Stephen’s been sitting in the Head Healer’s office, hands interlaced between his knees, boot bouncing restlessly against the stone floor. Pretending he’s in for some early work (not unheard-of), but where he’ll be nearby to be summoned, waiting for the scream.

He dislikes this play-acting — for multiple reasons, moreso than when they started — but he still thinks it’s better than the alternative. Give the girl plausible deniability. Don’t start a rash of rifters chopping off their arms and leaving them with no working anchor-shards left.

So when it happens, he rises to his feet from where he’s been sitting, grabs his crystal and demands “What happened?” (and feels like his own voice sounds dreadfully fake, affected, surely everyone’s going to see right through this shit) even as he leaves his office and goes striding down the corridor, towards the quartermaster’s door.

Once he’s inside, he surveys the scene, mouth pressed into a thin line. He sinks to a knee and starts trying to heave the bookcase off her; it’s heavier than he expected, and he can’t fling it off in one go, especially with most of the books still in it. Shit. They might actually need a second pair of hands for this part —