The Forgotten Zodiac

"Y-yes..." Arachne said quietly, already falling back asleep. "Sorry to bother you..." She murmured, crawling back into her bed on her hands and knees, dragging the blankets back over herself - though she still shivered underneath.

Morning came, and Thuban handed the watch over to Adhara. She set about stoking the fire back to roaring life, and Eltanin came in off the seas, bringing a breakfast of gull eggs with him. Bermuda was the first to wake, feeling completely rested and at ease. He headed outside quietly, looking around the village with a smile on his face. Eltanin waved him over.

"Morning, my prince," he said. Bermuda smiled and came over. Eltanin returned thesmile, before it faded slightly. "May I ask you where Quay is?"

"Oh... about that..." Bermuda rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "He's at the Manakete palace, perfectly safe... he has a sending stone with him, though you know how he missplaces things... not a worry, I assure you," he said.

"Hm," Eltanin nodded once. "I trust in your word."

Adhara brought over some food, then looked to the hut. "Should I get them up, or you think they'll come out on their own?"

"If anyone should get them up, it should be me," Bermuda said. "Verolen might would try and bite your head off." At this, the nereid headed back towards the hut to get the others up for breakfast.

Aries woke up quickly, as did Rush. Arachne had apparently never fallen back asleep, and just blinked at Adhara when she said it was time to get up. When Adhara moved to wake up Verolen, however, both Rush and Aries intercepted her.

"Bad idea, bad idea!" Aries snapped quickly, stepping on front of Adhara while Rush grabbed her from behind. "He doesn't sleep often. When he does, he can be a little...grumpy, if he doesn't wake up on his own. And, uh...he doesn't remember you at all, and in case you don't remember, he has a keen dislike for your kind."

"It's nothing personal, trust me." Rush snorted, already pulling Adhare back towards the hut door. "But that's a sleeping bear that you don't want to wake up on your own."

Adhara looked startled, but conceeded to their grip. "Alright, alright. Breakfast's on," she said, heading back outside.

Bermuda gave Aries and Rush a jovial wave, having /somehow/ already finished eating his breakfast. "I think I'm going to go for a swim. After you all finish eating, you can join me. If you want to, I mean," he said.

"I don't think Verolen will be up for that," Aries chortled. "I'll come and join you soon, though." She waved at Bermuda in return.

"Now...how do we wake him up?" Rush jabbed a thumb at Verolen.

"Don't. Just save him some breakfast, he'll be fine." Aries grinned. "Would you like us to get you anything, Arachne?"

"No...I'm good." Arachne murmured, pulling the blankets back over her head. "Thank you, though."

"Alrighty then. Which just leaves two people," Aries turned to Eve. She wasn't planning to wake neither Verdi nor Byrne; they both needed plenty of rest. "Hey," She said quietly, shaking the demon gently. "Wake up, Eve. It's morning already."

Eve's eyes opened in slits, glaring heavily at Aries. "Stop shaking me," she hissed, curling her arms tighter around Verdi. She had spent the night holding onto him like a little plush animal. "I'll get up when I get up!"

"Got it." Aries huffed a little, shaking her head. "All you demons, always so tempermental..." She shrugged and headed out, leaving Rush to wake up the other one.

"Israel," Rush used a different method, sitting down next to the Siren and putting a hand on his back. "Wake up, Israel. Breakfast is ready, the sun is up, Arachne is awake, and Bermuda wants to know if you want to go swimming with him."

"Swimming?" Israel's eyes blinked open, staring at Rush for a couple of seconds before registering who he was. "Oh... I had a bad dream... it was all hot... and... Arachne... I didn't protect Arachne..." he murmured, still obviously half-asleep.

Rush blinked for a moment, then sighed. "That wasn't a dream, but Arachne's fine now. She's...still missing her foot, yes, but she's in no danger of death or even pain at this point. Perhaps...you should go talk to her. It might be for the best of both of you."

Israel sat up slowly, wincing. The wounds had gone, but his body still ached... It wasn't quite a physical pain, but the mental stress he had been put under had taken its toll. "Where is she?" he asked, before looking across the hut and seeing the little demoness. "Arachne? Are you alright? I'm so sorry..." he began.

"I'm okay..." Arachne said, watching Rush leave. "I'm...I'm hurting, Israel. Please, I...I need a hug. From you." She sat up slowly, holding her arms out towards her servant. "Please?"

Israel came foreward immediately, wrapping his arms around her. "Of course," he said, wanting only to please his mistress. "I'm so sorry... I didn't mean for... for any of this to happen..." he murmured.

"It wasn't your fault..." Arachne said quietly, hugging Israel tightly. "I was stupid. I knew that Verolen and the others could handle the people following us, I just...I wanted to help Verdi and Byrne...I saw where they were, and..." She sniffed unhappily, curling into Israel's grip. "I didn't think we'd get attacked like that..."

"I didn't protect you," Israel blurted. "I shoulda protected you." He wrapped his arms a little closer around Arachne. "I didn't want you to get hurt..."

"You were in a cage, and hurt. You couldn't have helped, and...the only reason you got hurt was because I got us both into trouble." Arachne shook her head. "Please, Israel...don't blame yourself. We...we were both at fault, if you want to say that. But I don't blame you..."

Israel opened his mouth to say something more, but Eltanin poked his head into the tent. "Are you two coming to eat breakfast, or what?" he asked.

"Yes, okay..." Arachne nodded once or twice, then moved to where she could start to try and stand. "Help me out please, Israel?" She asked with a small smile.

"Of course," he said, helping her to her... foot. "I can carry you, if you would rather that," he said.

"No...I have to figure out how to use crutches anyways. Either that, or I can get Verolen to make me a wheelchair." Arachne sniffed, leaning heavily on Israel at first, but slowly evening her weight out between Israel and her remaining foot.

Boop.