XV

Yongsun tries not to settle into the life of being a ‘doctor’ but she already knows where all the equipment is, knows how to place steel onto skin, how to bandage, how to design prosthetic limbs, how to improve upon things.

I have been cursed, Yongsun acknowledges with sadness as she uses a small electric lighter on the arm of a soldier to make it possible to wrap a sheet of steel around the wound. He winces but puts on a brave face, shifting slightly on the cot causing Yongsun’s fingertips to bump his skin. She instantly retracts, dropping the lighter.

«Doctor?» The soldier asks. Yongsun looks at her fingertips, watching as they twitch from the contact, she has forgotten how it feels to touch or be touched. She has been without physical contact, having gotten used to wearing surgical gloves most of the time.

Yongsun shakes her head, looks down at the wound and then to the sheet of steel on the tray beside her. «Engineer,» she bites out. The soldier recoils, knowing he has accidentally crossed a fragile line. Yongsun’s stern expression falters as a long-forgotten feeling tugs at her chest, leaving her terrified.