[center][h1]Mirror, Mirror by the River[/h1][/center]

[center][img]https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRYsEhmaI37Z7vaOuP12rM7bPL9ArboWE1valqbypQr4sU6RGnF[/img][/center]

Give a man a fish and you feed him for the night, teach a man how to fish then you feed him for life. Knowing that he wasn't going to be around to feed his son forever, Muo's father sought to do the latter and brought him to the river just outside of their village to give him lessons. Muo who was freshly eight at the time did not have much interest in fishing and thus allowed his mind to wander during the hours they spent standing by the river with their lines cast. He would scan the river from west to east and dwell on how far it stretched. Remembering that his father told him that eventually, the water would venture to the sea, Muo began to imagine the kinds of fish that lived out there. Far from a marine biologist, Muo had a theory that fish grew to be as big as the body of water around them just as the water took the shape of its container. Muo was an imaginative child and there were times that he let it get the best of him. 

However, he was sure that this wasn't one of those times.

Once he was sure that he got as good of a measure of the river's length as he could manage, Muo gazed across to the opposite bank. At first he saw nothing but trees and brush. Sighing, he looked at his line to see that it had not budged an inch. Fishing was so boring!

"Dad," Muo whined to his father, "can we go home yet?"

"No Muo," his father answered sternly, "it's our job and a man must do his job either completely or not at all."

Muo snorted before looking back across the river to see nothing again. Only, that was what expected to see.

"Hello," Muo murmured so his father couldn't hear.

Standing opposite of them, fishing as well, was another father and son pair. Muo and the boy made eye contact so he waved. The other boy waved back simultaneously.

"Dad!" Muo boomed joyfully. "Look over there! They're fishing too!"

His father's sight darted across the river to see what his son saw.

"Oh Muo, stop goofing around and focus before you miss a catch."

Muo was confused. Did his father mean to say that he did not see the other pair across the river.

"B-but Dad they're st-"

"Look Muo your line!"

Never mind the pair! Muo squealed in delight as his line dipped into the river. He was about to catch his first ever fish! Working together, Muo and his father wrangled in the tiny rasckle that was barely bigger than the boy's thumb. 

"Awe," Muo whined, "I wanted a shark."

His father chuckled as he dangled his son's miniscule catch front of him. 

"You'll have to go a little further for that, Muo. Don't feel bad. You have to start somewhere."

"Yes sir," Muo nodded his head.

The two gathered their belongings and started up the hill towards the village. Before reaching the top Muo glimpsed over his shoulder to check if the other father and son were still fishing. 

They weren't. As Muo and his father headed up the hill the other father and son turned towards the woods with their own gear slung over their shoulders. Muo, being only a boy, didn't think much of it.

[i]They must be heading home too. It is getting late after all[/i]

"Muo!" He was snapped out of his curiosity by his father's voice. "We have to get back before dark!"

"Coming!"

Forgetting all about the pair across the river Muo zipped towards his father. Watching him as he had watched them was the other father and son pair. 

"Dad," Muo said to his father before they entered the woods. "Where do you think they're going?"

"Home," Muo's father answered, his voice creaking. "Where I wish we could go."

Then, as if they were never there, they faded. 

[hr]

[i]"If you go to the Karayang River you may just see yourself."

"See me? Well, water does give off a reflection."

"It's different than that they say. Think of it literally."

"You've got be kidding me."

"No joke. On the other side, people meet themselves. Their true selves."

"...you're losing me with all that philosophical bull crap."

"I mean it. The Karayang knows what lies within our hearts and has the power to pull it out of us and make us face it."

"Quit screwing around! Since when did you believe such foolishness?"

"Since I seen me for myself."

"....who are you? What have you done with Pon?"

"I am Pon. The real Pon."
[/i]

And that wasn't a good thing.