Sleep 

Sutekh sat before the campfire, playing with his familiar.  The 
weasel, which spent most of the daylight hours sleeping in one of 
Sutekh's belt pouches, had only been up a few hours and was full of 
fight.  At the moment it was trying to get at the bit of dried meat 
the drow was holding in the air.  It finally got past Sutekh's 
defending left hand and leaped to his shoulders.  From there it was a 
quick scramble up his arm to grab the meat.  Sutekh held the weasel 
close, stroking its sleek fur and complimenting it on its skill as a 
thief while the little beast tore viciously at the meat.  
	Dinner over, the weasel climbed onto Sutekh's shoulders and 
began poking about in his hair.  
	"Ah!" Sutekh quickly cocked his head to one side to protect
his ear and grabbed for his familiar.  Pulling it away from his neck,
he held it before him by the scruff.  "Do not put your cold nose in my
ear," Sutekh said slowly.  "It tickles."  
	The weasel bobbed its head.  
	"So that's how it is, is it?" Sutekh inquired with a cocked 
brow.  "Then into the night with you."  Sutekh dropped the weasel, 
which immediately scampered into the darkness of the surrounding trees 
where it would spend the night hunting and playing and watching over 
its master.  
	"What are you laughing at?"  This question was directed at 
Adaz.  
	"Who, me?"  Adaz put on her most innocent face.  
	Sutekh glared at her for a moment.  "Good night, then.  I'm 
going to sleep."  
	"I've been meaning to ask you about that," Adaz said as Sutekh 
crawled towards his bedroll.  
	"About what?" 
	"You sleep.  I mean, you really sleep.  Other elves meditate, 
but not you.  Is that something peculiar to drow?" 
	Sutekh sat on his bedroll, resting his elbow on his knee and 
his chin in his hand.  "If you are ever reincarnated, it will 
doubtless be as a cat."  
	"Purrrrr," she replied with a contagious smile.  Accented by 
her green eyes and short, raven hair, Adaz's movements had always 
reminded Sutekh of a cat.  
	"All right," Sutekh said, sitting up straight.  He drew a deep 
breath and let it out with a sigh.  "From when they are very young all 
elves, including drow, are taught a meditation that simulates sleep.  
You see, your senses take things in faster than your mind can deal 
with them, so it stores some of each day away to go over while you 
sleep.  Some of this shows up in your dreams.  Anyway, the meditation 
that elves do allows them to deal with this stored information 
consciously, which, I'm told, is more efficient and makes for a better 
memory."  
	"That doesn't tell me why you sleep."  
	"It was something I had to relearn.  Most elves forget how to 
sleep by the time they've seen a century or so."  
	"But why do you sleep," she asked again when he showed no 
signs of continuing.  
	"Meditation is dealing with your life consciously.  Sleep is 
subconscious.  I can spend six to eight hours a night placing the 
day's events among my memories or I can spend them in darkness."  He 
closed his eyes for a moment.  "Not being overly found of my memories, 
sleep is the one time I can escape them.  I sleep so that I can spend 
a part of each day away from my past."  
	When Adaz seemed to have nothing to say in response, Sutekh 
rolled up in his blankets and tried to sleep.  It was a long time 
coming.  


						Jeff Stehman