Chương 40: Family

Blick had found something familiar. After what seemed like months of searching and maybe a year or two since he had left his home hole, he was returning. The realization caused him to freeze at the sight of the damaged tree in front of him.

"PAP PAP" he said low and slowly. Mimicking the noise this tree had made when he smacked it with his father's big stick. The damage was about at the level his stomach currently stood. He had grown. Looking further into the wood he found the familiar clearing with a small stump near the edge. On top of the stump was a small member of his species. It was facing away from him and fiddling with something. Before he came too close the young one spun fast to face whatever was approaching it.

When it saw Blick walking into the clearing it relaxed and hoped off the log and went into the burrow nearby. Almost as soon as it disappeared a larger member of the species exited the hole and approached Blick, who stood stock still and stared. The person before him was almost a head taller than he was. With a staff at his side that held a knot near the top the size of his fist. Blick was staring up into his confused father's eyes.

The questioning grunt coming from the taller person startled Blick out of his moment of stunned silence. Blicks eyes widened when he realized this person did not recognize him. That hurt somehow, even if he knew he wouldn't look anything like the child that disappeared. Reaching into the pouch at his thigh he removed his book. This was his story. His father would recognize it was him.

With a confidence grown from surviving alone he handed the book out to his father, who understood the idea of sharing painting slips. The taller male looked at the threaded slips with a curious smile and realizing the genius he nodded at Blick with approval. Then he opened the first slip and his eyes snapped wide open. He looked up at Blick who was now smiling wide, then back down at the book. Then he began to laugh. A deep grunty chuckle proceeded the large palm aggressively rubbing the top of Blicks head.

With a smile on his face he turned and waved blick to enter the burrow that once was his home. Inside the burrow he found his mother playing with 3 other young ones. She acknowledged him and his father with a a curious tilt to her head. Then his father walked over and sat beside her on the floor and with a long bit of eye contact he showed her the first slip in the book. Blick couldn't help but smile at her reaction as she nearly threw his younger sibling off her lap and dashed over to him.

With a frenzy of motion she checked him over from head to toe while crying. Then she picked him up in a full hug. He was even surprised when she lifted him off the ground entirely and he flailed awkwardly trying not to fall over with the unexpected lift. His father pulled her away with his rough chuckle and patted him on the head again. Blick pointed at the book they had left behind and they nodded and sat down with him to see his story.

The reactions were strong with surprise, heavy with concern, and also prideful somehow. For a culture with no words, body language was overly expressive to display emotions. Growing up with the humans using words and hiding their true feelings behind politeness had not prepared Blick for the wide range of emotions so easily displayed. When they finished his father went outside to prepare food and his mother began her own work in their slips. She fumbled with shaky claws for a specific slip.

It was a diction of three of the knee high predators clearly dead and the mother father and three small pups clearly morning a loss standing around them. He could see the intent. They had found the pack and killed them assuming the pack had caught and killed him. His family had assumed him dead all this time. Just the idea of it made Blicks eyes begin to water. They had hurt because of the loss. They had lost him and had to move on with their lives without a way let him know they felt.

He leaned over and hugged his mother once again. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work! Flipping through some slips he learned that his three siblings from his litter had grown up and made their own home holes in other places. Spreading out as their people do. One left with a mate while the other two left alone to find their way. From his understanding humans kept their young around for several years well into adulthood.

His kin left the home when they reached near full grown. They would be taught how to survive and care for themselves and then they would leave making room for any future litters. While they were finishing the small meal of meat and what seemed like a mushroom cap each, Blick had an uneasy feeling like something was missing. Like a broken routine was poking at the back of his mind. He realized that for the last nearly year he had sat down after each dinner and practiced his circulation technique.

He hadn't done it in a while because he had pushed his meridians as far as he could and didn't know what was next. But now he felt the need to teach his family what he knew. Without words to share concepts and meaning it became a challenge. They could see in his face the serious concentration, so they just waited as he sorted his thoughts. With a nod he pulled out a new slip and motioned for some paints. He created an outline of a person, then added four small circles on the wrists and ankles.

He drew an empty circle near the chest of the silhouette to represent the core. It took him well into the night to finish his drawing. Then he took time to positioning the two new students into the optimal position for his circulation technique. When they were ready he reached out to hold his mothers hand with one of his, and then his fathers hand with the other. He pulled from one and pushed to the other very slowly and deliberately so they could feel what was happening.

He pointed from his mother's arm to his then his father's then followed the circle around the three to express the pattern should continue. It didn't take very long. He could see the pain on their expressions as they began circulating mana through their meridians for the first time in their lives. After an hour of that practice he showed them to connect their feet and hands in a circle as individuals to practice alone, then he walked them through compressing the core.

They both clearly held mist as they could reinforce themselves somewhat. But Blick had figured out pretty fast that him having two drops already made him much stronger than both. What his race had been doing by instinct was being perfected and compounded upon. Blick had no way to realize the significance of this breakthrough for their people. A race driving into hiding because they didn't develop as fast as the local wildlife.

A race living in isolation that kept them safe but kept information slow and invasion stagnant. Blick would not realize what he had just given his people. This information in a more flawed form had allowed the humans on another planet to conquer the wilderness and build cities. This isolated hidden tribe would become the foundation of a new kingdom someday. And it all began with a child running for his life.