"Hey there, sleepyhead," Noroa said, switching on the lights.
Mericlou pulled the covers more closely about her.
"It's a beautiful morning," her sister sang. "Time to get up!"
Mericlou groaned questioningly. It had been three years since she had last heard the kind and sweet timbre of her sister's voice waking her. In her sleep-fuddled mind, she had, for a moment, believed that she had gone back in time.
"Meri, come on!" Noroa said, now insistent. "There's work that needs to be done. You don't want to be late, do you?"
She mumbled something that sounded like, "Will … be up soon," halfway into the pillow.
"For a minute there, I thought you were turning into Garen," Noroa said. "I sometimes have to splash water on him to wake him up."
Hearing the door close behind her, Mericlou groggily turned around in the bed. As magical as last night had been, it had deprived her of some much-needed downtime. She had been about to re-enter her sleep mode for a last few minutes' worth of rest when she felt something warm and ticklish pressing into her cheek.
She opened her eyes, and found herself staring into Needles' tiny face. She smiled, and ran her fingers through the ferret's smooth coat of fur.
"Hi there, little friend," she said, sitting upright. "I see at least one of us is looking bright eyed and bushy tailed … so to speak."
Needles crawled up her arm, and once again made herself at home around her neck, directly underneath her now-matted green curls. Mericlou silently reminded herself that she needed to get her some food today.
"I bet you didn't have as good a night as I had," She said to the ferret, her heart swelling at the beautiful recollection of last night. She touched a finger to her lips, the memory of her and Aldrec's first kiss still fresh in her mind.
The memory fully awakened her, and she threw the covers off of her, laughing gaily. She donned her robe, let Needles run through the hallway, and went to the bathroom for a shower. "Watch for the ferret!" She called out to Noroa, whom she could hear busying herself in the kitchen.
She overindulged herself in the shower stall, her passion-activated imagination envisioning the warm water as Aldrec's arms wrapping comfortably around her. Only when Alaema began to pound on the door and complain, did she rush to a finish. She apologized, and went back into her room to get dressed.