Strong Swings and Soft Hands

The relentless sun hung high in the clear azure sky, casting an unrelenting heat upon the forest floor. Not a wisp of cloud dared to challenge its dominion, and the vibrant green canopy above offered only sparse shelter from the scorching rays. As the sunbeams filtered through the leaves, they created a mosaic of dappled light on the forest floor, illuminating patches of earth with an almost magical quality. The air was thick with the aroma of pine, earth, and the faint hint of wildflowers. Birds sang in the distance, their melodies carrying through the still, heavy air. In the heart of this sun-drenched wilderness, the forest seemed to hold its breath, caught in the throes of midday stillness. Only the sound of the wind reverbs itself through the empty. 

The silent sleep of the wooden giants are interrupted by a faint "ping" reverberating through the thick atmosphere, repeating over and over with the regularity of a clock.This sound is a mixture of a high-pitched metallic scrape and a lower, resonant wooden creak. Then, the sound stops like the forest is holding its breath in the waits of something happening and the tension is breached by a tree, falling within a scream-like creak. The climax of the sound is reached by the thunderous crash of the tree making contact with the ground. This is a deafening noise, accompanied by a deep, earthy thud and a shower of leaves, twigs, and debris being thrown into the air by either the fall of the tree or the power of the impact. 

As the silence slowly takes back its place, the lumberjack who cut the tree sits on his own light gray kimono laid on a stump. It is Master Yi, holding an iron axe in his hands. He inspects the sharpened tool for a moment then turns his gaze on Kazuki, deciding if he saw the movement enough times or if he should do one more tree himself. Finally, he throws the tool at the young boy's feet.

"Now that you saw the movement, it's your time to try".

The student tries to lift the heavy axe, not without a lot of difficulty. His stance is clumsy and unbalanced. His master watches the youngling struggling while he drinks water and gives him advice to be able to do it correctly.

"Widen the space between your feets. Root it into the ground like the tree in front of you. The most rooted will be the strongest."

Kazuki does as advised, taking a widened posture. He is able to lift the axe with less difficulty even though the tool remains heavy for his thin arms. Like the tree, he is rooted in the ground. He gets ready to swing the metal axe in the thick wood. In a first attempt, he launches his body first towards the tree, followed by the arm and the axe. They are carried away in the direction of the tree by his weight. The only thing he achieves is to scratch the surface of the trunk and lose the sharpened tool from his hands. 

The old man gets up to take up the axe from the ground. He positions himself, with a solid stance. As he takes position, his biceps are swelling in anticipation for the coming move. 

"Watch, my boy. I'll do the first hit and show you how it's done."

Kazuki looks at his master's arms with admiration while he starts moving down the axe. His muscles are surprisingly big for his old age and show up as he hits the iron tool in the wood, his move describing a perfect circle and leaving a cut at the point of impact.

"This is how your swing will be by the end of the day."

The old man helps his student to get the good move by guiding his hands. He corrects his posture. They repeat, again and again. His hands are getting slippery because of the heat, but he tries to hold his grip as hard as he can on the handle of the tool. Master Yi let him try alone. As he just repeats the same move again and again by himself, he reaches the point where the tree is about to fall. In a last swing, he screams and hits the tree with the metal cutting edge. The impact makes a sharp and percussive "crack". This sound is abrupt and powerful, conveying the force with which the axe meets the wood. It resonates through the surrounding area, carrying with it a sense of impact and energy. Like the previous one, this tree falls with a long creaking and crashes onto the ground with a loud noise, breaking branches at the impact. 

Master Yi looks at Kazuki with a proud smile and the eyes of the young one shine as his master approves the quality of his work with a nod. He approaches his student and put a hand on his head.

"Very good, my boy. It is not like the swing that I showed you yet, but the improvement is enough. What you did was descent. You should get it after 2 or 3 more sessions. However the night is already falling. Let's get back home. We'll take care of the wood tomorrow. Before heading home, we must take some water from the river."

He takes the axe from the hand of his student and puts it on a pile of tools and bags. From the pile, he takes a wooden rod which he puts on his shoulder and two wooden buckets. He leads the young boy to a nearby river which runs down to the hill at the foot of the mountain. Together, they fill up the buckets with the clear blue water, which is even easier due to the water flow. They put each bucket on an end of the stick and the old man put it on his shoulders. He looks at Kazuki, who seems to want to help him, and smiles softly.

"You're not strong enough to carry this yet, Kazuki. But later you'll be the one to do this chore at my place, when I won't be able to anymore. You should be strong enough when this time comes. But it's a worry for tomorrow, we have to focus on our current task. Now, let's head back home."

The two of them return to their home. While Kazuki rests in the backyard, cooling down with the atmosphere becoming slowly colder as the night comes, Kazuki thinks about the advice from his master but mostly his words. He does not remember what was in the last sentences. But they might not be too important if he doesn't remember it easily. 

Master Yi starts making soup in the kitchen. Once finished, the old man called his students to the kitchen. He serves a bowl of the hot liquid to the young boy. The scent of the vegetables fill the air and a soft warmth tickles their nose. Kazuki goes to the dining room but trips on the way there, and, while trying to catch the falling bowls, ends up with burning liquids all over his hands. He screams of pain and tears start to fall from his eyes. The old man ran to Kazuki, an expression of extreme worry and alert on his face. 

"What is happening ?"

He looks at Kazuki, on the verge of crying, with his hands burnt by the food.

"Oh, my poor Kazuki !"

Seeing the mess both on Kazuki and on the ground made by the soup, he hurries to the kitchen to take some towels. He cleans Kazuki's hands, who grimaces from the pain of the burn. The old man holds his hands in his own hands. 

" Everything will be okay" 

And with those words,a green light starts to appear in his hands. When he lets go of the young boy's hands, they are fully healed. Kazuki looks at his hand, which doesn't feel any pain anymore. It is something very common that his Master heals him this way for more important injuries, but it never ceases to amaze him because he doesn't know how it works. He really wants to be able to do the same thing by himself, to heal by a simple touch. He also think that this way he could be less a weight for his master to handle. 

"Go to the table. I'll bring our bowls."

He dishevels the youngling's hairs with a hand, smiles, and returns to the kitchen. Kazuki waits for him and later on, they eat together the hot liquid to warm them up against the harsh cold of the night. But the fatigue of everything they made today is slowly catching up to them. They both return to their bedrooms while yawning and stretching, in order to go to bed and hoping for a restful night, so they can recover from this day of hard work.

Kazuki changes his kimono before he lays on his bed and slowly closes his eyes and fall into morpbee's arms, with a serene expression on his face.