The angaran scientists stationed on Havarl had sent a message to Sara informing her they had contradictory and mostly unconfirmed sightings of spiky grey aliens wandering the jungle, aliens that sounded a lot like the ones the Andromeda Initiative had apparently misplaced. Sara had immediately demanded the Tempest leave Kadara and head to Havarl to investigate. It was most likely a wasted journey, but there was a chance turians from the missing Ark Natanus had somehow found their way to the jungle planet. It was at least a lead of sorts and perhaps it could help locate the rest of the arks.
Sara gave a soft sigh and pushed back from her desk to stare across her quarters at the long window that bordered one side, through which she could see the flickering light streams of FTL travel. They were jumping across the galaxy at high speed, and yet she had time to kill. Time she had decided to spend going through the long-neglected multiple messages that had built up on her console. What idiot had decided the Pathfinder should be so easily reachable?
She brought one leg up onto the edge of her chair and leaned her chin on her knee, returning her gaze to her console and flicking idly through messages. She had at least replied to the important ones. Her inbox was now cluttered with messages from Drack, who seemed to think image dumps of his favourite guns would be calming, along with reams of inspirational stories and quotes and god-knows-what from Liam. She got double the asari advice from Cora and Lexi. She picked one at random, opening a message from Lexi and scanning the contents.
Yoga. Asari yoga. Lexi had sent her a list of poses and motions, with clear instructions on how to do them.
"Lexi, why?" Sara muttered, winding one end of her bootlace around her forefinger as she scrolled through the wall of text. There was a lot.
She dimly recalled Cora once telling her about the various health benefits of asari yoga, but Sara had stopped listening halfway through as she usually did when the former huntress spoke about her Thessia training. Sara had more or less heard it all before from her one way or another.
Tevura's embrace... Matriarch's pose... Sara;s gaze scanned the text curiously. It couldn't hurt to give it a try...
She spun her chair around and hopped to her feet, pulling her hoodie off over her head and tossing it onto her desk as she kicked off her boots.
"Okay," she said, lacing her fingers in front of herself and cracking her knuckles. She swung her arms and hopped from foot to foot to loosen up, then leaned forwards to look at the instructions on her console. "'Standing, spread your legs apart, turning one foot outwards'..." she read the passage twice to commit it to memory, then stepped back. "'Take a deep breath'..." she muttered to herself, and slowly inhaled through her nose. As she exhaled she carefully swept one arm downwards, leaning forwards until her fingers brushed her ankle. "Am I doing this right?"
"I am not sure," SAM answered instantly. "What is it you are attempting to do?"
"Rhetorical question, SAM," Sara explained, standing straight again and repeating the sweeping motion with her other arm, leaning down to touch her toes and holding the position. "I think it's right?"
SAM remained silent this time.
Behind her the door to her quarters whispered open and Cora strode inside, brandishing an empty coffee cup. "Ryder, I found your mug in my plants aga- oh..." She halted after taking several steps over the threshold and stood blinking at the somewhat bizarre sight of Sara bent over with her butt in the air and holding one ankle.
Sara heard the door panel whoosh closed as she straightened and turned to face Cora, hooking her thumbs into her belt-loops. "Did you know, in civilized cultures we knock before entering someone's quarters?" She teased.
"Was that... Are you... Was that 'Kurinth's Bow'?" Cora sputtered, caught somewhere between amusement and excitement.
Sara beamed proudly. "So, I was doing it right!"
"You're doing asari yoga?" Cora asked eagerly, rushing to Sara's desk and dumping the mug.
"Eh, trying..." Sara admitted, rubbing the back of her neck and shrugging her shoulders. "Lexi mailed me some stuff and I was bored..." she gestured vaguely to her console, still displaying the message behind her.
"I can teach you!" Cora said brightly.
Sara opened her mouth to decline, but then she hesitated. While it wasn't something she was particularly interested in, it would be nice to let her friend share something that she was passionate about. So she smiled and nodded. "Sure."
Cora dragged them into the centre of the room where there was more space to work with.
"We need to centre ourselves first," She explained, standing in front of Sara and closing her eyes. "Inhale slowly through your nose," she demonstrated, "and out through your mouth."
"Is this necessary...?" Sara asked with a tiny frown. She wanted to do the motions Lexi had written down, not learn breathing exercises. She already knew how to breathe.
Cora cracked an eye open. "It's important."
"Why?"
Cora opened the other eye too. "This isn't just waving your arms around, it's about finding peace and-"
"Okay, breathing," Sara interrupted, closing her eyes and audibly taking a deep breath in and blowing it out slowly. "See?" She flashed a cheeky grin.
"You're a pain in the butt," Cora muttered.
"Love you too, Harper."
Cora rolled her eyes, then settled back into her breathing exercises. She allowed herself to relax, concentrating on inhaling and exhaling until she could hear Sara start to fidget. She hid a smile and opened her eyes to find Sara stood shifting from foot to foot with each breath, needing, as always, to be on the move. There was a look of utmost concentration on her face and Cora had to grit her teeth to keep from laughing; Sara couldn't possibly be feeling relaxed while thinking so hard about breathing.
Cora swallowed her smile and adopted an appropriately serene expression. "Ready?" she asked quietly.
Sara's eyes snapped open and she grinned. "Okay, yes!"
"Follow my lead," Cora said, taking up a stance that Sara dutifully copied. "Down to the breathing."
"Asari are deadly serious about their breathing..." Sara commented with a faint smirk.
Cora gave her an exasperated look. "It's about-"
"Inner peace and relaxation and blah blah blah," Sara interrupted. "I get it."
Cora studied her a moment, then stepped out of her stance with a slow grin.
Sara looked worried, fearing she had offended her friend. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"
Cora looked amused. "No, no," she said, waving off the apology. "I just had a better idea."
Sara hesitated, sensing she wasn't going to like it. "You did...?"
Cora crossed the room and sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the wide window across from Sara's desk, where light still streamed passed in a flickering river of colour. She looked expectantly at the Pathfinder and patted the space in front of her. "Sit."
"Why...?" Sara asked suspiciously, though she made her way over and sat opposite Cora.
"I think before we even touch yoga you need to learn how to centre yourself," Cora said, and paused for effect. Sara merely stared blankly at her. "We're going to learn how to meditate."
As expected, Sara's nose scrunched in distaste.
"Don't look at me like that, I think you'll find it very beneficial."
"Did Lexi put you up to this?" Sara demanded. She leaned back on her palms but remained sitting.
Cora smiled and shook her head. "No, she didn't."
Sara heaved a dramatic sigh. "Okay, teach me how to sit still and breathe."
"How do you feel?" Cora asked. They had sat in silence together for some time with minimal fidgeting from Sara which was a miracle in itself.
Sara considered, looking down at her hands as she toyed with the hem of her trousers. She felt... Relaxed. And energized, all at once. It was bizarre but she liked it.
"I like this more than when you're beating me up," she said eventually.
"Sparring, Ryder..." Cora corrected drily.
Sara regarded her with a raised eyebrow and a crooked grin. "It's a little one sided though, don't you think?"
Cora grinned back at her. "Well, I did train as a huntress..."
Sara nodded and climbed to her feet. "Oh I know." she reached down and helped Cora to her feet just as an almost imperceptible shudder ran through the ship. They had reached their jump point just outside the atmosphere of Havarl. Sara glanced towards the window to see the planet looming large ahead of them. "Time to see some angara about some turians..."