The ceiling was the first thing he recognized.
Low stone. The familiar crack along the second beam, the one he had noticed when he arrived and never reported to anyone. The lamp on the side table had almost burned itself out. No light showed through the window. Well past midnight.
He tested his hand next. It moved when he told it to. Good.
He turned his head and checked the rest of the room. Desk in place. Ledger closed on top of it. Nothing disturbed.
Then he looked left.
Aestrith sat beside the bed in a chair pulled close enough that she could watch him without moving. Her attention fixed on him immediately, the focused gaze she used while monitoring a difficult problem over a long stretch of time.
She saw his eyes open before he fully oriented himself.
In that instant, the strain of the last hours compressed into awareness. He was awake.
