The door opened the way the between-space moved.
Not with force. Not with the cascade of the Veil anchors or the fracture of the root nodes or the release of crystallized absence under sustained between-space pressure.
It opened the way a held breath releases.
The between-space behind it had been pressing for the full duration of the withdrawal and the sealing and the long preparation of the territories and the six months of healing work and the six weeks of road — and the moment the healing function arrived at the door and the door recognized what had come, the breath released.
The between-space flowed.
Not gently.
Fully.
The source, undiminished, sealed and intact for the full duration, flowing outward through the opened door into the surrounding territories with the force of everything that had been pressing for that long.
He was in the between-space when it happened.
He felt it from inside.
Dael felt it from the surface.
