Chapter 22 — Boundary Splint
The medic drove the first pin through Elias’s boot.
It passed between his ankle and the black ring without touching either.
Elias still shouted.
"Hold still," the medic said.
"I’m being nailed to footwear."
"You are being fitted with a boundary splint."
"That name has not improved the experience."
The splint consisted of two dark metal bands: one around his lower calf, the other beneath the arch of his foot. Four thin rods linked them without touching his skin. The pins fixed each rod to the boot.
Whenever the black mark lagged behind, the rods hummed and forced Elias’s physical outline to wait for it.
The process felt like someone pulling his bones backward.
Mira stood beside the treatment platform with her arms folded.
She had reported the ankle. Now she watched the consequences arrive.
Elias looked at her. "Enjoying your authority?"
"No."
"Could have fooled me."
"I’m not responsible for your imagination."
The medic lifted Elias’s foot.
The black ring remained behind for three-tenths of a second before the splint dragged it upward.
"Improved," she said.
"What was it before?"
"Nine-tenths."
"And without the brace?"
"Likely worse after today."
The medic lowered his leg and examined the blood beneath the mark.
"The boundary has moved four centimetres toward the knee."
Elias looked at Mira.
She did not say I told you.
That annoyed him more.
"Can it keep moving?" he asked.
"Yes."
"What happens if it reaches the knee?"
"We revise the splint."
"And if it reaches my chest?"
"We stop calling it an ankle condition."
The medic made one final adjustment.
The rods tightened.
Elias could flex his foot halfway. Any further movement caused the boot to lock.
"You will use threshold assistance," she said. "No stairs alone. No active crossings. No removing the splint except under observation."
"Sleeping?"
"Wear it."
"Bathing?"
"Supervised removal."
Elias stared.
The medic continued writing.
"You concealed progression after a direct medical question."
"I know."
"The delay allowed additional boundary migration."
"I know."
"Do you?"
Mira stepped between the question and the answer.
"Where is he sleeping?"
"Observation housing."
Elias looked at her. "I had a room."
"A train has it now."
"Temporary room."
"Temporary wreckage."
The medic handed Mira a metal release key.
Elias held out his hand.
The medic ignored it.
"Mira or assigned medical staff may remove the splint."
"It’s attached to my leg."
"It stabilizes a condition you concealed."
"My leg."
Mira took the key.
Elias looked at her. "You’re comfortable with this?"
"No."
"Still taking it."
"Yes."
The door to the adjacent treatment bay opened.
Dorian stood inside wearing a new brace.
It covered the grey forearm from wrist to elbow with three separate locking bands. A fourth ring crossed his palm, preventing the fingers from closing around an imaginary hilt.
His escort sat on another cot.
The man had one eye swollen shut and a rigid support around his ribs.
Dorian looked at Elias’s splint.
"Subtle."
"You look worse."
"I know."
The escort’s name was Ivo Pell. He had followed Dorian out of the training level after the alarm.
According to the incident report, he had attempted to stop Dorian at the medical stair.
According to Dorian, Ivo had grabbed the injured arm.
According to the corridor damage, the disagreement had become physical.
A medical officer stood between them with a slate.
"Again," she said. "From the moment Officer Pell blocked the stair."
Dorian stared at the floor.
"He told me to return to medical."
"And?"
"I said no."
"I used the restraint bar," Ivo said. His voice sounded painful. "Across the doorway. I didn’t touch the grey tissue."
Dorian looked at him.
"You caught the brace."
"After you shoved the bar."
Dorian’s left hand curled.
The officer waited.
He said, "I knocked it aside."
"With the practice sword?" she asked.
"With my hand."
"Which hand?"
Dorian did not answer.
Ivo did.
"The grey one."
The officer looked at the broken brace on the evidence tray.
A deep cut ran through its side.
Dorian said, "I wasn’t trying to cut him."
"No," Ivo replied. "You were trying to get through me."
That landed.
The officer continued. "The cut severed the stair rail. Officer Pell fell one level."
Ivo touched the support around his ribs.
"Concussion. Two fractures."
"I caught him," Dorian said.
"With your left hand," Ivo answered. "After I hit the landing."
No one praised him for that.
The officer gave Dorian a new order.
MEDICAL SUSPENSION EXTENDED.
NO WEAPON ACCESS.
TWO-PERSON ESCORT OUTSIDE HOUSING.
RIGHT ARM LOCKED EXCEPT DURING TREATMENT.
Dorian read the last line twice.
"No."
"This is not optional."
"The hand closes harder when it’s restrained."
"The hand cut a railing when it wasn’t."
"I can control it."
The gold scar across his grey palm flashed.
The brace locked automatically.
Dorian flinched.
The room’s overhead lamp split.
A white line appeared across the glass cover.
The medic switched the light off.
"You aimed one cut under extreme conditions," she said. "That success has increased the grip response. Your arm is attempting to repeat it."
"I’m not summoning."
"Your body disagrees."
Dorian pulled against the brace.
All four bands tightened.
Ivo watched him.
Dorian noticed.
"Say it."
Ivo shifted carefully on the cot. "What?"
"That you’re pressing charges."
"This isn’t your old life."
"Then whatever the Errata calls it."
"I filed an assault report."
Dorian nodded once.
No anger. No apology.
Ivo added, "I also filed that you returned after stopping the train and went directly to medical."
Dorian’s eyes narrowed. "Why?"
"Because it happened."
The officer collected both reports.
"Disciplinary action will follow medical stabilization."
Dorian looked toward Mira.
"You’re supervising movement now."
"Yes."
"Are you taking the key to this too?"
The medical officer handed her a second key.
Mira looked at both pieces of metal in her palm.
Elias’s boundary splint.
Dorian’s arm brace.
"I’m keeping them separate," she said.
Dorian almost smiled.
Almost.
The medical officer turned to Elias.
"Observation housing has one available bed."
"Private?"
"No."
"Door?"
"Curtain."
Dorian looked at him.
"Subtle," he said.
Elias stood carefully.
The splint locked when he tried to take a normal step.
He stumbled.
Mira caught his elbow.
He pulled free.
"I can walk."
"Then adjust."
He shortened the stride.
It felt ridiculous. Slow. Controlled by four rods and someone else’s key.
Dorian’s brace clicked as the grey hand tried to close.
The two of them crossed the medical corridor side by side.
Neither offered help.
Neither walked normally.