Shara slowly blinked open her eyes, faint light like a candle somewhere off to her right, and winced at the pain… that didn’t come.

Huh?

Tentatively, she slowly pulled air into her throat, waiting for agony like shattered glass floating through her chest, but that didn’t come either. Huh, no more taste of copper in her mouth, that’s a good sign.

“You’re awake,” Tel’s voice said from her right, probably near the candle, and she rolled her head in his direction. He sat on a chair beside the dim light, a small book in his hands, and bags under his eyes that weren’t just from the angle of the light. “How are you feeling?”

“Better than you look,” she said, carefully shifting herself to look at him, but it wasn’t just her chest that didn’t hurt anymore. Bracing, just in case, she lifted her left hand out from under the blanket on top of her and held it in front of her face. “Which honestly really confuses me. That Tailcoat kicks like a horse. How am I still alive?”

Tel slipped a bookmark into his book, then stood and dropped it into one of his numerous pockets. “Doctor Pain fixed you up.”

“It’s not just a name, huh?” Shara said, looking around a bit more at the room. Yeah, the ceiling and walls were the same – she was probably in his clinic.

“The name is… more appropriate than you know,” Tel said, somehow going paler, and something in Shara’s stomach did a bit of a flip.

“He… he didn’t do anything strange to me, did he?” she asked, wiggling her toes, just to make sure they still worked.

Tel methodically lifted his chair up and carried it over from where it sat by the candle, to next to the bed, before sitting down again. “The doctor’s magic requires he inflict the same sort of injury he is healing. Like order and chaos, his magic requires balance.”

Shara blinked. Then a second time. “My arm was broken…”

“In two places,” Tel said quietly.

“And my ribs were basically confetti,” she finished, watching Tel nod to confirm she had the right of it. “So, you’re saying, to heal me… he… did that to somebody else?”

“Quite efficiently,” Tel said.

“Huh. Hopefully somebody who deserved it. A Tailcoat?” Shara asked, her stomach rumbling in hunger. “Hey, do you have…”

Tel glanced to a table beside her, and the plate sitting on it. “I figured you’d be hungry when you woke up. Sorry it’s not warm anymore.”

Shara took a breath – Could she really be completely healed? – then shifted her legs off the bed so she could sit up. Still no pain. Wow. She flexed the fingers of her left hand, they worked just fine, then reached out and picked up the plate with the sandwich on it.

“No meat pies? C’mon,” she said jokingly, but took a bite out of the food. Damn, it was good. “You made this, huh?” she said while she was chewing.

“Just used what the doctor had in his kitchen,” Tel said. “And, sorry, no meat pies. I can’t… access my personal space at the moment. No, don’t say anything. Finish chewing first.”

Shara nodded, more than happy to savour the sandwich. But, why couldn’t Tel use his…

Doctor Pain was a sorcerer. Tel had said the doctor’s magic fixed her, but he probably hadn’t done it out of the goodness of his heart. Goodness seemed to be in short supply for the man. Which meant Tel had to pay him.

“You gave him your stopwatch, didn’t you?” Shara said after she swallowed the food, and didn’t take another immediate bite.

“Yes,” Tel said.

“Your good one?”

“Only had the one on me, and it was what he’d take as payment,” Tel said.

Shara actually put the sandwich back down on the plate. “Tel, your watch was practically priceless for us sorcerers. Why would you do that?”

“You would’ve died without his help,” Tel said. “You didn’t die. It was worth it. Balance. It’s just a watch, Shara.”

“Just a watch?! How can you say…” she trailed off, narrowing her eyes at him. “You have another one, don’t you? In your little dimensional baggy thing.”

“It’s not a baggy. You make it sound like it’s just for lunch,” he said then paused. “Okay, admittedly I do keep a lot of food in there, but that’s not it’s main purpose. No, don’t look at me like that. It’s not. But, yes, I have a few more watches in there. None quite as good as that one, but I can work on them. With time, I’ll have another of it’s equal.”

Shara tapped her finger on the plate. Sure, he said it wasn’t a big deal and he had more watches, but it just wasn’t that simple.

“You saved me,” she said quietly, her voice cracking, and Tel blushed while waving his hand.

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“Like I said, it’s not a big deal. Let me borrow your watch and I’ll reach in and grab…”

“Not just here,” Shara interrupted. “Back in the enclave. Anad and his girlfriend were going to kill me. You stopped them. And, I don’t remember a lot of it, but I’m also pretty sure you carried me most of the way here. Tel, as much as my pride doesn’t like me saying this… you saved me.”

Tel looked like he didn’t know what to say to the confession, but then the corner of his mouth quirked. “Does this make us even?”

“No way,” she snapped, “I saved you way more. Just saying you did a good job this time. And… thank you.”

“Any time,” he said quietly, and something about it was oddly reassuring, like he was promising to be there next time she needed saving.

Not that she would. One time thing. Totally.

Shara shoved the sandwich back in her mouth instead of dealing with her feelings. Two big bites in, she had enough control again, and paused before taking her third. “The enclave? Who else made it out?”

“I’m honestly not sure,” Tel said with a shrug. “It was chaos. The Tailcoats all mainly seemed to be coming from one direction – one entrance I’d assume – but you saw how deadly they are. It was everything we could do to slow them down and buy time. After I found you, well, we took the closest exit I could find and got lost in the city.”

“How did you find me?” she asked, the sandwich completely gone, but her stomach still grumbling for more.

“Really wasn’t difficult. The APPs I was using…”

“APPs? Like, the food you have before you have real food?”

“Uh… not appetizers. No, the flying spheres? You were pretty hurt, so maybe you didn’t notice…”

“The exploding balls,” Shara said.

“Yes. Those. I just calibrated them to map out the tunnels and home in on your magic.”

“They can do that?”

“It’s not really difficult. They use pulses of sound to sense things, like certain animals do, and I was familiar with your magic, so I just inputted that data in. Anybody could’ve done the same thing,” Tel said, though there was that inflection in his voice he used when he was underplaying something. In all likelihood, nobody else could’ve done it.

“Did you kill… Anad and that other one?” Shara asked.

Tel hesitated and looked away, obviously still conflicted about the whole complicated relationship with his childhood friend. “I don’t know,” he finally said. “I don’t… think so. I’m sorry. After what they did to you, I should’ve… but…”

“Don’t apologize,” Shara said. “Though I am still counting that as the first of three. Anyway, I didn’t expect you to have. Anad was – my pride hates for me to admit this too – but he was going easy on me. I was trying everything I could to stop him, but if he’d gotten serious…”

“Then what happened?” Tel asked. “Anad didn’t do that to you?”

“Nah, the other one did. Anad was trying to get me to surrender. I seriously don’t know whose side that guy is on,” Shara said with a shrug. “One second he was killing sorcerers, and the next he was trying to get the other Tailcoat to spare me.

“If we ever see him again, we’ll have to ask…” Shara trailed off as the door opened without so much as a knock, and Doctor Pain and Born stepped into the room.

“Ah, good. You’re alive and awake. I wasn’t sure what to think when I heard you were in the doctor’s… care,” Born said.

“Yes, well, you’re welcome to take them out of my care – and out of my clinic – thank you very much,” Doctor Pain said.

“And so I will,” Born said with his usual smile. “Though it pains me to say, I’ll be taking you with me too,” he added, his words directed at the doctor.

“What’s going on?” Shara asked as the doctor processed the big man’s words. “Where’s Neela?”

“Tailcoats and Regulars have flooded the enclave tunnels,” Born explained quickly. “Neela and some of the others are working to distract them. Still, it won’t be long until they control the entire enclave. There are simply too many. A few days at most.”

“How long have I been out?” Shara asked out the side of her mouth to Tel.

“Less than a day,” he answered quickly back.

Wow, less than a day for the injuries she’d had? Not bad.

“Which means you’re going to take us to where my mother is,” Shara said. It wasn’t a question, and Born seemed to understand, his smile faltering for just a heartbeat.

“That is correct,” Born said. “To your mother and aunt. It’s not close, a few days travel, but we need to leave immediately.”

“And you think I am coming with you, why?” Doctor Pain asked.

“The hidden entrances connecting your clinic won’t delay them for long. The Tailcoats will find their way up here. It would be best for you if you weren’t here when they did, yes?” Born said.

Shara watched Doctor Pain for his predictable argument, but instead he simply sighed.

“And I just finished the new sign,” he said. “I’ll get my things.” With that, he left the room, and Born turned his attention to Tel and Shara.

“How are you feeling?” Born asked.

“Better than I have any right to,” Shara said. “There’s really no chance we can secure the enclave?”

Born shook his head. “No, now that the Tailcoats know about it, they’ll keep throwing bodies at us until they take it. It was a good home, but not worth the lives it would cost to hold it for… nothing.”

“Makes sense. When do we leave?” Shara asked.

“As soon as the doctor is ready. Tailcoats have begun securing the gates to watch for us fleeing the city, but we still have a few tricks up our sleeves. We’ll be outside the city and on the road by the time the sun sets. I hope you got a good sleep, because we’ll be moving all night,” Born said.

Shara glanced at Tel. Sure, she’d slept, but him?

“I’ll be fine,” Tel said. “I napped a bit while you were out.”

“In the chair? Sitting up?” Shara asked.

“Same way I always slept while I was working,” Tel said with a shrug. “Really, I won’t slow you down.”

“Wasn’t worried you would,” Shara clarified, and Tel blushed again. “Born, why don’t you check on the doctor? We’ll get our things together and be ready to go in a few minutes.”

The big man looked between Tel and Shara, but nodded without saying a word and left the room.

When Shara was sure he was gone, she looked to Tel. “Do you have my…?”

“Yes,” Tel answered, reaching inside his vest and pulling out her chain-whip, though it looked more like a cudgel at the moment.

“Not in your dimensional baggy?” Shara asked, taking the weapon and rubbing her thumb along the familiar metal of the handle.

“It… wouldn’t go in,” Tel said, a strange hitch in his voice. “I tried, but it was the strangest thing; it pushed back. I actually couldn’t even leave the room without it getting… upset… about being separated from you.”

“Upset?” Shara asked, eyeing the weapon. “So it is alive? That was just a joke before.”

“I’m still not sure,” Tel said. “It could just be part of the magic that binds it to you. When we have time, we need to test it.”

“I’ll leave that to you. As long as you don’t make it explode,” Shara said, sliding off the bed to stand up. Her legs were a bit stiff from lying around, but not bad overall.

“I’m not sure why you keep thinking I am going to make things explode,” Tel said.

“Floating balls,” Shara said and pointed at Tel.

He opened his mouth, but closed it almost immediately. “Point,” he finally said. “To be fair, though, they were made to explode.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Shara said with a wink. “Come on, let’s go find my mother.”