Infante

“While you were looking after your fellow Lambs at the Hedge, seeing that they got the care they needed, I was busy looking after Mrs. Pardoe.  All four of my doctors worked on her.  One worked on her brain.  She’ll experience time in a very different way from now on.”

It dawned on me.  “With utmost respect, my lord, I’m assuming she won’t think you were gone for a few minutes?”

“She won’t feel as if I was gone for a few minutes, no.  In terms of raw thinking ability, I’m sure she’ll be able to rationalize it and logically work out that time is passing normally.  But she’ll think faster in some ways and slower in others.  Perhaps she’ll feel as if it has been days.  Weeks, more likely?”

He made it a question  One of his doctors gave him a nod, and a murmured, “M’lord.”

“Months aren’t out of the question?”

“No, my lord.  Not out of the question,” the Doctor said, quiet.  “Without patience or pacing, years or decades aren’t out of the question either.  It depends on her coping mechanisms.  If she tries to keep count of passing seconds and minutes, it will seem more pronounced.  The watched pot, in this case, never boils.”

> > [...]

The Duke smiled.  “It was.  I do suppose I’ve had the advantage of it being the case from birth, something I’ve learned to harness, while our guest is experiencing it new, not a shift from a walk to a canter, or vice versa, but to a different vehicle altogether.  Even I wouldn’t enjoy the deprivation of sensation she’s experiencing now.  Doing nothing with my time is an alien idea to me, and wouldn’t have been permitted regardless.  I wouldn’t say I think faster, but I can devote exactly the right amount of time to a problem as is needed.  Brains are so fascinating, aren’t they?”

https://twigserial.wordpress.com/2015/10/13/lamb-to-the-slaughter-6-13/