SaDiablo Hall, Dhemlan, Kaeleer

[wwiii]

Training. Studying in Kaeleeran Court protocols, poring over any information that he could get his hands on regarding sanitary setups for new settlements in untamed territories, digging around for maps that could help Warren get a better idea as to where they were, and where they were trying to get... It was fairly safe to say that, when Warren wasn't busy running himself ragged in Kaeleer, trying to get budgets to balance and to work out supply options that weren't going to explode in his face, he was spending practically every waking hour training.

His teeth ground together as a stick whipped around, smacking him in the ribs with an audible crack.

Some types of training were easier than others, especially when he was running himself to the ground. He was tired, and it was starting to show. That wouldn't be so bad, if the person that was seeing it at the moment wasn't a sadistic Eyrien with a stick.

With a wince and a ruffle of feathers as he gasped to get his breath back, Warren straightened up and raised his stick again.

[For them what are in Kaeleer!]

Comments

[glacial_queen]

See? She was too sore to have even thought of that bit of Craft.

"They won't kill us," Karla said, wrapping the towel around herself. "Death would be a blessed, blessed release. They're too cruel."

And their day was just beginning. Shoot her now.

[wwiii]

"We haven't even had breakfast yet," Warren added, frowning and stepping around her to give her shoulders a rub.

Not even breakfast, and already he'd managed to break a wing. He hoped that wasn't an omen for how the rest of the day was going to be.

"Wow, you're pretty tense, there."

[glacial_queen]

"It's one of Lucivar's rules," Karla said, almost melting under Warren's hands. She was too tense to actually do so; she was pretty sure she heard something go sproing in her shoulders as his thumb hit a knot. "No practice after breakfast because no one wants to dance around in it if you get whacked in the belly."

Which, you know, made sense. That didn't stop Karla from hating it.

"I think I'm pretty tense everywhere," she admitted. "Didn't sleep well again last night."

Not that this was exactly news to Warren or anything...

[wwiii]

"Me either," he offered, putting a little bit more muscle into the backrub. It wasn't exactly gentle as a result, but when people got that tense, gentle didn't generally do a whole heck of a lot. "There's just too much on the go. Have you even had a moment edgewise to breathe, aside from showers and tossing and turning?"

[glacial_queen]

"I breathe!" Karla said, moaning a bit as he worked on her back. It wasn't a particularly sensual sound, filled as pain as it was. "All the time."

So not what he meant, and she knew it.

"You're doing as much as me, if not more," she argued. "You've got extra sessions with Lucivar and Protocol lessons with Saetan!"

[wwiii]

"Yeah, all the work, and probably not even half the weight sitting on my shoulders as you must have," Warren replied. "People don't expect anything from me, except for Lucivar and Saetan."

It wasn't his territory under fire. He didn't know these people.

"You're wearing yourself out, Karla."

[glacial_queen]

"Actually," Karla said with a breathy laugh that turned into a gasp halfway through. "I think you have like...twice the weight on yours. Maybe...three times."

Maybe if she cracked a joke, she wouldn't have to acknowledge his point!

[wwiii]

"Wings don't count," Warren chided, reaching forward with one of his to give her a gentle thump to the back of the head. That way, he didn't have to stop rubbing her back. See his brilliance? "When's the last full night's sleep you've had?"

[glacial_queen]

Stupid brilliance.

Karla had to stop and think about her answer--which was enough of an answer already, wasn't it?

"I'll start drinking my sleepy tea," she muttered guiltily. Then, at least, he wouldn't be kept up by her inability to sleep.

[wwiii]

"What time of night will you start drinking that?"

Drinking the sleepy tea when the sun was about to come up because you'd lost track of time and needed to nap for an hour didn't count, Karla.

"You need to take a break. A lot of what's on the go right now is stuff that can be delegated while you take a breather, you know."

[glacial_queen]

"When I remember?" Karla suggested. Somehow she felt like that answer wouldn't go over well.

"But I can't!" she protested a moment later. Because sometimes Karla lived to be a cliche. "We don't have time for me to take a break!"

[wwiii]

"Don't we?" Warren raised an eyebrow a little. "I think I was saying something about this before we came here. Maybe you could refresh my memory on that one?"

Did you think he wasn't going to hold you to that, Karla? He'd even said that he would!

[glacial_queen]

Warren was the worst. This time the weird noise Karla was making was her trying not to sputter too badly.

"I think I might remember something about that," she muttered. "You said you'd try to bring me back sometimes so I didn't wear myself out."

And she'd said something about not arguing. Maybe he wouldn't remember that?

[wwiii]

"And I think I said something about not arguing," Warren prompted, because really, his memory was better than all that, even if he had spent this morning having the crap kicked out of him by Lucivar.

[glacial_queen]

"That might have come up," she admitted, hunching over slightly. "But I got thwacked in the head by Jaenelle this morning. I could be misremembering?"

Keep trying, Karla.

[wwiii]

"Well, if you can't remember it, then just take my word for it. You said you were going to take a break every now and again, when I said I was going to drag you off to take one."

Warren was helping!

[glacial_queen]

Who the Hell did he learn this definition of helping from?!?

"I've been taking naps in the afternoons," she tried. Mostly when she fell asleep over the books for about...twenty minute intervals. "Those are breaks!"

[wwiii]

"Those aren't naps. That's passing out from fatigue," Warren reasoned. He'd seen her slumped over her books face-first, drooling into the pages. Hell, he was guilty of doing the same from time to time.

Fortunately, there weren't any drool stains in the protocol books, yet.

[glacial_queen]

"Po-tay-to, po-tah-to?" Dammit. He so did not seem to be buying that. "So, what are you trying to say?"

Because he'd been so unclear up to this point, really.

[wwiii]

"I'm saying that you need a break. I'm saying that we both need a break. And if I have to truss you up like a turkey and drag you away from here for a few days, so help me, I'll do it."

Because he loved you, Karla.

[glacial_queen]

"You wouldn't."

Karla craned her head around to look at him. He so would.

"Can we compromise?"

[wwiii]

"Compromise how?"

He was willing to negotiate. So long as he won. He knew how these things worked, after all.

[glacial_queen]

"We check with a few other people and say if it's a good time for a break." Look at Karla grasp at straws! "If they think now would be a bad time--or that I don't need one--we stay?"

Okay, no one would ever tell Karla she didn't need a break. She was pretty sure the only reason Morton, Lucivar, and Saetan hadn't sat on her already was because they were waiting to see what Warren would do.

[wwiii]

Warren's eyebrow. Look at it go up.

"You know they're going to tell you to rest, right?"

Because, seriously, how could any of them miss just how much Karla was wearing herself out? And they had to understand better than anybody that she was no good to anybody if she worked herself to death.

[glacial_queen]

"They might say that this isn't the best time, though," Karla argued. "With everything coming up, we might need to stay and finish preparing. And...stuff."

It was a possibility!