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 Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 6:34 pm
Aketuan had pulled away from his littermates yet again. Laughing to himself, he pranced off and just ran as fast as his little paws could carry him. Amongst the stripes in the pride, Ake knew he didn't stand out at all, so a cub running through the pride wouldn't draw a lot of attention, now would it? After all, he was a child and that's what children did. They ran, screamed, laughed and played. Just because he was sort of a serious cub didn't mean he didn't want to laugh and play. He just wanted to do that differently than the rest of his siblings.
Stopping just in front of the Mother Tree, his yellow eyes opened up in appreciation and a huge grin spread across his lips. It was the biggest tree there was and he knew it was important, but he didn't understand just how important. It was prayed too every day. They sang songs around it. Though, he didn't know all the words to the songs or prayers, but he tried! He was a diligent little cub that way.
Letting his tail flick this way and that, he looked around and moved closer. He wanted to feel the tree. What he really wanted was to put his paw on it and see if he could feel a heartbeat or it breathing. It was alive, right? All alive things had a heartbeat!
"I see you," Txur greeted the small, striped cub.
He recognized the boy as one of Clermelli'pie's offspring and remembered with a smile that he had been one of the lions who had found and welcomed Clerm when she first came to the pride. She had found love and comfort in the pride, and that pleased Txur. Seeing her cub was like seeing physical proof of the success of her life here.
"What brings you to the Mother Tree?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 6:59 pm
A small peep of surprise escaped the cub and he turned his head quickly to see the Priest. Oops. He laughed and then shrugged, turning around to face him and sighed. "I see you!" He greeted back, the grin spreading across his face again.
What brought him here? Well, that was an easy question! "I wanted to see if Mother Tree had breath.. a heartbeat. Everything does. I wanted to see if I could feel that." He was obliviou to a lot of the teachings because he was so young, but once he got an idea in his head he had to go through with it. "I remember momma once saying that everything that was alive had breath and a heartbeat. Is that true?" He moved closer to the adult, his eyes wide and curious. Perhaps, one day, Aketuan would be a Priest like Txur was. To teach cubs like himself. One day, but that was far into the future. He would settle on answers for now.
"Ah," Txur said. That made sense to him, and he found nothing wrong with the cub's curiosity. Some of the oldest priests and priestesses would probably disapprove of a callow youth laying paws on the tree just to satisfy his curiosity, but Txur had been one of the first cubs to be raised but not born in the pride and he understood.
"You and your mother are correct. The Mother Tree has a heartbeat, and you can feel it if you clear your mind and open your heart to it." Which Txur knew from experience was much easier said than done, but the Mother Tree did have a very strong heartbeat, so feeling it took less effort than it would with some other bit of flora or fauna in the jungle.
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Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 7:08 pm
"Well, how do I do that?" He asked, blinking. He was getting more questions than answeres, it seemed! He wasn't even sure if he liked that. Frowning deeply, the cub looked at his paws and then back up to the Priest. "My mind is open all the time! If it wasn't I wouldn't be alive, right? But how do you open your heart? Is it gross? It sounds like it'd be really gross..." He wrinkled his nose at that. It sounded really mess. Worse than actually playing in the mud. Ake wasn't sure if he wanted to do something so gross just to satisfy his curiosity.
"I don't have to cut myself open, do I? Like when we bite open dinner? 'cause that's really a bloody mess and it seems like it would hurt! I don't want my insides on the outside..."
"You'd be surprised how many people manage to live with closed minds," Txur muttered, but he grinned quickly. Just because he'd had a morning getting an earful from older pride members about being too upbeat while performing cermonies didn't mean he had to share his grouchiness with this cub.
"No. No bleeding required. It takes some practice. But with the Mother Tree you can actually fake it a little bit." He gestured for Ake to join him by the base of the tree, where the sprawling roots joined the trunk.
"Put your paw here and close your eyes. Try to breathe so that you take a breath over the course of four heartbeats. It's okay if you count in your head, but try not to think of anything else."
Crash course in meditation ahoy!
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Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 7:19 pm
The boy scooted closer to the tree and bit down on his lip. Touching the tree seemed like something very few got to do. Still, it was so he could figure things out for himself. He would have to learn this one day, so why not now?
His paw lifted and gingerly, he rested it against the tree trunk and sighed a little more, smiling a little more. It was oddly different than the rest of the trees he managed to touch. Clearing his throat, he closed his eyes and then listened to the rest of what the elder lion said. Sighing slowly, his tail thumped this way and that before trying to breath like he said.
He still didn't feel anything besides a gentle wind. Was that the breath of the Mother Tree? Flicking his tail this way and that again. "I don't.. feel anything," he murmured, frowning.
"I'm not surprised," Txur said. "And you mustn't be disappointed by that. It does take practice. For someone whose mind is as busy as I would imagine yours usually is, it will probably take more practice than normal. It's possible to turn into the Mother Tree's pulse and use it to help center and focus thoughts, but that, too, takes practice."
Txuratan wasn't really sure there was much he could do to make Ake feel something unless he was going to cheat and do something like thump the tree with a paw, which would produce a sensation, but not the right kind. That would only be something that would be felt through the paws, not with the heart.
"Your paw is really only there to help you make a connection. You won't feel anything through it, probably," he explained. "But trying to force it won't help either. You should relax."
There was one other thing he could do, but he'd rather Ake manage this without interference.
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Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 7:40 pm
Sighing at that, his brows knit and he did grow disappointed. Somehow he felt stupid for not picking it up. He felt really bad that he wasn't like the others in the pride who could feel it. Brows knitting tightly, he kept his eyes closed and kept trying his hardest to do this. He wanted to do this. He wanted to do this right now!
Impatience got the better of Ake and he just pulled away and slumped over, ears flattening back against his head. ".... I guess I'll just keep trying, but..." He shrugged, letting his words drift off with his good mood. He looked back up to the Mother Tree and just sighed. She would one day share her secrets with him. One day he would be worthy enough. He would work to that day the hardest he could! Even if he had to turn into one of those sour, bitter Priests that had no fun with their jobs.
Txur watched Ake becoming obviously frustrated and decided that maybe he ought to simply go with his second plan, which was still sort of cheating, but not in the same way thumping on the tree would have been.
"Don't tax yourself," Txur advised. "You'll get it sooner or later. Probably sooner if I don't miss my guess. Want to give it one last go for the day?"
This time Txur also tuned in to the Mother Tree's pulses. For him this was a matter as simple as breathing. He didn't need to close his eyes or do anything special. The connection was just there. He'd had a lot of time to practice though.
When Ake made his final attempt, Txur would "cheat" by sending a pulse through the mother tree to the cub. It would be something Ake could feel, though probably not with his paw. The degree to which he would feel it would be determined by how well he had managed to open himself to the tree, but he should be able to feel something, given how experienced Txur was with this sort of thing.
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Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 8:03 pm
When he finally felt a small pulse against the tree, he blinked a little more and then blinked. Oh wow! "I felt something! I felt something!" Ake laughed and put both of his paws on the tree before pushing off of it and grinning, starting to dance around. Oh how easily he got encouraged! Laughing to himself, he continued to dance around before looking back up at Txur, grinning widely, tail whipping wildly behind him.
"It was tiny, but I felt something!" The smile on his face couldn't have been any bigger. "What do I need to do to feel it more, just come back here and keep trying it?" He asked, looking towards the Mother Tree and then looked back at Txur.
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Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 2:28 pm
Txur grinned in irrepressible delight at the cub's excitement. There may have been some cheating on his part, but the cub had felt it when he did. There was undeniably hope, in thta case.
"Good!" he exclaimed. "And you're exactly right. Just keep practicing. After a while you'll be able to feel that sort of thing with trees and plants other than the Mother Tree."
"I'll be happy to help out any time you want to come back and practice. I'm here...most days." Except when he was home helping to take care of his cubs. Oh, he loved that time at home with his cubs and Petra.
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Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 2:33 pm
Laughing because he'd felt something and gotten something right, Ake was on cloud nine right now! Life couldn't get any better for the cub. He pranced around the other and then looked around, hoping he wasn't disturbing anyone else that might have been here. The grin, however, never faded from his mouth. "That's so cool. I'll definitely be back all the time! I want to learn how to feel it more! How to read the Mother Tree like I know some lions do!" His chest puffed proudly at that before sighing.
"I should.. probably be getting home soon. I suck away!" The grin turned sheepish once again before he headed back the way they'd come. "You'll be here tomorrow, right? 'cause I wanna do it again.."
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Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 5:34 pm
"All right. You'd best sneak back, then, before anyone becomes too concerned by your absence."
Txur wasn't about to take a cub to task for something like sneaking away. He'd done it often enough when he was young and no harm had ever come of it. Certainly there were dangers in the jungle that a cub had to be wary of, but the pride was no longer so small that a cub could really go anywhere in the pride lands without being observed now and again by someone.
"I'll be here tomorrow," he promised.
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 2:13 am
Another laugh bubbled up from the boy as he pranced a little more. This was going to be an exciting day! Heck, an exciting few weeks! He was going to come back until he could feel it strongly; like a second heart beat. He wanted to be connected like everyone else. This way, maybe he could be connected a little earlier. Not that it was important or anything, but it would be really awesome!
Without another word, Ake took off down the path back to his family den. There was a certain hop in his step as he raced through the trees, dodging roots or crawling over them.
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