He wakes on his back.
His first breath is full — both lungs, full capacity, no resistance in the chest. His right arm responds immediately when he flexes the hand. His left arm the same. The weakness is completely gone, replaced by something that is not merely the absence of weakness but a presence of something he hasn't had a word for until this moment: wholeness. The specific physical wholeness of a body that has resolved an internal inconsistency it was not aware of carrying.
He sits up and looks at where he is.
