Sarah and Zebulun sat cross-legged, facing one another, on the grass in a small, quiet clearing a mile from camp. The morning sun lit tiny rainbows in the dew. A light breeze blew.
"You’ve already learned to heal," she said, "so no need to explain that. You can use the same spiritual energy you used to heal the wolf to bless another person, thus giving some of your power to them."
"What does that do?" he asked.
"It can provide luck to protect them from harm, or they can channel it into some action. It’s foundational energy. Watch." She held her palm up near his chest and closed her eyes. He felt a tickle of energy flow between them.
"I felt that," he said.
"I gave you a small blessing," she said.
Zebulun stared at her for a moment, thinking. "What else? Can I change the weather?"
"In time," she said. "You have to learn to commune with the natural world around you."
"Close your eyes," she said, "and quiet your mind. You want to silence the inner chatter, just as when you ascended the ideal planes, but you do not want to divorce from your senses, as you did then. The goal is not to ascend to a higher plane of consciousness, but to extend your consciousness into the natural world around you."
"Focus on your breathing," she said. "Don’t try to control it. Just listen to it. Breath naturally."
They sat in silence for some time, just breathing. His breath seemed to grow louder over time.
"When you’re in tune with the breath," she said, "focus on your heartbeat as well. Feel its rhythm."
More silence. Zebulun felt his heart beat powerfully in his chest. His breathing sounded like a maelstrom.
"Now feel the blood flowing through your veins," she said. "Something you’ve felt every instant of your life, but learned to ignore."
He felt vibrations running up and down his body. He felt the breath of life flow into his lungs, through his heart, and around his arms and legs. He sat that way for a time, marveling at the sensation.
He felt thought itself flowing through his body. He could sense what parts of thought came from different parts of his body; from the loins, through the guts, heart, and both sides of his brain, all combined into…what? Who is the I that watches?
"Now extend your heightened awareness outward," she said. "Feel beneath the ground below you. Sense the quietest sound on the wind. Attune yourself to the world."
Zebulun focused his will. His awareness expanded outward from the clearing, incorporating the sensations of the creatures of the wood as it went. Within moments, his experience of the world was a gestalt of the sensory experiences of every bird and beast within miles. He saw, heard, and felt everything and everywhere at once. He felt the roots of trees deep in the ground. He felt worms crawl through the soil. He felt the wind whistling through the branches. He saw the forest as one great organism, including himself, sharing the same air and water as a body’s organs share blood. He felt a sense of balance.
Time passed. Zebulun gazed upon the world.
"Zeb," she said, shaking him gently. He opened his eyes. "That’s enough for today," she said.
"How long has it been?" he asked.
"Four hours," she said. "It takes around an hour to fully enter the trance. You’ve been communing for three hours."
"I forgot who I was," he said. "I was just another part of all this."
"As are we all," she said.