Eight years ago.

I will never forget the snarl on Theo ab Kasmith’s weathered face as he stood over me that dawn in Southern Lithmore.  My father’s decision to remove me from the Roldan household before my 15th birthday was a wound still fresh, and though I had only been at Abbas Hall for two days, I already wanted desperately to flee what I viewed as an appalling and grossly undeserved punishment.  To that end, I had decided to surreptitiously “borrow” one of Theo’s horses and ride south, to Talfore and my sister.

I was still fumbling with the saddle when old Theo found me in the stables and kicked my feet right out from under me, quick as any lightning.  A bright, sharp pain stole away my vision, and the breath was knocked clean out of my chest.  “Boy,” I heard him growl, “You had best not try that again.  You’re as useless and stupid as a newborn pup still attached to its mother’s teat.”  Naturally, I disagreed with his analysis at the time, but his words stuck with me ever since.  And eventually, after two more poorly-planned escape attempts, a cracked rib, a black eye, and a swollen lip, he made me see myself for what I really was:  spoiled, arrogant, and yes, stupid.

But not useless.  Well, not after a few months of hard labor, at any rate.  Old Theo put me to work every Arien day.  One week it was gardening, the next logging, and the week after, he’d have me helping in the fields, butchering meat in the kitchens, or cleaning out the kennels and stalls.  Every week it was something new and different and horrifying to my senses.  The manure and feces, the innards, the blood, the weevils and grubs, lice, fleas… I met them all.  Theo said it was to build character, of course, but to me, it was a masterfully-contrived, never-ending form of abuse.  His staff even started a lottery, betting on who would be stuck babysitting me next.  Oh, how I hated that first year in his employ.

It never became easy, but Theo ab Kasmith was, as always, right.  Every task he set me to made me stronger in body and spirit.  Eventually, I stopped gagging when it came time to slaughter and dress the livestock, I learned to endure the awful odors, and to work through the pain until it melted away into strength.  I knew that something in me had changed when the lottery gave way to earnest requests for my assistance.  Not long after, Theo and I loaded the wagons to bursting and set off for Vavard.

I never thought I’d miss Abbas Hall.