Excerpt: Pouka

Somewhere high above her the wind was soughing through the branches; it reminded her of traffic on a freeway or the running of a river. Her heart stopped a beat and picked up again as she reminded herself that it was an aural illusion; she could search all day for that fictional river and not find a drop to drink. think, Elanor, listen and center yourself and calm yourself and zen out if you want to but thinking is the paramount key factor here. Think.
And while she was breathing and thinking and listening to the wind run its fingers through the tree tops she became really aware of the rough bark of the tree she was leaning on, the rough bark she could feel through her thin woven shirt. Like a skin, but a skin that was skin and armor and highway, running nutrients to the top of the tree’s canopy, down to the furthermost leaf and twig, and running back down, back down into the roots, down along the ground the cool earth, the warm earth, the dappled earth with sun and shadow mixing together in an infinite and intricate dance. elemental my dear elanor. the sun and the shade and the dapple and the
and the elements, the water, the dampness were the tree took up water, down those little tiny hair-like roots and further on and now
it was as if she could listen to other trees where her tree talked to them, root tip to root tip, and asked, where is the water today? is it here, is it here, maybe it’s here over here? where is the main river flow of the water and oh
there was quiet and lots of wet and the water plants answered back to her tree, it is here, it is here it is in abundance but take only what you need and leave the rest for others are wanting leave the rest for other who want
Elanor rose, eyes not quite open eyes not quite shut and decided that this might work if she didn’t think about it too much. Just one foot in front of the other, one foot right after the other and – whoops, over the fallen log, and there down hill down slope there going down further the plants are greener here and there are more of them, so maybe we’re getting closer and closer to
yes, there is was, the water plants were there and not just a figment of her overwrought and over excited imagination. It was a creek just a few feet across, burbling and merry and clear and looking like something out of a cliche.