[((___jade___))>]

The whole time Kyriel knelt there, he mostly was hoping that nobody would come along and find him there like this. Above all else, he hoped that Grylle and his gang would stay away, though he got the feeling that they would after what had happened. In fact, there was even a good chance that they would be staying away from him completely in the near future. Of course, once they licked their wounds and the memory faded, they would be back again, but at least there was a possibility of a few days' vacation from it.

Blinking slowly, Kyriel tried to keep himself conscious, strongly resisting the tears that threatened to come again. He figured that someone would come along eventually, so he did not want to be crying again. Not only that, but crying made him tired, and that was what he was trying to get over. Rubbing his eyes just to make sure, Kyriel let out a soft sigh. The shaking was almost gone, and he was, though very slowly, starting to feel stronger. It would not be too much longer, he figured...

Looking up sharply as someone approached, he was somewhat ashamed to find that it was a teacher. Before the man could get too close, Kyriel pulled his hair into his face to try to cover it somewhat. Even if he was not crying now, he also did not want him to see that he had been crying earlier.

"I'm fine." Kyriel said, hardly thinking about the answer. It was different for him to take such a prideful approach, but he really did not want people to fuss over him anymore. He would live anyway, so it did not really count as a lie in his mind.