Chapter 46: A days work
Elias adjusted his stance carefully, his movements still deliberate and clumsy. "Doing my best," he replied with a dry smile. "It's not exactly graceful, but I'll take progress over nothing."
His gaze shifted to a figure standing off to the side—a woman with auburn hair that seemed to catch the light. She leaned against the wall, arms crossed loosely, her posture both composed and self-assured. Elias tilted his head toward her. "You must be Faye?"
She gave a slight nod, her expression neutral but not unfriendly. "That's me," she said, her voice carrying a wry undertone. "Politician's daughter turned broke when the military took over. Now I'm here with a great singing voice and a bunch of shattered dreams. But hey, we've all got our baggage, right?"
Elias hesitated, brushing his fingers near his still-tender stab wound, unsure how to respond. "Yeah... something like that," he muttered awkwardly.
The silence hung for a moment, heavier than either seemed to expect, until Paul approached. He wiped his hands on a towel as he walked, shaking his head slightly. "Checked on the others," he said. "They're still in their rooms, complaining about not being able to move."
Elias raised an eyebrow. "So I wasn't the only one hit with a penalty from the Doctor?"
"Not even close," Paul replied with a short laugh. "Which makes it pretty impressive you're already up and moving around. After that little speech you gave last night, though, I guess it's not too surprising."
Elias blinked, caught off guard. "Speech? I wasn't trying to be inspirational—I was just venting."
"Maybe," Paul said with a shrug, "but it landed. Don't overthink it."
Elias tried to shrug, though his reversed movements made it awkward. Kikaru's gaze drifted above his head. Confused, Elias followed her line of sight and saw his task window glowing faintly.
"Wait, you can see that?" he asked.