I got dressed in silence.
My clothes smelled like Laurana's perfume and something that might have been ozone. The thermal energy she'd been pushing through her skin had done something to the fabric. Not burned it. More like permanently altered its molecular structure to carry the memory of what happened.
Laurana watched me button my shirt. Her expression had shifted back into something professional. The mask settling into place like armor.
"Your reserves are higher."
I paused. Focused inward. She was right. The drain I'd taken from her during the encounter had pushed my capacity from the pitiful five percent I'd been scraping along at to something closer to thirty. Still not full. Still not what I'd need for serious combat. But enough to function without feeling like a phone running on battery saver mode.
"Your ability does that?"
