Everlong

77

Camp life echoed throughout the tent and into Liruliniel's subconscious, her eyes squeezed shut before opening slowly. Her eyes dully stared up at the tent roof above her before she even contemplated moving, she just absentmindedly stared; her mind was waking up slowly, and her body and limbs even slower. She ached. She couldn't even deny it, she ached horribly. She felt awful for thinking, and longing for a bath and a fresh bed, the people around her didn't have that luxury quite yet. She wasn't even sure if there was any running water nearby. She hoped so, or else where was everyone getting fresh water to drink? Surely what Thranduil had bought with him, had all but ran out now?

Liruliniel frowned and slowly tried to move, she was stiff and her back clenched at her even trying to move. Her legs felt heavy, and the arm in the sling was as responsive as it had been last night. She tentatively sat there with her hand gently against it. A small frown was on her face. Nerves would fire off every so often, her fingers twitched on response, but it wasn't her choice to move the digits. The thought of potentially being without it for the rest of her life had her frowning in thought, no more fighting was the first thing which crossed her mind, she could train those around her with one arm, she would have to give up archery; not that she would weep over that...

All in all, she could do it. She could do it, and she wouldn't even care that much. With a shrug from her good shoulder, Liruliniel just accepted it for what it was: her arm could heal perfectly fine, or it could not. She wasn't going to sit here worrying about it. Especially because of how she was sitting was making her ribs feel like they were encasing her tightly. With a wheezed breath, her legs were heavily flung over the bunk. Her bare feet shuffled against the ground as she sat there looking around, Liruliniel's expression softened at the sight of Thranduil within his chair, not so much that, but more for the fact that he was clearly asleep.

She knew he was, because if he knew she was awake, he would be over here trying to help. He'd be trying to not look like he was fussing, quite like yesterday; he was very bad at blatantly trying to be ignorant, it came naturally to him yes, but when trying to act it...no. To her his worrying was as clear as the sun no doubt in the sky. But he seemed to have gone to sleep leaning against one of his hands, balled into a fist and his elbow against the armrest. If anyone saw him, they'd think he was merely thinking with his eyes shut. So deep in thought he was oblivious to everything around him.

Well, he definitely was oblivious to her awkwardly stretching down at the other end of the tent. Liruliniel stretched on her toes, her good arm above her head before stretching before herself. She felt and heard joints popping, she felt the protest her ribs and back gave before commencing walking forwards. Reaching out, Liruliniel just smiled when the reaction from her fingers lightly trailing over his cheek, had a pair of slightly sleepy eyes staring up at her. Thranduil's eyes may have opened quickly enough, but even she could see he was still more asleep.

With more grace than what she showed this morning, he moved from his hand and looked up at her fully. He seemed surprised she wasn't swaying in place, that she seemed quite stable and smiling his way. In truth, Liruliniel passed out into sleep last night. Her body was screaming for sleep, and she couldn't ignore the pull it had on her. The bunk was uncomfortable, the sleep had been restful despite of the lack of comfort, but she didn't see how she had any standing to complain; some out there didn't even have bunks, because they were all given to the injured. Yes, she may have been injured too, but she was rather sure she was perhaps one of few injured that actually woke come the morning.

Shaking her head, Liruliniel sighed. She couldn't help but feel melancholy. How could she not? So much had happened, in such a small space of time. Things escalated so quickly, honestly, Liruliniel didn't think she had had a moment to fully comprehend what had actually happened. Thranduil clearly saw her turmoil, the way her eyes clouded over and she stared through him. Standing and placing a hand on her shoulder, he turned and slowly and gently pushed her to sit. He knelt in front of her, his hands remaining holding onto her one. His eyes flicked to a twitching finger before looking up when she let out a small laugh, it didn't sound all too happy.