Marriage is Murder

"Did I do that?" she signed to her father. "I didn't move. I don't play that game."

"Actually," Brian said, "you do play. And you play quite well. Your parents are bloody brilliant at it, and you can sometimes beat them. It, technically, is very possible that you moved that piece. Steven's right. It might well have been accidental magic. Like the apparating out like you've been doing, remember?" She nodded. "

"Damnit," Angus's voice could be heard from the kitchen. Brian looked in to see Angus laying his chef's knife aside and then wrapping a towel around a bleeding finger.

"Angus," Brian called, "bring that here."

"Bring what here?" he echoed.

"That cut."

"So I can bleed on your carpet?" Angus frowned, coming in with his finger wrapped in a towel.

"No, I dont' think so," Brian said. "Come here." He took Angus over to Khaat and looked at her. "I want you to try something. Remember I told you that you are a healer? Try this." He unwrapped Angus's hand "Put your hand over the wound," he told her quietly. She looked at him, and he nodded. She obeyed. "Now--concentrate. Concentrate on what that finger looks like without the cut. Concentrate on the cut being not there at all. Try."

Robert thought it was entirely too soon, but Angus could feel a quick burst of a bit of heat in his finger. Brian put his hand on Khaat's and lifted her hand. Angus's cut was gone.

"Very well done," Robert said. Healing the small cut was an elementary skill as far as a healer was concerned, but the fact that she had done it with intent spoke volumes to Robert. "Your magic is much more intact than I thought."

"Wasn't me," Robert said. "It was Brian who built the gym. He's the one who can't seem to get his day started without a workout. But I'm glad it helped."

"There really are worse vices," Brian said.

"Indeed," Robert agreed. "Go shower, Jack. Fresh clothes would do you good." Angus headed back to the kitchen, glad to see Khaat able to willfully use some of her abilities again. Robert looked at Khaat. "Would you like to try a game of chess? You do have several sets here." She shook her head no. "You really shouldn't just sit here. You should try to do something to occupy your mind." She pointed to the photo albums. "You really think that will help? To go through them for the one millionth time?" She nodded, hopeful. He sighed and laid one of the books on her lap. "Be my guest," he said, willing to let her try a bit longer.

Khaat started through the book again, and Michael came into the room and saw her.

"Again?" he frowned. he had been impressed with how she had moved the chesspiece. He accio'd a chessset and put it in front of her. He snapped his fingers at it, and it opened up and the pieces scurried into motion.

"But I can't play," she signed.

"What do you have in mind, Michael?" Robert asked.

"I'm betting she knows more about the game than she thinks," Michael said. "I want you to try, Khaat. Don't overthink it. Just make whatever move that seems right to you." This experiment interested Robert.

"Amuse him for a moment," Robert smiled at her. Michael made the first move. Then he looked at Khaat.

"Your move. Whatever piece you want. No pressure," he said to her. Khaat sat for a long moment and then hesitantly she moved a piece.

"Oh, well done," Robert said, nodding. "Try a second move. Let's see what he does." Brian sat just watching, wondering if Michael's experiment would work.

"There's more than that there," Michael insisted. "If there weren't some sort of level of memory, she wouldn't have the first clue." He watched her make another move, and it was a remarkably challenging move. "She knows this game. She doesn't know that she knows it. doesn't know how she knows it, but so far, her game has been faultless."

She looked at Michael. Her moves were right?

"He's right," Brian said softly. "Those are the right moves."

"Only if one intends to put Michael in a squeeze from the beginning," Robert said. "Continue, Khaat. By all means, do not stop. Keep playing."

"That does appear to be the case," Robert said. "Pardon me for talking about you in front of you, my dear. But, that is precisely my thought on it. The head injury is exactly what is causing that block. Aside from the car accident Lee uncovered for us, I never did find any other evidence of damage to suggest there was any other trauma. And you're right, Steven, it is immensely frustrating for whoever has to struggle with feeling that its all there but is just infernally unreachable. And what little they do remember feels like just a terrible tease."

"Did you not tell me that you would rather either remember it all or none of it?" Brian asked her. She sighed and nodded.

"You are remembering entirely ahead of schedule for your head injury," her father said. "I understand its frustrating, but it is more than a small bit hopeful. It looks to me like you may well make a full recovery far ahead of my initial estimates."