Seraphina
The woman could hold the cup if someone placed the handle between the right fingers.
Seraphina watched the ward healer make the adjustment. A strip of clean cloth kept the warm pottery from touching the burned part of the patient's hand.
"Slowly," the healer said.
The woman brought the cup halfway to her mouth. Water moved against the rim, and her fingers began to shake.
Seraphina caught the base before it tipped.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
"I had it," the woman said.
Seraphina loosened her hold.
"I'm sorry."
The healer moved a folded towel beneath the woman's forearm and helped her try again. This time she drank without losing the water.
Seraphina kept her hands in her lap.
She had carried basins, changed cloths and followed clinical instructions all morning. Those tasks had clear beginnings and endings. Helping a patient drink should have belonged among them.
