For the next few weeks almost all I did was to train with mother and of course the mandatory training with Erwin and the rest. It was mostly running and building muscle. Which the later part was practically wasted on me. I did gain some muscle, but not enough to compete with the other kids. This kind of training would have been better suited to my old body type, but right now I should focus on other things: speed and body tension. You know the kind of muscle that doesn´t look like much but is needed for things like climbing or gymnastics. Muscles that are build for endurance instead of power. For example: My mother - other world - once told me and my brothers to hold two waterbottles with outstretched arms at shoulder height for only one minute and we would get some ice cream as reward. We were well build with quite some muscles or so we thought. It was far more difficult than imagined, while our mother hold them with no problems for about five minutes! Thats right! My mother was a Beast! It was an eye opener and this exercise became one of my favourites.
Basically what I wanted to say was, that my training right now is wrong for me. But... how do I tell mother about this and how do I explain my spontaneous insight?
...so I did say nothing and trained hard like my mother was teaching me. And before you ask: No I did not have time for individual training! It was hard enough to follow mothers training program!
When we did not train we went into the forest and she thaught me about eatable plants and how to charge at deers, boars and bears.
It seems like traps are also not invented yet? Why can they build houses, but can not build traps? I know it looks easier than done, but... come on! They live on the egde of a large forest, that spans for god knows how long! And all they do for hunting is following a trail, hoping to find some animal, rush it and kill it no matter what. I can´t do that! I really can´t! Should I try and build myself a bow? I did watch a few tutorials on the Internet how to do that. One of them was about the oldest historical bow found in the alps. Was it made from a pine tree? The wood had two different colorations and the softer side was inside... right? Nothing a bit of experimenting wouldn´t find out, since I clearly lack the mental capacity to think this through. Same problem though... how do I explain that?
And so the few weeks I had until the tournament went by and I started to hope, that rain would make the tournament impossible. When I told mother about that in a weak hour of mine she only looked at me puzzled.
"Why would the tournament not be held in rain?"
"Touche..."
"What?"
"Nothing!"
Instead I hoped for a fire to break out... Nevermind I guess... has been a long time since I had such thoughts of hoping for bad luck just because of a test... It never works out. Never.
The day of my doom arrived and of course the sun was high up without a cloud in sight. Neither did the apocalypse start nor did a meteor fall from the sky... I did not even catch a cold... wouldn´t have worked either, I think.
Everybody was in high spirits - except me - and the drums were merciless beaten, meat was grilled, songs were sung and I could watch some of the adults sparring, too. In the middle of the elders house - the one with the water blessing, what was his name, again? - was the sparring circle. Some of the children stood already around and were eyeing the others seemingly gauging their strenght. I of course knew who was stronger then me and which one I should not challenge. Do not look down on me I am smarter than them at least and don´t need some last minute preparations! Because... no matter who I challenge the result is the same.
When I enter the circle I could see their disdain for me in the eyes of many of the adults and - as expected - kids mimick their parents. But what I also could see was when they looked at me their eyes would look at mother behind me. I could not see a single person who did not show fear for mother. I really wanted to look at her face right now! I had a thing for strong and scary women in my former life... I surely would have marveld at her sight, but... Do you know the story of Orpheus and his lover? or was it his wife? Argh! Do you know the story of Sodom and Gomorra? Some things are better left unseen. Especially if you want to live with that person for a long period of time... or was it the other way around? I can only say it was a good feeling, a very good comforting feeling. I also saw the bear around. He was one of them who could look mother in the eye, but he did not say a word and did not come close to us. He is my dad, right? Somehow I suddendly do have some doubt about that.
After all children arrived some old guy entered the circle. Even though he was clearly old he showed some respectable muscle. And I had to agree with Nanao abrigded version: So old! Yet so ripped! My mind can´t handle this! But where she fell I stood firm! He held a staff in his right hand and wore some more clothing than the rest, but his upper body was bare like most men did. His ripped and scarred body told stories of how he lived his life, but that really didn´t come as a suprise anymore. What did surprise me though was, that his long roar seeminlgly shook the earth and overpowered even the drums and the singers.