The fountain murmured behind him, a soft, steady spill of water over worn stone. The courtyard had settled into its post-class rhythm, students drifting between buildings in loose, unhurried groups, their voices carrying in fragments across the open space. The afternoon light had begun its slow shift toward amber.
Leo sat on the bench near the fountain's edge, his notes open but unread. His first circle rested in its natural spin, automatic now, a quiet hum beneath his awareness. He found himself thinking about the spiral again. That thirty seconds in Kai'sa's suite when he had stopped forcing it, and the structure held. Understanding and doing were separate things. He had understood the braiding method since the first session. Doing it without interfering, without his mind seizing the controls the moment something wobbled, was a different challenge entirely.
He did not notice Elaine until she was already there.
