The animal remembered my hand before it remembered the rest of me. It lifted its head when I stopped beside the enclosure. Its ears turned, the small antlers moved with them, and one front hoof scraped the ground. I took a step back.
"Better," Elara said.
She sat on the far side with a shallow bowl beside her knee. The young Spirit Beast watched me over her shoulder. A bare patch still showed where the old restraint had rubbed its chest.
"I helped take that off," I said.
"You were there while it hurt."
"An inconvenient distinction."
"For you."
She returned to the bowl. I stayed outside the rail.
The handling area had changed since the restraint failed. The repaired fitting was out of use, tagged and covered. The animal had a larger resting space, with a light barrier that guided it away from the work door without holding its body in place.
