I awake to the sound of low singing. Sabyne is sitting inside the circle of stones, eyes closed, his claws tapping a melody on the wood floor. I roll over to stare at him. I almost don’t want to interrupt him because his singing is so comforting, even if I can’t understand a word of it. The stone is still clutched in my hands and I wonder if I can convince Sabyne to let me keep it.

“What are you doing?” I ask. Sabyne cracks one eye open and holds out a claw to silence me. A few more minutes go by of him singing and the stones along the floor begin to swirl around him, the dragon inlaid in the floor glows silver and still he continues whatever he’s singing. His voice is too low for me to hear the words, but I bet he’s speaking in a foreign language anyway. Minutes stretch by slowly, I can see the light from outside stretching across the room and illuminating the stone dragon and Sabyne, who’s scales are practically glowing.

As his notes become slower and deeper the stones settle back on the floor and the glowing stops. He sits back and stretches all his arms before standing.

“Aligning.” He answers.

“What?” I stand and stretch as well, working the kinks out of my muscles. I’m surprised that not too sore from sleeping on a hard floor two nights in a row, but I feel fine. Sabyne hands me something that resembles a rice crispy treat. And pulls out a similar one for himself.

“Aligning, it is a way of balancing oneself, like stretching but for one’s mind and abilities. Your kind does not do this?” He asks. He munches into his rice crispy treat.

“No…some people meditate though.” At his perplexed look I go on to explain what meditation is, going into a tangent about yoga. I tried it once, it’s much harder than it looks. “Is it like that?”

He purses his lips, “Yes, that sounds similar. Not many do it ritually, but my wife and I do it every day. It keeps our bond stronger and our powers at their peak.”

“That sounds cool, but why were the rocks floating?”

Sabyne grins, “It helps me to focus my energies.” He gives me a side glance as he begins rummaging in his bag. “You could probably benefit from it.”

“Uhhh…sure, what do I do? Do I need to know that melody you were singing.”

“Not at all, you pick a note that calms you and sing whatever springs to your mind. It doesn’t even have to be real words,” Sabyne begins placing the stones around me.

“I don’t think the stones will be floating for me.” I chuckle but close my eyes and do as he suggested. I could probably benefit from a little meditation. Maybe if I clear my mind a little I can figure out how to get me and Raylen out of…I forgot about Raylen! My eyes snap open just as Sabyne places the last stone. “Raylen, oh my gosh…Raylen! She didn’t come back last night did she?” Sabyne is munching on something and tilts his head to the side. He gestures to the empty room.

“We can go search for your friend when-”

Sabyne’s talking but I’m not listening to him anymore. I jump up, grab my pack and head out.