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Sleep did not come easily.

To be whisked away, taken to a Wonder with a Knight she’d just met; normal people would probably be bothered by that. Eleonora, however, was far less phased.

From what little she had learned of the Page, she felt relatively safe. At least probably as safe as he felt with here. Antasana had fallen asleep quickly, either because he was that exhausted or because he trusted her not to get into any sort of mischief.

No, he was not the reason for her unease.

The cave was much darker and more narrow than she could have anticipated. Even the tunnels on Alcor’s world were more spacious and well lit. Then again, light traveled through ice more easily than it did through dirt and stone and although she’d never admit it out loud, Eleonora felt a bit claustrophobic. However, she wasn’t sure if it was because of the size of the space they were in or if it was because she feared being buried alive.

That would be horrible… These places, these wonders, they were ancient and hadn’t been lived in, in some time. It made her wonder how structurally sound the place might be, how safe they really were.

These thoughts and more filtered through her mind as she sat on the sleeping bag beside the slumbering Page, one of the many books in hand. None of the text made sense, as expected from antique books such as these but it was a comfortable weight to hold onto.

Thoughts about her sister, Alcor, came to mind. How her experience as a senshi had led to her withdrawing into herself and choosing to neglect her responsibilities as a Senshi. She’d never mentioned being attacked by youma as Antisana had, but Eleonora suspected that her twin would be able to sympathize with him on some level.

Sure, it might be easier to believe that this war didn’t exist. To pass off youma attacks as rabid dogs or coyotes in the city. Or that energy draining and starseed snipping was nothing more than a heart attack or sudden stroke.

It did make one wonder how skewed the actual statistics were.

Perhaps it would have been better if Fiona had been allowed to make an informed decision before accepting her henshin pen from the mauvian that had given it to her. But from what she recalled of her sister’s situation, there had been a massive youma that merged with ice and swam through it as if it were still liquid. It distorted the rink with sharp jagged clusters where it would jump out of the rink and land back in it; splashes of water frozen in place so that it was difficult for her to manouver about.

A dangerous situation, surely. But Eleonora found it difficult to believe that the mauvian couldn’t have dusted the youma with a beam and then explained the situation before tossing a pen at Fiona and leaving her to deal with the problem.

According to the story her sister told, the mauvian gave her sort of a bullet pointed checklist of items to consider, a vague description of what to do and what not to do, then left not long after. The guardian cat had left Fiona there alone to break up the pieces of sharp ice, created by the youma, with her skates and take the Zamboni out over it several times so that it would be level and smooth the next day. At least it explained why she had been egregiously late that day and kept a sharp eye on the rink for weeks after the incident.

How Fiona managed to find the courage to continue working there was beyond her but Eleonora was proud that she didn’t up and run away. At least not completely. Safety of the youth that come to the ice rink was her primary concern and Ele was confident that Fi would don the mantle of Alcor and power up to protect them if another youma had found its way inside and threatened the lives of her students or co-workers.

Fortunately, Liryn had been a bit of a godsend to them both and had been far more helpful than the one that had awoken Alcor. The little bob-tailed mauvian was incredibly kind, and outgoing, and checked in on them often. He’d even stayed with them for a short while Arian was away on a trip a few years ago.

If only she had been there when Alcor awoke then maybe things would have gone much differently. As the Senshi of Heat, she could have offered far more aid than that useless cat.

Lips pressed together in a thin line, Eleonora’s face scrunched at the thought.

They were neither here nor there and all either of them could do now was move forward with what they got. Still, it was something she wished she could have done something for her sister, and perhaps that’s what prompted her into motion when she saw Antisana struggling with those pixie-like youma that had been attacking him.

Her gaze fell from the book she’d been holding to the man resting peacefully beside her. His chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, at peace despite the ordeal he went through earlier. The glass ornament she had lent him rested on the sleeping bag between them and rather than risking it rolling off and breaking, Eleonora stowed it away in her subspace pocket before it could shatter and turn his cave into a winter wonderland and freeze them both.

The leather-bound book was set aside and she stood for a moment to unwrap the blanket that had been cocooned around her. “Touch of heat…” she whispered silently. Her hands then roamed over the soft texture, warming the blanket but not burning it, thankfully.

Antisana could have easily used the sleeping bag for himself, but his kindness showed when he laid it out flat for them both to sleep on. While he might be accustomed to the temperature here, Eleonora felt a need to make sure that he was comfortable. The warmed blanket was draped over him carefully before she shifted and settled on the other side of the bag with her back facing him.

Arm tucked under her head, she stared at the rows of books across from them, counting each unmarked spine until she too fell into a comfortable sleep.