D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad Chapter 2296 Fragile Rest

--- Kat ---

The answer had been to bottle it of course. Kat didn’t know why for even a moment she’d think Appoline would do anything else despite the risks. No immediate problems appeared but it wasn’t the immediate problems Kat was worried about. So, Kat decided to take a few factors into account and declare a break. "Alright, we can set up and rest here,"

"What? I’m fine, and the potion is done. Oh and the golem was defeated," countered Appoline.

"Ah, perhaps it was... but Lily is already asleep and keeping that potion under control had to have taken a good deal of effort..." Kat said slowly.

"I don’t like where this is going..." countered Appoline.

"Alright, in that case, simply tell me one thing. How much mana and mental energy did you spend keeping that potion in check?" asked Kat.

"Now hang on... that’s hardly relevant..." began Appoline.

"I could add physical effort as well? You were constantly moving at the end there, rapidly going all around the cauldron and I’m sure it took a quite a bit of effort to keep stirring it..." Kat slowly outlined.

Appoline glared, fully aware of Kat’s lie detection abilities. She also doubted her own ability to slip past that while she was so tired. It shouldn’t have been too obvious... but Appoline supposed that after spending so much time with her Kat could probably pick up on her smaller tells. Not ideal... well, no, Appoline was smart enough to recognise that this was perhaps, arguably, for the best. Not what she wanted, but what she needed... or something.

It wasn’t all that convincing even in her own head. The idea of resting wasn’t one she was fond off. Especially not in such a cramped area underground... but while fear kept this place from feeling safe and comfortable the very real risk of inhaling shards of glass should she sleep outside and her potions run out was a much more practical and relevant concern.

Appoline let out a sigh before nodding. "Fine," Appoline continued to grumble under her breath as she put away her brewing equipment and then took out a broom to brush away some of the dust and glass that was still in the area. It didn’t help much, but it helped a bit. Eventually, Appoline got her bedding ready and curled up around the edge of the cave. It was barely long enough for her to stretch out.

Kat waited for Appoline to clearly be ’in bed’ before she herself snuggled up against one of the rock walls and settled in for some meditation. It would let her keep watch and it wasn’t as if she herself was feeling tired just yet. So this would rejuvenate her back to about full capacity while reducing the risk of something sneaking up on them. Kat did consider adding something to cover the entrance, but they’d built it to keep the wind out and anything she could quickly assemble would fall under a concentrated wind assault.

Kat’s meditation would be woken after an unknown period of time, not by an attack, but by Appoline beginning to thrash around nearby. Kat ended up kicked in the leg. It didn’t hurt, but it knocked her out of meditation. Seeing Appoline’s state, Kat carefully applied some of her calming aura over the elf. Not too heavily at first, just enough to calm her down and stop the nightmares.

Except that light touch was clearly not doing the job. Kat concentrated her aura further, deepening the effects on Appoline for a while until finally, the elf began to settle once again. Kat found it somewhat difficult to manage actually. Her aura was now very concentrated and quite empowered. It was more than she’d ever considered necessary before. Was this due to Appoline’s power? Her lack of sleep before now? The severity of her nightmares? Was it due to the fact Kat had used this trick to help her before and now Appoline’s body was fighting back?

Kat didn’t know and she certainly wasn’t going to wake Appoline up to check. It was potentially an issue, but for the moment, Kat was quite sure that giving Appoline as much good sleep as was possible would be the right approach. Even if it caused future issues, the Appoline of right now clearly needed the extra help. If more creative solutions were necessary, Kat could deal with them.

Now the main issue was that keeping this effect going was taking far more of Kat’s mental effort then simply letting it rest over Appoline. More than Kat thought she’d be capable of maintaining while also meditating. The real, concentrated efforts needed meant that if she dropped her aura for even a bit, Appoline might wake up just from the effect vanishing. *

Lily would awake some time later, though not for long. The calming aura was covering her too after all. Even if Kat wasn’t focusing it on Lily, the fact that Lily was about as close to Kat as possible, literally laying on her chest, meant that there wasn’t any easy way to exclude her from the effect. In the end, Lily’s ’waking’ amounted to her opening her eyes. Looking around, realising that there was no immediate danger, and then falling asleep once again after just a few moments. Kat might have liked the company... but there wasn’t anything she’d fight to change for the moment. No reason to ruin their sleep over a bit of boredom.

Thus Kat continued to hold her silent vigil, watching over the two of them, and concentrating on keeping Appoline asleep and in good condition. Kat’s concentration would waver a few times, but luckily never enough to allow Appoline to awake. Twitch a few times perhaps, but not wake nor sink fully into those old nightmares. Kat considered that a success at least. Though, when the time finally came for Appoline to wake, Kat found herself somewhat mentally drained from the effort.

It happened slowly. Appoline started to shift in her sleep, and Kat double checked her aura. It hadn’t faltered at all in the last ten minutes. Keeping careful watch, she found Appoline moving around... until her head smacked into the wall of the cave and she let out a hiss. Soon, the elf was pulling herself into a sitting position and looking around. Kat met her gaze. "Ah, I see you are influencing my mental state," commented Appoline.

"Yes," Kat confirmed.

"Thank you. I suspect it has helped me get better sleep than I have in some time. Would you mind dropping the effect now?" queried Appoline. Kat simply let herself relax and allowed for her aura to retract back into her body. Lily shivered a bit as it did so, but didn’t otherwise move nor make an effort to rouse herself.

Appoline nodded after a few moments. "Yes that is... an interesting feeling. Not altogether foreign but not quite belonging either. Still, it was likely necessary. I can almost remember the faintest wisps of the nightmare that encroached onto the edges of my dreams before you interfered."

"Um... are you alright? You sound like you swallowed a textbook," asked Kat. "Not that there’s anything wrong with that... but it’s not quite how you normally talk either."

Appoline nodded, "Yes do remember that my family is as close to nobility as the domed city has. I was taught from a young age to act with pois and grace. While I don’t truly care for much of those teachings, they stick with you and I’m not awake enough to find off such deeply ingrained childhood rituals. Perhaps it is also helping me calm down."

Kat brushed herself off a bit but didn’t move to stand up. "Alright well... that’s fine. I just thought I’d check. Do you feel like you need more sleep? I wasn’t really keeping track of the time and... I’m not sure I could either. I’d need to count probably. The sun still hasn’t moved." Kat gestured towards the line of light that had encroached on the cave. It was in the same spot it had hours ago when Appoline fell asleep.

"Yes, that’s... well I don’t know about ’to be expected’ but it’s not a surprise considering everything else. I feel... a touch stiff considering the hard flooring but otherwise I’m well rested. I don’t think I could sleep much more even if you used your aura. I am... yes I am awake and even if some of my fears about sleeping are easily dismissed when feeling wide awake... it’s not when I’m recently awoken that I need to chase them away."

Kat decided not to comment about how ’recently awake’ and ’had a good sleep’ are not always the same thing. Especially considering the numerous times Appoline had woken up in the middle of the night precisely because of those issues... but it was fine. Or at least, acceptable enough for the moment that Kat didn’t feel the need to push. Especially when she wasn’t sure how long she could maintain her aura like that if she pushed it again.

It didn’t feel sore exactly... but certainly stretched in an odd way. It’s not how she normally used it. Carefully, but with potency. "Well, now you’re rested we can look around some more. See if there are any portals or if we need to head backwards..."