Sopiko - part Two

5. a New Beginning

There were amazing secrets out there that the others didn't know about so certainly her mother didn't know everything.
       It was bright and sunny the day Sopiko realized she didn't need to listen to her mother anymore. She woke up knowing it, just like that. She went to open her window and let the smell of summer and the songs of songbirds in before she took her dress and went over to the mirror. The wooden boards in her room made quirky sounds as she walked.
       She got dressed and had a deep look at herself in the mirror. It looked like a brand new her, she thought.
       She tied her shoes and headed out.
       Through the woods on trails she had never walked on before.
       She stopped to take a good look at the mountains far away. The home of Jotnirs, she'd heard stories of the creatures dwelling up there; she had never believed them but now she thought the mountains looked packed with life. A breeze swept across the plains and meadows making the grass dance in waves. She thought of whistling. Puckered her lips and blew - pffffff - but only an annoying sound like that of a gassy tummy making wind came out.
       Thihi, what fun!
       Pfffffffff!
       Sopiko was in the mood today. It felt kinda pale this new found merriness but it was also light as a feather. So far she liked it. She thought about what to do. She felt like she could do anything.
       She ran across the meadows and put her hands out so they would stroke the top of the gras. She bent down and kissed the loveliest flowers she found. She went up a hill and layed down to start rolling down again. Her tummy tickled as she picked up speed. Then she went to the ocean.
       The ocean was vast and enormous, never-ending and probably the biggest thing in the whole world. And she had it all to herself in front of her. She watched the waves billowing in on the shoreline, heard the sea gulls shriek above.
       It all felt like such a lot!
       The waves are very lovely things, like jewels and secret treasures but they are much too big for me to carry on my own.
       If I have no-one to share them with what value do they have? she thought. Value depends on how things look in the eyes of other people, or so she had read in books. And she had no-one at all whom she could share the waves with. Suddenly she felt a bit wistful.
       I'm a girl all alone.
       No, wait.
       I know who I can go see...


6. The Same Old Song

Mister Magnus woke up in the evening and moaned as he pulled his feet out of bed. In the window sill mister Kittels was sitting looking at him. You always look at me with those half sleepy eyes, he thought but he didn't say it out loud. It's rare cats understand human talk anyways, so why bother. He looked at himself in the mirror and wasn't excited at all. He grumbled to his mirror's reflection.
       You there, are soon a thousand years old. You think it cannot be seen but I see it. You're looking weary, you might not have a long time left now.
       Then he skipped brushing his teeth and went into the kitchen. He sat down on a chair to look out the window.
       Yellow teeth I've got, but what does it matter, he told himself.
       His cat followed him into the kitchen and jumped up on the kitchen table, trying to get some attention.
       You're always following me aren't you?
       This time he was talking out loud. Why bother just thinking it in his own little head, he thought.
       Mister Magnus didn't really bother with anything today. There was nothing exciting going on. He had no lust for adventures what-so-ever. The cat too looked a bit dull today.
       Mister Magnus got some firewood and some paper and stuffed it in his stove and lit it. With a ladle he took some water from a bucket and slowly poured it in a black kettle. He watched as the water gushed down and sighed. Then he put it on the stove.
       He sat down again, then stood up again and got a book that was laying on the kitchen floor. Then he sat down, opened the book and looked at it. He didn't read anything, just swept through the pages slowly while staring blank without reading a single letter. Then he stood up, went around in the room, scratched his head and sat down again. And threw the book back on the floor. He tried sighing again, but it wasn't helping. He went over to the kettle and put a finger in the water to test the temperature, but it was still cold.
       He thought about what a fool he was, being so old but having no wisdom, being like a child still in every way. He had been a child all his life, he would die a child. Usually a great magician like him goes out seeking adventures, but you know even adventures are tedious if you do them every day. He heard a tap on the door.
       Knock, knock.
       What irksomeness is this? he said.
       Knock, knock, knock the door repeated, even louder now.
       Such a dull sound for a door to make, he mumbled.
       Then it hit him and he rose up feeling all excited for a moment.
       A visitor!
       And he rushed to the door and peeked through a peeking hole. It was the girl from the other day.
       Mister lion man, I do hope you're home, I've come all this way to say hello.
       Who is she talking to? Could she see me? mister Magnus wondered. Surely not, she must be talking to herself. She was just standing there with her arms straight down, looking kinda anxious, talking very calmly.
       I decided to leave my house, even if my mother told me not to. I was to stay in and read books all day she said. But I left.
       The girl was scratching the upper side of her arm.
       I didn't know where to go, I don't really know anyone.
       The only one I know is you.
       Mister Magnus took a step away from the peeping hole, he didn't feel the need to peek anymore. He still heard the girl talking outside.
       It was a bit difficult to find the way in daylight, but finally I found it.
       He sat down on the floor and listened.
       Your neighbors scary doll that sat in the window is gone now. I'm sure it's alive.
       I wish you were home, the girl said.
       Mister Kittels came to the lion and looked at him with big eyes, wondering what was going on.
       I wish we could be friends. I don't have any friends mister lion man. You scare me a bit, but your hand feels very safe.
       Then the girl stared at the door for a moment before she finally left again.


7. a New Friend

Mister Magnus opened the door but now there was no-one outside there anymore. He felt like he had betrayed someone. He looked up to the Jotnir mountains, up where he have had lots of adventures. The meadows stretching from the woods up towards the hills where animals would grass. The woods where he would walk and walk when-ever he needed to clear his mind.
       He walked to the ocean and it looked very dull. The vastness of it, and the waves repeatingly hitting the shoreline. As far as he could see there was nothing. He lay down in the sand completely still just to feel the nothingness for a moment, and after a while a raven landed on his chest and started pecking him.
       I'm a thousand years old but I am still not dead dear raven, laughed the lion. And the raven jumped up and flew away in a hurry.
       But I can see how you would think I was just some meat rotting away by the shoreline.
       I have a terrible smell on me sometimes.
       When he came back to his house mister Kittels waited for him. He picked up his cat to cuddle him. Even on such a dull night without any lust for adventures he still had his good old cat.
       I'm so glad I have you, mister Kittels. You're my best friend in the whole world. Not everyone have a best friend you know. I even know of someone who doesn't have any friends at all.
       I cannot be her friend. I sleep all day, and at night I wander for adventures. I cannot be seen by the adults humans, they might form a hunt after me and so I couldn't risk getting to know her, it might lead to danger.
       And also I haven't got the time you have on your paws. You sleep way too much mister Kittels. If only you...
       He took a good look at his cat and suddenly a shiny little idea hit his big lion-like head.
       I've got it!
       Eureka mister Kittels, I've got it now! Oh what an exciting idea, the most exciting thing to happen all day.
       You can be her friend!
       The cat looked dull into the air, happy to be with his master again. He didn't understand a single word of what mister Magnus said. But you know what, soon he would understand.
       It was almost one thousand years ago that my master Marduk of the desert found and tamed an Eurasian lion, and he got it under such a spell that he would sleep every night using the lion as a pillow. And hoho, that good old pillow was me mister Kittels.
       Mister Kittels purred, so happy to hear that good old pillows voice.
       And one night he got a piece of paper, and he made some weird gestures, and he walked around a bit and drew stuff in the sand, and shouted into the night and suddenly I felt I changed! I suddenly experienced something very weird, I experienced words in my head and for some reason I could understand them as well. No longer was I a common Eurasian lion tamed by a skilled magician, I grew into a human-like shape. Half human, half lion - the very creature I am today. And that, mister Kittels, is what is to be your faith tonight!
       The cat looked confused at his masters excitement. They were just cuddling and having a good time, but now his master no longer stroked him, instead he had raised his voice and sounded rather excited.
       You'll soon understand human talk mister Kittels, just wait and see, mister Magnus said and ran as fast as he could into his library searching for records of the old spell.
       This girl needs a friend, she has no-one else to rely on, he said and was quite determined to assist her. It was terribly exciting.