11: A seek for Just, Truth and Peace

*

Lowering back his claws, Bobo asked, “Why, my Lord?”

Thom’s face suddenly darkened by anger. 

He had not known that he was angry. Angry at the king.

“King Bobeus,” said Thom at last. “He wants you dead, Bobo. Why is that?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“I deserve to know.”

Thom knew that another reason was behind the king’s order. He knew it from the first time the king demanded him to bring Bobo in. All his time working with the king, never had Thom witness such sudden order. King Bobeus may be a ruthless leader, according to many that served and fought with him, but he was indeed a leader who never acts upon unreasonable purpose. 

An outcast mimiao such as Bobo, despite his feared recognition by many, could not have angered, nor frightened the king.

Feeling the need to explain further on his abrupt withdrawal after the mimiaos of Araw were ready to fight his men, Thom stepped down from his loyal white Tawika, Aseed. 

Aseed was from a royal breed of Tawikas. He was chosen by Thom’s late father, Gan, to be given as a gift when Thom was ready to ride one. Gan named it as Aseed. It was the same name his Tanika was when he was still alive. Although Gan was not his real father, Thom never doubted the love that he gave to him. Thom cared for Aseed so much as to how Gan would have wanted him to. The Tanika was a very fortunate creature. So as Thom.

He was fortunate enough to be Gan's son.

“If you let me, oh Bobo the Mercilesste, I will prove to you where my true loyalty lies”, said Thom while bowing to Bobo, in respect.

*

King Bobeus turned his Tawika away from the path heading to his castle after ordering his men to return. The king headed towards the fountain of Mont. He went into a small path entering the Mont woods. 

After a while, the path brought him to a big Oapek tree. It was the only tree that bloomed out green flowers and it was the only tree that can light the night like the full moon. The path and all that are nearby were lit perfectly by the tree. 

It was beautiful, thought the king. 

It was indeed beautiful.

“You must love it here, dear brother”, said the king while looking down 

on the ground, at his brother’s tomb. Gan’s burial place.

Brushing away the dried leaves covering the tomb, Bobeus whispered few ancient words and he kissed the tomb. He looked at the carved name on it.

“I have missed you, Gan.”

… 

10: Matters of the Heart

“Thavine. Mmm… may I have a word?”, asked the young Prince Clan nervously. He was quite unsteady. Indeed, delicate matters were playing in his mind. Never had he acted as such. Curiosity began to rise in Thavine.

“Well, of course. What is it, Clan?”

Clan could not find the right purrs to answer her. When he finally came to his senses, he only managed to answer, “Mmm. Do you like flowers?”

“Well, depends on what flowers they are… I mean lilies are wonderful but they make me… Wait. Why are you asking this?”

“Out of curiosity, Thavine. Mmm… You are after all my sister. I trust that it is my duty to know and learn about you.”

“to know and learn? About me?”

“why.. yes. You”, Clan desperately hoping that his real intention was kept hidden.

Thavine was looking at Clan with a rather suspicious face on her, perhaps a bit of surprise. Then, out of a sudden, she said,

“Wait! Oh God! It cannot be…”

“What is it?”

“You! You have met a lady mimiao, have you not? Come on Clan. Tell me. Has my silly brother has his heart fallen for someone?”

“What?? I mean, what nonsense are you talking about? What heart?”

“You cannot fool me. Look at you. You are blushing.”

The young prince quickly ran to look at himself in the mirror. Thavine could no longer hold her laughter. She laughed out loud; looking at the way Clan was behaving. Annoyed by her, Clan forced himself to purr out an explanation of his awkward action but before he could start, Thavine cut him off and said,

“Come on, out with it. Do I know this very lady?”

“Yes. No, I mean, I am not in love.”

“Well, well. I could not recall saying anything about love, dear brother. Hmmm…”

“I did not… I mean… No. I meant to say that I was not… You know… There is no lady or whatsoever. There is one but…… ”

“But what, Clan? Have your ego got in the way of your senses, like usual?”

“What ego? You are the one with the ego and, and your evilness! 

Yes, making assumptions, not to forget, your constant mockery over me. Here I am, asking you about something and you accused me with such… There is no word for such things!”

“My goodness! Clan! Yes, I may be at fault for the littlest fun I have made of you but…”

“Littlest, you say?”

“Wait. Let me finish. Yes, I never meant any of it. You are my brother, Clan, the only brother… And mmmm… my duty, of course to enjoy every power I have as an older and eldest sister to you. You do know that I care so much about the great and brave young prince that goes by the name Clan, do you not?”

Clan did not smile at Thavine’s attempt of humour. Ever since they were small, Thavine had always managed to find a way to make him smile after a playful argument or what their father called it as “clawing chattering”. 

After a while, Thavine gave up the effort of talking words of comfort to Clan, thus, she walked out of her room, leaving Clan behind. All of a sudden, a smile appeared on Clan’s face. He was amused by his sister’s departure. He finally, made her annoyed.

“Hmmm… that was fun”, thought Clan to himself. However, the cheerful thought was cut short with others, of love.

“Sanea… I… no, it has nothing to do with love.”

Clan was heading out to the door when he suddenly bumped into a wooden box. It was carved with beautiful patterns and the colour was slightly unusual. Never have Clan seen such beautiful thing. The box was opened and inside lay a cloth.

“What is this?”, asked Clan to himself while taking the cloth out of the box. He felt something in it. His curiosity swelled as his paws felt something familiar behind the cover of cloth. He opened it and he was right. 

It was a dagger. 

He looked and looked again at it, and he realized its origin.

“Thavine has an Elmish dagger?”

 *

Links on current POM

Hello. =)

4 those who r interested in my tale of d medieval cat-based world, I hope that u would read d previous parts of d story 1st b4 moving on 2 d continuation of it. 

I really need feedback on it, if it sucks, lame & stuff, do tell.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Kenduri style Jawa~~

Hello. =D

I always talk about silly & crappy, so, this time, imma bend the rules a lil bit & talk about something related 2 my keturunan >> Jawa.

 = 2day, Wednesday, July 06, 2011, 4 Syaaban 1432H, is a day that my parents decided 2 do a ‘kenduri tahlil’, at d Masjid (Masjid Darul Iman, Kampung Sri Arjuna). The kenduri is 4 my late grandma, mom’s late younger brother, & few close relatives of ours who have left us 2 meet HIM. I’m actually on a 10 minutes break 4rm helping my mom in the kitchen. After Isya’ tonight, all of us will be at d masjid, insyaALLAH…

....

The info I'm about 2 share is based on my background, Jawa di Kuching, Sarawak. Mungkin a bit lain compared 2 d Jawa in Semenanjung Malaysia. So, I hope I won't offend certain people. hihihihi.. LOL!

**the kenduri follows the Jawa tradition, because I'm a Javanese & I live in a Jawa community. So, we use 'ambeng' style. Some may call it as 'nasi ambeng'. mana2 la, as long as people get the idea of it.

The pictures below, do check it out~~

Ni gambar yg lps aku ambik, but kira sama juga la. Kenduri di masjid, so ambeng kena bwk guna baldi makanan (baskom in Jawa). But 2nite, we're going 2 use talam. 

Daun pisang mmg essential in ambeng. Lapis guna daun pisang dlu b4 putting d rice.

U see, lauk for ambeng usually consists of nasi, lauk sayur & lauk ayam. Mee goreng (sayur sampingan, can b any noodles) is optional, nak letak or tak, up 2 u. Lauk ayam, paling senang digoreng. But yg famous would be ayam masak ‘ungkep’ (again, Jawa tradition).

Ok, nasi tu kena lapit guna daun dlu, then baru letak sayur, then ayam paling last.

 That lapisan is paling simple & common in my family. After all that, ambeng tu kena tutup with daun pisang lagi. 

Banyak sikit la daun tu, cuz usually org yg hadir kenduri tu, lps doa & semua, akan bahagikan nasi ambeng among masing2. Usually, satu talam nasi ambeng will b shared by 4 people, d most 5. Ikut keadaan jgk. 

(klu yg rajin, 'peyek' slalu dijadikan d last topping tuk nasi ambeng ni..)

Siap! Niat nak share ja ok... If interested in more about it, jgn malu2, just tanya. Kesuwon (Thank u). =D


{{My language, mmm, I mixed both English & Malay. So, 4give me k. Jgn marah k org-kuat BM. Xda niat tuk menyalahguna kedua-dua bahasa}}