Dear Celestine

Prologue

"Take a long deep breath through your nose and hold it; feel the air moving throughout your body, awakening the energies inside you.
Now slowly breathe out and push from your diaphragm like you are releasing unwanted energies from your body. Feel the grass touching your body, feel the earth, our mother nature and take another long breath and take in the good energies,invite them in to your body. Invite pure energy, invite the love of mother Earth, inhale the magic of creation in you..."

Sitara smiled remembering the teachings of her grandmother who passed away 15 years ago. She recalled the last days that she spent with her grandmother, Fiona Singh, a quarter Russian of Indian nationality who later in her life settled in a small village in Russia,her Grandmother's motherland. Sitara loved visiting her grandmother and she loved how her grandmother used to talk about stars, galaxies, prana, chi's etc. Her grandmother Fiona was an exceptional person, she never herself to be bothered with lame things like petty fights, what did someone say about someone else, who did what, she always lived so detached and that's why Sitara always thought her grandmother was the coolest person of earth, she always smelt like joy, she always felt like peace.

Sitara's chain of thoughts broke with a phone call. The name flashed on her screen. Her mother was calling her from downstairs, she knows what it is for, she was being called for breakfast.

Sitara twisted her wavy hairs in a bun and went down for her breakfast, it was a great day. As much as she loved reminiscing about her grandmother while making her bed in the morning, she had much to do in her hands. She would be going for a 15 day trekking and camping trip in the mountains of uttarakhand, she had planned and saved up for it already. A fresh out of college graduate's final hurrah, before getting sucked into the corporate job, well her father's boring wealth management company,but well, she knows the toxicity would be the same.

"Toxicity", Sitara's grandmother Fiona used to use this word so frequently whenever she used to hear something she couldn't connect to, or didn't believe in, people called Fiona kooky, even sometimes Sitara has heard her people from her paternal family's side also have said something like that but nonetheless Sitara loved her grandmother who was in Sitara's grandfather's words "Magic in the Mundane". Sitara was never a believer, a hardcore realist but she believed in this one thing, if there was something in the world called magic, it's close to her grandmother's love. Her love for nature, stars were nurtured by Fiona only and that's why whenever she trekked closer to the cleared view of sky, rolled around in the muddiest meadows, Sitara has always felt closer to her grandmother as if Fiona herself is sending her love through beyond. Sitara always tried to soak the love to the fullest, hence, her love for solo travelling. She has always felt she is better off alone in these kind of beautiful journeys. At the end of the day that was her way of seeking love and that was alright because she was alright. Everything was okay.

***

"There are lot of selfish loves lying around my dear, there are very few people who are capable of your type of love, the right kind of love! So if you find any way to feel the love, cherish it forever my Tara! Love is the weirdest, oldest and rarest kind of magic and a soul like yours deserves it the most. Never forget it" - Fiona's whispers have always echoed through Sitara's mind and have always gotten her through all of her terrible days too. Sitara was already miles away from her home, in the hills of Himachal with her trekking guide and fellow other trekkers she became friends with, feeling free. They have reached their resting stop for the day, they sat in the soft grass to rest a while, it's dusk so they had to stop trekking, it's safer to hike in the day through these roads else there are chances of accidents and wild attacks.

Sitara's legs were hurting a bit, she has walked enough in these 2 days, still she helped the couple who joined the hike with them getting those few good pics.