I woke up to the unfamiliar heat of midmorning. With a sigh I pushed myself out of my bedroll tearing a hole into the bottom of it but it didn’t really matter much my bedroll was getting too small anyway. It would definitely be extremely small after my awakening, I think I’ll do what most do after their ritual just have a pile of pelts to sleep on but those are thoughts for later today now I need to get ready and eat something. My stomach soon growls at the thought of breakfast. It seems my midnight worrying left me hungrier than I thought.

  As I push open my tent flap I get blinded by the morning sun forgetting that I had my tent facing east from my usual waking hours before dawn. Blinking my vision back I notice my mother and father sitting by the fire already having finished their breakfast but still they waited for me and kept the fire going. I soon find my place sitting across from them, taking a bowl and filling it up with the stew made with the left overs of yesterday's hunt my father brought home. I look at them with a smile as I begin to eat, taking in their features, their ears and eyes and my fathers antlers feeling a pit form in my stomach as I do so.

  Taking a second to find my voice to ask the question that’s been burning in my mind for the last week. With a slightly shaking voice I ask “ D-Does awakening hurt?” Both immediately focus on me.

  My mother quickly speaks up “No it doesn’t Akken, is that what’s been on your mind?” The concern and comfort was clear in her voice.

  I attempt to answer but my throat feels heavy and filled with the bile of my worry. All I can do to answer is nod my head a little as I attempt to look at my parents but I find myself unable to settle for looking at their mouths and hoping that they don’t notice the difference.

  “Akken, both me and your mother were once where you are now,” my father answers in his usual deep calm tone, “there are many things to be nervous about, but soon you’ll find that what you currently are will come to pass soon, sooner than you think.”

  I nod the best I can, finishing my stew struggling to swallow with the lump in my throat though it has noticeably lessened with my parents' kind words and answers. Once finished I look at the pot still with some stew remaining, though my stomach is far from full I don’t think I could stomach anymore. Getting up to wash my bowl taking the waterskin used to fill the pot. I quickly wash out the bowl and take a drink from it while I do so. I turn back to my parents setting the bowl down to dry near the fire.

  “I should go get ready. I don't have forever to be ready, noon is coming soon” I turn away to not see their reaction no matter how kind it will be. I enter my tent letting out a slow breath trying to calm my nerves and failing.

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  I look around my tent at all the marks I put along the walls and poles, in the coming weeks I’ll have to make my own. The second step towards adulthood after awakening, when I first learned of them years ago they all seemed so distant. Now they feel like a spooked herd of elk rushing to trample me with how quick they’re coming. With one last sigh I began changing into the proper attire for the ritual: short loose pants and a large vest. I held them in my hands so much work went into them. Like everything for rituals they needed to be earned and not given, I had hunted the bucks then worked the leather and sewn them into their shape. So much work went into one outfit. How long will i need to wear it till i’m able to control my form after awakening.

  I quickly bottle up that line of thought. It will only cause me to spend more time worrying. I need to get ready to make it to the ritual tent. No more time to spend worrying. Once I'm ready I head out and my parents have already moved on from the fire towards the work that I need to do today, most of it likely to help me in the coming days. Without a second look at the fading embers of the fire I head into the main camp area making my way through.

  Those that I pass along my way to the ritual tent get my usual response, a nod or a grunt in acknowledgment. They understand or at least I hope they understand, I give the proper respects and responses as needed though nothing more. It isn't like I dislike the others in the Bellowing Thunder tribe. I just enjoy time to myself more listening to the woods or the winds. The large number of people out and about reminds me of another reason why I wake up before light most days. I try to make my way quickly through the tribe, eventually reaching my goal in the ritual tent.

  The ritual tent was the largest tent and probably the oldest and most well taken care of, runes painted onto all of the outer walls. The ritual tent was always set up in the weirdest of places. That's what I thought whenever the tribe set up in a new location the tent always needed to be set up in a particular stop at a certain angle and a bunch of other things that are necessary for rituals not that I understood any of it. With noon soon to be upon me I sit outside waiting to be called inside.

  Soon I am with a loud booming call that I recognize as Elder Devlik, “Akken enter and be made whole, have your restraints released and welcome your other side.”

  With a tentative step forward, I enter the tent seeing Elder Devlik in his whole form. Elder Devlik is an auroch I've seen transformed once before, his horns large, and frame intimidating but it also stirs a burning feeling in my chest. I stand in front of him and he motions towards the ritual bowl in the middle of the room and the knife sitting next to it. I know what I need to do. I take the knife and I cut one palm then the other. Letting the blood drip down into the already prepared paste of other materials, before I realize it Elder Devlik is standing in front of me dipping a brush into the bowl and drawing runes onto my skin chanting in a language I somewhat understand some words make their way through but many are lost.

  Soon the brush finds its way to my forehead and a searing pain makes its way through me. A scream or was it a roar maybe a bugle came through my throat as i felt my body break, crack and reform, I move my hands to my the top of my head to cover my ears to save them from the pain of sounds of anguish but before they make it I see Elder Devlik slam his hands together from tear filled eyes then nothing.