When they finally finished talking and eating Ash stood and stretched slightly before turning her attention to Luna. The priestess surprised her by sliding an arm through Ash's own and leaning against her side as she'd often done when they were children getting into mischief.
"I'm staying with you tonight," she announced, the glitter in her lavender eyes threatening Ash to try to argue.
Ash took the bait, "Your family," was all she said.
They might not miss her as much as they slept but it would be a disruption. Their morning routine and everything would be where the real trouble would begin. Despite how busy she was with Ash, Luna had a husband and two children that she cared deeply for. The children called Ash their aunt and loved to play about with her regardless of the form she took. She didn't want them to be distraught at their mother's absence.
"Would probably be angry at me if I dared do anything but stay at your side right now, Ashterra," Luna said, her tone serious, "You don't know just how bad you looked earlier. I had three healers on call at once all of whom were terrified you were mere moments from death's door with nothing they could do to save you. The kids were begging me to get to your side here just as fast as I could since you were conscious here, since you could talk me through helping you so maybe the healers could do something. Besides," she smiled slightly, "They may still be young, but they're not helpless. They aren't little kids capable of running under your legs and getting clipped by a hoof anymore, Ash. Give it another five to ten years and they'll both be fully grown."
Ash frowned at that, wondering where the time had gone so quickly. With a slight pang of sadness, she realized that her sleeping had been eating away at it. When the kids were young, she'd forced herself awake for at least a week out of every month so that they'd know her, so she'd know them. She'd been growing too weak to continue it, had slowly started sleeping through more of the visits.
Luna's children were as devoted to her well-being as their mother, though, and would just sit with her sleeping form. They'd take turns brushing her hair if she was in her elven form or her mane and tail if she was in her unicorn form or telling stories that would sometimes wind themselves into the calmer dreams she had.
A soft sigh escaped her, "I'm so tired, Luri…of being tired, of sleeping all the time," her voice growing timid, she continued on, "For a while…I thought that if I just kept sleeping you'd all be able to move on, to forget about me…That if I just detached myself, it would make it less painful for you all when…" she refused to finish that thought, instead continuing on, "I don't want that anymore but I don't know how to break this cycle I'm stuck in. The chances of finding the person that can fix my magic are so very low…"
She paced evenly alongside Luna as they spoke, heading for one of the teleportation arrays she'd seen just outside of the temple. While she could teleport in the temple grounds using the starseeing pond as a gateway of sorts, it was far easier to use a magical array made for the job.
"We'll manage, Ash. The trouble you got yourself into today, frightful though it was, has given us a lot more time to work with than we had before. You'll scour this world and, when I'm not able to be with you, I'll go through every single possibility I can find using the agency. We'll find them. They need you as much as you do them so it shouldn't be impossible."
Ash's cleansings had become weaker over time, small failings that had begun to compound into the growth of major dungeons. Due to the state of the magic of their world, all magical creatures were beginning to show concerning signs. People that should have normally been fine needed others to bolster their magic, alliances and friendships were being formed at a rapid pace.
The Magical Protection Agency was absolutely flooded with requests for help from people in a state similar to Ash's own and while she was always prioritized, none of the people that had been sent her way had felt the connection to Ash's magic that was needed to repair it. Most of them had stumbled upon the person they'd needed while waiting for the lengthy process that went with making certain they wouldn't harm the unicorn that was critical to the function of the world's magic.
Stepping into the array, they were swiftly surrounded by the sea of stars that Ash traversed every time she teleported in her unique way. Her grove likely had a physical location but only mundane creatures and harmless magical ones would be able to find their way to it. They appeared at the edge of the grove, as if they'd walked into it from the trees that surrounded it.
Seeing it in person rather than on a screen took Luna's breath away. It was night and the stars were reflected in the pond, casting it in an ethereal glow. They would reflect regardless of whether or not they should, as if the ponds were made of stars themselves. Despite that, their reflections were always accurate to what was overhead even in the day when the stars were much harder to see.
Blooms of magic detached from the pond, scattering about the clearing as if to turn it into the night sky above. The same happened during the day, but the bright light made it much harder to see. Wrapped in the light of the stars, Ash's modest home stood near one edge of the pond, a large window overlooking it on the lower level while the upper was open entirely, guarded from the elements and intruding bugs by magic.
It wasn't terribly different from her normal home, save for the fact that it seemed to be built around and ever so slightly into a massive Star Ash tree that spread itself far larger even than the one in Redwood Stars to shade almost the entire clearing.
The bed on the upper level was suspended from the ceiling in such a way that it overlooked the pond, its serene waters always soothing to Ash on an instinctual level. Ash settled into the bed, yawning slightly as Luna curled against her back and drifted to sleep in the starlight.