[ alina doesn't argue. there's no sense in wasting time going back and forth, so she gets some shampoo and digs it stubbornly into her roots, then sticks her head under. she won't be able to do the full length of her hair, but at least she can target the worst parts. sudsy water drains down through the rest of it. ]

The mark. I have one, too. I went to the aid station, to one of the healers, but nothing he tried got rid of it. [ she rights her head, wringing out her hair just as the shower tap shuts off. water splatters on the steel floor around her feet. ] What do you think it is?