Just as the rukh were guiding her beloved student, the bird-shaped lights of life were forming streams and rivers stretching in a direction one water witch had never traveled before. She could feel the pull, the tension in the strings of fate that bound her to whatever was at the end of this trail. Yamuraiha embraced it, allowed her footsteps to follow the path of fate, moved, as if pushed and lulled along by the waves to a distant shore, giving herself freely to the tide of a great river of life.Â
And the flow took her, washed over her like a bath of sunlight and honey, parted itself and snaked freely through the alleyways and avenues of the city, shining like a bright nebula, a milky way of a beacon that continued to lead the witch deeper and deeper into the sector. She weaved through the crowd, clutching her makeshift staff close to her core, held the brim of her hat with the other as the crowd of commuters and low-hanging awnings and overhead passings jostled both herself and the tipped accessory about. She was a tiny woman, with a large presence, but knew how to make herself smaller in the presence of others, to duck and weave, to draw into oneâs self when others pressed rather uncomfortably into her personal space and then some.
The rukh called again, a silent sound of fluttering wings, and drew her down a flight of stairs into the dank underground of the city, a world of moist air, artificial lighting, and mildewed laminate. She followed the throng of commuters, relishing somewhat in the newly opened breathing space, even if the air was no longer fresh and was twinged with the odor of perspiration and heat. She allowed herself to walk in a looser posture once more, unfurled from herself and continued on with her staff held at her side, her chin raised and her shoulders straight and proud.
She was jostled again, and her hat fell to the floor, was trampled by the commuters before she could fold herself at the knees and arch over to retrieve the garment from the ground. With a distasteful frown and a groan to accompany it, Yamu clutched the hat, shook it off once and continued to hold it in her hands as she navigated the maze of tunnels and escalators, following the signs to the train that would take her to the next sector. She passed through a ring of turnstyles, stood, now reflecting clearly and physically upon her dampened mood, waiting for the train, and filed in to take a seat as the doors were opened.
She settled in, watching the rukh flit about the steel tube, watched commuters spread themselves out in the seating or type away at computers and cell phones. She ran a hand through her hair, tucking bangs behind ears and straightening the locks that fell into the exposed skin between her breasts. She fiddled with the hat in her lap, hummed a Sindrian folk song under her breath and closed her eyes for a moment, let the stress of the day flow out of her on the breath of a long sigh.
That was, until her precious student stepped aboard the train. She could feel his rukh, bright and warm and familiar, light up the enclosed space as the doors closed behind him. He approached another, asked for permission to take the seat closest to them, and completely ignored the teacher that sat just a pivot away. She gave a dissatisfied frown and threw the hat at the boy, accompanied by an indignant shout.
âIt is quite cold to so blatantly ignore your teacher, brat!â