There is no mistaking the surprise - and the interest - that sparks in her glance at that.

"I have referred to the process of channeling as not unlike dipping water from a stream," she tells him, "but the power that is so taken is not held for long. Say, rather, that it is directed through, in a steady flow, to create the weave that is intended."

"But yes, if qi is power drawn from the force of life itself, it does sound similar."