Expanded Horizons: Beyond the Blue

Cast Away: Chapter Two

"You must move faster on your feet if you wish to improve."

Colm wiped the debris off of his face as he stood back up from being slapped across the face by a shinai. The wooden training sword had a great deal of flexibility, sure, but it certainly left marks when it struck, and sometimes it left splinters behind, too. Colm found a little bit of blood on his hand and fought off his urge to cry, deciding it would be in his best interest to simply stand up.

Most kids didn't get into the empty hand combat, instead simply learning the basics as they progressed through their other studies and doing regular exercise for health, but Colm was oddly attracted to the combat fitness. Everyone started it at age five, or when they arrived if they were slightly older, so Colm already had two years of intensive studying under his belt. He could go toe to toe with some of the older kids already, even if they were bigger.

"Yes, teacher," Colm said under his breath.

"You're one of the only children who has ever chosen this over regular exercise," his teacher said. "I'd certainly say you seem to be made of tougher stuff. And remember, I'm not 'teacher', I'm Master Abdo."

"Yes, Master Abdo."

"You've learned quickly, but there is still much to learn. I do look forward to teaching you more."

Colm's eyes lit up and he practically started bouncing in his spot. He always liked Master Abdo better than the other teachers. He would actually try to teach him, explaining concepts and demonstrating for him what to do. Master Abdo actually cared about Colm doing it right, as opposed to trying to get one of many students to do it right.

"Master Abdo, how do I get faster on my feet?" Colm asked, prolonging the end of the lesson.

"In battle, being fast on your feet is more than just physical speed," Master Abdo began. "You need to be agile, practically floating, always ready to move. But you must also be quick-thinking, have your next five or ten steps planned and have five backup steps for each of those steps."

"What?" Colm replied. "That sounds crazy."

"None of this is conscious," Master Abdo continued. "We call it mushin, our evolved term. The warrior mindset of no mind, where your body acts and responds without active thought. When you eliminate conscious thought from action, when your brain processes everything seamlessly, speed and strength are maximized. Think of muscle-memory."

"Ooooooohhhh," Colm replied. He still didn't understand, but it sounded important.

"You will come to understand as you grow," Master Abdo said. "But for now, you have other studies."

"But Master-"

"Go on, get!"

Master Abdo whipped the tip of the shinai into the ground, prompting Colm to flee and go to his next lesson. He went because he knew he would be punished if he didn't go, but he hated botany and plants. When he arrived, small bruises and scrapes on his face, the master simply ushered him to take his seat in the back and wait for the remaining students to arrive.

The lecture went slowly and agonizingly. Colm could barely keep himself awake throughout, head bobbing sideways as the master prattled on. The other kids next to him took good notes, and he often used those to study for their examinations and hands-on assessments, as he was able to learn pretty quickly. He never retained the information long, but he would do well enough to not have to do a lesson ever again.

When they finished and went into break time, the students dispersed for different corners of the monastery where they relaxed. Some went to the gardens to hang out, others went to study for other lectures they were a part of. Colm liked the observatory.

He couldn't see the stars during the day, but no one else came up here, so he liked it. The other students were all weird. Most of them didn't come here as babies like Colm did; the kids around his age were mostly recent arrivals. They would always ask him about his parents before he came here and he never had an answer. One asked about a caretaker, but Colm didn't understand that either.

They avoided him after finding out he had no idea what they were talking about, preferring to be with kids who actually had stories of life before. Colm sort of understood; he wished he had someone else like him he could be around. But there was no one. He was all alone up here, high in the mountains with just his masters to watch over him.

"Someday, I wanna find you," Colm said to himself. "I wanna find you, dad. I wanna know you, like the other kids do, even if you're not really around any more."

Colm sat outside the observatory, imagining what his dad must have been like. The other kids all said they barely knew their parents, but they remembered loving when mom and dad came home, being hugged close and getting hot meals and being tucked in. The whole idea was so alien to Colm, that someone else would do all these things for him, rather than teach him to do it himself.

"I'm probably here because you saved me or something," Colm said to himself, looking up at the sky. "I'm glad you cared about me, dad."

Colm stayed there until his next lecture, a night class at the observatory he loved where he learned about the stars and the cosmos. He couldn't explain it, but somethign about the night sky drew him in. The stars, the colors, the moon, there was a strange attraction he couldn't resist.

That lecture was dominated by older kids, the ones in their teens getting ready to pick a field of study or leave, so he was really the odd boy out here. The weird part was how nice they all were to him, compared to his near-age peers. They would try to help him understand, make sure he had the notes, ask about his day and his bruises. Sometimes they even gave him snacks.

But every time he talked to them, he always saw how sad they were when they looked at him. He still didn't understand. He was just glad someone besides Master Abdo would talk to him at some point each week, even if they didn't wanna talk to him after the lecture was over. He was tired late at night, too, after all.

When the lecture ended, Colm was tired, but managed to trudge his way back to his little room, hopped onto his hay bed and feather pillow, and knocked right out for the night, preparing for another long day tomorrow and every day after that.