44: THE WEEPING

Five years before the main events of the novel, young thirteen-year-old boy with a kind disposition is conscripted into the army as revenge by the local citylord against his surgeon father. His older brother, an aspiring healer, volunteers to join the army as well to keep the younger boy company, breaking his family's plans for his future and devastating his parents.

During the dreary four-week season called the weeping, sixteen-year-old apprentice healer sits with his younger brother and mother on their roof in their home town. His brother gifts him a beautifully carved wooden horse made at his carpentry apprenticeship. Their mother reveals a strategic plan: their father has been deliberately spending spheres to make the citylord believe he has financially broken the family, when actually the family will soon send their elder son away to study in the great city of kharbranth, safely removing him and the remaining family wealth from the citylord's reach. The elder son is conflicted about leaving, but his mother encourages him to consider broader possibilities beyond following his father's surgical path. A town gathering is called during the rain. The citylord roshone appears with his new betrothed (his late son's former bride-to-be), and a visiting highmarshal who announces military recruitment is needed for four-year terms. When volunteers don't come forth, the citylord exercises his legal authority to conscript specific townspeople from a list, including the younger brother—deliberately targeting him as revenge against the surgeon father who saved roshone's life and whose son survived while roshone's own son died from wounds. The devastated family realizes their younger brother is protected by the conscription exemptions for essential town functions, but the younger boy is not. In a sudden decision, the elder brother volunteers to join the army as well, choosing to accompany and protect his brother rather than pursue his planned studies. His father is distraught at losing both sons, but the elder brother swears a sacred oath by the storms and the almighty to bring his brother home safely within four years.