Hello my friend! I'll be on the lookout for errors here. The ages did change during editing for the first draft a very long time ago, so there may be something off about the wording in some places. I've provided some clarity below, but I'll be sure to proofread for continuity when I can. Thank you for the heads up! ^_^
At the conclusion of the Prologue and start of chapter 1, MC is only 5 years old (Lakota is 1 year older and Oswin nearly 4 years older but hasn't hit his 9th birthday just yet). After the first bout with the illness, there's a summary for the 3 years in-between that covers the rest of age 5 and on through age 8 (the incident in the barn happens during this time and is meant to be in the same year the MC is 8 years old). In that same year, before their 9th birthday, is when MC picks their favored skill/profession. After this there is another summed up few years that leads up to the 14th birthday - the "Name Day." During that summary there is mention of Lakota's name day, which occurs a year prior to the MC's, so the wording there may be confusing. Once the MC turns 14, there is a 10 year skip to jettison them into their next most important birthday. The MC is turning 24 the same day the mark appears, this would be the start of their 24th year. This is where most of the character creation is concluded and ends chapter 1 and bleeds into chapter 2.