Tessa moved the treatment station twice before the line stopped blocking the exit.
The first position had seemed sensible: close to the debris course and within sight of the judges. Then three teams finished their runs at once, and contestants carrying cases crowded around the same doorway. Leah was not onsite; the trial’s medical coordinator, Dr. Havel, found a second table near the wall and asked Tessa to use it for anyone waiting on a nonurgent assessment.
“Keep the center lane clear for the stretcher,” he said.
Tessa moved the chairs with help from a volunteer and marked the lane with tape supplied by the station. She placed Tali near the wall with her injured ankle supported and asked Corin to sit beside her until another clinician could check his bruised calf. Kellan had been cleared to continue after rest, but Tessa asked him to report any new weakness in his hands.
“Are you putting me in the queue?” he asked.
“Only if your hands stop cooperating.”
He picked up his cup with both of them. “They’re cooperating with the water.”
“Good. Keep doing that.”
