Chapter 397: What It Follows

Ren sat beside the keeper’s pool with his notebook open on his knee. The keeper was tending its Lawfire; he waited until it turned toward him before showing it the question he had written on the journey from Carrow.

Water back to place?

Water gathered at the two points on the stone lip and fell into the pool. Beside the nearer fall was the notch he had used through his earlier lessons.

"I can keep the slowing when I move it from a place onto a drop," Ren said. "Can I leave it at a place again while the water goes on? Without ending the working?"

"Yes. Choose where."

He indicated a short stretch beneath the lip, its upper edge level with the old notch. The keeper pointed to the lower limit, and Ren marked both heights on dry stone with his pencil.

The keeper waited for a drop to separate, then laid the slowing on that water. Ren followed the working as the drop descended toward the upper mark.

While the water was inside the chosen stretch, the keeper changed what the slowing followed.

The connection remained active through the transfer. Ren could follow it from the moving water to the region between the marks. The stone gave him its position; the working occupied a narrow stretch of the fall beside it, clear of the second dripping point. The drop continued slowly within that region, then quickened through its lower margin and fell normally below it.

The next drop entered at the upper mark and slowed.

"If you want the next one slowed there too," the keeper said, "leave the working at the place."

It held the region while that drop passed through, then withdrew. Ren watched the next water fall freely from both points. No slowing remained in the marked stretch.

— • —

He set his notebook beside him and waited for fresh water to gather.

As the next drop separated, he applied the carried slowing. He followed it down past the upper mark, intending to leave the working there.

The drop remained slow below the lower mark.

Ren looked back to the lip. The following drop fell through his intended region without slowing. It was closing the distance to the first when he released his working, before the two could meet. Both finished their falls into the pool.

"It’s still following the water," the keeper said.

’I was meant to leave it there.’

He had watched the marks as the drop passed them, but his working had stayed attached to that water. On his first attempt at the earlier handoff, he had released the slowing before establishing its new attachment. This time he had kept it and changed nothing.

The keeper waited while he looked between the two pencil marks.

The drop could bring the working to that position. Once there, he needed to hold its boundaries against the stone instead of following the water below them. He looked along the short span he had chosen. The transfer had to leave the water inside those boundaries, still slowed, with room to descend before reaching the lower edge.

"Again," he said.

He applied the slowing to another drop and followed it toward the chosen region. Once the water was inside, he maintained the slowing while establishing its upper and lower limits at the marked heights.

The drop kept descending. He held those edges against the marks, letting the water move through the region they defined. Near the lower limit, he eased the slowing as the keeper had shown him. The drop quickened and fell into the pool.

Ren kept the region active through the gap between drops. For that moment there was no water inside it, but he could still follow the working held against the two marks.

The following drop entered at the upper mark and slowed. He watched it pass through, keeping the lower edge in place instead of letting his attention carry it down with the water. The other dripping point continued falling normally beside his working.

Once the second drop had left the region, he released it. Fresh water fell through without slowing.

"That," the keeper said. "You’re holding the place now."

Ren glanced at the lower mark.

"It stays for the next drop."

"While you maintain it."

He repeated the exercise twice. Each time, he began with slowing attached to one drop, transferred it while the water was between the marks, and kept the region fixed after that drop had left. The next water slowed there too.

Between runs, he withdrew completely and watched the ordinary fall before starting again. The keeper gave no corrections.

— • —

"Another place."

The keeper indicated a second short stretch slightly lower down the fall. Ren marked its upper and lower limits beside the water, then watched several drops descend before attempting it.

The first drop would have farther to travel under carried slowing. If he slowed it too much, the following water could reach it before the handoff. He checked the spacing and the distance to the new upper mark, keeping the old region inactive.

He waited for a fresh drop, applied a light slowing and followed its descent.

As soon as the water was inside the new span, he changed the working’s attachment. He kept the same connection active while setting its edges against the new marks. The drop continued slowly through the region and quickened near the lower edge.

It fell clear before the next drop reached the upper boundary.

That next drop slowed as it entered. Ren maintained the region through its passage, then released before further water could enter it. The keeper watched the lower mark and the fall beneath it.

Ren waited until both dripping points were falling normally, then began again.

This time he kept his attention on the connection through the transfer. He could feel where the working ceased following the selected water and became fixed against the marked span. The drop did not quicken during that change. It continued through the region, leaving the slowing behind as it passed the lower margin.

The following drop slowed at the same upper edge. Ren held the region until it was clear, then let the working go.

The next water fell normally through both positions he had used. He watched it reach the pool before picking up his notebook.

Beneath his question, he drew the two spans and recorded the sequence: carried slowing, transfer while the drop was inside, first drop clear, next drop slowed, release. Beside the failed attempt, he noted that the slowing had remained attached below his intended lower edge.

He closed the notebook and rested it on his knee.

The keeper had returned to tending its Lawfire. Ren stayed seated beside the pool while it worked. Water gathered and fell, and he left the pencil inside the closed book.

"Thank you," he said when he rose.

The keeper looked around from its flame and inclined its head. Ren collected his things and took the shore path toward the Worldroot.

Once he was alone, he asked the System privately for the result.

[TIME: 1.60% → 1.95%.]

He dismissed the line and continued along the shore.

"There you are, Ren."

Kaia spoke privately when he reached the trunk.

"Here I am."

He sat against the root and set his notebook on the grass beside him. When he got up again, he took it with him to his room on Dawnspire.

Dalia’s spare practice board stood beside the desk. Ren unfolded its stand and checked the fastening, then opened his notebook to her instructions. He had sketched the neighboring squares and the narrow portion of light he had redirected between them.

Start under one steady light. Follow what reaches the board, then change where it lands.

Below that was the invitation he had copied after the lesson:

When the new growth fills in, ask Maren about another session.

He folded the stand and took up his slate. His message asked whether the growth over Dalia’s beds had filled in enough for the session she had offered, and when she might be available.

He sent it and put the board back beside the desk.