Cloud: waking up and being soothed back to sleep.
WARNINGS for injury and the aftermath of violence. This piece is set after the Battle of Rhalgr’s Reach and references my FFXIV Write 2019 prompt response “Fatigue.”
It was the pain that woke her, lancing and throbbing along the entire length of her left side. A wheezing sound, low and raspy, escaped Alakhai as she opened her eyes; every breath hurt as her chest rose and fell slowly. She felt heavy, both from the poppy milk that had definitely worn off as she slept and the casts encasing her left leg from mid-thigh to shin and her left arm from clavicle to wrist. She was propped upright in the cot by a multitude of pillows, to keep from putting pressure on her cracked ribs, and yet more pillows had been shoved under her left arm to keep the weight of the cast from pulling her shoulder back out of its socket.
Getting her ass kicked sucked.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Synnove, dead asleep, stripped down to smalls, her torso from just under her breasts to her hips wrapped in thick cotton bandages. A gusting breath of relief still escaped Alakhai: Tyr was draped over the hyur’s blanketed legs, dozing, and Ivar had curled himself into the spot between Synnove’s shoulder and chin.
Carbuncles meant her aether had stabilized, thanks any gods that were listening. One less thing to worry about. Now, where was Galette? The carbuncles always re-manifested in order, and if there were two carbuncles about, the third had to be somewhere nearby.
Alakhai felt the a small weight settle on the very edge of her cot’s mattress, and heard a very small, soft meow.
The Xaela carefully tilted her head down, mindful of the plasters keeping her horn from further cracking, and met Galette’s gaze. “Hello, little zephyr,” she whispered.
Galette’s ears twitched and she chirped. Hi, Aunt Ala. May I come up?
The emerald carbuncle carefully pulled herself up onto the cot, doing her very best to keep from jarring Alakhai or any of her pillows. She very carefully stepped over Alakhai’s legs to her right side, then curled up in the space next to the xaela’s hip. Alakhai carefully pet her, sighing quietly and closing her eyes once more.
Galette set her chin on Alakhai’s thigh and began to purr, the sound reminiscent of crystal windchimes tinkling in a soft La Noscea breeze. It settled in her bones, and gods all bless carbuncles, began to alleviate some of her pain. With another sigh, this one relieved, Alakhai let herself drift back to sleep.