One finger traced along the hastily scratched words on his chart. Those words all led to one seemingly unavoidable conclusion. Though Perenelle was unwilling to draw it just yet. She hesitated, almost rising to summon a nurse and a quill and parchment. Nicholas, Nicholas should be here as well. Perhaps together they could come to some different conclusion. One that the healers with a limited medical scope were unable to see. Something stilled her, Perenelle slowly closed the folder and set it aside. She pulled a breath in and stilled her movements listening for what had changed the tension in the room.
And there it was, a small change in the beeps that had become a droning sound in the background of the room. Her eyes darted over to a machine, watching small changes in the measurements. Perenelle leaned forward, finally tearing her gaze away from the instruments and to the man whose bedside she was continuing the vigil. His face was as pale as it ever had been, worn and slack with the injury and dark magic that battled with his body. But-
His lips parted and Perenelle's own followed suit. A nurse would be scurrying in, followed by the litany of healers that were all crucial to the care of the chancellor. Her hand lifted and curled around his still one, taped down with a variety of needles and tubes. "Gellert," she said his name softly. "We've missed you." She didn't expect him to quite understand her words yet but the instincts she held told her to speak as softly and reassuringly as possible in these first few moments. regardless of the fact that he was perhaps the most feared man in the world. He was still just a man, one who had been dangerously close to being no longer.