sorry for the wait.
Xeris took a moment to mentally check the status of her body; to feel where the aches and pains were concentrating themselves. Her head, obviously, had received a cut, and she imagined there were countless scratches and bruises on the rest of her body, but a couple of places stood out: there was a sharp pain in her chest that could have been a cracked rib, for example. Her breaths were shaky and shallow, each one bringing with it another sting of pain.
Jefferson asked if she could drink water. She was about to nod her head yes, but the pain there reminded her that doing so would probably be a bad idea. "Probably," she replied instead, adjusting her position on the bed. "But you don't have to go get any if it's too much trouble. I've already made you do enough for one day." Behind the pain and the confusion and a little bit of fear, Xeris really felt guilty; she had put the Patriarch through a lot.
In all that had happened, she had forgotten about the reason they had even gone to the barn in the first place, the livestock. When the male brought them up again, she remembered, and frowned. He was probably right, the storm had surely taken a heavy toll on the animals--and the barn, and the ranch, and probably many of the other Valley locations as well. Xeris closed her eyes, the stress mentally overwhelming her.
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