Spirit Age

1;Whiteskin...

Ed woke up to a heavy BANG! He shot up and staggered out, expecting more Fire Marshals. Bright orange flames exploded in his face. Except they weren't actually flames. They were bright orange,yes,but not the former. Knock-outs.

 ‘By jove, Khalid Bose and his crew of idiots are at it again’, Ed thought as he watched the youths throw more and more of the ungodly contraptions into the sky and each exploded in bright colors. One particular Bang seemmed to shake the legs of the watchtower,causing Ed and whatever lightweight thing in his crib to almost capside. Ed hissed and steadied himself. Well at least it wasn't fire Marshals. Those goat heads had been a serious pain in the neck, especially with that new ‘eternal fire’ of theirs. It was like any other normal flame,except no amount water nor sand could quench it. Who knew what the mad men would invent next. They were probably thinking of something else right that moment.

“Ed!” a voice called from below the tower.

“The name sounds familiar,Aunt Elene," Ed screamed back. “But I'm afraid whoever this Ed-person is,he would prefer to not visit the springs this exceptionally cold morning". A series of grunts and scuffles announced Aunt Elene ascent up the tower.

“Boy,if you don't geh down 'ere,right this moment,I'll give you a good flogging!” Elene Screamed amidst wheezing breathes. Her accent always intrigued Ed. Grandpa said that the Catastrophe, cultures and races got mixed. So it was now hard to tell one's true lineage. Grandpa also claimed to know the name of the universal language that the people of the Emirate had now come to speak. Anglish. Or was it ‘Engris’ ;Ed couldn't remember which one. 

“Always a pleasure to behold your angelic presence every morning,Aunty,” Ed said as Elene came into view. As the latter struggled to steady her breathing,Ed blew into his fists to keep himself warm. Elene was a huge woman. One of her skirts was enough to see three winter jackets for Ed. She was the only one in the family who spared him the forced politeness and faux loving gestures. He was a Whiteskin. It was the only thing that was as bad as,if not worse than, being a Mutant. Father had this thing for peace and love  and other pacifist nonsense of that sort. So his siblings and aunts tried their best to treat him as a normal indigene. But Ed could see it in their eyes. 'Outcast'. 'You don't belong here'. These were the words that their eyeballs screamed, the thoughts that reflected with each flutter of their eyelids. 

“Save yer sugar mouth for them little girls your age,” Elene said,and spat. “Nasty little things,they is. Always pushin' out their tiny chests,and showing off their ankles 'ery where.”

She spat again.

"Either way,to the springs,yer goat head." She pushed two iron buckets into Ed's arms. Another bang shook the tower. Ed quickly reached for the wood railing to steady himself and the buckets. Elene just stood there,unshaken,ever the mountain-of-a woman. 

"Darned boys making so much noise,” she spat. “They'll scare the flock.”

She turned to leave,but then stopped.

"No,” Ed said. He knew what she wanted to ask. ‘Have you eaten?'

She stomped back to him and shoved something wrapped in cloth into his arms,again. The sharp sweet aroma of corn cake assaulted his nose. All of a sudden it was like his senses had awoken.

Elene snorted. “You look like I offered you the world."

“No,” Ed replied. “The world is far too bitter to be compared to this glorious offering which thou hast rendered unto this starving soul,my dear madame."

Elene rolled her eyes.

Ed grinned. Then he looked down at the wrapped gift,and hesitated. Elene's eyes softened and she stepped forward.

“Here,” she said and pinched off a piece of the cake and ate it. She chewed for a while and then said,“See? No poison.”

“Some take longer before they have effect,” Ed said. 

Elene rolled her eyes. “Only two times,Ed” 

"I almost died those ‘only two times’,” Ed countered. During last year's ’Coming of Age' ceremony,someone had put poison in his stew. That one, he could manage but the second time had been too personal. This goat head actually climbed up the tower and put Bitter Lotus in Ed's water pot.

 “If I die of food poisoning,the Village council will have something to say about it,Aunt Elene" Ed called down to Elene as she climbed down the watchtower. He knew that was a lie. He was a Whiteskin,so the council wouldn't even look his way once. Maybe that was why people were so eager to get rid of him. A Whiteskin had no place in society.

“Anyone who tries to kill you through food poisoning has no conscience” she screamed back as she made her way down the hill. “If they had one,they'd pro'ly use a guillotine,or a stake through the heart would do just fine.”

Ed smiled. She always said he had no heart,and that his neck was thicker than bronze.