“My introduction to my own sensuality was the Kama Sutra. I soaked up the rituals of relationship and mating,” I tell Loki as we walk through my memory together.
“There was one section about making a sort of love sachet from scented wax and flower petals, and another about the male growing specific nails longer to pinch half-moon marks on his beloved. I thought that was the most romantic thing I’d ever consumed. I immediately pinched half-moons on my hand, as described in the text. It was a ritual for lovers separated by distance, and I used it to close the distance between myself and my own sensuality.”
I realize this under Loki’s supervision.
Together, we watch my younger self enact the ritual.
“A lot of sensation in that canonical text,” Loki acknowledges.
“Yes. The sensations to be had were gorgeously detailed.
I chewed mint leaves to discover the moment right before kissing for myself.
I remade intimacy then, creating a different experience of it than I’d previously known.”
I watch her with him as she picks up the pieces of heartbreak, one instruction at a time.
“Magic comes from the self.” His words wrap me in new confidence.