beauty bleak in a wasted world (part LIV)

(Continued from part LIII.)

Emilly walked into the med lab, looking with concern at the still form of the Duke, then walking across the corridor to the bay Lina was in. She turned up the dim lights to a slightly brighter glow, but not enough to fully light the room. Lina slowly turned her head, blinking.

"Hiee...Sorry I didn't tell you when I got home, I umm...well...passed out."

"No worries, you never need to apologize for recovery--complications."

Lina blinked slowly. "Soo...what's happening?"

The door softly chimed. The Duchess walked over, peering out, nodding at someone unseen, and came back in with a tray containing tea and a covered bowl. She set the tray down on a side table, turning a chair to sit down.

"Okay. So, the last quarter of the ship--under the water and separated--either sank into the Dark Sea, or went somewhere on its own, which is a puzzle, but not one I feel compelled to solve. Justine got rid of the last of the eye beasts when it came through a window and attacked her. We still have a massive rift in one of the towers, and we're debating what to do about that."

"Wow," Lina said. "Well...crap. Umm...how long have I been out?"

Emilly thought. "Two days? No more than three."

"Wow," Lina repeated. "Umm...sorry I wasn't of much help..."

"Oh, you helped a great deal." The Duchess poured her a cup of tea into a two-handled cup, and carefully wrapped Lina's hands around it.

"I di...id?" Lina said. She slowly drank some of the tea."Mmm...that's good." She thought, staring up at the ceiling. "Well, I can still taste, so I didn't completely overdo it."

"Still taste?"

Lina nodded. "I used all my power to open and push the Gray Area into the gateway...actually, I really thought it would kill me. It was...well, tooo much..."

Emilly nodded.

"And sometimes, size does matter...I'm not a Jedi."

"Well, you need to take that into account."

"True."

Emilly smiled. "You did a good thing. You didn't die. That's important."

"True, and we're still here. So...yay us." Lina took another drink, and looked around. "So, what now?"

"Justine's rez day party planning, I suppose."

(Continued in part LV.)