Akeelah watched in horror as the ice cracked, with a loud resounding boom, and her friend fell backwards. Zaveriel's eyes went wide as he slipped, the demons at the edge of the frozen lake hooting and hollering in glee, and he crashed hard against the cracked ice. It snapped under his sudden weight, breaking apart, and he fell through. Freezing water splashed up around him, soaking her pants and shoes, and she edged closer to the crevice calling for her friend to come back, tears stung against the cold, and she looked quickly through the dark churning waves for any sign of him. The water on the frozen surface made the ice slick and she too slipped, her feet flying out from under her, tumbling over the edge of the dark hole her friend had fallen through, her head slamming against the hard ice as she fell forward, and unconsciousness took her quickly.

The shock of the cold brought her back though, partially, and she could only watch as the moon above seemed to shrink smaller and smaller, the light fading quicker and quicker.

Faintly, she felt herself bump into something, as she continued to sink towards the bottom of the lake. Her and whatever she had bumped into, they shook lightly, sluggishly under water, as they hit the bottom. Her lungs began to protest, she could hold her breath for far longer then a human could, but not as long as a grown angel could, and they burned with a fire unseen even in the frigid depths of the lake. Finally, she could take it no longer, and she opened her mouth. Water rushed in where air should be and she felt herself slowly losing the fight to stay awake again, and so the fledgling succumbed to her fate, and her eyes slid shut.

Again, she came too as she was slowly pushed upwards, the moon getting bigger and bigger, the light brighter and brighter, until she was pushed up over the edge of the broken hole in the ice, and she fell with a wet smack on the cold surface. Too weak to move, she laid there, in her heap, and felt water slowly trickle from the corner of her mouth. There was a lot of splashing, but she couldn't get herself to move to see what it was, and there was voices coming from the side of the lake.

The demons were still there.

But she was too cold and too tired to care.

Her eyes fluttered again, and her gaze fell to stare at her pale hands laying against the smooth surface of the frozen lake, blinking sluggishly, she let the darkness take hold again when something fell over top of her.

The fledgling was swallowed by the darkness much longer this time, and when she did start to come around again, she was pressed against something squishy, firm, and warm. Something was rubbing over her forehead and ears, the back of her neck, and her fingers. Her eyes blinked sluggishly awake and she stared straight ahead for a moment in confusion.

There was the familiar emerald robes of the Healer, leaning back in a chair, reading from a novel.

Strewn about were various persons, sleeping in reclined and bent over positions, she gave a soft sound, a quiet mew, but it was enough to garner the attention of the archangel sitting next to her in his chair. His head shot up, eyes wide in alarm at the sound, and they met the wide gaze of the terrified fledgling. The book was forgotten as the elder stood from his chair with quick haste, coming to sit on the edge of the bed she lay on, and he brushed his long warm fingers over her temple.

"You're awake?"

Akeelah nodded, watching him feel her temple for her temperature, and gave a soft sound of inquiry. He nodded in acknowledgement and pulled the blanket up further around her, the arms curled around her lower back tightened, and a chin pressed into her braids.

"You were found nearly dead on the top of a frozen lake. You were unconscious when you arrived and have been for nearly two days." He gestured to who ever she was laying on, "Nisroc has been laying with you since then."

She nodded again, eyes drooping once more, and he brushed his thumb over her cheek, "Sleep now. We will talk more when you wake again."