Kasuga was born a slave. His mother was a serving maid for the owner of a mining company. While she was pregnant, her Master already told her that her boy would serve as a miner. A girl would serve as... Well, she was lucky he was a boy. She named him Kasuga, so he would always remind her of a nice spring day. Where they lived, there was no spring. It was always dark and the air was filled with thick smoke and foulness. That is why she suffered from a lung disease and died young. Kasuga never knew his father, so after his mother's death his only friend was a tiny owl named Pipsqueak. Every day, they worked together in the mines. Every night, they slept together in the barrack. Every day was working, coal and sleeping.
»Tonight, I'll dream about home«, Pipsqueak used to say before they fell asleep. »They can ban our hopes, but never will they ban our dreams.«
Kasuga never answered. He was born mute. But he always listened to Pipsqueak's tales of green hills, forests and streams. How it was to be free. And he also started to dream about a home like that. We will leave someday, he thought. We will not live and die this way. We will be free.