No Center

[Aura]

(Saffron Fields continued from I'm a Fucking Unicxrn)

Saffron was exhausted. She hadn't had a good night's sleep in two days, she had no decent shelter or food, and she had been on the move with Arizona for the past two days. But her exhaustion was not only physical, it was mental as well. The constant stress of knowing that any minute could be her last one alive had been weighing on her, and she could feel it. She tried her best to retain her general calmness, but deep down, she felt as though she could snap at any moment.

So when she had some time to herself, early in the morning, she set out alone to meditate in a far-off part of the gardens. It had helped her before to calm down, but that was when she was dealing with things like prepping for finals and awkward crushes. Those were small potatoes compared to her issues at present, but she had no other solid ideas to work with.

She sat cross-legged next to the nicest-looking plant that she could find and closed her eyes. She took a moment to steady her breathing, then counted the seconds between her breaths. Inhale, one, two, three, exhale. Inhale, one, two, three, exhale. She kept her rhythm, counting three seconds between each inhale and exhale, then starting the sequence again. She blocked out the island, the weapon at her side, everything bad that plagued her on the island. All that she needed to focus on was right there in her mind.

But on her mind was the contents of the other announcements. Her concern for her friends, her fears over where Katie was. All of that stood between her and a few well-deserved moments of peace. She focused hard and tried to force herself through it, trying to force all of the negative thoughts out of her mind. It was a long process, and she doubted whether or not it was even working. But slowly, surely, she thought that she was making some progress...

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

The deafening, jarring feedback from the loudspeaker ruined her concentration, and she was forced to listen to yet another update on the killers and the killed. More friends that she would never see again, and more people whose names were now stained with blood. Her only relief was that Katie was not among the names listed. She tried to cling to that as she attempted to find her center once more, the one piece of positive news she had acting as her guide.

Focus... focus...

... Nothing.

With a sigh of frustration, Saffron got to her feet and gave up. If she was tackling this, then she would have to do it while stressed, tired, and suffering from a severe lack of inner peace. Disappointed, she trudged back to where she and Arizona had set up camp.

Or at least... where she thought they had set up camp.

"Arizona?"

She ran off to catch up with Arizona, and made a mental note not to wander away from her companions while they're asleep anymore.

(Saffron Fields continued elsewhere...)