Tali made the request herself.
The medical-room door opened after an examination and a silence long enough for Eli to hear the courtyard empty around him. She came out on her crutch with Maren beside her. Tessa followed carrying no form. Anwen waited at the table near the exit.
“I want to withdraw from the remaining selection exercises,” Tali said. “I want the ankle treated.”
Anwen asked whether she understood the immediate trial consequence. The unfinished exercises would carry no score. The act of withdrawal would not be recorded as misconduct under the revised procedure.
Tali repeated it back, her voice firmer on the second sentence.
Anwen wrote the time. “Do you need medical transport?”
“The clinician recommends avoiding the walk to the hospital transfer point,” Tessa said, with Tali’s permission. “We need the accessible vehicle.”
The designated marshal went to arrange it. For a few breaths the procedure worked exactly as it had in rehearsal.
