[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

[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.