Solo [The Stone Gardens] To meditate

[Vaerin]

58th, Spring 517AV
6 bells, 23 chimes

The stone garden had an austere, sobering tranquillity to it. Dra-Vaerin believed that it was because this location was used as a graveyard of sorts. Or at least it had been described to him as such. Though, it seemed that it also functioned as a locale where one was allowed to lose themselves in thought in a sanctuary from the chaos of Sylirian life. Dra-Vaerin needed such a location at this moment. Somewhere he could feel the fresh air and was little more than the tiny room he lived in. He was starting to think that perhaps some of the moroseness that plagued him since the previous season was attributable to his lack of engagement in both activities that made him happy and spaces in the community.

After all, everyone needed some company from time to time right? Well, perhaps he didn't necessarily want actual company but rather the feeling of being present in the world around him. Something which had been something he had tried several times before this moment and had proven to be wildly unsuccessful. Though, this time he was resolutely positive that his attempt would prove a success. After all, there was absolutely no chance pillagers were going to come and raid this location for food. He might have smiled to himself over his biting joke if the emotions associated with that experience weren't still so fresh.

Deep inside, he knew what he needed was to find some way to process the raging cacophony in a way that was constructive. He feared if he did not do this soon, the grief and anger would overtake him.

So here he sat in a shaded corner of the stone garden. It was still too early in the day for the heat of Syna to sting him, so it seemed likely he would not perspire too much. He would meditate and stretch his muscles. He could not wind himself up in his beloved silks within the city, but that did not mean he could not stop him from at least exercising and retraining his flexibility in the way he used to before performing. Thankfully his was at the very edge of the gardens, so the cobbled nature of the stones would not disrupt his balance while he performed these stretches.

He sat cross-legged and let his arms fall into his lap. He inhaled slowly for the count of three as his eyelids closed, blinding his perception of the outside world. Once his lungs felt filled to the brim with the fresh air he so desperately craved, he expelled it through his nostrils for the count of seven. This process repeated several times. Each reiteration of this breathing exercise emptied the perturbed widow's mind a little more. While not completely forgotten, his mind felt freer casting aside the oppressive chains of his worried thoughts.

He increased the difference in time that was involved with this exercise by a tick for two rotations. He found that by solely focusing on one activity, the thoughts that hounded him temporarily faded. He would continue to increase the intensity of his activity until him mind and body were connected completely in the present. He was sure he would leave the garden feeling happier than he had in a long time.

He reopened his eyes, unfurled his legs and stretched them out in front of him. He pointed his toes as far as they would go, forming a delicate concave shape. The formings of the sensation of a stretch was beginning to form. He tensed and extended his slender calves until the sensation became comfortable. While this happened, he felt the simultaneous tensing of the muscles of his thighs. Yes, this felt right. Dra-Vaerin extended his arms back behind him, using his upper arms to brace himself as he lifted his legs upwards in unison. He raised them to a low angle to start with; giving his body time to acclimatise to the action. It did not hurt, but he knew his body and its limitations well enough to not attempt to stretch them as far as they would go immediately. He held this moment for a rotation of his breathing exercise and then proceeded to bring his legs increasingly higher. Eventually, his body was contorted into something similar to a 'V'. It took him longer than he was able to when he was in peak condition. However he had to accept that this was what not practicing as frequently as he should have meant. Dra-Vaerin knew that his body was still capable of those feats, he just needed to warm up a little more.

Eventually, the stretching sensation that took over the entirety of his lower body began to equate to a dull weight. The youth lowered his legs back to the ground and extended his arms to be out in front of him. Bringing his legs to the base of his chest, Dra-Vaerin hoisted himself slowly up to a standing position without allowing his arms to support him. Immediately he felt the strain this put on his legs, abdominals and back. How rusty was he?

He did not let this thought throw him off though. He couldn't. He needed to keep his mind focused on his body as keenly as an arrow flew through the air to its mark. Now that the half-blood was upright, he raised his arms high into the air. He stretched them until they felt they would snap from the base of his shoulders. It did not hurt surprisingly. Bending at the waist, he brought his hands down to meet his feet. This sent the stretching all the way up his behind. It was particularly tight in his quadrilaterals. He would need to stetch these out more.

However, that could wait. Rather than immediately return to his legs, the youth let the stretching that was caused by this position run its course and returned to a standing position. This time he placed his hands inversely onto his hips and leant backwards. At first the angle at which he was placing himself at was not very impressive. In fact, the sensation it placed on his lower back was quite uncomfortable. He straightened himself up, and corrected his position to a slightly less intense angle. That righted the situation. Dra-Vaerin once again had to be kind to himself. He was still warming up. When it felt comfortable to do so again, he arched himself backwards into an increasingly severe angle. It took about five bells, but he managed to lean backwards so as to make his back run just a little lower than being parallel to the ground. He eventually corrected himself. Vaerin's next action was to twist his torso from side to side. This mostly shook off the stress that the pose had placed on his back.

Much better. He smiled to himself. It almost felt as if he were back in the dance academy in Kalinor.

[Vaerin]

With his back stretched out satisfactorily, he raised his hands to either side of his body and extended his reach as far as it would go. He slowly pushed further back, attempting to get his arms to meet in the back. He knew his body was not capable of such a feat, but it was a nice stretch to perform none-the-less. It also dawned on him now how even during the early morning, the heat of the summer season really took its toll on him. He felt the clothes on his back clinging to him as the perspiration that exuded from his body came out much heavier than he was used to it doing. The lack of adherence to a highly regimented life dedicated to training certainly was not assisting him in this regard. It made him sad to not to be able to practice something he loved so much. There was also only so much he could do within the confines of his apartment without making too much noise for those that lived around him But such was the cost of trying to do what he thought was best for his people. He had to have faith it would all pay off. Even if he felt the lowest he had ever felt. Ironic that it happens this way after idolising this city isn't it?

Though, he quickly shut out such thoughts. Now he was exercising and did not have time to think about negative aspects of his experience. Instead, he wanted to think about how it felt to just live in the moment as he stretched and how it attuned his mind to his body. This quality was probably his saving grace. He was capable such kindness. When he extended it to himself it stopped him from complete self-destruction. Right now, something in him told him how imperative just taking this time out for himself to recenter was.

However, keeping a completely blank mind was a task difficult for most minds, let alone one like Dra-Vaerin's that often was overactive and hypercritical of his actions and thoughts. As such, it was almost inevitable that his mind slipped into the loaded territory of nostalgia for his days back in Kalinor, training in the Cobweb underneath Mabdasa Curare. It hadn't been easy at all. Much like now he often found himself having to stretch alone, which meant some of the deeper stretches done with a partner his dear teacher insisted on during class were rarely done satisfactorily. Using his own ingenuity he had created a resistance band out of a few scraps of fabric he found in his own home.

Arching his foot into a tapered point, he slid his feet from his sandals. Connecting an imaginary silken thread from the base of his big toe to his fingertips, Dra-Vaerin slowly began to raise them. Simultaneously he readjusted his grounding foot to a perpendicularly stabilising angle. This would assist in stabilising him as he brought his leg up higher. As he began to increase the height of his leg - which was now raising up to pass his shoulder - he angled his torso to the left. Once again to keep himself stable and really stretch out his legs.

It was at this point a comforting song burst forth from his subconscious as he was performing this stretch. Smiling, he began to hum along with the tune that played in his head. The vibrations felt heady, coarse, and definitely off-key. Yet it felt right. It made him want to dance. So he decided damn his stretches, and elegantly lowered his leg back to the ground, keeping it extended a few steps in front of his other leg. As he did this, he waved his raised hand in a similarly delicate manner down to an arched shape just behind his hip. He kept this dynamic pose for a moment, as he prepared for his next movement. Getting ready for the action he wanted to take next was not a particularly arduous process. He moved his foot back to a flat-footed position, before springing it outwards and to the side. He bent the knee of this extended leg to thrust the momentum of his body into a pirouette as he raised himself up onto the ball of his other foot. As Dra-Vaerin spun, once, and then twice, his arms rounded in front of him as he tightened his core and forced himself to keep his hips square. He felt his passe was not as correctly aligned forward as it should have been. The movement did portray his skill as a trained dancer, albeit a rusty one. He did not have enough momentum in his body to carry off the third spin and grounded his raised foot in a stretched out movement that was perhaps a hair off of being ideal.

Without missing a beat after re-stabilising himself, the young man arced his arm out gracefully in front of him. He took two dancerly steps forward and kicked his leg out behind him. Extending his chest forward, he brought his leg behind him while bending with the other grounded one. In this moment he could feel the slick tension of his dancer's silks wrapped around his body like a lover. How he yearned for that comfort again.

From this position he lowered himself to the ground, and hunched himself over, wrapping a hand over his face dramatically. It was perhaps not the most exciting choreography in his mind, but with the lack of his silks, his repertoire was severely hamstrung. He laid himself out flat to the ground before rising his back into a cobra position and raising his feet to meet his head. Snapping back down to his laid back position, Dra-Vaerin then pushed himself up into a plank. Stretching one of his increasingly limbered up legs over his shoulder, he pointed his foot down and pushed his pelvis as close to the ground as he could get it. He only held this for a few ticks, before returning it to a position that allowed for him to lower himself into the splits without much trouble. The youth could only bring himself to lower the full weight of his chest onto this stretch after sitting in it for several ticks.

Yes, it was much like the kind of routine that would have been asked from him when he was still not quite a teenager. It may have been simplistic looking in nature, but his body was not as finely honed and ready for the motions as it was usually. Thus the moves lacked a polished finesse that would have made this ground work spectacular to look at. He could imagine the look of disapproval on Mabdasa's face vividly. Kanasa demanded much from her students, but it was unquestionable how good a teacher she was. She was not as warm to him as she may have been to other talented students, but Dra-Vaerin knew that if she had any real objections to teaching him, he would not be able to do what he was doing now. For that, he was thankful. She provided him with the means to foster his talent in a society that may have otherwise shunned him. That was why he cherished the thought of her and the Cobweb. Raising himself up out of the splits and then to his feet, he dusted himself off and felt it was time to go. He would need to prepare for work. Dra-Vaerin slipped his sandals on and left the empty garden. It had served its purpose well.