Kael
Maelis removed the dressing without giving my opinion of the cut much weight.
I had offered it anyway.
"Shallow," I said.
"I can see that."
"I thought we should begin with an agreement."
She asked me to turn the arm.
The skin pulled at the edge of the closure. Nothing opened. She checked the movement again with my hand closed, then with the fingers relaxed.
I answered when she asked what hurt.
The first answer was about the cut. She asked again while changing the position of my hand, and I told her where the pull reached farther along the arm.
Maelis checked it without reacting as though I had confessed to a personal failure.
That made the whole exercise less interesting than the arguments I usually prepared for it.
"Does it stop when you relax the fingers?"
I did so before answering. "It eases."
She repeated the position and watched the closure. I kept my attention on the movement instead of trying to read the result from her face.
