A Seed Planted

The brook’s song carried through the grove, unbroken and timeless. Mina sat by the water’s edge, the orb resting beside her. It glowed softly, its presence as steady as her breath.

What the others saw as conflict and crisis, she had begun to see as something else—a chance to transform waste into something useful. In her training, Jiro Sensei had taught her to find the lesson in every loss, the pivot in every attack. Here, by the brook, that wisdom took root in her heart.

Her hand brushed the orb’s smooth surface, and its light brightened for a moment, as if in acknowledgment.

Jiro stood before Mina, his presence calm but commanding. She was seated cross-legged on the floor, still flushed from the day’s training. The wooden jo rested her right side, the side of peace. Her fingers lightly tracing its grain as though it could tell her the secrets of balance and flow.

“Mina,” he began, his voice steady, “you’ve learned much in a short time, but Aikido is not something you master quickly. It’s a path, one you walk for as long as you live.”

Mina nodded, her gaze steady, though there was still a youthful eagerness in her expression.

“You’ve learned to receive,” Jiro continued, gesturing to the jo in her hands, “and to move with intention. But Aikido is not just about technique. It is a reflection of the world and how we choose to exist within it.”

He knelt before her, placing his hand on the jo. “Do you know the name Morihei Ueshiba?”

Mina shook her head. “No, Sensei.”

Jiro smiled faintly, the lines around his eyes deepening. “We call him Osensei. He created Aikido not as a way to defeat others, but as a way to harmonize with the world. His art grew out of great tragedy, out of a time when the world seemed bent on destruction.”

He stood, his movements deliberate. “Ask Lyra about him. She knows his story, and it’s one you need to hear. More importantly, she can take you to a place where you can see the roots of his art—and understand why balance, courage, and responsibility are not just ideas, but necessities.”

Mina’s brow furrowed in curiosity, but she nodded, sensing the weight in Jiro’s words. “I will, Sensei.”

Jiro smiled again, his expression softer this time. “Good. And remember, Mina—Aikido is not just what you do here in the dojo. It’s how you live, how you face the challenges that come. Walk the path with humility, and it will guide you.”