The Olympians

Tara Lapine-Frost is a remarkable bunny. Since her accident in the snow fields of the Atlandian mountains - incredibly two and a half years ago - her initial enforced recuperation led to regular social interactions between not only the family of Nigel Snow-Warren (her romantic partner) but also with us. Cecile helped bring her out of herself and we gradually learned more of her past.

 

We now consider her a good friend and I believe the feeling is mutual. When I think back to our early meetings I remember I was actually a little scared of her! I get the feeling that, with the secretive aspects of her job, she was wary of making new friends. Now, she has a group of people with whom she can relax. People separate to her work.

A recent chat revealed some more interesting information.

"No, I've completely recovered. I learned from that accident that I'd been stupidly careless and I was angry with myself. Rather on dwell on the negative I decided to restart my training with the Mist Cats. I needed a refresher. Years ago, before I went out into the human world I underwent long and intensive training with them."

We hadn't heard this tale before so we asked for details.

"It wasn't just going there to forage for plants and minerals," Tara replied. "I'd been a handful of times under the supervision of the Mist Cats but I found it a little restrictive. This must have prompted them to look at me more closely and they must have seen some potential in me, leading to the training. I had to avoid complacency and be capable of taking care of myself both mentally and physically. Anyway, in time they made me an associate of the tribe and they told me that they were confident in my abilities, that they believed I could venture there alone. That was quite an honour."

"What sort of training did you have?" asked Cecile. 

"Climbing, endurance, concealment, self-defence. That sort of thing. Felixor was one of my trainers."

 

She described how Felixor worked, how they progressed from working in the gym, moving onto survivalist training on the small outer Sylvanian islands before venturing into the human world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"You make Felixor sound like a super Sylvanian," laughed Cecile.

 

"He is very capable, as are most of the Mist Cats. Actually, Felixor was an Olympian."

"As in the Olympics?" I said.

"Yes. I'm not sure which sport. I think it was multi-discipline."

"Now that is interesting."

Cecile agreed. "I've always wondered where the word came from. What does Olympics actually mean?"

"Oh, it's a human word; no idea what it means. Just what it represents. It's yet another of those human traditions that we seem to have acquired and adapted in our own Sylvanian way. Like Christmas and Halloween."

"Is their Olympics like ours?"

"I think many of the sports are, but the organisation will be different. The humans are split into different groups called nations. Each nation finds their best sports people and they come together to compete against each other. We don't have nations as such. Atlandia, the Isle of Rut, where we live, other islands - we're all considered Sylvanian, so we handle the sports differently."

From Merlin's books on the "History of Man" I was aware of the nation thing. As Tara provided more details I was glad our Olympics were different. Ours has different challenges. I suppose I should explain.

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The main Sylvanian Olympic event is held in central Sylvania and athletes come from villages throughout the land to participate. However, the number of spectators tend to be limited. This is because of the distances involved and the comparatively low capacity for transport. 

 

Being in the northeast of Sylvania, Mellowdene is one of those villages affected. A handful of sports fans will trek to the Olympic village but it is impractical for most. We have to follow the sports remotely. The Mellowdene Examiner publishes a supplement containing official colour photographs organised and provided by the Olympic Committee, plus a log of the results. There are a few television sets in the village (but not further afield in the county) that potentially allow some high profile events to be seen. However, the main sources of information are the scheduled radio broadcasts. They don't always report on events as they happen but they tend to be quite comprehensive.

With this limited coverage of the main Olympic competition some villages organise their own sporting events for locals to participate. Mellowdene hasn't had a great take up by residents but that may change. This is due to a particular cat who works with the schools. Ken Golightly was a past Olympian too.

[As an aside, it's worth commenting on Sylvanian cats. Anatomically they can be quite - bendy - and are naturally agile. From what Tara says, the Mist Cats are prime examples. They go into the Land of Men and are like shadows as they do whatever they do there. It isn't as surprising as it could be that both Felixor and Ken Golightly were Olympians.]

 

This year is special. Ken Golightly has been training some young Mellowdenians and they have qualified to enter the youth Olympics. All three of Josef Darwin's children are sporty and Judy Darwin in particular is quite the talented gymnast, Adam Maces is a speedy runner and Jocelyn Springer is skilled in both long jump and high jump.

 

There is some excitement about these three youngsters but there was also some regret that more people would not be able to watch them in their sporting activities. One couldn’t rely on television coverage. Even if there were enough televisions there is no guarantee that their activities would be filmed.

Although there is a rumour that a solution has been found.

o 0 O 0 o

 

There is a small theatre in Mellowdene. It was set up by Grayson Newcastle - the brother of Deborah Pookie - and it is a wonderful addition to the village as he uses it primarily to show movies. These are shipped in from a contact in Calico New City. Because the floorspace is limited, not many crittizens can assemble to watch the scheduled movie. This is not a problem as there will be multiple showings, Grayson having the Mellowdene Examiner publicise forthcoming treats. Small parties can book to watch a given show.

What has this to do with the Olympics, you may ask? It was another of Grayson's ideas, piloted for the first time this year. He engaged a film cameraman to attend the Olympics and ensure that the efforts of our sporting young Mellowdenians would  be captured for posterity.

Our villagers would be able to see Judy Darwin...

...Adam Maces...

...and Jocelyn Springer. 

 

 

 

So far, the theatre slots have been booked solid. The interest in our youngsters Olympic efforts is unprecedented. There is talk of booking either the village hall or the chapel meeting room and setting up a screen there.

I wonder how many people would be curious to see Tara Lapine-Frost's training? 

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