Symphony’s Landscape
By Narayani Garg
The mountains were why they moved out here, years ago. They weren’t the highest she’d seen. Nowhere close, really. But they stood proud, close enough to their small cottage for walks. With a thin jacket, morning hikes were beautiful. The peaks boasted perfect spots for watching the sunrise.
The peaks also boasted perfect hiding nooks. Like the one she hid in that morning, before the dawn broke. She settled down on her knees, took a deep breath, and held it as she closed her eyes and took in the chirping and aeolian whispers of the forest. Slowly, she settled her hands on the dirt and reached out with her Sense. It was too early for most creatures, but the few that chattered around met her tentative greeting with their own enthusiastic auras.
Releasing her breath slowly, she reined in her wandering perception to a closer range around her. Even in the early morning, life was teeming and bountiful. She could only focus on an aura for a split second before another took her focus. Flashes of contentment and worry and peace and aggression and stress blew through her mind in quick succession and she wrenched her hands away from the dirt.
Sitting back, she took a deep breath and tried to organize the feelings. They all blended in her mind, somehow all feeling like her own and someone else’s at the same time.
The morning walk was meant to calm her. To dispel the anxiety she felt all week. Instead, it was adding to it. Her peace was not to be found in her powers, it seemed. Not in this forest.
It was during this bout of anguish that her husband had slid into her hiding spot. She kept her head down, refusing to face him.
“Try again,” he urged quietly, gently nudging her left hand back to the ground. She didn’t move her other one, refusing to complete the connection. “Your Sensing always manages to ease your anxiety.”
She merely shook her head, keeping her right hand in a loose fist in her lap. “Can’t.” She found herself incapable of saying much more.
But he reached over to hold her fist. Gently, not forcing it to the ground. “Only you can. I can’t find your peace for you. Just focus on me.” His voice was gentle, not sounding out of place in the whistling of the forest. “I’ll be here. I won’t let go.” As her fist loosed, he pulled it slowly to the dirt, giving her ample time to pull away. But she only followed, keeping her eyes closed and leaning forward slightly. “Focus on my voice.”
As her hand hit the dirt, her Sense flew wide and the barrage hit her. She almost pulled away again. But now, he was there to keep a slight pressure on her hands, holding them in place. She took a wavering breath but focused on that pressure. He was still talking but the words couldn’t reach her here as she Sensed. Instead, she heard the beat of his voice, setting a tempo that she concentrated on. Slowly, her Sense reined in, and she gasped slightly as the bombardment stifled into flashes of pink-love and the beat of his voice.
Cautiously, she reached out slightly. The trees, teeming with green-growth outside the little alcove, responded in kind, rustling softly. A calm backdrop for the landscape her Sense drew. Together with her husband’s voice, they steadied her, and she reached out further.
A rabbit a few yards away, foraging for berries, full of orange-content. A little further, a bird landing on a branch and hopping to her nest where her eggs lay. A den of fox cubs on the alcove’s other side. Yellow-happiness. Their auras painted a landscape, and a symphony. Her mind flooded with bright color and gentle sounds, and through it all, the low timbre of her husband’s voice grounded her. Gave her a path to repose.
So she sat there with him as her heart slowed and her mind cleared, listening to the sounds and watching the colors of the forest, all awash in the peaceful, blue glow of the morning.
Narayani Garg sits within a forest full of portals between worlds, detailing her journeys through what Eartheans call fantasy and speculative fiction writing. When not reading about others’ journeys or writing her own, she studies computer engineering. Find her on Twitter @starlitmuse.