Ariel raised her arms and returned Meesei's hug. "Of course, Meesei. You will always be welcome if you come by." Even if they were going to leave, she was happy to have friends like these. She managed to open her bleary eyes to reply to Ahnasha with a smile, "That would be lovely, Ahnasha. I wish I could be there too."

Letting go of Meesei, Ariel tried to level her breathing and calm herself. She wasn't particularly hungry now, so she decided to leave her soup. What she realised was that she was tired. "I think I need to go to bed," She sniffed, wiped her eyes, and got up from her chair, "Goodnight, all."

"Goodnight, Ariel," Fendros and Janius said just out of unison.

To everyone's surprise, even Sabine spoke. "Goodnight, sister."

Sabine's words caused Ariel to halt before she sauntered off upstairs and she looked back to give Sabine a wide smile before she continued. The table became silent again for a moment. It wasn't an awkward silence, there was a warmth in the air. Janius lightly tapped his finger against the table's surface idly before breaking the silence, "I think I'm going to miss her too."

"Yeah," Fendros said through a yawn, "I don't think I'm be far from heading to bed myself."

---

Ariel entered her room rubbing her eyes and breathing through her mouth rather than her now blocked nose. She found Lorag leaning up against a wall and assumed he was sleeping, so she crept quietly to one of the beds and began to remove her shoes. It was strange, she thought Lorag would have taken one of the beds. Perhaps he was too intoxicated to realise.