Era's End

Chapter 1

All Good Things Must Have An Ending sat on a bench in his father's forge. He and his father - his Tapi, Ally to All Creatures - were chatting about the next day's work while Ally finished oiling the wood that would become part of the plow the two of them had been repairing.

Someone banged loudly on the doorframe of the forge, startling Ending. Ending peered around his father to see two of the valley's elders, judging from their garb, standing in the open doorway, but with the shadow of the forge and the bright afternoon sun outside he couldn't see who it was. "Tapi?" he said to his father. "Who is it?"

His father stepped up to the door and greeted the elders. Ending came up to stand next to him. "Sands in the Wind, and Maker of Mirth. What can I do for you two today?" his Tapi said.

Wind, her thin figure and heavily creased tan face which made her look much like her name, and Mirth, who was much the opposite of his name, nodded their heads and swept their hands out in greeting. "We would like to speak to you alone, Ally to All Creatures, about a matter."

"Anything you want to tell me, Ending deserves to hear too. He'll be taking over my forge one day soon, after all."

Wind's face furrowed further when Ally referred to Ending as "he". Ending guessed it had something to do with her perpetual disappointment in him. Ending had announced to the village at a meeting a few years ago that he was not a girl and was instead a boy. This prevented him from becoming a Keeper like her, since only women were allowed to be Keepers. Wind had long ago decided Ending's aptitude for learning would have made him a good one to replace her so she could retire. And now she was stuck being Keeper until the next young girl who showed such an aptitude for learning grew old enough to take the oaths.

Still, she had provided him with the recipe for the tea that would prevent his monthly flow of blood, and the herbal tonic that would prevent other parts of growing into a woman. So despite her evident disappointment, Ending figured she wasn't all that bad. Mirth, on the other hand...

Mirth frowned. "It is not something a young... 'boy'... needs to hear."

Ending bristled inwardly at the way Mirth said that, but hid it best he could. "With respect, Mirth'har," Ending said, putting the strongest honorific he knew at the end of his name, "I have 17 years under the sun and moons, and am nearly a grown man. What could it possibly be that you could tell my father that you couldn't tell me?"

"Things not for a child's ears to hear," Mirth said with more somberness than was usual for his typically dour self.

Ending was about to protest further when his father put his hand on Ending's shoulder. "Go, Endinin," his Tapi said, using the child's version of his nickname. "Take the pan and see what you can gather at the river, will you? If you can find any metal coming down from the mountains, that would be lovely. Our stores of ore are running a bit low."

"But Tapi, it's late in the afternoon and the sun will soon be down."

"There's nothing at the river what can harm you, son. Nothing in the whole valley. You'll be fine. Come back when the little moon is high, and we'll have dinner then."

Ending grumbled, but he took the pan and a sack, and went walking down the path to the river.

-----

Ally sat at the small table in their kitchen across from Wind. Mirth, ever the proper Keeper's Guard, took up a position near the door where he could watch both the room, furnished in plain but well made wooden furniture, and out the pane-less window.

Wind sipped from the cup of tea that Ally had offered. Mirth had refused a cup. The three of them sat in silence for a long minute.