I lifted my head up from the bowl of sand as the door to the simple hospital room began to slide open. I felt numb inside and did not want another interruption. Minna didn't need one, either.

Trenil had gotten the shuttle pilot to rush us all back to his city, and he had brought everyone straight to a hospital. The doctors had immediately started treating the injured guards. Trenil had seemed to understand that my instincts would not tolerate a bunch of strangers moving around Minna while she was still unconscious... so he had avoided the issue entirely by slipping me a sunburst berry covered in the stupid tranquilizer while we were all still on the shuttle.

I had been so tired and hungry that I had eaten the whole thing before I had realized it, and I had only managed to come out of the doped up state after the doctors had finished operating on Minna. A vet had checked me out while I was sedated and had put a bandage over the nasty gash along my tail, but they didn't seem to think I was in any danger from poison. Ivy had stayed with me while the vet looked me over, then kept me company until the sedatives wore off.

The hospital apparently worked with bond companions often enough to understand Minna would want to see me when she woke up, so Trenil had been able to slip a heat lamp and a simple bowl of sand set up in her room for me. I had curled up beneath the heat lamp and stared at Minna from that corner of the room.

Minna's leg was in a cast and her head was covered in bandages. She hadn't woken up yet, but the doctors said she should soon. That she just needed some more rest. Strange machines beeped and hummed near her, and I could barely hear the soft sound of her breathing beneath those noises.

I had nothing to do but watch my sleeping friend. To stare at her broken leg. The bruises on her head.

The scratches and scars on her arms.

This all happened to her because she is with you.

If you stay with her, she will end up dying.

The words of Minna's father haunted me as the long minutes passed into hours.

I looked blankly at the door and waited for it to finish opening. Maybe it would be a doctor with some more news.

Minna's father limped into the room, wearing a brace over one of his legs, and the door closed behind him. He looked at his sleeping daughter, then at the machines near her.

I felt a sinking feeling as I remembered what I had promised him. I had hated her so much when we had met, but now... leaving Minna was the worst thing I could think of...

No. I looked back at the wounded Kymari on the bed. The second worst.

Minna's father turned to look at me, and the sinking feeling turned to a crushing one.

I wasn't sure what he would do if I tried to go back on what I had promised, but I was sure it wouldn't be pretty. And... he was right. Minna was in the hospital now because of me. Because I was in her life. If I wasn't in her life... she would be on some other world. A happy shuttle pilot following her dreams, safe and sound.

But instead she was seriously wounded. Unconscious. In a hospital.

It wouldn't be right to keep endangering her.

The tracker would have to go. Any attempt at running from Minna would fail if she could track me. Without it I could vanish into another park, or maybe even the wilderness between cities, and the Kymari wouldn't find me. And even if somehow they did, they would have no way of knowing I was the same 'fire lizard', even if it would be awfully coincidental to find a second silver dragonet out on its own. I didn't have any way to get the tracker out, but I suspected her father would.

I stood slowly up in the sand and extended my wing on the side Trenil had injected me at. I thought up my memory of the strange device Trenil had used, and sent that to Minna's father.

He frowned down at me in confusion for a moment. "I don't understand. The tracker? What about it?"

I looked pointedly down at the knife at his side. I stretched my wing out a little further and looked back up at him.

He shook his head and held his hands out, palms towards me. "You really would go through with it, wouldn't you? Why?"

I blinked in confusion at his words. What kind of question was that? He had been pushing for it from the start; didn't he know that answer best out of all of us?

I looked slowly back at the hospital bed, and at the wounded Kymari laying in it. At my friend.

"Kymallata..." Minna's father spoke with a gentle tone I hadn't heard from him before. There was a sense of deep respect in the word. "Nate. I saw what you did for my daughter. I know what you were willing to risk to save her. What you are still willing to do for her sake. I will not repay that loyalty to her by asking that of you. I cannot put either of you through that pain." He paused while I looked back up at him, suddenly confused... and suddenly hopeful.

"Minna will face risks and danger no matter what life she picks. This one may have a few more than others would, but... nothing will change that. As much as I may hate it. There is only so much I can protect her from, no matter how much it hurts me to know that my little girl is in danger. But..." He brought his hand slowly up and held it palm up before me, and I stared at it in growing confusion and hope. "Morton told me what he saw you doing. What you were willing to do. You saved her life. She would be hurt much worse right now without you there; she may even be dead. You protected her from that, and I know that you will do anything it takes to continue protecting her. No matter what it may cost you. I know you will keep her safe."

He met my eyes and spoke slowly, filling every word with sincerity. "I was wrong, and I am sorry. You are a noble creature. A true friend, and one that Minna is lucky to have in her life. A Kymallata. So please... do me this favor. Stay with my daughter. Continue to protect her. Do not put her through the pain that your disappearance would cause her."

A sudden sense of relief filled me.

I had just been told that by someone who had spent every moment these last few days looking for any excuse to drive us apart. Someone who had been convinced I was a threat to Minna, and who had fully believed that I needed to go in order for her to be safe. If he couldn't find any excuse now, if he couldn't find any reason for me to leave, if he had changed his mind when he finally had the opportunity to get me out of his daughter's life... if he was now saying his daughter was better off with me in her life...

It carried a weight of truth that even the mindlink couldn't convey.

It wasn't my fault she was hurt. Not really. Her life was better because of me.

I brought my hand up to rest in the much larger hand of the Kymari, then looked up at him and nodded.

Doctors came in a few times after that while Minna slept, but they seemed to think she was still doing okay after their checkups. Minna's father waited in a chair on one side of the room while I lay curled up in the warm sand. I was still very worried about Minna and kept looking up to see if she had moved.

At least another hour had passed when I finally heard Minna yawn. She blinked a few times, then smiled when she saw her father. "Hi, Dad." She moved her head again and looked around the room, and I saw her smile grow more when she looked at me. "Hi, Nate."

I climbed out of the bowl of sand and flew the short distance across the room. I wasn't sure how much pain she was in so I avoided landing on her chest like I normally did, instead picking an open spot next to her. I trilled out my relief that she was finally awake and nudged gently at her hand. She lifted it weakly to rest against my back, and I stretched out to thrum softly.

Minna's father waited until I had finished greeting her before he pulled his chair closer to her bed. "Hi Minna. How are you feeling?"

She chuckled weakly and lifted her other hand up to wave it aimlessly. "Like I just flew a shuttle straight into a planet. I don't remember much. I'm in a hospital?"

He grinned and took her hand. "Your armor protected you from the worst of it, but you were still badly hurt in the crash. One of the other bond handlers rescued us; he followed the tracker on your fire lizard to find him. You've been in the hospital for the better part of a day. The doctors said there was some minor internal bleeding and some impact trauma to a few organs, but they were able to take care of that. You also had some nasty bumps on your head, and your leg is broken. They want to keep you under observation for a little bit, and you will have to take it easy for a while, but you'll be okay."

Minna nodded slowly. "That... sounds about how I feel." Her fingers brushed weakly over my back in a slow pet. "How are the others?"

"More or less in the same situation you're in. The doctors only released me a few hours ago. The others are resting but are expected to make full recoveries." I noticed the absence of any details about the injuries the other Kymari may have gotten... and decided that was probably for the best. Minna needed to rest, not worry about what had happened to her guards.

"What happened? Back on the ship?" Minna was still watching me, and I nudged lightly up at her hand.

"I have some of the details. The escort ships managed to catch back up with the freighter and they rescued the shuttle pilot. They have been interrogating the crew, but as of the last update nobody had learned anything major. The merchants claim they were hired to smuggle the crawlers onto some of our major worlds in an act of sabotage, but it sounds like everything was done through cut outs. Nobody knows who hired them or why they wanted to weaken us through sicora attacks. Just that they had a lot of money." Minna's father motioned towards me. "When we demanded the merchants undergo the inspection they panicked. They tried to distract the fire lizards by catching ktari and keeping them near the crawlers, and doused their ship in that cleaner so as to try and overwhelm the fire lizards with the scents of the fumes."

I felt Minna's hand stiffen against my back and could tell she was angry. None of the bond companions had been happy about what the fumes had done to us. Getting confirmation that it had been done intentionally, and that the aliens had deliberately endangered us... it was obvious how Minna felt about that.

Minna's father must have noticed her reaction too, and changed the subject. "Do you need anything? I can check if you can have some food."

She shook her head. "I don't think I can eat anything yet. Nate probably needs to eat something soon though. I don't know if Trenil is around, but he'll know what to feed him." She glanced back down at me. I gave her a reassuring warble, and she smiled softly.

Minna's father sighed and leaned back in the chair. "Listen, Minna. About Nate..."

Minna closed her eyes and slowly turned her head back to the ceiling. "Dad, can we... can we not do this again right now?"

The older Kymari closed his eyes and shook his head. "No. Minna... I need to apologize." He looked down at where Minna was slowly petting over my back. "I didn't realize how much the two of you actually meant to each other until I came here, and until I saw what he did for you after we crashed. You were right. He has been a good influence on you. And we need him." He paused for a moment and nodded slowly. "You need him. I want you both to keep taking care of each other."

Minna opened her eyes and stared blankly at her father. "But... I thought... all that stuff you said. About being worried about me." She watched him for a moment before she glanced uncertainly down at me. "What did he do...?"

"Someone else can give you the full story later, once you are feeling better. But the short story is that he risked his life to protect you. To protect all of us." He let out another heavy sigh. "Minna, I am still very, very worried for you. You are in the hospital with a broken leg. This isn't a safe profession you are in now." He looked down at her cast, and I caught sight of all the fear and worry in his eyes. The fear every parent had for their children.

"But he did keep you safe. He risked his life to save yours. I know he will keep doing that, and do everything he can to protect you. That counts for a lot. And..." He smiled faintly. "Your brother is right, too. You are an adult now. Even if it's not the life I wanted for you... this is your decision. Your life. And I can tell how much you have grown from having to take care of him. It's not fair to keep treating you like a child. Though I will still always be here for you if you ever need anything."

Minna smiled faintly, and she brought her free hand up to her face to wipe at her eyes. "Tha..." She swallowed, then tried again. "Thanks, Dad."

The older Kymari leaned back in his chair and nodded... then I saw the tiniest grin appear on his face. "Now... about this Trenil fellow you've been hanging around..."

"Dad!" Minna blushed on the bed and looked away from him. "He's just a friend. He helped me learn how to take care of Nate, that's all."

"Uh-huh." The grin grew wider on the older Kymari's face. "Well. For what my opinion is worth, and from what I have seen of him, he is a good man. Not many people would have coerced a shuttle pilot into flying aimlessly over a bunch of empty jungle on the off chance he would be able to pick up the tracker on your pet."

"Bond companion." Minna corrected her father absently, then looked back at him. "He did that? With Ivy with him?"

Her father frowned, but nodded slowly.

"Huh..." She looked back down at me thoughtfully.

The two talked for a bit longer while I thrummed softly beside Minna, but eventually she fell back asleep.

Her father carefully slipped his hand out from hers and stood up. He stepped towards the door, then stopped. He took a careful look back at the machines and the displays beside her, then looked back down at me. "I won't tell anyone what you showed me, or what I learned about you. But I think you should tell Minna. She will not hurt you, or allow anyone else to hurt you. Learning that about you will not change that." He watched me for another long moment, then looked back up at Minna.

"Normally I would stay until Minna was released, but Terron and Loreena are worried and want to know everyone is okay. And I know she will not be alone if I leave." The Kymari looked back at me with a short nod of his head. "Thank you."

He watched his daughter for another long moment... then he turned and left the room.