WC: 218
Cho sat on the river bank, her legs crossed and her hands gently resting on her knees. Her back was as straight as the hair cascading down it like a waterfall (or rice noodles, if you asked her grandmother), and her eyes were closed in complete peace.
A mocking bird chirped out a pattern of different calls in the nearby tree that was offering Cho its shade.
Cho listened to the bird and felt the grass under her as all thoughts slid from her mind. A blank slate, she took in the sounds and the touch of her surroundings like a child first stepping into the grass.
She felt her breath travel into her nose and come to a pit in her stomach before she pushed it let it go back into the air.
The sound of the river gurgling over the rocks filled her ears until she could focus on nothing else. She was hyper-aware of the animals in these woods with her, but she did not even twitch when she heard a squirrel rustle the leaves a meter away.
Slowly, she saw the scene around her as a whole, piece by piece. She saw the river, the trees, the bird, the squirrel. She saw them for what they were and sat among them, feeling their equal.