One Year

As the days went by, Kalin and Lucien became great friends. They accompanied each other wherever they went, to school, to The Tavern, on the way to each other’s home. They even took the same beatings. Although, Lucien felt bad about this because all of the beatings were only supposed to be for him, but Kalin refused to leave Lucien when those times came.

Lucien’s father also hung a bag of dirt on the tree nearby their cabin. Lucien made immediate use of this and practiced hard. His father wasn’t able to teach him much during the week, but he had the weekends off, so his father was able to instruct Lucien then since Lucien had the weekends off as well.

It was tradition in the country of Verglacia to not do any work during the weekends unless you were tending to your home. Lucien made use of these times to practice his sword skills as well as train with his father for self-defense. When he was too tired to do things of that nature, he would go inside and study or practice writing. On occasion his mother would help him with math and reading as Lucien struggled with these subjects more than the others.

Eventually the winter months began to creep up on the Verglas.

“Looks like I’ll need to start cutting some wood so we have enough for winter.” Lucien’s father sighed as he finished his dinner.

“I’ll help you Father!” Lucien offered.

“Thanks son, but you have you studies to worry about.”

“No, I want to help. You guys do so much for me, I want to return the favor.” Lucien insisted.

His father recognized the persistence and gave in, “Fine, but you can only help on weekends, got it?”

“Understood Father.” Lucien smiled and pushed his plate forwards as he finished his dinner and headed back outside.

“Is he going to practice his sword skills again?” his mother questioned.

“Yep. You know, he gets that stubbornness from you,” pointed out his father.

“Oh, be quiet. You’re just as stubborn as he is,” she snapped back.

Lucien’s father laughed out loud, “I guess you’re right. It looks like I’m going to have to get him that bow and arrow I promised. Well, I’m off to bed. I’ve got an early start tomorrow.” His father stood and kissed his wife.

“Good night sweetheart,” his mother replied.

…

Lucien went to school the next morning with Kalin at his side.

“Hey, do you want to come over sometime after school. To my house, I mean.” Wondered Kalin.

Lucien’s expression brightened, “I would love to.”

“Great! How about tomorrow? I talk it over with my folks and I’m sure they’ll be ok with it.”

“Sounds good to me. I can only come after work though.”

“That’s fine.”

Both were very excited to hang out together the next day. The day seemed to slow down after that as each couldn’t wait for the adventures of tomorrow.

Class finally ended after four hours and Ms. Grell warned that they were already halfway done with the school year.

After school, like every day, they met Cletus and his goons near the entrance. Lucien had gotten very good at dodging, but his lack of strength was a major hinderance. The other students simply overpowered him and Kalin.

Lucien and Kalin made their way to The Tavern bruised and battered and said their farewells.

After work, Lucien hurried home, but took a different way. It was inconvenient, but it was the only way to try and avoid Cletus and his followers. Sometimes he avoided them, other days he wasn’t so lucky. Today was a lucky day as he made it home without meeting Cletus.

“Mother guess what?”

“What?”

“Kalin invited me to his home tomorrow. Is it ok if I join him?” Lucien asked.

“I suppose, but be back before sunset.”

“Got it.” Lucien headed straight back outside and practiced even more.

Lucien got really good with his sword skills. He even got a little bit stronger, but not by much. He tried moving on to using just one hand with a sword which proved very difficult, but Lucien never gave up.

…

The next day after school and Lucien finished up work, he headed back outside of The Tavern with his six coppers and met up with Kalin.

“You ready to go?” Kalin asked.

“You bet!” Lucien answered.

They both set off towards the other side of town, which was where Kalin’s house was located.

They arrived in front of a small house made of smooth stone. The house looked very large to Lucien whose home was very small compared to Kalin’s. However, in reality the house could barely house four people comfortably, but it was ok for the Hendersons since they were a family of three.

“Come on I,” Kalin invited.

He and Lucien opened the door and headed inside.

The door opened into what looked to be a living room and a kitchen blended into one. The dinner table was in the middle of the room with a fireplace to the right and a couch made of wood on the back wall. To the right, was a stone oven for cooking. A hallway led straight down to the bedrooms.

“Oh wow.” Lucien was in awe at the interior of the house.

“It’s not much, but it’s what we got,” Kalin stated.

“It’s amazing,” Lucien replied in wonder.

“Hello, there. You must be Lucien,” greeted Mrs. Henderson, a tall skinny woman with brown hair in a tight bun and brown eyes. She was wearing a black apron over white clothes underneath. “You look familiar for some reason…”

“Yeah, I run around town a lot,” Lucien smiled.

“Well you two go have fun. I’ll call when dinner is ready. I will be only us since my husband is working late today.”

“Ok ma’am.” Both headed into the bedrooms so Kalin could show them to Lucien after that they headed back outside and played around until Mrs. Henderson called them back in for dinner.

She set a bowl of soup that had chicken and some vegetables in it before Lucien and Kalin. Both dug in immediately.

“Hmm, delicious. Thank you, Mrs. Henderson,” thanked Lucien.

“Oh, you’re welcome dear. So how’s school?”

“It’s alright, math sucks, and so does reading.” Kalin spoke up.

“It’s not that bad. I do have to study though. Especially if I’m going to pass at the end of the year,” Lucien admitted.

“Yeah, true that.” Kalin agreed.

Mrs. Henderson watched as the boys ate and finished their food. Just then she took a real notice of Lucien’s white hair.

“I like your white hair.” Mrs. Henderson commented.

“Thanks. It runs in my family. We all have white hair.”

“I’m sorry, but what family are you from. I don’t think Kalin told me.”

“Oh, I’m from the Verglas family.”

Mrs. Henderson’s expression darkened almost immediately.

“Kalin, you didn’t say he was from that family!”

“I didn’t think it was important,” Kalin defended.

“We can’t risk being seen with a Verglas. I’m sorry, but you have to leave this instant.”

“But Mother…”

“No buts. Out now!” she yelled.

Both Lucien and Kalin sprinted out of the house before Mrs. Henderson could say anything else and continued until the stone house was out of view.

Both stopped and tried to catch their breath as they were both breathing hard.

“I’m sorry about that. I really thought it would be ok,” Kalin apologized.

Lucien’s expression darkened, “It’s alright. I am a Verglas. You didn’t know this was going to happen. If anything, this was my fault for not foreseeing this. I of all people should have expected this.”

Kalin felt horrible. He didn’t understand why his mother had reacted that way. He knew the story about the Verglas, but his view was that everyone should have a chance to prove themselves. Lucien was a very kind and gentle person in Kalin’s eyes. Most of all he was determined. That was what drew Kalin in at first. The look of determination in Lucien’s eyes was awe inspiring to Kalin.

Lucien turned and headed back for his home.

“Hold on, I’ll come with you,” Kalin offered.

“No, it’s alright. I need some time to think.” Lucien insisted.

Lucien walked home alone. As he did, he thought about his family name.

‘I don’t understand why others have to judge me just by my family name. I know. I’ll work as hard as I can to change the view of the Verglas. Yeah, I’ll restore the family name!’

Lucien felt a new hope creep in as he thought of accomplishing this goal. Then and there he decided to work as hard as he possibly could, harder than ever before.

Lucien hurried home to start working on his sword skills again.

…

The winter months hit hard. The Verglas family did all they could to try and keep the house warm and keep a steady food supply. They had the food they harvested from their field, but there was no way it would last the entire winter.

Lucien’s father went out to hunt when he could. Lucien went as well sometimes to try and learn how to hunt from observing his father.

Meanwhile, Lucien continued to work on his sword play no matter how bad the weather was outside. He ended up paying for it though as he caught a nasty cold. It took him a week just to recover. However, when he did, he went right back outside and practiced. He also made time to study in order to prepare for the final tests at the end of the year.

Kalin still accompanied Lucien to and from school and The Tavern. His mother frowned upon it, but she didn’t do anything else.

The winter months passed and before Lucian knew it, it was the end of the school year.

“You feel ready son?” Lucien’s father asked as they ate dinner the night before the end of year tests.

“I do, actually. I can’t wait!” replied Lucien.

“I bet. I hated school.”

“I don’t hate it, it’s just frustrating at times,” Lucien admitted.

“Well, make sure you go to bed early tonight,” his mother advised.

“I will Mother.”

Lucien finished his dinner and decided to do some last-minute studying before going to bed.

Lucien woke up the next morning, had breakfast, then ran out of the cabin to meet with Kalin.

“Hey Lucien. You ready for these tests?” Kalin asked.

“I actually feel very confident.”

“Not me.”

Lucien laughed, “Well it is what it is right?”

Kalin laughed along with him, “Right!”

They both proceeded to make their way to school.

Once they started school, it was four hours of continuous testing. One hour for each test subject.

When they finished, everyone’s head was spinning from all the thinking and trying to recall information.

Ms. Grell informed them the results would be posted on the board of the classroom in one weeks’ time and then dismissed them.

Everyone spilled out into the hallway and exited the school. They rushed out in such a big group, Lucien and Kalin were able to avoid getting caught by Cletus.

“What a great day, we managed to avoid Cletus!” Kalin exclaimed.

“I know. This is amazing!”

The weather was perfect. The snow had melted away and the trees were growing their leaves again. They felt the cool breeze on their skin and let the clear air fill their lungs. They were completely relaxed. Any stress they had about school was lifted. There was nothing else they could do but wait for the results.

They headed for The Tavern to get Lucien to work.

It was such a nice day out, many people came to The Tavern and bought refreshments to enjoy and relax themselves. Lucien had very many plates to clean, so much that Mr. Fuller even took it into consideration when paying Lucien for his hard work.

“Wow! Ten coppers!” Lucien marveled. “Thank you, sir!”

“Don’ make such a big deal about it. Now get out of here, I have customers to attend to,” Mr. Fuller demanded.

Lucien left immediately for home.

‘Wow, what a great day!’