Amentia

Chapter 11 - Counterpoint

Anna's conversation with Zoe died down to silence very quickly. It seemed Zoe wasn't a chatty person, and the sight of this magnificent forest stole both their thoughts away, making words seem out of place, almost wrong.

Both Anna and Zoe closed their eyes to pay attention to different things. Zoe was focused on the huge rowan tree that stood nearby but out of sight; it was a heavy presence in the forest, much like the building that stood behind her. These two focal points seemed to be placed at a specific distance from each other so as to keep the area balanced. The rowan tree was lit up by magic and music and mischief. From all the way there, for around ten minutes, Zoe felt human footsteps dancing around the tree, playing along with much smaller feet that she didn't recognize; afterwards, the human footsteps began walking towards Zoe's position, sometimes skipping or jumping. She sensed many other footsteps from many other creatures too, but she couldn't quite see them. From the human footsteps, however, Zoe could almost see the actual human figure and its movements. Almost. She could also see Anna standing next to her, and another girl in the garden back there that she hadn't noticed before. She could feel the fox-man's footsteps in the portal room, though barely. He seemed to tread very lightly. Through the roots that connected to the wood of the structure behind her, Zoe sensed when a new pair of human feet landed on the ground.

Anna was listening to the wind. She couldn't quite believe how gently it behaved. She could hear Zoe's peaceful breathing next to her, radiating a bliss that she hardly ever had the opportunity to hear. She paid attention to the words the wind whispered as it moved through the leaves of the high trees. It comforted the trees that didn't enjoy being so far off the ground. It was just the weirdest thing.

Anna was reveling in the sweet conversations of nature when a different kind of sweet wind blew so loudly that she had to turn around and see where it came from. An Asian girl with delicate features was walking by towards the big room ahead. The wind flew differently around her than any person she'd ever seen, and it hit Anna in the chest with a strength that shook her. The fox-man had the wind accompanying him as if they were in perfect sync with each other, which was already a marvelous thing, but not very surprising given he was a sort of magical creature. This perfectly human girl, however, had the wind both blowing around her and flowing into her. And it flew violently and gently in a perfect balance. And what was most surprising was that this contradiction made a counterpoint with Anna's own rhythm, filling out the empty spaces and forming a flawless melody that nearly took her breath away.

Despite herself, Anna thought it was love at first sight. It was a ridiculous thing and she had never believed in it, but the wind didn't lie. It always showed her how compatible she was with people; it was usually how she chose her partners. But it had never showed her something like this. This wasn't just compatibility; it was a perfect match. Her perfect complement had just walked by, no doubt alarmed by this stranger looking at her like she was an angel fallen from the skies. Or maybe she just looked creepy. Either way, the girl was not comfortable with Anna staring at her.

And Anna wasn't comfortable with the idea of love at first sight. It would condition her actions and fog her thoughts. She wouldn't be able to be even slightly objective about this girl. She was never objective, mind you, because the wind's whispers were always a factor, but this was far too uncommon, and she wasn't too happy not having any control over it. But then again, the wind did tend to force the truth on you, whether you liked it or not, and it was always with the intention of getting you to where you needed to go.