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And indeed, Haqq was still following him, even as he approached the roaring water.

He kept the Scarf of Amordiin on but took his shirt off, folded it, and set it on a nearby rock. Haqq did the same, which was somehow still surprising to Hector.

Before fully plunging himself into the water, however, a thought struck him, and he turned back to Haqq one last time. Now he had to shout in order to be heard. “If you find the water too disruptive, tap me on the shoulder, and I’ll make a dome for you!”

Haqq returned a look of dissatisfaction, but he did nod.

Then they entered the waterfall.

It was cold as fuck.

And heavy on the head and shoulders, of course. It felt almost like stepping into an entirely different world, where even the laws of physics might’ve been altered.

Hector pushed toward the center of the ledge and took his spot. He could sense Haqq still there next to him, even as he sat down and started focusing on his breathing.

Having a meditation partner here made this feel a bit different, especially knowing that Haqq was inexperienced. It was hard not to worry about the guy a little, considering the very obvious fact that waterfall meditation was not exactly a beginner technique. The entire point of using a waterfall was to make it way harder, after all.

The extreme noise, pressure, temperature--everything was meant to disturb and distract, to make it that much more difficult to keep one’s mind clear.

He couldn’t help wondering if Haqq would even be willing to ask him for help. The guy seemed pretty damn prideful, though that wasn’t exactly abnormal for a Sandlord.

Oh well, though.

He cleared his mind.

And the world fell away from him.

He loved this place. Indeed, the waterfall did make it much more challenging, but in a different way, it also allowed him to push even deeper into his own mind. Or rather, it forced him to, perhaps.

Tough to tell, really.

However, what he was able to discover this deep was not the perfect clarity that he was looking for. Or at least, not just that. Clarity was merely one of many pursuable options.

He felt as though he were standing in the middle of a great room with doors in all directions. Just how many were there? It seemed impossible to count them. Not because there were too many, necessarily. But because, perhaps, they didn’t want to be counted. They refused it.