A Birthday of Sorts

“...I will skip talk about the training. Suffice to say, I fell into a predictable routine that year. I began each morning, with the except of Sundays, trying to not get my bones broken by Annoying Mute, who never did grow eyes or, gods forbid, communicational skills, and spent the remainder of the day being tutored inside Sir Pelican’s library. As you can imagine, I was less than fulfilled, and I became more and more aware of just how much I missed nights out on the town. Sir Pelican would promptly end any attempted debates on my part in regards to returning to the type of errands that got me in his service in the first place.

“That, of course, left me with no choice but to sneak out in the middle of the night from time to time. I would tail old hustles just to see what became of them. I was less than impressed usually. Other times, I would sneak into local watering holes and wrangle up some impromptu entertainment. I remembered to dig out my old clothes after my first visit to my old stomping grounds ended with some drunken sea merchants mistaking my good natured humor with elitist snobbery due to my new wardrobe. I had become so accustomed to my new threads and my addiction to cladding myself with pieces ordained with shiny metals that I completely forgot just how different I must have looked.

“Never, however, did I wrap my knuckles upon The Choking Giant for a reunion with Philip the Fool. I couldn’t place the feeling exactly, but I still felt some rawness with how I was “sold” to Sir Pelican.

“My boredom finally came to an end on the anniversary of the start of my stay with Sir Pelican. I was sitting in my usual chair at the table dead center of the library and thinking that it was going to be hard to fake my way through that day’s lessons considering I hadn’t read the assigned material when Sir Pelican walked into the room.

“‘Relax, Garland. We are suspending our studies for the day,’ he said as he stood behind his chair across the table from me.

“‘I have renewed belief in the power of prayer,’ I sighed.

“‘Shush,’ Sir Pelican said not the least bit annoyed. ‘Do you know what is special about today?’

“‘It’s not because of the lack of lessons?’ I asked.

“‘Ha! No, no, my good boy. From what I understand, you aren’t accustomed to celebrating birthdays,’ he said.

“‘It is pretty hard to when I don’t know when or where I was born,’ I said while trying to keep a stir of new hope from entering my voice. Was I going to finally learn something about my past? Was today my birthday?

“‘True enough. True enough, Garland. Everyone deserves to celebrate a day of being. Today is the anniversary of the first day you entered my services. It only makes sense to mark that day as a day to celebrate your birthday since no other one has been previously established.’