Damien, meanwhile, was becoming as fed up with the convent as he could take.
He was no longer a child and he desperately wanted independence and being treated like the man he fancied himself to be. What he got instead was even more work. He didn't care that it was spring and the convent gardens needed tending. The gardens were enormous, the endless weeding tedious and exhausting and the nuns stricter than ever.

He didn't know himself what had pushed him over the edge. There was no specific argument, nothing especially terrible. He just couldn't take it anymore. After all, they couldn't force him to stay anymore, not at his age.
Leaving was easy, just a matter of sneaking out of his room and the whole convent just before sunrise, when all the nuns would be too preoccupied with their morning prayers to notice him gone. He didn't even own anything that could slow him down.

He set camp in the valley where his supposed half-sister lived. He had no money and no real friends, but he trusted that would change soon. And anything must be better than the convent.
The news around him must have spread, because he had a visitor very soon. Alvin the village priest was one of the few people he had met before and thus not the one Damien would wish to see the most. Still, he looked pleasant enough when he looked around the place, asking Damien how he was and what his plans were.

"Are you sure you want to live like this?" Alvin asked. "The nuns would take you back if you asked nicely, you don't have to..."
Damien exploded, screaming something about religious oppression and how he would never go back there. He was sick of all nuns and priests and most of all sick of praying.
Alvin managed to keep his composure throughout and when he wished Damien good luck, there was only a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Then he left the boy to his fate.

With no money and no resources, Damien knew he would have to live on what the woods would provide. He was sick of gardening anyway.
Instead, he decided to set some traps for small animals around his camp, hoping to catch something nice for dinner.

And as far as catching dinner went... Damien had never been fishing, but he had heard about the great abundance of fish in the local lake and thought it wouldn't hurt to try that as well. If nothing else, the view was much nicer than the stone walls he was mostly used to.

And the time spent at the lake even paid off. Damien was delighted when he inspected his first fish, thinking that this was only the beginning. Maybe he could be a great hunter and have meat every single day.

For now, though, his new life was still quite hard and very humble. He only had a campfire with a cooking pot and bed made up from whatever he could find. He deeply regretted not taking at least a blanket with him.
Every morning he washed in a bucket of water and then spent the day either checking his traps, fishing or gathering wood.
Still, at least he was free and he could believe it would get better.

And a chance for that came soon, in the form of a nobleman out hunting.
Despite the difference in their social standing, Damien found it easy to talk with Adrian. Maybe the man had not heard everything about Damien's background, or maybe he didn't care when they could discuss hunting and adventures.

Damien played his rough camp and lifestyle for all he could. Not that he had much experience with sports, but he could try.
"When I was growing up, I always wanted to be a soldier." He said and when Adrian challenged him to a test, he put on his most enthusiastic face, taking care to learn as many tricks as he could. It actually was fun and if Adrian were to offer him a position, he wouldn't refuse...

Before that could happen, though, he still had to eat. His simple traps had proven useful, but there were some days when he had even more luck. When he first saw a wild deer among the trees quite close to his camp, he was shocked, weaponless and ended up missing his chance.
The next time, though, he was ready. He grabbed the spear he had prepared for this chance and sneaked up behind the animal, hoping he had chosen the right side with regards to the wind. The deer was a healthy young buck and would be quite a prize...
When he threw the spear, he muttered a short prayer under his breath despite himself.

The spear struck home, Damien suspected that more by luck than any particular skill. The beautiful animal trashed for a bit on the ground and then died. Dorian couldn't suppress a happy grin, thinking about the money it was sure to bring him.

The market square was smaller than Damien had imagined when he thought about the world beyond the convent walls. The stalls were mostly food - even though some of it looked rather good - and simple cloth, but Damien noticed one more, with pink curtains, almost hidden behind the others. And inside it, seated on a rough three-legged stool, was his new best friend Adrian consulting with a ragged gypsy.
Damien stopped, trying to catch a part of the conversation. He had not though Adrian a superstitious man, or one who would need advice concerning his love life...
"...you should stop spending too much time in the woods, my lord. With deepest respect, your lady wife..." The gypsy was saying.
"Why do you think I go there in the first place? My lady wife is all well, but a man needs to relax."

"Do you need your future told?" A voice said beside him, "Or maybe guaranteed true love?"
Damien turned and saw a red-haired woman in a rather low-cut dress smiling at him. He smiled back.
"I believe in making my own future, I just wanted..." after all, why not? "...to say hello to a friend. But seeing as he's busy..."
The girl's eyebrows shot high as she glanced at Adrian. "Oh." she said. "I didn't realise you're one of the lord's friends. From the capital?" Was she impressed, or playing with him?
"Not really. I..." Damien searched for the best, the smoothest thing to say, but he didn't really need to.
"Well, let me tell your future, then. I predict you will go far." The girl smiled, her eyes shining.
"And I suspect you must have dozens of men hoping to be your true love." He returned the compliment. "So seeing that neither of us has need for the services offered here, beautiful lady, would you mind taking a walk around?"
"With pleasure."
The girl's eyes never stopped twinkling and her conversation was witty and free. Even if she was playing with him, Damien decided he didn't mind it in the least.