A True Nord: Chapter 1
10 years ago - Outskirts of Riften
Hraki looks around as the rain falls on the forest. He observes how the trees sway in the wind, how the rain splashes in puddles around his feet, and how his small pup, Hraki, shakes the moist droplets out of his coat. How degrading it was that his father would name the family mutt after his own son. Pathetic. As the dog's name rolls off of Hraki's tongue he began the trek back to his family home. Not much of a home. More like a prison of cruelty, the kind not even the worst man should suffer in. He walked. Walked as his ankle pulsed, and the wrappings around it thoroughly continued to infect the gash hidden beneath them. He remembered. Remembered how many days it had been since his father caused the injury and his mother watched in terror as her smallest, youngest child was abused. He was not good enough in his father's mind. The cruel words his father often spoke to him ran through his head once more, "You're not my son. . . You're a bastard that not even Talos would love, so why should I!" "I'm not going to call you a milk-drinker, because I know that your stomach couldn't even hold that down! Ha!" Hraki sometimes enjoyed his father's insults. He didn't enjoy that they were directed towards him, but he enjoyed the creativity of them, and the time he knew his father put in thinking of them all. Bam! Hraki's neck was suddenly in pain. He turned quickly to see what the source of it was. He looked and found a face that meant joy to him. Ysolj Half-Light. The little girl from the village that Hraki played with. The two were practically inseparable, in fact, she was the reason he was in the woods. She grinned an evil grin at him, "Oooh, I'm sorry little one! Did I hurt the poor baby?" She squinted her eyes and made a pouty face. "I thought we were playing hide and seek? What'd happened? Ya' give up?" Hraki just stared at her for a moment, "No, I just. . . I just don't feel like it no more.." She slapped him on the arm and gestured in the direction of their small village. Together, they walked in silence. They had a bond like that. The kind where they know what the other's saying, despite the absence of words. Ysolj walked in long-strides. She'd always been bigger than Hraki, which was no great feet, but she was certainly proud of it. Hraki was the smallest child in the village, the runt of the litter. He was ridiculed for it too. By his father, his mother, his older brothers, his cousins, his aunt, the villagers, the villagers' children, everyone. Everyone except for Ysolj. She was the only one that merely joked, and never ridiculed. As they reached the edge of the village, Ysolj grabbed Hraki's arm and made him stand still for a moment. She leaned down slightly and kissed Hraki on the cheek. Normally, a child would be surprised at this sudden gesture. But it was not sudden to Hraki, and it was not rare. Every time they entered the village, this gesture would take place. The first time it happened was last spring on a clear, sunny day. When Hraki's asked her about it she said, "I know your ma and pa don't do it.. And I think that everyone should have someone to do it for them.. So, I'll do it for you.." Hraki didn't see it as a gesture of love or passion or any of those other incomprehensible feelings that no child feels towards the opposite sex. He just saw it as a kind act of friendship. Nothing more. They tread into the village. Ysolj waves goodbye and enters her family's hut, and Hraki just stands outside of his. Staring at the door, wondering what will happen when he opens it and returns to his prison of cruelty. . . The kind not even the worst man should suffer in..
Note: Chapter 2 coming probably tomorrow. Stay tuned.
