At 2 years old, John’s legs were beginning to feel a bit stronger. He was apparent to this the moment he started clinging onto Roary’s legs. He was no longer a baby - he was coming onto two years old.
He also had a strong attachment to Roary more than he loved Ursa Major, mainly because his star sign was Leo Major. When Roary went to consult the King Of The Stars, Nutri, about this, he waved his magic star wand and showed that as a baby, before he arrived in the Dream Kingdom, his mysterious father told his late wife before she died that he’s gifted with the star sign of Roary’s grandad, Leo Major.
From this day, Roary promised to raise him the same way Leo Major raised every other child born among the stars, who then might die trying.
From the moment his training in learning to walk was fully accomplished, John was a bit of a playful little one - well at least, according to Ursa. He lived a life so full of freedom that no one would ever outshine him - not even the other children, who were all just babies sleeping peacefully among the clouds.
In fact, they remained babies the moment they were abducted from spaceship wreckage and brought to the Dream Kingdom to be protected. But although it is a bit isolated, John felt more freedom than he ever could’ve imagined, thanks to Roary and Ursa Major.
Since Roary was the one who taught him to walk on his own two legs and saw images of his grandad, Leo Major, he accompanied him with every game he would play. He would bounce on the fluffiest clouds and climb every yellow star to the stretchy gummy rainbow, where he can leap up towards Neptune and play on its water bed like surface.
Sometimes when he saw a neon glass rainbow slide across the sky and land in the clouds, he and his two carers would climb up it together and slide down, until they disappeared deep into the clouds’ ‘ground’, at first not being seen at all - until they popped out, laughing and giggling at each others’ cloudy beards and hairstyles. And since they tasted like cotton candy, they shared the clouds between each other.
John also had a ravenous appetite. When the Dream Tocker struck lunch, or breakfast, or dinner, he would sing to the tune of ‘Lavender’s Blue’ for food, and wouldn’t stop until 8, when Roary, being the expert cook of the Constellations of the Dream Kingdom, got Ursa Major’s help to prepare sparkly porridge with yellow bits of small star shaped cheese.
Even in the hour after lunch, John would be sneaky with Roary and raid the Chocolate Star Cookie Jar to raid some desert - and eat them all. Ursa Major didn’t scold harshly, she just tut-tut-tutted and waggled her finger, saying:
“What on Earth am I ever going to do with you?”
But still, John looked up to Roary and formed a strong bond with him, mainly because of how much he reminded him of his late father….although, he cannot quite remember his name. In fact, when Roary went to ask Nutri for advice, he just dropped his magic staff and walked away.
Roary may have been disappointed, but he knew the main reason for raising John among the stars was to make him happy with his surroundings and not too ungrateful.
In fact, during his first Dreamsgiving dinner, John was so grateful his ravenous appetite caused him to share one half of the jellybean chocolate turkey in the middle of the table between him and Roary, while Ursa Major got to share the rest with her niece Ursa Minor, and the babies slept as always.
When John would get too full, Roary would place him over his shoulder and gently pat him six times, then after a little cuddle, he’d burp out pink bubbles and small, colourful rainbows. It was natural of him to do that, since he was a small boy living in a pastel coloured Dream World.
Mainly:
The Dream Kingdom.
Other times when Ursa Minor came to stay and Ursa Major took the whole family to the River Of Imagination, John would have fun playing with the little cub. The two felt like they were inseparable, and spent every day of her visit playing together.
One time, they were playing with Ursa Minor’s building blocks, and she used her Imagic to make the blocks bigger so John would climb high into the stars. That’s the great thing about Ursa Major - she’s only 5, but she can make magical things happen.
For when children in the Dream Kingdom reach the age of 5, they develop a special power related to magic and imagination no one has ever heard of before. And John was only two, so the age of 5 was only just three years away.
Now five add three equals eight, and towards the age of eight, children who stay awake in this world reach a special form of puberty, much like how molting happened to a little dragon named Spike once upon a time - and he lived to regret it.
But this form of molting is different. First, the human child who stays awake in the Dream Kingdom from the moment they learn to walk feels their originally coloured hair turn a different colour, which lasts only for one week. Then coming onto the second week, they feel severely itchy.
This lasts for seven weeks, but upon the eighth week, the itchy patches who have turned to star shaped gashes of flesh on one’s neck and body glow a bright yellow, and he immediately turns 18 - and that is the end of puberty for one raised in the kingdom of Dreams.
Time is mildly slow, mildly fast in Dream Kingdom. That means time is still slow, but no matter how you age, something always happens to the special child who is raised there.
Anyway, every time Ursa Minor left, John would feel terribly sad and run to Roary to cry over Ursa Minor’s leaving. He would always ask him:
“When will I find a proper friend, Roary?”
And he would always purr:
“You will, son. Just wait until you find one who will never, ever, ever, EVER leave you, forever and a day.”
For John of course, when he reached age 3, that day was bound to come.
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