from a slain bear wrapped around his shoulder and touching its surface.

Glass windows are very expensive for us to buy but when we bought them Dad was convinced that this would be the last.

"Yes, father," Tim and I replied in a straightforward bland voice. I looked at Theo right after replying. His typical stained white cotton shirt is as same as mine and his dark brown trousers have not taken a wash for about a week.

"Catherine, you're doing it the wrong way!" Caroline scolded Catherine while they were sitting in the living chairs. I took a short gaze at them and returned hammering. Both of them were in stained white shirts and dresses, brownish dresses like those of peasants who stitch random faded colors on every tear. After all, taking a bath is not that much of a use in the winter.

She was scolding our younger sister because of the fig ring she was making that displeased her for its sloppy pattern.

"Do I? Can't be able to see it being different than yours," Catherine replied in a low and cute tone.

"Of course, I, Cathera mistake a ring for a fish," Caroline mocked also scratching her head at the same time. "Hand that over."

She aggressively grabbed the fig ring Catherine was holding. Though it rather resembles a trout than a ring.

It was obvious that little Catherine was just fidgeting and mostly distracted while making them. I mean, Caroline already made a dozen fig rings while she was about to finish her second.