I'm not even going to try and have an excuse for not updating. That's how bad I feel.

(Does anyone know what writer's look looks like? I have a dartboard.)

JK, actually. I don't have an actual dartboard.

FeatherFlower- I know, you read this because we're besties. But you don't know the characters- how do you keep them straight? Oh, right, you don't.

Guest- Well, sorry for the delay, here you go.

**All those who wanted that Tobyanna one-shot back in, what, December? I had an idea, and it will be out soon. (Hopefully)**

Reyanna Pov

Ow.

Why does everything hurt?

I feel a faint pressure on my forehead, then just under my mask and scar, on my neck. I think someone's checking my pulse, but I'm not sure.

I roll slightly to the side, feeling the pressure in my head decrease.

That's better…

The faint sound of a door being opened and closed reaches my ears, and I rest for a moment longer, the silence all around soothing me. I open my eyes sleepily.

I'm not in my room, I know that. This room is not marble nor basalt, it is plain stone bricks. The window's right above the bed, unlike home, and a chair sits right against the bed, slightly imprinted as though someone had just left.

It's so quiet- unusually quiet.

I sit up and regret it so badly.

My head has a bandage wrapped around I haven't noticed before, but would explain the pressure on my head. Another was wrapped around my lower arm; a thin scratch on my ribs was covered as well. My thigh has a large bandage as well; and my back was just a massive bruise.

I really need to work on my fighting.

A hot, dry wind blows in through the window, reminding me of the desert I grew up in.

OH MY NOTCH…

The desert… my mother… Israphel… the spell… Rythian… Oh, no, no, no…

It rushes all back to me at once and I bury my face in my hands, hearing the hateful but familiar whispers of Them start up again in my head.

So that's why it was so quiet... oh, Nether, why…

The pain of what happened has just hit me and I can't take it. Tears run down my face, and I force myself not to sob, to try and keep whatever self-control I have left together as a pounding headache starts in my head.

I don't move for who knows how long, but eventually I have to pull down my mask, because it's soaked in salty tears and the enchantment on it apparently doesn't apply to salted water.

Pull yourself together, Notch damit! I tell myself.

It takes a while- far too long, because if anyone walks in now I could never get over that- but the tears run out and I try to steel myself.

I can't go on like this. It's not just my fighting I need to work on… It's my emotions.

If I can't control them, how am I supposed to fight Them? Fight Her?

I need to-

Footsteps outside my door. I freeze.

They pass by, but it's already reminded me that this is no place to break down. I pull off my mask fully, putting it under the window to dry and pull another from my alchemical bag, which is dangling from the bedpost. I wipe my tears with my sleeve, trying to not make my eyes puffier than they already are.

I get up slowly and stiffly and change, then attempt to brush out my messed-up hair. It lost several inches in the Nether, but it's still long enough to force into a ponytail.

I don't want to leave my room yet, not while my eyes are rimmed with red and certainly not with my head pounding like this.

I rummage around in my bag yet again, finding my Zero ring. I slip it on and summon a lump of snow. It won't melt as long as I wear the ring, so I press it against my eyes and hairline, across the bandage and my… whatever. I don't know if it's a scrape, cut, or something else, but it must have been bleeding earlier.

I lean back, letting the cold clear up my headache and all traces of my crying. I wonder if Toby and Kim are up yet- Rythian said that they were still out when he started the spell, but just how long that spell had taken I didn't know.

I'm so far lost in my thoughts that I don't notice the sounds of my brother approaching until her opens the door and speaks.

"How long have you been up?" He says.

I shrug. "I don't know. Maybe an hour or so, however long ago you left. I just heard you leave when I started waking up."

Rythian frowns. "Reyanna, that was nearly three hours ago. It's almost lunch."

I start with surprise. "Lunch?" I ask. Rythian just nods.

"How's your head?" He says, and I get his hidden meaning. The door's open and should anyone pass, it sounds as though he's asking about my injury, but he's really asking me if anything's wrong. Sometimes Rythian's so sly about these things it worries me. I shake my head.

"I had a headache, but it's going away now."

"Are you going to be able to get up and go to lunch, or I'm sure Zoeya would bring you-"

"It's fine. Could we go now, while not many of us are there? I don't want a fuss…"

"Sure."

I stand, a bit less stiff this time, but my older brother notices it anyway.

"Sore?" He asks, but he already knows the answer, so I don't get why he's bothering to ask. That's not like him.

I snort, covering my surprise at his question.

"No, Rythian, I'm moving this slowly because I want to." I reply sarcastically.

He blinks, like he was a bit surprised that I replied like that. "Well, seems like you're doing just fine."

I roll my eyes, and then we're at the mini kitchen we were given. I enter and try not to cringe.

The only people sitting there are Lalna, Xephos, Honeydew and Sips.

Well, this is awkward.

In the total of just under a year since I was Lalna's apprentice, I doubt I've spoken more than twenty words to Sips. It's not personal; I just have… bad experiences with businessmen.

Lalna is always weird being around. I've forgiven him after the whole fiasco last summer, but we almost never conversed, and if we did, Rythian was always at the edge of our vision, like hurt my little sister again and you'll wish you were dead.

There's that, and I'm hardly the girl who came to him asking for an apprenticeship when I first arrived. I know science, but I prefer magic. I have died and come back; I have stopped a war and I have learned things no one could have taught me, from hard experience. We're practically strangers now.

Honeydew is always so cheerful, but it's strange to be around him. I'm tall, still growing at 17 years old, and my Ender-genes don't help. I'm more dark and serious- much less than Rythian, but more so than Zoeya. I'm right next to Teep.

Xephos I normally get along with well; Lomadia treats me like a little sister and I love hanging out at Owl Island, and so I know him better than at least half of the group. But today he's looking serious and angry, and tension hangs in the air as we enter. Honeydew's not cracking jokes and from the look of it their coffee's gone cold long ago.

Rythian gives them a nod and sits down at the table without a word. I stall, pouring myself a glass of water and sipping it at the counter. I don't feel like drowning in tension, not now. I finish the glass faster than I thought I would, not realizing just how thirsty I am.

Of course, with my luck, it's probably the fact that I haven't been to a desert in months and between being passed out and crying my body must be out of water.

I'm halfway done with the second glass when footsteps start up in the hall and several more people come in the tiny doorway.

Minty's first, and Sjin's practically on her heels, but they split up and as Sjin joins the others at the table Minty turns and keeps the door open for Kim.

Well, at least she's up too.

Kim limps over to the table and sits between Lalna and an empty spot. She doesn't seem to notice the tension and immediately starts chatting about… noodles? At any rate, she's definitely paler than normal.

Minty enters the part of the kitchen I'm in and smiles at me.

"Feeling better?" She asks quietly. I lower the glass.

"I've felt both better and worse." I say dryly.

More people come in and I sit at the table in between empty spots as Zoeya, Teep, Lomadia and Nilesy pour in. Zoeya takes the seat next to Rythian, of course, and Teep takes the spot between her and me.

"And I'm like 'Just put a plaster on it' and Minty just kind of looked at me and said 'I need to teach you first aid, because clearly Sjin did a terrible job." Kim said.

The door opened yet again and Martyn and Toby came in, the latter having several bandages wrapped around his torso. Ridge followed them in.

"And then Minty said 'Did Sjin teach you anything of real importance other than farming and food about the farm?" and I'm like, 'Uhh, we have noodles!" and she just lost it! And I was like 'Why, Sjin, why?" Kim continued. Laughter rang out around the room.

Everyone not already sitting takes a seat after grabbing something for lunch. I sit and listen to Kim rambling to Lalna, Zoeya likewise to Rythian, and I just kind of sat there, lost in thought, and listened to Toby and Martyn joke around right next to me.

"Okay, good to see you three up and about." Ridge said. "We're going to have to go south tomorrow, through a desert. We should make it to the portal on the day after. Sound good?" He shot a glare at Xephos, who met his gaze with an expression I couldn't identify.

"And then we pop into the Lower Aether, find The Dark Lord, kill him, don't die, get back, and… chill?" Sjin said.

"Sounds fine to me." Martyn.

"Fair enough." Rythian.

"Boom, headshot." Kim. Everyone looked at her.

"What?"

I'm going to probably end up having NanoCoffee show up in the next story because I've started to ship them a bit. Thoughts?

Well, it's past 1am, time to go to bed… *cough, read fanfics, cough cough*

(Hopefully) updating again soon, Spirit.