So it is done

Second time's not a charm

Cinder Fall slept very little. Once it had been a very real necessity, sluggishness was punishable, but those days were long gone, but the necessity had become a habit.

Cinder didn't require more than three or four hours of sleep, and even trying to force herself to sleep, six hours was her limit before she became naturally nauseous from sleep. This was partly due to body training, partly due to habit, partly due to aura, and in a way it was a problem. Cinder just couldn't physically enjoy sleep and the slow laziness upon awakening, but at the same time it was a most genuine blessing to her as well.

Cinder Fall, when she did not have school to attend, preferred to spend all her time with Jonathan, no matter in what capacity, as an 'honor guard', a silent conversationalist or a silent observer, but this also posed some problems. For, while Cinder enjoyed simply being in Jonathan's presence, she enjoyed being useful to Jonathan even more, in any suitable capacity, ranging from sorting letters or snooping out potential adversaries. To be useful to Jonathan, however, Cinder had to train. And only a very small part of her training could be done in Jonathan's presence.

In that case, the time that Cinder gained through her ability to sleep only a few hours a day was ideal.

Although there would be nothing wrong with staying close to Jonathan while he slept, Cinder could sacrifice the few hours given to her by nature while Jonathan slept in order to do her training in that time. That it also allowed her to be there when Jonathan woke up and went about his business was an ideal situation, for sure.

That was why, although Cinder started sleeping at ten o'clock in the evening, she was already fully awake at two in the morning, awake and full of energy, ready for her morning training. After that, followed by the preparation of breakfast and, depending on how long Jonathan decided to sleep tonight, Cinder would either meet him for breakfast or she could go read.

After a second of silent awareness of her awakening, Cinder easily threw off her blanket, then rose and quickly began to get ready, not suffering such a problem as 'drowsiness'. First she gathered her bra, something Cinder had had to start wearing as she was growing up, then gym trousers -the first thing she was expected to do was work out, also a T-shirt and a rubber band to gather her hair into a bun.

As was to be expected, Cinder's hair had grown considerably long in the three years she has spent with Jonathan, but apart from a few haircuts to tidy it up, she had not shortened it. First and foremost because Jonathan apparently liked long hair, even Neo had grown it out for the same reason. And secondly because that in the hotel, in her past life, Cinder was certainly forbidden to wear her hair long, because long hair required maintenance and was completely unhygienic. So another small detail distinguishing her current life from the past was always welcome.

Still, it was still best to tie down her long hair for the duration of her exercise.

So, dressed and ready for the new day, Cinder walked out of her bedroom, and looked out into the corridor.

Great, judging from the fact that there were no lights from Jonathan's door, he hadn't decided to stay up too late tonight. Something which meant that he wouldn't have noticed Cinder being awake at this hour.

No, of course Jonathan was aware of what was going on, and he didn't bother or try to force Cinder to change, finding out through experience that she really just couldn't physically sleep too long. The occasions where Cinder would wake up in the middle of the night, where Jonathan was still awake, was too many to list. It always gave Jonathan somewhat mixed feelings. And if there was one thing in the world that Cinder really didn't want, it was to 'give Jonathan mixed feelings', so she simply adjusted her sleeping schedule where she would wake up when Jonathan was already asleep. Or if, failing that, and Jonathan had spent another night working, she would simply stay in her room and read.