“Shhhh, it’s alright. Calm down, calm down.” Ulam says cradling Kato’s small head in his chest.
“Ahhhhh … It won’t though will it *sniffle* they’re all dead *sniffle* ahhhh” Kato, absorbed into the destruction of his family, sobbed into Ulam’s chest
Kato, a little boy, thought of nothing as he wept loudly into Ulam’s chest. He wrapped his arms tightly around Ulam’s body as he held his head.
Ulam thought for a few seconds, he lightly nodded his head as if he had made up his mind.
“Little Kato” Ulam says gently with a smile.
In a sad and abrupt tone Kato utters “What?”
“I will not tell you how to grieve, or what you should or should not think. I will only tell you my experiences through observing human relationships over the course of 5 thousand years.”
Ulam clears his throat and says “Many people who are upset and grieving are told that ‘things will get better’ or ‘they wouldn’t like to see you like this’ or even ‘they will always be with you’. I believe that you will only stop feeling sad by yourself.”
“What do you mean *sniffle*?” Kato questions, still crying and worked up but obviously much calmer than before.
“I mean that each person has their own way of coping with stress and sadness. I believe that things would only get better if you do something about it. Right now you feel sad and hate what has happened, this feeling will not just go away which therefore means that something must be done to get rid of it.
If they wouldn’t like to see you like this what would they feel to know that you are not grieving at all? Is it worse to grieve or not too? Would they feel like you don’t care about them? My personal answer is, to an extent.
I think you should grieve for a little while and then try to forget about the event but not the person, forgetting the event is what the person wants and not to be forgotten.
And as for them always being with you, I believe that this is correct and incorrect. I believe that it is correct because they will always remain in your heart if they are close to you, however it is incorrect because all that is there is a memory.
We spend time with people and avoid them because of what they make us feel, if you love someone you would spend more time with them, if you hate someone why would you be with them. From this I believe that you should feel the emotions you had them, both the good and the bad then use this as a drive to push you further in life.
This will allow things to improve and at the same time if the people close to you would see your situation they would be proud of your achievements and would be happy by the fact that you used them as a basis for your achievements.” Ulam explained calmly with a smile.
“Use my feelings as a drive? *sniffle*” Kato says in a nasally manner.
“Yes I believe this is the best way to improve your current situation, what has happened, has happened the possibility of changing it is near zero. Therefore, don’t give up accept and move on.”
“*Sniffle* How will I improve myself”
“That is for you to find out, I can give you advice but ultimately it is for you to decide.”
Kato wiped his eyes, seeing this Ulam pulled a piece of yellow cloth from his trouser pocket and wiped Kato’s face and nose, whilst wiping his nose he gave it a little shake and made Kato giggle a little.
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“What should I do then?” Kato says in a relatively calm manner.
“As I said it’s for you to decide, if I was you however I would spend my time learning and go from there.” Ulam replies in a happy manner.
Kato thought for a few seconds and then looked at Ulam nervously “Master Ulam … can you teach me please.”
Ulam looked at his big watery green eyes and replied with a laugh “hahaha of course I intended to teach you an anyway if you liked it or not.”
Kato’s lips formed a smile and he looked at Ulam in a happy manner before saying “can we start again now?”
Ulam looked at Kato and replied “Not today, it would be too much work for you, go to sleep and we will do it after you wake up.”
“Okay.” Kato said unhappily and then dropped to sleep.
This boy Ulam thought with a smile pulled the blanket over Kato and went to sleep himself.
………………………………
A strange smell drifts into Kato’s nose as he wakes up.
He opens his eyes and is able to sit up with ease now, he looks over towards the smell and sees Ulam over the fire cooking something.
Ulam noticing Kato is now awake looks at him and smiles “Good morning”
“Morning, Master Ulam” Kato replies with a yawn.
“You don’t have to keep calling me ‘Master’ now just Ulam will be fine”
Kato nods in acknowledgement. Ulam scoops up the strange smelling food into a bowl and gives it to Kato, “what is this? Why does it look like sick?”
Ulam laughs and says “This little Kato is called ‘Porridge’ it is a very tasty meal for the mornings, I added some Yukka juice, which is thick and sweet tasting to improve its flavour. It smells strange but tastes heavenly.”
Kato takes a small spoon of porridge into his mouth and begins to savour the taste, the porridge as a whole is mushy and moves easily in his mouth, as he chews the juices inside the clump of porridge spill onto his tongue, it tastes incredibly good with just the right amount of sweetness. It is indeed as Ulam said ‘Heavenly’ Kato thought.
Kato quickly devours the porridge and gives the bowl to Ulam who washes it and gives Kato a cup of water.
“Today I shall be teaching you some more Jiaquon to expand on what you know and then some go over some druidic totems to give you e brief view of druid magic.” States Ulam in a happy manner
Kato nods and looks at Ulam who pours water on the black stone to clean the writing from yesterday, Kato was able to learn it pretty fast considering it was simple letters and principles of the Jiaquon language.
Ulam spend about an hour teaching Kato some more advanced language skills before wiping the stone clean and drawing a simple tree with his pencil.
“Now then, magic is the power to use energy from the surroundings to influence the world around us. There are many types of magic and many ways in which to draw energy from the surroundings. This tree on the stone is one of those ways.
It is known as a druidic totem. A druid is the name for the people in the druidic alliance in the north, I am a master in the druidic alliance and I have some degree of influence in what goes on over there. A totem is the way people draw energy from the surroundings.
This totem is used for apprentice druids; it doesn’t draw much energy because it would be too harmful for their body. When someone puts a totem on them it is like a tattoo, they use paint that is mixed in with various things which can include beast blood, human blood, crushed up plants, anything as long as it corresponds with the energy being drawn in.”
“Is the tree on you neck a totem as well Ulam?” Kato asks.
“Yes it is. In the druid alliance I am master over the ‘Grove of Herlighed’, in the centre of the grove is the tree of ‘Liv’, it gives life to all the living things in the Grove of Herlighed and is something of great power. This totem is the depiction of this tree, the paint is made from sap and crushed up bark of the tree of Liv and means that I am able to harness a large amount of energy and convert it into the same power that the tree of Liv uses.” Ulam answers his question slowly.
“Can I have a totem?” Kato asks another question.
“Hmmm, I can indeed imprint a simple totem on you but you will have to wait first until your body becomes stronger maybe in about 4 or 5 days?” Ulam responds.
“Okay.” Says Kato in an excited manner.
“heheh, alright then let’s take a little food and drink brake before we carry on.” Ulam goes to cook some more food and pulls out some more Khasa meat from his duffle bag.
He cooks it in the same was he did yesterday but this time there is a side of rice as well.
Kato knows what rice is because his family was poor and the most common food he had was rice.
Ulam scoops the rice and meat on to 2 plates, he cuts up the meat on one of them places a knife and fork on it and then on the other. He grabs two wooden cups fills them with water, he gives the plate with cut up chunks and a cup to Kato and then gets the other plate and cup and eats himself.
Like this the two ate together happily with a warm atmosphere.