|
Liloran
Liloran was very confused. He’d always been told he was different, “special” was the word his mother used, but he’d never been told how. His brothers were careful never to let anyone see him naked, and he knew it was because he didn’t look like them. He’d always assumed they were embarrassed for it to be seen. Now, at fifteen turns of age he’d noticed even more pronounced differences. His chest had started to swell, and he didn’t understand why. Liloran didn’t know how to explain it and so he bound it tightly to his chest every morning. By the end of the day his chest hurt terribly, but he could deal with the pain as long as that meant no one found out exactly how different he was. “Liloran!” called Ronil, running up to his brother from across the field. “What are you doing out here all by yourself?” “Just doing some thinking,” replied Liloran, pulling the petals off a flower he’d picked as he sat the shade of a tree. “You think too much, little brother,” replied Ronil, shoving him hard and jumping away. “Come on, Mom needs your help.” “Mom always needs my help. Why can’t someone else help her for a change?” “You know it’s just ‘cause she worries about you,” replied Ronil. “Humor her a while longer. A few more years and you and I can go live with Korin and his wife instead. Or maybe you’ve got your eyes on a young lady?” Liloran swiped at his brother as he got to his feet, his face turning red. Ronil mistook the reason behind the flush though and danced back with a laugh. “Oh ho! My little brother does have his eye on someone. Tell me, Lilo, who is it?” “No one!” said Liloran much too fiercely and Ronil looked at him in surprise, suddenly subdued. “Okay, sorry,” said Ronil, not sure how to deal with his brother’s moodiness. “Let’s go, Mom wants you.” Liloran got up with a scowl and stalked quickly past his brother. He didn’t understand why he felt the need to lash out at everyone all the time, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. He considered talking to his mother about it, but discarded that idea quickly. She couldn’t possibly understand what he was going through. “Hey, Mom,” said Liloran as he entered the family cavern. Karena looked up from her sewing and smiled. “What did you need?” “Liloran, dear,” she said with a smile, setting down her sewing and getting up to give him a hug. Liloran scowled as she hugged him, but didn’t protest. His mother gave him a hug every time she saw him, and only him. He rarely saw her hug his brothers and it always made him uncomfortable. He knew it had something to do with how different he was and he didn’t appreciate her making it obvious. But he also didn’t want to upset her so he let her hug him tight and forced a half smile when she released him. Karena smiled at him, then returned to her chair and picked up the sewing again. “You needed something, Mom?” Liloran asked, trying to keep his voice from sounding too perturbed. “What?” she said, looking up as if startled. “Ronil told me you wanted me for something?” he prodded, not understanding why his mother had become so forgetful of late. “Oh! Did I? I don’t recall,” Karena said as if flustered, she returned to her sewing. “I suppose I just wondered where you were.” Liloran scowled, trying to suppress the anger that always hung just beneath the surface, he was usually successful but this time he found himself snapping at his mother in reply, barely concealing the venom in his tone. “Because I’m special, right, Mom?” Karena looked up in surprise but took no note of his tone. “Of course, dear, you know you’re my special boy.” “Don’t you mean different, Mom? I’m not special; I’m just different! No, I’m a freak!” Liloran felt tears welling up behind the anger and he ran, his mother not even calling after him. Liloran ran out of the system of caverns, back out to his favorite tree where he threw himself to the ground and cried tears of shame. Shame that he was so different that he still needed his brothers to stand up for him, shame that he’d yelled at his mother whose mind was obviously not right, and shame that he was crying. Men did not cry, though that thought of course set him to crying harder because he knew in his heart he wasn’t a real man, no matter what anyone said about him simply being special, he knew. At that moment he felt a whoosh of air at his back and looked up to see a large blue dragon peering at him. He jumped, but only managed to scramble backwards on the ground. He’d never realized how large dragons were! Sure, he’d seen them in the skies riding sweeps, but never had he seen one up close. This one peered at him and Liloran carefully craned his neck around to see if the dragon had a rider. A man was dismounting and Liloran cursed himself for a fool, of course the dragon had a rider, all dragons did. Continue... |