V

It was a cloudy night, their clothes were wet. Agatha lit the sticks. She was shivering due to cold weather. Noah was sitting on the rock, watching her igniting the bundle of sticks.

“I am feeling cold and even my clothes are wet.” said Agatha, while shivering.

Saying this, she started to unwrap herself. Mostly, he used to ensure that, she changes in his absence. So, he started moving out of the cave.

“Where are you going?” she asked

“Outside” he replied

“You don’t have to go, as there is already snowfall out of the cave.” she said, while holding his hand.

He again sat, where he was sitting earlier. He knew, the external self of Agatha was going to un-stabilize his inner- self, as happened with him last time. While changing her clothes, she was talking with him. Noah’s whole concentration, was concentrated on his control. After removing her wet attire, she sat nearby the bonfire along with him. Up till now, everything was in order. When her foot loosed control and it got rubbed against his leg. His control, which was locked up by his concentration, became free. He looked at her, but found her still in the rhythm of speech.

Saying “I am feeling cold.” she hugged him tightly.

Now, her warm body had touched his cold body, which, in turn emanated a spark inside him. The air coming out of her nostrils was more violent, than the wind blowing outside the cave. It gave birth to the fire inside him, which produced more heat than the physical fire. He instantly twitched away her arms and stood up at once.

“What happened?” she asked

“I want to sleep.” he replied

“Without dinner?” she asked again

“I am not hungry.” he replied

Neither he was hungry for the food nor for anything else. She gazed up at him. Her innocent eyes spoke the truth, which was in her heart. He started moving towards the rectangular rock, so that he could sleep. He wanted to go back to her, but something inside him, stopped him to do so. She sat for two hours near the bonfire, and after half an hour, laid on the same rectangular rock along with him. She was shivering with cold. Her blanket was with him like her heart. He was on the rock, with his back towards her.

She didn’t come to know, how and when she dozed off. While asleep, she was under the same blanket. She came to her senses when, she felt a hand on her back. Finding herself in his arms, she got herself out the blanket and turned around.

It was midnight. Uproar of the thunder trembled her, and, she was in his arms again. He cuddled her close. Now, how could she defy nature’s own decision. She looked in his eyes, and the person which was inside him, went into her eyes. She noticed, his face coming slowly towards her face. She could not understand why, her face did the same.

When the lips of both, touched each other, quivering of both the bodies, stopped automatically. Her fragrance titillated him. His chest felt something getting connected with it. He was not a fool, so he wanted to make use of it, which he did. His hands felt the warmth between her lower limbs. She observed, her belly being touched by something hard.

Burnt timber was still red hot, it provided the required heat, which both of them needed at the felicitous moment. Both the bee and flower were at their work. Slowly, with the passage of time, slow breathing was replaced by panting and moaning. Both the souls did soul making, till the last red hot coal glowed, in the cave and inside them.

VI

With the first rays of Sun, the bird came to know that, he has been entrapped in the cage of love.

“Good Morning!” said Agatha, while kissing him.

Agatha and Noah noticed, the morning to be different for both of them. The only thing which, last night took away from them was their shyness.

He went out of the cave, sat in a meditative posture. He wanted his real aim to be exposed. He meditated for good two hours. After meditation, he opened his eyes and found her standing in front of him. She still looked very pretty. From the very first day, Noah wanted to love himself using her heart. The game which their souls had played last night, was visible on their bodies too.

Agatha’s eyes were telling the truth which, was hidden in one of the corners of her heart. She had already merged her soul into his soul. From last night onwards, she had started calling herself by his name. She had submitted herself to him. Love became the first lesson which, her new teacher had taught her. Her lips were eagerly waiting to strike a conversation with him.

“I never came to know that you meditate for too long.” she said

“There are certain other things about me, which you don’t know.” “Don’t concentrate yourself in understanding me. Otherwise, ‘You’ will become ‘Me’.” “It’s better to understand your own self.” he replied

“What do you mean by that?” asked Agatha, while giving a weird look.

“It means, I don’t want you, to change your own real self. Instead of concentrating on me, you should explore yourself.” he replied

“In whatever thing, you’ll concentrate, you will become that. If you add water in your hand, it becomes your hand. If you add water in a bottle, it becomes bottle. Our mind is more pure and transparent than water. So, be careful.” he said

She started thinking, everyone knows about this very simple fact. But, few apply it in their lives.

“But, how to explore myself?” she asked

“There are a lot of ways. Among them is meditation. Meditation can be used as a means to explore your own real self.” he replied

After having a lovely conversation on meditation, they looked up in the sky. The weather had become fine again. She started to grab whatever, belongings of the bag were out of it. He was sitting still on the ground, watching her.

“Can we proceed further?” said Agatha, while dragging her feet forward.

After moving thirty-forty steps. She noticed that, the sound of her companion’s feet was missing. She turned around, and found him still sitting on the ground.

“Come on!” “We are already late.” she said

“I don’t want to go further.” he replied

She put her bag down, came towards him, to ensure that her ears heard, what he actually said. But, Agatha’s eyes knew, her ears heard the right words.

“You don’t want to go further? But why?” she asked both the questions, in one breath.

“Because, I found the place which, I was searching for.” he replied

“What?” she asked again

“I don’t want to give justifications. I love this place and I want to stay here. That’s it.” he replied

He looked at her, she was a little bit unstable. She wanted his company. She wanted to remind him about her wounded foot, but thought why to. She never told him, she had pain in her foot.

“What would you eat?” she asked

He told her that, from the past thousands of years, Himalayan yogis had been surviving. They had been consuming the leaves and fruits of ‘Anaska tree’. They used to, find or create shelter near this tree and they stayed there, till they attained liberation.

“Have you found Anaska tree?” she asked

“There” he replied, pointing at the tree behind her.

Noah looked at her, found her full of disappointment. She tried to convince him, but he stood firm on his decision. Even the snow partridge sitting silently on the topmost branch of the tree noticed, she had tried her best.

At last, she decided to continue the journey alone. She went towards her bag, picked it up. He was looking at her, as if telling her not to leave him alone. As she started moving away from his world of love, something inside prohibited her to do so. She turned around and went inside the cave, kept her bag on the rock and started weeping. He rushed into the cave, found her shedding tears.

He knew about himself, since his love was an emotion and was not subjected to the control of his will. He wanted to gain her love, therefore thought that, her love should not come with the scope of duty. But he realized, her tears being the proof of her love, with him.

She came to him and he clasped her hand. In return, she tightly hugged him.

“I love you.” said Agatha, while kissing him.

Now, his ears heard what his body experienced last night. He wanted their love to be immortal. He wanted their love, to be a seventh dimensional love. A love which is calm and serene, where all peace surpasses all peace. He knew, what was required in order to gain that.

“Agatha, how long would our love last?” he asked

“Forever” she replied, giving him an astonishing look.

He took her towards the Anaska tree, in order to show the usefulness of this tree. He started plucking the leaves out of its branches. Agatha was curiously watching him. After sometime, when she had learned the work, she also started helping him out.

“Pluck the young ones!” he said, as she was plucking the old dry leaves.

Both of them stopped their work, as they had plucked handful of leaves, which were enough for them. Noah started the fire with the sticks, which, he had gathered from the ground near the Anaska tree. He started to heat, each and every leaf and told her to give him a bowl from her bag. After heating for some minutes, a jelly type of substance started dripping out of the leaves. It was a greenish brown jelly. He carefully collected it in the bowl and offered her to drink.

She just had a sip but threw it out of her mouth.

“What happened?” he asked

“It’s not good.” she replied

“But it is healthy enough.” he said, while giggling.

He took a sip. He knew how to make a choosy kid, to eat the food which is not of kid’s choice. Though it tasted bad, but he managed to drink half of it. He gave the rest of it to Agatha. After having two to three sips, she became habitual to it and drank it. Within an hour both felt a tremendous amount of energy inside both of them. The energy was induced in them, by this jelly type of substance.

The cave was yellowish-red, due to the luminance of the fire. A peaceful breeze entered the cave. Noah and Agatha were sitting on a rock together. She was sitting in his lap, her head was on his shoulders. They were silently watching the dance of fire. Now, the peaceful breeze had been replaced by the storm, blowing outside the cave. Air was entering the cave, producing a popping sound, while coming in contact with the fire. Fire was dancing left and right, up and down, when its musician ‘air’, was coming in contact with it.

While watching the play between fire and air, she dozed off with her head lying on his shoulders. He lifted her up, laid her on the rectangular rock and covered her body with the blanket. Saying “Good night” in her ears, he sat on the same place, where he was sitting earlier.

“I made a mistake or she made a mistake?”

This was the question, which he asked himself. While solving this simple but yet complex question, he went into a deep meditation. He was about to solve the question when, he felt as if someone whispered in his ears. He slowly opened his eyes, but found no one. As his mind told him, there was nothing, he closed his eyes again. Within few minutes, he heard the same voice.

Noah stood up instantly, started following the source of the sound. This led him out of the cave. Due to strong cold winds, his body started shivering. There was a rhythm in the voice. As if somebody wanted to talk to him. He was walking in the dark, searching for the source. But, was not able to find it. At last, he started proceeding back towards the cave. He came near the tree, and, found that the sound had actually stopped at once. As he turned around, started walking towards the cave. He found someone whispering again. But this time, he could hear, what the voice was saying.

He again turned his head towards the Anaska tree. But this time, his body started trembling due to some other reason. The reason being fear. He came to know, there was something behind the tree, which was whispering. He slowly started stepping towards the backside of the tree.