“The Way is not a law or a formula that can be captured in the static pages of a book,” she began. “The Way, as you are beginning to see, is a living, breathing spirit. It is a manner of walking in the world. The Way revolves around conscious and truthful experience, not man-made laws. And from this experience, you come to understand what is rightful living and what is not.

“Because of its fluidity, The Way is not a practice that can be learned by rote. Nor by repeating specific prayers or invocations. Thoughtless repetition and blind obeisance are, in fact, anathema to the basic tenet of The Way.”

She gave the mysterious black mixture a final stir and then poured it into the inkwell.

“After all, if you are forever referencing the same text, because someone tells you to, you shrink your spiritual experience of the world. Your senses are deadened to the bounty around them. Imposed or mindless reiteration, by its very nature, numbs the spirit and closes your heart to the world around you. And, unfortunately, when people are told what it is that they see, they can be easily misled.”

She looked again at Anna, fixing her eyes on hers as if she were going to reveal the most important secret. “The Way,” she said, “lives inside the heart. It is free to all. It requires no hierarchies or prophets or tax. No one, therefore, can own The Way nor can anyone withhold it. At any given moment, a person is free to live into the miracles of the life around them and, having received this experience, to take appropriate action. And, most important, because The Way is born of the eternal whole, it can never be destroyed and will exist into eternity, world without end.”

Saying this, Ruth went quiet, though she knew she had not spoken the entire truth. There did exist one circumstance, and only one, in which the physical recording of The Way’s basic tenets would be justifiable. But to even contemplate such a situation made her shiver, and she did not wish to speak of it.

Anna sat still and let the new ideas settle around her. After a moment, she glanced over at the jars of scrolls. “Is every plant mentioned in the writings?”

“If they have healing qualities, yes,” Ruth said.

Anna reached between the folds of her belt. “What about this one?” she asked, holding a small bit of green aloft. She had pinched the leafy stem from an unusual plant she had discovered.

Ruth squinted at the stem then took it gingerly into her hands.

“Where did you find this?” she asked, her eyes widening.

“Growing near the western perimeter.”

“Have you shown this to any of the other Sisters?”

Anna shook her head. “I did not wish to disturb them.”

A light came into Ruth’s eyes. “I have not ever seen this plant here in The Narrows,” she said.