Night fell on Sindria. As had become customary, Morgiana retired to bed with Aladdin and Alibaba. They would spend some time lying in a circle on the huge bed, discussing the events of the day (or rather, Aladdin and Alibaba would while Morgiana listened). Eventually, however, the three would lie together and drift off to sleep.

Except for Morgiana.

Oh, she was there with them, all right. But sleep would be difficult to come by. It had taken a lot of doing for them to even get her to sleep in a bed, and she still wasn't certain that she was worthy of sleeping next to them.

However, that wasn't the problem.

The problem was the golden blonde-haired man next to her. He was the most restless sleeper she had ever met, constantly tossing and turning with his limbs splayed out all over the place (usually on top of her).

Strangely enough, he never seemed to inconvenience Aladdin with this; it was always only her. Perhaps she should try switching sides with Aladdin next time?

"Aladdin...see...awesome I am now?"

Oh, and then there was the snoring and talking in his sleep to consider. In all honesty, she could deal with having his arm across her neck or his leg draped over hers. In fact, it was almost a strange sort of comfort, as she was still unused to sleeping on something so comfortable, which paradoxically made her somewhat uncomfortable. That little bit of discomfort he caused her might even have been beneficial to her sleeping. But the noise was definitely not.

Of course, it could have been worse, like that one time when he-

"I'll...save you..."

-turned over and groped her chest by accident.

She let out a sigh and lightly picked up his hand, setting it gently onto her stomach to avoid disturbing him. Hopefully, he wouldn't move it any lower. The thought alone made her blush.

She really shouldn't have been going to such trouble to avoid waking him up when things like that happened, but she had a hard time blaming him for things he did absentmindedly in his sleep. Then again, her (thus far futile) struggles to get out from under him in the past had yet to wake him up, so perhaps she could try a little harder to move him without waking him up.

As if on cue, he turned over even more, so that almost his entire body was lying on top of her. To the right of her head was Alibaba's forearm, with his upper arm draped across her chest (almost like an embrace). To the left of her head was Alibaba's face; his breath blowing across her neck and shoulder.

Her cheeks were as red as her hair.

She put her arms around his torso to try and push him off. It would probably wake him up, but she was feeling too anxious about the situation to care. She would apologize if need be.

"Morgiana..."

Her eyes and ears perked up.

"Why...so cute?"

His words tickled her ears as much as they did her skin. That warm feeling crept into her chest again; the one that only seemed to happen when he was kind to her. It wasn't a bad feeling, but it was one she didn't understand.

There were too many things in this world that she didn't understand. What was a King Vessel? Why did slavery exist? What was her homeland like? Why did Alibaba and Aladdin allow someone like her to stay with them?

Her hands were still on his torso. She could still push him off. For all she knew, he might not even wake up.

So why wasn't she? Why was she hesitating? Why was her heart beating so quickly?

She didn't understand the warm feeling in her chest, but if it wasn't bad, maybe it was good? She certainly didn't seem to want to let go of him at the moment.

One way or another, sleep seemed distant at best now. But perhaps she could forgive him for depriving her of sleep tonight. Just this once.