She fell to the dirt, her father’s last attack knocking her to the ground and leaving her breathless as he made his way over to her.

“Looks like it’s my win again.” He said with a grin as she shot him a glare.

“Haven’t you been going way harder on me?” She asked, annoyed. In the three weeks since she’d planned to go back to Stonewall, she’d used that extra time to train with her father some more to get as many levels to her job as she could, but with each passing day it felt like he was using more and more strength.

“Hey now, you managed to get a hit in before, right? I need to make sure you get plenty of challenge so I adjust appropriately.”

She couldn’t help but think her father just didn’t like to lose, but with nothing to back that up she tried to push the thought aside and relax. That was their last one for the day anyway and she had other things to do.

Dusting herself off, she made her way to the kitchen, grabbing a plate of food from the chef and carrying it off, only to be stopped by her mother.

“Sweetheart, I think we need to talk about your friend.”

“I’m just bringing him some food now, what’s up?”

“Lux is concerned. She’s been doing a quick evaluation of him every time she’s been giving him a buff, and it doesn’t look like he’s doing well.”

She felt her heart gripped in panic as she asked what was wrong. Her aunt was the great light spirit, if even she thought he wasn’t doing well then it had to be something major. She was only able to let out a breath of relief as she got the answer.

“Exhaustion, the boy is working himself to death. Apparently, she’s been healing him when she goes in the morning to be on the safe side, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s in a constant state of exhaustion. She doubts that he’s sleeping more than an hour a night.”

“Oh is that all?” She said dismissively. “Then he’s fine, he does that all the time, it’s not a big deal.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure, just because he’s used to pushing himself, doesn’t mean he can’t take it too far. People die doing less.”

“Well, I’ll talk to him but I’m sure it’s fine, if you saw the way he worked with uncle Falk you’d understand, I’m pretty sure he’ll only be happy if he succeeds in working himself to death.”

Her mother still looked concerned but left it at that as Thera went off to make sure her friend remembered to eat. It wasn’t entirely uncommon for a task to absorb him that much, but it usually fell to her uncle to make him take a break. Until he could be found, that role had fallen to her.

When she’d gotten to the room where the talos laid, the first thing she noticed was Ben’s apparent absence.

Did he actually take a break by himself? She thought with some humour, unable to believe that would happen and decided to go look for him until something caught her eye. A foot on the ground, just barely peeking out past the edge of the bed.

Her mother’s worries suddenly gripped her heart as she dropped the food and ran to his side, finding him unconscious on the floor. She didn’t know what to do, checking his pulse in a panic and rushing to apply the few healing spells she thought could help as a voice beside her spoke up.

“Don’t be too concerned, the work he’s been doing has just caught up to him, he needs some rest.”

She jumped, startled as she’d forgotten that she wasn’t strictly alone, but the talos in the room hadn’t been conscious any of the previous times she’d come by to check on him. Once she let herself relax a bit she knew he was right, but that was plenty worrying in its own way. Ben had fallen asleep in the shop plenty of times, but as far as she knew he’d never done it in the middle of a task.

She didn’t think she had the physical strength to lift him to the bed for a better rest, instead gently laying him out, resting his head on her legs as she placed a hand on his cheek and chest, gently applying her life spells to do what little help she could. Even if he was fine, she couldn’t help but feel her mother’s same worry after walking into that.

Once again, Inux broke the silence. “You’re Thera, correct?”

“Um, I am. Has Ben mentioned me?”

“Quite a lot I’d say. For someone who said there wasn’t much to tell of his life, he’s lived through quite the exciting one, don’t you think? With how much he talked about his time with you, I’d say you have as well.”

“Well, you probably heard the better parts of it if he only told you about what came after meeting him,” She said as she rubbed Ben’s head, looking down on him as worry painted her face before addressing the talos again. “Are you at least starting to feel better?”

She’d thought that with all Ben was doing that it would have been worthwhile in the end, that even if it wasn’t much he’d be making progress, but that thought was quickly dashed.

“No, there's nothing he can do to keep me alive, at best he’s buying me a few extra days as he beats himself into the ground. I’d wanted a companion for my end and it’s been a pleasure getting to know the boy, but when he wakes up you should pull him away, have him dragged off if you have to. I wouldn’t see him work himself to death when there’s nothing that can be done.”

The answer froze her heart, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop him. “There’s no point in trying, once he gets his heart set on a project he doesn’t like to give it up unless he’s sure it’s impossible.”

“The child knows it’s impossible,” He said gently. “He just doesn’t want to admit it. His company has helped make my final days more enjoyable, I’d appreciate it if you let him know that.”

Inux fell silent, leaving Thera to fear the worse, but it seemed he’d just lost consciousness as he’d been prone to doing since they found him, leaving her the smallest amount of relief as she stared down at her friend.

She didn’t know what the right choice would be. She knew that he wouldn’t want to quit till the end, but craftsmen weren’t the types that were meant to deal with terminal patients. He was working himself past the point of exhaustion and she didn’t want to find him passed out again.

What am I even supposed to do? She thought to herself as she kept rubbing his head, waiting for him to wake up.

“Huh, um, Thera? What’s going on?” He asked as he woke up after a few hours, letting her breathe a sigh of relief she’d been holding despite herself.

“What’s going on is that you passed out while you were working. I found you unconscious on the floor.”

“Crap, how long have I been out for?”

“At least a few hours.”

“Shit,” He tried to rush up to get back to work, but she placed a firm hand on his chest, keeping him in place. “Thera I kind of need to get back to it, if I’ve been asleep for hours then everything I built up and repaired today has probably already decayed away.”

“Ben, I spoke to him while you were asleep,” She said gently. “He said there’s nothing you can do and you know it. He doesn’t want to see you work yourself to death in his final days.”

“...He’s probably right,” He admitted after a moment of silence. “But I don’t want to give up.”

“Ben-”

“Thera, please. I know I can’t do it, but I at least want to try till the end.”

“You’re working yourself too hard. Before now, how long has it been since you’ve slept?”

“...”

“Ben.”

“Three days, maybe three and a half.”

She took a breath before saying anything. This entire time she’d just assumed he was treating this like any other project, but the urgency of it all was clearly weighing on him more than she’d thought.

“Ben, you need to eat, you need to rest. Please, I don’t want to see you getting hurt doing this.”

He didn’t respond, just gently took her hand as he thought over what she said as he saw the worry in her eyes. He knew he was going too hard, but he couldn’t make himself stop, at least not until-

“Boy, why in the infinite hells am I being told by Pelenia and Lux you’re working yourself to death!” Her uncle, Ben’s teacher yelled as he entered the room.