Sun Dagger--Acceptation

Hiii!
I'm late, but I bring the next part of Sun Dagger!

Sometime during the week I should post a guide to some of the terminology that's popped up in the story. It also includes random bits of info on the world :) Yay bonus stuff.
After that I believe the narrator of that guide-segment has another segment about proper nouns in this story. So look forward to those!

I struggled to make this part as brief as possible since I think everyone expected it from the start. While writing it, I looked to the Warriors series when I didn't know how to continue but hopefully didn't copy too much.. XD Unfortunately there's also the introduction of a lot of people, some important some not so much, in this part. I did my best to conciseify stuff without making it sound weird. Any tips of where I could trim stuff would be appreciated!

This part concludes the first "slate" of Sun Dagger too. Which means the next Sun Dagger post will be approaching the actual plot stuff! Finally done with all this setting up. XD

Comments are loved! I respond to stuff in the comments too! XD
~Minerva

At least once a week, all hundred-some residents of Otowa Hopa gathered in a circle around the central courtyard for the routine Meet. After the existing pharin and Yasuvide led the city in a short prayer, one of the pharin apprentices, Aza’s old friend Keri, told the story of Oru the Disfigured. Afterwards, Aza wondered if she had picked that tale in particular. Oru had been born ugly and missing limbs, but he had put forth his best effort and eventually found a place in the pharin’s sanctums as the first male pharin. 

The warrior-hunter weonat and merchant-farmer hathai gave their reports next.When everyone was assured that the game and crop were doing well it was time for any masters or apprentice ceremonies. After lovely 8-cycles-old Una was accepted to train as a sahrea in the arts as most women did, it was finally Aza’s turn.

“The pharin of our city are our spiritual guides. They communicate with Sun Tribe for us, heal us, and help us with magic. Today we welcome two new apprentices to join the path of the pharin.”

Aza fidgeted a little. He was older and would thus be presented first. The few seconds before his father called his name seemed like seasons. “Tkalis Aza,” Yasuvide said, using the formal name. “Please stand.” 

Aza stood from his spot between Ani and his friend Uzo and bowed, ignoring the whispers that sprang up around the ring. A healthy male leaving the way of the weonat for the path of the pharin? He had not shown any great potential in mage work. The elders grunted. They did not like it. It was a man’s work to hunt and defend or farm and trade. It was a woman’s work to weave and entertain or pray and heal. To go against that was to invite the disapproval of the Gran Tkalis and their Sun Spirit ancestors. Some of the young adults whispered that his mother had been Tyeruinga, the woman who rode like a man. They reminded their elders that she had saved Hopa time and again with her skill with a bow. This was strange, but not unheard of. Still they grumbled. 

His father waited until it was quiet again to continue. “Do you wish to train in the ways of the pharin and learn the mysteries of Sun Tribe and the Gran Tkalis to serve your city?”

“I do.”

“Then would the current pharin and apprentices please stand.” 

They did, bowing to the headman. 

“Mistress, do you accept this boy as an apprentice?”

Kuresi, the only master pharin of Hopa after Aza’s uncle’s death frowned. “I accept Tkalis Aza as an apprentice,” she said after a long moment. If her frown disproved of him, her voice did not.

“Apprentices, do you accept this boy as a peer?”

“We accept Tkalis Aza as a peer,” the three young pharin girls of their city said in unison. His father nodded to him and Aza bowed, first to the headman, then to Kuresi and finally to the apprentices. Aza walked to the center of the ring to where his father stood and was joined by Esuna.

“Tkalis Ani, Tkalis Uzo, will you stand to show support for Aza?” Esuna asked.

Ani got to his feet, his face as calm as he could make it. Uzo looked surprised at being asked to stand. He chanced a glance around the warrior-apprentices’s group. On his left, Oko rolled his eyes with a jeering taunt on face. Seeing no support anywhere else, Uzo glanced around him before looking sheepishly down, staring at the ground as though he did not hear his name. Around them a few children snickered and “oohed”. Adults bristled and grandparents shook their heads. Uzo had shown Aza disrespect by refusing to stand as his friend. 

Aza couldn’t get Uzo to meet his eyes. Part of him felt betrayed, but when he felt tears he pinched himself and watched Ani instead. He copied Ani’s mask of seriousness. If Ani can remain calm, so must I, he told himself. He didn’t know that his brother trembled with indignation and was thinking curses to Uzo.

The tribe waited. A few of the crowd sighed with relief. Even Tyeruinga had been a sahrea before she had proved herself a warrior. She had earned her syllable of mastery from the arts.  A fit boy training as a mage would be too strange. 

Yasuvide was about to announce a cancellation due to lack of support when a small boy in the back of the warriors-in-training group stumbled to his feet. He murmured something inaudible. A girl in the pharin-in-training group standing next to him nudged him a little. He looked to her with a half-pleading, half scared look and murmured something else. The girl shook her head. The small boy took a deep breath and opened his mouth but no sound came out. People chuckled. He tried again. 

“I- I am Tkalis Eli!” he squeaked, sounding younger than his 10 cycles. “I will stand for Aza,” he continued, a little more confidently. The girl nudged him again. “As his peer.” Eli added hastily. “And… friend.”

Ani shot a grin back to Eli as the ceremony continued. 

“Tkalis Eli, why do you stand for Aza?” Yasuvide asked, as was proper when a volunteer stood. 

Eli shivered, whether from the cold or nervousness, but replied firmly. “Out of duty and gratitude. Aza stood with me for Keri last season when she started training as a pharin,” he said. He paused but Yasuvide did not continue. More reason was needed to stand for someone than because they had done the same for their family. “Also, when we were six cycles old and I couldn’t climb down from the High Rock, he and Ani climbed up to rescue me. They walked me back home and stayed with me until Mother came back from the fields. I owe him my thanks.”

Eli looked directly at Aza as he continued. “Father always said that Tkaruanhe was no less a man than he was, even though Tkaruanhe wielded a spell and he a spear. I expected Aza to become a warrior as well, but if duty or sentiment compels him to follow the path of a pharin, I will support him.” Eli bowed to Yasuvide, indicating he was finished, and then to Aza, who gratefully returned the bow.

Aza’s apprenticeship ceremony continued. With Esuna, Ani, Eli and the pharin group standing, the headman raised his hands in the air and said, “With Gran Tkalis and Sun Tribe as my witnesses, I, Tkalis Yasuvide, by my authority as headman of Otowa Hopa, ask Aza to join the pharin of Hopa. I name you Tkalis Kaza. May you serve Sun Tribe and your city honorably in your new role.”

After a moment’s hesitation, the crowd greeted him by his new name; the newly named Kaza bowed to the headman and walked over to join the current pharin- apprentices. The girls didn’t seem particularly moved by his presence, but Keri made space for him between her and Kuresi. Everyone sat when the headman did.

“Tkalis Iwa, please stand.” 

Iwa had the gray eyes originally from Ikali but her straight hair was too light a brown to be pure-bred Ikali. One of her parents must have come from Okali or Ukali. She was short and petite, and walked on small, silent feet. Aside from her exceptionally sharp ears, she was quite ordinary-looking. 

Kaza looked back at the group where the children who had not decided their paths sat. At 9 cycles old, Iwa was the oldest child there; her ceremony had to take place soon, for she would be 10 by the first new moon of spring. Her mother was known to have a great magical Spark at an early age, but Imami had flatly refused to become a pharin and took the path of a sahrea instead. To have her apparently Spark-less daughter become a pharin- apprentice surprised everyone. 

Kaza stood along with the other apprentice shaman and accepted Iwa with them. Even though she had rejected this path, Imami blessed her daughter. “I accept your decision, Iwa. Use your head and bring honor to yourself, your family, your city and your people.” She made the mark against evil on Iwa’s forehead before releasing her. Una and Eli stood for her at Imami’s request. Iwa was named Kiwa and joined the apprentice shaman next to Kaza. 

When the Meet was over, Kuresi ordered Kaza and Kiwa to bring their belongings and bedrolls to the rooms adjoined to the sanctum. Yasuvide and Ani were still out talking to other members of the city, but Esuna had returned to the headman’s rooms and was rolling up Kaza’s bedroll for him when he got there. The young one slept in her basket next to the hearth. Kaza joined Esuna quietly, packing his few belongings. When he discovered his mother’s bow would not fit in the basket, he unstrung it sadly and tucked the regular hemp string with the silk bowstring his mother had left him. Ani would keep it safe for him. At the end, he realized he had very little: some clothes, two strings, a bedroll, a knife. 

He went to the small, secured box that housed their family’s most precious items: a curved knife decorated by braided string, a comb with nearly- transparent thread, a small slat of writing, and two bright red and orange feathers. He took out one of the feathers. His mother had come back from a hunt one day and given her two sons each a feather. She said it was from a phoenix, but everyone else had decried the idea as folly. It didn’t matter to the boys. They kept it safe with the other personal treasures, only occasionally taking them out for comfort. He stared at the other items in the box, treasuring his last few moments at home. 

“I know…that I’m not your birthmother,” Esuna said behind him. “I know that you and Ani don’t see any of my sister in me. But if you run into trouble or need someone to talk to, I hope you will still confide in me. I am still here to help you.”

Kaza smiled and tucked his feather back in the box before turning around. “We know you try. Ani and I…just aren’t used to having a mother that offers to wash and mend our clothes and speaks to everyone very formally and politely.”

Esuna smiled as well. “I was always covering up for Eru’s mishaps and remarks.” She touched the top of his head. “I think you will do well in the sanctum, Kaza. And…thank you, for volunteering.”

He shook his head. “It was my duty.”

“Nevertheless.” Esuna subtly indicated to the sleeping bundle. “It is traditional for a pharin to name newborns if the mother does not have a name prepared by the naming ceremony. Why don’t you think of one for her?”

“A name?” Kaza was startled by the offer. He blushed with the respect shown him. Usually only master pharin were asked to choose names for young ones. “I’ll do my best to think of one before the fortnight ends,” he promised.