Breen looked at the workshop, snugged in the trees, banked by rivers of flowers.
“Show me more, Nan.”
“You’ve outreached me in so many ways.”
“But not all, not enough. Show me more.”
With a nod, Marg held up a hand so the workshop door opened. “So I will.”
They spent an hour in the workshop, and nearly that in the woods.
“You are the air, and the air is you. It holds you as you hold it. The breeze, the breath, the life it brings.”
Marg crossed her hands over her heart as Breen stood inches over the ground, eyes closed, her own hands cupped as if to hold the air. “The earth releases you and waits for your return. Trust the air to hold you as the earth does.”
She felt—not weightless. She felt her body, her skin, heard the beat of her heart. She felt quiet, quiet in her mind, and as if the air beneath, above, around her invited her in.
And she held it, not just in her hands or her mind but in the whole of her.
“Holy shit!”
Marco’s exclamation shattered the moment. Breen dropped back down with a thud, had to throw out her arms to keep her balance.
“Sorry, wow. Did I do that? Sorry.” Marco stood, gaping still with a cloth-wrapped pie plate hugged against him, and Sedric smiling beside him.
“Girl, you were floating, like Doctor Strange.”
“Levitation. If I can levitate an object, I can levitate myself. Apparently,” she said, looking back at Marg. “I lost my focus and control.”
“You did well, and that’s more than enough.”
“How’d it feel?” Marco demanded. “To float around like that?”
“Like I was part of something. No, of everything. And now? It feels like I had a couple shots of really good tequila. Apple pie. I can smell it, but more. It’s like I can taste it. Everything’s so sharp, so clear. The cat’s in your eyes,” she said to Sedric. “Why couldn’t I see that before? He’s in your eyes.”
“We’re one.”
“Let it go now. Release the air as the earth released you. It’s enough for this first time.”
Breen nodded at Marg, then closed her eyes again, spread her hands, and let go.
“Maybe one shot of tequila now.”
“A walk will clear the rest. Keegan will be waiting.”
“Right, and the humiliation waiting with him will bring me back to earth. Thank you, Nan. Sedric, I wish we had more time to spend.”
“We’ll have more, and we all used that time well today.” His eyes met Marg’s over Breen’s shoulder when Breen kissed his cheek.
“We’ll be back tomorrow.”
As they walked away with the dog in the lead, Sedric moved to Marg, put an arm around her. “You gave her a gift.”
“No, she is the gift. I was prepared to help her, just give her a taste, but she didn’t need me. Or needed me only as a guide, or a tether. She’ll guide herself before it’s done, and nothing and no one will tether her.”
“But she’ll still need you. Come, these young ones wear us out. Let’s sit down by the fire with a whiskey.”
She slid an arm around him in turn. “Aye, that’s just the thing.”