Vell woke in a charity ward with his shirt cut open below the collar. A fracture burned behind his sternum whenever the monitor sent pressure through his core.
Yenna sat beside the bed with both chain-knives resting beside her chair. Her clean Grade-Two core still surged unevenly, but every spark belonged to her now.
"The nurse wants three weeks of bed rest," Yenna said, checking the monitor line, "so I told her you were too unpleasant to keep."
Vell pushed himself upright until the fracture answered with a harder pulse. Analyze failed before opening, leaving him with pain instead of a useful screen.
"The Forge wants reconstruction," he said, waiting for his sight to clear, "normal healing will seal the crack wrong."
Luna arrived carrying an Association research offer inside a sealed folder from its central office. The office promised a clean operating room in exchange for every result produced during treatment.
