Then, slowly, the Proctor’s central face smiled. It was the first smile the Hall had seen in ten thousand years.
“I do not dispute doctrine,” Lirael said, bowing her head. “But doctrine was written after the Great Schism. This patient— who is he? ” medcel revalida
The Proctor gestured to the fog-and-bone figure. Already, color was returning to his cheeks. A faint heartbeat thrummed through the Hall. Then, slowly, the Proctor’s central face smiled
But the Proctor, bound by its own ancient rules, could not refuse a direct diagnostic request. It waved a crystalline hand. “But doctrine was written after the Great Schism
“Candidate Lirael,” intoned the Proctor, a being of seven overlapping faces and no discernible pulse. “Your final scenario. A patient has arrived at the Triage of Last Resort. He presents with the following symptoms: a hollow where his hope should be, a fracture in his causal timeline, and a persistent, low-grade infection of silence. What is your primary action?”
She looked up, stunned.