The bruising was gone by the fourth morning.
Not fully gone—pressed hard enough there was still a response—but gone from the range of things that affected movement decisions. He woke before the city and ran his standard check and found nothing that argued against full output. He filed a zone eleven contract before the morning shift change and was at the entry station by first light.
Dorath was already there.
He looked at Kai with the brief, assessing attention of a team leader checking whether the person in front of him could work today. Then he nodded once and turned back to the permit desk.
That was the whole conversation.
