The Friday route started at seven AM.
Han-Ho was on the northern Mapo section at seven oh two.
Two minutes late.
He noted it.
Friday route: started seven oh two AM. Two minutes behind schedule. Cause: active ambient technique practice session ran to six fifty eight. Adjustment: Saturday route starts seven AM sharp. No pre-route practice sessions on route days. Filed.
He filed it.
Made up the two minutes by cutting the assessment pause at the first two drain locations from ninety seconds to forty five.
The drains were clear.
The assessment pause reduction was acceptable.
Min-Seo was behind him.
Aria was beside him.
The sword was at her hip and currently pointing southeast which Han-Ho noted as directional data for the ley line seepage monitoring.
Moru was on his left shoulder.
Kjor was on his right shoulder with the Friday chips which were the same chips as every day but Kjor had a system for which bag was the Friday bag and everyone had stopped questioning the system.
River was in the bag pocket watching the Friday morning city which was doing its Friday morning things with the specific energy of a city that knows the weekend is approaching and has opinions about it.
Everything was normal.
Then Aria stopped walking.
Han-Ho stopped.
Looked at her.
She was looking at the sword.
The sword was not pointing southeast anymore.
The sword was pointing behind them.
Back the way they had come.
Back toward the Hongdae district.
Back toward the Gate.
"Behind us," said Aria.
"The Gate," said Han-Ho.
"Something came through," said Aria. "The sword feels it." She looked at the glow quality. "Not threatening. But present. And moving toward us."
Han-Ho made a note.
Friday route: sword indicates Gate crossing behind us. Moving toward current position. Non-threatening per sword assessment. Monitoring.
He filed it.
Kept walking.
"Han-Ho," said Min-Seo.
"The sword says non-threatening," said Han-Ho.
"The sword also led Aria across three kingdoms to a man who cleans drains," said Min-Seo.
"And the sword was correct," said Han-Ho.
Min-Seo looked behind them.
Nothing visible yet.
The Friday morning Mapo district doing its Friday morning things.
"How far," said Han-Ho to Aria.
Aria checked the sword.
"Ten minutes behind us," said Aria. "Moving at—" She looked at the glow quality. "Moving at a walking pace."
"Then we have ten minutes," said Han-Ho. "I can finish the northern section."
He continued the route.
Internal Monologue Of Something That Had Followed The Ley Line Clean Energy Through The Hongdae GateApproximately Six Minutes Before Everything Became Very Confusing
I am a ley line sprite.
I have existed for eight hundred years.
I am approximately the size of a small bird.
I live in the ley line network of the Kingdom of Solenne.
Specifically I live in the junction point near the forest clearing outside Aurenthal.
Yesterday three beings came through the Gate.
One of them pressed their hand against every surface in the clearing.
And the clearing got cleaner.
In eight hundred years of living in the ley line network nothing has ever made the ley lines cleaner.
The contamination has been there my entire existence.
It was there before I was born.
It has always been there.
And then this being pressed their hand against the surfaces and the contamination reduced.
Slightly.
But measurably.
And the ley line energy that flows through the clearing felt better for the first time in eight hundred years.
Better is not a technical term.
But it is accurate.
I followed them back through the Gate.
Because where they go the ley lines get cleaner.
And I would very much like to follow something that makes the ley lines cleaner.
This new world is very strange.
There are metal boxes everywhere.
And glowing rectangles.
And a substance called honey butter chips that the small dark creature on the man's shoulder appears to consume continuously.
I have been following them for eight minutes.
The man has not noticed me.
The small dark creature on his left shoulder noticed me four minutes ago and has been watching me.
The creature looks very old.
Older than my eight hundred years.
Much older.
Its eyes are the color of something that has seen things I have not seen.
I am not sure if it is safe.
But the man it sits on made the ley lines cleaner.
So I am following.
He just stopped at a metal grate in the ground.
He is crouching down.
He pressed his hand against it.
The ley line seepage at this point—
He is cleaning it.
He is cleaning the ley line seepage through the metal grate.
From the outside.
While standing on a road.
In the middle of a city.
Without any ceremony or acknowledgement of what he is doing.
He filed something in a small device.
Stood up.
Made notes in a small book.
And kept walking.
I have been alive for eight hundred years.
I have never followed anything before.
I am going to keep following this.
Han-Ho finished the northern section at eight seventeen AM.
Turned around to begin the southern section.
Saw the ley line sprite.
It was sitting on a lamppost approximately three meters behind him.
Approximately the size of a small bird.
Made entirely of ley line energy.
Faintly luminescent.
Looking at Han-Ho with the specific focused attention of something that has been following someone for twenty minutes and has not decided yet whether to announce itself or continue the discreet observation.
Han-Ho looked at it.
The sprite froze.
Han-Ho looked at the sprite with the patient expression of a man who has encountered many things on his route and has developed a comprehensive approach to things that appear unexpectedly on lampposts.
"You came through the Hongdae Gate," said Han-Ho.
The sprite made a sound.
Very small. Like a single note of music played very quietly.
"I do not speak ley line sprite," said Han-Ho to Aria.
"I—" Aria looked at the sprite. At the sword. "The sword indicates it is benign. Eight hundred years old approximately. It lives in the ley line junction near the forest clearing."
"It followed us from the clearing," said Han-Ho.
"Yes," said Aria. "I think it followed you specifically."
Han-Ho looked at the sprite.
The sprite made another small musical sound.
"What is it saying," said Han-Ho.
Aria listened to the quality of the sword's response.
"It followed you because you made the ley lines cleaner," said Aria. "It has never experienced cleaner ley lines in eight hundred years."
Han-Ho made a note.
Ley line sprite. Eight hundred years. Forest clearing junction resident. Followed through Gate because cleaning improved local ley line quality. Non-threatening. Filing.
He filed it.
Looked at the sprite.
"You cannot stay on the lamppost," said Han-Ho. "You are on my route section. I am going to clean this lamppost area and you are in the way."
The sprite made a small sound.
Moved off the lamppost.
Landed on Han-Ho's work bag.
Han-Ho looked at it.
Looked at his bag.
"Not the bag," said Han-Ho.
The sprite looked at the bag.
Looked at Han-Ho.
Made a small sound.
"River is in the bag," said Han-Ho.
River's eyes appeared at the bag pocket mesh.
River and the sprite looked at each other.
The sprite made a sound.
River made a sound back.
Not in words.
In the specific way that things made entirely of energy communicate with other things made entirely of energy.
"River," said Han-Ho.
"Yes Master," said River.
"What did it say."
"It wants to stay near you," said River. "It says the ley line energy is cleaner near you than anywhere it has ever been."
"It cannot stay near me," said Han-Ho. "I have a route."
"I know," said River. "I told it."
"And."
"It said it does not mind a route," said River. "It has been in a ley line junction point for eight hundred years. A route is interesting."
Han-Ho looked at the sprite.
The sprite looked back with the specific patient attention of something that has been in one place for eight hundred years and has decided it would like to try somewhere else.
"It is very small," said Kjor from Han-Ho's shoulder. "Smaller than me when I arrived."
"You were the size of a large mango," said Min-Seo.
"This one is the size of a small bird," said Kjor. "It requires less space."
"We are not making space decisions based on size," said Han-Ho.
"The bag pocket is not full," said River helpfully.
"River—"
"There is room between the notebook and the left pen," said River.
"River."
"It is very clean Master," said River. "Cleaner than almost anything. The ley line energy it is made of is very pure. Eight hundred years of living in the cleanest part of the junction point."
Han-Ho looked at the sprite.
At his bag.
At River's eyes at the mesh.
At the sprite's small luminescent form hovering hopefully near the bag.
He made a note.
Ley line sprite: very small. Very clean. Wants to follow. River has offered the notebook-pen space. This is the third time River has offered bag space to something. Filing note about River's interior design decisions.
He filed it.
Looked at the sprite.
"If it comes in the bag it does not touch the notebook," said Han-Ho.
"Understood," said River.
"Or the pens."
"Understood."
"Or the report forms."
"Understood."
"And it goes back through the Gate when I assess the fantasy world on Thursday."
River communicated this to the sprite.
The sprite made a sound.
"It agrees," said River. "But it reserves the right to return if the ley lines keep getting cleaner."
"That is not a condition I can—" Han-Ho stopped.
Looked at the sprite.
At the specific small luminescent form of something that had been in one place for eight hundred years and had experienced cleaner ley line energy for the first time yesterday and had followed it through a dimensional Gate.
"Fine," said Han-Ho.
The sprite went into the bag.
Between the notebook and the left pen.
It fit exactly.
River made a small sound of satisfaction.
Han-Ho continued the route.
Min-Seo walked beside him.
"Han-Ho," said Min-Seo.
"Yes."
"You just let a ley line sprite into your work bag."
"Yes."
"Because River said there was room."
"Yes."
"Between the notebook and the pen."
"Yes."
"And you told it not to touch the notebook."
"It agreed to the conditions," said Han-Ho.
"Han-Ho."
"Yes."
"You have a former Demon King on your left shoulder. A former Frost Giant on your right shoulder. A former river contamination entity in your bag. And now a ley line sprite between your notebook and your pen."
"Yes," said Han-Ho.
"Is there a pattern here."
Han-Ho thought about this.
"Things that need cleaning end up clean," said Han-Ho. "And then they stay."
Min-Seo walked in silence for a moment.
"That is either a philosophy or a housing policy," said Min-Seo.
"Both," said Han-Ho.
He continued the route.
At the next drain location the sword pointed down.
Ley line seepage.
Han-Ho cleaned it.
The sprite in the bag made a small musical sound.
River translated.
"It says thank you," said River.
"You are welcome," said Han-Ho, without looking up from the drain.
Min-Seo watched Han-Ho thank a ley line sprite while cleaning a storm drain on the Friday morning Mapo route.
Some Fridays were just like this.