The Unending Epic Written to Appease a Friend, Tell a Tale, an...

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          When his father exits the house the two of them head toward town together. Taylen walks beside the mare so the horse is between him and his father. He doesn't trust his expression to not make his father suspicious. It was already odd that he had woken at sunrise without being told.

          The rest of the town is waking too. Men and boys are in the fields they pass, and already women are washing bowls and clothes from the water of the well. Telar and her daughter, Sirel, place a bowl of grain at the shrine of Ninbaba in the center of town. A wooden idol of the god stands about two feet high on the altar, and depicts the god with a long curly beard, and holding a scythe and parchment crossed over his chest.

          Folk hail them as they pass, then Niku, another boy from town, waves at Taylen through a window. Taylen inwardly curses, and a few seconds later a door opens and Niku runs out onto the street to meet them.

          "Hi!" he says brightly. "What are you doing?"

          "Father is buying leather from Ada," Taylen says curtly. "For a new saddle."

          "Oh, neat." Niku walks along beside him. "Is this the horse? He's really pretty."

          "She." He had to get Niku to go away; he wouldn't be able to get supplies with the boy following him like a tail. "Doesn't your mother need help with anything?"

          "No," Niku responds. "She already chased me out of the kitchen."

          By now they had arrived at the tanner's, and Taylen's father takes the mare's reins. "I'll be here for a bit," he says. "Are you staying with me?"

          Taylen feels a snap of panic; he hadn't planned what he would tell his father. "No, actually, I uh, am going to go with Niku for a bit."

          His father glances toward the risen sun. "Be back in an hour," he says, then goes into the shop, leaving Taylen alone with Niku, and wishing he had come up with any other excuse.