[Lycka follows fast at Paul's back, close in case she needs to push or drag him through. He manages, and they emerge together with Paul's waking.

L's fingers curl; he realizes he was holding his breath, and releases the small amount of air his lungs were holding. He'd felt that moment of suspension, too, and while he'd believed that Paul would come back, would have bet on those odds, he also knows that it could have gone very badly if even one small part of this had been out of alignment.

The plan was sound; the language was sound, his skills were sound. This is something to be celebrated, on those merits alone.

What it all means might be a different matter.]

Yes; I'm sound and stable. It "felt...?"

[If their success this time was due to being over-prepared, he doesn't want to be underprepared when the event all this foretells actually comes to pass.

His palm is closed on his own memento of the sensation he'd had access to: a perfectly round burn blister.]

If this portends your exposure to a venomous neurotoxin, something can be done to guard against it, surely.