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she mutters. She maneuvers her way around to leverage herself onto the bed but stops short. Iria isn’t the only one in the room. Sai checks her shield and frowns. Perhaps she’s just out of practice. A couple of weeks in a comatose state will do that.
    “Hey, Sai.” Aishke smiles briefly and looks down at the floor, while Marlena, in a crisp white uniform, walks toward her.
    “Remember me?” she asks, blonde curls bobbing gently as she moves.
    Sai nods and tries not to be envious of those curls. Curls should be illegal.
    Marlena’s eyes soften as her smile reaches them. “Time for me to patch you up.” She busies herself with the small monitor in her hands, and as she waves it around Sai’s head and chest, the numbers on the screen scroll from white to red, setting off a low rate of beeps that seem to berate Sai with their intensity.
    The nurse frowns. “You’re exerting yourself too much. It shouldn’t be taking you this much energy to adjust to the grafts. I’ll go get Jeffries.”
    Sai instinctively reaches out a hand, grabbing Marlena. “Jeffries? What does he have to do with this?”
    Marlena blinks, her brow scrunching in confusion. “Jeffries operated on you. With Mathur’s help. He took the life-saving patch-up Dom did the rest of the way.”
    “Jeffries.” Sai crosses her arms. “You’re trying to tell me he helped me live?”
    “Yes.” Marlena shakes her head. “Why on earth wouldn’t he?”
    “Long story there!” Iria pipes up, slapping the nurse on the shoulder. “You go get him if you need. I’ll help Sai walk a bit. Can’t have her down for too long now, can we?”
    For once, Sai is grateful for Iria’s exuberance. It replaces the severe lack of her own. With Marlena gone, she breathes easier. “Was she joking? Did he really fix me?”
    Iria shrugs and sits on a chair, her wide and ready grin gone. “He did what needed to be done. And don’t worry, I don’t think he sabotaged you.”
    “Tell that to my legs.” Sai glares at them again for good measure.
    Aishke walks toward her but stops off to the side. “They’re pretty.”
    “Really?” Sai raises an eyebrow. “You think they’re pretty?
    Aishke nods. “Yeah, they’re shiny. And you’ll never have to worry about lazering the hair.”
    “Good girl, Aishke!” Iria laughs, but it sounds more forced than Sai remembers. “Find the bright side. Literally.”
    Sai laughs despite her obstinate mood. It feels good to talk to friends she didn’t realize she’d missed until now. Though she knows they won’t be able to do anything if the tenuous connection to her legs fails, Aishke and Iria still make a show of helping her walk around the room slowly.
    The more she walks, the easier it is for Sai to understand the movements she needs to encourage for her legs to function and use up as little of her energy as possible.
    “Good to see you up and about.”
    Jeffries voice startles Sai, and her legs lock up. She almost topples over, but Iria and Aishke anchor her.
    Sai glances over at the doctor, trying to glean his true intentions. “Sure. Yeah. Need to get back on my feet.”
    He nods and gestures to the bed. “Marlena mentioned you’re exhausting too quickly. Let me take a look.”
    Sai’s cheeks suddenly flush hot. Even though she now knows he’s seen pretty much all there is to see of her, she doesn’t want to be awake when he inspects her legs.
    “I’m fine, really.” She holds up her hands to wave him away as she leans against the bed.
    Jeffries raises an eyebrow. “Really? You don’t seem fine. If you don’t take care of these fusion points, your cells will deteriorate. And if you don’t get control of your impulses and instructions, the synaptic functions we reinforced will fry out and you won’t have very much to say ever again.”
    Sai gulps and runs through his words in her head, before maneuvering herself back onto the bed.
    “Much better,” he says as he helps get her legs up on the end and