The reconnection and field-aligned flows in the quasi-static and slow-rise phases. Panels (a), (d), and (g) show the x-direction velocity on the middle vertical slice, the corresponding y-direction and z-direction velocities are shown on panels (b), (e), (h) and (c), (f), (i), respectively. The definitions of x-direction, y-direction, and z-direction are the same as in Figure 1. The quasi-separatrix layers with squashing factors log₁₀ Q = 3 on this slice are marked by the white contours. Yellow- and green-dashed arrows mark the locations of the reconnection flows and field-aligned flows, respectively. The directions of the reconnection flows are marked by yellow arrows in panels (d)–(f). The locations and directions of the flows in panels (a), (b), (c) and (g), (h), (i) are the same as that in panels (d)–(f) but with different strengths. Velocities of the reconnection flows obviously increase from t = 13.88 to 17.84 hr, while the field-aligned flows remain nearly unchanged.