Immaculate
Copyright© 2025 by Daelyx Len Auphydas
Chapter 6: An Exciting Opportunity
The rest of winter passes by in a blur of happy memories and play, and before long Antares is once again kept busy, as the snow melts away and the earliest part of planting season starts. To make sure the family had enough food, despite limited labor available, Reia always had to start planting as soon as possible- even if that meant being out in the miserable cold rain of late winter.
Such a time was incredibly boring to Alunya, being left without a playmate and forbidden from going outside because of what a mess the poor weather would wreak on him. But there is one thing to look forward to. The spring equinox is not as important of an occasion as the fall, since food stocks are still weak after winter and the harvest holds more importance. But for Alunya, it is the most special day of all, for it was his birthday.
81st of Winter, 2891 P.C.
[... ]
Alunya whistles idly to himself as he deftly maneuvers the sewing needle through the piece of fabric in his hands. There was precious little to do indoors, so he’s taken to practicing his sewing with whatever scraps of fabric he can find.
But as the door swings open, he just about jumps out of his skin and hastily hides the piece of cloth underneath himself. For whatever reason, even though Reia had asked him for help repairing some of the family’s clothes that had gotten worn out in the first place, she got awfully upset if she ever caught him practicing on his own. But as Reia enters the room, it seems she hadn’t seen, and Alunya breathes a sigh of relief.
Actually, that is rather odd, isn’t it? What is she doing back? It hasn’t been that long, has it? Alunya nervously glances out the window, worried the entire day had somehow gotten away from him, but it still looks no later than midday. Normally, Reia—And Antares, who was following just behind her, bouncing from foot to foot with readily apparent eagerness—would be gone the entire day.
“I have some good news!” Reia announces, beaming at Alunya. “I had a chat with Tavr; you know, Vekt and Risa’s father? Anyways, he’s agreed to take you and Antares hunting for your birthday!”
“Huh? Me?” Alunya blinks.
Antares runs up to Alunya and takes his hands in his own, eyes shining excitedly. “Yep! You and me! We’re going to get to go see the mountains in person!” Antares squeals, barely able to contain his own excitement.
“I felt bad that you hadn’t had a chance until now.” Reia adds on. “So I pulled a couple strings here and there and did some talking, and now you’ll have your first real opportunity! Plus, it’s a good way for you to meet some more kids, maybe make some new friends.”
“Come on, Alunya! We gotta go practice!” Antares starts trying to tug Alunya out the door, and Alunya stumbles after him in a bit of a daze.
“Huh? What are we practicing, Ari?” Alunya asks, in an awed tone.
“We gotta go get ready for the trip! That means we gotta practice with the bow!” Antares proclaims. But before they could leave, Reia grabs Alunya’s tunic, yanking him back again.
“Oh, no you don’t you two! You still have chores to do today.” Reia tells Antares. “And I need to make sure that you are presentable before the trip. You’ve put off getting your haircut for long enough, the winter’s ending so no more excuses about it keeping your head warm!” Reia dictates to Alunya.
Alunya gasps in apparent horror and covers his head. He remembers last time Reia had cut his hair, the bizarre feeling of the air on his scalp. “No, you can’t!” Alunya protests desperately. “I like my hair!”
Reia puts her hands on her hips, sternly. “You and Antares are going to be representing our family when you go, so I won’t have you embarrassing me!” Reia dictates in a tone that brooks no argument.
Alunya shakes his head furiously, whipping his hair around, but Reia is apparently at the end of her patience. “If you don’t sit still and let me cut your hair, I’m marching right back over to Tavr’s place and telling him I’m canceling our arrangement.” She declares.
Antares’s expression projects pure horror as he hears this, and he gives Alunya a pleading look. “Alunya, please, just this once?” He holds his brother’s hand in his own, giving him the big doe eyes he had learned from Alunya.
Alunya bit his lip. He did want to go, and he couldn’t ruin it for Antares either ... But...
Looking noticeably depressed, Alunya sighs and sits down at the table, puffing out a cheek and crossing his arms. “Fine...” He grumbles...
[... ]
Alunya paws at his hair as he looks in the river, dismally. It feels so strange having his hair so short! Plus, now his scalp feels freezing cold. And when he shakes his head, he can’t even feel the hair flowing in the wind! What a disaster... Alunya thinks to himself.
Antares must have been able to tell what he was thinking, because as he sits down next to him he wraps one arm around his shoulders. “Oh, come on Alunya, it’s not that bad. I still think you look cute!”
Alunya gives his brother a wistful smile. “Thanks, Ari.” Alunya leans against Antares, staring down at both of their reflections. At least I look more like Ari now. Alunya thinks to himself- Their reflections are so similar now, to Alunya it looks more like he is staring at two copies of Antares than himself and his brother. Their heights were almost even, leaving the only noticeable difference a slight distinction in build and somewhat more mature features on his brother.
Alunya finally looks away from the water and stands up, stretching. “Well, you wanted to practice before we go hunting, right? We have time now, don’t we?” Alunya cocks his head to the side questioningly.
Antares nods vigorously in reply. “Mm-hmm! C’mon, follow me, we got something special for the trip!”
Antares takes Alunya’s hand and leads him back to the crates behind their hut, where he digs through them and pulls out a pair of simple ash self bows, which probably took some whittler no more than an hour to put together, with oval cross-section and strings made of rawhide. Antares hands one of the bows to Alunya, who tugs on the bowstring experimentally.
“No, look, you gotta pull it back like this.” Antares instructs Alunya, showing how to hold the bowstring. “I’ve seen some of the men using them, just follow my lead.”
Alunya copies after Antares, pulling the bow back with three fingers. It isn’t easy, and takes alot of his strength, but he manages to draw the bow back almost to his cheek.
“Ow!” Alunya yelps as he dry fires the bow, feeling the bowstring slap against his wrist. “That hurts!”
Antares frowns. “Oh, you shouldn’t fire the bow without an arrow. You gotta just relax your draw on it gradually, so that doesn’t happen.”
Alunya frowns back. “ ... Aren’t we supposed to have something on our wrists to protect them? I’ve seen that’s what the hunters all do.”
Antares rubs the back of his head. “I guess so, yeah. But we don’t have any, so we’ll just have to make do.” Antares handed a bundle of arrows to Alunya. “C’mon, we gotta practice our aim so that when we go out we can actually hit the broad side of a barn. Let’s try hitting ... Hm. We don’t have any targets ... Maybe we can just aim for that tree?” Antares points over to a medium-sized oak a bit behind the house, standing a little bit away from the rest of the forest. Alunya nods, looking determined, and draws back his bowstring...
Twang. The arrow flies off, landing some ways to the right of the tree.
Alunya gapes in dismay. “Huh? That’s not where I wanted you to go!” He complains to the arrow, as if it had agency and was able to respond, before shaking his head.
Twang. Now Antares’s arrow flew, digging into the ground some ways before the tree, and Antares looks at Alunya sheepishly, laughing nervously.
“Eheh ... I think we might have alot of practice to go.”
[... ]
The days between the announcement and the spring equinox pass quickly, and soon enough, Alunya and Antares’s time to prepare has passed.
Alunya looks down towards the middle of the village, both excitedly and a little wistfully. Where normally he’d be getting ready for his birthday celebrations, or maybe even the spring festival, instead he would be going out; Tavr always went out during the festivals. Maybe he doesn’t like the crowds...? Alunya wonders idly to himself.
“Alright, you two. Remember, this might be a special event for you, but Tavr is taking you on as a favor to our family. So don’t demand too much attention, and do your best to fit in. And Alunya, remember what we talked about!” Reia lectures her two boys, who both stand upright and nod dutifully.
“Roger that!” Alunya chimes in. “Oh, Ari, before we go, I got something for us!” Alunya presents a simple vambrace made of wool with some scraps of rawhide on the inside, intended to help protect the wrist when firing the bow.
“ ... Where did you get that from?” Reia asks uncertainly, as Antares takes a look at the vambrace before sliding it onto his right wrist, flexing his hand to see how it feels.
“I stitched it together from whatever I could find, duh.” Alunya says proudly, putting his own vambrace on.
“You shouldn’t...” Reia starts, before sighing. “ ... Nevermind. Just come along, you two.”
Reia takes her two boys’ hands, and after a quick check to make sure they have everything they need—Bows, arrows, fire pistons, satchel, snacks, hunting knives, and more—they set off for Tavr’s residence.
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