Her flat tone made it impossible to tell whether or not she cared. But she had to, right? Even if only for the sake of a healer’s ego. At any rate, ...whatever healing Yoled required happened to be beyond anything that anyone at the manor could produce. Visible, physical injuries were easy compared to unseen ailments of the mind. And, as time went on, it became increasingly definite that this was what afflicted the flit. Breakfast passed slowly and alone. Iyda had her friends from her dorm to keep. Wallace had also come from money, so being rich (a word he hated), was perfectly natural to him. Apart from the mansion that he lived in, Wallace also had three other beautiful homes. Two of them were on the coast, and the third in the mountains. All three those homes were also palatial and furnished magnificently. In short, one would say that Wallace had it all… except for real happiness.Wallace wasn’t depressive in any way, but there always seemed to be a void in his life. Twenty-two years. "Isn't that a little ... unethical? I mean, what would happen if you'd been wrong?"Betty turned her hands palms up, cocking her head. "Then they'd both have died. As I said, it was a risk, but it was based on sound scientific principles. I discussed it at some length with Tom and David back home, and they based it on what they and Monique discovered in the field. Everyone was convinced it would work, but ... it was untested. Unfortunately, if my decision was a mistake, we could never develop a. My arm slid over and bounced off of her left breast. She was closer than I imagined.In the shock of the collision, I stopped swimming and turned toward her and apologized for smashing into her. She replied it was OK and it was more her fault than mine. Anyway, I had enough doing laps for a while and as we were at the shallow end of the pool, I stood up, glided over to the steps in the corner of the pool and sat down on the first step that was just about even with the top of the pool water.Ever.