Kael set a clean cloth beside Ash and asked him to sit. Ash looked as if he might argue with the stool, which Dove considered an ambitious use of everyone’s time.
"The pipe won," she told him. "You can stop trying to intimidate the furniture."
He sat. Kael examined the raw patch while Dove stayed on her bench, watching the healer’s face rather than deciding she knew what the injury needed.
The burn was small enough that Ash had hidden it under his sleeve. That did not make the skin look comfortable. Dove remembered the water closing her scraped palm, then remembered how quickly he had wanted to know where it came from.
She could keep quiet. Kael had ordinary supplies, and Ash would receive care whether she offered anything or not. For once, someone else’s injury did not automatically become her job.
"Would you want to try the sample?" she asked Kael. "On part of it, if he agrees."
Both men looked at her. She disliked the sudden attention enough to add, "It’s a question, not an announcement that I’m opening a hospital."
Kael explained that the earlier tests did not tell them what would happen to a burn. He would still care for the injury normally, and they could stop if using the sample made it worse. Ash agreed after hearing him out.
Dove asked for privacy behind the screen to collect the bottle from her things. Kael left her space and kept the gap clear while she sat, closed her eyes, and entered the system room. Her body remained on the bench outside. She counted that risk before reaching for the labeled sample on its shelf.
She returned with it in her hand, tucked the blanket around her knees, and called Kael back. Ash remained on the stool beyond the screen. Nobody had gained permission to search her belongings because she had offered help.
Kael checked the bottle’s mark and asked Dove to pour the small amount he indicated. She kept the rest capped while he used the water on the edge of the injured patch.
Ash’s fingers relaxed against his knee. Dove noticed because he had held them still so deliberately while Kael examined him. Some redness eased at the treated edge, but the whole injury did not vanish.
"Does it feel different?" Kael asked.
"Less sharp there," Ash said. "Not gone."
They waited. Dove found herself counting breaths, impatient for an answer and wary of wanting the water to do more simply because both men were watching it.
Kael treated the remaining area with his regular supplies. He wrote down what had changed and what had not, then asked Ash to return if the pain increased or the skin changed. The sample stayed in Dove’s hand rather than going onto a clinic shelf.
"We aren’t calling this a cure for burns," she said.
"We aren’t," Kael agreed.
Ash watched her recap the bottle. "You didn’t have to offer that."
"I know. That’s why it was an offer."
He held her gaze long enough that she became aware of the warmth in her own face. There was nothing gentle about his eyes, but there was attention in them she had not invited and did not entirely dislike.
She looked at his bandage instead. Beautiful men had caused enough problems in her life this week. She was not adding eye contact to the list of things she needed a waiver for.
When he left to check the repair, Dove asked Sprout for the balance. Five coins from his relief brought it to eighteen. With the three from his irritation that morning, the day’s Favor Coin target was complete. The hot-drinks shelf unlocked, showing the six-coin coffee sachet.
"Congratulations," Sprout said. "Your interpersonal engagement has expanded your purchasing options."
"I helped with a burn. Don’t make it sound like I flirted at a barbecue."
She left the coffee unbought until she could drink it in her own stall. She recorded the limited water result and stored the sample behind the closed screen.
Kael brought her a meal when the kitchen delivered to the clinic. She accepted it without offering soap in return. Food was part of the care she was already entitled to here. She did not have to make every bowl into a test of whether she deserved to stay.
"Ash will want another conversation about supply," she said.
"Probably. I want one too, when you want to have it."
She appreciated the honesty more than a promise that nobody would ever ask her for anything. "And if I say not today?"
"Then I use what I have today."
While she ate, Thorne appeared at the clinic entrance with a clean mat tucked under his arm. Kael went to him, keeping their conversation low. Dove could still hear it.
"Household stores issued it," Thorne said. "For her shelf."
"Then why did you bring it to the clinic?"
The panther looked past him at Dove. "I wanted her to know they had one."
Kael stood aside just enough for her to see it. She thanked Thorne, who nodded and carried it back toward the hall without coming closer. Kael watched him leave with an expression she could not read.
"Does he usually deliver bedding?" she asked.
"He usually tells people where to collect it."
By late afternoon, the heating repair had held through its first check. Ash returned to tell her the maintenance men wanted one more check before replacing the shelf. Dove went with him to see for herself, carrying the mug and bowl while Kael carried her dry blanket to the hall entrance before returning to his patients.
Dove watched the final check before the shelf went back. The recess smelled damp and clean, and the pipe joint stayed dry. Her shelf had a new brace, her mat had been replaced, and the gate waited in the salvage keeper’s hands. The ruined blanket and wet mat had gone to household drying, with the keeper recording them against her name.
"Will I be charged for the repair?" she asked Ash.
"The heating line belongs to the Warren. So does keeping its residents housed."
"Even difficult residents with suspicious soap?"
"Especially when they report a fault before it fails."
It was not an apology for anything else. Dove let it be one useful answer without forcing it to carry more.
The keeper refitted the gate using the same screws, checked the hinge cover, and let her close it herself. Dove put the dry tarp back on its two pins, then set the mug on the counter. Standing behind it again, she felt a ridiculous urge to greet the shelf like an old coworker.
Ash waited outside the gate until the keeper left. "I will come tomorrow with Kael," he said. "You can bring your conditions for the water."
Dove touched the latch, then looked up at him. "Good, because the first one has nothing to do with the water."