BECOMING SUPRA

Chapter 8.3

RAË

I was up at the first light of day. I got dressed and made my way to the dining tent. I helped myself to a steaming cup of chai, then wandered up a slope to catch the morning sights. When I heard sound of splashing. A lone swimmer - Æsh, his body slicing through a seam of mist resting on the glass surface of the lake.

Then Syrah appeared Venus-like as though rising from an abalone shell. She walked to the water's edge, dipped her toe in, a shiver passed through her. Then with a high plunge, she dove in and disappeared under the slate green of the surface.

My friends joined me at my perch. "This keeps getting better and better," said Shazia. "Neel's going to have to see this."

Sakura went over to Neel's tent to wake him. Minutes later he came to us, scratching his head.

He took in the scene, Syrah and Æsh had broken into play in the middle of the lake.

"Why don't you put a spoke in her wheel, Raë," he said.

I threw my head back, laughing. "Like I've nothing better to do with myself."

"How come I don't get asked to be the spoke?" asked Sakura, spiking her pink mullet. "I'm a willing spoke ... a capable one too. Don't let my name fool you."

Æsh had swum in further, he turned to face Syrah as though waiting for her to catch up with him. She caught up and encircled him like a synchronized swimmer. Splashing of water, baubles of laughter; Syrah had her arsenal out and was luring him with her entirety.

I have to admit I was tantalized. Not as much by Æsh but by Syrah's relentless pursuit of him. What had her so mesmerized? What had her so bewitched? I was left intrigued. And something dislodged deep within me, altering me in some small way. Syrah was inadvertently towing me out of my apathy towards Æsh. As she went about ensnaring him, she was simultaneously entangling me into her story. Syrah had Æsh and I both, momentarily in her sway.