CH207 Thera’s Perspective

She fell to the dirt, her father’s last attack knocking her to the ground and leaving her breathless as he made his way over to her.

“Looks like it’s my win again.” He said with a grin as she shot him a glare.

“Haven’t you been going way harder on me?” She asked, annoyed. In the three weeks since she’d planned to go back to Stonewall, she’d used that extra time to train with her father some more to get as many levels to her job as she could, but with each passing day it felt like he was using more and more strength.

“Hey now, you managed to get a hit in before, right? I need to make sure you get plenty of challenge so I adjust appropriately.”

She couldn’t help but think her father just didn’t like to lose, but with nothing to back that up she tried to push the thought aside and relax. That was their last one for the day anyway and she had other things to do.

Dusting herself off, she made her way to the kitchen, grabbing a plate of food from the chef and carrying it off, only to be stopped by her mother.

“Sweetheart, I think we need to talk about your friend.”

“I’m just bringing him some food now, what’s up?”

“Lux is concerned. She’s been doing a quick evaluation of him every time she’s been giving him a buff, and it doesn’t look like he’s doing well.”

She felt her heart gripped in panic as she asked what was wrong. Her aunt was the great light spirit, if even she thought he wasn’t doing well then it had to be something major. She was only able to let out a breath of relief as she got the answer.

“Exhaustion, the boy is working himself to death. Apparently, she’s been healing him when she goes in the morning to be on the safe side, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s in a constant state of exhaustion. She doubts that he’s sleeping more than an hour a night.”

“Oh is that all?” She said dismissively. “Then he’s fine, he does that all the time, it’s not a big deal.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure, just because he’s used to pushing himself, doesn’t mean he can’t take it too far. People die doing less.”

“Well, I’ll talk to him but I’m sure it’s fine, if you saw the way he worked with uncle Falk you’d understand, I’m pretty sure he’ll only be happy if he succeeds in working himself to death.”

Her mother still looked concerned but left it at that as Thera went off to make sure her friend remembered to eat. It wasn’t entirely uncommon for a task to absorb him that much, but it usually fell to her uncle to make him take a break. Until he could be found, that role had fallen to her.

When she’d gotten to the room where the talos laid, the first thing she noticed was Ben’s apparent absence.

Did he actually take a break by himself? She thought with some humour, unable to believe that would happen and decided to go look for him until something caught her eye. A foot on the ground, just barely peeking out past the edge of the bed.

Her mother’s worries suddenly gripped her heart as she dropped the food and ran to his side, finding him unconscious on the floor. She didn’t know what to do, checking his pulse in a panic and rushing to apply the few healing spells she thought could help as a voice beside her spoke up.

“Don’t be too concerned, the work he’s been doing has just caught up to him, he needs some rest.”

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She jumped, startled as she’d forgotten that she wasn’t strictly alone, but the talos in the room hadn’t been conscious any of the previous times she’d come by to check on him. Once she let herself relax a bit she knew he was right, but that was plenty worrying in its own way. Ben had fallen asleep in the shop plenty of times, but as far as she knew he’d never done it in the middle of a task.

She didn’t think she had the physical strength to lift him to the bed for a better rest, instead gently laying him out, resting his head on her legs as she placed a hand on his cheek and chest, gently applying her life spells to do what little help she could. Even if he was fine, she couldn’t help but feel her mother’s same worry after walking into that.

Once again, Inux broke the silence. “You’re Thera, correct?”

“Um, I am. Has Ben mentioned me?”

“Quite a lot I’d say. For someone who said there wasn’t much to tell of his life, he’s lived through quite the exciting one, don’t you think? With how much he talked about his time with you, I’d say you have as well.”

“Well, you probably heard the better parts of it if he only told you about what came after meeting him,” She said as she rubbed Ben’s head, looking down on him as worry painted her face before addressing the talos again. “Are you at least starting to feel better?”