The mark was smaller than I expected.
I had imagined half a target melted away, perhaps because everyone describing Aiden's exercise had found a larger version to tell. The receiving plate on the faculty bench had a dark wound no wider than two fingers.
Veylan stood beside it with the exercise record.
"Don't touch the edge," he said.
I withdrew my left hand.
"I was pointing."
"Then point from farther away."
The faculty had asked the shared practice users to review the revised safety arrangement before the next supervised session. Aiden had agreed to release the equipment readings for that purpose. His private examination remained private. I had no invitation to diagnose his body because I recognized a story shape.
I stayed on my side of the bench and read what had actually been released. The record described an exercise: the setting, the attempts and the stop. It didn't contain an explanation of what Aiden would become.
