Beolnyr had gripped the boys a little too tightly and lost himself in the moment. Both boys looked at their father with wide eyes and teeth clenched, biting back the pain. He eased his grip noting a tear of pain drop from Corman's eye. "You should know nothing less than absolute devotion to the Vorseman traditions first, and to the clan and family as a very close second."
--
Years passed and the strange hunger that consumed Beolnyr grew worse. Redgurn took over many of the duties of the chieftain while Heidlyn and Monwyr, now married to a young axeman, attended his father. The work was dull and wearying, settling disputes, making certain that flocks were well tended and food was on the tables of the households of his village.

It was certainly not glorious work as he had supposed. During his youth, he had never seen his father shirk his responsibilities even when things were rough. And, being his father's son, the next in line, he was slowly tempered to that of a leader who would not turn aside from that path his father walked. It was his duty. He had tempered himself and became more business minded because of it.

He often turned to his mother for guidance who's experience far surpassed his own. She had the insightful answers brought about by both experience and that feminine intuition that he could never grasp. His mother was his counsel, one he could turn to for nearly everything.

It was because of her words that Redgurn had taken a wife, a granddaughter of the Druid Mother. Quinlyn was a brown haired beauty whom Redgurn often misunderstood. His mother knew Quinlyn would be a fine mother. Quinlyn was quiet and well liked. She did not have a knack for her mother's ability as a Druidic, but she maintained a keen and insightful mind beyond that quiet demeanor. As they grew together, he found her insight to be almost uncannily correct. It was a sight that even his mother's predilections didn't quite account for.

With her, he had started his own purposely small family. Seeing the conflict that he had had with his brother brought him to realize the reason for keeping things simple. He did not want his family as divided as it had been by their contention. Redgurn hoped that someday, he and Corman could reconcile.

---
From all that was said years ago, Corman had slowly broken contact with his family. Watching his father's slow slide into a weak and frail state was something that he could hardly bring himself to witness. He felt he was not strong enough to stand by and watch the slow sickness that weakened him from within. It was heartbreaking to watch his mother, the great Heidlyn, tend to his father with a strong voice and glistening eyes.

He had fought bitterly with Redgurn while he settled into the affairs of the family. Corman seemed to be tasked with purposeless duties that were designed to keep him preoccupied. Redgurn, who had given up his bullying for responsibility but had never quite tamed his sharp tongue. He gave Corman a lashing more than a few times, leaving the brother's relationship torn by a deep burning malice. This disrespect had divided Corman from the family. Fretya may have been the only one who could bring Corman to reason, but her time with the Valkyries was often spent away from the village.

It was soon after Redgurn spurned him for not not being true to his father's word that Corman left the household and sought his own living space in an outlying hut owned by the Chieftain's family. It was in serious disrepair but it was something he could call his own. Shortly after coming into the hut, he found himself direction-less pursuing a future that did not exist for him. He began to cast around for apprenticeship, taking to a job that would help him find his footing, but Corman could not find stability. He found no satisfaction with training horses for a living, nor blacksmithing. Things he felt he was good at had no potential for livelihood. And everything seemed to point him back to where he came from, his family. He was denied apprenticeships and lambasted by friends of the family, but he persisted, hoping that somehow he would find his own way.

Heidlyn, frustrated with Corman's arrogance, came to his house and waited for him to return. While she waited, not so patiently, a shadow passed by the entrance of the hut. Heidlyn drew a breath to give a chilled welcome to her son, but saw the Mother Druid step inside instead.