1. First There Was Then

The heat doesn't bother me so much. Where I'm from, it gets this hot all the time. So maybe I thought that was why I was going to try this. I'm not even sure if I'm doing this right, but they told me that sometimes an egg can be found down here. I really have no reason to believe them. After all, the Delkin are known to lie just make an easy coin. But after trying the swamps and climbing through the branches of Murl Forrest, I figured this has just a good a chance as any. Besides, it isn't like I have anything else to do anyway.
My home was razed in search of my father. Idiots. Don't they know he's dead! Damn Currs!
I was just a kid. Funny how quickly one grows up. That was less than 2 years ago and I feel twice my age. First my father was killed while trying to save me and my sister, then my mother took ill. My sister is missing. And on top of all that, I still have to find my name. Yeah... my name.
My real name, that is. Hardly anyone knows their real name. Most folks don't care to know it. Even most parents don't know the real names of their offspring. Some don't want to know even if it is learned by their child. I guess that is why there are so few. But I'm determined to become one. Even if it kills me!
As for this heat... I must admit that its more than I expected. But I can still tolerate it. I remember one year when the winds didn't come. That was the first time I remember my father moving us. He said without the winds nothing new would grow and we couldn't stay. So we gathered our belongings and headed north. It was so hot without the winds. My sister got mad at me because I didn't seem bothered by the heat as much the others. I guess it was a good thing because I didn't have to drink as much water as everyone else.
I also remember after countless days of traveling, seemingly toward nowhere, feeling the first breeze. It make the hair on the back of neck stand up. My sister stood up and stretched out her arms as if trying to hug the wind. I looked up at her from my seat and saw her smile with her eyes closed. I still remember that image. It was a moment of happiness after a long time of sadness. Leaving home is always sad. Believing that you'll never see it again, is even sadder.
So there I was. Nine years old and leaving the only home I ever knew. I didn't even know there was more to the world. I thought that was it. The home, the village, the rivers, the lake, the waterfall, the hills, and the trees. Those beautiful trees.
I think the gods forgot about Lehay. I went back a few months ago and there was just sand. No village, no lake, no rivers, no waterfall, not even the trees. And no wind. Still no wind. Even magic couldn't help. The sand drank everything. Everything.
It wasn't long after we felt that breeze that my father found another village and the folk were happy. There was water. There were trees and flowers. It was a lot like Lehay, only bigger. There were more folk and even some I never saw before. I remember seeing a Kile for the first time. My father told me not to stare. It was impolite. So I tried to look away but I couldn't help myself. I think he noticed, though. He stopped walking and looked at us as we went by. I tried to keep my head down but I just had to look. My father, mother, and sister were looking straight ahead and my sister squeezed my hand hard when she noticed I was still trying to look.
That was the first time I was scared of being someplace new. I didn't like it there.
After my father spoke with the Village Patriarch we continued for a short way through the town before turning off the road through some trees. After another half hour or so we finally arrived at the place where my father said our new home would be. I didn't see anything but a small field with some deer grazing. As if reading my mind my father lifted me off the cart and smile and held my face between his hands. He told me that I need to learn to see what will be there, and not just at what is there. I was only nine years old. I tried to understand. But I do now.
The next day folk arrived with many carts drawn by oxen. Too many to count. The carts were full of things for building. Lumber, stones, tools, sand, coal, everything needed to build a home. Over the next several days I started to understand what my father meant. Our new home began to emerge out of piles of rubble. My mother took Kea and me into the village every day to learn where things were. When we returned, the house was a little more complete. There were many folk, including my father, working from sunrise to sunset to build the home.
I asked my father if I could stay one day and watch. Or maybe help. He simply said that I was still a boy and a boy should spend his time learning. The time for working will come soon enough. I'm just now out of boyhood, and I already miss being a boy. I also miss my father, my mother, and Kea. I have to find her.
But first, I have to find an egg.