memories returned, but at their edges a fracturing remained. sitamun felt with some cold certainty that she was changed. she was not a physician, nor a soothsayer, nor sorcerer, but she no longer felt whole, as if something vital would never return. often she told herself that these were only the anxieties of the invalid, but found herself unsure from time to time.
when sapair arrived, her eyes opened to alight upon the roof of the bower, and then slid toward him. her body followed, sitamun rising gingerly into a half-raise. setemhotep seems to think you would march upon jakten if i did not come back,
she said, and her voice wavered a little in the utterance.