Hajin lifted his hand from Sable's lower back when the gold settled into her mana pathways.
The pressure beneath his palm had stopped catching on the jagged places in her alignment, so the synchronization held while the gold settled into every pathway she had struggled to control alone.
Sable remained seated for a breath, with her back straight despite the color climbing into her cheeks.
'His stable mana feels natural rather than foreign, almost as though I am finally whole,' Sable thought while pressing her fingers against the floor.
Unlike Elise, she did not cry or offer him a grateful speech that would make the room stare harder.
She stood, brushed dust from her combat skirt, then tightened the straps on her leather armor as though the pause had been planned.
"I am fine," Sable said, looking away as she adjusted her armor straps, "the mana feels... acceptable, and I can work with this."
