Rest.

"... Sleep. I need to get out of my armor. I need to get my legs off the floor and onto a bed. I will finish reading about the taxidermy in the previous century, another worthy topic to add to my knowledge. That should take an hour. Then, sleep..."

Ralli didn't even stop by the dining hall. Resting felt far more important than food. She was sorry not to have the chance to meet up with Bella, but she could hardly imagine keeping up a lively conversation in her current state. "Both food and Bella can wait. I will wake up early, eat a large breakfast... and consider what to do about Liam. Something must be done. I do not believe the attitude he has taken lately is healthy. It is not healthy for him, for me, or for the class."

Her fingers felt at the choker again. With some concern, she fiddled with the clasp at the front, seeing if she could remove it... She found she could not, at least not with her gauntlets on. "I am glad I am not meeting with Bella, after all. She would definitely tease me about letting a trainee decorate me with a symbol of the church, even if it is upside down. Such a preposterous trinket... Is it... really just a trinket? He was eager to put it on me... and eager for me to agree to keep it on. His ambition is not to be taken lightly. I must-"

She started, realizing she'd made it all the way to her room. Helpless to do otherwise, she locked her door and stripped off her armor, which felt as heavy as full plate mail with her current level of exhaustion. Then, after not so much of a page of her taxidermy volume, the sergeant collapsed onto her bed.

"Whatever I need to do about this wretched thing... it can wait until tomorrow morning, surely. If I am this tired, sleep is surely the most important thing..."

Sleep came easily to her... Rest, however, did not. She found herself thinking of Liam, then dreaming of him... She was not trying to masturbate, or to direct her dreams. She wasn't trying to dream at all. Then, why...?

They weren't sexual dreams. They simply seemed to be non-categorized memories of him. She saw his lips moving, but could not make out the words. She saw that over and over again, first as a distant vision... then, a vision so large over her consciousness it eclipsed her capacity to think. It eclipsed her sense of self. She felt like she could become lost in a dream like that. The vision eclipsed the morning sun.

"Ah... It is morning," Ralli muttered to herself, waking up covered in sweat. She wasn't late, had never been late for her class, but it didn't look like she was as early as she'd planned. She had slept in her tunic, skirt, gloves, and boots. If they stank yesterday, they now positively reeked. She needed to get to the shower and get it all off. And, first chance she got, she would take off the damn choker. "I have never had such nightmares as when I decided to sleep wearing this accursed thing."