Morning People.

After a few more hours I woke up again, this time fully rested, although admittedly still feeling a bit cramped as Isy latched onto me like a stuffed animal. Beyond that, somehow she had sprawled out and pivoted diagonally over the top of me, squishing me down into the mattress like something being slapped into freshly laid cement.

'I hope this isn't how Lu feels when I use her as a pillow…' I tried to move, but gave up rather quickly, realizing it was pretty impossible to do without waking her up or using magic, something I wasn't so keen on doing first thing in the morning. The strangest part about the whole thing was that my breathing felt fine. Sure, Isy wasn't as huge as my gramma, but I still wouldn't call her dainty. If anything she had more of country girl build… If, country girls in this world wrestled bulls instead of riding them. Regardless she was Certainly bigger than me, and most of her weight was right on top of my chest.

'Have my breathing muscles just become that strong? No… My chest isn't rising. I am breathing though… Right? This is just how it felt in the ocean. It's like my stomach is full, but not overly so, and every muscle in my body feels loose, like I just stretched, even though I just woke up.' I closed my eyes for a moment enjoying the feeling before I forced myself to open them again, lest I fall back asleep.

Forcing myself to stay awake, all of my senses slowly flared up as my brain began to rev back up to full speed. 'Her breathing is a lot steadier.' After a few minutes, her body temperature rose slightly along with her heart rate, and after she came out of deep sleep, into light sleep, I woke her up with a few taps on the shoulder.

"Hey… Isy… Time to get up, we still have work to do."

She yawned, letting out a soft satisfied groan before suddenly squeezing me tighter, forcing me to use my magic just to stop her from hurting me. "So soft, beds are awesome." She yawned again. "Maybe just a little more sleep."

"Isy…" I groaned, poking her some more. 'Even when I talk the amount of air in my lungs doesn't change. Does that even make sense?'

She yawned again. "No, no more sleep, Friend needs help, help friend good."

'What is she a caveman?' "Are you still asleep?"

She slowly lifted a hand to her head, scratching and moving around her tangled and messy hair as she let go and slowly forced herself to slide over the top of me until she rolled off and hit the floor. 'Ow…'

'Even I was never this bad in the morning…' "Are you ok?"

"I hit my head on the table… It really hurts…" She whined, her deep morning voice instantly replaced with a higher-pitched pout.

Rolling my eyes, I used my newfound freedom of movement to kick my feet over the side of the bed. I couldn't help but pity her, seeing her rubbing her head with the makings of tears in her eyes as she struggled to stand up, tripping over her oversized clothes that half fell off while she was sleeping.

'I'm starting to feel like I'm her mother…' After helping her back to her feet I Showed her where her clothes were drying and quickly got changed back into my armor before fully opening the blinds. "Ok, the first order of business will be collecting marks and a third guild member, preferably an arrogant commoner or a timid noble… Also preferably a girl, but that's probably the least important."

I fastened my arm protector, rolled my shoulders, and attached my sword to my hip, deciding to leave the greatsword behind for the time being. "Any questions– Isy…" I whined, watching her struggle to put her shirt on backwards, having hardly even started to get dressed.

"It takes me a long time to wake up… And my body just doesn't want to work right in the morning… Everything is kinda fuzzy and tingly… And blurry too…"

'It's almost like she's drunk…' A very small part of me was a bit annoyed, but most of me felt a bit of kinship with her, that or the aforementioned pity. After all, I was a mess in the mornings in my past life too, it took a decade of drill instruction and I still wouldn't call myself a morning person… I could at least put my own clothes on though… I sighed. "Come here…" I didn't bother untangling her wavy hair, just sloppily pulling it back and tying it tight to keep it out of her face before helping her put her clothes on the right way. By the time that was taken care of she finally started to look at least mostly awake.

"Ok Siya… What's the plan… Or… Maybe it would be easier if you just gave me clear instructions on what to do. I'm not very good at thinking in the mornings either." She yawned. "This is mostly why my dad banned me from using beds. If I sleep on the floor I feel stiff, but I wake up a lot faster…"

'In other words… You haven't ever gotten a good night's sleep… Like ever… Well… At least her speech is getting more clear.' "Honestly it wouldn't be bad to have you just stay here and guard the room… It would be kinda boring probably but."

"Can I really! You mean I don't even have to go outside?"

'I really hate how I've said those exact words before…' "You might still have to fight through… If some girls break in… Actually it might be better if you came with me…"

Her shoulders slumped forward. "I mean yeah if that's what you want I can do that too."

"Then again, you went through a lot yesterday, and rest is important."

She perked up immediately.

"But…"

Her face fell flat again. 'It's like flipping a light switch…' "Sure… You go ahead and stay here, get some rest, but don't fall asleep again, and don't turn the shower on, ok?"

She nodded with a bounce. If she had a computer with a bunch of games on it I wouldn't blame her… But as far as I knew she wouldn't even have books to read. 'Is she that socially anxious that she gets joy simply from not being forced into anxious positions? I'm glad she can have some rest… But if someone does actually come by to trash the place…' "Isy… How good are you at actually fighting…"

"Absolutely terrible." 'Wow, she's still smiling, even while saying that…' her face suddenly fell flat again. "Oh… I probably won't be that good at defending anything then…"

'Yeah no kidding…' I slowly rubbed my forehead. 'It should be fine though… It seems like the rogues don't really like picking fights unless there opponent is unarmed.' "Don't worry about it. Look, they most likely won't even fight you if they see you guarding the room with that sword over there, so hold onto it. You don't have to know how to use it, just pretend like you do. If they do attack though, or more than one shows up, don't be afraid to run… I'd rather get some stuff torn up than you get seriously hurt."

"But… I thought retreating was for cowards. It's punishable by death."

"Your thinking of disertion…" 'I hope…' "If you can't win, run and find me, we can win any fight together." 'I feel like I'm become more cheesy every day I spend here…' "Uh… Anyway, do you understand? Running away isn't bad alright."

She slowly nodded. "Right… I come and find you… So I'm more like a scout, and you're the army."

"Exactly." 'thank goodness our military actually has those!'

"Aren't scouts mostly used in foreign armies though?"

'No wonder we lost the last great war…' I let out a low annoyed growl and, after convincing Isy it wasn't her I was upset with, I took off, hoping to accomplish at least one of my three goals.

'Farm marks, obtain guild member that will get along with us, and work towards taking down the Bronze Blades for sweet sweet revenge. Actually, I bet Airsidh could help me out with that last one.'