Page 22 of The Mentor
“We can show you,” Willow said and gave a sweet smile to Storm.
I took a step forward but Pearl placed a hand on my arm. “Kya, don’t,” she said softly.
“Archer.” Willow turned to face the large man. “Can we show what a love circle is?”
“You have to address me as Mr. Archer,” he corrected her and crossed his arms.
“Okay, Mr. Archer,” Willow said. “So can we?”
She took his small nod as a yes and called all the Motlander children together in a circle. “Oscar and Nikola, the two boys who had been fighting, were walking back to the group with Marco.
“Oscar and Nikola, you two have to stand in the middle,” Raven called out to them.
Archer and Marco took a position outside the circle with the other Northland children, and it was clear to see that they found the whole thing ridiculous.
“Now what?” Storm asked.
“Now we shower them with love,” Willow explained and since this was something the children from the Motherlands had all done since early childhood, they needed no further instructions. Holding hands, they walked closer, making the circle smaller until they were shoulder to shoulder surrounding the two boys.
Oscar and Nikola didn’t look too comfortable when the children all placed a hand on them and started singing. It was the traditional love song, using simple words.
Take my love and fill your heart.
That’s all you need for a fresh start.
No need to fight, no need to scare.
You are loved and we all care.
The children had reached the part of the song where they made funny faces to cheer up the person in the middle. Oscar and Nikola made funny faces back at them and standing back to back they started circling slowly, guided by the Motlander children, who knew the importance of looking everyone in the eye.
It was hard not to laugh when the children collectively gave a group hug, squeezing Oscar and Nikola together in the middle.
Archer clapped his hands to get their attention back. “Thank you for the demonstration, that looks… ehhm… fun, but I think it’s time to play some more games.” He pointed to Marco and Shelly. “You got this?”
Marco nodded and whistled loudly while gesturing for the children to follow him. Like a pack of wolves, twenty children followed the young man with Shelly taking up the tail end.
“Kya, can I talk to you?” Archer asked in a serious tone.
“Sure,” I said and was relieved when Pearl took her leave with a quick explanation that she needed to get back to Khan, who would be curious about how the first day had gone. I didn’t want her to see us have another argument.
“Just so we’re clear, if any of the students need punishment, I’ll make sure they get it. And it won’t be in some fucking love circle,” Archer said.
“I know, you told me so already.”
“And what happened to that no-hands policy that I insisted on?”
“As long as there’s no groping or hitting, I really don’t see the problem with them touching.” I tilted my head. “I told you a million times, touching is healthy, and besides, they will be touching when they massage each other tomorrow morning.”
Archer made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat. “How about I take the Nboys running while you do the massage thing with your kids?”
“No! We’re not having two schools in one school.” I crossed my arms. “First they will do massage and then they will go running with you.”
Archer got that stubborn expression on his face that I had come to know so well. “They will go running in the morning as the first thing when they wake up. After that, you can lull them back to sleep with your meditation and massage, but not before my running.”
“You’re a stubborn mule.”
“I thought you said calling each other names was immature,” he pointed out in reference to an earlier discussion we’d had.
