Grace of An Elder

Chapter 45

T'ahrou and Zaiyu were standing stoically against the metallic walls of the corridor, one on each side, while Dhadtoudi sat crosslegged on the floor closest to T'ahrou. Her eyes were lined with dark circles, the lids trying to force themselves closed while also remaining open. She was going on twenty hours without sleep, and her body was fighting itself.

"Dhadtoudi go home. I will contact you when I hear something."

She cast an irritated glance across the way at her brother, struggling to force a kind tone into her voice as she spoke. "You're a fool if you think I will leave." Zaiyu turned his attention to T'ahrou who in turn raised his hands palm-out as if to say 'I'm staying out of this one'. "Soft meats cannot go without sleep like Yautja can. It is detrimental to your body."

"Do you honestly believe that now is the time for that conversation..?" He nearly flinched at the malice in her tone.

"You know that's not what I meant..."

"It is what you said." Zaiyu clicked softly as he decided to leave her be. Her body would give in to the weight of sleep eventually, whether she liked it or not. They needed only to wait it out.

After what felt like hours later, A'ytu stepped out of his lab with an unreadable expression gracing his rigid features. The two males stood straighter while Dhadtoudi pushed herself drunkenly to her feet and staggered toward the healer. "How is he?"

A'ytu clicked softly as he looked down at the tiny female. His heart felt as though it was being squeezed from within his chest. "Dhadtoudi, listen to me..."

"HOW IS HE?!" A'ytu was silent for a long moment as he gazed into the eyes of the child that his friend had brought to him so long ago; they were not the same eyes. All of the times he had seen her before, her eyes had shown determination, kindness, at times when she was very young a small amount of pain, and every so often a bit of frustration...but now for the first time, he saw in those eyes true fear.

"Dhi'ki-de..." Those eyes widened before narrowing into defiant slits as she shook her head, her soft tresses swinging about her waist. "Dhadtoudi listen to me."

"No. No, you're wrong. He's not dead. He wouldn't die. He can't die."

"Dhadtoudi..." Zaiyu spoke now as he reached for her arm but she jerked away from his touch. She pushed past the oversized healer and stomped into the lab before the door sealed her in. "Many apologies, A'ytu...this is going to be difficult for her."

"I know as well as you, young one. Give her some time with him then you may enter." Zaiyu nodded and the three waited, soon listening to the barely audible sounds of a human girl sobbing and pleading with her father to wake from his eternal slumber.