Chapter Twenty

    The Voice went over to Singing Cat. "I am anxious," he announced, "for you to teach my guards and I this new fighting method you have developed!  What gave you the idea?"
    2  "You will think it strange, Lord," the woman told him, "but I have always been fascinated by the way animals move.  No motion is wasted......especially with the hunters.  By studying them, I copied their actions and developed the skill you speak of. I think being a Healer sparked my interest."
    3  "Whatever did it," continued The Voice, "you have developed something extremely useful!  I wish to learn how to do it."
    4  "I will be starting a class tomorrow.  You are welcome to attend.  We usually practice behind the house."
    5  The Voice agreed, and early next morning he and his guards gathered with a group of other people, and Singing Cat began to show them how to stretch their bodies into positions they didn't believe possible.  Many a night they went to bed stiff and sore, but found themselves ready to go again, in the morning.
    6  The Voice did not neglect his other duties.  His visits to the surrounding villages sometimes kept him away from the lessons.  But in four months he was very proficient in the new art.  He was also happy with the other work he'd done.
    7  Teachers had arrived from every city that he had visited and were studying at Shining Goat's School.  They would soon be returning to their own cities with special skills to help the crippled and deformed, the blind and the deaf.
    8  Also, fighting people from every city had arrived, and were training with Singing Cat.  They, too, would soon be returning to their cities to teach others their new skills.
    9  One afternoon, as The Voice was returning from a distant village, he found a familiar face waiting at the gate.  Swift Cat came up in his usual jovial manner.  But The Voice could tell the young man was troubled.  The happy attitude he always showed to others sometimes hid worry and sadness.  The Voice knew this was one of those times.
    10  "I've got a room I'm using just down the street here," the young man commented. "Do you have time to stop a minute?"
    11  "Surely!" agreed The Voice, "But my companions and I have had no midday meal."
    12  "Then let me be your benefactor!" the young man replied. "The room happens to be at an inn, and the cook is superb!  The meal's on me!"
    13  "An offer we cannot refuse," agreed The Voice.
    14  The Voice's guards seated themselves in the common room while The Voice and Swift Cat went to his quarters.  A pleasant-looking young woman brought their food and joked with Swift Cat.  When she left, Swift Cat shut the door, sat down, and began to eat. They were half-way through the meal when he spoke.
    15  "Lord," he asked, "is it proper for a man to know himself?"
    16  The Voice nearly choked on his fish!  "In most circumstances," answered The Voice, "it is proper, as long as it is in private.  Of course if a man has mates and knows himself constantly, neglecting them, then he should see a Healer, one who deals with problems of the mind. But for a man to occasionally relieve the pressures of his body when he has no woman is not shameful."
    17  "Why do some people, Lord, think it so disgusting?" the young man asked.
    18  "Mostly," explained The Voice, "because they are ashamed of their own bodies, they hate to admit they have physical needs.  They want to be pure and innocent, not bothered by the things of this world, and live only in the Spiritual State.  So, therefore, when a perfectly natural physical need arises in them they consider it evil and defiling, and wish to drive it away, rather than satisfy it."
    19   "It is not wrong," the young man questioned, "to satisfy every whim?"
    20  "We can never satisfy every whim," the Voice answered, "but to deny the body's natural needs only leads to folly, as many who have done so learn in The Spirit World. The thing is not to let the need possess you until it becomes an obsession; to do what is necessary for the health of your body and mind, but not to abuse, either!"
    21  "I think I understand what you are saying," the young man told him.
    22  "I think you do, also," agreed The Voice. "I have been meaning to speak to you for some time. You know, I have visited Shining Goat's house often, and every time I do a certain young lady asks me if I have

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