Chapter 9：The Touch of Recognition
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Pinewave Kiln's miraculous resurrection and its stunning transformed masterpieces ignited the art world overnight! Phones rang constantly! Reporters camped outside!
Charlotte ignored it all. Clutching the magnificent "Sky Blue After Rain" piece, she rushed to the hospital.
Christopher lay motionless on the sterile bed, staring emptily at the ceiling, his right hand limp beside him.
"Dad!" Charlotte hurried to his side, carefully holding the piece before his eyes. "Dad! Look! From our wood kiln! Our kiln!"
Christopher's eyes moved with painful slowness. His gaze settled on the stunning blue and cascading glaze. A faint spark flickered in his deadened eyes.
Charlotte pointed excitedly to a natural pattern at the vessel's base—a deep blue formation created by pooled glaze. "Dad! See this? It's just like the 'cloud-water pattern' from your notebooks! Harrison says it's the 'ancient spirit'—the very soul of Pinewave!"
Christopher's lips quivered slightly. With tremendous effort, his withered left hand rose trembling. Not toward the perfect glaze, but reaching for that natural deep blue pattern.
His cold, trembling fingertips touched the deep blue with infinite gentleness.
Time stopped.
Without warning, tears welled from Christopher's sunken eyes, rolling down his weathered face onto the white sheets.
He didn't look at Charlotte, his gaze fixed on the pattern. His throat produced broken sounds—"huh… huh…"
But Charlotte understood.
This was a master craftsman witnessing the rebirth of a soul he'd guarded his entire life—a soul he'd thought lost forever. His broken sounds carried the deepest recognition and wonder.
Charlotte's tears flowed freely. She took her father's lifeless right hand and pressed it against her tear-streaked, rain-soaked, burning face.
"Dad…" she sobbed, "The kiln held… the spirit lives… we… we saved it…"
Outside, the rain had stopped. A single sunbeam broke through the clouds, slanting into the room and falling directly on the "Sky Blue After Rain" piece. The deep blue pattern seemed to come alive, glowing with an ancient, eternal light.
