Together We Ride by Vlikmit_kovsh (Patreon)

I sat there, listening to the sounds of the world. Sensing all that was around me. My body, the me that I am in the physical world was not in control. Atop the back of a vibrant blue mount, a harper, one of the large flightless avians they favor in the south, I road on. Everything of my physical being present, but unattached as I extend my other self into the rivinua. 

There I swam. Feeling, touching, experiencing all there was within the rivinua. A few birds in the sky. Creatures small and large scurrying through the ruins, even the ants and the bees could be felt through the rivinua. There soul bodies making waves, impacting, and announcing their presence. I am here, I am present, but I am also elsewhere. It is as it should be for an Imakandi. I am one with my surroundings.

And then it happens. She moves, her presence undisguised. Her body, whose wait I bare on my back, moves and I feel the soft hairs of her face as she leans in past my shoulder. I do not react. I do not fear her. I know her as I know few others and I trust that I am safe with her at my back.

Her hands that once wrapped around me only for purchase, now wrap around me more tightly. They constrict and hold for another purpose entirely. I am here and I am there, so I am not aware of her intentions for she is not within my superior sense. She is not a threat, so she can abuse this weakness in my guard. She takes advantage. Of course she does. It is her way after all. With what I assume was a mischievous smile, she leans forward and places a kiss upon my cheek.

The act is sudden but soft. Her lips linger before she whispers to me.

"Despite this ruin, the land is beautiful; but not as beautiful as you. Show me your smile and tempt me once more."

Her words are sultry and poetic, a  hint of her cultural training. She certainly knew how to speak when she wished to. I on the other hand had no words. With my heart now racing, my mouth drying, and my blood now boiling; I was dragged back to the permeance of my true self. The touch of inua temporarily lost to me.

Sensing what she had done and finding it amusing, she laughed and I sat silently. My eyes ahead. 

"I will have that beauty for myself, 'little warrior'," she teased, her breath on my back.  I said nothing.

I simply sat there. Listening to the sound of her breathing. Sensing nothing but her sweet scent like cinnamon, her warm breath on my back, and the ginger hum of her happiness in my ears. My body, the me that I am here in the physical world was not in control, but neither was my other self.

No. On the back of that vibrant blue mount; that harper who chose then to harp no more, everything of my physical being was present as I did my best to ride on. I, however, was now deeply attached to the physical plane. Try as I might, I could not extend my other self into the rivinua. I could not sense the birds, the bees, or the other animals hiding in the undergrowth. Now there was only her, and she amused.

Once again unaware of what to do or to say, I said nothing. I simply locked my eyes forward and on I road. The sound of her giggling a sweet song in my ears. What a troublingly distracting woman.