The Wise Whoot: Blaze's Lesson

“Concentrate, Blaze!”

     Startled, the red Lupe shrank back, knowing his latest attempt was a failure.

     His master snorted. “Blaze... did you even know what you were doing?”

     Blaze looked down. The Wise Whoot had been trying to teach his new apprentice how to summon motes on command, but Blaze was struggling.

     The Lupe sat down on the nearest chair. “Zihark... I'm sorry.” When Blaze had first met the Wise Whoot, he had been ecstatic, but as the student was trying to learn a simple lesson that couldn't be completed, Zihark grew impatient.

     Zihark sighed. “Take a break, Blaze. I'm going out for a bit.” Without waiting for a reply, Zihark flew out of the hollow.

     Echoing Zihark's sigh, Blaze turned into a Doglefox, his original form. Thanks to Zihark, Blaze had been blessed with the gift of changing into a Neopet. It had taken a couple of lessons, but Blaze now knew how to change into a Neopet or Petpet without thinking about it.

     Every now and then, the Wise Whoot and Blaze would move to a new land to train. Zihark had told Blaze that moving from one place to another would help his training. It would help Blaze get used to surroundings quickly, in case he ever found himself in danger. Zihark also wanted Blaze to get used to the behavior of Neopets when they met some on their travels. Another lesson that Zihark had taught Blaze was to rarely think like a Petpet, but to think like someone who was a Neopet and a Petpet.

     This week, Zihark had led Blaze to the outskirts of Meridell, nearby the Meri Acres Farm. Living close to Meridell gave Blaze a better chance of speaking with other Neopets, and to learn what some of them did for a living. Luckily, Zihark had found an abandoned cave in the area, which they decided to use as Blaze's training hollow.

     But lately, Blaze wasn't in the mood for training. He didn't even know why. Suddenly, a thought came back into his head, a thought that he had wondered many times before now. What was Zihark training him to do? What was his master planning?

     Blaze stood from the chair and tried his attempt at summoning a mote again. He wondered if his Doglefox form could summon a mote. Of course, he knew what Zihark would say to that. “You should be able to do anything in both your forms equally!” Being with Zihark for at least three months, Blaze was almost sure those would be the exact words Zihark would say.

     Remembering his lesson, he closed his eyes and remembered the strange feeling that had gone through him when Zihark had been teaching him the technique. He outstretched his right paw, the paw he could throw with, and concentrated. For a moment, Blaze felt a spark going through his body. Curious if he had summoned a mote, he opened his eyes and looked at his outstretched paw. He frowned. Nothing.

     Anger and fear rose up in him. If he couldn't summon a little mote, how could he go on with the rest of his training?

     Once again, from the very first time he met the Wise Whoot, he thought, Why did Zihark choose me?

***

     The next day wasn't much help to Blaze's training either. Try as he might, Blaze still couldn't master summoning a mote.

     Zihark shook his head. Blaze, in his Lupe form, prepared for Zihark to start yelling at him again, but when Blaze looked at his face, he saw uncertainty in the Whoot's eyes. Was something bothering him?

     “That's enough for today,” Zihark mumbled. Blaze felt relieved, but then he wondered if he would ever be able to summon a mote... ever. Had Zihark made a mistake in taking Blaze in as his apprentice?

     “Here.” Zihark broke into Blaze's thoughts as he handed Blaze a book. “Read this for the rest of the day. Don't worry, it's not long till evening now,” he added as Blaze was about to protest.

     Blaze didn't mind reading, but when he recognized the book Zihark had given him, he was reluctant. The book was titled, 'Know Your Motes', a book that Blaze had read once already when he was first beginning to learn how to summon motes.

     Before Blaze could respond, though, Zihark flew off and left the hollow. Knowing Zihark wanted him to read it again for a reason, he sat down and began reading without giving it a second thought.

***

     “Blaze.”

     Blaze kept his eyes closed. “I'm sleeping,” he grumbled.

     The Doglefox felt something touch his shoulder that lightly shook him. “Blaze, wake up.”

     “No,” Blaze argued.

     He heard a murmur, then he was suddenly drenched in water. Alert, Blaze opened his eyes and stood up as soon as the water hit his fur. The water was cold, and he wondered where it had come from when he saw Zihark floating right above him. A water mote stood in one of his four talons.

     Blaze shivered. “What was that for?” he demanded.

     Zihark landed in front of him, letting the mote evaporate into the air. “You didn't wake up. Come, I want to show you something.” The Whoot turned and flew toward the entrance of the hollow.

     Blaze grunted. “It's still night... what could be so important?” he mumbled to himself. He shook the water from his fur before following Zihark out of the cave.

     Zihark stood just outside the entrance, his gaze faced up at the starry sky. When Blaze walked up to him, the Whoot mumbled, “Come here, Blaze, and sit down.”

     Curious, Blaze did what he was told. He followed Zihark's gaze and looked up at the sky. A full moon stood in the sky, and for a moment Blaze wondered if that was what Zihark was looking at, until he spotted a shooting star making its way across the darkness.

     Quickly, Blaze made a wish. He wished that he could be the best student Zihark would ever have.

     Suddenly, as soon as that one star disappeared among the other millions of stars, another appeared and shot across the sky. Then, there was another, and then another. It wasn't long till the sky was filled with many shooting stars.

     “Wow...” Blaze whispered.

     Zihark glanced at him. “I told you to wake up.”

     Blaze tried to look at him, but he couldn't keep his eyes off the stars. Instead he asked, “How did you know about this?”

     “Oh, I know many things, Blaze. I am the Wise Whoot, after all.” He chuckled to himself.

     Blaze laughed too, watching the many stars above him. He wondered if he could make a wish on all of them, but then thought that the only wish that might count would be the first shooting star he wished on.

     For a while, it seemed like the show would never end. In the valley below them, Blaze could just make out the shapes of a Neopet family all bundled together, watching the stars, too. Feelings of his family filled his heart, and he was almost sure that they were watching this, too. His father, mother, and his sisters: Snowdrop, Sunshine, Plum, Forrest, Rosa and Rivulet. Blaze could almost feel their presence, surrounding him as all nine of them watched the shooting stars. Then he felt a tenth presence, and he smiled. Zihark would always be a part of his family, no matter what happened.

     Blaze was suddenly filled up with courage. He closed his eyes and outstretched his right paw. Remembering everything that Zihark had taught him, he looked deep down inside him to find his inner strength. Finally, he found it, and he felt the familiar spark he had felt a couple days ago. Thinking of one, single element, he thought of the structure of motes that he had read in the book the day before.

     Feeling the element flow through him, he opened his eyes.

     The shooting stars were still falling, but that wasn't what caught Blaze's eye. The Doglefox was staring at his right paw, which now held a mote. The element of the mote wasn't fire or water, nor earth or air. It was one of the rarest motes ever: the light mote.

     “I... did it,” Blaze breathed. He looked over at Zihark, who was looking right at him with pride in his eyes.

     “You did it,” Zihark echoed, “and what a beautiful mote it is!” The Whoot's voice rose into a whisper. “Do you know why I'm so surprised?” Blaze shook his head as Zihark answered, “The very first mote that I summoned was also a light mote.”

     Zihark's gaze held Blaze's for a moment, and then Blaze knew. He knew that the Wise Whoot had chosen him for a reason. Perhaps that reason was because Blaze reminded Zihark of himself when the Wise Whoot was learning his powers? Or, there was a chance that Blaze would never know the real reason. Yet the only thing he really needed to know was that Zihark trusted him, trusted him to become his apprentice.

     The two of them, teacher and student, Whoot and Doglefox, two who were now true friends, brought their gaze back up to the shooting stars. Blaze let his light mote disperse into the air, to follow the stars.

     Somehow, he knew, his first mote would reach his family to tell them that Blaze the Doglefox was in good hands.

     Or... good talons to be exact.

The End