From Surgipelago, the Beach Surgery encyclopedia
Leather Enough for One More
Inside a cabin in the red interior, Leif welds the rocket cart from rust and broken machinery, his fingers shaking. Katita sits at a leather-worker's bench, stitching armour—breastplate, greaves, vambraces—in absolute silence. The leather is rich, weathered, cut and re-cut. Katita: “This will protect you.” Leif: “From what?” She does not answer. When she finishes, Leif notices: there is leather left over. Piles of it. Enough for dozens more suits. Katita: “Enough for seven loops. Enough for more. Enough for all of them.” Leif understands then—not for the first time, but truly—that this cabin has been prepared before. That Katita has been here before, stitching the same armour, burning the same heat into the pipe-blade, waiting for him to ask the same question. The rocket cart hums. Leif puts on the armour.