“And you are NOT to exert yourself unless you are EXPRESSLY told to do so!” Olahr yells at you and Erden, who have been neatly tucked into your respective twin-sized mattresses. “Your injuries may not seem severe, but Eorzea’s finest researchers would struggle to come up with more relevant wounds for both of you.” He turns to you and then to Erden. “Light poisoning for a mage who only uses light spells, and a slit wrist for a knight who uses a sword that weighs more than I do.

“It’s already hard enough getting Phekda to sit around and do nothing,” He holds his temples. “So I beg of you, just sit here, and do no more than read a book or get up for water!”

“I get why Anah’to needs to be careful, but you already healed my wrist.” Erden protests.

“The surrounding tissue is still weak.” Olahr explains. “So don’t put any unnecessary strain on it until you’ve gotten a good night’s rest.” He grabbed the door handle and began to walk out of the room. “Got it?”

“Yes, sir.” He said with a salute. You quietly nod yes. Olahr glares at Erden but leaves anyway.

“Guess we should hit the hay, it's already pretty late.” He says to you, getting up and dimming the lights one by one. “I can leave our bedside candle on if you want to stay up a bit longer.”

“...” You tuck your legs into your chest and sit still. “You saved my life today, you know.”

“Yeah, but you’ve saved my life before too.” He shrugs. “In more ways than one, really.”

“It all felt so fast for me.” You look down at the bed. “One moment I’m fine, then unconscious, and then I’m awake and okay again. I didn’t even have much time before we were back here, and you and my mom had to go…”

Erden snuffs out the second to last candle and turns to face you. The dim flame barely illuminates the bottom of your cheek, fighting against the darkness that envelopes your eyes.

“But then…” Your voice grows shaky. “I had to stay here to rest, and you got into a fight. If you had gotten really badly hurt, I wouldn’t have even known.” You bury your face in your hands. “I-I wouldn’t have been able to help you…”

“Woah, woah!” He quickly moves to your side. You try to stop yourself from crying, but you’re not very good at it. “Don’t worry so much about…I mean, it’s very sweet of you, but--” He hugs you. “I…I’m sorry for making you worry about me. I should’ve taken more time to make sure you were okay before I left.”

“You shouldn’t have to do that.” You wipe your eyes. “I’m just being emotional…E-Everything worked out!” He reaches out to pull you closer, but you shy away. “...S-sorry…for being like this.”

“...” Erden clenched his jaw. “Don’t…Don’t SAY that!” He raised his voice, startling you. “Don’t you ever apologize for telling me how you’re feeling!”

“U-um…” You stammer.

“I need you to promise me.” He holds your wrists and your gaze gently but firm. “When something is bothering you like this, you’ll tell me every time, and you’ll do it without feeling like you’re doing something wrong!”

“But-”

“Promise!”

“Okay, okay!” You cave. “I promise, alright?”

“Good.”

“...I’m s…” You clear your throat. “Thank you, for being here for me.” His serious expression melts into a gentle smile.

“It’s not a problem at all.” He brings you in for a hug, and you rest there for a moment. The warmth of his chest soothes your heart, filling you with a vibrancy and hope that wasn’t there before.

“Hahh…” You slowly steady your breathing. You both wait a while before he finally says something.

“All good?” He asks.

“Yeah. I am now.” He starts to move away from you, but you don’t let go of his hand. Still feeling your grip, he turns back to you, and you finally work up the nerve to look him in the eyes.

“Would…Would it be alright if I slept with you tonight?” He looks down at you, agape. “I MEAN, like, just slept in the same bed! As you!” You let out a heavy sigh. “Ugghnh….”

“Um.” He looks back over to his bed. “Yeah, yeah of course. Just give me a minute…” He takes all of the pillows from both of your beds and begins to assemble a complex pillow structure to accommodate his horns. When he’s done, he is able to comfortably sleep on his side with enough space for you to lay down in front of him. “All set.”

He gets under the covers and holds the blankets up for you to hop in. He has set up the pillows to let you rest against his chest, far enough away from his horns that you don’t need to worry about moving around. Everything feels cozy, perfectly locked into place, and once you’ve gotten settled he wraps his arm around your stomach and holds you tight.

You have never felt safer or more cherished than in these moments. A warmth washes over you, and every breath you take anchors you to the here and now. You feel secure to sleep, and certainly exhausted enough, but still you fight it. You fight it for as long as-

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?” He nests his mouth on the back of your head.

“...” You keep your eyes on the candle just in front of you. You pretend to be a writer, but you’ve never been much for words. “I don’t know.”

“You can just sleep, if you’d rather.” He tightens his grip on you, but it still doesn’t hurt. You just feel stable. The flame dances in front of you. You think, if you reached out, you could probably snuff it without disturbing Erden. After a bit of idling, you go for it, but it's farther than you realized.

“Hm?” He loosens up on you, but you still can’t quite grab the candle without getting up; it’s closer to your bed after all. “Oh.” He reaches past you and pinches the flame. You didn’t realize how chilly it was until you spent a few seconds out from under the blankets, but he helps you heat back up again once you’re both under the covers again.

There are no windows in your room for any light to sneak its way through. The dark has eaten away at your chambers, but Erden holds you all the same.

“...I…” You pause to center yourself. “I’ve been afraid of falling asleep again.” You admit. “The scariest part about today was how hard it was for me to care about…anything, while I was on the brink. I just felt so tired, so lifeless. I don’t…I don’t ever want to feel like that again, no matter what.”

“...I’m so sorry.” He pushes his other arm under you and hugs you. “Nobody should ever have to feel like that.”

“It’s okay, because you know what?” Your eyes practically close themselves-- it’s been a long day. “When I was losing consciousness, I felt so cold. I never would’ve expected it…especially not in The Bowl of Embers. It was nothing like this.” You chuckle, feeling the warmth reaching your cheeks as you hold Erden’s arms. “No, nothing like this.”

“I’ll be there to wake you up, either way.” He kisses the back of your head, giving you a nice romantic thought to drift you to sleep. Breakfast in bed? Something beautiful, and miserably tedious, but he would manage to make it seem easy.

Woken up at the perfect time, you feel revitalized. Erden has made everyone omelets, full of the finest ingredients on the market, and would you believe it? He got it at an incredible discount-- barely even spent a hundred gil! Everyone started clapping and cheering.

“Oh, it was hardly anything at all.” He says with a bashful smile. “How about yours, Anah’to? Is it good?”

“Oh Erden, it’s perfect!” You enjoy every last bite. “Like you…”

“That’s enough of that!” Olahr says firmly with a huff, pushing you two apart. “Anah’to has a lot of work to do starting right now!”

“Oh come on, S’olahr.” Erden crossed his arms. “Hasn’t Anah’to earned a break?”

“...” Olahr looks directly at you. “What has he done to earn a break, exactly?”

“...Huh?” You ask.

“We’ve all been doing our best to fight on the front lines, trailing suspects for clues! You’ve just been sitting around in The Waking Sands doing whatever you please, while Erden, Phekda and I are all out in the field! What have YOU done to earn a break?!” Olahr pushes you to the ground.

“B-but I-! I almost--!” You try to choke out the words.

“What, are you gonna cry?” He grabs you by your collar. “You can’t swing a sword, you haven’t made any progress in your grimoire-- you can’t even cast spells without putting yourself on the brink of death! What exactly are you GOOD FOR?”

-

“Seven hells, what are you two doing?!”

You gasp in shock as you are woken up. Looking up, you see a frustrated Olahr standing at the door. Your hands tremble slightly-- just a dream. It’s okay. Erden groggily sits up and rubs his eyes.

“I specifically say to just sit and rest and you two--!”

“S’olahr, shut up!” Erden yells at him, and shut up he does. “Anah’to nearly died yesterday, alright?! So he doesn’t want to spend the night in bed by himself, and frankly, neither did I! So don’t act like we did anything wrong for caring about one another!”

S’olahr looks nearly angry, but after Erden finishes talking his attention shifts to you, and he mellows out.

“Right, yeah, of course.” He scratches the back of his head. “That makes sense. Sorry for…overreacting, I just wanted to make sure you were resting properly. Phekda and I have been doing this for a while now, so near-death experiences have become…more normal than they should be, really. Are you both well?”

“Yeah, all good.” Erden says. You nod along, and try your best smile.

“...Alright.” S’olahr turns to Erden. “Would you mind helping with breakfast? I have something innovative I want to try.”

“That…sounds a little menacing, but sure, I don’t mind.” He rubs your hair, getting a little laugh out of you. “Guess you get to sleep in, huh?”

“Don’t rest on your laurels for too long!” S’olahr pat his fist against his chest. “After breakfast we have a little bit of training to do. Make sure you’re ready!”

“You got it.” You say, patiently sitting in bed until they both leave the room. Once they’re out of sight, you turn to your nightstand and grab your grimoire. Flipping through its pages, it hasn’t changed since yesterday, or the several weeks before that.

Holy spirit, Rejuvenation, Fluid Aura, Resurrect, and Ward.

Your pile of notes and stray rune patterns has only grown larger with time, but you’ve had no breakthroughs with it. Perhaps now, looking at it with a pair of fresh eyes..? And you mustn’t forget your lodestone that you left with Thubyrgeim, perhaps she has something to say now?

You return to your bed and begin placing pages out in front of you, reviewing the patterns from your mother’s sword. If only you could put together all of them to make every paladin spell you were taught about, then maybe…

“Anah’to?” Olahr calls your name from the room over. “Can you come take a look at this?”

You look up. Another distraction. You just need…

…

Well, there’s always later, right?