The night air was quiet and peaceful, the silence only broken by two small yordles' slow breathing as one slept and the other lay awake and watched. Bright green eyes stared unblinkingly at Veigar's dark form laid out on her small bed, as Lulu did her best to give him as much space as possible while trying to prevent herself from falling off the side. She wondered if there was some way to wild growth her bed to a larger size so that she would have more room, but decided against it as it would surely wake Veigar.
He looked so peaceful when he slept. His glowing yellow eyes were finally shut with much needed rest and his face was not morphed into an angry or annoyed or stressed expression as it often was when he was awake. He just laid there on his side facing Lulu, breathing softly and dreaming. She wondered if he had good dreams. Perhaps the reason Veigar often went long stretches of time without rest was because he was plagued by terrible nightmares of his past.
She couldn't remember a single night in the past two months where Veigar had gone to sleep, and she was worried for him. She decided to encourage him to sleep by making him a warm cup of tea that she enchanted with a drowsiness spell and making the air chilly so that she'd have an excuse to give him a soft knitted quilt to cover himself with. It didn't take long for her plan to work, as Veigar was soon fast asleep at Lulu's work desk, where he had been studying a tome. With Pix's help, they levitated Veigar into Lulu's small bed and let him sleep there for a while, before Lulu decided that she would sleep too and joined him there. But she couldn't sleep. She just stared at him, studying his face and body.
They had taken his hat off as he slept so that it wouldn't wrinkle, so she could now see all the features of his dark face. He looked like a rather normal yordle, apart from some scars that littered his face and undoubtedly the rest of his body that she detested looking at. Not that he was ugly- she just hated being reminded of the cruel torture inflicted upon her friend at the darkest point in his life. She had never wanted to punish a living creature so bad as she wanted to punish Veigar's cruel jailers who subject him to all that pain. She tore her eyes away from his scars and instead looked at his ears. They were quite long, and quite cute. She resisted the urge to touch them.
The small yordle moved closer to him, afraid of falling off the edge of the bed. He did not stir, deep in sleep from the spell she had cast on him. She smiled. Their small noses were only inches apart, and Lulu found herself getting strangely nervous. She wasn't sure why, but she hoped Pix wasn't watching. The faerie had likely gone back to The Glade for the night, as he usually did, to be in the company of his fellow faeries. She smiled softly at how nice the thought of returning to your kind sounded. But she knew that she and Veigar did not have that luxury. They only had each other.
Lulu shut her eyes, too tired now to continue watching over him. She hoped he wouldn't be uncomfortable in the morning when he woke up and saw how close she was to him. She couldn't help but want to get even closer. Letting out a small sigh, she promised herself that she would protect Veigar. She would preserve whatever light was left inside of him and nourish it as best as she could. Drifting off to sleep, she took comfort in knowing how close she now was to someone. It was an intimateness she had not known for centuries.
She knew she had to protect him.
Veigar managed to tear his heavy eyelids open after being so weary from sleep only to be met with Lulu's sleeping face mere inches from his own. His mind foggy, he tried to remember as best he could what had happened and how much time had passed, but he could not. Judging by the soft light that filtered in from the window, Veigar guessed that it was dawn, and that Lulu had somehow managed to get him to fall asleep instead of continuing his study. He huffed, slightly annoyed, but not loud enough to wake the sleeping yordle lying just next to him.
He looked at her face and found comfort in how tranquil she looked, though he wasn't sure why exactly he felt that way. Her breathing was soft and tickled his face, but he didn't find that he minded too much. Her soft ears twitched slightly as she dreamed, and he actually found it cute and endearing. For some reason, the good night's rest prevented him from feeling bitter about this ordeal. He just wanted to observe Lulu for a while longer, and he hated that he did.
Though he knew he should get a move on out of bed to get back to his study, he was too concerned with the fact that he might wake Lulu to do so. Without thinking, he moved closer to her and touched his nose to hers. He could swear he saw the slightest smile on her dozing face. He blamed his sudden disgusting affection for her on the fact that he was still groggy from waking up from the first rest he had taken in months. Lazily, he draped his arm around her from underneath the quilt she had given him and then squeezed herself under. She smiled wider and snuggled into him. He groaned, but felt his cheeks heating up and his heartbeat growing faster.
He closed his eyes again and decided that he could sleep for a little while longer.
