Kael
The clinic ceiling had not improved while I was away.
Neither had the chair.
I sat in it anyway while the attendant took the used covering and checked the labels on my belongings.
Nihil went where the staff told me to put it.
My coat went into a separate bag.
I remained attached to everything else.
Maelis entered with the local clinician.
"Five months now," I said before she asked.
She stopped beside the table.
"Total?"
"Since the tournament. Two today. Ten seconds."
I kept my hand still on the arm of the chair while she wrote.
She entered the report without pretending the number could be reduced by better food or sleep.
I told her about the eighteen-meter crossing and the resulting loss.
"A memory fragment," I said. "Not my ability to feel the hand now."
She checked my present sensation anyway.
Fair enough.
She touched two places on my hand and asked me to identify them without looking.
I did.
"Normal now?"
"As normal as it was this morning."
