Chương 13: Two Sons

By the time Joe and Mike found the rest of the family, Mike was still grinning. Lily noticed his expression before either of them said anything. She stopped in the middle of saying something to Pam and stared at her husband.

"No." Mike's grin widened.

"He passed." Lily looked at Joe as though she wanted confirmation from a second source.

"You passed?" Joe nodded.

"The stone reacted." For once, Lily seemed to have nothing ready to say. She crossed the distance between them, grabbed Joe by both shoulders and looked him over as though the result might have physically changed him. Then she pulled him against her for a brief moment. Joe was still recovering from that when she released him.

"You didn't argue with Hall?" Joe stared at her.

"I just passed."

"I heard that. I'm asking what happened inside."

"No, I didn't argue with him."

"Good." That sounded much more like Lily. Mike laughed.

"Our second boy passed, and that's the first thing you ask?"

"Because I know him." Joe decided not to defend himself. Pam had gone completely still. She looked at Joe, then toward the testing building, then back at Joe.

"Really?"

"Really." Pam's surprise lasted only a few seconds before satisfaction replaced it.

"I told Martha that woman didn't know everything." Joe remembered the conversation differently.

"You told me I probably wouldn't pass." Pam frowned.

"I said not to worry if you didn't."

"That's not the same thing?"

"No." Simon had been standing slightly behind the others. He had not said anything yet. Joe looked toward him. Simon stared back for several seconds before finally speaking.

"You actually passed." Joe raised an eyebrow.

"Apparently." Simon looked toward the testing building, then at Joe again.

"Two from our house." That seemed to be the part he found hardest to process. Everyone in Green Hollow knew siblings qualifying close together was uncommon. Simon had spent three years being the unusual child of the household, the one who had passed Starlight and entered the Talent Hall. Now Joe had done the same thing. Mary had no difficulty accepting it.

"I knew." Everyone turned toward her. She was holding something fried on a stick and chewing happily. Pam looked down.

"You knew?" Mary nodded with complete confidence.

"Joe knows everything." Joe opened his mouth. Then closed it. Correcting her seemed unlikely to accomplish anything. Simon recovered enough to object.

"He didn't know whether he was going to pass." Mary looked at him.

"Yes, he did."

"I was there when he said he didn't know." Mary took another bite of food.

"He still knows." Simon stared at her. Joe decided that argument belonged entirely to them. Joseph was slower to react. He looked at Joe, nodded once and then looked toward Mike.

"So he passed."

"Yes, Father." Joseph nodded again. After several moments, he smiled.

"Good." Then he looked toward Simon.

"Both boys." Simon straightened slightly.

"Yes." Joseph seemed pleased with the phrase and repeated it once more under his breath.

"Both boys." That was probably as enthusiastic as his grandfather would become in public. Mike had enough enthusiasm for both of them.

"I told you," he said to Lily.

"I said he'd pass."

"You said you thought he'd pass."

"Same thing."

"It isn't." Mike waved that distinction away.

"He passed anyway." His hand landed on Joe's shoulder again.

"I knew this boy would do well." Simon glanced toward them. The movement was small enough that Mike did not notice. Joe did. Mike had always been optimistic about him, but passing the stone seemed to have confirmed something in his father's mind. Simon had been the family's great opportunity for three years. Now Mike was looking at Joe as though he had found a second opportunity and perhaps an even better one. That was not entirely fair to Simon. Joe had not trained a single day yet.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Lily seemed to notice Simon's expression before Mike did. She reached over and straightened Simon's collar.

"Stop looking like someone stole your dinner. You're still the one who's been training three years." Simon immediately looked less bothered.

"I wasn't looking like anything."

"Of course not." Lily's hand remained on his shoulder a moment longer than necessary. Joe noticed that too. The family rarely discussed favorites because there was no reason to. Lily loved all three of her children, but Simon had always been easier for her to understand. He was straightforward, energetic and loud enough that she rarely had to guess what he was thinking. Joe was different.

He watched too much, questioned too much and occasionally answered adults in ways that made Lily look at him as though she regretted teaching him to speak. Passing the test had not changed that. Pam, on the other hand, looked almost personally vindicated.

"Martha was wrong." Joe shook his head.

"Not necessarily." Pam looked at him.

"What she heard could still be true." Pam's expression became less pleased.

"You passed. But, that doesn't mean the rule is false."

"There you go again." Joe spread his hands in surrender. Pam pointed at him.

"This is why I like talking to you less when you're right." That was almost certainly untrue. Pam liked talking to Joe precisely because he listened. She just preferred when he agreed afterward. Nobody else in the family knew what Mr. Hall had explained inside the testing room. To them, the tendency for only one child from the same household to qualify was simply something people had observed for generations. They knew no more about spirituality than Pam's half-remembered gossip. Joe now knew slightly more.

Spirituality accumulated slowly. Simon should have reduced Joe's chances of qualification significantly, yet the stone had reacted anyway. His thoughts returned to the first message he had ever seen. Past Life Memory awakened. Soul activity increased. The wording was difficult to ignore. If soul activity and spirituality were related, then Joe's qualification might have an explanation. The thought led somewhere more uncomfortable. Simon had qualified only a few years after Joe's Past Life Memory awakened.

If whatever increased Joe's soul activity affected more than his own body, perhaps Simon's qualification had not been entirely independent either. Joe stopped there. One unexplained phenomenon did not prove another. He did not know whether soul activity and spirituality were the same thing, related concepts or completely separate phenomena that merely sounded similar when translated into his understanding. He had no way to test whether his presence had influenced Simon.

Without evidence, the idea remained nothing more than a possibility. Joe left it there. The testing continued through the afternoon. His result was unusual, but not important enough to stop Starlight for everyone else. The family returned to the festival, although Lily now seemed physically incapable of speaking to another adult without somehow mentioning that both of her sons had qualified for the Talent Hall. Joe watched her approach one of the women from the eastern fields. The conversation began with grain.

Then weather. Within less than a minute, Lily pointed toward Joe and Simon. Joe sighed. Simon noticed.

"She's telling her."

"Obviously." Simon agreed.

"She did the same thing when I passed."

"I remember."

"Probably worse this time." Joe watched the woman turn toward them.

"Definitely." Simon did not seem bothered by that. If anything, Lily publicly advertising both sons restored some of his earlier pride. Joe could hardly blame either of them. In Green Hollow, having one child qualify was something a family remembered for years. They now had two. Joe and Simon wandered through the festival together while the adults continued talking. Simon still slowed whenever they passed the medicinal-herb merchants. This time, Joe paid more attention.

Several bundles were priced far beyond anything their household could afford casually. Simon recognized enough of them to know which ones trainees valued, but knowledge did not make them cheaper.

"How much do town guards earn?" Joe asked. Simon looked away from a merchant's stall.

"What?"

"You've been talking about Blackwood since you were seven. How much does a guard actually earn?"

"Enough."

"Enough for what?" Simon glanced toward a display of wrapped medicinal herbs.

"Enough that I wouldn't have to ask Father before buying things like those." That answer was more revealing than a number. Simon had trained for three years and already understood where poverty began limiting him. The Talent Hall provided food, instruction and access to martial inheritance, but it did not provide everything. Medicinal herbs, better meals, equipment and advanced resources all required money. The town guard was therefore more than a respectable job to Simon. It was his route forward.

He continued talking as they walked.

"Victor says guards get meals while they're working too, and the better ones can keep training in Blackwood. If I get recommended early enough, I might even enter before sixteen. Master Theodere knows people there."

"You've already planned all of this?"

"Obviously. What do you think I've been training for?" Joe looked at him.

"Three years ago, you said you were going to become stronger than Theodere and kill a bear." Simon dismissed that with a wave.

"I can have more than one plan." That was fair. After a moment, Simon added, "You'll understand once you've trained for a while. The free Hall training is good, but eventually you start seeing what the richer students have. Better food, medicine, better equipment. You can't pretend that doesn't matter." Joe looked at him more carefully. That was one of the more thoughtful things Simon had said about the Hall. Simon noticed the look.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"You always say that when you're thinking something."

"I agree with you." Simon straightened.

"Good. You should do that more often." There was Simon, Joe knew. When the final testing ended, Hall appeared near the Talent Hall carrying a wooden list. The festival quieted enough for the names to be heard. Four children from Green Hollow had qualified that year, including Joe. Seven children from visiting villages also passed. Most had failed. Joe already knew his own result, but hearing his name announced publicly changed the family's reaction all over again.

Mike slapped him on the shoulder hard enough to make him take a step. Lily smiled broadly, clearly already calculating who had not yet heard the news. Pam muttered, "Two boys from one house," as though repetition might finally make it less unusual. Joseph nodded several times before asking Mike, "Four from Green Hollow?"

"Yes."

"And Joe was one?" Mike stared at him.

"Father." Joseph frowned.

"I know he passed. I'm asking about the four." Mike rubbed his face.

"Yes. Joe was one of the four."

"Good." Simon looked proud now that he had apparently finished processing the shock. Mary raised both arms.

"I told you!" Nobody had asked her. That did not matter. By evening, most villagers were beginning to head home. The families of newly accepted children were not. Joe's household certainly wasn't. Another chicken was killed. Mike bought goat meat from one of the travelling merchants despite Lily complaining about the price.

"You already bought meat."

"It's Starlight."

"We have chicken."

"Both boys passed." Lily frowned at him. Then, twenty minutes later, she bought spices from another stall. Mike stared.

"You complained about the meat."

"This is different."

"How?" Lily looked at him as though the answer should have been obvious.

"Both sons passed." Mike opened his mouth. Pam started laughing. Lily glanced toward her mother-in-law and chose not to continue the argument. The house smelled better that evening than it had in months. Simon spent most of dinner explaining everything Joe would supposedly encounter the following morning.

"You'll probably start with the static foundation immediately after the contract. Don't expect Master Theodere to teach you personally, because he won't. Hall handles most beginners, and the older trainees help with corrections." Joe nodded. Simon continued before anyone else could speak.

"You'll also need to learn where everything is. The canteen matters more than you think because after standing all morning, even Hall's porridge starts tasting good. There's a washing area near the back, and don't take equipment from the wrong rack because Victor gets angry if beginners touch things they haven't been assigned."

"You've been waiting three years to tell me this, haven't you?" Simon looked offended.

"I'm trying to help."

"I know."

"And when Hall tells you your stance is wrong, don't argue with him just because you think you understand what he's saying." Lily looked immediately toward Joe.

"Listen to your brother." Joe stared at Simon. Simon raised his head proudly like a peacock. Joe could see exactly how much he was enjoying this. Mary interrupted before Simon could continue.

"Joe knows everything anyway." Simon turned toward her.

"He doesn't know martial arts."

"He knows more than you."

"I've trained for three years." Mary looked at Simon. Then at Joe.

"Joe." Simon stared at her in betrayal. Joe concentrated very seriously on his food. Pam laughed loudly enough to make the bowls shake.

"Even the little one knows." Simon looked toward her.

"You always take his side." Pam stopped laughing.

"I take the side that talks less."

"That's not fair."

"Neither is listening to you explain the same thing four times." Simon opened his mouth. Pam lifted one finger. He closed it again. Lily's mouth tightened slightly, but she did not correct Pam. She simply put another piece of meat into Simon's bowl. Joe noticed. So did Simon. Balance restored. Joseph had drunk more festival liquor than usual and was in an unusually warm mood.

"Both boys," he said for perhaps the fourth time. Mike raised his cup.

"Both." Joseph nodded.

"Good boys." Simon looked pleased. Joe did too. Mike looked from one son to the other.

"Simon already has three years ahead, but Joe..." He paused, studying him with the kind of confidence Joe had begun noticing more often.

"I think this one is going to surprise people." Simon stopped chewing for a moment. Lily noticed immediately.

"Joe hasn't trained one day yet." Mike shrugged.

"I know."

"Then let him start before you make him Theodere." Pam laughed. Mike shook his head.

"I'm not saying that. I'm saying look at him. He taught himself half of Simon's writing before ever entering the Hall, he never forgets anything, and now he passed when everyone said he probably wouldn't." Simon put down his spoon.

"I taught him the writing." Joe looked at him. Simon corrected himself.

"I brought it home." Pam made another amused sound. Mike smiled.

"That's what I mean." Simon looked dissatisfied, but he did not argue further. Joe understood the discomfort. Mike was doing exactly what families often did without noticing: turning two children into a comparison neither had asked for. Joe had advantages Simon knew nothing about. Decades of memories. Perfect Health. Perfect Body. No Regression. Comparing their progress as though they had begun from the same place would be meaningless. Simon, however, did not know that.

All he knew was that his father had started looking at his younger brother differently. Lily pushed another piece of meat toward Simon.

"Eat. You train tomorrow too." Simon did. Joe pretended not to notice the small gesture. The family had spent years treating Simon as its best chance to move beyond six strips of farmland. Now there were two sons inside the Talent Hall. That changed things. Not everything. Qualification guaranteed nothing. Four children from Green Hollow passed that day, and another group would test next year, then another after that.

Theodere's Hall had trained children for decades, yet only a small number ever became true martial artists. Passing the stone was merely permission to begin. That suited Joe. He had never expected anything worthwhile to end with a test. Tomorrow, he will sign the inheritance contract. After years of watching Simon leave before sunrise, Joe would finally walk beside him. And this time, when they reached the Talent Hall, he would not remain outside the gate.