Connected

 

Ayleah knew that Kaeri was peculiar, but also knew that Kaeri was not exactly human. This gave some leeway on their nature. It would not seem so strange to her if Kaeri appeared to shift their appearance with each interaction, or seemed to suddenly be in a place they hadn't been before. The two of them had only had a couple of conversations, but she had learned quite a bit from the hitchhiker. They had not had much opportunity for interaction on the road though. Ayleah figured Kaeri had been traveling with Bellinda, but didn't remember seeing them at either of the rest points. The alpine surroundings had been so enthralling that she probably just hadn't noticed their presence.

The two times Ayleah had spoken with Kaeri, their conversations had been deep and interesting, but to no definitive end. It seemed to Ayleah that this person had a deep-seated interest in her, but would not fully explain why. Kaeri looked to be younger than Ayleah, but felt much older somehow. They would ask her about things she had studied at the Sanctuary, especially around the topic of energy perception and manipulation. None of the lessons seemed new to the other, but Kaeri was nevertheless fully engaged. Ayleah told them what she had learned about tuning into the energies of land, working with natural forces in landscaping efforts, and procedures for consecrating or protecting a space. Kaeri reiterated that the scholars were misled in their understanding of natural energies. “For all their good intentions'” Kaeri had said, “they don't have the right grasp of how it really is. They see energy as a separate substance that imbues objects, places, or beings with a magical quality, when it's actually the underlying substrate that permeates all those things at all times.” The scholars' techniques, Kaeri said, were useful in manipulating energy, but could perhaps be more impactful if they acknowledged the true connectedness of reality.

This thought had begun to change the way Ayleah looked at the world. The understanding of connectedness was a sort of quiet seeping revelation. Energy had always seemed to her like overlaid currents of magic, flowing through the world and concentrating here and there. Now the world seemed to her to be a vibrating whole; a unified breathing of that energy into every corner and extremity. Places that felt more powerful were concentrations not of power, but of harmony.

They had stayed the night in comfortable accommodations at Abrahim, passing a lovely evening in company of some of the amiable locals. The next morning it was still cloudy, and they set off north along the ridge, leaving the open rock of the summit village. Almost as soon as they were back into the scruffy forest they began to descend. The road was a hardened lane of sparkly gravel between mossy spruce woods. They rolled down rocky ledges much like the ones on the ascent, though none proved very formidable. The drivers both seemed comfortable, letting the vans gain a bit of speed as they swept down each of the rocks. The load had been much reduced by now, and they were a vehicle less in the party. The third transport was empty now, and its crew were from the area, so they had stayed behind. The three of them were seasoned mountain-born, and were enjoying the hospitality of the summit village.

A while passed and Ayleah noted that they were still descending. She knew their course was only along the ridge-line to the next peak, but now wondered how far down the road would go before climbing again. From the valleys, this mountain had looked nearly flat along its multiple peaks, but being this intimately close with the terrain gave a better understanding of how varied it actually was. They were still on a high ridge though. Ayleah could tell that the level land here was barely the width of the peninsula of her home village. The difference was that here instead of a lake to either side there were steep forested slopes dropping away from sky. She could see they were now under the cloud layer, and sometimes a bit of color appeared in the blue through the spruce trunks: hints of far-off hills. It was just enough to remind the travelers of how high up they still were. The woods around were a mess of moss and fallen evergreens. New evergreens sprouted in the midst all fuzzy and fragrant. Insects and birds swerved and darted around, seemingly oblivious to the special nature of their land. The road dipped into wet glades where tiny trading squares battled for space with the mud, and homes dotted the sides of small knolls. They crossed over minor unmarked summits and around the sides of rocky knobs that poked up in an effort to maintain the ridge. Eventually one of these knolls proved larger than the rest, and they climbed again for a short while. When the road flattened, there was a burst of sunlight. The two vans had come around a corner of rock into a section of younger forest. The sky was more open here. All along the heights of this smaller summit trees had been felled, mostly by natural causes, and the shrubby newer growth brought an almost meadow-like feeling to the narrow high-elevation ridge. Ayleah breathed in the sunlight from her open window. The smells of the forest air and the closeness of the sky filled her head and warmed her heart. It felt good up here.