Dr. Nordin did not begin by asking Eli to demonstrate an ability.
She slid a sheet across the table instead. “This is the scope of today’s review. The specialist’s preliminary assessment is complete, and the regulator has received the records it requested. I need to know whether you understand the proposed conditions before we consider restoring gate access.”
Eli read the page. The first section concerned his unfinished assessment and the fatigue recorded when he used several abilities in sequence. The second described the symptoms he had reported since then: headaches, episodes in which a memory had felt more immediate than the room around him, and the permanent loss of Signal Thread after its third use. It did not ask him to produce the lost ability.
Nora sat to his left. Tessa sat on his other side with his permission, there to help describe what she had observed and to hear any conditions he wanted her to help him follow. A regulator’s safety officer, Ms. Devlin, joined Nordin at the far end of the table.
Nordin pointed to a paragraph. “Your previous departure was permitted under the emergency rule. It was not treated as misconduct. The remaining question is how to manage the symptoms and incomplete classification while you work.”
