#12. TAINA II
It had been a long journey out to these woods, but it was a place that Taina knew she could go and be undisturbed. It was nearly 20 kilometers into the wilds, but it was no trouble for Taina. She spent her days toning her body, strengthening it, making it look fit and young and powerful. It was not often she was able to put these muscles to use, though, and she reveled in the sweat that covered her, the heat the baked her tan skin.
She tried not to let her confidence turn into arrogance, but it was a struggle. Pather’s work was legendary on Uthmari, and for the last years it was her form that he had replicated with paints. They way people would come from all around the realm, just to look upon her form spread across a canvas…
A heat rushed to her face, then throughout the rest of her body. She put the thought out of her mind, focused on the climb ahead of her.
She neared the end of her journey. The terrain was sloping upward now, the mountains getting a hold of the land that rolled beneath her feet. The strain felt nice, though her tiredness was growing. The pack on her back dug into her shoulders but she didn’t mind, it helped keep the thoughts away.
She was heading for a lake, one nestled like a broach against the throat of the mountains. It didn’t have an official name, so little of Botanasa did. But she called it Lake Willow Wire, after the Willow Wire shrubs that encircled the water. Unlike many of the farmers, ranchers, and herders that surrounded Ley Town, Taina loved the wilds. Sure, there were Yi’Roc out there, and Hashma. But in the years she had been sneaking away from home to go to Lake Willow Wire, she had yet to see one.
The forest was growing thick now, and she was having to navigate more carefully. She pulled the short machete from her waist and began to swing at the saplings and shrubs that blocked her path.
She calculated each swing, aiming at angles away from her body, or cutting down directly in her path. In the past, as a teen, she had been reckless, swinging wildly. She would often cut herself and be forced to return home with bloodied shorts and jackets, needing aid. Her father kept the blade sharp, and after all these years she had finally learned her lesson.
She stopped, took a deep breath. It was the smell of wet plants and moist soil, a subtle earthiness left over from her bushwhacking. But she took another breath, a breeze hitting her just right, and she could smell the lake.
A bright smile came to her face then, and for Taina it was the first time it had visited her since coming back home.
She was more enthusiastic with her work now, some of the childlike giddiness of her youth returning. The vegetation seemed to fall away with a will of its own as she forged her path through the trees. It did not take long for her to enter the clearing that ringed the lake.
She burst into it, looked around, and cried out in happiness. She lifted her hands up, machete held high, and cried out in triumph again. It had not been a terribly difficult hike, but she did not know anyone else who had ever gone out there. It was a secret achievement she felt, one that was hers alone, just like this place was hers alone.
She dropped the pack from her back, its weight slumping it to the ground. She pulled a cloth from the sheath of the machete, wiping off the wet plant materials that clung to the silver blade. Once cleaned to her father’s standards, she put it back in and placed it on top of her bag.
Then, piece by piece, she stripped off all of her clothing until she was nude under the burning sun.
She basked in the light for a long while, soaking in the light. She reveled in the heat that suffused her whole body, felt an elation within at being free of the clothing. When at last the heat was too great to stand, she turned herself around and let the sun warm the other side of her body.
Taina truly was happiest like this, alone and in the nude. Botansa had a strong conservative nature, one that had taboos on casually showing one’s body. Even in Uthmari, nudity was reserved for the artful, or the provocative.
Taina simply wished to be. She liked her body, how it carried her, how she could shape it, and felt a resentment to the world that tried to stifle her. In many ways, her soul chafed against the values of Tytanis.
After basking for long enough, she was beginning to sweat. Her eyes slowly drifted to the water, and with all the exuberance she contained, she ran excitedly towards it. She skipped through the Willow Wire and dove into the water without hesitation. This was a ritual that had been repeated more times than she could count, ever since she was a young woman.
The exertion of hiking here, the act of basking in the sun, made the water so much colder to her than she expected. She surfaced, pulled her wet hair out of her face, and gasped. At first, it was a registering of shock, but then the pleasure of the cool water suffused her flesh and the heat of the trip began to fade.
She kept herself suspended in the water easily, coming to float on her back and stare up at the sky. She was there for a long while. She did not worry about the sun, she had put on a protective cream she had brought with her from Uthmari. So instead, she let her mind wander. She wondered about the birds flying overhead. She wondered about her parents, living their idyllic farmers life. She wondered about what the weather would be like in the coming Autumn.
But, as always, her mind drifted again to the Leylines.
She felt her stomach turn over. She could leave, take the Leyline Portal back to Uthmari, whenever she wanted. But her parents were clear that they wanted her there, with them, if the Leylines were to become permanently closed.
She ruminated on this as she floated. What few parts of her skin still touched the air filled with goose-flesh, a cold breeze chilling it. It was hard not to turn over to protect the more sensitive areas, but even this simple discomfort she reveled in, for she could do so alone.
As she floated there, Taina couldn’t deny the simple truth that she liked being painted by Pather because he allowed her to dress however she wished. It was his studio she lived in, and despite this, it was decorated to her own tastes. He paid the bills to live there, to have water brought to the cistern, to have lanterns refilled, yet he would allow her dominion over every square inch of the place. If she wanted to lie on the chaise by the window and stare at the sparrows while eating oranges, he was content to simply sit and draw her as she did so.
She closed her eyes, remembering a particularly memorable day.
She had awoken particularly bratty, unwilling to do anything that Pather had asked of her. Would she put on the lace robe he had bought her in Rackaman? No, Taina wanted to lounge naked. Would she sit on the leather chair by the fireplace while she read? No, she was going to sit on the balcony and stare at the streets below, uncaring about whoever saw her. Would she eat this apple instead of the plum? No, she liked the feel of the plum’s juices running down her chest as she ate it, dripping onto the streets below.
Each time, he would accept her answer, pull out his sketch book, and ink her onto its pages in whatever form she took that day.
She felt her heart swell, then tense up. Despite the strange relationship they found themselves in, with her sexuality and body in such close proximity, Pather had never even touched her before.
She shivered, thinking abut that forbidden contact. Many times she had let him know it was welcome, yet the only touch she felt of his was of those dark eyes absorbing her form.
She opened her eyes, taking in the blue sky. She considered that perhaps it was better this way.
The heat of the day was dying off, and she was starting to become cold in the water. With a sigh, she slowly swam to shore, carefully picking her way across the stones as she made her way back to her belongings.
She did not dress herself, allowing the air to dry her skin. She instead pulled out her supplies for the evening: a small tent, a blanket, a cooking pot, and a bag of food. In the pot were some various materials she would need to set up camp.
She fell into the rhythm of it as if it hadn’t been years since she had been there. Since leaving Botansa, she had yet to return to Willow Wire, and this first time was just like all the others. The patch of grass she always pitched her tent on was growing strong this year, offering up a comfortable bed for the night. The grove of trees around it had certainly grown, but even that was insubstantial.
It was a timeless place, a place out of the view of anyone. It was Taina’s place, where she could truly be herself. Away from her parents. Away from Pather. Away from the rest of Tytanis.
Here, she was truly alone.
At least… that is what she tried to tell herself. For the first time in her life, she didn’t feel alone here. She confidently strode up to the water’s shore, uncaring if anyone saw her nudity. Her gaze scanned the shoreline like a hawk, and even searching for the face of a person or some creature’s eyes, she saw no one there.
This feeling of being watched plagued her until nightfall. She had redressed by then, the chill of evening starting to take hold, but the feeling did not go away. It lingered while she made her food, while she set up her tent. Then, without warning, it suddenly disappeared like it had never been there.
Taina shuddered in its absence, knowing now that there had been something watching. What, or who, remained a mystery.
Taina did not sleep as soundly that night. She was plagued by dreams of shadowy figures attacking her in her sleep. Sometimes they were human, sometimes beasts. Each time she woke with a start and a yelp, unsure of what was really happening. For the first time in all the years she had found sanctuary in Willow Wire, she was wishing for the company of anyone else.
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redmysterium
A DARKER ENERGY 