The boy awoke, he was ashamed, embarrassed. He had peed in his bed, something he had not done in over eight years. It didn’t feel like pee, definitely didn’t look like it either. It wasn’t wet, but rather sticky. And also, his stiffie was, well ... stiff, how was it that he had peed?

Liam had been counted a man (conditional – he would be a man after losing his virginity) at the last mid-summer festival, and he had been experiencing these stiffies more and more in the last few turns of the moon. When he woke, the stiffy would stick out, and the girls would always look, and he would feel embarrassed, but then he wouldn’t be able to piss, because the stiffy wouldn’t allow the piss to come out. It was embarrassing, but also caused him some concern, was it always going to be like this, for the rest of his life.

His father joked, “oh happy days, now I can retire, gracefully, in my dotage!”

Liam hadn’t understood what was being said and so now was confused, but everyone else, at least the adults, laughed. Now he was confused to go with his shame, but this emotional roller-coaster day of his was just beginning.

His cousin, Hayley came to his aid, if it could be called aid. She said, “oh, I just knew ... I hoped ... I knew it would be you!”

His confusion was even greater. Hayley had been born a turn of the moon after him, and last week she had started bleeding, this was one of those mysteries that only females knew about, he only knew that it happened to them, or at least to the adults, and Hayley had finished her “monthly” as they called it, nearly nine days ago, and for some unknown reason, she had been very excited, ever since.

Lara, his oldest sister, about twenty, already had two daughters, the eldest only three years younger than himself; and was pregnant again, but she was living in the house of John, which he didn’t quite understand, since he already had a bond-mate, or so Liam thought. His father only had the one mate, his mother. Mary, the next sister, was still living at home, she had not yet found a permanent mate, she was three years older than Liam, and had one daughter, and while there was as yet no bump showing, the glow about her was attributed to being pregnant again. Teresa, the next sister was one year older than him, and she was at present nursing her first daughter. She was talking about looking forward to her next one.

His other two sisters were still only ten, Pam, and Kayla, eight years old, both of course living at home. His mother and father had said something about miscarriage, he hadn’t understood, but there were no other children to come.

Hayley invited Liam to go up to the top of the hill with her. While the shame and embarrassment had disappeared, fear was the next major emotion to assail him.

He was flabbergasted, “we can’t ... that is only for ceremonies, and I am not yet allowed to attend, and there isn’t one on now, at least not that I know of; anyway, what would the shaman say?”

His father had said, “don’t worry about your goats, we’ll get someone else to care for them today, go with Hayley, and I will clear it with the shaman.”

“But...”

“No buts,” said his father.

“Okay,” Liam said, and went to get dressed.

When he returned to the family room, his father told him that as a man, he would be able to get his own hut. And start to accumulate – the word that he used – mates. Liam’s world was rocked, ‘a man’, the emotions that he now felt included wonder and awe.

The two youngsters were halfway up the hill, approaching the shrine, when Liam realised that no one had yet told him what it was that had happened to him, nor how anyone could have thought that he might be a man.

Hayley, as though hearing his thoughts, said, “you are not yet a man, but very soon you will be; and I will be a woman, able to have children, and find myself a mate, a husband. But you will be my first.”

They got to the top of the hill, and she approached him. The climate where the village was situated, coastal-temperate meant that they wore garments all year round, usually linen, the fibres of the flax plant woven into a lightweight cloth. But at this time of the year, the weather was such that they were wearing woollen garments, the sun was again turned towards the south, but it was dry, and the cold season was only one turn of the moon away. Hayley started to pull on the hem of his pullover, and he said, “what ... what are you doing, stop.”

“But there is a ceremony today, see!” she pointed, and he saw that most of the village was slowly climbing the hill. Apart from babes on hips, in other words still nursing, all of the younger boys, and most of the girls, at least the ones younger than ten or eleven, or more than a year still before starting to bleed had remained behind in the village, or taken sheep and goats or cattle to the pastures.

Fear again overtook him, he had only once before been at the top of the hill, and although he had been following a lost goat, and had gotten it back safely, his backside had been tanned for his temerity. Liam had never yet been to a ceremony, and no one had told him what to expect, or even why they had the ceremony.

Hayley had undressed him, and with his assistance, she had also disrobed. The shaman stepped forward, and while his acolyte shook little bells, that made a tinkling sound, he had a bunch of leaves and feathers in his hand, they were burning, and they smelled terrible. He ululated, it is to be presumed that this was the ceremony, or at least a very important part of the proceedings. He intoned, self-importantly, “the village is double-blessed, we have today not only a virgin, whose time is come, but more importantly, we have a boy, who is about to enter manhood. It is so seldom that we have the good fortune to have a boy become a man. Liam, son of Todd, is the first boy to come up here in several years.”

He carried on in this vein for a while. Finally, he turned to Liam, who had been looking around, and had noticed that soft-looking bedding had been placed atop the large stone table, the altar. The stone next to it was discoloured, as though something had been spilled and not cleaned up. “Liam, son of Todd, of The Clan. We know ourselves only as The Clan or The People, while outsiders call us the Clan of the Hill of the Altar; who have settled here, and no longer follow the wild herds, but farm crops and husband domestic stock. The spirits require a gift, they demand an appeasement, it is your privilege that you now make your first, although almost certainly not your last payment towards that debt. We call on the spirits to accept this gift, that they keep the entire clan safe and healthy for all time.” The shaman considered Liam for a moment, and then said, “Liam, you may begin.”

It was only now that he realised that Hayley was no longer next to him. Hayley’s mother, Sue stood up from next to Hayley, who was lying on the altar. Liam noticed Hayley’s blush, the flush across her upper chest. She had a glow about her, and looked excited. Her mother said, “she is ready, I have fluffed her for you.”

Liam was fully hard, he didn’t think that any stiffie had ever been harder, and Sue directed him towards the gap between Hayley’s legs. He was in awe, it was the first time that he was looking at a young woman in this state. He had seen his sisters nursing, but this was different.