Swamped

You can't think of much, save what's going on behind the curtain.

"Have you done this much before?"

"Few times. Not often, but it's pretty memorable. First time, I made the mistake of peeking in the chamberpot afterwards. And I'm told it looks even worse if you still got depth perception." She points to her eyepatch. "So you definitely don't want to be seeing it for yourself. Especially not takin' the stuff, I'd bet."

Well, now that she's pointing right at it, you really have a hard time keeping your mind off the subject.

"May I ask what happened to your eye? Or is that too sensitive?"

"Got in a fight. Turned nasty." Her tone suggests she doesn't feel like elaborating, but more out of tedium than secrecy.

Well, you feel like taking a small risk.

"Who were you fighting?"

"Mr. Flame's regained consciousness, and he's asking to talk to the older gentleman," the nurse suddenly says, stepping out from behind the curtain. "I'm not sure how he knew you're here, though."

You suspect Nual had something to do with that.

"You done with the wine?" Patterson asks as you walk behind the curtain.

"There aren't any further complications so far, but we're still observing him."

"I'll stick around until you're sure, then. Got to get it back to the cellar."

You keep an ear open, but you doubt they'll discuss anything of note. So you turn your attention to the doctor and Leonard Flame.

"Would you excuse us, Doctor?" Flame asks. He seems a bit more lucid than when you last talked to him.

"I really need to keep an eye on you..."

"I'm sure John here will be happy to call for help if I collapse or something," he says. "And if you could keep people away from the curtain while we're talking, that would be greatly appreciated."

The doctor walks off, and you realize that Flame here knows your name. But then, you think you've got a fairly good sense for why.

"You're a priest," you say calmly.

"Not in the sense of working for any church, but yes. I feel what Brume feels. And now he is speaking to me. And he says something I find quite worrying."