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Master was busy and dad was bored. This combination resulted in the latter approaching Lu Ta with a mischievous look on his face that late morning.
Since the shamanet hadn’t been required for Master’s work either, he had busied himself studying the sound patterns caused by the wind on the trees in the yard. This exercise could provide all kinds of useful information. Lu Ta was still far from mastering it, but that was why he worked so hard. For example, right now, he could tell a new presence had found a home in the forest, but he wasn’t able to pinpoint what it was.
“Enough work for today,” dad said, picking him up by the waist to throw him over his shoulder. “Time to have some fun.”
“Dad!” Lu Ta answered, laughing. “Are you going to nap again?”
“Nope. I’m going to take a stroll in the forest, and I would love it if you join me.”
Even though it was framed as a request, given the position he was in, both physical and metaphorical, Lu Ta didn’t have much room to say no. Never mind that he didn’t want to say no.
Any opportunity to spend time with his dad was nice and, on top of that, it would be good to reinforce the idea that there were more interesting things to do in life other than sleep. Besides, furthering dad’s education about the area was also Lu Ta’s responsibility. Master never made the assignment officially, but the shamanet took it for himself nevertheless.
“Which path are we taking?” Lu Ta asked, swinging his feet as he watched the Great Shaman’s estate become smaller and smaller behind them.
Dad scratched his chin.
“Not sure. But! I have an idea of how we can choose.”
Lu Ta tilted his head, wondering what was coming when it began. After a moment of staying still, dad began to spin.
He spun, spun, and spun, over and over.
Lu Ta gasped and held his breath. It would have been undignified to scream and laugh, even when they were completely alone on the road.
It didn’t take long for dad to stop, though. When he did, Lu Ta was facing west and dad, a road seldom used by the shamanet. Not because it was dangerous but because there was nothing useful down that path. Nothing useful and nothing dangerous, which meant it would be fine.
Dad began to walk with a spring in his step while the shamanet didn’t say anything against it, which was just as good as an explicit approval. Or, at least, that was how Master did it, and Lu Ta had to try and be like him.
As the trees became denser, dad began singing some silly song he had to be making up. Two stanzas in, he finally put Lu Ta down.
“Where to, dad?”
“Wherever we can come back from before dinner sounds good,” he replied and continued walking, now with his hands behind his back.
The boy followed, for a moment trying to match his strides. When he failed to do so—as he usually did due to having shorter legs—he contented himself with walking faster.
Dad resumed his silly song, not paying much attention to where he was going, unlike Lu Ta.
The shamanet pouted. This wouldn’t do. He had to make sure dad improved his survival skills. He had never been good at that. Instead, he liked to poke the dens of venomous creatures. On the one hand, as far as Lu Ta understood it, that had been why he ended up living in Nanjiang and being Lu Ta’s dad, because one day he went to poke things at Master’s house. On the other hand, that didn’t mean it was fine that he kept doing it.
What if he found the way to a different family if he kept poking? Lu Ta dreamed about it before. Master had said that it was just a nightmare and that he would personally chase after dad if he ever tried to get away. This brought relief to the boy, who then was able to go back to sleep.
But Master wasn’t here now, unlike dad and his poking tendencies. Lu Ta had to be extra careful.
Yet, despite his best intentions, a kid was a kid, and Lu Ta soon found himself distracted by dad’s tales and, then, by something very curious he found in their path.
It turned out that, since no one had come this way in such a long time, interesting things had begun to happen. Lu Ta saw it on the scratches that appeared on the barks of trees, in the way branches at a certain height had been broken. Carefully, he moved to the sides to check on them.
He and dad might have to cut their stroll short.
As the boy confirmed his suspicions, his dad called from the other side of the road.
“Son, look at this!”
Lu Ta turned his head. Immediately, his stomach sank.
“It was right there, all alone,” dad continued, scratching the baby tiger’s ears. It was an adorable little thing, as adorable as his dad’s face, who cooed at the animal and got mewling noises and pawing as a response. “If it had a mother, she would have hidden it better. You know I’m not good at this tracker thing and even I was able to find it. If we leave it here, it might die, don’t you think?”
No. Lu Ta didn’t think that at all. True, his dad’s tracking abilities were lacking and he didn’t care about improving them, but it was likely that the cub had left its hiding place to start exploring the world. It would be fine out here because, as all signs pointed out, it wasn’t alone.
As soon as they were home, Lu Ta would have to find a way to explain Master that dad’s tendency to poke the lair of venomous things had been joined by one to poke the cubs of strong, clawed beings.
A not-so-distant rustling of leaves brought the shamanet a sense of urgency.
“Dad, put it down and let’s go,” Lu Ta pressed, lowering his voice and using a trick to make sure only his dad could hear him.
Unfortunately, his dad didn’t know this trick.
“What’s with you? You never talk to me like that,” he mused out loud, frowning, right as realization dawned on his eyes.
One moment later, he was slowly and gently putting the tiger cub back on the ground.
But it was too late. The mother tiger had located him and, after a loud roar, she was on her way, charging toward dad with raw fury, leaves and branches cracking loudly as they broke on her wake.
“Lu Ta, leave!” dad yelled.
But Lu Ta didn’t. He couldn’t. He would never leave his dad alone, especially in a situation like that. It was simply unthinkable. Which was good because everything happened so fast that Lu Ta didn’t have time to think, only to react.
A couple of quick steps placed the boy between his dad and the mother tiger. He stood his ground and spread out his arms. Then, he looked at the animal right in the eye. There was not much behind his actions, only the little things Master taught him the very first time they went into the forest together in what seemed so long ago.
Time slowed down. In a fraction of a second, Lu Ta was able to see part of the mother tiger’s history, how much she loved her cub, and how scared she was to lose it in that man’s hands. She had already lost one child to hunters, and she wouldn’t allow that to happen again.
In response, Lu Ta tried to communicate that they meant no harm. It had been all an honest mistake.
Your baby is already on the ground, see? My dad had good intentions. He is a good man.
The cub darted next to his legs toward its mother, making her stop abruptly, right on time to receive her cub. The little thing crashed against her leg, but there was no harm done. The cub rubbed its head on her and lifted it for her to sniff.
Then, a pair of shaky hands picked Lu Ta up. The shamanet caught a glimpse of his dad’s eyes before those hands pulled him close, pressing him tight against the man’s chest. So tight that, for one second, he couldn’t even breathe. All throughout, the only thing he could hear was, “This was my fault. It was… You nearly—nearly…”
But that went away soon when kisses covered his head and dad checked him for injuries. The mother tiger never got close enough to touch him, so of course he was fine. Regardless, the boy didn’t mention it and just let his dad do it.
Meanwhile, the tiger sniffed and licked the cub until she was satisfied with her inspection. Her baby was fine. Next, she looked up and scoffed at the general direction of Lu Ta’s dad before grabbing the cub’s head in her massive mouth. She would carry it away to a place where, hopefully, there wouldn’t be any more humans.
“Let’s go back home,” dad said after the mother tiger jumped behind the bushes, turning around and starting to walk back to where they came from.
Lu Ta nodded, snuggling in his embrace. He looked ahead, ready to make any necessary corrections to the path his dad took, but none was necessary, even despite how shaken dad still was. Fortunately, nothing bad had happened and there wasn’t anything to regret. This would be just a big adventure to tell as soon as dad was ready to do so.
However, the one thing Lu Ta would never forget was how, for a moment, his dad’s eyes had grown cloudy with the same sorrow and fear as the tiger’s and he wondered if he’d ever be brave enough to ask.