Chapter 385: What the Light Holds

Heat reached Ren in the arrival area while the clerk checked his papers.

He recognized the counter beside the exit and the woman in the pale coat behind it. She checked the fit of his cloak, hood and hand covers before handing them over. He had everything fastened by the time she pointed toward the covered route.

"Keep to the shade where you can."

"I remember."

Outside, pale ground fell away below Shadewell, its edges blurred by heat. Above the roofs, the slope rose toward gray-white heights. He loosened his cloak beneath the first canopy, then stopped to fasten it before crossing a bright strip on the paving. On the other side, a worker had paused to pull back her hood. Ren did the same and continued uphill.

Maren met him at the keepers’ entrance on the shaded side of the garden.

"She’s at the row past the repair. You’ve time for the lesson before her next inspection." 𝖿𝖗ⅇℴ𝑚

"Thanks for arranging it."

"Thank her. I only asked."

— • —

Dalia was turning a leaf to examine its underside when he reached her. The marked board stood beside the bed, level with the upper leaves. She released the leaf, checked its surface against the board and beckoned him closer.

"You came back for it. Good. Stand where you can see both."

Sunlight fell through gaps in the canopy, leaving a bright patch beside a shaded square near the middle of the board. The branches above were still.

"Follow what reaches the board," she said. "Then change where it lands. Watch first."

Ren watched the patch. Its center was bright, its edges softer; even the shaded square received some light. On his last visit, he had recognized Dalia’s Law but lost her working where it spread beyond the brightest part. He kept his attention on that boundary as she began.

Her Light working extended above the board. He followed a narrow part of it near the edge of the bright patch, where she directed some of the incoming light toward the neighboring square. That square brightened. The donor patch softened along one side. Beside the board, her working made the same adjustment over the leaves.

Ren kept his eyes on the surfaces while following her working. When he tried to take in the whole spread at once, he lost its finer adjustments. He returned to the narrow part between the two squares and stayed with that.

"Start with this much." She indicated the narrow strip. "Small enough that you can watch where it goes. Put it here."

Her finger moved to the adjacent square.

Ren followed the connection through her working until she released it. The old pattern returned. This time he had kept track of the part he had lost before.

"Your turn."

He reached too widely. His working took in most of the patch’s margin, and he pushed it farther than he intended. The bright square dulled. Its neighbor barely changed. A pale patch appeared across the wooden rim beyond the grid.

Dalia pointed.

"The next square, Ren. Not the frame."

’The board had looked better before he helped.’

He released the working and watched the original patch return. On his next attempt, he took only a narrow portion from the side nearest the shaded square. He eased it across until the neighboring surface lightened.

It was still dimmer than the donor patch, but the change was clear. The donor softened along that edge, and the frame remained shaded.

"Keep it there," Dalia said.

He held the adjustment while she looked between the board and the leaves. Then a breeze moved the branches overhead. The bright patch slid toward the board’s far edge; his working stayed where it was.

The neighboring square dimmed.

Ren released, found the incoming light again and redirected a smaller portion from its new position. The square brightened. When the branches eased back, he followed the patch toward its earlier place.

"Again. Watch for the change yourself."

The first movement caught him late. The shaded square dulled before he brought the light back to it. On the next, he adjusted as the patch moved and kept the target lit.

He released and started again from the unaltered pattern. Finding the same strip was easier while the branches were still. When they moved, he had to change the part of his working that gathered the light while keeping its destination on the neighboring square.

He managed it through another movement. Dalia watched him reset once more before taking the board off its stand.

"Bring the stand."

— • —

The repaired section was two beds over.

Branches had been secured along the spans, but their new growth had not filled every opening. Bright patches crossed the bed beneath the gaps. Older leaves shaded the spaces between them.

Dalia set the board beside the bed and adjusted the stand to the height of its upper leaves. She showed Ren the distribution she wanted, then marked a short stretch between two stakes.

"This part. Spread what reaches it across the upper growth. Leave the neighboring bed as it is."

Ren stood where he could see the marked area and the bed beyond it. Three bright patches reached the upper leaves: one broad, two narrow. Unlike the board, the surfaces tilted at different angles, and some leaves overlapped others. He had to follow what arrived at the height Dalia had shown him without mistaking a shadow beneath a leaf for a patch that needed filling.

She held a hand beside the board to show him the level again, then stepped clear.

He took a little from the broad patch and guided it toward the nearest shaded growth. Those leaves lightened while the bright edge softened. He drew a smaller portion from one narrow patch toward the other side, then worked the remaining patch into the distribution. He kept that last portion separate until he could see where it landed. The receiving leaves were closer together there, and directing all of it onto one would only create another bright spot.

The neighboring bed showed no change. He checked its nearest leaves before returning his attention to the three areas within his working.

A breeze moved through the canopy.

Two parts of the distribution held. The third brightened farther along the marked stretch than he intended. Ren eased that part back, following the incoming light until it reached the right leaves again.

He had been concentrating on the broad patch. The narrower ones moved with different gaps overhead, and correcting the largest did nothing to keep the others in place.

He spread his attention across all three. On the next movement, he adjusted each part as its supply shifted. The shaded growth continued receiving light, and no new bright patch appeared beyond the stakes.

"Keep that," Dalia said.

She bent to examine the lower leaves. Ren maintained the distribution above them while she turned one on the formerly bright side, checked its underside and let it settle. She could use both hands without stopping to tend the light herself.

He followed another movement of the canopy as she worked along the marked stretch. One narrow patch thinned while the broad one widened. He eased the first part of his working and redirected more from the second, keeping the receiving leaves close to the brightness she had shown him. Dalia straightened and waited beside him. He kept working through the branches’ return before she looked back at the board.

"You followed all three that time."

He watched the leaves while she checked the board.

"You can release it now."

The uneven pattern returned when he stopped. Dalia brought her own working over the bed and made the adjustment again. Ren stepped aside as she checked the next section.

"There’s a spare board by the gate," she said. "Bring it over."

— • —

The spare was marked in squares like hers. Ren folded its stand against the back and carried it to the bed.

"Keep it for practice," Dalia said. "Start under one steady light. A lamp will do. Follow what reaches the board, then change where it lands."

"Then something that moves?"

"Once you can repeat it. Keep the receiving square in the same place while the incoming patch shifts."

"Thank you."

"When the new growth fills in, ask Maren about another session. You’ll have smaller gaps to work with here."

He left her tending the bed and fastened his cloak before crossing the opening at the garden gate. Beneath the next canopy he loosened it, then followed the covered route back toward the port.

Inside the hall, he returned the issued cloak, hood and hand covers. He kept the folded board with his bag while he checked the departure notice, then boarded the return service.

At his seat, he opened his notes and sketched the two squares. He marked the narrow portion he had redirected and the rim he had lit by mistake. Beneath it he drew the bed’s three patches, with separate arrows for the changes he had followed. Keeping one destination steady had taken more than moving the whole working with the light.

He added Dalia’s instruction to begin under a steady source. The folded stand let him set the board at the same height each time; he checked its fastening before closing the notebook.

Once the service had left the port, he asked the System privately for the result.

[LIGHT: 3.5% → 4.2%.]

Ren put his notes away. The board rested across his knees, his hand holding the folded stand against its back as the transport moved.