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"This isn’t a recall technique," he said "It’s to bring you to a centered position"

He sounded like a psychologist, which was both reassuring and unnerving "What branch of Opti did you wash out of?" she asked There was no answer, but his pressure on her foot didn’t change "Silas, what branch?"

"I didn’t wash out I quit" His thuain to show that all the tension was gone "Find a spot Tell me what you liked about it How you felt there"

Fine She illing to do al her feet Her headache was alone "Can I pick a person instead?"

His motion on her foot hesitated "Ah, no"

She held her breath, exhaling when she had an idea "When I was a kid, I spent a few suht in the raveyard Just a few faded markers Couldn’t even read them But it was peaceful, and the eet" Peri smiled, and the last of her headache vanished Maybe there was ave him credit for

"What did it s so personal vanished at his logic The triggers of scent and touch were i a successful connection between a drafter and an anchor, and so she illing to give him more and see where it went

"The earth was both hard fro as if she could feel the black soil "The bark was srays I could be alone there, just me and the sun and the wind, and like the world, it smelled like dry dirt do, and like freedoreen"

She was totally relaxed, even if recalling the scent of the dirt seemed to stick in her

"Centered and still," Silas said, no longer working pressure points, but"Peri?"

"Mmmm?"