"Hello, John... I've been expecting you," Athena said, greeting him with an enigmatic smile.
He groaned and toppled over onto the flagstone path, too exhausted to even stand.
The radiant girl hurried to his side and dropped to her knees. "You've pushed yourself to the brink of exhaustion!" she fretted, giving him a stern frown of disapproval. "John, you're not some over-eager thrall; there could be very serious consequences if you burn yourself out!"
"Had to help... Jade..." he mumbled, not sounding the least bit contrite.
Athena harrumphed with frustration, then made a gesture with both hands. An elongated disc expanded before her, then swept towards herself and John, covering them completely.
John could only blink in surprise as he was transported from the garden to her bedroom. "When did you learn how to do that?"
The statuesque girl ignored his comment as she fussed over him, deftly stripping off his clothes before removing her own demure outfit and slipping into bed beside him. She cuddled closer and guided his head to rest on her wonderfully soft bosom, then pulled the covers up over them both.
"No talking... just rest for now," she murmured, running her fingers through his hair. "Get some sleep and we'll talk later..."
The soft radiance from Athena's body enveloped him and John felt his eyes grow heavy, lulled into a seductive sleep by the attentive guide.
***
It was dark in the Observatory, with only a faint glow from the floor lights around each doorway offering any illumination. Barely visible in the gloom, a group of intertwined forms lay in the middle of the massive bed, the six sleeping women snuggling as close to the man in the centre as possible.
"Maybe we should just let them rest?" Sakura asked, darting a worried glance back at her companion. "They're all exhausted and obviously need time to recover."
Calara nibbled at her nail, torn with indecision. "I'd love to let them sleep until they wake naturally, but..."
"But the clock's ticking and we need to capture the thrall fleets?" Sakura finished for her, raising an eyebrow.
The Latina's face fell, her feelings hurt. "You're making it sound like that's all I care about. I'd never do anything that might harm John or the girls just to retrieve fleet assets!"
Sakura quickly embraced her and gave her a comforting squeeze. "I wasn't criticising you, I promise. Taking calculated risks to help secure our ultimate victory is a very sensible approach. I understand how high the stakes are and I know you hate having to remind us all the time."
"Thank you, I'm glad you understand," Calara said with a relieved smile. Her eyes flicked back to the darkened room and she added, "What I was actually going to say is that John planned to return to Genthalas to heal Vestele Waephyra. If he's going to make it back in time to help her, he'll need to depart in the next half-an-hour to get there when she arrives."
"I think we should wake John up and let him make the decision," the Asian girl agreed. "He can always get some more rest on the flight to Genthalas."
"Good idea," Calara said, giving her a decisive nod.
She started to tiptoe into the room, but Sakura gently held her back. "Let me. I won't disturb the others."
Deferring to their resident ninja, Calara gratefully stepped aside. "Thank you."
"You're welcome, little sister," Sakura said, blowing her a playful kiss.
Calara stifled a relieved giggle, then watched as her companion crept into the room. Sakura didn't make a sound as she padded silently around the Observatory, circling the entire group before approaching John's pillow from behind.
She knelt down and pressed her lips to his pointed ear. "John, can you hear me?" she whispered under her breath.
He began to stir, a frown appearing on his face as he roused from his dreams. "Athena?" John murmured, before focusing on the beautiful pair of almond eyes gazing down on him. "Ah, Sakura... are you okay? Is everyone alright?"
Sakura planted a tender kiss on his forehead. "Everyone is fine and the rest of your ground team are still asleep. More importantly, how are you?"
Being careful not to disturb Jade, he freed an arm and rubbed at his face. "I'm okay... just really tired. I've got a nasty headache and feel hung-over, but I guess that's to be expected."
She nodded in confirmation. "Rachel said you started tapping into your own life force."
"Really?" he asked, before grimacing at the loudness of his own voice. "I didn't realise I'd pushed myself that hard."
"We wanted to let you sleep it off," Sakura whispered, glancing pointedly towards the door where Calara was waiting. "But you need to leave for Genthalas soon if you're planning to heal Vestele Waephyra when she arrives. We got the impression that her condition was critical and she wouldn't survive much longer."
"Damn!" he cursed, attempting to sit up before immediately regretting his actions. "How long was I asleep?"
"Four hours... It's just turning six," she quietly replied. "We thought you might want to get some more rest on the flight over there."
John looked up at her, his look of indecision even more pronounced than Calara's had been a minute earlier.
Alyssa tilted her head up to kiss him on the cheek, revealing that their hushed conversation had woken her too. "Kythshara will still be waiting for you when you get back, handsome. While you're busy dealing with the matriarchs, the rest of us can search for Mael'nerak's lab, locate his Soulforge, and track down the Hyper-warp Gate."
"Yeah, I guess... I just wanted to help with the search," John said with regret.
"Actually... we've already found Mael'nerak's palace," Sakura admitted, unable to hold back her excited grin any longer.
"Really?!" John blurted out, sharing a startled glance with his blonde matriarch.
"We scanned the city and cross-checked with the images from the Nexus files to pinpoint its location," Sakura eagerly elaborated, before her expression fell into a rueful frown. "We also found the spot where we think the Soulforge should be located... except it's no longer there."
Jade had also stirred after hearing all the excited voices, and between her and Alyssa, they helped John sit upright.
"What do you mean? Where is it?" he asked, rubbing at his temple to ease his splitting headache.
Realising that the stealth mission had been compromised, Calara strode across the bed to kneel in front of him. "You must be starving; why don't you have some dinner and we'll give you a quick debrief? All the food is already prepared, it just needs serving."
The answering rumble from John's stomach confirmed his eager acceptance of her plan. "Thanks, honey. I'm starving."
"Yeah, I bet," she said with a fond smile.
Nudged awake by her matriarch, Rachel quickly moved to straddle John's lap. Holding him close, she softly whispered in his ear, "Let me take the pain away..."
"Thank you," he murmured, resting his head on her shoulder as waves of healing energy swept over him.
John shivered with relief as she eased his migraine, the tension quickly fading away to a dull ache.
Rachel looked at him with concern. "That's the best I can do, I'm afraid. You pushed yourself much too hard and you need to sleep to fully recover."
"I will," he agreed, giving her a grateful kiss.
Calara stood up and offered him a hand as the tawny-haired doctor slid off his lap. "Do you want to debrief the rest of us on the Kythshara mission?"
"I expect Alyssa filled you in on most of it?" he asked, glancing at the blonde.
"I kept them up to speed as we stumbled into one disaster after another," she replied with a wry grin, slipping her arm around his waist.
Jade sprang to her feet and darted in to snuggle up to his unoccupied side.
Looking at her gratefully, John said, "I'm feeling a lot better now. I should be able to walk on my own, honey."
"I know, Master," she said with an adoring smile. "I just wanted to be close to you."
Dana, Helene, and the twins were up now too and they all followed Calara as she led them to the dining area in the Officers' Lounge. When they arrived, they found Jehanna and the rest of the Nymphs setting serving platters on the table, adding to an already impressive feast.
"Wow... who cooked all this?" John marvelled, admiring the spread of exotic dishes.
"I wish I could say it was me, but this was all their doing," Jehanna said, giving the catgirls a broad smile.
"These are all Maliri dishes we learned from the kitchen staff at Saelihn Immanthe," Marika said, looking at him affectionately. "We were going to wait and surprise you, but then you rescued Jade, and we wanted to thank you for saving our sister."
"That was really thoughtful," John said, touched by all the effort they'd gone to. "It all looks delicious."
Betrixa pulled out his chair and eagerly beckoned him over. "Come and eat! You should try the Orym Vayra first!"
They took their places around the table and John tried a forkful of the meat dish, which had a sprinkle of green in the sauce. It was delicately spiced, like a mild curry, and the vegetables added a pleasantly fresh aftertaste.
"Oh wow... this tastes amazing," he enthused, genuinely impressed by her cooking.
