The morning sun peeks over the treetops and through the gaps in the blinds. A fleeting image slips through my mind like sand through my fingers. It feels important. I reach up, trying to grasp at that feeling, but it quickly fades. How strange. What was it?
My legs slide sideways and off the edge of the bed, my arms reach high and my mouth opens wide. I can see my breath look back at me, a stark reminder of how unsuitable this weather is. A creak breaks the silence as I stand, undress, then wiggle on a layer of tight woolen clothes.
The second layer is all the same just larger, and the third consists of a thick coat and pants. Small tears are beginning to widen on each article. Next, I put on two layers of socks and warm, sturdy boots. After a short stretch, I walk to the standing mirror and inspect myself.
Gray wisps sprout from my otherwise deep brown hair and beard. Have I really gotten that old? Slipping on a warm cap and thick gloves, I open the door and step outside.
***
Mommy finishes sliding on my boots. Daddy swallows a piece of jerky. I do not like jerky because it is too salty and hard to chew. Daddy opens the door for us and says "Beautiful ladies first." He calls us "beautiful" a lot. I like this because Mommy said beautiful is something that makes you happy. As we walk down the stairs, I sing my third favorite song. It goes like this:
A, B, C, D, E, F, G,
Will you come adventure with me?
H, I, J, K, LMNOP,
Don't you wonder what sights we'll see?
Q, R, S,
T, U, V,
W, X,
Y and Z,
Will you come adventure with me?
This song helps me learn the ABCs and Mommy and Daddy say if I learn the ABCs then I will be able to read. I want to be able to read because adults can read and I want to be an adult.
It is cold. My foot sinks into the snow and I trip when we step outside. Daddy helps me up and places me on his shoulders. I can almost see the whole world from up here. Except Daddy says there are many other worlds like this one and people travel between them. I think he sounds crazy.
By the gate, two men—I can count all the way to twenty because that is how many fingers and toes I have—pick up a sign. It says H. A. Y. E. R. Space. C. O. M. M. U. N. E. That is the name of the world I live in.
"How're preparations comin' along?"
"Great! Saren has been doing a lovely job painting, but this big oaf has been busy eating the last of our winter supply." Mommy gives Daddy a little nudge as she speaks.
"How about you? Are you celebrating with Harper this year?"
"Yes! He's been such a help since he arrived, normally I'd be scrambling to finish everything by now. And by the way, I hear there's a new good looker in the market today. Get Ryder jealous and he'll start working on preparations in a hurry."
"Haha, I will keep that in mind."
Mrs. Carol clasped her hands and closed her eyes and whispered a prayer as we walked away. She is also a Foster like Mommy and Daddy. When I grow up I am going to be a Foster like them because that means I get to be part of a big family and raise kids that can also become Fosters and help everyone. Mrs. Carol speaks in a funny way compared to other Fosters, but Mommy scolded me when I asked her why, mid conversation.
The roads outside the market get full of snow in the winter and it gets hard to walk. Inside, the snow is packed down from people walking on it, but Daddy still carries me so I "do not get in others' way." I like the market. It is full of good smells and colors and friends. Amy said her mommy will open a stall in the summer. I hope they sell blue flowers—
The sky is in front of me and Daddy and the earth is sideways. The back of my neck feels cold. Mommy sits me up. A boy with dark hair and a dark green coat quickly apologizes before hurrying off.
"Are you hurt?" Mommy says while brushing snow off me.
"Mm-mm." I shake my head.
"I wonder why he was in such a hurry. Did someone tell him free frostberries are being handed out?" Daddy let out a small chuckle as he spoke. Mommy says Daddy is bad at jokes but laughing means something is funny and I like funny things so I laugh.
We walk up to Oren's father's stand. Oren saws out small squares of wood in the back, but I do not look at him and he does not look at me.
Oren's father is a plump man, even more so in three layers of clothes, but he would probably be fine with only two. What little hair he does have is covered by his cap, except for his scraggly, graying mustache. Oren usually helps his father with work because his two older brothers are Hunters.
"Saren, honey. If two squares cost one haku, how many haku is four squares?"
Mommy likes to test my numbers at the market and I like it because knowing your numbers means you are an adult. These kinds of problems are hard, though, because I have to keep track of two numbers that change with each other. To solve it, I use both of my hands. My right hand has one finger up for one haku. My left hand has two fingers up for two squares. This means that when I put two more fingers up on my left hand, the answer must be…
"Two!"
"Great job honey!" Mommy smiles and pats my head.
"And here I thought it was three haku…"
"Daddy, you are dumb." Daddy is really bad at math. He always gets the answers wrong when I get them right.
"Oren, bring over four of those, will ya?" At this, Oren pauses his sawing, picks up four of his finished pieces, and places them on the table in front of Daddy, but we still do not look at each other.
"Aren't you going to say hi to Saren?"
"No." Oren crosses his arms, looks away.
"What's gotten between you this time? I swear, it's always something with you two."
"…"
"Well?"
"It is alright, Oda. They are kids, they will be back to being best friends in a day," Daddy said.
"No, Oren will be old enough to begin his apprenticeship soon. He needs to be able to talk out his issues if he even wants to think about—"
"She broke Teddy!"
A silence went uninterrupted for a few seconds. Oren's eyes grew red and shiny. His fingers curled into balls and his mouth twitched.
"It was an accident! And then you threw it on the ground and pushed me!" Breaking things is bad and Oren said I broke Teddy which would make me bad. But when someone says bad things about you, you are supposed to defend yourself so others do not think you are bad. Lying is also bad, which is why I told the truth instead of lying and saying that I did not break Teddy.
Mr. Oda let out a heavy sigh, "His mother made that toy. I'll talk to him. Sorry about the trouble, see you tomorrow?"
As we walked away, Mr. Oda repeated the same ritual as Mrs. Carol.
"So, Saren, are you going to tell us what happened?" Daddy asked, his voice slow and tense.
"I did. I was just playing with Teddy and accidentally broke it. Then Oren got angry and pushed me and threw it on the ground and ran away."
"And how, exactly, did Teddy break?"
"Its head came off."
"Saren…"
"What?"
"You have to be careful with other people's belongings, especially if it is important to them."
Daddy scolded me for forever. I do not like being scolded. You get scolded when you do something bad and if you do something bad then that makes you a bad person. But it was an accident and I want to be good so I can become a Foster.
We walked through the market for a while, picking out various supplies to finish our preparations for the festival. When we finished shopping, I saw my favorite adult—other than Mommy and Daddy—and waved at him. Whenever we meet he gives me a treat and is also really nice to Mommy. He is a Forester and one time I helped him carry a couple branches and he gave me three whole haku. That is the most money I have ever made and I did not let anyone touch it because I wanted to buy something at the market. But the next time we went, I dropped the haku and lost them. Mommy and Daddy have not let me touch any haku since.
"Kallie, nice to see you."
"You, as well." He and mommy exchange a short hug.
"Ryder."
"Arlen." Daddy and Mr. Arlen nod at each other.
"And we of course can't forget the goodest girl in the whole wide world." Mr. Arlen reaches up and pats my head. When he gets close, I can see small patches of gray mixed with brown in his beard and the hair poking out of his cap. But I do not ask him why because I once asked Oda that and Mommy scolded me again.
***
Saren largely takes after her mother—the same silky blonde hair, smooth pale skin, her kindness, and not to mention her smarts. Unfortunately, all the traits she does take from her father are his worst ones. Pale blue eyes that don't get the chance to show their beauty, a rather blunt way of speaking, her narrow-mindedness—
"Did you bring any treats?" Saren asked, a large grin stretching across her glowing face.
"Ah… sorry, I didn't expect to see you all today." At that, her glow dissipated and she cast her eyes downward.
"But! I did see a new stall that looked like it was selling something tasty. I'd be happy to buy one in order to make up for this grave mistake."
"That will not be necessary, Arlen. We should be getting home soon."
"It is necessary, Daddy! Mr. Arlen always gives me treats!"
"Come now, we can be out for a little while longer. It has been some time since we last saw each other," Kallie said in a warm voice.
"Fine, we best hurry then. I do not want to stay up all night finishing preparations again."
Then, suddenly and without warning, screams filled the air.