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

[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!

[wwiii]

Oh, the look that Warren was giving you, Karla.

"So, when does the not arguing part happen, again?"

[glacial_queen]

"I'm not arguing!" Karla argued said argued. "I'm...working towards a compromise!"

She had gone to the Anakin Skywalker school of Diplomacy, after all. For her, this almost was compromising!

[wwiii]

"Right." Warren tilted his head. "I'll pick the three people, then. Does that work for your compromise?"

It wouldn't be hard to find three people who were willing to take his side. If he had to go to Mrs. Beale and point out helpfully that it would keep Karla out of her kitchen without fail for a few days, he'd cheat and do just that.

[glacial_queen]

CHEATER CHEATING FACE!

But Karla knew she was pretty much stretching her 'no argument' clause about as far as she could and nodded. "That sounds fair," she said.

"Do you know who you'll choose?" she asked for NO REASON REALLY.

[wwiii]

"Lucivar," he said, without a thought. He figured Lucivar would at least back him up on this one, after the exchange they'd had that morning. That was the obvious choice, and he was pretty sure that Karla had been expecting it.

"And then probably... Raven," because there was no way she couldn't possibly be as aware as he was of the way Karla was wearing herself out, "and we can probably manage to give Emma a call."

Because she would definitely smack Karla down for working herself to the bone. Right?

[glacial_queen]

"Emma doesn't count!" Karla said, giving him a panicky face that said, yes, he was exactly right. "That's--You're--Come on!"

She was torn between protesting more and kissing him for being tricksy.

[wwiii]

"She's wearing your ring, isn't she? That means that technically, she counts more than anybody else. She is in your court, after all."

So stick that in your creamed cheddar cookie and eat it, Karla.