<\/p>This is chapter 1 of a somewhat science-y short story I wrote called \u201cTilda and the Goja Berries.\u201d Read all of \u201cTilda and the Goja Berries\u201d\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em>\n

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Tilda had come age. Like all newly minted adults of Arborea it was therefore her duty to report to the Head Villager. However, also like all newly minted young adults she had spent the night before her coming of age in merriment and was, well\u2026 a little hung over.<\/p>\n
Under her purple cape Tilda was therefore a bit of a sweaty mess and her temples felt as though rail workers were striking pins into them every few seconds. Just as the head pain would subside, a bout of nausea would rise in her stomach and she cursed herself thinking, \u201cyou can be the life of the party without getting drunk\u2026 ugggghhhh.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
$\"A$
A Goja Bear<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
With the most recent bout of nausea gone, Tilda sluggishly pushed through the doors to the great hall of the village elders. The hall was little more than an oversized cabin, but it was much prized by all the villagers and the only building with metal doors in the whole village. The doors were laden with metalwork wrought into the creatures of Arborea. Their coolness was soothing to the touch, but Tilda had little time to contemplate their beauty. As soon as the doors opened, Tilda was greeted by the scolding voice of the head villager \u2013 \u201cYou\u2019re late.\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The head villager was seated at the raised head of a large wooden table carved similarly to the door. Tilda was particularly fond of the badger bear napping near the closest corner of the table and, even today, it\u2019s sleepy face gave her comfort and she smiled as she stared down at the cuddly bear.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour attention Tilda,\u201d said the head villager sternly but also with clear boredom and annoyance. She couldn\u2019t believe that she had to deal with yet another hung-over twenty something.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, head villager,\u201d said Tilda throwing on a smile she wasn\u2019t sure how long she could keep.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight.\u201d said the head villager, \u201cso you\u2019ve come of age. Now you must complete your deed of service to the village. What you do after the deed is of no importance to us, but you must first earn your freedom through service.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cService?\u201d asked Tilda. She was more than a little unsure of her belief in this ridiculous practice, but her brain was far too broken at the moment to mount any more thoughtful questions about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes. Service.\u201d said the head villager, \u201cYou should take pride in the fact that you even get to serve. Every person who comes of age in Arborea gets a chance to prove him or herself, but not all succeed. Don\u2019t you want to prove yourself?\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, you might think that the head villager made the above statements with some sort of exuberance or pride, but true to her deepest self, it was all stated in dry, matter of fact tones.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh\u2026\u201d said Tilda, \u201cokay\u2026\u201d but really she was just confused and it wasn\u2019t the hangover. You see, Tilda didn\u2019t think it was that simple. You don\u2019t just complete some task and therefore come of age and \u201cprove yourself\u201d \u2026 whatever that meant. She had seen plenty of people come home from their \u201cdeeds\u201d after coming of age and all they did was go back and work on the family farm or whatever.<\/p>\n
Being from a family of metal crafters Tilda dreaded completing her task and returning home just to continue the family business. Not that she didn\u2019t think her parents and brother were great at metal work \u2013 really they turned it into a art, but she just didn\u2019t get any joy out of it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
$\"Goja$
A sleeping Goja Monster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Unfortunately, Tilda didn\u2019t have time to express all of this.<\/p>\n
\u201cGreat.\u201d said the Head Villager curtly, \u201cNow for your task.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Head Villager began mumbling as she read down a piece of paper paper in front of her.<\/p>\n
\u201cAh. Your task is one of the most prestigious in all of Arborea.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cErrr Cool?\u201d said Tilda, another wave of nausea streaming over her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou, Tilda, will find 3 Goja berries and return them to Arborea.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUm\u2026 right,\u201d said Tilda a perplexed look on her face.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course,\u201d said the head villager, \u201cwe want you to be prepared. Please ask any questions you might have.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRight, soooo, what\u2019s a Goja berry and also\u2026 why?\u201d asked Tilda, her stomach churning.<\/p>\n
\u201cEasy questions.\u201d said the Head Villager. \u201cGoja berries are the only things known to keep the Goja monster asleep. Why? Because if the Goja monster wakes up, he\u2019ll destroy the village.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the conclusion of the above statements, the chorus of pain in Tilda\u2019s head swelled to its raucous climax and she could do little more than say thank you and slump out of the room desperate to rest her head on something cool.<\/p>\n
Tilda could feel the Head Villager\u2019s eyes rolling as she said, \u201cGet some sleep and we\u2019ll send a map with more details to your cabin.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Tilda was leaving the hall, her friend Granite entered. His coming of age had coincided with her own and he was part of the reason Tilda was in so much pain today. Though great friends with Granite, she couldn\u2019t stand to let the brute outshine her at any party.<\/p>\n
Tilda rested her head against the ice cold metal of the great hall\u2019s door as Granite was given the details of his own coming of age task. The doors were her father\u2019s work and, by all accounts, outshone the handiwork of the table. Tilda looked down and to the right, scanning for her beloved Goja bear. As she was searching, she distinctly heard the Head Villager speaking to Granite, \u201cYour task is one of the most prestigious in all of Arborea. You will find 3 Goja berries and return them to Arborea.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the close of this statement, Tilda\u2019s eyes found the region where the Goja bear should have been. Strangely, the Goja bear had been replaced with an enormous catfish.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is chapter 1 of a somewhat science-y short story I wrote called \u201cTilda and the Goja Berries.\u201d Read all of \u201cTilda and the Goja Berries\u201d\u00a0here. Tilda had come age. Like all newly minted adults of Arborea it was therefore her duty to report to the Head Villager. However, also like all newly minted young … <\/p>\n
Continue reading “Tilda and the Goja Berries Chapter 1”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-short-story","tag-fantasy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pap2RX-2X","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tylerjford.com\/landing.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tylerjford.com\/landing.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tylerjford.com\/landing.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tylerjford.com\/landing.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tylerjford.com\/landing.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tylerjford.com\/landing.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":184,"href":"https:\/\/www.tylerjford.com\/landing.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183\/revisions\/184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tylerjford.com\/landing.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tylerjford.com\/landing.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tylerjford.com\/landing.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}