She wouldn't describe what she felt as a heartbeat so much, but that wasn't a bad description either, she reflected. She was sitting cross-legged, hands on her knees and there wasn't even a sway in her posture. An outside observer would say she was lost to the world with her eyes closed and her breathing in a prolonged rhythm. She was anything but lost though. A long-tailed, spotted creature stopped its movement through the nearby tree branches to stare at her and she smiled. It regarded her curiously and then, apparently deciding she belonged, it moved on with a casual air of unconcern towards a thicker stand of trees on another hill.
Her right hand squeezed her knee, the outline tattoo work on the back of her hand and up her arm moving with the muscle motion. She swears she can feel it like an incomplete working,, but also something not to be rushed. The additions would come in time when she was ready. Despite the day's walk, she wasn't tired. She couldn't be tired here, surrounded by so much life. Despite it's careful cultivation, the school flooded with power and life of its own and that was her *place*. That was where she belonged. There was so much world though and she couldn't understand how to care for hers without appreciating the difference of other places. A deep breath and an exhale and her hand relaxed as she rode the current of the life around her, sensing her place in it, even if that place was just to visit.