Chapter 1 : Priam
It was a summer morning, like any other, where the sun beat down so hard that I couldn't train for more than an hour. So, that day, I decided to take shelter in the shade of our farm.
"Come on, Priam, I don't think doodling is going to help you," Aster yelled at me while I continued to draw various possible scenarios for tomorrow's test. "Sorry if I don't have your talent, I'm just trying to find a solution at least on paper. I'm only participating in the Lootus selection so I won't be a burden to mom anymore, but you should know that by now," I said without taking my eyes off my scribbles.
"Still with this story... you've never been a burden," Aster said, stopping his training for a moment.
"If anything, if it were up to mom, she'd gladly keep you to help her in the fields and get rid of me, her biological son," Aster laughed.
"I can't blame her, you've been training for weeks, ruining her crops," I said, indicating our mother's crops with my pencil. As soon as Aster turned around to check the damage, our mother joined us.
"I'm tired of your indifference. I'm not asking you not to train, but at least do it away from what puts bread on our table," Rose said, visibly annoyed. Aster was intimidated by her, the only woman who had ever managed to scare him, even though she now had an enviable physical appearance, slender but with the right muscles, which made the scene quite comical.
"I told him, mom, but he gets carried away," I said with a know-it-all attitude.
"Fortunately, you're not the only one with an empty head, but then again, the more he trains, the greater the chances he'll pass the entrance exam for the Custodians, right? So I'll let him do it even on this last day," our mother said with a tone of complicity.
"By the way, Aster, we have to wake up early tomorrow. The cart will pass by our house at first light," I said, looking at him through Rose's back. "So, if you really want to have a drink tonight, I feel compelled to come with you, to prevent you from becoming a rag a few hours before the fair."
"Oh, how kind of you," Aster replied sarcastically. "Have you suddenly become caring or do you just want another opportunity to scold me with your usual teacher-like attitude?!"
"Touché," I replied laughing. "But Aster, you really have enormous potential and seeing you waste a golden opportunity like tomorrow's because of a few too many drinks would annoy me quite a bit." Then suddenly I remembered something important. "Damn, I almost forgot!" I said bored as Aster looked at me questioningly. "I have to go to Cruven's, I commissioned him for a job!"
"Well, well, well," Aster replied. "Are you perhaps telling me that you won't use your sharp tongue to face the Lotus selection?!" he concluded laughing loudly. I gave him a dirty look, telling him to walk with me to the blacksmith's.
