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Asthma crawled out from her tent and stretched, giving a sigh which turned into a yawn midway through. Sleeping in a tent wasn’t something that she had done much, getting used to it would take a while and until then sleep wouldn’t come as easily. It was fine though, she had plenty of energy by default.
Her gaze affixed itself to the only other monster who wasn’t still asleep; Furnoss, she had been told their name was. They were staring into what remained of last nights campfire, expression mostly unreadable but vaguely curious-looking.
“Hey, you’re up early as well, huh?”
Furnoss quickly turned their head to Asthma, feeling the urge to respond in some way, however nothing came to them.
“Hhh..grrehhh…???”
All they managed was a confused growl. That definitely wasn’t what they meant, but Asthma seemed pleased anyway.
“So you do have a voice! Good, I was wondering.”
Furnoss had no idea what she was saying but it made them smile, the message of praise came through. Asthma smiled in return, her eyes then focusing to a blue tent nearby.
“I’m gonna go check on the littlest ones, you can come with if you want, just make sure to be sneaky.”
Asthma headed to the tent, carefully unzipping the door and peering inside, Furnoss joined her, craning their long neck to see. Blasoom and Plixie still slept on their Sky Painting themed pillow, the two looked like littermates with the way they were curled up together. Plixie’s brain was very active even as they rested, its tendrils wiggled around and it continued to glow faintly, Asthma found it endearing, maybe they were having a dream? Blasoom cooed softly in their sleep, they wouldn’t be waking up for a while now, neither of them would, she predicted.
She closed the tent and backed off, standing around aimlessly for a few seconds before an idea came to her.
“Let’s go see the statue next, then we’ll have breakfast, okay?”
She decided, nodding at Furnoss, who copied the movement back to her.
“Alright, it’s a plan, then! C’mon.”
______
All the broken stone had been cleaned up and the instruments were moved to somewhere safer, the only thing remaining there now was the Galvana statue. Even in its worn state there was a sense of regality about it, it was a beautiful thing. She didn’t dare to touch it, the thought had always been daunting, but now knowing that there was life somewhere beneath the grey made her even more cautious.
“Welp, it’s the same as it ever was, but it’s cool, isn’t it? I like to go here sometimes on my own.”
She said, looking the sculpture up and down approvingly.
“…I hope they’re okay in there, being inside a statue- or maybe literally BEING a statue must be weird. They are smiling though, maybe it’s not so bad?”
An unfamiliar emotion seeped into Furnoss’s body, their mind going foggy all of a sudden. There was something about that smile, the sight of it dragged something up from the very depths of their memories, but whatever it was was almost completely eroded, now only a vague blur of colour and faint sound. They stared at the statue in an attempt to jog their memory further, but their vision was starting to wobble.
Unbeknownst to the young Celestial, this was the feeling of loss, of grief.
“Oh no, what’s wrong??”
She kneeled down to Furnoss, taking their hand in hers and wiping the tears from their face.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know-…”
Asthma left her sentence unfinished, she wasn’t exactly sure what to apologise for, or if she even needed to. In hindsight, they probably shouldn’t have gone to see the statue together.
“It’ll all be okay. Soon, they’ll wake up just like the others did, I promise.”
She comforted, resting a hand on their cheek.
‘Promise’… Furnoss understood that word, it reminded them of something, but that something was incomprehensible to them. They leaned forwards and hugged Asthma, hiding their face against her shoulder, they didn’t want to think about it anymore, it was scary. She accepted the monsterlings hug, stroking the back of their furry head and internally declaring that she’d make the rest of today better for them.
______
“That’s fascinating- and sad, of course. Thank you for telling me, it’s definitely going in my notes later, or now, if I can find that blasted book anywhere…”
Wicker adjusted their glasses and gave the tent’s interior a brief glance over, glaring disapprovingly at the idea of the misplaced notebook.
“No problem. I’m just worried still, whatever they were thinking about didn’t look good.”
“Yes, judging by what triggered it, it probably had something to do with the end of their first life, or perhaps the end of Galvana’s first life. Unfortunately.”
“They shouldn’t have to think about things like that yet. Or ever! It’s terrible.”
Asthma shook her head, wanting to dispel the thought.
“I know, poor thing. They have bounced right back though, a privilege of being so young. They’ll forget soon enough.”
They reassured.
“I really hope so.”