“I am a really good girl, but I won’t be asking for your definition. How about a bargain? I’ll walk you down if you promise to come back and be truly inactive for a reasonable time after lunch.”
“Like a nap?”
“Exactly.”
“Will you join me?”
“No.” The elf was temptation incarnate. And relentless.
“You drive a hard bargain. Naps alone it is then.”
“Hallway. Twenty Minutes?”
“Deal.”
Ram emerged with wet hair wearing faded 501’s, a rugby shirt with navy and green stripes and a crisp white collar. Elora decided she was a fan of 501’s; something about the pucker between each button of button fly jeans drew the eye like a codpiece. Looking at his smile, it would be impossible to tell he was on the D.L. - short for Disabled List - if he wasn’t moving a tad slower than usual and ever so slightly favoring his left side.
“So, how are you feeling? Really.”
“No’ bad. I will no’ be takin’ any more sleepy medicines. I can sleep when I’m dead.”
Like Storm said, he was tough. Elora admired that.
“I noticed your fine collection of stringed instruments. Do you play them all or are they for collection?”
“I play.” He smiled. “I come from musical people.”
As do I, she thought.
When the elevators opened on sublevel three, two young men that Elora guessed were in training moved in front of the opening, holding up their hands to block exit.
“Sorry. This level is closed for the next two hours, sir,” one of them said directly to Ram.
Ram spoke to them in a tone that conveyed a conviction that they suffered from idiocy. Gesturing toward Elora he said, “She’s the reason this level is closed! Kindly remove your dunderheads from your little, juvie asses and stand clear.” When the doors started to close, from pure reflex he shot his hand out to stop the progress, then pressed his lips together to keep from letting the pain show when the elevator door jarred his rib. The resulting expression could easily have been mistaken for out-of-patience-do-as-I-say-right-now-or-else.
The two young men glanced at each other and chose the better part of valor in obliging Sir Hawking without further delay. They dropped their hands and moved away. As Ram and Elora walked past, he instructed them not to let anyone else through. Then, just for good measure, he said, “If you two are the future of Black Swan knighthood, we’re in a lot of trouble.” He turned his back on them then smiled and winked at Elora.
Sol, Monq, Storm, and Kay were assembled in the weight room. They were surprised to see Ram come in with Elora, but gave him a quick briefing on the plan to catch him up to speed. It was simple and flexible meaning that they would basically make it up as they went along.
First on the agenda was weight. They agreed to eyeball Elora and guess how much she weighed in pounds. Taking into account her height, bone structure, and the fact that she had a low muscle to fat ratio, the median guess was one hundred forty pounds. After they had settled on an estimate, Elora took off her cross trainers and stepped on to the scale. It read two hundred thirty six.
Kay whistled. Ram looked her up and down with renewed interest.
Storm said, “That explains a lot.”
“What do you mean?” asked Monq.
“You remember the night she arrived I had a hard time picking her up? Kay had to help me. I knew she felt really heavy, but I thought maybe it was partly because she was unconscious and partly because she was… slippery and hard to hold on to.”
“And none who work the infirmary ever mentioned this?” Ram looked from Monq to Sol.
“Maybe they thought we already knew.” Monq looked at Elora, waving his clipboard to emphasize his point. “Anyway, it’s an indicator of cell density, but it’s just a number.”
“You’re worried that I may be self-conscious about my weight?” Elora gave him a crooked smile and a look of disbelief. “I have more pressing issues.”
“Yes. So let’s get to that,” said Sol. “We have less than two hours to learn what we can.”
Storm suggested they go through a complete circuit of weights and machines comparing Elora’s performance to what might be expected of a typical twenty-three-year-old female in top physical condition. The results were astounding. Her numbers exceeded current records of males of any age.