Tom took his painkiller with his coffee, and then tried putting the cap back on himself. Then he stopped, and put the bottle and the cap back down on the table.
"I honestly don't know," he said quietly, looking down at his hands. "The injuries are already affecting him, aren't they? They were healed before he... I... returned to the island that time, and then the arthritis just happened gradually because of the injuries. I'm not a medical doctor, I don't know how to cure this, short of, I dunno, hand transplants or completely new bones in my hands or something like that. I just know how to live with it as best I can."