Memories and meditations

I.

The students watched in respectful silence as the master walked through the gates. The youngest looked startled and worried, the master never left the school, never. When the gates shut behind their teacher, the older students began to gather in small groups, to whisper and wonder.

A very timid five year old gathered her courage and approached the group of teachers that stood to one side. "Please..." she began hesitantly.

"Yes, child?" the senior instructor asked with a smile.

The little girl fidgeted nervously, twisting her body side to side. "The Sensei...is he coming back?"

The teacher dropped to one knee to look into the small one's worried eyes. "Why are you worried, child, would you miss him?"

Tears appeared in the emerald eyes, "Yes, ma'am, I love him."

"So do we all, child, so do we all."

The little girl gulped, then blurted, "He held me."

The teacher placed her hand on the girl's shoulder in comfort and reassurance, "When?"

"The...the first few nights I was here. I was homesick...and...and ...scared, and crying. He came into the room and carried me into the garden and held me."

"Do you remember what he said?"

"Nothing, he just held me until I went to sleep. When I woke up I thought I'd had a dream, but it happened every time I cried at night."

"When did he stop?"

"I got comfortable, and made some friends, and didn't cry anymore."

The teacher hugged the child tightly, then released her and stood. "He loves you, girl. He loves all his students."

As the instructor turned back to her conversation, a small hand tugged on her gi. "He is coming back?"

The teacher turned back, "Tonight child, he will return tonight."

"Where does he go?" The little girl's curiosity demanded.

"No one knows. Now go to your class, child, you have important things to learn." The instructor turned away in dismissal.

II.

To the child huffing along the mountain path, nothing was more important to learn than that her beloved master was safe. He was an old man, why he must be at least forty. He needed someone to protect him, to watch his back. To keep the mountain monsters at bay. And wasn't she the top of her class?

Panting around a bend in the trail the girl came to an abrupt halt. There, leaning against a boulder, was her master.

"Child, why do you follow me?" He demanded.

She took hope and courage that he didn't appear angry, just curious.

Trying to stop gasping, she managed, "To...'tect..."

His eyes gleamed with amusement. "I see, you want to. ah, 'have my back' as it were."

"Yes, sir."

He stood from the boulder, taking the three steps necessary to loom over her. "Do you think I cannot protect myself. Do you think your teacher is that much of a loser?"

She flinched, but looked up defiantly, "No, sensei, I was worried, the mountain monsters..."

His frown suddenly bloomed into a loving smile as he lifted her to sit astride his shoulders. "Then come, you can watch much better from up there."

The girl gasped a time or two in fright at the unaccustomed height, then looked around in enjoyment as he began to jog up the path.

III.

She sat up, knuckling her eyes, "Sensei?"

"Yes, child?"

"Where are we?"

"A favorite view of mine. You must promise not to come here until you are older."

"All right." She yawned, a safe promise, as she had no idea where they were, having fallen asleep some time back. She wandered over to stand beside her master's shoulder. "It's beautiful."

She looked from a peak onto valleys ridges, shaded by clouds and trees. No building was in sight, but she thought she could see some deer grazing in a valley below. "How did you find it?"

"Many years ago, I roamed these mountains for days, looking for peace or oblivion. Instead I found this." He pointed at a flower blooming on the ledge. "I think this is the only place in the world where they grow."

She looked closely and giggled, "It's the color of my hair!"

"Yes, the exact color of your hair, child, and of one other."

Her eyes widened, "My mother?"

He nodded solemnly.

"Do, do you know my mama?"

"Many years ago and far away."

She gazed at him in wonder, "How?"

His smile grew wider, "That is a story for another day. Would you like to hear a story of a hero who always lost?"

"All right." She crept closer, chuckling when her teacher snatched her into his lap. "But how could he be a hero if he always lost?"

"To be a hero does not mean that you win always, it means that you try, with all you have. Now shush, and I will tell you a story of a boy, long ago and far away."

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A/N This is an A/U I'm exploring. I had a wild thought, and decided to start typing and share it. Please let me know what you think. Thanks