Isran hissed at the light that hit her eyes when she woke up, she could feel the warmth of sunlight on her face.

  “Isran?”

  Isran blinked several times, her vision blurry and her head pounding. There was so much to process, so many memories and truths to sit with, it hurt to think.

  “Isran, y down.”

  She felt two sets of hands guide her back to lie down, her head hurt so bad, she still couldn’t see.

  “I—” She stopped, her throat hurt, it was so dry.

  A hand lifted her head and fed her some water.

  When Isran was id back down she felt a strong sense of fatigue hit her, and with her head pounding and vision blurry, she succumbed to the feeling, drifting off to sleep.

  ==

  “Hey, I think there are no monsters down here!”

  KILL

  “Are you sure? The st time you said that we were ambushed by goblins.”

  KILL

  “Oh come on it was one time.”

  KILL

  “One time too fucking many.”

  KILL

  “Hey, what’s that?”

  KILL

  “Fuck it’s a—”

  “Danielll!!”

  KILL

  “Fuck, fuck, fu—”

  ==

  Isran sat up as soon as she woke up, her vision was no longer blurry and that incessant headache was as good as gone. The room was dark, Isran recognized her bedroom.

  There were voices coming from downstairs, her eyes stung and her throat felt even more dry. She moved towards the edge of the bed--it had been changed—bigger, softer.

  When Isran’s feet met the wooden floor she winced, it was so cold. The pressure of ying her feet on the ground was surprising, she felt heavy, like she would immediately fall when she tried to stand up.

  She looked around the room, it looked the same as the st time she had seen it. The bed was the only new thing.

  Isran’s sword was sheathed and resting by her bed, with no other option she stretched for it—intending to use it as a crutch.

  It was a very unsteady tool, the sharp end even blunted by its sheath struggled to bance with her weight.

  Isran felt weak. Her entire body was heavy and as she inched slowly to her door—feet dragging—she wondered how long she had been out of commission.

  It was a bit of a hassle getting the door open, but not impossible. Isran sighed when she remembered the stairs she was about to climb down.

  She didn’t have to worry though, it seemed the thumping sound of her makeshift crutch had alerted whoever was in the house with her.

  She leaned against a wall, breathing heavily from her movements, her hands ached from clutching the sword too tightly.

  “God, what the fuck are you doing?”

  Isran couldn’t help but smile at the sound of Alden’s voice. He looked a bit different, his hair had grown longer and he appeared slightly more muscur.

  Isran almost ughed when she saw Elowin follow the orc up the stairs. It was nice to see her matchmaking had been successful.

  Alden threw one of her hands around his shoulder and wrapped his hand around her waist.

  “Slowly.” He whispered as they came down the stairs. Isran spotted Calliope first. She was carrying a pte of food and paused when she heard them coming down the stairs.

  Isran felt tears come to her eyes when the mouse girl’s eyes lit up.

  She pced the food ptter on a table out of sight and ran back, attacking Isran with a hug.

  When Isran felt her shirt starting to get wet she let her own tears flow.

  Alden stood there as Calliope cried into her shirt, the orc holding Isran up.

  “I’ll go get the others,” Elowin said, beginning to leave.

  Alden stopped him. “No let’s get her to the couch, she needs to sit down.”

  It was a bit of a chore shuffling down the rest of the stairs with Calliope still clinging to her, but Isran didn’t think she could find it in her heart to tell the woman to stop.

  When they entered the main living room space Isran noted several new decorations and four familiar faces.

  Morgana saw her first, the pink-haired woman’s eyes widened as she rose to her feet.

  Then Adrianna saw her, the zebra girl was not the quiet type.

  “Isran!”

  Phaedra who had been setting the low table with other food on it turned around at the same time Elysi lifted her head from her hands.

  They all stood there, silent. Till a sob escaped Elysi’s lips and she stood up from the couch.

  Alden lowered Isran down to the free couch opposite the sheep woman and Calliope finally let her go.

  Phaedra was closer to her, so she reached her first, tears streaming down her face.

  Isran hummed and closed her eyes when her blue-haired girlfriend hugged her. She felt Elysi’s soft fluffy hair against her face as Phaedra moved to give the woman space to hug Isran as well.

  Both women remained there.

  When emotions were less intense and all the food was set Isran was seated with a good helping of mashed… well it tasted like mashed potatoes but was red--a side of meat pie.

  “You were asleep for two months.”

  Isran winced at the information.

  Her girlfriends were sat around and on her, eating quietly.

  Morgan sighed with a slight stink eye in Alden’s direction. “A lot has happened while you were gone, and a lot is yet to happen. I would advise you take a long very much-needed rest before we tell you what happened while you were asleep.”

  Isran nodded, she had no issue with that. For her, it hadn’t been a full day since she st woke up, but that was evidently not the reality of the situation.

  Isran hadn’t spoken a word yet, mostly because she wanted to wet her throat before attempting in case it hurt to speak again.

  But she was also still processing her memories. Those from her first life were easier to parse but… she didn’t want to think too hard about her second life.

  After everyone had left and Isran settled into her bed with her girlfriends—her strength very slowly returning—she thought about praying. A thank you.

  She was more than a little jarred by what she had seen in her memories but she wouldn’t change her decision. She was half the person she truly was with them gone.

  “Where’s Red?” She mumbled her first words of the day.

  Calliope had already fallen asleep, and Phaedra was still crying into her shirt.

  “The governor commissioned it to be extended. It was a bit aggressive when you wouldn’t wake up so it's locked in the cupboard.”

  Isran hummed gruffly. “I have a feeling it was a bit more than aggressive.”

  Elysi smiled into Isran’s neck. “That feeling is more than right.”

  Isran sighed, the thought of dealing with whatever she had left when she entered her coma made her want to groan. Instead, she clutched the women that meant the most to her tighter and went to sleep.