When Eli returned to the hall, the same argument was continuing in a different form.
He had rested long enough for Sera to check his orientation and for the ringing fatigue behind his eyes to ease. The grounding phrase still belonged to facts he had relearned, not to the old familiar agreement. He did not get a vote about whether the rest break had made the clinical stop unnecessary.
At the front of the room, Amel was crossing out the proposed transport arrangement.
“The waiting pickup can’t accept the later time,” he said. “Their receiving point closes. We don’t have that return ride.”
The ward assistant who had offered the delivery leaned forward. “I can find my own way home.”
“You offered on the condition of a ride,” Tessa said. “Has something changed?”
“No. I just don’t want this all to be because of me.”
“It isn’t. Don’t erase your own need to make the sheet work.”
