His expressions worried her. The blindness was eating away at him, just as would have eaten away at her, if she was so unlucky. He needed something to hold onto.
She knelt in front of the stool so that their heads were more or less level. It wasn't the most comfortable position for her, but she'd been in worse. She took his hand - the hand not petting the kitten, and brought it to her face.
"I know you can't see me, but if you keep your hand here you should be able to get an idea of my expressions. We can work out something more permanent later."
She took her hand away and used it to count off a list.
"Now, I wouldn't be so quick to assume you know the reason for your blindness. It strikes me that there are three possibilities. The first, as you seem to be implying, is that your use of power overloaded your body in some way, permanently taking away your power. I consider that the least likely. There's no obvious medical reason for your blindness, though I suppose there could be a severed nerve in your brain. Still, it's a stretch. The second possibility is that what you were trying to do took too much power. Your body compensated by draining power from a source, in this case your eyes. If the second possibility is correct, then your eyes will recover at some point in the future, relative to how much power you've used." She frowned sharply and then continued. "The third possibility is more complicated. None of the superhuman beings I've met here have had access to all their power, where as I am just as strong as I was in Romdeau. I've thought for a while that this suggests a limiter imposed on powers. If what you've said about souls is right, it was probably imposed on us when we were brought here. It would make sense, because if the world is gathering souls from many different universes, it has to equalise the field somehow. In this scenario, there would be a punishment for anyone who tried to step outside the boundary of the limiter. Removing eyesight is one of the most effective punishments, too. I'm not sure yet how they would impose this on you, but the advantage is that they probably wouldn't do it for too long. If I'm right, this blindness should wear off in a fortnight or so."
She stopped speaking and looked at him to make sure he had followed her.
no subject
She knelt in front of the stool so that their heads were more or less level. It wasn't the most comfortable position for her, but she'd been in worse. She took his hand - the hand not petting the kitten, and brought it to her face.
"I know you can't see me, but if you keep your hand here you should be able to get an idea of my expressions. We can work out something more permanent later."
She took her hand away and used it to count off a list.
"Now, I wouldn't be so quick to assume you know the reason for your blindness. It strikes me that there are three possibilities. The first, as you seem to be implying, is that your use of power overloaded your body in some way, permanently taking away your power. I consider that the least likely. There's no obvious medical reason for your blindness, though I suppose there could be a severed nerve in your brain. Still, it's a stretch. The second possibility is that what you were trying to do took too much power. Your body compensated by draining power from a source, in this case your eyes. If the second possibility is correct, then your eyes will recover at some point in the future, relative to how much power you've used." She frowned sharply and then continued. "The third possibility is more complicated. None of the superhuman beings I've met here have had access to all their power, where as I am just as strong as I was in Romdeau. I've thought for a while that this suggests a limiter imposed on powers. If what you've said about souls is right, it was probably imposed on us when we were brought here. It would make sense, because if the world is gathering souls from many different universes, it has to equalise the field somehow. In this scenario, there would be a punishment for anyone who tried to step outside the boundary of the limiter. Removing eyesight is one of the most effective punishments, too. I'm not sure yet how they would impose this on you, but the advantage is that they probably wouldn't do it for too long. If I'm right, this blindness should wear off in a fortnight or so."
She stopped speaking and looked at him to make sure he had followed her.