The man nods. "My wife has a cough. Can you help her?"

"If you can take us to Kashgar."

Scowl. "Fine." He shows them into the wagon. 

Into the wagon, then.

There are lots of boxes and crates of all shapes and sizes. Some are woven, some are made of wood. In front of them is a woman in a long robe. Her feet are hidden and her eyes are huge.

"I don't know how much you'll be able to learn from watching this," Hohenheim mutters, looking the wife over. In Xingese: "What's your name?"

"Ting Lin," she says, in a small, childish voice.

She observes Hohenheim closely.

"I'm an alchemist," he says. "I can heal you if you follow my directions. Okay?"

Small nod.

"Stay as still as you can," he says. "Keep your breathing even."

Most of his work involves staring at her. Then his hand comes forward and clasps her throat.

She feels warm where he touched her and recoils back, startled. Then she coughs -- once, twice, and a black ball of something comes out of her throat. 

"Ash lung," Hohenheim says. "Should be resolved now."

Interesting. That was fairly delicate manipulation.

The girl takes a deep breath and thanks him profusely.

"We should get going now if we want to stay on schedule. Are you two on the wagon?" Calls the man from his place in the front, with the animals.

"I'm ready. Occlus?"

"Yes."

They get going. Hohenheim encourages Occlus to practice meditating as they travel.

She does so.

This new chi is different from her experience with the Force. The Force has a presence, something she can manipulate and mold and grasp. With a thought, she can reach out and twist it. When she tries to take the chi into her grip in the same way, it- doesn't work. It slips away. No. It was never there. It is immanent, not present. Interstitial. The relations between as seen, not as are. So. A certain twist of perspective, of intent. Of looking and not feeling.

-ah. There it is. And... that... would be Hohenheim.

She opens her eyes and smiles as she cracks her neck, stretching out the days' accumulated tension.

"Are you hungry?" Hohenheim asks mildly. He might also sound worried, if she cranes her ear. "Seeing as you haven't eaten or slept in a week."

"I am not unwilling to use my power to sustain myself. But a meal would be welcome."

Hohenheim has spent the time making friends with the young couple. (The armed man's given name is Wei.) Occlus can eat some tack while Hohenheim helps them prepare the main meal.

"When we're done with food I can give you more meditation exercises if you need them. How have you been progressing?"

"I believe I have grasped the principle behind the chi sense, though I have not yet managed to filter your presence enough to sense much else."

"... normally it takes months to grasp the chi sense from a cold start. Is it similar to anything with which you're already familiar?"

"If the Force is an ocean in which all life swims, chi is the linkages of an information network. It is similar, yet not."