Esk Tales {TWWM-ARPG Writings Collection}

Majanthi Prompt #2- Connection

Connection
- Wanderer Prompt -
{Majanthi #2}

.:+:.

The air was a wash of blue-grey, and smoky ash-white currents spinning in air like whirpools in a lazy river. They bled into the clear blue of the sky overload and cast wispy, ghostly shadows of their trails upon the dusty rock floor.

Majanthi's feet slid over the thin dusting of sand on the rock, her lumbering, heavy form moving quietly across the rockface in deliberate, fluid, and near graceful movement. Smoke rose up from the shafts of palo santo constantly, thickening the swirling and shift dance of the trails overhead and stirring up new wild rifts with everything twist and turn she made across the space. It was a slow, deliberate, carefully crafted march and dance of both body and smoke, and she found herself lost in it- in the twisting and turning and careful manipulation of the smoke trails so delicate even the slightest misstep would wrench apart the whole carefully crafted painting on air.

She was lost in her work, in the subtle movements and the rhythm and mental direction done unto the smoke- lost in it, and yet not all the way.... She was ever aware of the eyes on her as she worked, the awe and the rapture in animal and esk alike as they lingered at the edge of her of her dancefloor, fixed. They looked up, entranced by the lazy motion and the blending of color above their heads, their eyes narrowed against the glare of blue and gray while others among them settled for watching the cast of shadows sliding over the floor instead. Fewer found themselves more interested in the Wanderer's slow march rather than the trailing smoke, but those who did found their gazes glued to her and how incredibly light and graceful she seemed to be.... Almost as if her own body had adopted the same fluidity and elegance as her smoke.

It was a dance Majanthi had performed numerous times before now, and a painting she had recreated more than that- this had been done so many times it was second nature, and still she had no choice but to give it her full attention, or risk slipping up for all to see.

Majanthi remembered this place well, it sat high up in the hills and was surrounded by smooth sandy rock on all sides with one large, singular flat-topped stone in the center that served as her working space. Once upon a time she would come here and it would only ever be her, or occasionally a creature laid out on the stone before her as she worked to heal them in whatever way she could.... But as time passed, creatures began to flock to see her work and revel in the wonders born of her smoke and her craft.

She did not mind the onlookers, in fact they brought with them a sense of life and energy that she found useful in her work- the reverence was even better, the awe and the wonder.... She knew many of those watching would never be more than spectators, but some would yearn for more than just a life as witness. Some of them would choose to follow her from this place and make the journey to learn and to be taught this craft- and she would gladly teach those committed to the arts of healing and caring deeply for this earth and those living on it.

She thought she could sense which among the crowd may be those few. The ones that looked at her and her work and didn't just feel awe or amazement at it, but something deeper..... Some pull and attraction, a way in which the trails of smoke seemed to reach down into the very depths of a creature's core and awakened something within them, and forged an unseen, powerful connection. One that would last for weeks and months and even years after this moment, regardless if the one it was now connected to decided to act on the bond or not.

There was no guarantee even if a creature felt the pull that they would follow it, and there was no guarantee that they would stay the course if they did begin down the road made by that bond. Life was always changing, motivations and feelings and thoughts forever fleeting and realigning themselves with the passage of time- some who decided to follow and learn from her never reached the end, they grew bored or frustrated with what she asked and believed it all pointless when enough time had gone by.... But some made it all the way to end, some of them felt that connection and attraction with every fiber of their being and they held fast to it forevermore. Eventually becoming what Majanthi hoped for- a creature truly worthy of this craft and the skills she had been cultivating for so very long a time.

She spared a moment to allow her attention to break from her dance, scanning the rows of creatures dotted among the surrounding rocks, seeing the way their eyes shone and glittered as they watched... Searching for those few that didn't just watch for the pleasure and wonder of it, but those that truly resonated with the power and the energy she was stirring up.

She thought she saw not one, but three- all different shapes, all different sizes and forms... But all of them with that certain light in their eyes and in their souls, their entire beings swaying and turning along with the currents of air and smoke.

Perhaps once upon a time, early on- she did grow to miss the solitude and the lack of watching eyes... But the intimacy of this dance never went away, it only shifted and evolved as the earth and it's living beings all do in time. This was a new form of intimacy, a deeper and unseen one that spanned from one soul to another, entwining their lives and fates in just one single moment.

Majanthi looked away and went back to her work, allowing her attention to fade back into the throes of the craft and all its intricacies.

Today, tomorrow, or even years from now- those connections she felt being woven would remain for a long time to come.... And she looked forward to when the pull became too great to avoid, and she might see some of these faces once again.

.:+:.

Art To:
https://www.deviantart.com/1ore/art/Pueblo-807095614