Compassion
YOU DESERVE YOUR OWN KINDNESS 
Xithare
RAELYN FALIERE
"Raelyn," someone was calling softly and gently shaking her. Blinking blearily, Raelyn looked up at her fellow project team member who had woken her from her slumber.   Stifling a yawn, she sat up in her seat and stretched. "Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep. I just wanted to rest my head on the table for a while..." her words trailed off as she tried to fight off another yawn but failed.   "It's okay, I was going to ask if you wanted to take a nap on the couch instead since the meeting isn't due to start for another twenty minutes," her project team member replied, patting her on the back. "Were you up late again?"   "Yeah, I had to send out the notification emails to all the volunteers who were bringing their own pets for the upcoming animal shelter event. It was urgent because we needed a reply by today, so I was up till four in the morning..."   Raelyn rubbed the corners of her eyes and patted her face a couple of times to wake herself up more, then opened up the laptop she had been dozing on top of. This action caused her project team member to raise an eyebrow in askance.    "I... had some ideas I wanted to plan out before the meeting..." Raelyn defended herself sheepishly against the sceptical look thrown her way. "I know, I know, I'll get some rest after the meeting! I don't have anything else to do after..."   Pausing, she quickly added, "Nothing urgent I mean."    Her project team member merely shook his head and took a seat at the conference table, though Raelyn caught a softly muttered 'overworking' as he did