"Kam!" Mother shouted as she stood in the doorway.
I turned my head and looked at her. She had her hands on her hips. I walked over to her after putting down the tools I was using to clean up the garden.
"You're filthy," she said. "Clean up. You've got to get ready for Uncle Rodney's arrival this afternoon."
"Yes Mother," I replied.
Our house was not very large, but it was comfortable enough. It was two-stories as was common in our town. In the back behind the house, where I had been weeding the garden and picking vegetables, we had a small earthen basin that we used to wash up. There was a small tank above the basin that Father or Mother filled with water. My sister, Ellie and I were expected to use this water to shower.
Ellie was a couple of years older than me at nine. She used magic to warm the water before her showers. I hadn't learned any magic yet, so my showers were cold unless I could convince her to help me.
"Ellie!" I called out.
"What?" She said, poking her head out of the upstairs window.
"Could you please heat up the shower?"
"Ask Mother, I'm busy."
I went to ask Mother, but she was busy as well. Another cold shower for me.
While the cool water poured down on me from above, I scrubbed every inch of my body. Although these cold showers were horrible in the winter months, they were acceptable in the heat of summer. Right now, though, it was late Spring, so it was only slightly uncomfortable.
Magic was something I desperately wanted. I envied my older siblings who could all use magic already. If our family were wealthy, I could have been trained already, but for commoners like us, I wouldn't be able to learn until my Name Day, an event that fell on my eighth birthday. I was seven now, and my birthday was still a few months off.
After showering, I dressed in some clean clothes and helped Mother prepare food for Uncle Rodney, Father's brother.
* * *
A couple of hours later, Father returned from his job with the Town Guard. He was a tall, thin man with a great dark beard. His eyes sparkled in the late afternoon sunlight.
"Hey Martia," he said, kissing Mother. "Hey Kam." His ran his hand through my hair. "Where's Ellie?"
"She's upstairs preparing the guest room," Mother answered.
Father took off his boots and went up the stairs to check on Ellie and change into something nicer.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
I walked to the door and opened it.
"Kam!" Uncle Rodney said.
He picked me up and hugged me. I hadn't seen him in two or three years so the hug was welcome. He was always nice to me.
"Uncle Rodney!"
"You've grown. Soon you'll be big just like Marsh!" Marshall, or Marsh for short, was Father's name.
"Is Aunt Kelly with you this time?"
"No, she's staying home with your cousins. Where's Marsh?"
"He went upstairs to change."
Uncle Rodney followed me inside, taking off his shoes. Mother greeted him and offered him something to drink. He sat down at the table and waited for his brother. I rushed upstairs to let Father and Ellie know he was here.
The upstairs was split into three rooms. One for Father and Mother, one for Ellie and me, and the last was a guest room that was used for storage when there were no visitors. I peeked into the guest room that Ellie had cleaned, but she wasn't there.
"Ellie," I said when I walked into our room.
"Hmm?"
"Uncle Rodney's here. Is Father still changing?"
"Probably," she said indifferently. She didn't get along with Uncle Rodney in the same way I did. She liked his wife, Aunt Kelly more.
I harumphed and left the room. I checked for Father in his room. He was just slipping his shirt over his head as I walked into the room.
"Father, Uncle Rodney's here."
"Ok. I'll be down in a moment."
I left the room and returned downstairs. Father and Ellie came down several minutes later and we all sat at the table in the kitchen to eat. It was a pork bone stew that mainly consisted of vegetables with little bits of pork floating in the liquid. We had bread to soak up the broth.
"How've you been?" Father asked Uncle Rodney.
"Kelly and I have been doing well. We bought a place in Kingston late last year. She decided it would be a good time to settle down now that Miles and Yorke are starting to get bigger."
"So you're not adventuring anymore?" I asked.
"Oh, I still do sometimes. In fact, I completed a request on the way here today that caused me to be a little later than I'd hoped. My apologies, Martia."
Mother nodded and he continued.
"It's hard to take it easy all the time and the money can be great, but being on the road all of the time with little ones is very difficult. Especially when you need to fight to protect them as well. So when I have something to do, I take an easy request for the extra money if it's not too much hassle.
Ellie, how's your magic coming along? Last time I was here was before your Name Day."
"I've got the ability to use Red, Yellow, and Green. My mana's not too bad either."
"That's great! You take after your parents then. They are pretty skilled!"
Ellie blushed and went back to eating her soup to cover up her embarrassment.
"How about you, Kam?"
"My Name Day isn't until October this year. I'm looking forward to finally using magic!"
"That's my boy!" Father added with a smile.
* * *
Dinner finished over an hour later with the adults getting a little tipsy on some alcohol that Uncle Rodney brought with him. Ellie and I went upstairs and got into bed. I could hear the voices still talking and laughing downstairs.
I decided that I had to pee before I could sleep, so I got out of bed and walked to the chamber pot in a nook in the hallway. The laughing voices had quieted down, but I could still hear them fairly well.
"...for Kam on his Name Day," I heard Uncle Rodney say.
"Are you sure?" Mother replied.
"I meant to give one to Ellie as well, but I wasn't able to come here until now. Give this to her on Kam's Name Day, too."
"You didn't have to..." Mother said.
"It's the least I could do for you and the kids. If Marsh were in my position, he'd have done the same thing."
"I suppose you're right."
I finished peeing and went to bed wondering what Uncle Rodney had given Ellie and me. I had many ideas, but all of them were just wild speculation. I was sure that, whatever it was, it was fairly expensive. Mother only ever acted like that around money.