A home.

That one thing I never thought I would find. Homes aren't things meant for exiled boys. I had pretty much resigned myself to wandering until I could return to you. I didn't expect to settle down.

Until today that is.

I was in a town today, which I've been trying to avoid doing. Even when I'm ignoring the people staring at me, it makes me uncomfortable. I feel out of place, removed, among them. And so I avoid towns.

But today I had no choice. Recently the sun seems to almost have taken a dislike to me. His light beats down upon me as if it were solid and wanted to knock me out. The sunlight is as unlike the moonlight, and it, as could possibly be it seems, but still it seems to hate me.

Because of the animosity the sun has been showing me, I decided this morning to get myself a hat. I wanted one of the wide brimmed ones that so many farmers have, one like the one my father always wears. But to get any kind of hat, I had to go into a town. So that morning the sun found me searching for a hat that I could afford with my few coins that I had with me when you exiled me.

The merchants in the town didn't want to have anything to do with me though. They took one look at me, a boy who should be spending all his time apprenticed to someone, and they turned their backs on me. When that happened it felt like the whole world agreed with the sun to hate me. Of course, that might be it.

I played with the idea of stealing a hat. The merchants were not paying attention to me, so they most likely wouldn't notice if I took one of the hats. But I decided that doing that would make me less of man than I already am, and so I decided to just leave with my dignity.

But, just as I was about the leave the town, a large man approached me. He looked to be very strong, and I did not want to get hurt by him, so I did nothing that might make him angry. He had bushy hair and a bushy beard, both in black so that he looked much like a great bear. His eyes though were bright blue, and they seemed to have the same inner light that yours do. It was as if I could see the stars that reside in your body shining in his eyes. That, combined with his sheer size, caused me to stop and see what he wished of me.

He commented on the weather to me first, seeming much too casual for my tastes, especially since I wanted to be on my way to another town where I might get a hat. But when I made to leave, he stuck out his arm and asked me about boys of my age who go around un-apprenticed and expect to be taken seriously.

I could feel almost every person in the town who was about on the streets looking at me. And not only them, but I felt as if the sun himself were watching me critically. Then I knew that my answer would be important to my whole future, so I thought it over seriously. As I thought, the bear man watched me, his shining eyes never moving from my form, tiny next to his great body.

Finally I replied with a comment about how for most boys it would be inappropriate to go about un-apprenticed, but that there are exceptions to every rule. He didn't seem to like my answer, but he had to admit that it was true. As he nodded reluctantly I started to leave, but he put his hand on my shoulder, surprisingly lightly, for I had thought he would have a heavy hand, and he asked me just what I thought would make me an exception.

I am not sure whether it was his eyes, or just my fright at being scrutinized by such a large man, but before I could stop myself I was telling him about you. I told him about your nightly court, and about it. I told him about the others, and then about what happened that first night that I was at your court. Finally, I told him about the second night, and about my vows to return.

He said nothing while I told him all this. He just stared at me with those eyes, absorbing every word that I said. But when I was done he kept staring, and I felt as if he was sizing me up. He didn't take his hand off my shoulder though, and I was unwilling to move as long as it rested there, afraid that he might grip my shoulder and hurt me.

Of course, if I keep acting like that I'll never be man enough to return to you.

Finally, after staring at me for what seemed like forever he laughed. It was a great big hearty laugh, and I wondered if he thought me a fool. My face must have shown my doubts because he stopped laughing and regarded me again. He chuckled, and reassured me that he wasn't laughing at me.

I tried to go again. His laughing had a way of making me feel even younger than I am, and I didn't like it at all. My pride was the only thing keeping me going, and the way he was acting it would be in tatters before long. And I didn't want that.

He stopped me again though, and this time he regarded me quite seriously. He told me frankly that he could see where I thought myself to be an exception, but that most others would not be able to tell that. He told me all the things that I had already figured out on my own. That I would be and outside no matter where I went, simply because of my age and the fact that I was alone.

I muttered something about how I didn't mind it, but he wouldn't listen to me. I know he heard me, but he ignored me. Instead, he went on about how there were some men who would take in children like me, children who didn't really belong anywhere but still needed somewhere to be, somewhere to call a home.

And then I figured out what he wanted.

He didn't want to lecture me on being un-apprenticed. He didn't want to stare at me like all the others. He wanted me. He wanted to take me in and teach me. What, I had no idea, but he wanted to provide me with a home.

My pride rebelled at the idea, and before I could think about it I tried to pull myself out of his grasp and leave the town, and his offer, behind. He wouldn't let go of me though, and he pulled me around roughly to look in my eyes and he told me quite frankly that he didn't give a damn what my pride felt. He knew that a boy my age needed someone to teach him, and he wanted to make sure that I wasn't neglected. And he didn't care if I didn't want to, because now that he had me he said I didn't have a choice.

And so I found out that he is a wandering Warrior. He is no more from that town than I am, in fact he is from farther north than your court. But he had deliberately been seeking me out, having heard rumors about a boy who was wandering around on his own but didn't seem to be much of a troublemaker. A boy who didn't seem to belong anywhere in particular.

And so he will have that boy as his apprentice. It is not as if I have anywhere else to go. I cannot go back to my family. They live in your territory, as you may know. As he said to me, I cannot just go on wandering on my own. So I'll wander with him, and learn from him. It isn't much, but he has given me a place, or rather, a tent, to call my home.

Everywhere I've been since that night just hasn't felt right. Each place was nice, but they all seemed wrong though. But with my new Master it is different.

I think that this tent, this home of mine, will be a place that doesn't seem wrong.