249****** Alden spent Friday morning sitting out in front of the cottage again, practicing his finger dexterity exercises while he tried to let his thoughts settle into their new, slightly different shapes. The ideas he’d examined on the inward path last night were clearer now than they would be later, and the wounds were still numb enough that he could think about them without getting too emotional.Yenu-pezth had been willing to focus their discussion on confidence. He was sure he could have asked to talk about paint drying, and she would have found a way to make that helpful for him. This was a much more relevant topic.