Master and Teacher

Having lived almost a year on land was grueling yet so much fun! Every day, it felt like I was finding something new. There were times where I lived in the forests and discovered pretty flowers and animals I've never seen before. Other times, I end up in a community where people lived. So many houses, stores, and most importantly, people! Living in the water, the most people who were around were like 20 or 30. Since everyone in the ocean always moved around, it was hard to gather a bunch of them in one spot to celebrate something or just hang out. Here though, there were like hundreds! I met so many nice people! Part of me felt bad though because some of them were showing me pity. It was because I was a homeless little kid in their eyes. I didn't need their hospitality but they insisted. It was also impossible for me to even have a home in these communities. Apparently, land dwellers have an economy. Most of their livelihood revolves around money which I had none of. And I wasn't able to work because no one would let me since I was just a kid! It was fine though. I didn't want to stay in one place for too long. I love exploring this land that is brand new to me. But, you know, I wouldn't mind living in one place for a while.

Speaking of the people I met, there was this one man I met who was really weird yet was also interesting. And this was the man that I would describe as a sort of second father to me. See, there was this town called Anje that I had just arrived at. While exploring, I ran into an old man named Rowan. I didn't mean to run into him but apparently he took interest in me. He invited me to his home which was isolated in the middle of the forest near Anje. Normally, I would've refused because I was told not to listen to strangers who were old men, but Rowan knew a lot of people in this town. And these people confirmed him being a very trustworthy fellow. So I took up his offer. He had a nice, simple yet big home. I was surprised he was the only one living there. We had a nice chat too. He told me stuff about himself, and I told him about me. He didn't just tell me about himself either, he told me all sorts of things! Stuff like how humans live their life on land and stories that seemed so interesting to me. Before I knew it, he suddenly asked me if I wanted to live with him. I didn't have money though to pay him so I refused. I didn't want to burden him. But he said I didn't need to pay him anything. He wouldn't mind me living with him. And apparently he wanted company. Even though he kindly offered, I was still hesitant. I wasn't sure if I wanted a home right now. I thought he would understand my feelings on the matter but... He totally manipulated me into staying! When I said that, he was giving me such a totally sad fake look and listing off a bunch of sad things to coax me into staying! Jeez, why even act all kind about it if he was going to beg anyway? Either way, I ended up agreeing and he did a whole 180 and became overjoyed by the idea. Like I said earlier, he was really weird.

Ever since I started living with him, I also started working too. Rowan managed to help me find part time jobs in Anje to help me adjust in a community like this. He also taught me a lot of life lessons. Both good and bad. He may look like a kind old man but he actually hits you with a hard hammer of reality. Though many of the people of Anje look at him like a good person, he doesn't seem to think so. He said something like "Even the greatest of people have their sins and I am no exception." Back then, I wasn't sure what sins he committed but now that I'm older, I think I understand. I never realized how much of a pervert he was.

There was a place that Rowan had taken me to on occasions. It was in another town and the place he took me to was what they called a theatre. This specific theatre had performances done by these pretty girls in kimonos. They danced with such elegance, it was so mesmerizing. Now I know why he went there a lot. He just wanted to look at the pretty girls. But I never noticed. No, I was too captivated by the dancing. Rowan teased me a lot about how pretty I was and how he thinks I should be a dancer like them. But... I'm a man. Dancing is for women. As fun as it looks, it just didn't feel right for me to do something like that... When I told Rowan this, he tried doing his whole manipulation tricks on me to get me to try it. But I'm not falling for that again! So, instead, he gave me an interesting offer. He told me that I could learn to become a samurai. He knew so much about swordplay and combat, he thought I would be interested in it. It seemed interesting and it would be nice for me to learn as a way to survive so I accepted the offer.

I was struggling at first. I could barely hold a katana straight. It felt so heavy to me despite how thin it looked. Rowan told me I needed to work out and build muscle to be able to hold it properly. Even when I was able to finally hold it, I was using the blade so sloppily. I relied on strength and brute force, Rowan was kicking me down all the time. After what seemed like months of training, I just wanted to give up. It felt like I wasn't making any progress. That I wasn't capable of becoming a proper samurai. When I told Rowan I wanted to quit, he did more of his stupid manipulation tactics. He was telling me how good I was and I was definitely making progress but I knew that wasn't true at all. I wasn't going to let him change my mind about quitting. Once he realized I wasn't going to change my mind, he gave up trying to convince me. He wouldn't force me to learn unless I wanted to. But then he said something interesting to me. "It's never enough for a teacher to teach his students. Sometimes, students find their own way to learn. To become their own teacher." As a way to make me feel better, he took me to the theatre to watch the kimono girls perform.

When he took me to the theatre, there was a special long performance the kimono girls were doing. The performance actually had a man guest appearing in it. He wasn't dancing though. He was acting as a warrior to better show the tale they were performing. Even though he wasn't dancing, his movements were so smooth and elegant like he actually was. It was probably the prettiest performance I ever saw. After me and Rowan went home, the performance was all I could think about. The way that man moved, could I do something like that? Once night fell and Rowan went to bed, I stood up that night with my katana in my hand to try and mimic that man's performance. It was harder than I thought but after days of practicing, I felt like I had almost mastered it! Then one day suddenly, while I was practicing, Rowan attacked me!

I had no time to think, he came at me so suddenly! But I managed to defend myself. I tried to ask him what he was doing but he wasn't answering me. He just kept silent the entire time. He was so offensive, there was no way I could counter. All I did was defend and dodge. He was attacking me for so long that I eventually got tired and fell due to exhaustion. With his blade pointed at me, I thought Rowan was actually going to kill me. But no, that wasn't the case. He looked at me, smiled, and said "See? I told you. You have made such great progress." I should've known better that it was a test. I was too caught in the moment to realize. After he said that, I looked back on the memory of the fight and realized how well my reflexes kicked in. Was it because I was practicing that performance? Was I accidentally training? Either way, it felt... so good! Suddenly, I had the motivation to start training with Rowan again! As weird as he was, he truly was a wise old man. I'm really happy that I met him! I just wish... we had more time to spend together.