"Voss is handling it," he says, answering my unspoken question. "He told the instructors you were injured in a training accident and are recovering under his supervision. No one's going to question him. They aren’t counting the missed classes against you."

I remember dimly that Voss was there when the siphon attacked, though now the memory feels distant, dreamlike.

"Crucible?" I ask, struggling to piece together how much time has passed. I can't even remember if it was more than two days away. "Have I missed it?"

"Still coming," Raith says. "Just a few more days. But you need to rest now," he says, gently pressing me back down when I try to sit up straighter.

Something about Raith tugs at my awareness until it finally clicks. I remember now. I see his face—his thick tangled scars are little more than a shadow of what they were. He's watching me with an intensity that makes my heart quicken despite my weakness. The ruined left side, the patchwork of scar tissue that had marked him as a survivor of something terrible, I could almost imagine someone missing it now at a glance.

"Your scars," I whisper, reaching up to touch his cheek before I can stop myself. The skin is smooth beneath my fingertips. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to⁠—"

He catches my hand, holding it against his face for a moment before lowering it back to the bed. His touch lingers longer than necessary, a gentle pressure that sends a flutter through my chest. It also sends wisps of his fire essence into my body, warming me from the inside out.

"You saved my life," he says. "You have nothing to apologize for. And they were just scars."

"But they were part of you." I can't keep the guilt from my voice. I had no right to change him like that, to alter something so fundamental to his identity.

Emotion touches his expression—grief, maybe, or resignation. "They were a reminder of what I lost. Maybe... maybe it's time I stopped living in that moment."

"He does not speak all that he feels," Typhon observes, his voice clear in my head for the first time since I've woken. "The fire human harbors deeper thoughts on this matter."

"You've been quiet. Are you all right?" I ask silently.

"I have been conserving my strength to aid your recovery. The void energy that sought to consume the fire human infected you as well when you drew it out. It has been... taxing to help your body purge it."