"Eat."
Siobhan blinked as she felt a hand shake her shoulder. "You need to eat. Trust me."
It took her a moment to realize that she had nodded off at the table. She forced herself to look at Nascha and then at the food on her plate. "Not hungry."
Tuon sighed, "You are. You're just too tired to realize it."
The girl blinked at the boy across from her. Was he actually being friendly? She started to ask him who he was and what he'd done with Tuon, when she noticed that he looked rather tired himself.
"Is it always so tiring? I don't see how I'm supposed to ever do anything with it if it is." She picked up her fork and pushed at the vegetables, completely disinterested in the greens.
"No." Karan shook his head, "You're working a muscle you did not even know you had. Like any muscle, it'll strengthen, and you'll be fine."
Siobhan looked up from her plate; her eyes darting between Tuon and Karan. "You're both being nice to me. I must be in worse shape than I realized."
"See if I'm ever nice to you again, if this is how you react to it!" Tuon's voice was raw, and Siobhan found herself actually feeling a bit shamed. He huffed as he picked at his own food, though she noticed that he was actually eating.
"Enough squabbling." Karan spoke with quiet authority, "Siobhan, eat. Trust us."
She sighed and forced herself to poke a piece of broccoli with a fork and put it in her mouth. Frowning, she forced herself to chew it, but the taste was almost non-existent. When she swallowed, she put the fork down and shook her head, "There's no taste…" She knew her voice was whiney, but was too tired to care.
Nascha picked up her fork and grabbed some meat with it, "It's a side effect. It'll get better. Now eat." He held the fork to her, but she refused to take it, simply glaring at him.
The older boy seemed to smirk a bit, "Karan?"
"Permission granted, Nascha. Tuon, help him. If she's smart, she won't make me get involved…" He raised an eyebrow as Siobhan turned to look at him, but before she could ask what was going on, Tuon had come around the table and was holding her arms at her side, and Nascha was holding the fork at her mouth.
Nascha was grinning widely, "Open up, Siobhan. There is an alternative worse than being force fed, and I assure you, you do not want to find out what it is."
Whimpering and knowing that she was too tired to fight Tuon, much less all three of them, she opened her mouth and allowed Nascha to feed her a couple of bites before Tuon let her go and huffed, "She'll eat on her own now."
Siobhan nodded, and Nascha handed the fork back to her. She smiled and took a bite, having come to be able to ignore the tastelessness of what she was eating.
"It does get better." Nascha was still smiling as he turned back to his own food. "You're not used to working with the stone or magic. Eventually, we're supposed to be able to do it without needing the stones at all, but I think even Karan and I are still working towards that."
Karan nodded, "It'll come. And for now, just know that you did well today."
It might have been difficult to eat under such close scrutiny, and as tired as she was, there was little energy to spare for anything else. Yet, she managed a small smile. She was exhausted and mostly numb, but somehow, she'd managed to survive the day.