The party raged on as the music continued to echo through the cavern well into the wee small hours of the morning. X’hondrian parties were like that; they required much less sleep, which meant their parties could functionally last for days. That said, not everyone could party like an X’hondrian, so they decided to wind things down with enough time for the various residents and their new guests to get some sleep before a new day dawned. 

Kir and Harrison didn’t even make an effort to sleep in their own rooms despite being offered. The group said their good nights, making loose plans to to start their mission in earnest come sunrise before Zev and Lyris disappeared into their own quarters, and Kir and Harrison eenie-meenie-miny-moed to decided which one they’d sleep in together. 

It took a while to actually wind down from the party. The thick stone walls provided ample sound dampening to allow a normal conversation without disturbing their crewmates, and well placed textiles and art helped prevent the sound from echoing within the room. For a while, they just talked, debriefing about their journey so far and Kir shed some light on the dances and traditions on display at the party. Kir felt at peace again. Her body was finally healthy once more, and being able to immerse herself in her people freely had relit the spark in her. She was reminded why she’d taken a path of study focused on the history and culture of X’hondria, and the pre-colonial people they had come from. Eventually, though, the excitement waned and the exhaustion of a hundred years settled over her once more. They decided to call it a night and curled themselves into each other in the bed carved into the wall and lined with so much plush cushioning, you’d never know the bed was stone. 

Kir slept like the dead that night. Exhausted and more at peace than she had been in a century, she actually slept restfully. Even with Harrison’s restless turning and eventual exit from the bed altogether, she didn’t stir. Without the extra warmth of his body beside her, she merely burrowed deeper into the blankets until she was fully cocooned in soft warmth. 

When the lights did finally rise outside the window to herald the new day, she was slow to rouse. They were already a couple of hours into daylight and the cavernous city was once again alive by the time she blinked into bleary wakefulness and began to put herself together again. She was glad she’d mostly abstained from drinking or she feared she might have had the mother of all headaches to try and work through. 

She found a fresh set of clothes - something reminiscent of X’hondria with the sensibilities of the Dvergr’s artful utilitarianism. Wearing blue again felt freeing in itself. Blue being such an important part of X’hondrian cultural iconography, it had been virtually banned from their wardrobes after the invasion. If you can’t kill the people, you kill their spirits, their culture. It felt defiant, a first act of the true rebellion to wear it now. 

Outside, the X’hondrian sanctuary was bustling with life. Everyone seemed busy with their own goings on, but not to busy to stop and greet each other in passing. Not to busy to notice her standing awkwardly in the passage and give her a kind acknowledgement. 

La’ana appeared as if summoned, beaming once again, “I take it you are well rested. Kir nodded a sheepish response. “Your friends are already on the surface inspecting a new ship, I believe.”

That sparked a new wave of excitement in Kir, and she immediately lifted off the ground and zipped through the cavern, past the well-worn flights of stairs and up to the surface. The sun was shining; it was a beautiful day, almost as if the whole of creation was blessing their endeavour with good fortune. She smiled, touching down lightly into a perfect stride as she followed the call of Harrison’s mind toward a truly massive ship. 

Looking up at it, she was awestruck. It was practically large enough to serve as a colony seed ship. As with everything the Dvergr seemed to make, it was as beautiful as it was functional. Sprawling knot work of dragons and serpents and birds accentuated the lines of the ship. It shone like polished silver in the sunlight. If she didn’t know better, she could have imagined this as the ship for an imperial noble who spent most of their time away from home either on the core imperial planet or going between worlds to conduct business. Either way, it was palatial. She could feel the others were inside, and made her way past the ship they’d come in on and into the main hold of the larger ship. Her head was on a swivel as she picked her way around cargo being loaded up and a few engineers seemingly performing final maintenance checks as if it were about to take off soon. As she finally managed to find the others up on the bridge - a dome-shaped space with 360-degree views - it finally started to sink in. This was about to be their ship. 

Zev noticed her first, teasing her with a playful look “There she is! Sleeping in like a little princess.”

“You try getting rest in the turmoil of captivity. I think I deserve to sleep in before we embark on this undertaking” she quipped back, but there was no bite to her words. 

“Well, you’re not gonna believe this: we’re getting a new ship,” Zev was almost vibrating with excitement. 

“It can’t possibly be this one,” she replied, crossing her arms, “It’s massive! Way more than the four of us need.” Kir looked at Astri curiously, hoping to be caught up to speed on what she’d missed.