The two of you run through your backlash routines. Gabriel's is, like yours, a math sequence. As you do, the minor tremor in your left leg vanishes. You've managed to escape without any pattern damage despite your run-in with the conduit, leaving your ability to channel patterns unchanged.
You help each other up. "You've got to show me later how you did that," Gabriel says. "You were so fast. I'd like to learn to be that fast."
"I'll walk you through what I did," you say. "Later. Don't worry too much about what happened. It's not unheard of for conduits to get stuck open like that. There are other intelligences across the dimensions who work with pattern magic. They can cause all sorts of interference. It doesn't happen often, though, especially not repeatedly."
You affect a casual tone, but you're worried. You weren't exactly lying, but you downplayed how rare that interference is. It happens most often in locations where the dimensional barrier is thin. The barrier's thickness waxes and wanes naturally, but if it's become consistently thin across town, everyone in the department will need to take precautions when channeling.
A tight fist of a headache wraps itself around the front of your brain. This will make all of your work so much harder.
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