More Frustration for Fred and Astra

As soon as Fred attempted to write, he found that he had greatly reduced control of his right arm. He could manage only an illegible scrawl, punctuated with holes in the parchment where the nib had punched through it and decorated with ink blots. A child of six could have done better.

Eventually he dropped the quill in frustration, and his motor control immediately returned. "This is hopeless," he said. "Like it or not, you're going to have to risk coming close enough to read it again and memorise it. The hands didn't attack me when I approached, so if you don't actually touch the tile I don't see why you should fare any differently."

1. Astra reluctantly agreed to do this.
2. Astra flatly refused. "It's going to take a week or more for my bruises to vanish where the hands grabbed me," she pointed out. "I don't want any more."
3. Astra said: "I think I know why I couldn't remember all of it the first time. If it interfered with your arm, why shouldn't it also interfere with my memory?"

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