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Alina Maschik looked up at the turquoise sky and breathed deeply. The cool mountain breeze felt good on her hot skin and, throwing her head back, she arched into a stretch, reaching her arms far behind her. Straightening again on an exhale, Alina lowered her eyes to the small community of huts nestled in the mountainside below. From this height, the bamboo roofs on the huts blended with the surrounding canopy of trees, causing the large open center of the compound to look very small and isolated. She sighed and stretched forward, bending from her hips and balancing her weight, keeping her back straight. Exhaling again, Alina wrapped her arms around her knees and, resting her forehead on her shins, felt the calming effect of oxygen flowing out of her.
This was her morning routine. Run four miles up the mountain, stretch, meditate, and then run back. She had been doing this for two years now. The cool air, coupled with the abundance of mountain creatures and raw beauty, never failed to take her breath away. The amount of peace that she derived from the simple experience of just being had healed old wounds that no doctor could ever see.
Wounds she hadn’t even known were there.
Alina lifted her head and glanced down to the compound that had been her home for the past two years. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of Raven, her pet hawk, as he appeared suddenly and swooped once around the open courtyard. When she came to this place, he was a massive, wounded mess in the trees behind her hut. They were never sure what caused his extensive injuries, but no one was able to get close enough to heal him. After two days, he allowed her to take him in and nurse him. She gave him his freedom once he was well, but every night he returned to her. Slowly, Alina began to realize that he had accepted her and made her his. In turn, he was hers as well. He was her protector and her pet.
And he was never home at this time of day.
Alina scanned the miles of surrounding mountains, looking for some sign of disturbance, but there was none. Just Raven, perched on a tall post at the corner of the courtyard. Watching.
Alina sank to the grass and crossed her legs, closing her eyes and dismissing Raven from her mind. She centered her attention on the sounds around her and became very still. After a few moments, her breathing had slowed and she listened to the sounds of the forest resuming around her. A dark lock of hair brushed against her forehead as the breeze sighed around her. She was very still while she listened, first to her own shallow breathing, and then to her own consciousness. A branch popped behind her and she could see the mountain creature moving through the trees behind her. It paid no attention to her in its quest for food, but moved away from her quietly. Above her, a bird crowed in the trees while, slightly below her and to the right, a furry forager busily snuffled into the end of a dead tree trunk. Alina absorbed it all through closed eyes and open mind, her body relaxed and her muscles alert.
It was the sudden gust of wind that carried the faintest whisper of Raven’s call. Alina opened her eyes and cut her gaze to the compound. Raven was still on the post, but even at this distance, she could see that his head was turned toward her. In her semi-aware state, Alina saw her pet clearly, looking straight at her with his piercing hawk eyes.
In one fluid motion, she was up and running back to the compound. Raven was calling her home for a reason.