“Session over,” Mina said. Her voice was not loud, yet in the chill dusk of the seal court it carried more power than Soran’s iron spear or Vaska’s judge slate. “Let go of the wood, Seyun, and sit on the block before the between-rib cramp pulls the callus out of line.”
Seyun opened his fingers and let his practice staff rest flat on the flat stone slabs. He walked slowly so his left boot didn’t jar his side. He sat down on the western mounting block and held his left arm slightly away from his torso. Meanwhile, Mina unfastened the side frogs of his wool jacket. Then it lifted his sweat-dampened linen undershirt.
Her small, cool fingertips pressed with practiced care along the lateral curve of his fifth and sixth left ribs, tracing the slightly thickened ridge of new bone where the fractures from the northern chamber had knitted together. Bel Sar, Ilyra, and Daro stood a few paces back. She waited in respectful silence until her check finished.
Seyun sat on the western mounting block with his wool jacket unfastened and his left elbow held two inches clear of his ribs. Then, Commander Keth Or walked quietly over from the eastern pillar and stopped behind Daro Kesh. He looked down at the faint red indentation on Seyun’s left side where the old rib splint had rested.
