"Can you hold Nate for me while I adjust my brace? It'll just take a minute."

"Of course."

It had been six days since Minna had been let out of the hospital. She was still staying in the same city as Trenil - the Kymari were apparently a lot better at treating their own broken bones than they were at treating the broken bones of flying alien lizards, but she still had to wear a brace against her leg to help her move around, and it was turning out to be a lot of help to have the other bond companions around to help take care of me when she couldn't. She still needed a lot of rest.

Despite my worries, she didn't bring up my odd behavior on the freighter, or any of the images I had sent her. I spent a few days nervous that she was going to say something to me... but she didn't treat me any differently. I began to wonder if she had suffered worse injuries than we knew, and grew worried that her memory of events had been affected as a side effect of some more serious problem... but when I told Ivy I was scared of possible brain injuries from the crash, she confirmed with Trenil that the doctors had checked for that. So in the end I didn't know what to make of it. Minna kept me fed and played with me when she was up to it, and treated me just the same as she always had, as if nothing was any different between us.

But she had also started to go stir crazy from just sitting around the simple hotel room all day, and she had finally talked Trenil into bringing her on a patrol around the city. The chance of there actually being a sicora or crawler somewhere in the city was next to nothing, what with the other dragonets inspecting every cargo ship that came into it, but Trenil had agreed. It had done wonders for her mood - which had done wonders for mine, too. I hadn't liked seeing Minna growing depressed and frustrated from the inactivity.

Though I had to admit that it was very nice to spend time with Ivy. Some of the other bond companions stopped by to help throughout the day, but Trenil was there every morning, and the two of us danced the Morning Song together.

That had seemed to cheer Minna up, too. I hoped that between that and some exercise the recovery wouldn't be so bad for her.

Minna held her hand up in a familiar fist. "Nate, up." I hopped from her shoulder to her glove, and she moved it next to Trenil's free shoulder. "Go on." I hopped onto Trenil's shoulder and settled down on the thick pad to wait.

Trenil took my leash in the same hand that held Ivy's, then moved to lean against one of the walls while Minna disappeared into the bathroom. I thought we would just watch the hall for a bit... but Trenil started speaking into the empty hallway.

"It has been nearly three and a half months since you came back to Minna, Nate. Nearly three and a half months since she was officially named a handler, and since the two of you started helping us by inspecting the passenger ships."

Ivy fidgeted a little on Trenil's other shoulder. She curled her tail so it stopped dangling down Trenil's back and shifted on his shoulder, until she was hidden out of sight behind his head.

Uh-oh. I think I know where this is going...

"From what Ivy has shared... and Tasha, and Serena, and every other fire lizard with a bond handler but yourself... three months seems to be the amount of time you've decided to wait before you accept that someone is safe to talk with. Most of the other fire lizards were thrilled to begin talking to us. Ivy woke me up in the middle of the night to talk with me for the first time. Some weren't even able to wait that long."

He paused and glanced towards the bathroom door. "So the rest of us have all been waiting for Minna to suddenly have questions for us. For that little change in the way she looks at you, and the way she looks at the other fire lizards once she's learned the truth. Once she's had a conversation with one of you. The same change we saw in each of us. We have been waiting for our fire lizards to tell us it's safe to share that secret with Minna. And... we are not sure why it hasn't happened yet. Keeping the secret has started to make things awkward between Minna and the rest of us, especially with how closely I have been working with her this last week. Minna can tell something is off, even though she doesn't understand what it is. I see the way she has been watching Ivy this last week. There are little things in the way I treat Ivy that Minna doesn't quite understand, and which I can't really explain to her."

"It is your decision in the end, and if you decide you want to wait longer, or even if you decide to never talk to her, that is up to you. This is not our secret to share with her. And Ivy tells us that everything is okay, and that you are doing well with her, but we are starting to get worried. So we just want to be sure." The Kymari turned from the door to watch me with a faint hint of concern hidden in his expression. "Is Minna mistreating you? Is there something wrong that she has done, anything that you need help with? Has she hurt you in some way, or is something wrong with her? Do you want us to find another handler to take care of you?"

I blinked in surprise. They were worried Minna had done something wrong? That she was the one who had mistreated me...? I quickly shook my head, but I think Trenil caught when my ear tufts began to droop from guilt.

He watched me for a few long seconds. I wasn't sure if he was thinking over what he had just noticed, or if he was listening to something Ivy was telling him. Finally he spoke again, this time with a gentler tone. "Then may I ask why you haven't spoken to her? If you don't want to tell me, I will understand, but we are worried. We just want to be sure that everything is okay."

I looked away from the Kymari and closed my eyes. It felt... wrong, somehow, to speak to Trenil or any other Kymari while I was still unwilling to speak with Minna, and... honestly I wasn't even sure how to put it into words even if I did talk to him... but... maybe an image would explain things. The Kymari were almost scarily observant, and good at putting things together. And I had sent Minna images before, even if I had lucked out and she hadn't put together where it had come from. I had also sent images to her father. So it felt less like I was hiding something or going around her back than if I spoke actual words.

I pictured Ivy's handler in my mind and sent him the simple image that had bothered me so much of late. Minna's hand... and all of the bite marks covering it. The angry scar running down the length of her arm. The countless scratches and cuts. All of the injuries I had deliberately given her.

There was silence for a long moment. I wondered what Trenil was thinking. Did he understand, or had I just confused him?

"Ah." I opened my eyes and saw Trenil looking back at the bathroom door. He looked thoughtful, and I thought I could make out concern and sympathy on his face. "You are scared. You know that she is okay thinking an animal that hadn't known any better was the one that had done those things to her, but you fear that if she comes to realize a sentient creature had been responsible for them, then she will be angry with you. Maybe even reject you."

He got it. My ear tufts dropped a little lower as I slowly nodded.

He smiled gently at the far wall. "Nate, you can trust me on this. You have nothing-"

Trenil broke off as the door slid open and Minna emerged back into the hallway. "Sorry about that. Did anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

"Just the heat turning on." Trenil switched smoothly back into a bored attitude. "I think they would have reacted by now if there was anything in this building. Want to move on?"

"Sure." Minna held her gloved hand up before me and I hopped onto it, then moved back onto her shoulder. Minna frowned and took a closer look at me. "Nate? Are you okay?"

"Hi!" I chirped happily back at her and fanned my wings a little. I wasn't as good at hiding my feelings and expressions as Trenil was, especially with how well Minna seemed to be getting at reading me, and she must have picked up that something was wrong. I tried to force myself to look up at her happily, then glanced away like I had become distracted by something else.

"Heh. Yes, I know, it's boring. Just another hour or two and we can head home; it'll be fine." She reached up with her ungloved hand to stroke over my back, and I thrummed lightly in thanks.

I did my best not to look at the scars on the hand when it moved away.

"So! What do we have next on the list?" Minna looked away from me and started walking down the hallway.

"Just two more places. A bank and the market; they haven't reported anything, but they both work with incoming shipping, so they would feel better if we did a check for them. Any preference on which one to do first?"

"The market. Maybe they will have something interesting for Nate to play with. I'm not sure how much use our patrols will be if he falls asleep."

Trenil chuckled. "Good point. Okay, the market it is."

We wandered through the market for about an hour, but Ivy and I didn't smell anything out of place.

"Doesn't seem like there's anything here." Trenil looked like he was about to yawn.

"I wouldn't say that." Minna was glancing at the various stalls with interest, eyeing the different wares. Ivy seemed just as interested, and I couldn't help but glance at some of the different goods on display as we passed by them. There weren't any shia fruits around, unfortunately, but there were a few pieces of shiny jewelry that caught my eye.

"Find anything worth getting?"

Minna shrugged, and I fanned my wings a little to stay balanced. "Not really. Some of the earrings looked okay, but Nate likes to nibble on them, so I'd need to find ones that aren't toxic to him. That means custom orders."

I saw Ivy shift on Trenil's shoulder with a sudden interest, and I tried not to react. "What's this about nibbling on Minna's ears?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." The sour note of a lie was obvious in my tone.

"Uh-huhhhh..."

"You're just jealous Trenil doesn't have shiny things in his ear for you to chew on."

A mental sigh came from Ivy. "I am, actually. That sounds like it might actually be a little fun during some of the more boring patrols."

Trenil took a closer look at the earrings. "You know you can probably train him out of doing that."

Minna grinned. "I know, but I've actually gotten used to it. He doesn't yank on the earring or anything; it just tickles a little and reminds me that he's still there." Minna paused at the next stall and glanced over the various trinkets on display. She reached down and picked up a jewelry box for a closer look.

Trenil paused behind her. I saw him glance at me from out of the corner of my eye, then saw him look at the ungloved hand holding the box. "Have you ever thought about a rejuvenation treatment for those scars? You must have some left over from when you were treating Nate's wing, and I'm sure we can get more for you if that isn't enough."

I tilted my neck enough to glare at Trenil from behind Minna's head. I felt Minna's shoulder tense up beneath me, and I was dimly aware of her setting the box back down. "I... couldn't do that."

I felt the leathery glove on my back as Minna began stroking along my neck. I continued to glare fire at Trenil. Stop upsetting her!

Minna stared down at the jewelry box, and more specifically, at the tiny scars covering the hand holding it. "I earned every one of these. Nate's used to me now and even likes me, but... I don't think he ever truly forgave me for what I did to Susie. He seemed like things were fine at first, and we are close, but... he seemed to just hit a wall a month or two ago. Sometimes it feels like he reaches a limit and just can't bear to be around me anymore, and has to find some place to go where he won't have to see me."

She shook her head slightly and grew a little quieter. "For a while, I thought it was just because he had been on his own for so long, and that he needed some time alone, and that's what I told anyone when he flew away for one of those breaks... but I've noticed that he never has that problem around others. These past few days with you and Ivy, and before that with Arlia or my brother. He can be around anyone else for hours on end, but with me... every now and then when he looks at me he just tenses up and seems sad, and then he goes off to be somewhere else. He still blames me. Still remembers what I did. So... I still deserve each and every one of the bites and scratches he gave me."

I felt my wings droop at my sides. Minna must have picked up on my own guilt and apprehension at the decision to talk to her, but she had interpreted it as lingering anger or pain over Susie instead. No... it isn't like that...

"And..." Minna was quiet for a moment as she traced her fingers over the cover of the box. When she spoke again there was a strange sense of happiness in her voice. "Even if I didn't deserve them, Nate gave me these scars. No matter what else happens - no matter how old I get, or how old he... doesn't get... I will always have these from him. Even if he hated me when he gave me them, even if he still hates me a little now, even if he always hates me a little... these are still something that came from him. I wouldn't trade that away for anything, and certainly not just so my hand might look a tiny bit prettier in someone else's eyes." She looked back behind her at Trenil. "You understand, don't you?"

"Yes." Trenil paused briefly, and put the tiniest bit of subtle emphasis on his next word. "I do." He stepped away from the stall and walked back out into the lane. "I think this is clear too. Let's go check the bank, then we can call it a day."

"I like the sound of that." Minna gave my back another stroke from her hand, then turned and followed after Trenil.