Forever Fall

Raftina flopped down on her bed later that evening, closing her eyes. What a day. Part of her thought that she’d never see her mother again… She’d been so worried, and now she was back… It was almost too much to bear. There was so much trauma and healing she needed to do since it had really only been a century for her since her mother had died. She hated the fact that her mother had been killed in the first place… But she was back now so Filgaia would prosper once again. She was pretty sure her mother would work all day, then return to the heavens at night in order to rest. Endolia still had physical limits just like Raftina did because she had a body. However, she blinked when she heard a knock on the door. She rose and let her wings reveal themselves. Her heart clenched in her chest when she saw it was Elaeah. “Lady Raftina, I know you probably had a long day of politics to deal with but…I had a question and you might be the only person that can answer it. Could I have a moment?” Raftina swallowed hard but nodded. “Yes, of course, Elaeah. What is it?” “Why am I suddenly feeling the fact that there are now lush, verdant lands where there were deserts only hours before? And where did you disappear to for a week…? Her Majesty was struggling without you here… I’m on her personal cleaning crew and I saw that she wasreallystruggling without you here.” “We managed to revive my mother. You wouldn’t know her but you would knowofher: Lady Endolia, Filgaia’s creator.” Granted, that young man hadn’t recognised Eveen despite the fact the Elw were obviously still devout and believed in the Guardians. Raftina couldfeelwhen she had more belief. She knew she could do alotmore in the Elw dimension than here on Filgaia just simply because the Elw continued to believe where humans didn’t. Not to mention the complete lack of Tenno now… She wondered how her mother was going to handle that. Humans had been alone so long she wasn’t sure if they would be able to handle suddenly having a bunch more races on the planet… She shuddered to think what would happen when the Elw returned and if her mother recreated the Tenno… But it wouldn’t be the same. The Tenno wouldn’t be the Tenno that Raftina had known and grown up with… Her heart thrummed in her chest, not sure how to handle any of the possibilities. Elaeah blinked. “Wait, you managed to revive her? That’sgreat!At the rate she’s going, Filgaia should be verdant again within just a couple years! The Elw would be able to move back!” She smiled broadly, but it faltered as she looked at Raftina. “You don’t look excited about it.” “There are going to be alotof headaches depending on what my mother does… We’ll need to reinstate Guardian worship somehow, but she needs to reform around eighthundredof the Guardians. Thankfully, I think people seeing their lands suddenly turn from scrubland into verdant prairie and such will go alongway in restoring belief in the Guardians…But humans are unused to sharing Filgaia and I remember what it was like before everyone banded together and really started to tackle prejudice…” She shook her head. The three races had been incredibly separate at one point. Granted, the Tenno had often stuck to themselves by themselves, but it was because they preferred to live up in the sky on floating cities. Humans could live on the floating cities, but Elw always preferred to be on the ground, connected with nature. Elaeah nodded, her ears drooping down a bit. “I guess I never thought of it like that… Yes, the Elw have become tentative about rejoining humans, but a lot of us younger ones are eager to learn about them and rejoin them… It’s been over a millennium, so reintegrating will be hard… Again, I never thought about the logistics…” Raftina patted her head. “It’s okay. You’re young yet. You said you were only three hundred?” Elaeah nodded. “That is a bit young by Elw standards now. By time I was born, around thirty was considered of age for Elw. But as time went on, it grew older and older. It was about 250 when the First Demon War happened. Has that changed at all or?” She shook her head. “If I was still considered a child, the elders wouldn’t have let me make this journey by myself. I was still living at home with my parents when the elders told me there was somebody on Filgaia I might like to meet. I still don’t quite understand why they sent me here.” Raftina knew why. She knewexactlywhy… It was so unfair to Elaeah to expect her to fall in love with Raftina again. She ought to have been renamed and allowed to keep living her life. Have children with somebody she loved. Raftina was unwilling to have children in general, but now that she had gone through a highly traumatic pregnancy and childbirth… She internally shuddered at the idea. “I had a job as a secretary, but it was a pretty entry-level job… It was just at the teleport pads between settlements.” “That was pretty low-level work before the First Demon War,” Raftina agreed. “How long were you working there?” “Oh a good twenty years… Still pretty newbie.” Elaeah looked around and her ears drooped again. “I’m sorry for keeping you, Lady Raftina. I know you’re probably tired after dealing with politics all day. Can you forgive me for keeping you? You’re just…really easy to talk to me for some reason.” She looked up and offered a small smile. Raftina’s heart clenched again as she recognised that smile after many, many years of being with Elaeah. It was theexactsame smile she gave when she was tentative… This wasdefinitelyElaeah. Not that she’d had any doubt before, but it was definitely her old lover. “Of course. Plus, it’s getting late and the cleaning crew usually starts pretty early. I don’t want to keep you up too late.” Raftina put on her best Lady Raftina smile and Elaeah seemed to accept it. “Have a good night, Lady Raftina!” Elaeah headed off, bouncing through the hallways. It was odd to see her so carefree… After their relationship had come to light in the past, she’d been so down and weary. Fighting political battles day in and day out was hard for Elaeah. She was soft and not as resilient as Raftina had been. Raftina had been soft and non confrontational in general, but when it came to those she loved… Nothing could stop her from protecting them. She had become the Blade of Love forverygood reason. The people didn’t even remember that… They knew she was the Guardian of Love but that was about it. She sighed and her shoulders slumped a bit. She still wasn’t sure what to think or make of all of this. The Elw had brokensomany cultural taboos in order to arrange this for her… They shouldn’t have done that, in her opinion… No, she might never find someone to love again especially after Arlan, but…it was what it was. She still hadn’t recovered from everything that had happened with Arlan. It wasn’t that long ago for her even though it had been over a millennium as far as Filgaia was concerned. She heard another rapping on her door and blinked, opening it. Endolia stood there with her hands on her hips. “Are you coming home for the night or not?” “Why would I? I have to be up early to deal with politics…” Endolia shook her head. “The other Guardians told me you haven’t been eating everything you should be. I focused on the land around Adlehyde today so that way the people of the kingdom can better support you. I basically doubled or tripled every farmer’s harvest in the immediate area so that way they could get better food. But the harvest won’t be ready for a while. The heavens havemorethan enough food for you. So either we can do this the easy way or the hard way, Rafti. I can drag you there myself or you can come willingly.” “I need to go to sleep.” “Half an hour for a meal won’t impact youthat much.Now are you going to come quietly or not?” Endolia tapped her foot and Raftina sighed. This definitely was her mother… Not that she’d doubted it, but damn, she hadn’t missed being treated like a child. Even as a full Guardian Lord, her mother still treated her like an obstinate child a lot of the time. “Fine.” She held her hand out to her mother and they immediately appeared in Raftina’s house. Again, it was a quiet little abode, not used for much other than holding her clothes or being a vacation home when Raftina needed true respite. She honestly did need respite from the politics of Adlehyde, but it wasn’t like she could just give that up. Cecilia needed her and she couldn’t just abandon her. “Come on then.” Endolia tugged her hand and took her to the kitchen. As nothing ever spoiled or went bad or degraded in the heavens, the old food she’d had there before the First Demon War still sat on the counters and shelves. Old processed brands that she hadn’t seen in a long time sat on her shelves… High-calorie treats littered the cabinets. She could use those in her daily life, but they wouldn’t be able to be recreated… However, she blinked when she saw another figure there. One she hadn’t seen in a long time. “Geden?” The Guardian of the Home and Kitchen? What wasshedoing here? The anthro macaw twirled a few knives around, grinning widely as she stood there. “Lady Endolia revived me because you need someone to make sure you’re getting enough food. Nobody’s better than me at cooking!” “Well, I certainly can’t argue with that,” Raftina said, sitting down at the table. “I’ve missed your meals ever since you were shattered. Field rations were never the same without your touch.” Even the nastiest field rations could be turned into gourmet meals with Geden’s touch. She sincerely didn’t miss having to deal with bland, flavorless MREs that were high in calories and could sustain her, but they went against the refined palate she had developed over the thousands of years of visiting other planets. ShemissedGeden and her meals so much. “You seem to be doing relatively well, considering how my mother woke up…” “Oh it was pretty nasty realising what had happened to Filgaia after my death. Not gonna even deny it. But once she told me about the shape you’re in…” Geden shook her head. “Nope. Nuh-uh, not gonna let you keep starving yourself. It’ll take time for the harvests on Filgaia to come in, but we have infinite food here in the heavens. I’mnotgonna allow you to keep starving yourself.Whycan’t you take just thirty minutes to come back and cook for yourself?” Raftina sighed. “You know how I get.” That was her only response. The other Guardiansallknew how she handled stress. Basically just buckle down, accept it, and go all in on what she was doing. She just didn’t want to make the Filgaians feel like they had to provide for her… She was the first Guardian most of them had seen… It was rough to have to deal with the fact that most of them couldn’t even recognise a Guardian anymore… Well. None of them aside from Cecilia who was the Innocent One. “Unfortunately. Either you come up here for three squares a day or Lady Endolia or I drag you up here ourselves. We can do it the easy way or the hard way. Hmph.” Geden folded her wings and Raftina sighed. It wasn’t often the other Guardians tag teamed her like this… They usually just let her do what she would. But even she could admit she was in a terrible way… She was maybe eighty to ninety pounds compared to the one twenty, one thirty she ought to have been. And with her needing a bare minimum of fifteen thousand calories per day, it was impossible to put on weight with only a couple thousand. She was in amassivecaloric deficit daily. “Fine…” She just didn’t feel like arguing with her mother or the other Guardians. Today had been aroughday and she still felt horrible for seeing her mother so distressed. But she was still a creator and a Guardian, so she knew what she needed to do. Raftina was like her mother in more ways than one… But Endolia usually listened to others whereas Raftina would be obstinate and not listen toanybodyeven if her life depended on it. “I really missed your meals.” “Glad to hear it! I’ll have something whipped up as soon as possible! Relax and read a book or something while you wait.” Geden smiled and started rummaging through the pantry, fridge, and everything else. She was pretty sure she even had eggs from before the First Demon War. But that didn’t really matter. She got up and went to her room, tempted to just lay down until then. She at least hadn’t taken her meds yet, considering they were still up here in the heavens… She would’ve struggled to sleep that night without them. She had just forgotten them in the rush to get Endolia back to Filgaia and then get back to Adlehyde to help Cecilia deal with the advisors. Even a few days without Raftina was more than enough to get them to start making moves and circling like vultures… Guh. She looked over her old book collection of favorite books. She had a few bookshelves in her room, but she also had a library in one of the other rooms. She wasn’t really sure what to choose… A lot of them were trashy romance novels with terribly written smut. They were for when she felt especially alone. Yes, they were terribly written but they provided her an ideal of love that she had never been able to obtain… Her relationship with Elaeah had been fraught with difficulty and wasn’t just sweet, gentle and harmonious. That was probably another reason she was so tentative about taking her on again… While she remembered the good times, she could also remember the bad ones as well. She wasn’t keen to go through those bad times again… Elaeah had almost left her over the issues with her dealing with politics too much and, well, she was embroiled in politics again. She just wasn’t sure what to do. She went to the library and wandered through the various sections, hopingsomethingwould catch her eye. However, it all reminded her of the old Filgaia, pre-War Filgaia… The vibrant, verdant world her mother had created with multiple cultures, multiple races, and just a generally happy place. She had entire sections dedicated to Tenno and Elw books on every end of the spectrum. Fiction, non-fiction, biographies, autobiographies, romance novels, fantasy, speculative fiction, and so much more. She missed her race… She missed her race so much. All she could do was withdraw from the library and settle back at the kitchen table, listening as Geden hummed as she so usually did when cooking. However, the noise quieted when Geden looked over. “What’s the matter?” “The books remind me too much of the planet pre-War.” That was all she could manage to get out before putting her head down on the table on top of her arms. She felt a few tears trickle down her cheeks and drop on the table. She hated it. She hated what Filgaia had become. She hadn’t had any real time to mourn. She had just been sent straight back into the Second Demon War, then into Adlehyde’s nasty political situation. She hadn’t been allowed any time to mourn or heal fromanything.It was just as life always had been: moving from one issue to the next. No time for rest. No time for relaxation. Just go, go,go. “Raftina… You’re mortal. You have limits that the rest of us Guardians don’t have. Well, you’re immortal but… You get what I’m saying, right? You have a body. You can’t keep going 24/7. You haven’t been allowed any time to rest since you were reawakened. And I’m guessing your reawakening wasn’t even really a rest either?” Raftina shook her head. “It was a stasis more or less. I was frozen in time.” She didn’t want to talk about it too much… It hurt too much to think of it. “I half awakened for a short time because the reincarnation of my daughter was alive in Arctica… But that’s hazy and I don’t remember too much of it.” She heard Geden clack her beak. “Maybe we should have Lady Endolia bring Hoshino back.” Raftina blinked and sat up. “The Guardian of Politics and Mediation?” Geden nodded. “The exact same.Youclearly need a break. And Iknowthat work is your life. You’re a workaholic. But thatclearlyisn’t working for you right now. You need time to rest, recover, and heal from the Demon War—” “Wars,”Raftina corrected. She hadn’t really filled her mother in on all the details because there was justso much to deal with. “…Wars, then. You’re barely holding yourself together. And Endolia told me Elaeah was back?” Raftina sighed. “I still don’t know what to do about that. The Elw broke a bunch of cultural taboos when they set this up…and it startedcenturiesago.” She shook her head. She just…really wasn’t sure. “She’s not the same Elaeah I knew and I’m not the same Raftina she knew.” It probably wouldn’t work out. There was no point in trying in her mind. It would most likely just fall apart in shambles. And she’d traumatise this newer, brighter, healthier Elaeah. She didn’t want to do that to her beloved former partner… Why, why should she put her through a boatload of trauma just to revive a relationship that might not work out? It didn’t make any sense in her mind. Geden put the pan on the counter and put her hands on her hips. “Raftina, listen, and listenclosely.What is the thingyouhave wanted most in life?” Raftina groaned. She hadn’t signed up for this. She didn’t need to be lecturedagain.The Elw elders had given herenoughof that to last for a while. She was pretty sure she already knew the answer, but she didn’t really want to pull it out. She knew what her heart wanted, but she didn’t want to put herself through it. And the heartbreak if itdidn’twork out again… “I don’t want to answer that.” “Stop hiding from yourself andadmityou just want her back.” “But it’s notfairto her! The Elw broke atonof cultural taboos to set this up! You shouldknowthat they shouldn’t have done this!” “Raftina, they did it so you could be happy again is my guess.Don’tthrow this away. You’restillhurting from Elaeah’s death, right?” Raftina looked down at the table. “Exactly. You have the chance to restart. Justgive it a chanceif nothing else. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. I know that would leave you heartbroken, butyou’retaking awayherright to choose if you don’t eventry.Don’t youwanther back?” Raftina bowed her head even further. “I know it’s what my heart wants, but my head says—” “That’s your problem, Raftina; you’re a goddess of love yet you rely more on your head than your heart.Stop thinking and let yourself feel for once.” Geden’s voice was soft and she walked over, laying a winged hand on Raftina’s shoulder. Raftina knew the answer. Her heart wanted nothing more than to have Elaeah back. She’d longed and longed andlongedfor millennia because nobody could be better suited for Raftina despite their difficulties. Elaeah had been just as stubborn and obstinate as Raftina had been in a lot of ways. She needed to be in order to be with Raftina. But that stubbornness had also caused problems… “I know it won’t be all good times either. Elaeah and I had alotof issues…” That was an understatement. Because of Raftina’s work and stubbornness, Elaeah had almost left her multiple times. Raftina was not the best partner. She would be the first to admit it herself. It was one reason she’d locked down her own heart for so long. She didn’t want to subject anybody else to the pain of spending long days with her being gone, only to come back in the middle of the night and fall asleep. She was a workaholic to the point of ignoring her own needs, let alone the needs of somebody else. “Well, you’re aware of those issues so you can work on them, right?” Geden rubbed her shoulder. “I only becamemoreof a workaholic following Elaeah’s death.” It was how she pushed the pain down. She numbed herself through long working hours and barely sleeping. It was one of the few topics she’d refused to touch in therapy when therapy had been athingon Filgaia. She just… It hurt too much and she knew she’d be thrown back into grief if she started talking about it regularly. So she’d simply opted to never talk about it and buried it deep within her heart and mind. Now it was coming back to bite her in the ass. “Raftina, that’s achoice.You canchooseto spend hours with her or you can choose to work yourself half to death. We can have Lady Endolia bring Hoshino back and deal with Adlehyde’s issues in your stead.” Raftina frowned. “But Cecilia won’ttrustHoshino. I’m someone she trusts deeply and to betray that would—” “Now you’re just making excuses and running away. Am I right?” Raftina sighed, her head still bowed. Yeah. She was making excuses for certain. It was just hard to give up everything she had built. It was hard to let go of the old mindsets. They were incredibly self-destructive and she hadn’t taken a break in millennia. She hadn’t taken a break since the months following Elaeah’s death because Filgaia had been in absoluteshamblesby time she’d returned. Filgaia couldn’t exist without her… But now… She was just sticking to her old mindsets and habits. The self-destructive ones. And self-destructive or reckless behavior was averyclear indicator of PTSD. Which shedefinitelyhad. Geden squeezed her shoulder. “You need to let yourself heal for once, Raftina. You’re great at politics, nobody can deny that, but when it’s to the point you’re absolutelykillingyourself… This is a new Filgaia. Please let yourself rest and heal. The humans have been without you this long; I think they can manage. The Guardians will come back and you don’t have to do everything by yourself anymore.” “It’s just sohardto let go…” “Do it not just for yourself, but those that worry about you, Raftina. This Cecilia girl, she probably worries about you a lot, right? Is there anybody else living that would worry about you?” “Garret and Elimna. Elimna is the reincarnation of my daughter, Lumina.” “Wait,youhad a kid?!” Geden shook her head. “Not the point right now. How do you think those three would feel if youdidkill yourself? If they couldn’t fall back on you anymore for guidance?” Raftina sighed. She knew. She knew how important it was, but it was justso hardto let go. She only felt like she had control of her life if she scheduled every single waking moment. To not have a consistent schedule and be doing things all the time… It felt sowrong.“Go and enjoy the fruits of the return of Filgaia. Go travel with your girl or at least spend time with her. Just dosomethingthat isn’tliterallykilling you.” “I’ll try…” She wished she could let go so easily, but it was so difficult. She hated having to deal with this… The other Guardians were dogpiling her and trying to force her to slow down. That usually didn’t work but in this case… Even she wasn’t so blind. She knew she needed to rest and recuperate because she hadn’t healed from the First Demon War, let alone the Second. She needed to rest her mind, body, and soul. She was honestly so weary from everything… But she knew if she stopped, she’d just utterlycollapse.She didn’t want to do that… “I’m just going tocollapsethe second I rest.” “Good. You’ve been holding everything together too long.” Geden looked over to the side for a moment. “Lady Endolia!” It took only a moment for Endolia to appear. “What is it, Geden?” “I think Hoshino should be the next Guardian you revive. Raftina still needs to recover from the Demon Wars. Do you think you can do that?” “Give me a few hours and I’ll have it done.” Endolia smiled then disappeared. Raftina’s shoulders sagged. She would have to give up the Aldehyde politics… She knew that she’d just utterly collapse once given a chance to rest. She hated it, but she knew she needed it. She was so torn… “Just give relaxing a chance, Raftina.” Geden rubbed her shoulder again before going back to the stove. Raftina sniffed, smelling the spices simmering away. Her mouth watered. She hadn’t had a properly spiced meal since… Well before the Demon War. She missed a lot of the interplanetary spices… Once Filgaia was back up to full, maybe they could reach out to their interplanetary neighbors again. She wasn’t sure if any of them remained after the Demons had destroyed so many worlds. On top of that, those that hadn’t been attacked would have advanced over a millennium… She wasn’t sure if any would still keep their old bands open or check them. Filgaia might very well be on its own from now on. She remained rested against the table until Geden put a plate in front of her. “Here you go, Raftina. Enjoy!” Raftina nodded and sat up and started to eat. Goddess, she hadn’t had a meal this good in far too long. She had grown used to flavorless MREs over the course of the First Demon War and was now used to relatively spiceless foods because of the lack of trade with Filgaia. However, something did bother her. “Mother? Can we talk a little?” Endolia appeared out of nowhere and nodded. “What is it, Raftina, dear?” She sat down. “The monsters… The Metal Demons introduced monsters as a way to keep people in smaller areas and to eat up natural resources. What are you going to do about that?” All of the restoration in the world wouldn’t do anything unless the monsters were taken care of and purged from the planet. The monsters really kept people in small, well-defended areas… Small villages could even be swallowed by the desert day after day… She had seen the remains of abandoned villages while traveling Filgaia with Cecilia, Garret, and Rudy… She hated to see how many people suffered. “I’ll be purging nests of them as I go. It’s not hard to find their nests. And since I do hold ultimate power over the planet, it’s not hard to get rid of things not native to it.” “Okay, that helps put me at ease.” Raftina breathed a sigh of relief, taking another bite. It would take a bit of time, but Raftina had faith her mother could have the planet largely restored by the end of the year. Possibly within a matter of months, depending on how much time she spent restoring Guardians. Digging through the planet’s energies couldn’t be easy… “Oh, also, I would restore Sophia as soon as possible too… The magic of Filgaia is now an unrefined, difficult system that can only be taught in two different institutions: the Curan Abbey and Monastery. It’s called the Crest Graph and it’s…inelegant, but it functions.” Endolia frowned. “What happens to mages?” “They need a little booklet called a Crest Graph as their magic inhibitor. Because the environment is so devastated, they can’t rely on the ley lines to inhibit them anymore. They need a lot of food or rest in order to make up whenever they cast.” Mages used to be able to live for centuries on pre-War Filgaia. They naturally flourished on the planet because of how elegantly magic rolled between humans, Elw, and the environment. But now, that entire system had been shattered and she would be surprised if Cecilia lived past sixty with how much strain magic put on her body. “Yes, Sophia would be of great use… The world should be returned to its pre-War state by the end of the year. So mages won’t have to rely on the Crest Graph anymore… Sophia will need to teach them the old ways.” Endolia sighed. Raftina nodded. “It was actually my daughter, Lumina, that discovered the Crest Graph. For a non-divine system, it’s a good replacement for the old ways, but it’s very inelegant… But it’s worked for over a millennium. It’ll be hard to change the Curan Abbey and Monastery.” It wasn’t like she could easily change things around much… Not without the power to manipulate the planet on the scale her mother could. But with her mother back…then they would be able to return to the old ways and return the Elw to the planet as well… Though integrating a race that wanted nothing more to do with humans and a race used to having the planet all to itself would be difficult… Worries for another day. It wouldn’t be happening immediately. “Do you have any other worries, honey?” Raftina frowned and let her wings spread a fraction. “What of the Tenno?” Endolia frowned as well. “What of the Tenno indeed…? I’m not sure. It wouldn’t be the same race you knew and grew up around. The culture would be entirely different as would the languages… Not unless I managed to convince Duras Drum and Ge Ramtos to let me do a massive resurrection of the pre-War Tenno… But if I did that,then we would have an entire race of people traumatised from remembering their last moments. “That, and they’ve been at peace in the afterlife since the Day of Falling Feathers as you put it… I’m not sure if it would be wise to revive millions and have an entire race traumatised and struggling to return… I could start from scratch where I made the original Tenno though I know Duras Drum wouldn’t be happy to have to make a million or so souls from scratch…” She sighed. “Well, it’s not something you need to figure out right away. Just think on it.” Raftina squeezed her mother’s hand. There were issues with both ways of handling it. The Elw were also a traumatised race… Humans lived such short lives she didn’t know if there was any residual trauma from the First Demon War. The Second War had had its fair share of casualties, but even so… There had been far fewer than in the First Demon War. Endolia nodded. “Yeah, we don’t have to worry about it yet. The Tenno should be low on the list of things to worry about. It’ll take a long time to integrate the Elw back into the planet…” “If they evenwantto return to it. A lot of older Elw may want nothing to do with humanity now… It’d probably take some real work from a delegate to start to change minds and hearts,” Raftina pointed out. “I amnotputting that on you, Raftina. I know the Elw, at least the older ones, trust you because of your relationship with Elaeah but…” Endolia continued to frown. “I wasn’t suggesting it. Maybe Eveen can find somebody to come live here and work on our behalf.” If anybody would know someone, it’d be Eveen Ge Ramtos didn’t really deal in the realm of politics and delegation, so they couldn’t ask him for recommendations. It was hard, but she would delegate this to Eveen. There wasn’t much else she could do about it unfortunately. Especially with so many other Guardians riding her so hard… She was going tocollapseas soon as she got a chance and it sunk in she didn’t need to do politics anymore. “All right then. Maybe someone older that knows what humans are like… I’ll have to speak to her. Is that everything you needed?” Raftina nodded. “I was mostly worried about the monsters more than anything else.” “I’ll see you later then.” Endolia smiled and disappeared. Raftina finished with her meal and let out a breath. “It feels good to be full…” “Come up here three times a day or else I’m going to force you up here, Raftina! That’s a threat I intend to keep!” Geden said. She nodded. “All right.” She knew Geden wouldn’t balk and would live by that threat. There wasn’t anything else she could do right now. She was just glad to have a properly spiced meal for the first time in well over a century. She hadn’t felt full since cooking her own meal earlier either… Goddess, it felt nice. She had grown used to having enough calories in MREs, but they didn’t go far enough to make herfeelsatisfied. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” With that said and done, she bowed and disappeared, going back down to Adlehyde. It was later than she thought it would be, and she felt rather exhausted. The bulge in her stomach didn’t help much either. She was definitely in a calorie overload with how little she was used to getting now. She yawned and took her meds, curling up and going to sleep.