A territorial feeling in her chest rose as the healer levitated Alfred onto a stretcher. It was a stupid impulse - she wanted to be with him - and still she kept one his chest. She couldn't pull away, not when he had grabbed her hand like that - she could not leave him here. With the other hand, she wiped at her eyes, although it frankly did not do much to help at all.

"He touched a Pictish chest the other month," Zelda explained. This, at least, was almost in the realm of her job - she could almost compartmentalize the explanation.

Not really, though.

"No immediate effects - but it bound itself to him and a boat. And the curse set off today and it's my fault, we were back on the boat," she said. She should have thought of this. But he had been on the Voyager so many times - she just hadn't thought of it.

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