Part 29 (1/2)

”I suppose, but-”

Annja shook her head. ”I mean, I shouldn't even fight it any longer. It's right here in front of me and I've been trying to deny what I felt. But that's not the way to do it, is it? According to you, I should just go boldly forth and embrace what I feel, right?”

”I suppose so.”

Annja pulled off her s.h.i.+rt and unhooked her bra. The cold air wrapped around her, making her teeth chatter. ”Hey, it's a little cold out here.”

Ken watched her with a strange look on his face. She smiled. ”What?”

He shook his head. ”Nothing. Please don't let me stand in the way of whatever it is you're about to do.”

Annja slid out of her pants and panties and laid them on the ground. Then she stood before Ken completely naked, wearing only a smile.

”Don't you know, silly? I'm going under that waterfall.”

29.

Annja could feel Ken's eyes on her as she stepped into the frigid waters of the pond. Whatever vestiges of modesty she had left had vanished when her panties had come off.

For his part, Ken seemed unaffected by the sight of Annja standing naked before him, something that only disturbed Annja for a moment before she realized that he would not allow any emotion to show on his face when presented with that situation. Inside, he must have been one hormonally carbonated mess, she decided.

She stood on a small rock facing the deeper water. Her legs were already thundering with shakes brought on by the cold.

What in the world was she doing? She almost turned around and strode out of the water, but knew she couldn't. She knew she wouldn't.

Annja stepped off the rock and sank into the water.

It took her breath away like a kick to the chest.

She surfaced and sucked air. ”G.o.d!”

Ken stood on the bank of the pond watching her but made no move to a.s.sist. Annja knew he'd come in if she needed him.

But she didn't need him.

At least not yet.

She made her way toward the waterfall. The closer she got, the colder the water became. She could see her breath misting in front of her face in stark contrast to the water.

There was a narrow ledge of stone directly beneath the main torrent of water.

Annja stepped onto it.

The sheer weight of the water almost crumbled her resolve. Combined with the freezing temperatures, just standing there would be a workout in and of itself. Annja wondered if her legs, after hiking for hours, would be able to stand the exertion.

She squatted and then stood up slowly.

Her entire body shook. She couldn't suck in breaths and exhale fast enough. The cold and the force of the water were making her shudder. If she didn't figure out how to get through this quickly, she was sure she would get hypothermia and die.

She thought about what Ken had talked about. She thought about the few times she'd seen other people trying to meditate and that sort of thing.

Isn't it really just breathing? she thought. I should try to count my breaths like I've seen them do in movies.

Without thinking, Annja brought her hands together in front of her stomach and tried tuning out the waterfall and the cold. She took a deep breath in and tried to exhale it slowly, drawing it out as long as she could.

She gasped and sputtered.

”Dammit!”

More water seemed to be cras.h.i.+ng down on her, as if someone had turned on the faucet full bore way high up on the mountain. She was going to drown standing under a freezing waterfall trying to meditate, of all things.

If her friends could see her now.

She almost grinned, but her teeth were chattering far too much.

She tried blocking out the water and the cold again. Maybe if I think hard enough about other things, she decided. That might work.

She thought about Ken and the hunt for the vajra vajra and the crazy things they'd been through so far on the trip. and the crazy things they'd been through so far on the trip.

But the water roared in her ears. And the cold sucked all the warmth from her body.

She shook her head. It wasn't working. How long was she expected to stay here under this onslaught? What was she trying to prove to herself? If this was where she was supposed to be, then why wasn't anything happening yet? Why wasn't she able to stand there in the freezing water while an avalanche of water dumped itself on top of her? It didn't make any sense, and Annja found herself getting angry that something as silly as a cold waterfall was going to kill her. The sheer idiocy of the thing drove her nuts. She was an accomplished archaeologist, someone who had put in her dirt time on digs that were anything but glamorous, and was now poised for a certain degree of fame and prestige. But she was standing beneath a frigid waterfall in the mountains of j.a.pan trying to accomplish G.o.d knew what while a guy on sh.o.r.e that she just might have a serious crush on watched her attempt to figure out nature and the path to enlightenment.

She sighed.

I'm a dope.

She was about to move off the ledge when she noticed that the water didn't feel quite so cold anymore. And neither did the crus.h.i.+ng weight of the water feel so suffocating.

Something had changed.

But what?

She started to try meditating again, blocking out the cold and the water. But as soon as she did, they both returned with full ferocity.

Annja frowned. When my mind wandered, I seemed to be able to withstand this better. So instead of concentrating and trying to block this out, I should simply accept this and move on.

The cold subsided.

Annja smiled.

She waved her arms about under the waterfall, enjoying how it felt when the heavy water surged over them. All the pain in her shoulder had vanished as well. Annja nodded, glad, but not silly enough to think that she had cured herself of a rotator cuff injury. It would still need to be looked at, but in the meantime, she could at least function with it as it was.