[Nydardomond]

Evening, 39th Brightening of Kalendryas, Winter, Era XIII (pf)

A few brightenings had passed since Nyd last tried to enter a state of calm. Since then he had no shortage of problems in Nexus Prime. The few places he sought out for lodging had either turned him away or wanted an exorbitant amount of crowns for a shoddy room. This left him setting up his tent in the outer-city in the Markus District. He even had to run from a more than dangerous group of thugs at the Docks who seemed intent on doing him great harm. After that he decided to avoid that area of the city and found himself drawn to the Markus District where although he did not receive great treatment, he was more or less left alone.

On this particular evening, Nyd sat in the darkness of his small tent, barely able to move without brushing against one of the sides. He wasn’t quite as angry as he was before and hoped that perhaps this time he could put more effort into trying to relax. He was exhausted both mentally and physically. He thought back to Gri’Tai and how the old man used to sit for hours in silence at the back of their cave, lost in his own thoughts. When he would come out of his meditation, he always seemed at ease and focused. From what Nyd had read in Gri'Tai's journal, now lying next to him, Gri'Tai used to sit the way he did because he found it was the best position for him to gain total relaxation. Thus Nyd tried to mimic the way the old man used to sit. His legs were crossed; his feet tucked close. His arms hung at his sides with hands resting on the ground palms down. He let his shoulders slump and his head hang forward. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Although he didn’t exactly reach any sort of enlightened state by doing this, he did succeed in falling asleep rather quickly and deeply, the first time in at least a cycle.

Nyd awoke the next morning in the same sitting position he was in when he fell asleep. He felt much better after having gotten his first full night of sleep in many brightenings. After a few bites of a travel ration and a couple gulps of water, he began reading again in Gri'Tai's journal, hoping to find out more on Gri'Tai's methods of meditating. So far he had discovered the best way to position his body for relaxing and knew that buy expanding on that, he could progress further.

After reading several more pages in the journal, Nyd got dressed, took down the tent, and gathered his gear. Now feeling more energized, he decided to go back to the inner-city and see what else he could learn about his new environment.