Akai, Kidd, and Lamorie had spent most of the morning together. After an hour, they saw Lacy by herself and decided to hang out with her as well. Akai knew Lacy was a fairly quiet girl and tended to keep to herself.

  Lacy did feel a bit awkward hanging around with 10 year olds, but it was less awkward than her trying to socialize with people her age. It was to be expected with her past. She knew these 3 did try to make her feel at home, and appreciated it.

  She found herself and the 3 in a field of wheat, still not quite ready for harvest. The nearby barley fields had already been harvested, however. She sat beneath the strange ancient oak tree, its green leaves starting to just get hints of yellow to them. Autumn is just now starting.

  Lacy drew lines across the paper with a stick of graphite, in front of her Kidd was striking a pose. She drew one last line before turning around her sketch book to show him.

  “That is awesome!” Kidd said with excitement, running up to inspect it. Kidd gushing over the sketch brought a genuine smile to Lacy’s face.

  “Not to kill the moment, you two, but it’s about time we head back.” Lamorie shouted, she was sitting on a branch of the tree above them.

  Kidd turned and looked, seeing the sun high in the sky now. Close enough to noon. He nodded and said “Yeah, Lamorie’s right.” before offering out a hand to help Lacy get up. She hesitated for a moment before gently taking his hand and getting up.

  “Alright..” She softly spoke.

  Lamorie carefully jumped off the tree, landing with a thud as her feet planted themselves. From around the other side of the tree Akai came and joined them on their walk back.

  As they got closer, they saw everyone was out in the village center. When they were spotted, people began ushering Akai, Kidd, and Lamorie ahead. Lacy was brought forwards so she could stand around the front of the crowd around the village center.

  A small stage had been quickly erected. The square was covered in decor hanging from buildings and many of the villagers were beaming with excitement. Many tables and stalls set out with food and drink. Fresh baked goods with fruits from the forest, pale ale, cider, and many dishes with meat as the focus.

  The graylock meat was plentiful, having a slight gamey taste resembling wild bison in taste.

  Kidd even saw his mother beside the stage and was shocked to see her with her old harp. Christie had once been a rather talented harp player, but she slowly stopped and Kidd was never told why. But seeing her there filled his heart with a nostalgic warmth.

  Walking onto the stage was an ancient looking man. The current elder of this village who was their leader. But as he stepped onto the stage, there were a bunch of murmurs as a man they hadn’t seen before walked onto stage.. Or at least, Akai and his friends hadn’t. Neither had some of the other young people in the village but the older villagers around his fathers age and older suddenly stood straight.

  The elder walked with a slight hunch to his back and a cane in his hand. Behind him stood a tall regal looking man with well groomed black hair. He was wearing a black suit with a white thread trim to it, intricate patterns embroidered over an exposed shoulder of his jacket and a red cloak draped over the other shoulder. He had a cane as well but it was not because he needed it to walk, it was adorned with a silver head and clearly just for fashion.

  The elder spoke. “Today we celebrate a great occasion. This year, for the first time since I was a young lad, we had people awaken divine blessings in our humble village..”

  The elder’s gaze swept over the crowd and landed first on Kidd, waving him forward. Then Lamorie, and lastly Akai. They approached the stage and the man in regal clothing was inspecting them visually. Akai had a strange feeling when he felt the assumed noble’s gaze linger on him.

  “We had not just one, but three young kids awaken. All within three months of one another.”

  The elder turned to face Akai and said “Come up here boy. You were the first, and the most important.”

  Akai looked nervous, but he did climb onto the stage. The elder grasped Akai’s hand and forearm with both hands, balancing his cane on his own forearm by letting it hang from the crook.

  “We are grateful, boy. Your awakening moment saved this village from an attack from the Kettle Bell outlaws. You even personally took care of their leader, Kell. For that, I am eternally grateful.”

  Akai looked up and had a smile, seeing the genuine warmth in the elder’s voice. Holding pride in Akai’s achievement.

  “Indeed..” Spoke a gravelly voice. The noble said “I heard of your achievement and decided to visit Rowan Village myself.” whilst looking down at Akai. The noble never removed his hands from the top of his silver adorned cane, however. A statement that he still saw a commoner such as Akai as beneath him, even as an awakened. Refusing to even gesture towards the kid and his actions.

  “I am the lord of this region, Margrave Geoffry Sorray the 2nd, of the Southern March.”

  He looked down at Akai, and Akai looked back a bit. He felt like he was supposed to reply. The elder said “Introduce yourself, boy. And speak about your feat.”

  “Oh, my name is Akai Ryneveld, sir.” Akai softly bowed his head respectfully.

  “In all honesty, I do not remember much about what I did.”

  Akai turned to look at Lamorie who was standing nervously before the small stage.

  “My friend Lamorie here can re-tell it best. She was there to witness it.”

  The margrave turned his gaze a bit dismissively towards Lamorie who felt a shiver crawl up her spine under his scrutiny. “Step up and speak.” He said in a voice gentle but with authority.

  Lamorie quickly climbed up onto the stage, taking just one leaping step up instead of carefully hopping up like Akai did.

  “Yes sir,” She said before beginning to retell the story of what happened. Everyone in the village around to finally hear what actually happened from the source and not from a rumor. She shared about how the bandits came and set fire to their house, looking for a friend who lived there. Wanting to smoke them out.

  Akai and his father Rei returned from a hunting trip and tried to catch the bandits by surprise, but was spotted and captured too.

  Lamorie mentioned how one struck her mother, Kell himself beat Akai’s father before beating Akai himself enough to break multiple ribs. But it was at threat of killing his mother, Jennifer, did Akai gain a divine blessing, assuming it to be from Svendar.

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  She described how Akai exploded into a tornado of fire that only became even more intense as it became an unnatural golden yellow in color. Even though the fire washed over her and everyone else, it only hurt the bandits and left herself unscathed. She didn’t even feel anything more than a mild warmth from the fire, but it burnt the ropes binding them to ash in moments. Akai overpowered Kell completely, then sent forth his fire to deal with the rest of the bandits both around him and through the village.

  Once she was done re-telling the story, the margrave nodded. His gaze returned to Akai and stared for a moment with a calculating expression. Then, a soft smile that would fool most people but Akai could feel instinctually it was fake. “You did good, Akai Ryneveld.” the noble said before giving Akai a single pat on the back. “I will be sure to follow your performance when you enter the awakened academy.”

  After a moment of silence washed over the crowd, Margrave Geoffry Sorray turned. He said “Enjoy your festivities.” before walking off the stage and rejoining his retinue of personal guards.

  This was followed by another small speech from the elder and he called forth Kidd as well.

  Then, he went first to Akai. “You, blessed by Svendar, I honor you with a permanent residence of your own once you come of age. Should you, for some reason, choose to not inherit your parents estate.”

  He said the same thing to Lamorie. Noting that she was blessed by Miogh.

  Though, when she got to Kidd, he furrowed his brows. He said “I can’t quite recall what god had blessed you, young Fuller.”

  Kidd then smiled and said “Nobody had ever asked. It’s about time someone did.” while trying to hold back a mischievous chuckle.

  The elder looked amused but off to the side Christie looked horrified. No doubt feeling very embarrassed about realizing this and the same could be said for Liam somewhere in the crowd.

  “Well then, young Fuller, what did you hear when you awakened?” The elder asked with reverence in his voice.

  “Your blade is quick, your reflexes faster. Lightning courses through your veins, I will make it go even further beyond. Inherit my skill with the sword, Kidd fuller. Do so, and one day you will fight alongside me.”

  Everyone seemed shocked at how straight forward of a message Kidd had received.

  There was no doubt, Kidd had received a blessing from Ankhou, the god of warfare.

  “Young man, you are truly remarkable. Never in my years had I ever heard of a god speaking one’s name when giving a divine blessing. Even inviting you to one day fight by his side. Truly, you have been given an incredible blessing.”

  With that, the Elder nodded to Kidd’s mother who had an odd look on her face from hearing this. The last thing she wanted was Kidd galavanting around on a battlefield and getting hurt.. But to be invited by a god themselves to do so, she wasn’t sure if she had the right to deny him now.

  She leaned forwards in her chair and took a deep breath. She flexed her fingers for a second before starting to play a simple melody on the harp. Beautiful music filled the town center as a number of other villagers with their own instruments joined in. Lutes, Flutes, and a drum filled everyone’s ears with happy music.

  “Go enjoy yourselves, kids. You have more than earned it.” The elder said, heading off the stage.

  Some of the very young kids were getting excited about the free food and the music, already running around now.

  The two twins had their stands ready, Rona and Kara. Side eyeing one another as they were preparing different kinds of sweets for everyone.

  The elder moved to his house, one of the houses overlooking the center clearing of the village. He went inside and came out with a lit pipe in his mouth, sitting on a chair on his porch and puffed slowly on it as he watched his people enjoy themselves. Some people began dancing to the music, drinking and socializing with the drinks provided, and others were eating their fill.

  About an hour into the celebration, Rei was sat at a table with Drake. Liam joined them and so did a few of the other men of the village. They began drinking the pale ale. The conversation started simple but soon drifted to Liam and Rei swapping stories from their army days.

  Elsewhere, a couple of teens did get in trouble for trying to pull a few pranks. What was especially popular was trying to goad the two twin women into arguments as they gave out sweets from their competing stalls. Akai had seen two young men not much older than Lacy leaning on one of the stalls, giving one compliments on the sweets before turning their attention to the other’s food. Continuing until the two women got into a yelling match with one another and someone had to step in and settle things down a bit.

  Akai returned his attention to what he and Kidd were doing. Lamorie and Lacy watching, already having had their turns.

  Before Akai and Kidd was a little stand where one of the older women of the village was sat. She had set up a game where her husband, a man with hair greyed from age but still a strong body, would compete in throwing small sacks of beads at marks on the ground. Whoever at the end had more of these bags centered within the opposing side’s target would win.

  She was giving away little prizes to whoever could beat her husband.

  She had wooden toys, dolls, and miscellaneous trinkets she had made. So far her husband had been going easy on the small kids of the village, around 6 and younger.

  Akai and his friends had an awkward age range regarding the village kids. The oldest ones behind them were going to turn 7 come winter. And the next oldest after them were already around 15. Akai, Lamorie, and Kidd were all 10 right now.

  And judging from how the husband played against Lamorie and Lacy, he wasn’t going to be intentionally doing bad to let them have fun. He was going to make them earn the prize if they wanted it. Akai was going first and was having trouble. He was given four bags and was allowed to make the first toss. He over-shot it by a wide margin and the husband’s next throw was almost a perfect bullseye.

  Akai looked down and furrowed his brows before trying to focus. He felt the weight of the bag and steadied himself to toss it with less strength. He lowered it and stepped forwards for an under-handed toss, the bag landing now within the circle but only barely. At the edge of the target.

  The husband tossed his 2nd bag and it landed within the target, a few inches off from the center.

  This repeated itself again for Akai’s 3rd and 4th throw. He made it within the target but only barely, while the husband had great aim.

  “Sorry, sonny. You’ll have to do better if you want a prize.” The old woman said with a smile, though Akai knew she was trying to goad him into playing and losing again.

  He stood up and said “You have a go at it, Kidd.”

  Kidd walked up and picked up the 4 bags left on the target by his feet. He looked back as his friends and did see Lacy was staring at one of the prizes in particular. He got a smirk on his face and readied himself.

  What happened next left the old couple stunned. Kidd’s blessing had given him not just speed, but incredible hand eye coordination. While the old man’s 4 bags were all close to the bullseye for the target by Kidd’s feet. Kidd’s bags were all stacked on top of one another, right on top of the bullseye.

  “Holy moly..” the old man said, rubbing the back of his head. He couldn’t deny that he lost this time, before saying. “Go on, Beatrice, give the boy a prize.”

  Before Beatrice, the old lady, could pick out a prize for Kidd. He walked up and said “I want this one.” and put his hand on a small wooden sculpture of a butterfly on a flower. It was a square of wood with the likeness carved into it.

  The old woman gave Kidd it who he then smiled and decided to turn around and give it straight to Lacy. Her eyes widened a bit and he said “I saw you wanted it.” to her. Lacy did give a warm smile after a moment and took it gently from his hands. “Thank you..”

  Akai, Lamorie, Lacy, and Kidd continued to enjoy the festival throughout the day. Soon enough, the sun began to lower in the distance and the villagers lit candles inside of hanging lanterns around the square.