{-Sharena-}

If she had to think of all the times Lekra gave her a headache, now was most definitely at the top of the list. They weren't really saying anything; but that didn't mean their worry didn't show. She didn't want to admit that, sitting in front of that tiniest piece of the heart, that she'd felt Lekra getting restricted from it. Maybe that was part of her problem—the fact that they literally felt each other's pain (which apparently also applied to very uncomfortable feelings). That was the kind of thing she was pretty sure they should've mentioned before doing it, even if now she felt like she would've felt bad for them if she hadn't agreed.

"Little dreamer, little dreamer!" The door practically flung open and in a couple moments she found Iztali climbing on top of her for a hug, even if he'd put considerable care into not stepping on any of the stray plushies. "I missed you! When you said you had to go I was sad, but I got better! Fauna's really nice. She let me stay up late so I could play with the bunnies. She has a nice light. I missed yours though. Yours is really, really nice and peaceful." They'd given up on getting him to call Alfonse and Sharena by name rather than 'prince of peace' and 'little dreamer' pretty early on, but he said everyone else's name like normal.

Despite her headache and desire to go to sleep, she sat up and smiled a little. He wasted no time in changing his own position to better hug her. "I've missed you, too. I hope you were good for Fauna while I was gone."

"I was the best! I did everything she asked me to, without even complaining! Well, maybe a little, but she didn't mind." He scooted back a bit and gave an approving nod. "And that one lady that talks to you and prince of peace a lot—the one that looks like you. She's really nice too. But I think she's sad a lot. Her smile's pretty but there's a lot of pain in it, too. She'd have a light like you do if she wasn't so sad all the time. Why's she sad all the time, little dreamer? She cried when I asked her and prince of peace that, and I don't want her to cry."

"Are you talking about Mother? There's… kind of a lot of reasons for her to be sad, really." Sharena sighed. "For one, her husband—our father—died pretty suddenly died a while ago. Stupid politics means a lot of people don't think she belongs here anymore, since she was married in and both of her kids are technically of age, so she has to deal with that on top of it. Then there's Loki, who wants to hurt us and has hurt her in the past. The fact we know next to nothing about the situation probably doesn't help much either."

For a boy who probably only understood about half of what she said, Iztali had a very solemn expression. "Is there a way we can make her happy? I like it when people are happy. You haven't been happy a lot, either. I wanna see you smile! You're really pretty when you smile. Not like the smile you're giving me right now though—like a big, happy smile! Not this sad one."

"I bet she'd like it if you keep her company," she replied thoughtfully, "And I would like it if you could let me rest. I'm… not really feeling well."

"Oh! Did I interrupt your nap? Sorry! I didn't mean to, really!" He scrambled off of her bed, but still hesitated. "Are you gonna get sick again..?"

She shook her head. "Just tired, is all. How about this: when I'm feeling better, I'll join you and Mother in the garden, alright? But you've got to give me a bit first."

He nodded enthusiastically. "Okay!" Then he left, once again carefully moving around the plushies.

"It's not going to get better by resting," Lekra remarked. "We'd both benefit from exposure from it; at the very least, by getting used to the feeling, it might not be as much of an issue. It's not guaranteed to work, of course, but it'll be better than this." They paused. "I also advise getting something for that headache. It's awful."

"That's just about the only time you've complained about it." She laid back down again. "Every other time you're practically oblivious to it. I was beginning to doubt you even felt it at all."

"This isn't something completely of my doing, though. I'll admit that, going by your commander's idea, it's actually quite nice of them to give it to us—even if it is a bit akin to throwing some food just in front of a caged animal. What she suggested then is, in fact, possible; but if you're going to be faltering in health like this it's not a good idea." They sighed. "I'm beginning to wish that I hadn't had helped you remember. Maybe then you would be out actually enjoying yourself right now…"

She'd already started to fall asleep, though. Between the bits of dreamless sleep, she saw little glimpses of things—a place like she'd seen in her dream three nights ago, bright and cheerful and full of flowers, somewhere that seemed just as beautiful but in a different, darker way… two girls, though when she blinked they didn't really look like normal girls, instead taking on a similar appearance to the people she'd seen in her dream before. There wasn't any talking; at least, not that she remembered.

A sharp, quick knock on the door woke her up. "Princess Sharena, I've been asked to tell you that dinner is almost ready. The king would like your presence there, if you'd join them." Now, that was the tone of someone who'd much rather be doing anything else than acknowledging her existence.

Sharena nodded to herself and got up. Her head didn't hurt nearly as much as it had, and she generally felt better (if not confused as she thought of the bits of her dream before it got too faded to remember), so she'd just made sure she was ready and went down.

When she entered the dining room, Alfonse, Henriette, and Veronica all gave their nods or mutter of greeting. She could only assume Fauna had taken Iztali back to the Order's castle, because neither of them were there and at least the latter normally ate with them when he was here.

"Feeling any better?" Henriette asked once she'd sat down. "Lekra's not so much of a bother now, are they?"

"They kinda sorted themself out once it wasn't so close to them," Sharena replied with a shrug. "I've still got a headache but it's fine."

"If you want, I can spare a bit of what I use for mine," Veronica offered. Honestly, it was surprising she was saying anything at all—she hadn't really said anything for the whole day. "It would definitely help, at least. Bruno said that Mother got it from her side of the family so it should be fine for normal people."

Sharena only gave a small smile of her appreciation.

After they'd started eating, they began a casual conversation about what had happened. Henriette didn't seem too fazed when they told her that the person they'd visited with Kiraat. But when Alfonse mentioned how he wanted them to ask for her side of the story, her answer was simple: "He wants an answer that puts him in a bad light—an opinion like your father's. I don't think I'd tell you anything different than what Ki would've himself."

It was cut off before it could get too depressing, both by a general topic change and Alfonse abruptly leaving.

She knew she wasn't the only one who saw why. "He's having another nosebleed?"

"Isn't this the third? Or fourth..?" Veronica frowned. "He mentioned having one before I came—when he was 'trying to remember' whatever that's supposed to mean—and said he'd had one while I was in my room before I left. I'm sure he had one some time yesterday, too, even if he hid it well… even I don't have them that frequently and I get them fairly often."

"In the past month and a half? He certainly hasn't told me anything about this." Henriette glanced worriedly at the door. "He's never randomly gotten nosebleeds before… I didn't think he'd had any at all for at least a couple of years…"

Lekra moved a little closer to the door. "Tell them just to worry about eating. I'm going to go follow him—you might get a little dizzy if he goes too far, though, as a warning."

"Can you at least explain— and they're gone." She was glad both of the people close enough to hear her understood who she was talking to. She sighed. "Forget about Alfonse being weird, Lekra's being weirder. They're gonna go spy on him. I really don't understand what they do and do not consider being too personal…"

((A/N: Lekra and Iztali are almost opposites on their name-telling. Lekra literally only calls Sharena, Eir, and later the álfar by name; everyone else is "your friend" or "your brother." Iztali, on the other hand, calls everyone by name except for Alfonse and Sharena, as shown in this chapter.

A quick reminder for all you new readers (or the forgetful old ones, like I would be), before the events of the previous story, Alfonse has only had trauma-induced nosebleeds. As in, getting beaten up by your father's friends as part of "training." No one was nice to Alfonse when he was a kid.))