Chapter 10: The Distance Home

Chapter 10: The Distance Home

Silas stopped beside a pillar in the eastern courtyard and adjusted the strap of his satchel for the third time.

His room was two buildings away. He could see the residence entrance, but the route to it crossed an open stretch of paving with nowhere to sit. The nearest bench was occupied. He considered asking the students there to move, then imagined trying to stand up again with all of them watching.

Just get inside.

He tightened the strap and started walking. His right hand still tingled, though he could feel all his fingers now. The trouble was his legs. They had begun shaking before he left the western grounds, and waiting on the wall had done less for them than he had hoped.

A group of students approached. Silas straightened until they passed, then put his hand against the next building.

"Rooke."

Talia Veyne stood beneath the residence arch. He had been so busy looking for somewhere to lean that he had missed her.

"Ferrow sent me a message," she said, coming toward him. "How long have you been walking?"

"I stopped along the way."

"I can see that. Can you make it to the entrance?"

"Yes." Silas took his hand off the wall.

His knee gave. Talia caught the back of his coat before he reached the ground, and for a moment he hung there with the collar pressed against his throat.

"Wait," he managed. "You’re choking me."

"Get your foot under you."

He tried. Talia waited until he had some weight on it, then moved under his left arm.

"You can lean on me. Slowly."

Silas looked past her. Two people had stopped to watch.

"This is unnecessary."

"You can tell Ferrow that when you see her." Talia shifted his arm across her shoulders. "The stairs are this way."

He wanted to argue, but she had already started walking and he needed to keep up. She was shorter than him; leaning far enough to take the weight off his leg made his side ache. He adjusted his grip, trying not to pull at her collar.

At the first landing, Talia stopped.

"Which room?" she asked.

"You inspected it."

"I know. Tell me anyway."

Silas looked at her, then understood. "Two-seventeen. And I know what day it is."

"Tell me that too."

He did. She waited another few breaths before taking him up the next flight.

A student opened his door on the landing, saw them, and withdrew without speaking. Silas watched the door close.

He’ll tell someone. Of course he will.

"Keep moving," Talia said. "Nearly there."

At his room, Silas missed the latch once. He steadied his hand against the frame and got it open on the second try.

The change came as soon as Talia helped him inside. His legs took more of his weight, and he could breathe without having to stop halfway through. He loosened his hold on her shoulder and managed the last few steps to the bed.

[Guest: Talia Veyne.]

[Talent Record Available: Boundary Ward — B / Rare.]

[Previous Assimilation Record Detected: 22%.]

[Record Talent?]

Yes.

[Boundary Ward recorded.]

[Assimilation: 22%.]

[Remaining Duration: 7 days.]

Silas sat down, still looking at the number. He had expected to start over. His hand twitched with the urge to test a mark.

"You recovered quickly," Talia said.

He looked up. She was watching the hand he had just stopped shaking.

"The walk exhausted me. Sitting helps."

"You were doing better before you reached the bed."

"Then perhaps I needed to get out of the sun."

He regretted adding that. The corridor hadn’t been sunny. Talia glanced toward the door but left the question alone.

"Are you still taking Kerr’s medicine?" she asked.

"It’s on the shelf."

She checked the bottles, then crossed to the cabinet. Two fingers against one of the ward marks produced a brief pulse through the seal. Silas felt it through Boundary Ward as well as his awareness of the room.

"The case hasn’t been disturbed," Talia said. "Ferrow mentioned numbness during the match. Is that gone?"

"Mostly." He flexed his fingers so she could see. "It was worse before I left."

"You should have waited for someone to walk with you."

"I thought I could manage."

Talia looked at his hand again. Silas let it drop into his lap.

"I was wrong," he said.

She paused, then picked up her slate. "I’ll tell Ferrow you’re back. If it happens again, stop and call for help. Don’t try to finish the stairs."

"All right."

Talia entered the message while he unfastened his coat. He couldn’t get his thumb through the loop at the collar. On the second attempt, he used Remote Grasp, annoyed that she was still there to see it.

"Have you eaten since the practical?" she asked.

"A little."

"There’s soup in your compartment. Eat the rest of it." She put her slate away. "I’ll leave you to that."

Silas waited until she was gone before closing the door. He rested his forehead against the wood for a moment, then went to heat the soup.

His skin had begun to feel hot by the time Kerr’s message arrived. She had received Ferrow’s report and wanted to know how he was doing.

He considered writing fine. The returning fever made that difficult to defend. He described the numbness, his legs, and the familiar tightness in his chest, then sent the message before he could make the account sound more flattering.

Kerr replied while he was eating.

Remain inside your residence for twenty-four hours. No physical training or deliberate mana circulation. Continue the prescribed course. Contact the medical office immediately if the numbness spreads or the chest pain changes.

Ferrow had been copied on the restriction.

Silas finished the soup and took his medicine. He wanted to wash, but getting his coat off had been enough work. He loosened his shirt and lay down instead.

An hour later, he was looking at the chalk on the desk.

Twenty-two percent. He didn’t have to recreate the first week. Surely checking whether the old circuit still worked would take less effort than lying here thinking about it.

He got as far as one mark on the desk leg. When he supplied mana, pain stabbed behind his eye. He dropped the chalk and waited with his hand pressed over it.

Fine. Tomorrow.

Most of the next day passed in bed. He woke for water, bread, and the medicine, then slept again. By evening he could eat a full meal without having to lie down halfway through it.

[Boundary Ward — Assimilation: 22%.]

[Remaining Duration: 6 days.]

Silas closed the panel. The chalk was still beneath the desk. He left it there and went back to bed.