Tales of the exiles

The Journey of Timu-iki

"You're studies are going very well my boy."

"Thank you abbot. I study, contemplate and meditate the way of the dancing waters daily."
"That is the very issue we have before us Timu. I feel as if your  contemplations are all for naught."
The boys heart sank with sadness. The Abbott sensed the boy's heartbreak instantly.
"Fear not my boy. The failing is upon the part of myself and the other brothers."
"Master, the brothers and you are the wisest men I've ever known."
"We are the only men you've ever known. Alas, we have nothing more we can teach you."

"I do not understand."

The abbot rose from his kneeling position on the woven grass mat. He stood a respectable five foot ten inches in height, but looked up at the blue skinned boy of 16 years almost a full foot taller than him.

"The brothers and I have honed our discipline for decades.  Some, will never reach the serenity of the dancing water no matter how hard they try. By no fault of your own my son you possess the power that negates the need for this order."

"I'm cast out because of my lineage? A father whom I've never known?" The boys skin grew dark blue. The color of the ocean before a storm.

"Here upon the ocean's shores behind the coral walls of the monastery you are, pardon the expression, in your element."

"Please abbot do not send me away."

"The choice is yours to make Timu-iki"

"The I choose to stay."

"Then you have learned nothing we have taught you, boy. Your inner waters will stagnate like a bog, instead of flowing freely into the greater oceans as they should."

"But to be away from the shores and the monastery I have called home since I was a child would be terrible."

"All waters leave their origin Timu-iki. Of all my students, you should understand best that the water inside you is closer and more powerful than you know."

"What must I do?"

"Go forth into the dry lands, boy.  Seek out our brother and sister orders. Learn the ways of fire, earth and wind. You are destined for great things, Timu. Yours will be the tide before the storm. A great torrent unleashed upon the evil of the world."

"Thank you abott."

"Take these with you my son.  They are of the fluid motion of the oceans. They flow with your movements.  They will defend you in your times of peril. But remember we fight to survive, not for sport and not for wanton killing.  We fight to defend. That is our way and the way of the dancing waters."

The abbot handed the blue skinned genasai a pair of clubs, connected in the middle by a length of chain. Timu was astonished at the gift.  They were made by hand and carved from the coral beds laying just of the coast. Only full brothers in the order carried them. it took years to master the art of wielding the nunchuku, Timu had seen the brothers training with them in the yard. it was a fluid fighting style that was gracefully deadly.

"Now go gather your things. you leave immediately. "

Besides the gift of the nunchaku, his bedroll and his bamboo flute were his only possessions.The gates opened for him as he strode across the sandy training yard. The senior brothers and the abbot were there to bid him farewell. The gates shut behind him. The place he had called home since he was an orphaned child and the only people he had known as family were being left behind him. Before him stood the world wide open and full of splendor, and he was alone in it for the first time in his life.