Tug of Fate | When Stars Align Book one

The Hike

Becca

We have been walking for two and a half hours and it's beautiful. Anya and I love treks, walking up and down the mountains, in the jungle.. It is the concrete pavements that prove to be a problem. Anya is more pro at these trails than I am though. Having been born and raised in the Himalayan region, she's right at home in the midst of green hills and caves. Me, not so much. I enjoy the occasional walk, and this is starting to get difficult now.

The trails had started getting steeper and more treacherous some half an hour ago. Despite Julian's assurances that we are still on the easy part of the trek, I'm having a hard time believing it. The men are faring better than Ali and I. Yeah, Ali is suffering as much as I am. Our attention is on the beautiful trees around us and Ali's foot gets snagged in a root. She is about to hit the floor when Logan catches hold of her and stabilizes her. She lets out a nervous giggle.

We all continue forward. No one talks. Everyone busy with their own thoughts and the path ahead of them. I cannot help but notice the beautiful and vibrant colour of the leaves, the shapes of the tree trunks, the snaking pathways. It's so too beautiful. Working in a concrete jungle makes one appreciate the wildness of the real jungle much more, leaps and bounds more. We are crossing a patch where roots lay criss-crossed, and it looks like one of those Disney illustrations in all its gnarled glory. The leaves and branches overhead are a good substitute for the blue sky. I take a deep breath and release it slowly, marveling at the freshness of the air.

The trail is narrow, with dense vegetation and a dip on one side and mountain face on the other. We walk in a single file with Julian in the lead. He is followed by a chirpy Anya, who is expertly maneuvering the roots, the dips and highs, holding onto branches, finding footholds so that she doesn't disturb whatever's on the forest floor. Julian seems to be telling her something and she listens intently. Liam is behind her and he has one arm outstretched to catch her in case she needs it. I smirk. She is not gonna need it lover boy.

Behind him is Ali, then Logan, then I, then James behind me. James has his palm on my hip bone. Not a hold. Much like Liam, in my mind, it is an in case I stumble kind of touch. Julian leads us to the left, down the winding paths, pointing at different leaves and plants. Ali passes us a few snack bars that I gobble up hungrily. Damn! These trails are good for my metabolism I think!

Julian keeps taking breaks, explaining all the different species of trees, animals and vegetation in the area. He is a good guide. It doesn't even seem like he's a guide. You know what I mean? It feels like he's one of us. Especially the way he'd snarled at that Andrei prick this morning. I have a newfound respect for him. We stop briefly for lunch then continue on. After the initial exhaustion, my legs don't hurt anymore. 

There is a saying that Anya told me. She said in the mountains, her hometown, there's a saying that when you start walking, or swimming, you will get extremely exhausted after 30-60 minutes. Depending on your stamina. It will be so tiring that you won't be able to move forward. But if you push through it, if you continue on despite that, the pain will vanish, the exhaustion will dissolve and you'll be able to walk on and on. For as long as you want. This exhaustion that sets in, Anya told me, is called paying your taxes. So once you have paid your taxes by forging ahead, you are good to go to your heart's content. Many people give up when the first set of cramps hit the calf muscles. When she'd told me that on one of our treks back home, I was thinking damn if the analogy isn't apt. That is what taxes do. They literally break your back, don't they? But you forge ahead, and you are left to enjoy the goods and luxuries! In her culture, everything has a reason, and everything makes perfect sense.