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tam stares right back... those schlamos as you call then have fallen into that from which i want to save you, kid... their minds are like sewers, their thoughts so foul they don't know their back sides from their fronts... do you truly wish to sink down to their level or do ye want to be better than they... and trust me, kero... i never said ye cannot fight back... there is nothing so satisfying as telling someone off.. trust me, i know... and it is even sweeter if ye can do so without a single foul word, rising above them... sometimes so far over their heads they have no idea of what ye've just said...

as i said earlier... language has power... use it... why settle for the pebbles of a curse word when ye can lay them flat with the mountains of pure intellect...

tam smiles grimly... either you simply don't believe me... or you don't know how... so i'm going to help you remember... i asked that you do not swear and ye have refused,,, therefore... ye will not speak outloud again until you have learned to do so properly... he hums a soft phrase os music, binding kero's ability to speak... then he gets up and continues on... fully expecting the cat to follow

after a bit, he manages to block out the bulk of the onslaught... climbs to his feet and staggers to the next clearing... where he sets up a quick camp, making a fire and brewing a pot of strong herbal tea to sooth his head ache... he makes up a batch for kero as well...

he lays out their bed rolls close but not too close to give the cub space if he needs it and crashes... without eating onto the blankets.. woorying... wondering if he will ever feel whole again..... he feels fairly confident kero will follow... he begins to hum radiating his love and concern, but tempering it with determination.... tam knows he's right... and he also knows that once kero is thinking clearly he'll begin to see why tam wants him to do as he says... that he cares and loves him and wishes only to keep him safe and from harm.... and over time as kero learns to communicate on a more mature level, tam knows he will come to understand what he had been saying...

tam hugs him close and laughs weakly... yer getting me shirt wet, dear heart...... but he makes no move to push him away... instead he rolls to his side and cradles the cub in his arms burying his face in the cat's fur and showering him with the cleansing emotion of love and concern...

hey... whispers tam into his ear.. ye can't keep all that bottled up on the inside too long ye know... ye'll become like a corked bottle filled with a warm carbonated beverage.... yer gonna blow.... and quite messily at that... then he sighs and closes his eyes....

tam waits him out, knowing only that what he said was important and that if kero wants to speak hard enough, he'll eventually come around... but kero's obvious depression is wearing on him... finally one night after about three months of this... he waits until kero is fast asleep and calls on hopian....

ok... he may just be giving me the silent treatment as i took his voice away... but honestly... this has gone on long enough... too long in fact and he's down so far emotionally he'd make a great floor mat iffin i had the desire to walk all over him...

hopian... tell me... did i do the right thing... something doesn't seem right here and i'm getting awfully worried... i know i'm right about the language part... he needs to learn how to communicate without spouting a swear word every two seconds... but did i go too far... now he doesn't communicate at all... he doesn't even reach out with his thoughts... nothing... i don't want to crush his spirit.... he's had enough of that in his life...