5

When next Lynx-O visited his young student, he said nothing at first. He made a "shh" gesture to Kohlee's parents, and puzzled, they remained quiet. Lynx-O walked so that even his own keen hearing could not discern his own footfalls, and simply waited. He had set Kohlee a task, and he wanted to see if she had attained it, without her knowing he was there to "watch". He also was curious as to whether she would realize he was there or not.

At first, she stayed in her room. But eventually she came out, slowly, but without the rasping sound of hands on walls. Lynx-O smiled. She obviously had been practicing, and surely she wished to be able to move around her home without feeling the walls.

Kohlee came from her room and confessed that she was hungry, to her mother. Skira glanced once at Lynx-O, and getting the idea, pretended he was not there. Indeed, it was not difficult to do this, as her pleasure at the request took most of her attention. Trying not to sound overly excited, she said that dinner would be ready in a half hour.

Kohlee nodded her head, and then frowned, as Lynx-O stood.

"What's wrong?" asked her mother.

"I...don't know..." Then she scowled. "Is there someone else here?"

Before Skira could answer, Lynx-O chuckled. "There is indeed, Kohlee."

Kohlee started, and then turned around to face the voice. "Lynx-O?"

"It is."

Kohlee was silent for a moment, and then said in a tone of indignation, "Why didn't you say anything?"

"It was not a trick," said Lynx-O. "Simply a test. That you knew I was here is a very good sign, it means you are quite adaptable, and will be able to learn the things I have to teach you well."

The girl obviously was still wanting to be indignant, but finally gave in and only sulked a little bit. "Oh, fine. What am I gonna learn today?"

Lynx-O smiled. "Today, we will take a short walk in the woods behind your home."

And for the next half hour or so, the pair simply walked. They walked, and talked. Lynx-O kept a close ear on the girl's movements, and gently guided her when she would run into a rare, or stray from the primitive path. He explained what he heard in the wind and air shifting around the barriers, the shade he felt by the trees, and where he felt the sun coming from. Knowing where the sun was and where the shadows would fall was instrumental in determining where things were. Both, of course, occasionally tripped or bumped into something, but when they got back, both were relatively unharmed. And Kohlee had much more to think about.

Things continued along these lines for the next few weeks. Lynx-O would take Kohlee outside and simply walk with her, tell her what he heard, and remain silent until she could also hear them, and understand what they meant. He began teaching her to still her mind to catch subtle signs in her environment that spoke to her subconscious, and intensified gut feelings about things. After two months of this teaching had gone by, he was glad to feel the shadow of her ordeal slowly leaving her heart. It would never leave completely, of course, but it could be tamed and beaten down by acceptance and adaptation, and humor.

For one exercise, when Lynx-O felt confident her feelings would not be truly hurt by it, he set up a sort of obstacle course for her to walk. If she failed in some parts of the course, to determine where something was, or where the pathway was, certain things would happen. Failure to feel the hair-thin wire across the pathway would lead to it breaking when she stepped past where it was strung, and a bucket of whipped dessert topping would be emptied on her head. Another pitfall involved a puddle of water, and another, a wide area of mud.

Lynx-O warned her ahead of time what would happen, and she seemed reluctant, but finally did agree to walk the course. This would teach a double lesson. It would make her a little more inclined to pay attention to her surroundings, and it would teach the lesson of irreverence, and humor.

Kohlee became quite indignant at stepping in mud with her bare feet, and even more so when the whipped topping covered her head and shoulders. But, to Lynx-O's delight, she finally started laughing, and eating the whipped topping as she finished the course.

Lynx-O hugged her when they finished, regardless of mud and dessert. "Very good! You see, sometimes silly situations aren't so horrible, if you can laugh at them."

Kohlee snorted. "Easy for you to say, you're not a mess."

Lynx-O raised his eyebrows. "Hmm. You're correct. Very well then, I set you your next task. Now you may have help for this, but you must do everything you possibly can, on your own. I will next visit in one week. You have until then to set up a course of your own, for me to run. Make it as difficult as you like, in fact. And when I visit, I will walk your course, and we'll find out how well I fare."

Lynx-O could almost hear the grin that spread on Kohlee's face. She laughed. "It's a deal."

Kohlee was nearly disappointed. Lynx-O had been blind for a very long time, and as a feline, his other senses were a bit keener than the Wollos' were. He walked nearly the whole course without incident.

But a very clever "trap" caught him. His feet caught the feel of the edge of a stone, that just could be the trigger for something that he might not care to walk into, and so h changed direction, feeling out the pathway before him. So keen was he on avoiding this trap, that he failed to notice the brief shadow of a long pole. This pole had a tripwire on the ground, and when Lynx-O stepped on it, he was doused with cold water.

Kohlee laughed gleefully at Lynx-O's surprised cry, and jumped up and down. The lynx began to laugh, both embarrassed and pleased. "Are we even, now, then?" he asked once he'd run the rest of the course.

"Yeah...' said Kohlee. And on impulse, hugged the old cat.

Month upon month followed of this sort of intense training. Lynx-O began teaching her how to defend herself against an opponent she could not see. She had professed interest in staff fighting, which she had seen the warriors performing at their training drills before her accident. Lynx-O thought this to be a wonderful idea, and took her to one of these training sessions, to listen to what was going on. Every once in a while he would ask her what she thought was happening, by sound only, and she was even right sometimes. He did this a few times before even giving her a staff to begin practice with.

When she did get her weapon, it seemed to fit in her hands like it belonged there. Lynx-O instructed her on maneuvers by feeling her hands and foot positions. He listened to how the staff whistled through the air (and sometimes his innocent trees that stood by). As she got to know her weapon, how it worked, and how her body worked when wielding it, her movements became more and more practiced and smooth.

One day, after one such session, Lynx-O came in to speak privately with her parents. While Kohlee washed up, he asked them if she had gone into the town since the accident. The answer was...very rarely. "Unfortunately," said Toshlan, "she has not. She fears teasing and taunting from the other youths, or from children, even adults. I fear there are many in this village who are simply cruel at heart and enjoy poking fun at people who are different.

Lynx-O sighed. "Yes, I have seen it. I believe we will take a break from combat training to begin teaching her how to deal with such things." After all, nearly all of this teaching had been occurring in the woods behind the family's home.

The next day he came a bit early, and explained to her what he wanted to do. As expected, he came up against resistance. No way would she go out into the town. What if the boy she liked saw her? Worse yet, what if Tyril from her school class saw her? She was a mean girl that liked to make fun of her anyway. Kohlee had no intentions on making that task any easier.

The old ThunderCat did not push it just yet. As with everything else, he would have to be patient. However, in the next few subsequent visits, he began telling her why it was a good idea to go out and begin learning how to deal with such taunts. She could not stay in her home forever, after all. Finally, he did persuaded her to go with hi into the town for a field trip.

It was not a highly successful outing. She did get a few jeers and taunts, which made her run away weeping in sheer humiliation. She ran into the corner of the building and hit her head on it, which only made the jeerers laugh all the harder. Lynx-O silenced them with a fierce reproachful look, and they left. Blind or not, they knew better than to mess with the old cat.

Lynx-O offered his comfort and encouragement, but she only yelled for him to leave her alone, and so he left her to feel her way back, only watching to make sure she came to no harm.

For two weeks afterwards, Kohlee informed Lynx-O in no uncertain words that he was not welcome, and he respected this. He did not mention the village again for a few weeks. When he did, Kohlee surprised him by agreeing with little persuasion, saying she had done a lot of thinking in the past weeks. "I mean...I'm thirteen seasons old, now," she said. "I...I feel silly being afraid to go out."

Lynx-O chuckled. "Good, I'm glad."

The next few outings were not exactly picnics, but after the first time, it was always easier. She began realizing that while her injury always took up the forefront of her own mind, that not everyone in the street was going to stare at her like she was a monster. Only the cruel ones would taunt her, and she didn't care about them much. It still hurt, and it still made her miserable...but the crushing sorrow became less and less.

And Lynx-O was always there with his words of comfort and friendship.

One day, they sat on a table outside a little cafe that Lynx-O had discovered a few days prior, having a nice lunch together. A little girl's voice piped up next to Kohlee, startling her. Lynx-O had heard her approach, but Kohlee had not. "What happened to your face?" came the child's curious query.

Lynx-O, sensing a highly defensive reply coming, squeezed Kohlee's hand. "Who are you speaking to?" he asked the little girl.

The child turned to Lynx-O, and realized that he, too, was blind. "Oh...I guess you both..."

Lynx-O smiled. "For my part, an accident on my home planet hurt my eyes, so that they could not see anymore." He had thought about letting Kohlee answer, but perhaps if she experienced Lynx-O dealing with such a situation, she would realize it wasn't so bad.

"Oh...does it hurt?"

Lynx-O shook his head. "No, little one, it does not hurt any more. It did at first, but when the skin healed, it stopped hurting."

"Oh...did the same happen to her?"

"Perhaps you should ask her," Lynx-O suggested. He felt an almost panicky tightening of Kohlee's grip on his hand, but he was proud when she let go a moment later, and spoke. "I...I got hurt when the Mutants came and attacked," she said, swallowing hard.

The little girl gasped. "Can your eyes see?"

Kohlee sighed. "No."

The little girl was silent for a moment, and Lynx-O got the distinct feeling that she was pouting on Kohlee's behalf. "I'm sorry..."

The child might have gotten further in her expression of sympathy, but an older voice came up behind her. "Um...sorry about that, my sister asks way too many questions."

Lynx-O did not know who this boy was, and spoke. "It is quite all right. The innocent questions of youth are always welcome to me." He frowned, at a small gasp from Kohlee's direction, but did not ask what was wrong.

"Thank you sir, for answering her questions," said the boy, and then turned to speak with Kohlee. "I heard what happened...I'm real sorry. Are you going to be back in school when it starts again?"

Finding her voice, Kohlee managed to stammer, "I...I don't know."

"Oh." The boy actually sounded disappointed. "Well...I hope you will. Well I gotta get my little sister home, Mama'll be wondering about us. See you again?"

Kohlee actually smiled a little bit. "Okay.." she said. The boy smiled back, and left.

At Lynx-O's question about who he was, she stammered out, blushing furiously red, that it was Forir, a boy she admired in school. Well, Lynx-O thought, pleasantly surprised. That was quite a positive thing to happen, after so many disappointments with the citizens of the town.

Elsewhere on Third Earth, two people spoke, as they went about their patrol. "I can prove it! Hoo!" said one vehemently, his simian face twisted in a scowl. "That girl you said you killed is still alive, so she doesn't count!"

"Forget it, Monkian. There's no way you're going to cheat on this one!"

Monkian growled. "I don't have to cheat, you miserable scavenger! I'll show you!"

"But...what about patrol?"

"Forget patrol! S-S-Slithe always falls asleep in the control room anyway, he'll never find out!"

After a moment more, Monkian persuaded his companion to come with him to the Wollo village. He had been nearby once or twice, spying on the young Wollo girl as she trained with Lynx-O. He brought Jackalman to the hiding place he most often used, and peered from behind a tree, at a distance of course, lest they be discovered. "There," he whispered. "Hoo, hoo, is that proof enough?"

Jackalman stared, a growl rising in his throat. "Well then," he hissed. "I'll have to fix that."