[Flashback] The Rite of Passage (Coatl)

[Kalax Ulomni]

Summer, Day 14, 498 AV "But, I don't want to kill anyone." For what seemed like the hundredth time that day, Kalax's father released a long, weary sigh. "I've explained this, boy. All boys your age must do this, to prove that they are men. You do want to be a man, don't you? To wield your Lakan? To speak your mind when other men speak? To learn combat?" Kalax thought about that for a long moment. As the moment continued to stretch, he could see the exasperation grow on his father's face. Though he couldn't understand the reasons behind them, Kalax was very sensitive to emotions conveyed in tone and expression. His father's displeasure caused a leaden lump of unhappiness to settle in his belly. "Yes, I do," he answered at length, hoping that would return the smile to Jarand's face. His father did not smile, not did he meet Kalax's gaze. His face slid into an expression of sad acceptance as he led Kalax out of their meagre house and into the street of the Lower Tier. Kalax had to duck beneath the lintel of the doorway as he followed his father. He was a foot taller and at least 50lbs heavier than Jarand. He often wondered how big his mother was, but his father would never tell him. Any questions regarding Jinrisa Meoni sent his father into a brooding silence, from which he only withdrew after hours at the anvil and the bellows. They made their way up the street, past the docks and the ships and the activity of vessels leaving and arriving. Kalax let his mind soar with a seagull as it took wing from the crows nest of one such vessel, and sped out across the waters, to places unknown. In his distraction, he nearly knocked over a human sailor carrying a crate. "Sorry," he said quickly, his voice a bass rumble. The sailor grumbled something and continued down the dock with his burden. "Come along, boy," Jarand was already at the foot of the layered stairs up to the next tier. Kalax hurried to join him, carefully wending his way through the crowd to avoid hitting anyone. The stairs creaked quietly beneath his weight as Kalax and his father made their way up to the Second Tier. As they followed the switch-back stairs up, Kalax felt an itching eagerness tugging at the back of his brain. The emotion was not his own, as he well understood. His brother was restless. Weary of their days spent in the forge molding metal and learning to make weapons, Tlaxen was anxious to set foot on open ground. To have the sky wide open above them; to see the horizon stretching away in every direction. Tlaxen even looked forward to their first kill with obscene excitement. The flood of emotions was wearying to Kalax. He concentrated on the world around him, and let his brother fade into the background, as he'd learn to do the first time they'd met. The Second Tier opened before them with a sudden bloom of sound and smells. There was much more activity here, in the trade center of Riverfall. Hawkers calling out wares, people shopping for various necessities, and others just taking in the sites of the city. From down the street came the ringing song of the forge where Kalax and his father worked. They headed in that direction.