Jack's muscles were screaming in agony. When he complained about the burning pain, Angela simply responded with a cheerful explanation. "That just means the exercise is working! We need to loosen up the muscles you have and help develop more muscle growth at the same time. Now pull!"

Em'brel held Jack's arm so that it was extended just a little further than Jack's new limited range of motion left him comfortable with. On Angela's command, Jack did his best to pull his arm back to himself. It was somewhat disheartening how little his arm budged in the younger girl's grip, but he kept pulling until Angela told him to relax again. They'd been doing this for several minutes, and Jack's arm felt as if it was on fire. He wasn't sure if the tears in his eyes were born from pain or frustration, though he suspected the truth involved a little of both. When Jack was absolutely sure he couldn't do it one more time, Angela pushed him again. "Ok, just once more, then you can relax your arm!"

Jack forced himself to pull with his exhausted arm for just a little longer, though he could swear time seemed to stretch on longer than it had in any of his previous attempts. Eventually, Angela instructed him to relax and allowed Em'brel to lower his arm. Closing his eyes to recover from the strain, Jack started to catch his breath. Angela seemed to have a different plan, much to his dismay. "Ok, now extend his other arm, and let's start over!"

Jack's eyes shot open. "You said... we'd take... a break!"

Angela's face was the oddest combination of apology and determination as she shook her head. "No, I said you could relax your arm, and you can! Now we're working on the other arm. I understand that you are exhausted and frustrated, but the more progress you make now, the more functionality you're likely to recover. So unless you want to be a cripple for the rest of your life, completely dependent on the people around you to feed you, bathe you, and help you use the bathroom, you need to push yourself. Now Pull!"

Jack thought back to last night and the sheer humiliation of having Em'brel help him use the bathroom. She's been surprisingly professional, preferring speed and efficiency in the place of conversation. Jack suspected the girl had an idea of how hard this whole experience was for him and was determined to get through the worst of it fast as possible.

He'd tried telling himself that after climbing a mountain and leaping into a void, this was nothing, but when the girl had to help clean him after he was done, he was forced to admit he'd prefer to climb a dozen mountains than endure that experience ever again. And yet, he knew he'd have to repeat that same experience multiple times a day until he was able to recover enough to take care of himself.

With that humiliation in mind, Jack suddenly found he had far more energy and determination than before and pulled hard enough that Em'brel's eyes widened slightly in surprise, and Jack saw his arm move noticeably in her grip before she adjusted to the unexpected strength he'd suddenly acquired.

Jack and Em'brel grinned at each other over this tiniest of victories. When Jack resumed the physical therapy, it was with a renewed determination.

-

Jack was utterly and totally exhausted. After the arm pulling, Angela had had Jack lift his legs and hold them 'up' for as long as he could endure. He was rarely able to lift them entirely off the bed, but his muscles were burning in a way that told him the exercise worked.

As bad as the physical therapy had been, it paled in comparison to the frustrations of occupational therapy.

Angela manufactured an oversized pen for Jack to use. Em'brel helped Jack wrap his fingers around the pen, albeit in a manner better suited for stabbing than writing. Then he tried to write his name on a piece of paper. It was more of a scribble than actual writing, but Angela told Jack it was vital for him to have a specific goal in mind when he was writing, and his name was an excellent benchmark for him to strive for. He dropped the pen over and over, and every time Em'brel would patiently help Jack extend his fingers to grab hold of the pen once more.

Jack groaned in frustration after dropping the pen once more. Angela explained the purpose of these exercises to both Jack and Em'brel. "The brain is very delicate, but also great at self-maintenance and repair. Portions of your brain that had been deprived of oxygen too long died and left behind scarring. This prevents signals from getting to your nervous system, which controls your motor functions. However, given a chance, your brain will seek to establish new connections to your nervous system to restore proper function once more. These repetitive activities essentially force your brain to send signals to said nerves and will eventually establish new neuro paths to send signals across. This is, of course, a gross oversimplification of a very complex process, but it should help you get the idea."

Jack didn't feel like he was making any progress. The letter J he was trying to draw looked more like a sloppy figure eight, drawn by someone only passingly familiar with the concept of curves. As Jack continued into the letter A, he dropped the pen for what felt like the hundredth time. With a sigh somewhere between frustration and anger, Jack reached out and picked up the pen to continue butchering his name when he realized both Em'brel and Angela were staring at his hand.

It was only when Jack looked at his own hand that he realized what he'd done. He'd picked up the pen without any help from Em'brel.

Setting down the pen again, Jack held both of his hands up in front of his face. He focused all the effort he could muster into opening up his hands. His left hand twitched and shook, but his right hand, the hand he'd been writing with, opened about 3 inches. It seemed like such a small thing, but it also meant this stupid exercise was working, no matter how childish it seemed.

Even lunch was exercise. Jack was strapped into a chair since he couldn't easily support his own sitting weight yet, and since the table wasn't quite tall enough, Em'brel held up a can full of Jack's liquid lunch, complete with a straw. In her other hand, she held a rag to wipe Jack's face clear of any food he coughed or sputtered up. The whole meal was almost as humiliating as the bathroom experience had been.

After lunch, Jack had to re-evaluate his assessment of how embarrassing the meal had been when Em'brel had to help him use the restroom again.

After that, they were off to more rehabilitation. Apparently, this time Angela wanted to work on speech.

-

S'haar was amazed at how efficient her new outfit was at retaining heat. Unlike the coats they'd been using up until now, this outfit covered her entirely. It came complete with a mask, gloves, and boots that fully encased her clawed feet. Even the airflow was directed to help retain heat. The intake passed through the suit's heated sections to prevent her from breathing in air that was too cold for her lungs. The outflowing air passed along the colder areas of her suit to avoid wasting the heat coming out of her lungs.

It was a little disorienting to wear at first, and it took S'haar a while to get used to the fact that she couldn't 'taste' the air around her, nor could she get traction with her claws. However, she'd spent enough time walking around the somewhat cold cave to familiarise herself with the outfit before going out into the storm.

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Of course, Angela was also coming along for the ride. "So, now that you've gotten used to the suit, any recommendations you'd like to make?"

S'haar stumbled a little before speaking. "Without the use of my claws, you might need to add a bit more traction to the boots. The gloves are a little too smooth as well. A little texture on the palms would help. Maybe the shoulders could stand to be a bit less restrictive? Other than that, this suit is a marvel!"

Angela seemed to preen a little at the compliment. "Excellent! And might I add that you're a much better test subject than Jack. Less grumbling and more constructive feedback, just what an AI needs in a guinea pig!"

S'haar's voice came back weary. "I'm not certain what a guinea pig is, but I suspect I wouldn't enjoy being compared with one. But since you mentioned him, how's Jack doing?"

The AI's voice came back much more cheerful than S'haar had been expecting. "He's not doing quite as well as my most optimistic projections, but he's doing far better than I'd feared. Every time he starts to lose heart, he seems to dig within himself and find some untapped inspiration, and he comes back with greater determination. It's relatively common for people faced with this kind of debilitating setback to become overwhelmed and give in to feelings of hopelessness, but Jack just keeps pushing himself."

S'haar was approaching the cave's mouth with the sled loaded with some fresh heating packs and a load of meat pastries Em'brel had sent with S'haar. Angela continued her explanation. "Honestly, I'm not sure where he's finding the will to keep pushing himself, and while I don't want to 'jinx' myself," At Angela's jovial tone, S'haar could practically see the pixie girl wink while she spoke. "at this rate, there's hope of a full recovery!"

S'haar chuckled a moment before responding. "Admittedly, I haven't known Jack nearly as long as you have, but ever since I've met him, he's always seemed to come out of his bouts of fear and doubt with renewed determination to see things through. Why would you be surprised when the worst setback yet only brings out his best?"

Angela was relieved to hear the easy affection still deep in S'haar's voice. She'd been afraid that seeing Jack broken the way he was would have changed the warrior woman's view of him.

Now at the mouth of the cave, S'haar readied the 'snowshoes' Angela had crafted. She was fascinated by the idea of walking on top of the snow! Angela had designed them with large, easy to manipulate fasteners so they could be put on or removed even if wearing thick gloves. S'haar also had a shovel ready to dig out the door to the workers' lodge if it was buried too deep.

Snowshoes in place, S'haar walked out of the cave and into the open. Walking in the cumbersome shoes was incredibly awkward. She had to exaggerate her legs' up and down movements in a way that was mostly unfamiliar to her, but the further she got, the easier it became.

The wind was strong, and the snow seemed to be falling more sideways than down. As it tore through the mountain's ridges and valleys, it created a howling sound that made S'haar feel more isolated than she'd ever felt before. Despite the walk not being too far, she felt a wave of relief when the billet came into view.

The trip to the worker's housing took roughly 4 times as long as usual, and despite her new outfit, S'haar was starting to feel the cold. Even with her new suit, it wouldn't be safe to travel long distances during a deep freeze.

S'haar took a moment to clear the snow from the entrance before knocking on the door and shouting to anyone still awake. "It's S'haar, I'm coming in!"

She'd been expecting workers to be in the usual half-asleep state that all argu'n used to pass through a deep freeze, but she walked into a surprisingly lively group of workers.

Lon'thul and Tel'ron were in the middle of another dice game, leaving S'haar to wonder what the two younger workers had left to bet with at this point. The rest were gathered around swapping stories or otherwise finding ways to kill some time, at least they had been until S'haar walked in.

Everyone was staring at S'haar, and it took her a moment to realize that with the mask still on, she probably looked like some monster out of a fireside tale. She removed her gloves so her hands could undo the clasps keeping the mask in place. There was a wave of exclamations as everyone looked over the outfit taking turns inspecting the gloves and mask as S'haar explained their function and effectiveness.

The billet was surprisingly warm, and Angela decided to speak up through the headset S'haar had worn under the mask. "I'm glad to see Jack's design working so effectively despite the cold weather, but with the workers not going into their hibernation state, they will probably consume more food than we'd estimated. You might need to at least start talking about rationing out the food stores, just to be safe." S'haar nodded quietly before turning her attention to the workers.

After the initial excitement died down, S'haar started checking on everyone and seeing how they were doing, and asking if they needed anything. The universal answer was that they needed something to do. Luckily Em'brel had already thought of that potential issue and sent S'haar with something to help.

However, before S'haar could bring up the subject of Em'brel, Lon'thul beat her to the punch. "So Em'brel's not coming today?"

S'haar had to admire the younger man's drive and smiled while shaking her head. "No, I'm afraid Em'brel's attention is required elsewhere. Jack's spirit has finally returned from the realm of the dead, but his body is still severely damaged and weak. Em'brel is seeing to his recovery, which will probably be the focus of her attention for the next few weeks."

Everyone took the news in stunned silence. While people in the village sometimes recovered from severe injuries that left them unconscious for a day or two, a month was impossible. Everyone had started assuming he was dead, and no one knew quite how to take the news of his recovery. As usual, Lon'thul was the first to speak. "Man, is there anything that human of yours can't do? Will he be taking over the camp again?"

S'haar shook her head. "Eventually, he might, but for now, Jack's focus is on recovering from his ordeal, so I will remain in charge. However, there's not a lot to do at the moment except seeing to the well-being of everyone here. To that end, Em'brel sent me here with a couple more human items to help you all pass the time while you wait out the freeze."

That caught the attention of all the workers. 'Human' tools and technologies had proven nearly miraculous to everyone now familiar with them, and everyone was curious about what humans did for entertainment.

The first thing S'haar held up was a small odd-looking box. When opened, it revealed a lot of flat panels with shapes and symbols painted on them. "These are called playing cards, and the game I'm about to teach you is called 'poker.'"

As S'haar explained the game, it became quickly apparent that everyone was excited at the idea of a new way to pass the long cold days in the billet, and it didn't take long before chores such as cleaning the outhouses or doing the dishes were being gambled on by many of the younger workers. It quickly became apparent that Fea'en's stoic demeanor gave her quite the advantage as the game quickly devolved into a heated match between her and S'haar while the rest of the workers watched as the two most frightening women any of them knew went head to head for the 'pot,' which at this point mostly consisted of a few of the meat pastries still left over after everyone had eaten their fill.

As the bidding came to a close, S'haar was confident she'd won with the straight she held, but then Fea'en revealed her three of a kind was, in fact, a full house. The room erupted in cheers of excitement and exasperation. In the end, Fea'en retained her bragging rights but shared the meat pies for the low price of getting a pass on her next night of fire watch duty.

When the rest of the workers seemed hesitant to face the stoic older woman a second time, S'haar thought it might be a good time to reveal the next item Em'brel had sent her with.

It was a small box that unfolded into a small checkered board. On the inside were several small stone pieces that S'haar set up on the board. "This game is called 'chess.' The humans also call it 'the game of kings.' Apparently, many of their greatest rulers were quite proficient in this game, and it teaches you to anticipate problems before they arise. Allow me to explain the rules."

This time around, it was evident that the younger workers preferred the card game to this 'complex mess of a game' as Tel'ron and Lon'thul had both dubbed it. However, S'haar and Fea'en quickly found themselves absorbed in a battle of wits against each other. Eventually, the other workers returned to the card game, and the afternoon was passed with loud laughter, cries of anguish, and many exclamations of how terrible everyone's luck was.