[semi-open post: It's a kindness that the mind can go where it wishes]

[greentara]

Dark is winding its way to an end but Constance has been tolerating it well enough. She is used to eating sparingly and spending long amounts of time indoors, getting lost in threads of research and exploring the corners of the mansion. Having discovered three wooden crates filled with interesting looking papers, she promptly moved them into the room she has co-opted as a meditation room, not wanting to either lose them or bring any dust or debris into her own room.

The room is small and sparse, lit with a small brazier and a handful of candles. There are tatami mats covering the floor, bordered in a light green color that complements the cream wallpaper. A small wooden table holds some meditation supplies and a Tibetan mandala hangs on the wall but otherwise there isn't much else. Some marks on one of the wooden columns indicate that knife practice has also been an occupation of this room.

The brazier is lit and Constance unwittingly has a piece of cobweb stuck in her hair at the moment as she sifts through a handful of papers.

Comments

[greentara]

Constance settles herself down on one of the cushions as well. She is wearing a longer skirt today and able to cross her legs, dropping into a meditative state with ease. Chongg Ran will be more difficult -- and a memory crossing even more complicated -- but she does not let that bother her at this moment.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji shuts his eyes, draws a measured breath, and releases it. His own meditative state is not difficult for him to access. Qi flows and cycles. The ten thousand things are always at hand, alongside the Tao itself; there is, ultimately, no difference between the two.

[greentara]

Constance finds darkness when she closes her eyes and she lets herself become become one with it. In this darkness, there is always a flickering light that keeps her tethered. After ten minutes have passed, she opens her eyes again.

[lightbearinglord]

Although he is a good keeper of time generally, Lan Wangji is slightly worse at adhering to minutes than he is to incense times and shichen. Still, he feels it when Constance's energy shifts with her return to standard consciousness. A moment or two later, his own eyes flick open, solemn gold trained on Constance's face. He waits for her to guide him in the next step.

[greentara]

"We have to ease into the memory palace. Are you familiar with a Tibet knot?" Without giving him time to respond, since they will need it for the next portion of meditation anyway, Constance rises to her knees and fetches one from a nearby shelf. It is a complex silk knot, tasseled on both ends where the cord emerges. The silk knot is smooth and a rich red color, shining in the candlelight.

[lightbearinglord]

"I am familiar," Lan Wangji says. The endless knot¹, one of the Eight Auspicious Symbols. He waits, hands still resting lightly at his knees, to see its significance to this new form of meditation Constance proposes.

¹盤長結, if you're playing along with Chinese Buddhism at home.

[greentara]

Constance nods. "Take a moment to familiarize yourself with this particular knot. Its color, its sheen... its twists and turns. When you are ready, visualize it in your mind."

[lightbearinglord]

With that, Lan Wangji drifts back into a calm, focused silence. Constance surely doesn't need him to acknowledge the directive aloud. His gaze remains on the silk knot, its color not unlike the color of Wei Ying's hair ribbon, its tassels that look as if they would be soft to touch, its serpentine knots and folds turning around and around on themselves.

When its shape is fixed in his mind, he shuts his eyes.

[greentara]

"Make the image of the knot in your mind sharper and the colors crisper," Constance tells him. Her contralto voice is well-suited for leading a meditation.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji nods, a slight but distinct gesture to show that he is listening, but otherwise there is no outward change. The knot is all there is, its vivid details suspended in his mind, as red as fresh blood.

[greentara]

"Observe it from all angles within your mind." Constance gives him a moment to do so. "Now, untie it."