Snowfall

We followed Father John through France and on into England. Only on one occasion was there anyone who would dare to take advantage of a lone priest. The awe and superstition surrounding a man of God kept most people more honest than they might otherwise be to each other. The one occasion was quickly dealt with. I did not kill the man but I did find out how fear tasted. It was not the same, not the sweet embrace of desire, the pulling together of two beings. Instead it was my will crushing another\'s I felt power as his life fed my own existence. His blood tasted of worry, despair and...guilt. He knew he deserved to die and thought that in some ways this was God\'s swift judgement for attempting to harm his man. I let him go, though I found it harder than I would have thought. I was not used to feeling power. Albin, the meek one, the kind and sympathetic one. It was a new sensation that scared me in its lack of unpleasantness. I still preferred the taste of desire but fear was not as loathsome as I had imagined. It troubled me.


I wandered about my village seeing it in a whole new light. Hunger gnawed at me slightly and I made my way to the one tavern. I was about to head inside and look for a likely subject, when the door swung open and a man and a boy headed out into the night. For some strange reason, I found myself shrinking back into the shadows. Their conversation drifted easily to my ears.

\"No, my brother lives up at the Abbey.\" the boy said. There was only one person he could possibly be speaking of and that meant there was only one person this child could possibly be. Alin, my brother.

I watched in rapt fascination, once again feeling the curiosity that always welled up inside me when I saw my younger sibling. I longed to ask him if we had any others, had my parents managed to have more children or were we the only two?

\"Perhaps you could go to him for help? Surely a man of the church would help his family.\" The older man stated. He seemed familiar and after a moment I realized who he was. The kid who had brought his father and mine to me that day in the field. Why was he with my little brother?

\"He seems rather busy, Thomas. I\'ve never even spoke to him. Mother always hoped he\'d come home to visit but I guess that\'s against their rules or something.\"

Thomas, as my brother called him, frowned slightly. \"I don\'t know about that. Your brother always seemed a kind person to me, Alin, and I can tell you he had no reason to be. \"

Alin looked up the young man beside him questioningly but decided against asking more about it. \" Well, what could he do anyway? Don\'t think they have any money. That\'s why people in the village bring them food.

\"You\'re right I suppose but I think I would still tell him.\"

\"And have him worry about us, for nothing? We\'ll be ok. I can run the farm. There\'s nothing to worry about.\" Alin looked as stubborn as our father for a moment. It was an expression at odds with his young face but I could tell he sincerely believed his words. Run the farm? He\'d only be needing to do that if something happened to our father.

Thomas looked at my brother and though doubt was written on his features, he smiled weakly and said. \"Of course there isn\'t. You\'ll do a fine job and make your father proud.\"

I followed them back to a stable. It seemed they had been granted permission to sleep up in the loft. Watching them slowly settle down to sleep for the night, I mused on what I had heard. I needed to speak with Amar. I could not just leave my family to starve.

Amar was more than happy to let me go check on my family but he cautioned me to be careful. My presence back in town was not to be known. Father John would have already spoken to the brothers about my staying in Italy to learn and eventually that would spread to the rest of the Village. It did pain me somewhat that I could not visit my mother in the fashion that she might have wanted but I was determined to help them in whatever way I could. Working with the animals proved impossible, they were far too skittish around me and would wake up the household. I could tend the fields. I found the work far easier that I would have imagined. What was a day\'s work for one farmer was little more than an hour or so to me. Fields taken care of, I went out amongst the forest. Amar had come back from his hunt and watched me with some curiosity.

\"I see you\'ve not lost your knack for planting but might I ask just what you\'re doing?\" I turned to find him leaned against a tree watching me.

Not startled by his approach as I had always been as a human, I slowly stood and presented what I had been kneeling over. It was a handful of flowers. \"Just getting a few things. \"

\"Ah, for me?\" He smiled stepping forward. \"You shouldn\'t have but I thank you for the romantic gesture.\" His teasing tone told me he knew full well they were not for him.

\"Then it is a good thing I didn\'t. They are for mother. She need not know who sent them. I will leave them on the doorstep.\"

He looked worried a moment but then shrugged and smiled. What is a bouquet of flowers suddenly appearing, next to an entire field being planted over night? \"You\'re a thoughtful son, Albin.\"

\"Hmm, I wish I had thought to check on them earlier. I thought they didn\'t want me.\" I frowned.

\"Is it not an honor to be in the church?\"

\"It is but you do not usually send your first son and certainly not your only son. At the time I was both. I felt my parents were ashamed of me. They sent me away. When Alin was born they finally had the son they wanted. He\'s quite determined. Just like Father. He\'ll do a fine job one day but he\'s only 10.\" I headed back towards the small cottage to leave my gift. The place looked more worn that I remembered. The roof could use some repairs in the thatching and the pen with the animals needed some new logs.

\"We can stay here, Albin. What is a few years when we have so many?\" Amar shrugged. I felt relief flood over me, I had been worried without even realizing it. He had such plans to show me things. Being stuck here in this village was going to be difficult. Of course, there larger places nearby and we would not have to watch the farm nightly.

I smiled shyly at him. He was always so kind to me. \"Thank you.\"