Chapter 15: Cracks In The Framework
Suyin arrived at the training ground before dawn. Before me, actually. When I came through the willow gap with Hao, she was already sitting cross-legged at the center of the field with her hands in the prayer sign, eyes closed, breathing slow and measured.
Hao looked at me. I looked at Hao. Neither of us said anything.
"I practiced last night," Suyin said without opening her eyes. "I found the membrane you described on your bark sheets."
"You read my bark sheets too?" I asked.
"Your mother showed me. She said if I was going to train, I should understand the theory."
Hao covered his mouth to hide a grin. Mother was apparently running her own recruitment pipeline too, and she also was adept at rummaging through my stuff.
The session confirmed what the healing incident had suggested. Suyin's qi awareness operated differently from both Hao and me. Hao sensed qi as force. I sensed it as boundary. Suyin sensed it as flow. When I guided her through the lung mai activation, the energy in her channels behaved like water finding a slope, always seeking the most efficient path.
"That's the medical framework," I told Hao afterward, while Suyin practiced meridian breathing by the river. "She learned anatomy before cultivation. Her mind already has a map, so when she reaches for qi, it follows the routes she already knows."
Hao watched her from across the field. "She's faster than Bolin."