The heavy silence of the hospital room was broken only by the rhythmic, mechanical sigh of the ventilator. Serena Ashford and Patricia Hartwell sat in the dim light, the steam from their watery porridge rising in thin, pathetic wisps. They had both reached a point of exhaustion where words were no longer necessary. They prepared to finish their meager meal, their hearts hardened against the impossible promises Derek Faulkner had made before he vanished into the hallway.
To them, the "Restoration Banquet" and the "Grand Healer’s Invitation" were nothing more than the desperate fever dreams of a man who couldn't face his own failure.
However, neither woman had noticed that the earlier confrontation had roused the small figure on the bed. Lemon Faulkner had been drifting in a shallow, medic
