Breaking All the Rules For You

Jomo was running and fast. Well as fast as one can with their arms bound, a deep cut on their stomach and whipped marks on the rest of their body. Yes Jomo was a sight to see. Beaten to a pulp simply for being born like he was, he had been beaten every day since he could remember. He wasn’t even sure why, they never told him, only told him it was for his own good, but that never made sence to him. Why would getting beaten unconcious every day, staved, then bound and kicked off of his homeland, then chased down being thretened be burned at the stake, for something he had not controle over, it wasn’t his fault his mom had been rapped, that he had learned through the beatings for his mom, the one that was suppose to protect her stood by and watched it happen yelling things, awful this at poor Jomo. But nothing else he knew, he didn’t know who his father was, or who he was or anything, and now he was nearly naked and was beaten, hungry, scared and alone. Not knowing anything but pain and fear.

Now he was running through a strange looking forest, he tripped a few times and being unable to stop him self landed face down now he was covered in mud and his face was bursied, the cuts all over his rediculasly thin body were now caked in mud and they stung he bit his lip to stop himself out from crying out. He saw the water up ahead and dunked his head and attempted to drink the water slurping it up as a dog he sighed, that helped his parched thoart but now the mud was stinging his eyes.

Hearing footsteps coming toward him he scrambled towards the darkness, he was shaking with fear knowing that if it were the people that were changing him he was a dead man. But he cocked his head to the side and watched her, he was entranced by her and she didn’t know why. He knew he shouldn’t be watching and went to turn away but she called for him, and the years of brain washing caused him to stand and stumble towards her but his legs gave out and he landed in a heap at her feet. “I didn’t mean to watch mistress” He lowered his head and his shirtless back was fully revealed deep scars and infected sores and welts an dried blood mixed with dirt. He was shaking an panting clearly terrified that this woman was going to beat him too!

Ariel looks at him as he stumbled out of the shade of the bushes. She lowers her bow and arrow after seeing how badly he had been beaten. She kneels down to him and gently stroking his back. She says, “I won’t hurt you, so you can stop shaking.” The people that were attacking him appeared and quickly bowed to Ariel. A man says, “We are sorry for bothering you Lady Ariel. We have come to take the boy home.” The men inched towards the boy.
Ariel looks at them coldly and says, “This boy is in my care now and none of you are allowed to come near him. If you do, you will have to face my wrath.” She helps him stand against her and then she helps him into her village so she can heal him. The women of the village help by clearing their way so they can get to the healing hut faster. Once they were inside, Ariel put him on a bed and starts to heal him slowly.
Her hands start to glow blue as she heals his wounds. She says looking only at his wounds, “You are safe in my village as long as you behave. No one will harm you as long as you are under my protection.” Soon his whole body was healed and she got away from him to give him some fresh food. She gives him a bowl of stew and a spoon to eat it with.

Jono flinched as he touched her, never once being touched in a loving manner he didn’t know what she was doing. He was confused her touch felt so nice, so different then all the other times he had been touched. Hearing her voice Jono imeditatly stopped his shaking. His years of abuse had trained him to listen and obey imeditatly. He looked up at him, straining to see through his blackened eyes. He nodded softly. Then as the men that were chasing him appeered Jono cowere he knew that if they got their hands on him he would surely die as they inched toward him he scampered back slowly trying to get away from them. But ready to defend the nice woman if he needed too.

He was yet again surprsed when the woman spoke up. He didn’t really understand the words, but they seemed like good words. He then stood but didn’t dare to look at the people chasing him but he walked slowly with him. He looked around at the village but didn’t make eye contact wth the villagers he kept his head low. Scared out of his mind.

Once in the hut he laid down on the bed and when he begain to heal him he gasped. Suddenly for the first time he was not in pain. He nodded to her instructions ‘Jono be good, promise” he spoke softly. When she left he sat up and looked around the small hut and then looked over his body. He was shocked that he was no longer in any pain. Once he saw the food his eyes light up “Been 5 days since Jono last eat” His speech was a little off since he had no one to talk to, he just spoke what he had heard. He shouldn’t have been able to use a spoon but he had seen others using a spoon so he began to eat slowly savouring every bite. “This is good” He looked up at her then down at his food and ate it all up.

Ariel looks at him and says, “I am glad you like my cooking.” She got Jono another bowl of food so he could get the food and nourishment he needed to survive. She says, “We will find you a job to do so you can earn your keep here. You must not cower if people yell at you. Keep your head up, you are different not less than the people around you.” She gets up again as she looks outside the hut to see a bunch of children huddling around the hut to see who she had brought home. She sighs and lets them see Jono.

Smiling up at Ariel Jono nodded. "You are a very good cook" He gracilly took the other bowl and ate that up too, when he was done he bowed "Thank you mistress" He nodded when she mentioned a job "I have done much, cleaning, and blacksmithng, but I really like animals, and little ones" He paused searching for the word "Children" He blushed in embarassment thinking he was stupid.

When she let the children see him, He light up "Hi, I'm Jono" It was clear that he was comfortable with Children, he looked up at Ariel. "I am a hard worker, I wll not disapoint you" It was also clear that Jono didnt fully understand what he was only that what ever he was it was a bad thing and something to be hidden and not talked about.

Ariel smiles as Jono seemed to relax around the children as they came in to look at him. The children gave him welcome hugs since most of them could not talk yet. Ariel says, “You don’t have to call me Mistress, Jono. I don’t own you. You can call me Ariel if you want.” She sits down on the floor as she gets a bunch of herbs out and starts teaching them about what each herb can do. The children look at each herb and memorize each one in their memory. She then has every child go outside and gather other plants they want to learn more about.

As each child came up Jono hugged them graciously and then looked up at Ariel nodded. "Alright Ariel it is" He then looked down at the herbs and what she was doing wth great interest. He like the children commted all she said to memory, he was blessed or was it cursed? Either way he had a prefect memory never forgetting anything he was ever told, saw or did. Then when the children left he looked up at Ariel again. "What does your village need Ariel, I can do nearly anything really" He shrugged. "Learned lots, do lots, hard worker, I want to earn my keep I do no wish to be a burden"

Ariel looks at him says, “Well I need someone to be my new body guard. The villagers worry about me getting hurt when I go out to gather herbs. I want to put their minds at ease before they let fear rule their lives.” She smiles some as she could see each child eyes light up as they could find each herb they were assigned. She lied teaching the children how to identify herbs that could become illness remedies. She looks at Jono again and says, “You are going to be taught how to speak right though.” She looks at the man calmly as she was trying find out what he was.

Nodded eageraly Jono smiled "I could do that" He paused listening more "I could see why they worry many not nice things in forest" He licked his lips again and looked up at her. He blinked when she said he didnt speak right. He was confused he thought he copied other people well. He shifted his feet nervously. "I dont speak good?" He lowered his gaze "I just copy what others say"

“I don’t speak good?” He lowered his gaze. “I just copy what others say.” Ariel looks at him and says, “No you don’t speak very well but it is not your fault. You will be taught at the school hut.” She looks over his clothes and says, “I will have to get you some new appropriate clothes as well.” she goes to her clothes trunk and gives him some guy clothes.

Nodding Jono nervously nodded, he had never been to a school hut but he had seen the other children in the village going to it. He was excited to learn, and to speak better. He loved to learn he just hadnt been allowed to all those years. He lfted his head when she bought him new clothes. His eyes light up and he held them as a child reciving a birthday present, "Thank you so much Ariel" He looked around "should Jono change here?" He was used to changing infront of people he never had privacy before. So he wasnt sure what was right now.

Ariel looks at him and says, “You are quite welcome Jono.” She chuckles some as she saw much his eyes lit up like a child receiving a new toy. She points to a blanket hanging from a wire and says, “You can change behind there. Just let me know if you need help.” She was still doing all she could to figure out what he was. No normal human could be beaten as bad as he has and survive. She figured he had to have certain amount of demon blood in him.

Standing with the load Jono shuffled over to the area and closed it then slowly stripped off his muddy clothes and then put on the clean clothes but he was havng problems with the bottons. "Uhhh Ariel" His voice was a bit shaky but she did say to let her know so he poked his head out the pants he had down up but he was having more problems with the shirt. He looked up at her wondering what he had done wrong. "Never had clothes like this before, very nice"

Ariel looks at him and notices that he was having issues with the buttons. She helps him with the small buttons and says, “You did not do anything wrong, Jono. You have big fingers and hand, doing up small buttons is hard for a men with the hands of a worker. Such hands are not a bad thing. It proves you don’t give up easy and people can depend on you.”

Watching Ariel closly Jono was trying to remember how she did it for feture times but as she menioned her big hands he stared at them. But then he grinned. "I is a hard worker" He nodded as if he was pleased with himself/

Ariel says correcting his sentence, “You mean I am a hard worker not I is a hard worker.” She finishes getting the buttons done up for him and then goes to where she was before. She smiles some as some boys wait to show Jono the way to the school hut so he could learn to speak better, write, and read. They were already told that he was not a kid just a man who needed education and some friends in the village.

"I am a hard worker" Jono repeated, Ariel had told him to listen and that is what he was going to do, listen and learn. He walked up to the boys grinning and walked with them anserwing their questions best he could when asked why he didnt go to school before he shrugged he knew the reason but he wanted to protect them so he simply said "They never really had room for me"

The children watched him as they began to start their school day. Everyone seemed okay with having Jono in the class as long as he behaved and did not cause any trouble. Ariel came and brought him a home cooked meal when they were on their little half-hour break from school. She knew he needed to eat a lot of food to make up for what nutrition he had lost over the years.

Sitting with the kids Jono was like a sponge picking up everything the teacher said. He knew better then to cause any issues so he just sat there and learned. Reading and writing would come in time but he was picking up how to speak a lot better.

When they had their break Jono sat out front and stood when he saw Ariel coming and walked to her. He took the food. "Thank you Ariel. I am really liking school"

“Thank you Ariel. I am really liking school.” Ariel smiles and says, “That’s good that you are enjoying your schooling.” She sits them down at a small table and dishes them both out some food. She says, “You will be spending four hours here every day to learn. Then you will be learning your duties as my protector.” She starts to eat a little bit.

Taking the food Jono smiled and thanked Ariel "This..." He paused for a second or two "Really looks good" He looked up at Ariel as if he was asking if he had said it right he slowly started to eat grinning broadly. "This is really good, you are a good cook" As she discribed his day he nodded. "That sounds good" He spoke after he swallowed.

Ariel smiles as she noticed him pause as though he was waiting for her to correct him. She did not knowing he would have to learn to correct himself. She says, “I am glad you like my cooking Jono.” She looks at the children as they look at the two of them. Her eyes shine some as she knew that they were just surprised to see her speaking to a man as though she had known him all her life.

Pleased with himself Jono smile again, a faint blush coming to his white skin. He continued to eat as the food nurished his body. He smiled at the children "The children realy like you Ariel" He said after finishing what was in his mouth so as not to be rude.

Ariel looks at him and says, “Yes and they seem to like you as well, Jono.” She looks at him once she was done eating and pushed away the dirty dishes from her. She says, “Having the children on your side, is a good thing. If someone does not take a liking to you, they will have to reason with the children before they can toss you out of the village.”