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She abruptly stopped in the middle of her breath. Feeling the tension leave her body, you looked over towards the remains to see what had made her fall silent. You saw nothing of note. Vera in the meantime had fallen completely silent; looking at her face, you saw nothing but shock and horror.
Since she was giving you no directions, you remained there for quite a while. As the last daylight faded, you still saw no discernible change in her expression. At least she had picked up her breathing again shortly after falling silent. Feeling your arms strain from holding her up for so long, you decided to stroll back to the stable. It was time to go to bed.
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Back in the stable, you laid Vera back on the floor of one of the stables with the least filth lying around. Even though it had long been deserted (Vera told you it had been empty for almost a year now), the horses had definitely left their traces in some of the abandoned stalls. A stroke of luck came across you when you stumbled across a stall with a couple of blankets hanging on the wall; even though they seemed to be made for horses, they would be a definite improvement to being exposed to the bitter cold. Even inside it was rather chilly.
Getting back to her stall, Vera had not moved. Still lying on her side (you had placed her in this position so her foot wouldn’t hurt as badly when she touched the ground) and with the same, now a bit more vacant expression, it was clear she wasn’t present. You decided against intervening for now and put the blanket over her. Being so meagre must have made her real cold out there.
Grabbing your own improvised bedsheet and moving to the stall next to hers, you mind quickly drifted asunder when you hit the hay. Within 15 minutes you entered the realm of slumber.
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You were jolted back awake by the dry snap of a branch. The sky was still dark, although the clouds had disappeared to show something you were definitely familiar with. The stars and moon shone down upon you with their pale, but benevolent sheen while the howling of the wind had been reduced to the slow rustling of the outside vegetation.
Hearing shallow breathing from Vera’s stall, she was now definitely asleep. Listening a bit longer, you noticed a muted sobbing occasionally accompanying her shallow breaths. You supposed she lost someone dear to her in that fire. Trying to close your eyes again, you couldn’t shake the feeling that you were being watched. This feeling, along with Vera’s sobbing, prevented you from finding any sleep; you had to go do something about one of these reasons before you were allowed back into dreamland.
>Try to comfort Vera. She is probably not taking her loss very well.
>Look around outside. That branch couldn’t’ve been broken by this mild breeze.
