Wang Ben set the second copy beside its original and reached for the next repair entry. He left room beneath the added writing, as Master Qiao had shown him. When he finished copying, he counted the loose pieces and wiped off the dirt. He kept the two groups apart and left each piece with its papers.
Qiao Mingshan was crouched beside eight formation flags laid out on the clear part of the floor. Their inscribed cloth lay spread beside the shafts. He held the warning array's command flag in one hand. Wang Ben put down his cleaning cloth and looked over.
"I've finished, Master Qiao."
Master Qiao nodded. "Come here. I'm sending a trace of qi through this set."
Wang Ben joined him. Master Qiao's gaze moved from one flag to the next, then returned to the one nearest the table.
"The qi isn't passing easily into this flag," he said, pointing to it.
Wang Ben could feel the qi around him, but he could not tell what was causing the resistance Master Qiao described. He looked at the space between the flag and its neighbors.
"Will you move it?"
"I haven't decided. I need to check how the qi reaches it." Master Qiao indicated the two neighboring flags. "Measure the distances between these three and put them on a drawing. Add what I've told you beside this one, so I have its position and the resistance together."
He stood, keeping the command flag in his hand.
"I'll check the other side while you do that."
Wang Ben fetched the cord and a blank sheet. He sketched the three positions, then knelt beside the array. Reaching across the first gap pulled at his ribs. He shifted closer and measured between the lower ends of the shafts, keeping the cord clear of the inscribed cloth. He used the same points for the other two distances and recorded all three on his drawing.
Master Qiao had gone around the flags and was standing beyond the far side of the arrangement. Wang Ben added the resistance beside the corresponding position, with Master Qiao's name above the observation. When the formation master came back, Wang Ben brought him the drawing.
Master Qiao crouched beside the array and took it with his free hand. He turned the sheet to match the flags, read the distances and looked from the nearest flag to each of its neighbors. Then he laid the drawing beside him.
"There's an earlier drawing folded on the table. Bring it here. I want you to compare these distances with it."
Wang Ben fetched the sheet and opened it beside him. Eight positions were drawn on it, with measurements between them. One had a second mark a short way beyond it.
Wang Ben pointed to the pair. "Was this one moved?"
"Yes. This is from an earlier check." Master Qiao touched the inner mark. "It started here. I moved it a finger-width outward, and the qi passed into it more easily. The other seven stayed where they were."
Wang Ben picked up his own drawing and took both sheets to the table. He found the three corresponding positions on the older sheet and checked the measurements from before the move. They seemed to agree with his own.
Compare these three distances with the recorded positions before the adjustment.
[ANALYSIS: The measured triangle corresponds to the three recorded positions before the adjustment.]
Wang Ben read the observation beneath the old drawing. Master Qiao had already made a change to an arrangement like this and felt the difference. If they repeated it, Wang Ben could measure the new positions while Master Qiao checked the flow. He would be able to follow what happened when the spacing changed.
He copied the old observation below the drawing, marking it as Master Qiao's account of the earlier check. The note beside the drawn flag described the resistance Master Qiao felt now. Beneath the two accounts, Wang Ben wrote his conclusion.
Moving this flag a finger-width outward will ease the resistance where the qi enters it.
He brought both sheets to Master Qiao.
"The three positions match the ones you recorded before the move," Wang Ben said. "Moving this one outward the same amount will ease the resistance. Could I measure it again while you check?"
Master Qiao laid the command flag beside his knee and took the measured drawing. He read Wang Ben's conclusion, then looked at the older sheet Wang Ben held.
"Which way was the surrounding qi flowing when I made that change?" Master Qiao asked.
Wang Ben looked through the old writing. It recorded how far the flag had moved and the easier flow afterward, but nothing about the qi around the array.
"It isn't written here," Wang Ben said.
"That sheet records the move and what happened afterward." Master Qiao tapped the conclusion. "Even if I'd written its direction then, I'd still have to check how it flows here now."
Wang Ben looked at his own sentence. He knew the surrounding qi mattered, yet he had compared only the distances and the old result. Still, the space was there, and he wanted to see what would happen.
"Could we try it and compare?"
"Not now. I haven't finished examining the array." Master Qiao handed back the drawing and picked up the command flag.
Wang Ben returned to the table. He drew a line through his conclusion, leaving the measurements and both of Master Qiao's observations untouched. His brush paused above the space he had left for the changed distances.
Across the room, Master Qiao rose and walked beyond the three flags Wang Ben had measured. He stopped outside the arrangement, the command flag still in his hand. Wang Ben watched him for a while, then set down his brush.
When Master Qiao returned to the three flags, he pointed toward the table.
"The surrounding qi here is flowing toward the table. Add that beside the measurements."
Wang Ben added the direction under Master Qiao's name and carried the papers over. Master Qiao took the measured drawing and laid it beside the array. Wang Ben kept the older sheet and settled near enough to watch as the formation master continued his examination.
...
By evening, Master Qiao had let Wang Ben go. Before leaving the workroom, he had returned the older sheet to the table and laid his measured drawing beside it.
Wang Ben carried his bowl between the tables in the dining hall. Voices filled the room, and he slowed to let a man pass with an empty bowl. There was space opposite a young cultivator who was eating alone. Wang Ben stopped beside the bench.
"May I sit here?"
The young man moved his bowl closer. "Go ahead."
Wang Ben set down his food and eased himself onto the bench. He had been hungry before leaving the workroom, and for a while he ate the rice and vegetables in his bowl. Across from him, the young man ate at much the same pace.
When Wang Ben paused, he introduced himself.
"I'm Wang Ben. I arrived yesterday."
"Song An."
"What work do you do here?"
"I gather herbs and other materials outside the fortress and sell them to the alchemists here," Song An said. "What about you?"
"I'm helping Master Qiao with formation work. Today I copied repair entries and took some measurements for him."
Song An nodded and took another mouthful. Wang Ben drew his bowl nearer. He knew so few people here; he wanted to hear more than a name and an occupation before they went their separate ways.
"What are you gathering?" he asked.
Song An swallowed before answering. "I'm considering spiritwood bark. I'd want people to go with me."
Wang Ben stopped eating. "What would you need them to do?"
"Help gather it, for a start. And be able to help if we run into trouble." Song An looked at him across the table. "Are you asking because you want to come?"
"I'd like to know more about it."
Wang Ben had wanted to ask how they would find the trees and bring the bark back. He glanced down at his side. His ribs had troubled him even when he reached across the floor that afternoon.
"I'm injured," he said. "My ribs. I'm only doing light work for now."
"How long before you can go out?" Song An asked.
"I don't know. And I'd have to find out whether I could be away from my work."
"That comes first, then." Song An went back to his food.
Wang Ben ate a little more. He had enjoyed watching Master Qiao work and still wanted to see him adjust an array. But he also wanted to learn what he could do outside the workroom. Gathering might give him experience and some earnings of his own.
Across the table, Song An was finishing his rice. Wang Ben spoke before he could rise.
"When my ribs are better and I can leave my work, could we talk about it again?"
Song An looked up. "Yes. Tell me then what you can help with, and we'll see."
"I'd like that," Wang Ben said.
He returned to his meal. When Song An set his empty bowl down and rose, Wang Ben looked up to say goodbye. Then he finished the food left in his bowl.