283****** Alden wished the water were colder. If it were numbing, dark, and churning with debris, maybe he’d be able to call on that part of himself that had once preserved Zeridee-und’h without touching her. That had been a near-death moment for both of them. Painful. Terrifying.But this pool was warm and gentle. Underwater speakers played soft music. The best he could do now to remind himself of that much worse time and place was keep his eyes closed and hold his breath until it hurt. I am The Bearer of All Burdens. I am an Avowed, but I’m also a wizard. Sometimes I need to hold things without using my hands. That doesn’t mean I’m laying my burden down. I just want to bear it in a different way. I know it’s possible. I know the universe remembers what I sound like when I do that. So this time…He let the object he was protecting—a fluffy white towel—leave his grip slowly. Holding with two fingers, then with one just barely touching…then finally, as if by accident, letting the weak current of the pool pull it away from him.He lost it immediately. Dammit! The difference between it touching my finger and not is nothing. It’s irrelevant. It should be irrelevant. He snatched the drifting towel and launched off the bottom of the pool, seething as he broke the surface. Two kicks had him at the edge, and he lifted the soaked towel out. It landed on creamy, gold-flecked tiles with a splat. Water from his previous attempts had made a puddle there.[Alden: Again.][Lute: Entrust towel.]Lute didn’t bother opening his eyes. They’d been doing versions of this exercise for over two and a half hours. It had been better at the beginning. They had started in the North of North Super Olympic (...)