Summer Solstice

Sparring and Surprises

I sat at the edge of the clearing, trying unsuccessfully to forget about how embarrassed I was. After the laughter had died down, Konai had released me and asked if the boys had behaved themselves. I'd glanced around at the then nervous guardians, but had quickly reassured him that they had been more than kind. Then he'd asked, hesitantly, if it was okay to stay a bit longer, and I'd agreed. I knew Teddy's birthday ceremony was tonight, and he couldn't go, and wanted to spend as much time with him beforehand as possible.

Of course the other boys hadn't been too keen on the idea, but already knew I'd watched them practice before. After a few more minutes of hesitating, Konai had shoved two of them into the center of the group to start. Now the rest of us were watching Joe and Nalu spar.

Konai had instructed me to sit on a fallen log, the rest of the guardians standing in a semi circle starting a few feet away on either side of me. Although somehow Miki had lucked out, and was sitting next to me while he scribbled and flipped through his book. Konai stood across from me on the other side of the circle, observing every move the two boys made, and occasionally glancing in my direction.

Pushing my embarrassment aside, I turned towards Miki. "You must know every move they make."

"Why would you say that?" He answered, never looking up from his book.

"You write down everything they do. I'm sure you have everything down in there," I tapped the edge of the cover, "The mistakes, the good moves, even moves the boys have that are personally their own."

He seemed to blush, "Well yes, I do record all that. And seeing them practice twice a day, everyday for almost two years, I suppose I should know."

Why the hesitation? "Isn't that a playbook of some sort?" I asked.

"Well it is.... uh, sort of. Yes." He fidgeted with one tattered leather corner.

He scooted farther away, tilting the cover away from me.

I smiled and lowered my voice, "Miki, what are you writing in the book?"

He sighed and closed the book. "Can you keep a secret?" And his eyes told me that I had better not repeat anything that he was about to tell me.

I leaned closer, "Yes, of course."

He opened the book slowly, and I saw that there was a smaller book tucked inside. He pulled the smaller book out and showed it to me. "This is the playbook, what I record of the other guardians when they practice. The rest of this book is mine." He opened the larger book once more and ran his hand down the page.

I took the smaller one from him and flipped through it. There were simple drawings of the boys moves, and the strengths and weaknesses of each guardian. But then he pivoted the bigger book towards me, the page lying open, and I saw that there were only words. I leaned forward and read through a few lines.

I smiled. "Poetry?"

Without thinking, I reached and pulled the larger book into my lap and started reading more. Beautiful words and lovely sentiments ran down the page. After a moment I looked up at him, though he wasn't looking at me. He was too busy staring at his hands, twisting his fingers nervously. "Miki this is wonderful, you wrote this? All of this?"

He nodded his head slowly, "Please don't tell the guys. It's bad enough being the smallest guy in the group, if they knew I liked to write this stuff, they'd probably never let me live it down. I just use this as an escape to get past my frustrations, because of all the limitations I have." He frowned and looked down.

Weren't all guardians the same? "I don't think you have any limitations."

"Well you haven't seen me spar yet." He whispered.