12. Gorillia: The First Days

A new country. A new school. New friends. New responsibilities. And a whole new way to communicate.

Rishi and his family have done something they never imagined they would do: they have left their home in New Zealand and moved thousands of kilometres away to the remarkable kingdom of Gorillia.

And Kiri has come with them.

Visiting Gorillia was an adventure. Living there is something else entirely.

Rishi and Kiri are now thirteen and beginning Grade 7 in a school where humans are a tiny minority, their classmates belong to many different species, and communication doesn't always require speaking. To become part of their new community, they must learn Mind-Speak—the ability to communicate through mental projection.

Their education doesn't end when the school bell rings. Special after-school lessons with King Montamahilla and his advisors begin to reveal more about the mysterious Staff: what it can do, what it cannot do, and why possessing something powerful is very different from knowing how to use it wisely.

Meanwhile, the entire family must adjust to everyday life in a country with unfamiliar customs, new expectations, surprising friendships—and challenges none of them could have anticipated.

Then Gorillia's Rainy Season begins.

Rishi and Kiri are about to discover that even a King doesn't have every answer, even a Staff can't solve every problem, and sometimes the most important thing you can do is stop asking for an easy solution and start asking the right questions.

Gorillia: The First Days is Book 6 in The Rishi Series—an adventure about friendship, family, discovery, responsibility, and finding your place in a world very different from the one you left behind.