Vitae Memorandum

38-Unyielding Pavilion

The evening had ended early for all of them, with the next day beginning in earnest. The coming of night had changed little for them, but a new day brought new opportunities.

For some, morning had come before the dawn. Mhyl, having slept much earlier than normal, was also awake much earlier than normal. Thanrie and Lwyn were both still asleep, having had need of the extra hours. Mhyl then got up to check on Qheria. She arrived at the room to find Rhyde and Yuxzn already there.

"Ah, perfect, or wait. Yuxzn, need a hand here." Rhyde had been expecting many things from Yuxzn in the past, but a casual translator still felt like a weak use of Yuxzn's own abilities. He still settled into the role regardless, considering both the circumstances and the people involved. The four girls weren't exactly low-key individuals anymore.

"You've been fairly close to Qheria through all of this, so I wanted to hear from you as well. Zyuixqs' reports have been highly insufficient from a .. psychological profile perspective. It's one reason I had approached her myself to get a gauge on how she was actually doing. However, I know that she takes my statements as a .. personal challenge. I had warned her about how her hesitation could get her friends hurt, but.. I didn't expect her to pull something like this." Rhyde's concern flooded his face, worried what his own words might have caused. Mhyl let him continue silently.

"I harp on her so much, so that she might gain her own experience, but.. this is something I have no experience in myself. I've put myself on the line to make sure everything succeeds, but I've never faced death in the teeth and gone down for someone else. Always, I have Yuxzn pull us out before any such sacrifice is even warranted. I worry I might have been pushing her too hard, pushing her too far, and so now pushing more risk onto her than even I'm willing to take myself." Rhyde wasn't even watching her or much of anything while talking, the dark roof proving interesting enough in his own self-reflection.

Mhyl shook her head. "I think this is just more how close we are, it's a lesson we've put on each other. You weren't the only one putting expectations on Qheria, you should have seen some of the stuff we told her as well. We even beat her in her favourite game, which I guess wouldn't have done wonders for her self-esteem. She was doing very well, and it was very close, but she kinda broke down afterwards. Still, it's so obvious she looks up to you like a perfect role model, the sort of leader she herself aspires to be. When she falls, you're always willing to lend her helpful encouragement, lessons only a skilled leader could offer. Personally, I thank you so much for looking after Qheria as much as you have been. Please keep being her beacon of hope, so that she can continue to grow and improve as she has been." Mhyl bowed formally as a sign of her appreciation, catching both of them off guard.

Rhyde went a bit bashful at this remark, honestly intimidated at this degree of responsibility. Mhyl giggled, reflecting that Qheria was just one of many of his responsibilities, but Qheria herself seemed to have an additional impact to Rhyde. Rhyde usually behaved so much more mature than typical for his age, but sometimes he couldn't help but let his true age shine through. Rhyde was thus even more at a loss for words.

Yuxzn then continued the conversation without him, interested in further details. "How are the other two doing? I had heard they were fine medically.. physically, but.. that they were taking things fairly hard." "Oh, yeah, Lwyn is actually taking things pretty badly. Thanrie might believe that she had actually caused this whole problem, but Lwyn seems to be crumpling under the weight that she herself was saved from suffering at a cost to Qheria. I really don't know a good way to help her, she's always thought so lowly of herself because of her.. bloodline. Hearing that her mother was actually the daughter of two really important people hasn't even been enough to impact that, as far as I can tell. The farther along we go, the worse her plastic smile seems to get..." Yuxzn nodded in understanding, not even realizing that Mhyl had known where the focus of his concern had resided.