It had been weeks since the fog had dissolved and magic had been restored, but the gratefulness to be feeling half-useful again at his job had not yet worn off. If he was not at work quite as often as he had been last month, Ari still felt as though he was getting twice as much done in distinctly less time. He was feeling fairly upbeat about this, too: after what had been a stressful few months for more reasons than one, he felt, in a rare mood, ready to take on most anything.
(A notion thought a little too soon, perhaps.)
He was in the midst of doing rounds of the ward when a man addressed him - Ari was the only member of staff in sight, he supposed - with a question. Questions about rooms were best posed to the welcome witch at the front desk, ordinarily, and Ari might well have directed the man on if he preferred not to see the visitor hopelessly lost and roaming the hallways as soon as possible, and also if he didn't happen to already know the answer to that. "Mr. Parker, of the ship from Egypt?" He answered, glancing at the room number the man was standing by. "Yes, he was moved this morning, I'll show you there," he explained briskly, since it was on his way. "You're visiting, I take it, Mr. -?" He had trailed off out of pure politeness, but Ari glanced sideways at the stranger suddenly - and found a face he didn't know but that was startlingly familiar from his pictures in the Prophet, and a horrible, sinking certainty of the name he was about to hear.
(A notion thought a little too soon, perhaps.)
He was in the midst of doing rounds of the ward when a man addressed him - Ari was the only member of staff in sight, he supposed - with a question. Questions about rooms were best posed to the welcome witch at the front desk, ordinarily, and Ari might well have directed the man on if he preferred not to see the visitor hopelessly lost and roaming the hallways as soon as possible, and also if he didn't happen to already know the answer to that. "Mr. Parker, of the ship from Egypt?" He answered, glancing at the room number the man was standing by. "Yes, he was moved this morning, I'll show you there," he explained briskly, since it was on his way. "You're visiting, I take it, Mr. -?" He had trailed off out of pure politeness, but Ari glanced sideways at the stranger suddenly - and found a face he didn't know but that was startlingly familiar from his pictures in the Prophet, and a horrible, sinking certainty of the name he was about to hear.
