The others brought their hands up, pressing palms together before their faces. By the time Brynn did the same, the others released their hands down to their hips. In unison, they arched their backs, lifting their hips up and back, then rolled forward slowly but steadily, folding up at the waist so that they wound up bent double over their crossed legs, heads pressing the stone, arms extending up above them.
Brynn looked up at Pagonel, who was still standing, and he nodded for her to assume the same pose.
With a shrug, the woman rolled her hips back, then rotated forward, bending low. She couldn't get quite as far down as the mystics, but she was fairly limber and managed to settle into a somewhat comfortable position.
Then she waited.
And waited.
For a long time, Brynn kept peeking out under her arms to the others, expecting them to shift to another position. But none moved at all. A cou-ple of them moaned softly, but other than that, they were all perfectly still and quiet.
The minutes passed and became inconsequential. After some time, Brynn stopped peeking out, just fell into the moment and allowed her thoughts to drift away, to memories, to fantasies, and then, to nothing at all.
She fell deeper and deeper away from the world.
A cold numbness brought her back to her consciousness sometime later. She blinked open her eyes and was surprised to see that the sun had set.
Brynn felt her muscles contracting; her teeth started chattering. With great effort, she lifted her head into the face of the cold night wind. Shak-ing, the cold biting at all of her exposed flesh, the woman managed to sit up.
And then Pagonel was there, beside her, wrapping a heavy woolen blan-ket about her and helping her to her feet, then holding her steady while the feeling returned to her legs.
He started to lead her away.
of them?" Brynn asked.
"Thev will return to the monastery tomorrow." R -nn stopped, her stare incredulous as she looked from Pagonel to the meditating mystics. ?They will freeze." ' ?They have consciously slowed their bodies. Their hearts barely beat and the cold will not wound them," the Jhesta Tu master explained. Brynn stared at him in disbelief.
"As you learned your Oracle, so these Jhesta Tu have learned theirs. In me you will come to understand, if you choose to learn." He started away, nd Brynn went along for a short while, before stopping and staring at him hard.
"But you were able to succeed at Oracle on your first try," she said, again with a hint in her voice that something wasn't quite right here, that perhaps Pagonel was mocking her.
"Are you so concerned with how you measure beside me?" the mystic asked bluntly. ?Are you so concerned how your training measures against that of the Jhesta Tu?"
Brynn didn't blink.
"All of the mystics now giving themselves to the wind are your seniors," he explained. ?And I am likely twice your age. Waste not your time, your emotions, and your talents on such negative feelings, my friend."
"Did you bring me here to fail?" the unrelenting Brynn asked. ?To prove to me that I had a lot more to learn?"
"I brought you here not knowing whether you would fail or not," Pago-nel answered. ?But it hardly matters. I will teach you the technique over the next weeks, and when you return here, you will pass the night in quiet com-fort, falling within yourself to shelter from the cold."
Brynn glanced back up the path.
'Even in winter," Pagonel promised. ?Even on winter's coldest night."
He led her back down to the monastery then, walking along the dark path with the ease of familiarity.
Brynn began her lessons the next day, with Pagonel teaching her how to focus her thoughts upon one part, one aspect, of her body. He showed her how to consciously relax, strengthening the connection between mind and body, strengthening her control over herself, even to the point of slowing the beat of her heart.
Brynn returned to the shelf three weeks later. The following morn-ing, feeling thoroughly refreshed, Brynn Dharielle walked down the path beside a handful of Jhesta Tu, back to the monastery. None of the mystics said anything to her on that long walk, but whenever she managed to catch their eyes, the looks that she got back were inevitably ones of acceptance.
Brynn went up the mountain to give herself to the wind many times over the next weeks and months, and even though summer had blossomed on the land far below,