Beside Tess, not on the suspension bed, but on the ground, one arm pillowing his head, the other reaching up above the force field for his partner, Chris sleeps, snoring lightly. Keslin had been unable to keep his host from falling into an exhausted unconsciousness, despite his most valiant efforts. In the end, Keslin had to admit that Chris more than deserved the break. Tess' labor had been one of the most emotionally exhausting events he had ever witnessed, and the sheer alieness of it still made his mind swim.
He avoided the more gruesome memories, but as Chris slept, Keslin returned to the final moments before Tess lost consciousness herself. To the two boys that she had brought into the world, that they had spent so many months preparing for. And somehow, in the light of all this tragedy, Keslin finds it in himself to feel happy.
Terenia has not left Illim and Myitt's quarters. She has not slept either. She is curled against one of the walls, staring at her knees. Sometimes she cries, sometimes she doesn't. She never sleeps, though, despite the exhaustion that makes her limbs heavy and her head foggy.
Efaen wakes early, sighing as she stretches her arms, back in Andalite form once more. Her night was restless, but not terribly so. She is still feeling a little miffed over her conversation with Ossanlin, but at the moment she recognizes that there is nothing she can do about it. Focus on the needs of now, she reminds herself. It is a mantra that got her through the first months after her memory wipe, filled with confusion, and her return to the Homeworld, full of accusations and disappointment.
Feeding. That was the first task. She needed to nourish her Andalite body so that she could abandon it and resume human form.
She steps out of her quarters, making her way down the hall and towards the Dome, her expression distant.
