“Now what have you learned so far?”
“That water is the symbol of new life and also tranquility. For one to control it they must be calm, their breathing reflects that. You must also be able to visualize it happening. Their stance during the movements must be fluid like the water their trying to control. “
“Correct, now that you know that, let’s see how you do.”
As I started to focus on the fast water in front of me and started to lose myself in focus moving through the various steps that I have learned. I started to visualize the water rising from the lake. I opened my eyes a few seconds later to see, that the water hadn’t even rippled.
“What in the name of Gaia, how could the stupid water not even begin to ripple?”
“Well you had the steps down, but you’re still breathing far too hard. With that kind of breathing you’ll get light headed before you can even cause the water to ripple.”
“But I, I. How can everyhorse else do this, but I can’t? Heck even little foals can do it.” I asked looking upward in the direction of my brother’s eyes.
“Like I said, everything was right, but you’ll get it eventually. All it takes is-“
“Practice, practice, practice, yeah I get it. I can’t believe that I can’t do something like this yet.”
“Easy, you need to chill. It’s because of reasons like the one that you’ve just showed that’s slowing you down. “
“Calm down, calm down, how am I supposed to calm down, I just failed something that foals can do. I’m 9 cycles old and I can’t even bend the water to my will. Maybe I--“ I was silenced by my brother’s giant hoof over my mouth.
“Shh, remember the breathing exercises. Do them with me. In, and out, in, and out.”
As we went through the exercises my anger died.
“Now, that you’re calm, I think that I should tell you that 9 cycles ago, I had the same problem as you.”
“Really?”
“Yes, that was before I learned a secret that helped me.”
“What is it?” I leaned in
“All you have to do is think of a happy thought.”
“Like that will ever work.” I replied curtly.
“It does work; I still do it anytime I have to do this.” He said as he closed his eyes and caused the water to jump and hit me in the face.
“Hey you did that on purpose.”
“Yeah so?” he said opening his eyes again. “See like I said, just think of a happy thought.”
“What do you think about when you do it?”
“I usually only focus on the first time I saw you. You were so small and helpless. I still remember holding you in my hooves. You were no bigger than a water rock, and as annoying as a ground prickly. ”
I thought he was going soft for a moment, before he grabbed me and put me in a headlock and gave me a hooved my dirty mane. I tried to fight back by hitting his sides and pushing away from it.
“It seems that Gaia, Cronus, and Selene, are on my side. You’ve got to try harder than that if you want to escape shrimp.” He goaded me as he continued his assault.
I finally broke away with a hoof to his side. I quickly rebalanced from the fall to the ground and tried to tackle him. Of course with him being much bigger than me, it looked more like a Ground Crawler trying to tackle a Sharptooth.
As I collided with him, we both fell to the ground. All hail the Mighty Ground Crawlers. We rolled around trying to prove who’s stronger by pinning the other. He finally had me pinned under his massive hoof.
“Ha, I win. Now say it.” He demanded
“No.”
He began to apply more pressure to my tummy. “Say it.”
“No.”
The pressure started to become too much and started to hurt. “Ahh, alright. You’re better than me in every way under the great circle in the sky. You’ll always be better than me. Now let me up please. It’s starting to hurt”
And like that he moved his big hoof off of me. “Heh, sorry, forgot that you have a bad back.”
“So are you ready to do the test again, or do you want to help me gather the swimmers for the rest of the tribe?”
“Hey, isn’t that you’re task?”
“Do you want to go another round with me?”
“Yeah, but how I make you a deal? You help me now, and I’ll help you when the Great Circle rises. Sound fair?”
“Yeah, I could definitely use some help, especially since I can’t bend the water yet.”
As we started to ready the baskets that were placed near the trees, a strong wind rushed by. It felt amazing, the wind blowing through my mane, it hitting my face. I just had to close my eyes and let it blow. When I opened my eyes once more I saw my brother looking at me with a very confused expression.
“What?”
“Why do you always do that whenever wind passes?”
“I don’t know it just feels right. Like it’s what I’m supposed to do.”
“Rrrrright, well the baskets are ready. Ready to learn how to catch swimmers like a stallion or are you going to get them like a filly?”
“Shut up, I know how to catch swimmers. “
“Like a filly.”
“Oh yeah.”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll show you, I’ll catch way more than you.”
“Oh, you think you can catch way more, wanna bet on it?”
“Yeah.”
“What are the stakes?”
“How about you catch more swimmers than me, I’ll take the night watch. If I catch more than you take watch with the others. To make it fair, how about I don’t use the water, deal?” He said extending a hoof.
A chance to prove myself better than a foal, *and** get out of watch duty. How could I say no?*]
“Deal.”
The journey to the big water was short as we approached the forest edge, I could see the big water and the parries around them. The Puffies above the covering of the treetops could be seen. I was about to walk out before I was stopped by a hoof.
“Shh, I hear something,” He whispered.
I swiveled my ears and picked up on the same noise. I heard voices speaking in a tongue I knew not.
“We need to leave,” He whispered urgently, as he started to back away.
“Why, what is it?”
“Outsiders.”
“What are outsiders?”
“They are others that live outside the forest.”
“How is that bad? Who knows they might turn out to be nice?”
“It isn’t that they’re living outside, it’s that they’re crazy. They’ll kill you or lock you away before you can even say hello. We also have very bad past with them.”
“How bad could our past be? To me it sounds like you’re just a scaredy hoof.”
“You don’t listen to the elder one do you?”
“Umm”
“Well if you did listen you would know that we were made to flee our land and forced into seclusion by the outsiders. There was a time when we could trust them, but that was before the great divide and the trail of broken hooves. Do you at least know what the trail of broken hooves is?”
“Isn’t that when many had to from threat of death, and walked so far that many had broken their hooves on the way there? Many died due to tired. A thought dawned on me. What if they find us? What will happen?” I said starting to get scared myself.
“Yeah that’s why we need to run and get away from here. Those things are crazy.”
“But, what about the swimmers?”
“Forget about them we’ll find Tree Sweets on the way back.”
Taking a final glance, I could barely make out an outsider in the air. The Buck?
