She gently nodded to the first bit and gave him a reassuring smile. Yeah, she understood. You take away one arm and it's gotta be tough, you take away this arm, hell...who knows what would happen. It was too strange a metal, she thought, to be normal. She didn't want him separated with it for too long anyway.

"Mm," Merlan said softly, "If I do need to work on it longer than usual, yes, I'd want to have you around so, agreed. Lots of coffee, lots of conversation."