Songbird

Chapter Two - Melody

Kallan couldn't remember just when the girl had first appeared in his dreams. It was the same every night—he floated in darkness a short distance away from her as she sang a haunting melody, eyes closed in concentration. Her dress drifted about her legs, dark hair falling over one fair shoulder. Did he know her? She seemed different than anyone else he knew, but try as he might, he couldn't remember meeting her.

He woke as he always did, with the girl's song still ringing in his mind, a melancholy yet somehow hopeful tune. As it began to fade from his thoughts, he rolled out of bed, reaching over and shaking his younger brother.

"Wake up, Tod."

The boy stirred with a groan. "Mm..."

Kallan was already pulling on his boots. "I know, I know...but we've work to do, come on. Jax, Hal, that means you, too."

Across the room, the two youngest brothers rose groggily, joining the other two as they left the room.

Their mother was already awake, tending to the eggs and sausage cooking over the wood stove, the aroma wafting up to the cabin's low ceiling and filling the room. Her hair was collected into a long braid streaked with gray, and she brushed a strand from her face as she noticed their entry.

"Good morning, boys!"

"Morning, Mum."

She fixed each of them a plate, passing them around the large table that occupied most of the small kitchen.

"Your father's already started today's work," she said. "Best not keep him waiting."

They dug eagerly in to the food just as their sisters emerged from their own room, rubbing their eyes.

"Hello, girls," their mother said. "Are you hungry?"

"Mhm!"

Kallan wolfed down the rest of his food and pecked his mother on the cheek.

"Thanks, Mum." He turned to collect his brothers. "Alright, let's hop to, lads."

The sun was just beginning to peer over the horizon as they crossed the field outside, heading for the large barn that stood some distance behind the house. To either side of the boys, crops grew almost as tall as they, wheat and corn as well as smaller crops of potatoes, carrots, and beets. Farther to their left, fruit trees stood in neat rows, bearing apples, apricots, and pears. Plump berry bushes crouched nearby as well.

Nearer the barn, fences crisscrossed the field where they kept the animals—chickens, cows, sheep, and swine, along with the two horses that pulled the plow. The boys' father was dumping feed into their trough.

"Morning, Da!"

He grinned as they approached, tousling Jax's hair. "Boys," he said. "You look so tired! Are you sure you're awake?"

"Awake enough," Kallan said. "What shall we do first today?"

His father gave them each instructions, and they spread out across the farm, harvesting the fruits and vegetables that were ready, feeding the animals, cleaning the barn, and the myriad of other daily tasks that constituted their life on the farm.

The rising sun gilded the fields around him as Kal scythed through stalks of wheat, the eastern sky painted crimson, saffron, and cobalt. He leaned on the scythe, watching the shadows shrink beneath the trees and shrubs and wondering if he would ever see a new horizon.

As the sun reached its peak in the sky, they reconvened at the house for a light lunch before returning to their chores. Kallan spent his last hour of work that evening chopping firewood, taking solace in the satisfying thunk as each log split before stacking the pieces neatly on the pile beside the house.