I finished the first draft near 9PM with 47 words over the limit, have a vaguely related word that maybe hopefully hasn’t been used as a Whoops title as a title yet. And light editing, of course, because I physically don’t have the time for rigorous editing this time around.
Continuing from FFM 2026 20: Waking Up, finally featuring some Beyari POV too (although less than planned because it turned out that I couldn’t do a neat switch back to it within the word limit after all).
About Iazyer’s speaking patterns: Eskel-Zai makes little use of the sounds he cannot pronounce (which contributes to how he speaks Earth-Common), so whenever he is speaking normally, it means he’s speaking Eskel-Zai instead of Earth-Common or another language he has trouble with.
Also, a new Eskel-Zai idiom is used here in its translated form (Eskel-Zai form not done yet because that one needs a lot of careful consideration): One of the “no problem” responses in Eskel-Zai is literally a word for “honor”. It is usually translated to either “an honor” or “(it) is an honor”. It considered the shortened form of a similar response that uses the term “matter of honor”.
Also2: One Standard Minute (S-Min for short) is 5 Earth minutes.
Steirdrar opened his eyes and checked the time, not that it stuck in his mind. There was a message from Beyari but he left in unopened and went back to sleep. He would read it later.
~~~
Beyari thought nothing of Steirdrar not responding to her message during the Third-Day, especially after noticing the Do NOT disturb as his official status. Chances were that he was dealing with an illness someone had brought with them to the base. Foresight was not alerting her to anything, so at least it was nothing that infected Pryzis.
What she did think a lot of was Iazyer coming to see her at her ship — and why he was there.
“Figured you should be told,” Iazyer stated the moment he was face-to-face with her. “Urrang is unwell; he’s resting at ours.”
Beyari blinked a couple times behind her visor. “How did that happen?”
“I found him having a bad time and took him to ours. That’s all I can tell without his permission.” Iazyer crossed his arms. “He’s sleeping a lot, so it might be a while before you see him.”
“Understood. Thank you for telling me and for helping him.”
“Is an honor.” Inclining his head as a goodbye, Iazyer left to carry on with his day. Beyari did the same.
She thought about that conversation a lot while she waited for Steirdrar to respond.
~~~
When Steirdrar woke up alert enough for more than just eating, drinking and going to the toilet, he finally checked the message Beyari had sent him.
/~/~DisasterHunter/~/~: Evening! I’m back at the base and itching for a spar. Let me know when you’re available.
It had been nearly three Third-Days ago. Steirdrar took a deep breath and started writing with a shaky hand.
Damp’n’FurryII: Hi. Sorry I took so long to respond; I’ve been on bedrest for a while and missed your message. I cannot promise I’ll be up for a proper spar for a while.
Beyari started writing a response almost immediately.
/~/~DisasterHunter/~/~: No need to apologize. Iazyer swung by and let me know that you’re unwell and staying at his and Hergon’s. And don’t worry about the spar; take your time recovering.
/~/~DisasterHunter/~/~: How are you feeling?
Damp’n’FurryII: Somewhat better now. At least I feel like getting up for more than just the bare minimum. Are you free for something like a walk sometime soon? It would probably do good for me to get some fresh air.
/~/~DisasterHunter/~/~: I need ~2 S-Mins, then I’ll be available.
Steirdrar suddenly became very aware of how many showers he had skipped.
Damp’n’FurryII: I might need more than that. I have to shower first.
/~/~DisasterHunter/~/~: Understood. I’ll finish up here. Let me know when you’re ready and I’ll come meet you at Iazyer and Hergon’s.
Damp’n’FurryII: Thank you. See you soon.
/~/~DisasterHunter/~/~: See you soon.
Steirdrar thanked whatever deity was listening that Hergon had showed him where the shower and washer were earlier. Once he and his clothes were clean — and felt somewhat better too — he wrote a quick message about going out with Beyari on paper, messaged Beyari that he was ready and headed outside. To his surprise, she was already there, talking with Hergon.
“Hi,” Beyari greeted.
Hergon smiled. “Hey there. Good to see you out and about.”
“Hi,” Steirdrar greeted, managing a smile. “It’s good to do more than just sleep again.”
Hergon nodded with a look of approval in their eyes.
Beyari turned to Hergon. “Talk more later?”
“Talk more later,” Hergon replied.
“Until we regroup then.”
Hergon inclined their head. “Until we regroup.”
Beyari turned to Steirdrar. “Shall we go?”
“Yes.” Steirdrar nodded his goodbye to Hergon, who nodded back, and started leading the way along the edge of the landing field. Beyari fell into step with him, matching his unusually slow pace. “How was the supply run?”
“A routine trip to Igordon. As uninteresting as supply runs this far from the IR’s borders can get.” Beyari shrugged. “Not gonna complain, though. I’m guessing you’ve been having a much worse time than me.”
“That’s one way to put it,” Steirdrar sighed. “How much did Iazyer say about what’s going on?”
“Just that he found you having a bad time and took you his and Hergon’s and that you’ve been sleeping a lot. I’m deducing that it’s not contagious at least anymore, since Hergon said nothing about that.”
“It’s nothing contagious,” Steirdrar confirmed. “…Just severe exhaustion. I overstressed myself and had a small breakdown of sorts. That’s all.”
Beyari cringed. “You’re going to see a mental health professional about that, right?”
“I doubt I’ll be given much choice,” Steirdrar grumbled.
Beyari made a dissatisfied hum. “…Does Hergon know you’re not into the idea?”
“It did come up earlier. They’re working on seeing if I can transfer to a more suitable therapist. For their own peace of mind.”
“Good.” Beyari was quiet for a bit, looking hesitant. “…If you ever need to talk about stuff to someone who’s your equal rather than your healer, I have two functional ears to lend. And some experience at being not-okay, even if it’s different from what you’re dealing with.”
“Thank you…” Steirdrar gathered his courage. “There is something I want to talk with you about, just not yet.”
Beyari nodded. “Take as much time as you need. Your wellbeing comes first.”
“Thank you,” Steirdrar said again. “I’ll try to get to it as soon as I can.”
Beyari put her hand on his arm. The light contact lit that half of his body up. “As long as it doesn’t add to your stress.”
Steirdrar nodded and decided to forgo a third thanks in a row.
The conversation shifted to lighter topics as they circled around the landing field and made their way back. Steirdrar went back to bed after eating and drinking but this time he did not plummet into sleep the moment he was horizontal. It was a small victory, one that he held onto as he fell asleep.
WindySilver 