by Blood Plus 13th December 2015, 4:54 pm
One young man, around ten years older than Ibara, promptly opened the door upon his arrival. He welcomed him inside without a word and ushered him to the back of the house, which stood a garden. The garden was magnificent, acres upon acres of trees littered each side of a small cobblestone path. The path ultimately led up to a clearing, the clearing was relatively circular, and in that clearing sat a boy. The boy was young, around seven by the looks of it, his arms moved quickly above his head in long strides, brushing past his ears in long strokes. He was clearly attempting to swim. However there was one thing, one crucial piece of the puzzle that was obviously missing. Water. There was not a speck of water in sight, not even a glass of water so that they could throw it on the child to even give him the slight sensation of being wet, let alone getting drenched in a swimming pool or the ocean. One would think how swimming is even possible. There was always the chance Ibara could create a sea of fire for them to play swim in although that might be a little extreme for a first-timer. He winced to himself and glanced at the supposed father of the boy in utter disbelief.
"You're kidding right? You want me to teach a kid to swim without water? Sure, everyone can do the arm movements in the air but it's not the damn same. There's resistance, drag, the waves. I mean.. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" Ibara almost lost his nerve at the man but he didn't seem to give any reply. Instead, the father's attention was zeroed in on his son, the young boy went through the motions again, stroke after stroke without tiring, he looked like he could swim relatively well by judging his arm actions. Even his legs seemed healthy and strong. In fact, there was not a single flaw Ibara could point out in the boy's technique that would deem him unsuitable from swimming. That's when it clicked. The father spoke a simple word upon Ibara's realisation. "Hydrophobia." Ibara knew what overcoming your fears was like and he stood there in disbelief. He wondered why his father wanted his son to swim with such a condition but Ibara simply shook his head. Disregarding the father completely before he could speak more, he approached the child with a determined vigour.
The kid seemed frightened upon Ibara's approach; the young fire wizard meant business. Overcoming your fears was tough, it required diligence, grit and determination; some of Ibara's shining features which explained why he feared little and loved a lot. Ibara opened his mouth and then closed it again. Acting if he were about to speak but said nothing. The kid opened his mouth in reply but Ibara promptly placed a singular finger over the child's lips.
"Save it. Y'know, when I was a child, my father used to beat me constantly everyday? I could get the slightest thing wrong and it would result in the worse of punishments. I learnt to survive on the little things in life, like the occasional proportion of my mother's drunken kindness, or the days when my father had left on some supposed business errand he claimed was of crucial importance. The truth is, I learnt to fear little but love a lot. Overcoming your fears, I understand, can be difficult. It's like a trigger that's been implemented into your brain. You see something you dislike and it sets you off. Like when set a gun to fire and the bullet is released, it's a reflex, an action that doesn't require thought. That's what your fear of water is like, huh? I'm not gonna sit here and lecture you about why your fear of water is wrong; it isn't. You're human and it's natural. I'm not gonna tell you to get over that fear either, so in some ways, you could say I've failed this mission. There is one thing I am going to ask you though. I'm gonna ask you to try; for your old man over there. You look like you want to swim, hell you've even memorised the basic strokes for every swimming style there is. So what's stopping you? Just because your mind is telling you no, that doesn't mean your soul can't say yes. There's a lot of parts to a human being, kid. Don't focus on one, expand on them all."
Ibara got up from his knelt down position, having been levelled eye-to-eye with the child for quite some time upon delivering his speech. A smile dawned on the child's face, but he didn't speak. Instead, he turned away from Ibara and continued practicing his stroke. Although, as the child turned, Ibara noticed a change in the child's appearance. A look of sheer steely determination dawned on that young boy's face and Ibara knew he had made a difference. Sure, it wasn't teaching him how to swim, but it was teaching him how to live. Ibara approached the father and said simply "He'll swim one day, push him too his limits, and he'll get there.", the man cried then and there and shook Ibara's hand gratefully. With a smile, Ibara simply closed the gap between him and the house and exited. His job here was done, he thought. Time to head home.
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