We stopped to rest after an hour of traversing more of the national park forest. We moved slowly, opting to be as quiet as possible and to not push ourselves physically.

Conversation between the three of us died out, not that I was able to do more than grumble or shake my head to communicate anyway.

Azad and Xandra did their best to trek onwards despite the incredible physical and emotional exhaustion they were under.

We had come to a clearing in the forest where a lovely meadow lay.

"Let's stop-a minute," Azad mumbled upon seeing the bed of flowers.

Xandra offered no objection. She had ceased springing forward like a rabbit and had instead walked with a hand holding onto one of the bone-armor ridges at my hip for some extra support.

She moved away from me and sat in the middle of the meadow.

The perfect combination of sweet smells and the additional warmth from the light peeking in through the forest canopy made for a perfect storm of late morning comfort.

I set myself down between Azad and Xandra, resting on my backside like a lazy gorilla.

About ten minutes passed. I let out a questioning grumble in an attempt to ask if it would be a good idea for us to get going again.

"Another five minutes," Azad mumbled.

He was sat cross-legged with his arms crossed and his head bent forward.

Xandra was sitting back with her legs outstretched. Like a child trying to stay up past their bedtime, she was fighting a losing battle trying to stay awake.

Strangely, I didn't feel tired enough to need to sleep. A nice, mellow vibe had taken hold of me, helped because of the relative silence of the meadow and the sweet smells.

I had closed my eyes and had just let my mind drift off, enjoying the peace of it all.

When I opened my eyes again, it was because I felt something at my hip. Xandra had crawled over on her hands and knees and, in a sleepy daze, had rested her back against my bone-covered hip. The slight C-shaped curve in the bone there made for just the right spot for her to rest her head. How cognizant of what she was doing I couldn't tell, but pretty soon the sound of her lightly snoring filled the meadow.

My fox-frog-monster face was fixed into a kind of constant grin already, the left-side with its eldritch-looking needle-teeth more-so than the relatively less sinister looking 'normal' teeth on the right side. I had turned slowly, more out of awkwardness than anything, to see what Azad was going to make of Xandra adorably sleeping against me.

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Then I saw Azad shuffling closer to my outstretched right leg, and the next thing I knew he was laying his head against a bony-nook at my ankle. There was no question of whether he was asleep or not because he soon started to snore too. Any other time his snoring might have been irritating, but for some reason, sitting in the meadow, it didn't bother me at all.

Both slept the day away, waking very briefly every other hour or so to check their surroundings before going back to sleep. To not make them feel awkward sleeping close to me like they were, I pretended like I needed to sleep too, breathing slowly, and deeply, letting the grumble of my throat which reverberated through my body ease them both into deeper sleep.

I kept an ear out for trouble, using the beast's heightened hearing to keep a vigilant watch.

Besides bugs, and the occasional critter or bird, there wasn't anything nearby that seemed a possible threat.

The late morning passed into a lazy afternoon, and the lazy afternoon passed into a serene early evening. Azad and Xandra slept, and slept, and slept. Both stopped waking briefly to check on their surroundings after the first few hours, and lost themselves in the deepest sleep either must have had in weeks.

I had taken the blanket and draped it over Xandra, and had put an arm over Azad to give him some warmth in the coming chill of the evening. When the last of the daylight passed I bulbed up just a little, using the warmth beneath the bone armour to stave off any of the chill which might have reached them.

Throughout this time, other than making sure the other two were comfortable, and keeping a vigilant watch, I tried not to think too much on anything. Like them, I needed a respite. There was something about making sure they were okay, that they felt protected enough to sleep so deeply, that brought about a deep calm in me too.

Then, after many hours of serenity, my thoughts turned to George. There was something about being sat with Azad and Xandra the way we had been all day which reminded me of him. I remembered back to George and I being in the back laundry room after he had returned to himself after becoming the faceless, many-eyed creature he had become before. I understood better than ever what he had gone through, what it was like for him to have lost control of himself, after having undergone the same thing myself.

With George at the front of my mind I shook off the sleepiness which had taken hold of me and renewed my watch with greater vigor.

Xandra was the first to stir awake. She sat up, stretched, and then quickly remembered herself and stood up with a start.

"How long did we sleep?" she said in a panic.

It was much darker, late at night. I let out a friendly grumble, if only to let Xandra know there wasn't anything the matter.

Azad stirred next. He did a kind-of military-style roll twice over and then sprang up, ready to fight. He, like Xandra, relaxed a little once he saw there wasn't a Peeper in sight.

"What time is it?" Azad mumbled.

I just let out another noise that sounded like a dog playfully imitating human speech.

They both looked much better for the rest, to the point it cemented in my mind that sleep really was the best healer overall for our wounds.

"I need to get a watch," Xandra mumbled.

"Hey," said Azad, drawing attention to him. He stood with his arms crossed, like he had something important to say.

"I'm hungry, let's eat before we move on," he said.

Xandra and I shared a look.

We took some time to eat more from the blue basket, and set off again shortly after.

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