"So, what are we seeing you for today?" Doctor Marta sat at her keyboard, ready to take notes. "Well, I think I strained my soul," Ophelia said. "It hurts when I try to learn new things or think about — ow — vegetables."

"Can you rate the pain on a scale of one to ten?"

"Maybe a three? Or a four?"

"How'd this happen?"

"Well, uh, I was helping my friend move furniture, and we tried, uh, working together to make it lighter."

"Okay, lie down on the table." Marta pulled on nitrile gloves with a red-ink pattern on the palm. "Tell me what hurts." She moved her palm over Ophelia's skin. "What were you moving?" she asked.

"Uh, chest of drawers, bed, things like that. My friend, uh, she's moving."

"Mmmm-hmmm. Well, you definitely have some inflammation in the medulla animus. I'm going to send you for an aura reading just to be sure, but it should clear up on its own. I'd like to give you this literature on safe soul-merging—"

Ophelia reddened.

"—and remind you about our free soul shield program. Do you want to take any?" She held out some individually-wrapped soul protection.

Ophelia took three.