Note: This chapter contains strong and violent language and scenes of flirting with and touching a minor (what this society considers a minor) without consent, a side character with sexual intentions towards the main character, thoughts of guilt and disgust, the murder and process of cooking of a pig, abuse towards a minor, acts of self-harm, depictions of blood, a scene with sexual content, and rude language towards oneself. Please proceed with caution.
Ostara made her final checks on the wand sitting on the stand before she plucked it off, breezing by her mother to face the rush at the counter. Since the conscription tent had been built, they had been flooded with customers, old and new, asking if their wands were fit for the war ahead.
Only a few more minutes. She reminded herself as Linaya turned a wand on the stand. Ostara closed the door behind her and found the man waiting at the counter, laughing with a friend. His eyes lit up when he saw her again.
"Here you go, sir. No damage was found, except for a hairline crack at the base here. If you'd like to hear a suggestion, I-"
"Thank you, dear." he grinned, snatching his wand back. "Say, you wouldn't want to-"
"Hello, sir. What do you need?" she asked the customer behind him, who was pushing him to get to the counter.
"Just a checkup."
"Of course. Just hand me your wand and I'll get started."
"Will you do it here?" he asked eagerly, passing his wand over the counter.
She covered her mouth to be polite. "Of course not, sir. We have a testing room for a reason. You have an…oak wand, correct?"
"No, miss. Mine is elm."
Ostara glanced the wand through the light. "No, I believe it's oak. What did the matcher say when it was matched to your blood?"
"I don't remember, sweetheart. But, just in case, uh, how much would I have to pay if it was oak?"
"Oak is simple, only half a dozen coins. But if it is elm, then you would have to pay a dozen."
His lips twitched, trying to find the words as spit dribbled off them. "Y-You…"
"Can you not pay in time?"
"Wha- Of course I can, sugar! What, do you take me as poor?"
I never said that. she thought, but he might take it wrong if she said that aloud.
Finding the conversation over, she turned to enter the room, but he grabbed her bare forearm and held her against the counter, grinning at having caught her.
"So, my dear," he said, immediately adjusting to the trap he had placed her in by trailing a finger down her forearm. "What do you think of the recent threats plaguing this town?"
How would that be portrayed in Lanë's town? she asked herself, keeping her face still as he tried to push his fingers into her elbow-length sleeve.
"I don't know what you mean, sir." Bumps formed on her arm from the touch and she yearned to get away from the man immediately.
"Well, those evil Wizards have attacked us in the night. Aren't you scared?"
"Oh, horribly."
How did this happen? Ostara wrestled with herself. I didn't tell anyone about the boys I met. Did someone spread the rumor and another built the camp out of fear? Did…did those Witches invade us instead?
The man was still talking, leaning against the counter to get closer to her. "If you ever need someone to hold when you're scared my dear, there's a spot in my bed that's been vacant for so, so long-"
"Excuse me, sir. There's a line. I'd rather not keep them waiting."
Ostara pulled her arm off the counter and out of his grasp, walking into the testing room as fast as she could. Linaya stood, ready to give a wand back.
"Is everything alright?"
"Yes. Everything's fine, Linaya. Can I hand this to you?"
"I need to stand eventually. Can we change?"
"Yes, Linaya."
Linaya left the room, the wand in hand as Ostara took her regular chair before a wand stand and a seeing glass.
She had just warped her whole focus around the wand when the door opened again and Kalliroi put her head in, placing another wand on the counter. "Just a check-up."
"How long are the lines?"
"I can see the shelves behind them. But we're nearly ready to ring the bell."
She nodded. "I'll be done soon."
Kalliroi bowed her head, closing the door behind her before she walked back to the counter.
Ostara brushed her hair over her shoulders and stood in front of the wand on its base, but quickly got annoyed as the hair kept falling when she tried to focus on the cracks.
"Agh, just stop!" She yelled at the strands, standing taller to grab her locks and stuff them in her dress collar just over her backbones.
Linaya shut the door, holding another wand in her hands. Ostara ignored her, trying to avoid touching her hair as she finished checking the wand and marking each point of damage. Luckily, this wand hadn't been overexerted, unlike some others she had seen, so there were less cracks.
She brushed by her mother as she left the room and handed the man his wand without another look so she wouldn't get trapped again, grabbing a small golden bell from a shelf behind the counter. She moved through the crowd, walked halfway up their stairs, and began to ring the bell. The customers quieted as they turned their attention to the bell and she spoke the practiced lines.
"This is a reminder that Weddal Wandworks will close in five minutes. Make your final decisions and pay now. Thank you."
The same panic was clear in everyone's eyes as they finished conversations and ran towards and away from shelves, making it to the counter with their items and money white-knuckled in their fists.
Kalliroi grabbed a plant from behind her and placed it on the ground, signaling towards Ostara as she grabbed her wand and performed a teleportation spell, arriving from the stairs and out of the plant. She set it on the shelf again and Linaya joined the duo in sorting the wand-checking customers out of the shop and taking the payments from those buying potions and scrolls. Once they were able to see the shelves behind them, Ostara's heart slowed and her smile came easier.
"Come tomorrow!" She called another customer once there was one more person in line. Kalliroi and Linaya had already left to perform their other duties once they had finished their lines, leaving Ostara at the counter. "What are you buying now, sir?" she asked the young man before her. She had noticed that he'd skipped to the back of the line three times for just a chance to get this interaction.
"Just this potion." he smiled.
She checked the tag written in her mother's writing. "Ten coins, please."
He dug the coins out of his pouch and slid them towards her. She plopped them into the register and closed it, handing him the potion back and recording the item on their list of sold items.
"That's all, sir. But do you mind if I follow you to the door? I'm only going to lock it."
"Of course."
But his smile still scared her.
He watched her carefully as she grabbed the key and walked around the counter before leading him to the door. The man had just turned around to ask a question when she slammed the door in his face, locking it tight. She pulled the curtain over the window etched into it and tied the end to the floor. She felt two bangs on the door but released a tight breath when she heard footsteps moving away.
She was alone. Alone. Her eyes stung with held-back tears, but she wouldn't be alone for long. Ren walked out from the back door, a rag and bowl in her hands, and looked around a shelf to find Ostara leaning against the doorknob. She quickly sorted herself for the child and smiled, pretending everything was fine.
"Is everyone gone?" Ren asked, wiping the inside of the bowl with a rag.
"Yes. Do you two need help with the meal?"
Ren nodded, and Ostara, wiping her eyes when her sister wasn't looking, followed her to the courtyard behind the house. It was an open field bordered by trees, and pigs squealed in a pen next to the house. Linaya was taming a fire with wood and a roasting station had already been set up over the flames, the stick in between lying bare on the ground. The stick was a single double-pointed metal rod, perfect for use with large carcasses.
"Collect a pig for me, girls," she ordered as she waved an old fabric towards the flames, trying to make them bigger without burning it. "And remember to take out the guts and take off the skin. You know your father doesn't like that. We'll separate the carcass over three nights."
Ostara tensed, having never liked the feeling of the slimy guts over her fingers. Linaya noticed this and sighed, squeezing the skin between her eyes.
"Not this again, Ostara."
"I just don't like it. It feels weird."
"I don't care. You're de-gutting the pig yourself if I have anything to say about it. The rest of us are busy truly contributing to the family here. Once again, you have to take up this responsibility as the eldest. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Linaya." she sighed, missing her annoyed tone before following Ren towards the pigpen. It was split between the pigs behind a fence and a space in front for food, but there were obvious bloodstains on the ground and the food, but the pigs had only found it more appetizing.
Ren led a pig out of the pen and Ostara shut the gate fast as Ren tackled its neck, pulling a knife from her waistband and stabbing it in the eye. It squealed as it was removed and tried to run around the small space, but Ren held on and tossed the knife to Ostara, who removed the eye from the point and tossed it aside.
"Hold it still." she said.
Ren tried to touch the ground with her feet, but kept picking them back up. "I'm trying!"
Ostara crouched on the ground and shoved an arm in front of the pig's path, motioning for Ren to get off. She stood so they were facing the same direction and wrapped her other arm over its neck, stabbing it in the heart twice.
With the perfect angle, the pig didn't notice the damage the knife could cause and allowed itself to get stabbed, letting out more squeals and huffs as it died. Ren took the knife out and the two rolled over the body until it lay on its back. Ren removed the other eye and Ostara hefted the body over her shoulder and carried it out of the pen, trying her best to ignore the blood running down her back and the motionlessness of the body over her shoulder. Ren had run ahead and fixed the sheet laid across the grass, taking the bowls out of their stack and placing them around the sheet. Ostara hid her shiver as the blood seeped down her back after she'd set down the corpse and began to organize the bowls accordingly to distract her-.
The two flinched as Irenaeus' voice called from across the field, yelling at Frig. He was meant to be training him, but anyone who witnessed it would compare it to a torture session. That was nothing new, but this time, Irenaeus' anger was given a reason to boil.
"What do you mean you weren't accepted?"
"Just that! Agh!"
Frig cried out as another rise of the earth pushed him down. Irenaeus glared down at him, eyes glowing green with the magic from his wand's blood.
"You are seventeen already. You should have been let through." he grabbed him by the hair and held his head up out of the ground he was stuck under. "Why weren't you?"
"I-I'm not an adult yet!"
"You're five years away from it."
"Age of adulthood is twenty-four! Ost- ah, Kalliroi is closer than I am!"
"Don't bring your sister into this! At this rate, she'll be taken in faster than you would have, you wimp!"
"Father, please!"
He was struck again. Ostara remembered Ren was there and covered her eyes, leading her towards the sheet.
"Come on. He can deal with it," she said to soothe her, repeating the same lines again and again. In the past, each of them had tried to stop Irenaeus from hurting Frig but had never succeeded, as the anger would be directed towards them instead. Ostara had made it a habit to stop her sisters while holding back her rage.
Ostara placed the body on the sheet and sat next to Ren, a large bowl between them. They bowed to the ground and Ostara led the prayer.
"To Yael and Sayge, we pray for forgiveness for our past, present, and near future actions. We believe they are necessary for our survival in this cruel world."
They sat up and got to work. They cut the skin off by the looseness behind its hind legs and ripped it from there until it was gone, storing the skin in the bowl between them. Ostara carried the bowl into the house and placed it on a chair near where Kalliroi was studying, where she hoped she would use it for leather to make fabrics.
"I'm done," she called, signaling to Ostara to return. She opened the stomach from the neck to the behind and removed the main organs such as the entrails, heart, and intestines, placing each of them in separate bowls.
Linaya let Ostara move to the fire to collect the second bucket of water and waddled over to pour it on the pig to clean it. They lifted the body to drain the water into the earth and Ren checked the edges of the inside of the pig for anything she might have missed. Ostara carried the roasting stick towards her and they helped spear the pig with both ends until the ends stuck out of the pig from behind.
They grabbed each end of the stick, each holding a point, and placed it over the hooks, where Linaya began to spin it. She was careful, speeding up when its legs were closer to the flames and slowing down when its back was over.
"Turn and set the table, girls. We'll switch roles for this."
The two walked inside and saw Kalliroi engrossed in a scroll before her. Ostara tapped the table in front of her and smiled.
"The pig is roasting. We have to turn the table now."
"Where can I put these?"
"Uhm…the counter?"
Ostara helped her organize the notes and scrolls just how she'd liked it, and stored them on the counter before she rushed outside to switch roles with Linaya to turn the pig. Meanwhile, Ostara joined Ren at the table, drawing their wands together, Ren standing on a chair for a better angle.
"Do you have the image in mind?" she asked.
Ren nodded and they spoke a transformation spell over the table, turning it from a shin-length table to a large dining room table, fit with candleholders and a space indented for the platter.
Ren stepped outside to switch roles with Kalliroi, and she joined her in setting the table with utensils and plates. Ostara lit two candles with the fire outside and placed an open cup over the holders to collect the wax before she set them in their designated spaces. Through the window, she could see Kalliroi and Linaya taking the pig off the roast and stick before splashing the flames with a bucket of water nearby.
Minutes later, Linaya walked in, carrying the now-golden-brown pig on a platter. She had snapped off the legs and stored it belly-down, hiding the open gash in its stomach. Ostara took the other end of the plate and helped her guide it towards the center. Their mother had added flowers and other delicacies to make it look more lively, and also to presumably cover up the gash.
Just when the women had sat down to wait for the men, Irenaeus dragged Frig through the house by his hair, ignoring his crying as he dragged dirt across the floors. Frig, his head away from his father, locked eyes with Ostara once and tried to call her name before he vanished behind the shelves, and the door was shut by Linaya. She wiped her hands on her skirt and smiled at her daughters.
"We'll wait for them, girls. Now move away from the windows, Laurena. Nothing is wrong."
"But, Frig-"
"I don't want to hear it." she snapped, carrying her away from the window and placing her back in her seat. She said something else, but Ostara was distracted.
She had her eyes pinned on the plant across from her, a single comment repeating through her head: "Ah. If only you two could switch abilities! Or sex! Then I'd consider him." Ostara now realized it was a joke, but it wouldn't leave her alone. She had done her best to forget it in the recent hours, but-
"Ostara Weddal!" Linaya yelled, slamming her knife into the table. She jumped at the movement and nodded, trying to recall what she had just said.
"What did you say?"
"I asked if you remembered what we were talking about the other day."
"Yes. It…it was about the men, correct? That I have to settle down eventually?"
She sat up taller, motioning for them all to do so as well. "So you did listen. And while you were busy scanning that wand, I received-"
The thought was back, blocking her focus. Her eyes fell on a post behind her mother as she remembered the comment, trying to figure out why it was so bothersome. Was it the comment on their abilities? Their sex? Why did it mean so much to her?
Her head turned up when Linaya stood, but the hit to the back of her head made it lower. Her hair was grabbed, and her mother glared down at her, fuming.
"Mother, why-"
"What in Sayge's name is wrong with you?" she hollered. "I'm trying to tell you who your future husband could be, but here you are, daydreaming!" She dropped her hair and shoved her towards the plate. "What use is a husband to a useless girl?"
"I'm sorry, Linaya. I'm not usually like this." Ostara said, sniffling to hold back her tears. She counted her heartbeats and tried to relax her breathing, pinching her thigh-skin under the table. She saw Kalliroi watching and waved her hand at her, trying to tell her that it was alright as she pinched the other thigh.
Linaya sat next to the head of the table again, instructing Ren to move another seat down. "As I was saying, I have received many offers for your hand in marriage."
"Linaya, I'm sure you are aware that I am twenty-one years of age. I cannot marry yet."
"It's always good to get a headstart on such matters."
Ostara bowed her head, trying to focus as she began to describe each man who had offered and his current occupation. The comment kept trying to divert her attention, trying to release her built-up tears, but she pushed through, pinching her thigh-skin harderwhenever it tried to distract her. Linaya had just begun to talk about the fourth man when the door opened and Irenaeus returned…alone.
"Gone! My boy's gone off to war!"
Only Linaya smiled at this news. Kalliroi's hand flew to her mouth in fear, but Ostara motioned for her to put it down. Luckily, Irenaeus was so beside himself with joy that he didn't notice.
"Is that true, my love?" Linaya asked, standing to cut him a slice of meat from the pig as he sat at the highest chair, staring down at his daughters.
"Of course! That boy needs some discipline in him. What better place than a war? He'll be respected when he makes it out alive! Now, hurry up, woman! Don't tell me you've been sitting here gossiping?"
"Of course not, sir. I was just talking to Ostara about her marriage prospects. Many men have come forward today asking for her hand."
Her mother pretended to slip a giggle at the end, but Irenaeus was already digging into the slice of meat on the plate placed in front of him. She touched his arm affectionately, reminding him to slow down before he got sick.
He was still singing his praises for Frig's involvement between bites. "Ah, what a good lad. Raised him right, didn't I?"
"Sir, if I may speak?" Kalliroi asked, raising two fingers in the air to get his attention.
"What is it, girl?"
She sat taller, bracing herself. "Why wouldn't you join this war? Don't you always boast of the fights you would win as a youth? Why would that be anything different?"
"Fucking bitch." he muttered before swallowing the meat. "Those were childish fights. That's different from a war against the enemy."
"You're one of the loudest against the Wizards. This is your chance to prove-"
Irenaeus stood, throwing a fork at her head. She screamed and pushed herself as far away from its track as she could in her chair, locking eyes with her father, whose arm was still extended from the throw.
"Don't you dare. Say I have anything else to prove. This town's already seen all the good I've done. I don't have a reason to enter the war, nor will I ever. Now shut your mouth like a good daughter and wait for your turn to eat. And while you're at it, hand me that fork. I'll need it."
Kalliroi nodded, pulling the fork out of her chair and standing to present it to him.
"Speaking of the war…Ostara."
"Yes, sir?"
Irenaeus noticed her sitting furthest from him and stood, ignoring as Linaya placed another plate of meat before him. Ostara forced herself to focus on this. She had been so immersed in the conversation that she hadn't added a quip or spoken up. The comment had begun to flood her every thought again.
Linaya looked up at him, confused. "My love, what are you-"
Ren let out a cry from her chair as Irenaeus struck his eldest on the back of her head, holding it against her plate and the table.
"Do you think a mediocre meal will forgive your actions? You didn't let your brother in, did you?"
"I tried!"
"You tried to get him to refuse! I shouldn't have trusted you with his recruitment!"
"No, I tried to-"
"Did you just refuse me? How dare you, bitch?" He hit her head again, holding her up by her hair.
"Please, Father! I can explain!" She felt blood fall from somewhere on her face and begged herself to wipe it, but she didn't want him to think she had ulterior motives and let it fall on her plate.
"Then explain."
"I-I walked to the counter and tried to get him to sign up. They told me - told him - that h-he needed parental permiss-"
"Go on," he said, still seething.
"I-yes. They said he required parental permission to be accepted to war. They said to return with you and ensure he could be…could be let in. That's all, I swear. We went straight home afterward."
"So, why-" His words were cut by Ostara's cries as he tugged her hair. "-did it take you seconds to cave to my question when it took my son over three hours of my time? Did he not realize how long we have to live? I could have rearranged this whole house in the time it took for him to confess! But, no." He dropped her against the table, and Kalliroi leaned over her as she bled onto the plate, keeping her ears open. "He had to waste my time. What does he take me for?"
"He takes you for a respectable man, I'm sure." Linaya smiled, trying to bring him down from his anger. She held his free hand in hers, unbuttoning her collar quickly with her other hand. "Why don't we celebrate, my love? You deserve it."
"Thank you, dear. At least someone at this table understands me." He let go of Ostara's hair and faced his wife, spitting the words at his daughters. "Instead, we have a child, an overly-empathic bitch, and a weak girl." Kalliroi made quiet motions to silence Ren from across the table, hoping he wouldn't notice. "And I expect this table to be scrubbed clean when I'm done! No more half-assing it!"
"Yes, sir." Kalliroi nodded, pretending to be interested in her clean plate.
He held Linaya tight at the waist as he led her to the bedroom, slamming the door behind them. Kalliroi immediately sprung into action.
"Ren, shut the door. Sister, answer me!"
Ren scrambled out of her seat to shut the open front door as Kalliroi shook Ostara's shoulder. She opened her eyes slowly, but quickly backed away from the blood in front of her.
"W-Wh…Are we okay?"
"Yes! Yes, Father has left. I-It's safe now."
They could hear the noises beginning from the room and Kalliroi allowed Ren to sit in her lap for a hug, holding her ears. Ostara wrapped her arm around her shoulder momentarily as Ren cried in Kalliroi's chest, blubbering about how much she didn't want others to get hurt. Kalliroi sang her to sleep with a classic traveling tune and set her on the chair before Ostara threw a raggedy quilt over her shoulders. They stood from their chairs as Ostara concocted a plan in her mind.
"Let's clean this," she told her, wiping the blood under her nose with a discarded rag. "Keep quiet, though."
At her instruction, the duo cleared the table and cleaned the plates, storing the carcass at the end of the testing room to dry. Kalliroi held Ren in her arms as Ostara threw the candles into a bucket of water and reverted the table to its previous shin-high length. Kalliroi sat on a chair near it, singing softly to Ren as Ostara swept the floors and shelves to wait for Irenaeus to finish celebrating. She waited minutes after the room had gone silent and snores echoed from the walls before she set down the broom and motioned for Kalliroi to sneak in with her. They avoided the creaky floorboards on their way to their shared bed and Kalliroi tucked her sister in first before they joined her on either side.
"Tara?" she whispered, wrapping an arm around Ostara.
"Shh. It's okay. You can sleep now."
Kalliroi looked over her head and gave her a funny look that she couldn't decipher.
"Frig would have slept here," she whispered, nestling under the blanket draped over the now-three of them. "I hope that's okay."
"I don't mind."
Kalliroi eventually fell asleep, but Ostara couldn't. She kept tossing back and forth, the comment keeping her wide, wide awake. Eventually, another thought joined it.
I could change sex. I have the ability.
You could change sex.
That's it.
She sat up, an idea forming behind her eyes. Covering Ren with the blanket, she slipped out of bed and snuck into the closet, shutting the door behind her.
Their closet was organized by eye-level shelves, and drawers that raised themselves to the end of the shelves. Dresses hung in a corner, but Irenaeus had spread his and Frig's clothing everywhere he could. Falling out of drawers, covering the shoes, anywhere. She knew it was supposed to be organized, but she couldn't see it.
Ostara didn't have a full plan concocted yet, but she had the basis of one.
Gripping her cloak around her neck, she stole two tunics of Frig's and Irenaeus', a set of underpants from Irenaeus, held her breath when she pulled open a drawer to grab a pair of pants from both men, and she dug through a corner to find Irenaeus' old hunting boots. She hadn't seen him wear them since she was small so he wouldn't notice if they were missing.
Ostara snatched a bag from a shelf and stuffed the clothes into it, holding the boots under her arm. Being quiet at the creaky floorboards, she snuck out of the closet, and then the bedroom. She slipped through the house until she arrived outside, where the firepit was still smoking.
She dared not to speak higher than a whisper as she pointed her wand at herself and whispered a transformation spell, allowing her to swap sexes, but she kept her hair the same. The weight felt lighter, but before she could adjust, Ostara had to grab at her clothes, as there weren't any curves for them to fall off. This was well, as she had to get used to this body anytime soon.
As she undressed, she looked at the new body. She had more hair now, especially on her chest, stomach, legs, and arms, and when she touched her face, there were wisps curling near her ears and chin, making a little beard. Though it did feel odd to touch the beard and find her locks instantly. She reminded herself to cut it later.
She finished undressing and set the old clothes aside, leaning against the wall as she put on the new ones. She wore the underpants, Frig's pants, Irenaeus' tunic, then his boots. She grabbed the hidden knife and her wand holder from her previous clothes before she ripped them into strips. She attached the knife and holder to her person before she took most of the strips and placed them into a pile that was a space away. She whispered a burial spell, causing the pile to fall into the earth six feet deep and was quickly covered.
Ostara took a remaining strip from her skirt and used it to tie her hair behind her neck. I have to do something about this. she remembered before performing a summoning spell and asking for a mirror. It appeared in the dirt before her and she used her knife, holding her hair to the mirror for the perfect angle.
Knife raised, she caught a glimpse at her new face. She hadn't ever fully enjoyed her reflection before, but this was new. Her eyebrows were bushier, and her facial structure was thinner, almost seeing bone. She could see her beard better now, where the curls didn't come out perfectly, instead coming in in patches.
She shook her head. She had to focus.
Ostara began to cut above the strip tying her head hair together, trying to cut just before the skin. Every curl she cut sprung free from the knife's blade and curled tight towards her skin. Working her way from the back and then towards the front, she found loose strands through her reflection and touch. Ostara checked the mirror again, noticing how much she had cut. Her skin was showing through small patches and she tried to pat the small curls down over them, but they only sprung up again.
She stored the knife in a compartment in her pants and noticed the hair surrounding her. Ostara gathered it in her hands and placed it in a pile where she had been kneeling and took a few steps away before performing that burial spell again. The hair and mirror vanished underground, the earth covering every trace of it just as fast.
Ostara strapped the wand holder on her thigh again, enjoying the freedom of keeping it visible to onlookers. She shoved the extra clothes into the bag and walked around the house from the furthest corner from the bedroom, and snuck into the streets.
I need a story. Because I can't fully walk up to the table and announce 'I'm male, let me in.' We need a convincing story.
As she retook the path towards the much smaller line, she had just finished a story; s-He was a traveling merchant's son named Oz Tarrenbough who had been following his father and was interested in the prospect of war.
He. she reminded herself for the twentieth time as she joined the line. You're a man now. Get used to it.
In front of h-him, nearly all the men were accepted, but two were denied for age.
Age.
Damn it, how old was Oz? Sure, it was all fake, but he needed to be in range for her to get accepted. Twenty-one. He had just turned twenty-one, just like her.
"I said next!" The officer complained. Ostara rushed to the counter, bowing towards the men as they yawned. It was the middle of the night and they were still working.
"Ah, a new man." the right one said. "Who are you?"
"Oz Tarrenbough," she announced, deepening his voice to seem convincing, but that wasn't required. "I'm a traveling merchant's son and I am quite interested in the war. Can I join?"
"How old are you, b-boy?" the left officer said, scribbling down some words as his were cut by a yawn.
"I just turned twenty-one, sir."
"Arse knows his manners." one mumbled to the other.
"Quiet. Lucky he's in the last few." the officer checked the list again and nodded. "Excuse me, boy, I didn't catch your name. Repeat that phonetically."
"My name is Oz. Tarrenbough."
He tried to scribble down the name, but slumped forward, asleep. The man next to him pushed him out of the way and finished the name before nodding towards him. "Welcome to the war, Oz. Go through the tent and a man will lead you towards your temporary room assignments. They'll be organized tomorrow."
"Thank you, sirs." he nodded, following the instructions towards her dorm.