Forest God

~ 1 ~

I march along the trail and check my last trap of the day. A rabbit; not too shabby. That along with the deer I managed to get today will make for a nice dinner. Mother can fashion the rabbit paws into those chains and sell them as good luck charms next time she goes on a trip with the other merchants. Hopefully Callan has done better with his fishing trip today. We can build our stockpile of meat back up as long as he does well on the water. I'll probably have better luck tomorrow when I go bird hunting with Fling and Sol.

It's always much harder to hunt right before the offering takes place. Elder Wren, for who I am named after, always told us younglings it's because our forest god doesn't have enough energy to keep making animals for us. I didn't take her seriously until I finally went through the offering myself once I had my first blood. The animals always returned once the offering took place.

Nobody really knows why they began in the first place. The Elders tell tales of the night the previous Chief Rowan first received the message and how his daughter was the first chosen one. Their memories are foggy at best, having been children themselves at the time, and they don't remember much else besides that. Father used to tell me that the forest god saw the offering as a solution o make us stronger. I'll never know if what he thought was true.

"Mother, I'm back," I call out as I enter the house.

"What have you brought for me today?" she asks, coming out form the back of the house and into our den.

"I have us a deer and a rabbit. We can have a nice rabbit stew to go along with Brother's fish, and we can save the deer meat," I say, laying both deer and rabbit on the table.

"What a lovely idea," she says, coming to examine the goods. "Your brother's been needing a new set of fishing spears. I'm sure this deer's big enough for us to make its bones into spears."

"I also think you can use the rabbit paws for when you go to market, and I'm sure you can do something great with this deer skin."

"Oh, I'd much rather barter the deer skin in the village to get you something nice to wear for your wedding," she says with a smile. I let out a grown but don't say a word.

I knew I had to get married eventually or be cast out from the village, but I wish she would have waited a little longer before making the match. She had her eyes set on only one person for me, but he was older. He was available for marriage earlier than I was and was matched off quickly. So Mother chose the second best: his younger brother Flint.

"We don't have much longer until the full moon, you know. It's not time to stick your heels in the mud."

"I'm aware Mother."

"It is lucky you have such a good match to look forward to. Unlike your brother. I did what I could with him."

"You should just be happy about us being married. Not everyone is matched.:

"I know that dear," she says, putting on her apron. "Neva wants you to help prepare dinner at her house tonight."

"Am I not to eat with you, Brother, and Sister Fern?"

"It'll do you some good to begin eating with your new family. You won't be considered part of ours anymore once you're married."

"I don't understand that custom. Am I not of your blood? Do Brother and I not share the same blood? We will still be family," I say, sitting down by the fire.

"I know dear, but our customs say otherwise. Women then belong to the family they marry into."

"Sister Fern never goes to see her family. Am I going to be permitted from coming home to see you?"