Aino's Ascent: Searching For Home in a Changing World.

I had watched the rising of the sun with William, my new friend. He was an intriguing man with a deep and troubled past. I had heard his story as we stood together on top of Mt Eden, looking out over the city.

A child, orphaned by war and lost in the chaos that followed. A life of hardship. Of running and hiding. Scavenging for food and water. This was how he survived. He was a good man and did not want to hurt anyone, but they would not stop chasing him. They were evil men who killed those they found alone. If they could capture William, they could sell him to slavers who would take him away to South America or Asia or Africa, anywhere that he could be forced into hard labour or sold as a sex slave.

Fleeing into the mountains, he became lost and uncertain where to find water. He stumbled upon an old farmhouse and collapsed from exhaustion at the front door. An elderly couple lived there - Aboriginals who had been here thousands of years before the white settlers came - and they took pity on William. He stayed for three days without moving, and then recovered enough strength to walk again.

He never saw them again - perhaps they were killed in the war that left us without adults, without teachers and parents - but their kindness saved William's life, so long ago now it might have happened to someone else in another lifetime.

William eventually made his way down from the mountain to join others like himself, survivors who banded together in gangs who fought other gangs for what little food they could find and steal from each other's hoards.

There was no adult authority anymore; no police force, no army, no government - nothing but gangs fighting over whatever scraps of food there were left after everyone else had taken all they needed to survive another day. William told me he thought now that maybe it was better when he was up on Mt Eden all alone with only a dog as his companion: at least then there was nobody to fight with him over what little food there was left after everyone else had taken theirs. He hung around a group called the Angels for a time, until one day he refused to attack someone his gang leader wanted dead. The Angel gang leader was furious with William for disobeying him: if you can't kill someone you don't like yourself then why put trust in your friends and comrades to do it for you? It's better if you do it yourself! That way you won't get arrested! But William did not agree with this logic; killing people just because you didn't like them seemed very wrong to him, even though he knew that sometimes deadly violence was necessary in such a cruel world as this one had become if you wanted to stay alive yourself: still he couldn't bring himself to go along with something like that when asked by his leader to do so. He argued back against this until eventually the Angels kicked him out of their gang anyway; much better off doing things alone than being trapped inside a gang where everyone hated each other anyway except during times when they teamed up against outsiders: especially other gangs who might steal from them what little food there was left after everyone else had taken theirs to eat themselves! Much better off alone! Until he met me!

William explained it all very clearly as we stood together on top of Mt Eden watching the sun rise over Auckland City two thousand years ago when we lived in New Zealand in the fourth century BCE before everything changed forever after a day called Friday 13th which changed our lives forever...