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"Hey there, sleepyhead," Noroa said, switching on the lights

Mericlou pulled the covers ," her sister sang "Tily It had been three years since she had last heard the kind and sweet ti her In her sleep-fuddled one back in time

"Meri, come on!" Noroa said, now insistent "There's work that needs to be done You don't want to be late, do you?"

Shethat sounded like, "Will … be up soon," halfway into the pillow

"For ainto Garen," Noroa said "I so the door close behind her, Mericlou groggily turned around in the bed As ht had been, it had deprived her of some much-needed downtime She had been about to re-enter her sleep mode for a last fewwar into her cheek

She opened her eyes, and found herself staring into Needles' tiny face She sh the ferret's smooth coat of fur

"Hi there, little friend," she said, sitting upright "I see at least one of us is looking bright eyed and bushy tailed … so to speak"

Needles crawled up her arain made herself at horeen curls Mericlou silently reet her soht as I had," She said to the ferret, her heart swelling at the beautiful recollection of last night She touched a finger to her lips, the memory of her and Aldrec's first kiss still fresh in her mind

The memory fully awakened her, and she threw the covers off of her, laughing gaily She donned her robe, let Needles run through the hallway, and went to the bathroom for a shower "Watch for the ferret!" She called out to Noroa, who herself in the kitchen

She overindulged herself in the shower stall, her passion-activated i the ater as Aldrec's aran to pound on the door and coized, and went back into her rooet dressed