She touches the tip of her nose to his hand.

It feels like burning, heat. Relatively gentle, but insistent. Just bad enough to make you want to twitch and wince. There's a vague sense of being pushed by something huge and inexorable. Something invisible stretching what seems like too far, then further, then further. And when it starts to seem intolerable, like he's gotten too big, about to collapse or shatter...

...Like exhaling after inhaling, the exact opposite process begins. The feeling of piercing cold sets in, with a vague sense of being pulled and twisted and pinched this way and that, invisible surfaces being folded and molded, pulling against each other the whole time. He sees glimpses of what must be Bloom's mind, focused on some incomprehensible indescribable process in a sense he does not have - on what might be described as a hellishly complicated weave of ten thousand tangled threads, or an elaborate chemical brew, or the conducting of a symphony.

And then...

It is done, announces Bloom, sounding tired. Her head rests on the concrete floor with a slow exhalation.

He whimpers and squeezes his dog, but doesn't cry out.

When she's through he spends a few minutes just breathing fast, adjusting. His dog licks his face nervously.

She watches the Enkindling settle and entrench itself, trying to learn lessons for next time. She tells the dog that he will be fine. The dog is still nervous despite this reassurance.

He... Might be able to directly sense these things, along with Bloom's looming presence to his left, dense and bright, and Ruan's presence across the room. It's at the edge of attention, sort of muddled and indistinct, almost like the faint impressions you can get by squeezing your eyes shut.

He doesn't notice right away.

"Can - can you tell how well it worked -"

...I am still observing. But I am sure it worked. All the markers of severe springs are suppressed. How much better this makes you feel will be important information for future attempts.

"I feel different. I'm not sure. That was really intense."

That is not surprising. Enkindling is the molding and setting aflame your very Essence. Metaphorically. There is time.

Ruan has a spring severity screening questionnaire ready for the purple, who takes it, picking his way through carefully, and scores a three out of fifty, somewhat incredulous about it.

That is good, correct? What you wanted? I think there are other effects... Probably your sex drive, as I predicted. It's well entangled with spring.

...I used more of my own Essence than I expected to cover problems and gaps I noticed developing. Enough that it was very tiring, and that is the kind of thing that tends to cause side-effects, especially sensitivity to the Song.

"You aren't... louder than you used to be? I..." He blinks. "I might feel something but maybe just because you suggested it."

Close your eyes? Suggests Bloom.

He closes his eyes.

She lifts her head on her long neck over to his other side, trying to remain silent.

...Yep, something just changed, moved from left to right.

He turns his head to track the motion.

Open your eyes. You followed me without vision. You have the Song, though perhaps only a glimmer. Isn't it beautiful?

"I don't see enough to really say. I guess it's pretty."

Only a glimmer, then? I see almost as much as with my eyes...

"Yeah. Not very much. Enough to tell where people are but not to tell them apart or anything."

If you can sense the Song, you may be able to sing in it, too.

"How?"

I'm not sure. It seems obvious to me.

"Maybe I'll figure it out," he says dubiously.

Maybe. I want to keep seeing you for a day or two and watch the Enkindling settle... But I'm happy I succeeded and your springing has been cut down so! I think my own irritating tendency to hibernate a lot doesn't compare to how unpleasant severe springs are, now that I've seen the beginning of one.

"Mine are - were - really bad, most people don't have them that bad."

Yes, and my hibernations were bad for my species, and now we have both overcome this to an extent thanks to the power of the Onesong and my role as an instrument of it.