Sleep, or, That Unconscious Thing

I walk into Xahnan's lab, and am shocked to see her hunched over her desk, scrawling things on papers, checking her math, reading paper after paper. She sits hunched for a few minutes before she notices me.

"Oh.. um, hi Nexan. Just, uh, doing work, I guess. Wanna sit?" She jumps up and grabs another chair, and I have to suppress a giggle at her earnst. She must have been quite frightened by my sudden appearance.

"No, it's fine. Just came to check on you. You've been holed up in here for days, you know. No one knows if your alive or not. What have you been doing in here anyway?"

"Just, uh, work. Crunching numbers and uh, research. I've been looking into the sudden appearance of those Dusks. Testing the Castle's security." She wrings her hands and sits back down. She looks absolutely worn out.

"Have you slept at all? Eaten? Breathed?"

Xahnan laughs a tired laugh. "Only a little. Been, uh, working a lot. How's everyone? I heard about, uh, Maxsodin and Braxyd. I think that everyone should get back to um, training and-" She cuts off with a yawn.

"Xahnan, I really think you should take a break. Sleep, eat and stop worrying about the others. They'll take care of themselves. You're the one that needs to be taken care of. You look horrible."

"Uhm, okay? But Nexan-" I cut her off.

"No buts. Sleep. I'll see you in the real world tomorrow?"

"Sure, I guess. But, um, Nexan?"

I study her face. "Yeah?"

"Can I go visit Maxsodin first? I really am, um, concerned about her. I uh, think she needs a, um, friend."

"Geez, didn't I tell you to sleep? You can talk to her tomorrow. Night, Xahnan." I turn to leave, but she grabs my arm.

"Thanks, Nexan." She smiles, then quickly turns and gathers some dirty coffee mugs from the cluttered desk. I leave, and turn down the hall towards my room. Even Superiors need to sleep sometimes.