Osai Spotlight: Ari Salo

Full Name: Ari Kingren Salo
Birthday: June 8, 1931
Nationality: Catin
Birth City: Natail, Cakarika
Bloodline: Kribana
Current City: Orelie, Catarika
Title: Historical Scholar

Fast Facts:

• Ari Salo is an only child and his mother died when he was 2 from cancer. He is the son of Kaso Salo and Miri Kingren.
• His father is a Man of Terabi and was told by Terabi that he would have a very powerful son. Ari was discovered almost immediately at birth to be a Man of Osai.
  
• His parents were well into their 40's and had tried to have children for years. Finally, when his father was 42 and his mother was 41 she became pregnant with Ari, despite the fact that she had been diagnosed with cancer a year earlier. She held off all treatment until he was born and then resumed treatment. However she became very ill with an infection that would not go away and died a few months after Ari's 2nd birthday. Because she was married to a Terabikai she could go to the Realm so she and Kaso were not really separated. Even though she was no longer walking the earth her influence on Ari was just as strong.
• Ari grew up with just a single father who was a very powerful man himself, and grew up knowing all about Terabi and Osai and the very important figures of their great gifts. More often than not he would be found in the study reading the works of Mera Visi in the middle of the night.
• He often wondered if he was the man that had been said would come that would be a Man of both Terabi and Osai, since he and his father had one of the two. On one occasion Osai whispered to him that it was not him but that the man who would have both gifts was not just a wondering thought that was written down and that he would know this man in his lifetime. This intrigued and excited both Ari and his father and they studied writings together that dealt with this man.
• Ari decided from an early age to completely follow in his father's footsteps and become a historical scholar of his gift. He attended Rihanu University and eventually earned his PhD in History with an emphasis in Jadali History and the Great Catin Gifts, in 1960. He then moved to Orelie, a city near Rihanu, where we would teach at the Orelie Historical Institute.
• He lived next door to his father for many years, until his father died in 1986 at the age of 98.
• Osai showed him a lot about the man who would have both gifts, including his nationality ("I have been shown that his race is mixed and his nationality is neither of the two!"), that obtaining both gifts was going to tax him beyond normal death, he would become a great musician, he would not relate to one gift over the other, and that he would look and act like no man had every before.
• When the man of both gifts was given Terabi Tana in 1963 Ari also saw clear as day the same vision that Ilonwyn Lochmont did. It was in the late evening for him and as he watched the events take place he felt as though his own bones would shatter from the immensity of what had just happened. The other Osanokai saw parts of it but not like he did unless they asked Osai later. Ari recorded this down and later compared his account with Ilonwyn and it matched up exactly.
• He was one of the first Osanokai to meet S. R. Sorela after his discovery. He traveled up to Jadali with his father, Kaitano Kitala, Midnight Fastbird, Stanton Bridger, and Drakon Visai to see him, very shortly after he had healed and was able to speak once more.
• He met his future wife, Keraine Niahan when he was very young and they were childhood friends. They both saw themselves married to each other and were married when they were 20 in 1951. She went to school to become a teacher and taught elementary school in the same city as Ari.
• They too waited to have children and had two- Viervani Salo (1969) and Tumira Salo Bisa (1970). They both moved to Kiillaana after high school and both live and teach in Aiimatl.
• He, along with Stanton Bridger, have traced every Osanokai back to their pure blood roots that then go straight back to Osai and his brothers and brother in law. He has also traced back several of the Terabikai including Mera Visi and has confirmed his Sorela blood.
• He discovered that all original 13 Jadali have Sorela blood, even those that hadn't known any Catin ancestors, before they multiplied and filled Jadali. He was also able to locate the original names of the 13 before they were changed into the Jadali race and confirm that one of the pairs was the daughter of the original Eldin so he was not the end of his family line.
• He enjoys music very much, being a Kribana, and plays a lot of piano on the side. His favorite instrument is the oboe and he enjoys the music of S. R. Sorela, who sends him a CD of his professional recordings every time he makes one.
  

A Short Description
He is a man always at work. He can often be found in his school office reading translated documents, many still in the folders addressed to him from Stanton Bridger. Today he is reading a new document written by Ilonwyn Lochmont, another story of his life lovingly written down, translated from Keòen to Catin. On the back of the envelope is a personal message from Stanton Bridger that reads, [translated from Catin] "Dear Ari here is a collection of new entries into Ilonwyn's journal that I have collected on my most recent trip to Jadali. It is translated above the lines to keep the meaning of the original script complete and to rest your translating muscles. Hopefully you will learn a thing or two and be able to record this as a piece of a larger puzzle we have not yet found. With much love from the Eastern Land and always soaking village of Zirin, Stanton Bridger."

He is sitting back in his chair, his feet up on the desk in the only spot cleared for them. His dark Catin eyes are deep in thought as he makes unknown connections between pieces of literature he has read in the past with this new writing he is reading now. Everything he reads he remembers in a unique bank in his mind and he carefully catalogs everything so he can refer to it easily again. In the background, there is always music playing. Today it's the hauntingly beautiful melodies written by Yehai Sorela played by S. R. Sorela. He starts to hum along slightly as he looks through the pages, held up to about 4 inches from his face. He strokes his chin in that stereotypical Osanokai way seen in almost every picture of one and then, as he discovers something he quickly gets out a pencil and underlines it, going to his computer and making note of what he has marked.

On his wall are portraits of several major figures in his life, including a photo of him with his family, a newer one with his grandchildren included, pictures of him with various Osanokai, a large photo on his desk of him with the most recent Osanokai, and paintings by Zabi Mohola of Mera Visi, Osai and Terabi, his father, and his personal favorite- a watercolor sketch of S. R. Sorela. He loves music and art and has more smaller pictures sprinkled throughout his large office of the people and places in his life that he loves. His music has all been compiled on the computer but he still has a giant stack of CD's nearby, so he can refer to things easily.

He is warm and inviting, and extremely knowledgeable about almost anything relating to Osai, Terabi, or Jadali. He loves teaching others about it and never runs out of amusing and interesting things to say. He is eager to meet people and will do his best to stop by if he knows someone wants to see him.