Magical Tea

A note to readers.

This story has been revised slightly from the way it was originally posted in 2007. I went through and cleaned up some grammar mistakes and streamlined the narrative.

Please be aware that this story has graphic sexual content. Do not read if you are under the age of 18.

Peace to you,

Addie Q

* * *

My sister Page and I were sitting together in the shade of a tall red cliff system. We were both comfortable sitting on the sand, and it was hot.

It wouldn't be too much to say it was one of the most beautiful places in the world. The deserts of southern Utah are so grand and so strange; it was like visiting a hidden spot from God's deepest imagination.

My sister had a tiny camp stove and as she was setting it up, she was carefully explaining what she had with her.

I held it in my hand, it was just a little baggie filled with some herbs. It looked like nothing more than dried leaves. It was a gift from a very old and wise woman from the local Indian reservation, near where Page goes to college. It was a kind of Indian shamanic tea, used to attain visions.

Page made the tea in a small pot. It turned the water a deep red.

She calmly asked, "Okay Shelly, are you sure you want to do this?"

I nodded yes.

"I don't really know what to expect. The old woman said it was something magic, and very powerful. She said we would be able to see and connect with the beauty of the Great Spirit."

"Is that like God?" I asked.

"I don't know, but since being away from home I think that I need a new idea about God."

"Don't let mom hear you say that!"

It was true, Mom would be really angry. She was such a devout Mormon that it created a really oppressive life at home. It was hard for me to really understand what Page had experienced away at school. Right now, she was open to so much more than I had ever known. My life, with all the rules of my religion, left me so closed off. I could never see it until I spent time with someone outside my little world. Page was from that alluring place beyond the confines of my home and all of its oppression.

The family has shunned Page since she went away to school. She was expected to just find a Mormon husband and get married and have kids. But instead she left home and went to a non-Mormon college out beyond Utah. My family, especially mom, just seemed to disown her.

I had to sneak away for this camping trip. I lied to get out here with Page. I told Mom that I was going with a group from LDS church. At first she said no, but I told her it was what I wanted for my birthday. After hearing that, she relented.

The thing that bothers me, and confuses me, is that Page is the most wonderful caring, loving and spiritual person I know. She inspires me, and I can't understand why Mom is so strict. It's like she doesn't care about Page. The family situation leaves me feeling sad, but right then I was elated to be with my beautiful sister.

Page took a drink from her cup, and then handed it to me. I didn't hesitate, I put it to my lips and drank. It was hot and bitter. It wasn't bad, but it was like nothing I had ever tasted before.

We handed the cup back and fourth between us, and within a few minutes, we drank it all.

I asked, "Now what happens?"

"Oh God, Shelly, I have no idea."

My full name is Michelle, but Page has always called me Shelly. She's the only person who calls me that, and I love hearing it.

I was following my sister to wherever this would lead. I trusted and cared for her. She had always been so kind and supportive to me. I just turned 18 years old, and there is already a lot of pressure on me at home to get married. I never feel this from Page, and there is such freedom because of that.

This was our third day out in the desert. We had three more days to go.

Page was a really skilled camper, and I've learned a lot from her. The desert of southern Utah is really hot during the day, and it doesn't get too cold at night, so you really don't need much gear. My sister is so concerned about weight of the backpacks that we only brought one sleeping bag. It was a thick down bag that could be opened up and it easily covered both of us. Growing up we shared a room and we would sleep in the same bed, and it was warm and wonderful, especially in the wintertime. So, both of us sleeping under one blanket was nothing unusual.

For the nights so far on the camping trip, we just slept all snuggled together under the stars. It's been lovely and comfortable. We have a tent with us, but we haven't needed it.

The nights in the desert can get chilly, so it was nice to snuggle again, the way we would as girls on cold winter nights. I had missed Page so much and I was excited to sleep next to her. I loved the closeness. The first night of this trip was my last day as a 15 year old. The next morning Page woke me up with a hug and told me happy birthday. Nothing in the whole world could have made me feel happier.

We hiked in silence, and I was trying to be very aware of any effect from our shamanic tea.

The sun was setting. The desert in this part of Utah is really beautiful, but right then it seemed almost magical. Maybe it was the tea, my perception was the everything was all mystical and sacred.

Everything seemed holy in a way that I had never felt before. The sky, the rocks, the smell in the air, all of it was intensely beautiful, and so was Page.

She had been very active while at school, and she looked really healthy and fit. Her legs were long and tan, her shoulders were wide and strong. Her stride was so peaceful and confident. Oh my goodness, it was so inspiring.

I realized how much I missed her; she had such a confident way about her.

Page only two years older than me and we look a lot alike. Once, a few years ago, a photographer at a church meeting saw us together and he asked if he could take our picture. He came to our house and we sat out in the tall grass on our farm. It was just Page and me. Later, that picture actually made the cover of the Mormon Magazine! The funny thing was, they titled the picture: "Utah Twins and Moral Purity." They got that wrong, but we really do look like twins!

I always loved that picture; I just thought Page looked so beautiful.

I asked, "Page, do you notice anything, from the tea?"

"I don't know. Maybe?"

"What are you feeling?"

"I feel good, it's lovely here and I feel like I can really appreciate the glory of everything."

"Like everything is beautiful?"

"Yes, exactly!"

"I feel that way too."

Page smiled and said, "I feel a little bit strange, but it's wonderful."

I said, "It's like I can feel God's love everywhere, it's radiating from everything, from everywhere."

Page said, "You feel that?"

"Yes, everything is filled with love. I can feel it."

We hiked up this long ridge though a very strange area of weird rock formations. It seemed almost haunted, but there was no fear in me. The travel was so mysterious, it seemed like we were leaving someplace, like walking forward meant walking away from everything else.

Page was in front of me, leading. I was so content to follow her; just to let her take me wherever she needed me to go.

Everything around us was this breathtaking orange rock. We were on some sort of vast plateau. It was calm and hot. The silence was fantastic. The colors and the smells were so vivid. Everything was alive, I felt like I was safe in God's embrace; it was astounding.

Was it the tea? Was it making me feel like this?

I told my sister, "I feel so strange."

Page replied, "I know, this is really intense, but at the same time, everything is just beautiful."

I said, "Yes but, maybe it's too intense..."

Page looked at me and said, "Shelly, your face..."

"What is it?"

"Are you crying?"

It took me a second to realize it, but yes, I was. Everything was just so unbelievably glorious, it was making me all emotional. It must have been from the tea. It was so powerful that I was crying.

I stammered, "I think - it's - it's because I am so happy."

Page smiled and said, "Really?"

"Yes, I feel so intensely happy right now."

Page said, "Your mascara, is all smeared from your tears."

Just hearing Page say that made me feel a little angry, "I don't know why I put it on, Mom is so strict, and she makes me wear it. Everyday."

"But Shelly, why? You are so pretty, you don't need it, I'm going to wipe it off, okay?"

Page took a bandana and started to gently rub it against my cheek. Her touch was tender and soft. She smiled as she liberated me from something I felt I never wanted ever again.

She said, "There, that's better. I am so glad to be away from Mom and every horrible thing she stands for."

"What do you mean?"

Page carefully took her hanky and rubbed the stain from my other cheek. "Shelly, you don't need mascara to make you pretty, you are perfect and beautiful. Nobody should tell you what you should do. Especially Mom. She is so stuck in that awful church."

The things she was saying should have been blasphemous. But right then, it sounded so true. The tea had opened my mind and my soul. I saw so clearly how, I had been living a lie. Page was so open and free, and it was wonderful just being so close to her.

"Page, thank you, this means so much to me, nobody in our little town would ever say what you just said."

My sister smiled and said, "Shelly, I've missed you."

"I've missed you too."

I looked at my beautiful sister as she stood in front of me. She was so defiant, and I loved her for it.

I told her, "If Mom could see you, she would be so outraged."

"Why?"

"Page, it's so obvious, you don't have a bra on."

My sister has such lovely small breasts and it was easy to see her nipples under her t-shirt.

She smiled and said, "Well, you can tell Mom I don't have any panties on either."

"Oh my goodness, Page, I wish I had your nerve!"

In a very serious tone she asked, "Really? You do?"

I nodded yes.

We stood there on that amazing flat plateau, like we were on the top of the world. We just looked at each other as the wind picked up. Then Page took a little penknife out of her pocket. She opened it up so it's tiny blade glinting in the sun.

Page calmly said, "Take off your backpack."

And I did.

Then Page said, "Turn around."

And I did that too.

I was just astonished; it was like her confidence had hypnotized me.

What happened next was absolutely life altering. From behind, Page lifted my white t-shirt up to my shoulders and put her fingers on my bra straps. Then I felt her cut them, and then she carefully pulled my bra off.

I looked over my shoulder at her, and she handed me my bra, now useless with all the straps cut.

She let the t-shirt fall back down, and with my back still toward her, she pulled my nylon shorts down to my knees, so she could see my panties.

"Page? What are you doing?"

She didn't reply, but far off in the distance, there was a flash of lightning.

I said, "Page?"

"Shhhh, hold still."

And I held still.

My sister put her hand in my panties near my hip and carefully cut through the fabric with her little knife. Then she did the same thing at the other hip.

Then we heard the low rumble of the thunder. My panties just seemed to fall away, and she pulled at them, and handed these to me too.

She reached down, and she could obviously see my bare bottom, and she lifted my shorts back up, calmly and deliberately, like a mother helping her child get dressed.

When I turned to face her, she smiled and said, "There, I granted you your wish."

Then she hiked away.

It's hard to describe what I was feeling. It was the most powerful and liberating experience I had ever known.

I looked at the bra and panties in my hand. They were now cut and worthless. I dropped them, I didn't need or want them anymore. The wind picked up, and I let the underwear float away in the in the dust and smooth rocks.

They were useless to me now. I was somehow unshackled and free. I watched the white fabric skip along the sandstone and eventually disappear.

I turned to follow my sister, who was walking away from me. Beyond her there was a storm building on the horizon. It was dramatic and inspiring.

I ran to catch up with my sister and my breasts jiggled with each step. I felt glorious.

We hiked in silence. Dark clouds crept in above us and it began to rain. The feeling of the tea in my head and my breasts without a bra, and the landscape and my sister. It was like some heavenly dream.

We were getting wet, but it felt so natural. I followed my sister right up to the edge of a wide river. The rain was falling harder, and we both looked at the slow moving water.

Page said, "According to the map, we need to be on the other side. If it rains like this for too long the river will rise and we won't be able to cross. We should get over there now, okay?"

"Okay."

"Before we do this, how do you feel?"

"I feel good."

Page looked right at me and said, "I mean, I'm a little bit worried about you. The tea didn't make you dizzy or anything, "

"Oh no, I feel very aware."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I feel wonderful. It's like the tea makes me see everything in a more intense clarity."

She smiled and said, "I feel that way too!"

"Tell me what to do."

Then she said, "We're already totally wet, so I'm just going to leave my clothes on."

With that, Page stepped into the water. She worked her way across, and it got deeper. She took off her backpack and held it above her head and moved into deeper water.

I watched in amazement as she stepped forward into deeper water, and she actually fully submerged herself and for just a moment, it was just her backpack and her hands above the water line.

Then she walked into shallower zone and then she stepped onto the bank on the other side.

She looked across the river to me and shouted, "It's easy!"

Then I did the same thing.

I am just a tiny bit shorter and for the brief moment I needed to let myself step completely under water, it was like being embraced by nature, like being washed clean of everything bad, and filled with something from God. It was glorious.

Page looked at me as I got out. She was radiant and joyous.

She laughed and said, "Wow Shelly! I think maybe it was the tea, but that felt wonderful!"

I stammered, "I feel it too. I really feel it."

He wet t-shirt was now tight against her body. Her nylon shorts were clinging to her body. I could clearly see her wet form. My senses were so alive. Even her hair was pressed tight against her head and neck. It was if I was seeing her, the real person, the hidden self was gone and what emerged was beautiful and alive.

She smiled at me and said, "Oh God, I feel wonderful."

I did too, I was awash in love. My sister was the most amazing vision I had ever seen. The water was cold and her nipples stood out hard under her wet t-shirt. I was happy to stare, the tea had freed something in me.

My sister was looking at me with a wide eyed expression of awe. Then I looked down at myself. My nipples were hard too.

My nylon shorts were so thin, and the wetness made it easy to see my pubic hair pressed against the fabric. I normally would have felt embarrassed, but right then I felt proud of myself.

There was a strange moment where we just stared at each other by the edge of the river in the rain.

Page finally said, "Oh my God Shelly, you look so beautiful. You should never wear a bra, not ever again."

When she said that, I don't know why, but I shuddered. She was telling me that my hard nipples were beautiful.

Page said, "Lets move, we should find a campsite, we're gonna get cold."

The rain was suddenly much harder, and there was a sense of urgency. I was getting cold, and I thought Page was feeling it too. Plus, it was starting to get dark.

We hiked up a small hill well above the river, and Page pointed to a flat spot near some trees. She explained we needed a safe spot if the river flooded over its banks.

"This'll be perfect," she said in a surprisingly calm voice.

The tent was tricky to set up in the rain and the darkness. We had only slept out under the stars so far on this trip, so the tent was something totally new to me. I wanted to help but Page was pretty much doing everything. I felt like I was completely dependent on her. At this point I was cold and shivering.

My sister skillfully guided me on how to help with the fabric and the poles. It took a few minutes, but a little dome shape emerged from the nylon. Page adjusted a few things and the tent was all set up. I was surprised a how small it seemed. It had a main area inside that was just barely big enough for the two of us and it had a small covered vestibule.

Page said, "You should get in first. It's too small in there for both of us right away."

I said, "Okay."

Then Page said, "Your clothes are all wet, just take them off and leave them in the vestibule area."

"Okay."

I took off my shoes and socks and stood on the wet grass. Then it struck me, that all I was wearing was my t-shirt and running shorts.

"Page, you know I'm not wearing a bra or panties right now. What should I do?"

"You'll have to just take everything off and get in. If you have any wet clothing on, you'll never get warm."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm gonna do the same thing."

"Okay."

"Good, please hurry, I'll get in after you."

"Okay," I said.

As fast as I could lifted my t-shirt over my head and pulled my shorts off.

Then, for a brief moment, I was standing naked in the cold rain and the icy breeze. There was something so exciting about it, something that felt gratifying. I was feeling defiant against everything our mother had tried to make of us.

"Please hurry, we need to get warm," Page said.

Before I could even think, I was in the tent, on the nylon floor. The sound of the heavy rain was loud when I got inside. My clothes were sopping, and I just left dropped in a little ball under the vestibule.

There was something so dark and safe about being inside the tent. The red fabric seemed to create a magic feeling of security.

Page got undressed even faster than I did. I watched from my seated position in the tent. She stood out side the tent door, naked and wet. There was such urgency in the way she moved. I could see her through the low tent door from her belly button on down and even though it was getting dark I could see she was naked. She stayed outside in the pouring rain for just a little longer. Something seemed strange.

She was busy with our gear and it took me a moment to figure it out why it seemed so strange. My sister didn't have any pubic hair. I didn't know what this meant. I had hair, it was thin but Page was older, and she didn't have any.

I had seen her naked before but I guess it must have been a long time ago, when we were a lot younger.

Right at that moment, Page was all business and she handed in some gear in a big red stuff sack, "Here, everything in this bag is dry."

I took it and pushed it in a corner.

Then Page handed me both of our sleeping bags, each in a waterproof sack. She handed me a few other items, all in little stuff sacks. All of this gear was making the inside of the tiny tent feel crowded.

Page said, "I think that's everything, I'll leave the packs out here, they have plastic bags inside, so everything will be fine."

I said, "Okay."

"I'm coming in."

I moved over and tried to give her some room.

It was getting dark outside and everything in the tent was a deep red.

"I don't want either of us to get too cold," Page announced, and then she zipped the tent door closed. It was suddenly so dark it was hard to see anything.

She said, "This tent is tiny, I think our body heat should warm it up a little."