Finding Contentus

Chapter 125: Landing

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Come back to me.

Return to me.

Look for me.

Search for me.

Inhale with me.

Exhale with me.

Breathe with me.

FIND ME!

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It was something of an echo from the past that caught up to the present. She felt an instinctual tugging like an umbilical cord. It called to her like a treasure hunt on land from the air that had been lost so many times before. The sensations of her time in the womb resurfaced like a cell recollecting its first function.

Oh. But first.

'Neosa. I feel it.' Neo woke herself up. Neosa did not open her eyes, she kept them closed to close the physical plane of reality off.

"Imagis."

‡

The Wise Amoar and The Stunning Rassy met their niece on the highest branch of the Tall Tree in Mootlakeng.

Amoar took a deep, nostalgic breath, staring at the astronomical ball of fire in the sky like it was yesterday, when the truth of the outside world was first revealed from his own lips. Or at least, a small piece of the truth from the limitless versions that existed.

Rassy reached her hand out to feel her niece's face. Her eyebrows strictly discerned the look before a brief smile lit up her face.

Neosa smiled back before her eyes lowered, dissecting the single stemmed tree and measuring the weight of its features that spread like a soaring crown. The branches moved up and down like the tree would take off from the roots up into the sky to join all the birds that flew by in a multitude of animal shaped formations.

Marula fruits dropped to the ground, being collected by the children of her race who wore colourful face paint and had beaded necklaces, just as she remembered them. They would be older, but in Neosa's mind, they were the same. She ululated to them with raised hands and they responded by doing the same back as they placed the fruits in their baskets for distribution.

Elephants traveled from afar to indulge in the splendor of the marula fruits like an attraction spot.

"I don't know how to win anymore, uncle, aunty," Neosa found herself saying with a glare, like the confession insulted her champion mentality.

Amoar nodded as though he was expecting such a dilemma. "I don't think that's the issue my girl." He looked at her carefully like she was an apparatus. His voice rang across the plains. "I think your problem is figuring out what you are fighting to win. Freedom? You have finally won that. In fact, you have been winning that ever since that day... mmm... yes..."

Amoar's brows wrinkled in deep thought. His gaze looked indecipherable, like it was elsewhere, traversing all the planes at once.

Rassy's eyes looked over the plains that ran and ran without end, just as they did. Being a Racaan meant pursuing freedom in all forms, for themselves, for humanity, and for the world.

"Mpho," Neosa said, looking at the both of them with discerning eyes. "There's another reason why she was the only one that was suitable for the enchantment barrier ritual, isn't there? I mean, from a coding standpoint, she would be the fitting candidate since you and Mama were the only two architects that came up with and crafted the damn thing. Am I right?"