Arlia disappeared into the kitchen as the other Kymari showed the Elder to the couch.  The Elder looked around the room with a vague air of disapproval - one that only intensified when she glanced at the unhappy looking plant in the corner -  before she sank down on the cushions.  She looked immensely relieved to no longer be standing, and the other Kymari ducked into the kitchen to join Arlia.

The Elder watched me intently the entire time she was alone.  Her gaze was an almost physical pressure, as if she could reach through my scaly body and pry whatever answers she wanted from my mind just by looking at me hard enough.

Even more unnerving was the strange feeling of respect in the Elder's expression.  She was very interested in me, for some reason, and seemed to almost admire me.

I stared back at her for a few seconds... then adjusted myself so my leg and wings would be more comfortable.  I definitely did not hide.  It was just a coincidence that the nicer position put more of the blanket between me and the Elder's view.

The two Kymari returned a few minutes later with a tray of snacks and a trio of cups.  They arranged them on the table and sat down on the couch.  I got to see an awkward moment where the two of them tried to work out where to sit - both were clearly nervous about sitting next to the Elder, and both were clearly just as nervous about making the other sit next to the Elder, but there was only one couch in the room.  One of them was going to have to sit between the other two.

Arlia finally took a seat in the middle, which caused the Elder to narrow her eyes as if in thought.  Both of the younger Kymari seemed to flinch at that, but I caught a hint of amusement in the Elder's eyes.  I suspected that had been a 'no win' situation that the Elder would have frowned at no matter where Arlia had sat down at, and that the Elder knew it too.  She had let that expression slip on purpose to unnerve the younger Kymari, and had enjoyed doing it.

They exchanged a few more pleasantries - 'thank you for visiting, you have a nice home, thank you for the sandwiches' - then the Elder leaned back against the couch and her voice grew serious.

"Can you tell me the legends of the Kymallata?"

I frowned from behind the blanket.  That had been an alien word, but...  all of the words I heard were alien words.  Any time I heard one of the Kymari speak I heard their words in a language I had clearly never heard before in my life, and could clearly never reply back to in the same language... but I also just as clearly understood what each and every word meant.

The only exceptions were names, but those were obvious from the context clues.  But this had clearly been a word, a label of some kind that did have meaning... but the encyclopedia - which I assumed was responsible for helping me understand all the other alien words - had provided nothing for that word.  The word also seemed vaguely familiar, as if I had heard it at some point in the past, but I couldn't place it.

I probed at the encyclopedia, repeating the word to it, and then I understood.

It wasn't that 'Kymallata' had no meaning in the encyclopedia.  It was that the word simply had too much meaning.  It meant 'cherished companion', 'faithful friend', 'ever-watchful sentry', 'unyielding shield', 'devoted follower'.  It was a term speaking of a protector that would gladly risk their life to save yours, and yet also of something so fragile and cherished that anyone would unquestioningly protect it with their life.  It conveyed a sense of loyalty beyond all reason, and of an attachment so complete that even death itself could not diminish it.

It was a word that simply had no equivalent in my own language.

I turned my attention back to the Kymari.

"...many examples, and nobody is sure where it was first used, from what I understand.  Most historians think it was the name of one of the early bond animals, and that it had such an impact on us that the name became a title, or an honorific, like 'Elder'."  Arlia finished... then looked mortified, as if she had made a potential mistake by talking about the meaning of the word 'Elder' to an actual Elder.  She quickly continued to hide the awkwardness.  "Bond handlers are famous for their dedication and devotion to their companions.  A Kymallata is a creature that comes to display that same level of attachment and loyalty back, beyond that which we normally come to expect from animals, either to its handler or to Kymari society at large.  A creature with the 'heart' of a Kymari."

"Do you know of any examples?"

The other young Kymari nodded.  "Some.  Most from long ago.  Bond animals that were injured in a battle but who managed to continue fighting on anyways and save soldiers, or ones whose handlers died in a battle or some accident and who refused to leave their side."

The Elder reached into her long sleeve and pulled out a flat device, which she put on the table.  A light rose in the air above it and formed images, occasionally changing between one strange alien creature to another.  Various words floated in the air beside the images to describe them, but they were all incomprehensible to me.

I watched as a bear-like animal drug wounded Kymari out of an ambush by nondescript armored figures, saving dozens of lives before ultimately dying from injuries the ambushers inflicted on it.  That was followed by a large feline running again and again into a burning building to save children, ignoring its own burns and growing exhaustion, even continuing after firefighters arrived until finally finding its handler dead in the basement... and refusing to leave the side of that Kymari, instead dying with him.

Then came a large bird of some kind that exhausted itself searching for survivors of a flood during some sort of storm that interfered with the Kymari's technology, continuously flying through several settings and risings of the holographic sun in the image before collapsing into the waters... and being pulled from the water herself by the survivor she had just spotted, with a rescue team coming for them both soon after.

And that was followed by a smaller bird in another warzone, this one flying past explosions and blasts of energy with a small disc of some kind tied to its leg.  The bird was hit by one of the energy blasts and fell to the ground, where it lay for a long moment before it crawled back up and continued flying onwards.  It was shot down two more times while we watched, falling heavily to the ground each time and growing obviously more and more wounded... but each time it got back up and continued flying onwards.  It finally collapsed at a Kymari camp surrounded by heavy weapons firing in the direction the bird had flown from.  I watched as a Kymari read from the disc and began hurriedly shutting down all the weapons, as another Kymari gently carried the injured bird to a medic.

I watched the simple movies flicker silently through the air with a somber feeling.

The group watched the scenes for several long moments before the Elder tapped the flat device again, and the lights faded from the air.  Both of the younger Kymari seemed to be avoiding looking in my direction.

"Can you tell me why people in this city have begun referring to an animal as a Kymallata?"  The Elder looked from Arlia to watch the other Kymari with a neutral expression.

The Kymari looked down towards her drink and began speaking softly.  She sounded different, and gave me the impression that she was quoting somebody... or possibly reciting something she had rehearsed often in her head.  "He... a fire lizard was discovered living in the park here.  Nobody was aware of it; the park had been searched several times for any signs of a flock without ever finding any signs of them, but those searches must have missed finding a lone individual, especially since the larger predators in the wild had led to the assumption fire lizards could not survive away from the protection of a flock.  That assumption may still be accurate, because the fire lizard had been surviving with the company of a coyote, one that showed signs of being domesticated by the humans before the Votak invasion."

The room grew quiet as she paused for a moment.  All three of them continued to avoid looking at me.

"There was a... misunderstanding.  The coyote was assumed to be a threat to a child, and was shot to protect her."  Another pause, then her voice continued, sadder.  "The fire lizard spent the night by the coyote's side.  The fire lizards are known to dance and sing each morning when the sun rises, but he did not sing that morning, or the one after that.  The park was heavily monitored but there were no reports of any singing.  We were worried he had died without the protection of the coyote, but on the third morning he was spotted again, singing over what was later discovered to be a den."

The Kymari paused and looked back up at the Elder, though her voice was still sad.  "The dances of the larger flock move from day to day, and weeks or months will go by before they return to a spot to sing.  But this one returned to the same spot every morning after that to dance - the spot where the coyote died.  The fire lizard was also observed playing with pinecones or a small yellow ball around the site at random points, tossing them back and forth as if going through the motion of playing with the coyote.  And every night it would bring a dead fish to the spot, which it would leave where the coyote had been buried."

I closed my eyes as I heard the Kymari describe her view of the last four months.

"Recordings of him dancing or sharing its dinner for the coyote got out, along with the story.  Nobody knew the fire lizard's name, and it was acting with the dedication seen in the legends, so they began referring to it as 'Kymallata'."

I opened my eyes again to see the Elder had lifted her cup to sip from it.  The room was silent while she drank, until she sat it back down on the table.  "There are a few inaccuracies with your story, if you will allow me to correct them?"

The Kymari nodded.  "Thank you, Elder."

The Elder reached forward and tapped a button on the device she had sat on the table.  A new image appeared above the device, one I immediately recognized.  Susie's collar.

"The animal you shot was not a coyote.  We were able to translate the words found on the creature's collar, and were able to find enough surviving records from the humans to make a few matches.  It was an animal known as a 'dog' - a domesticated form of a distant relative to the coyotes, which our archaeologists believe the humans used for various tasks and for companionship."  She pointed towards the engraved words on the tag.  "We have not been able to translate this word, but believe these words after it - pronounced 'Border Collie' - refer to the specific type of dog she was, and have found other references to it in the surviving records.  It was apparently commonly used to help herd other animals and to protect them from predators."

She pointed further down the tag.  "We think this part refers to the home of the human the dog and the fire lizard belonged to."  She pointed higher up.  "And we think this word is the name of the animal.  The archaeologists think it is pronounced 'Susie'."

"Yes."  I doubted they would understand me - I was pretty sure they thought I was just a dumb animal, and none of them had ever shown signs of understanding my warbles or songs - but I said it anyway.  If they didn't like my eavesdropping on them, then they shouldn't be having the conversation right in front of my cage.

The Elder looked towards me at my sad chirp.  Arlia and the other Kymari just looked down at the floor.

"Since he seems to recognize the word, I believe they are right."  The Elder looked away from me and turned back to the two younger Kymari.  "We have tried searching for more information on the fire lizards in the surviving records, hopefully to find more information on their habits, or why they are not found elsewhere on this planet, or how the humans interacted with them, or even what the humans called them.  But the Votak were very thorough in their destruction of human records.  There is a theory that they may have been called 'parakeets', but there is much debate among the archaeologists about that and it is not a popular theory."

The Elder turned back towards me.  "Despite the lack of human records, we know enough to be sure that the fire lizards do not eat fish on a regular basis, and everything Senica has seen confirms this one is no different.  There have been occasional examples of a fire lizard being observed eating meat, but never more than once in a span of several days or weeks, and they almost always prefer fruit when given the option.  So it is unlikely the fire lizard was simply sharing its own meal with the dog.  But since the dog was a domesticated animal and had been raised to depend on humans for food, it is doubtful it was able to survive without them.  We have not yet found any other survivors of this particular breed."

"It is more likely that the fire lizard had been trained by humans to help them hunt, since there is no reason for that behavior that we can determine otherwise, and that he had used that training to help keep the dog alive after their disappearance.  The prevailing theory now is that instead of just sharing its own food, it was in the habit of actively catching whatever food the dog needed, and continued to do so even after Susie's death."

"Close enough."  I chirped again, though they just as clearly didn't understand me.

The Kymari spoke up.  "Can we not say... that name?  He sounds... I'd rather not upset him."  She trailed off, looking nervous.

The Elder nodded in sympathy.  "Of course."  She took another sip from her drink, then looked back at the Kymari.  "Why have you captured the Kymallata?"

"I didn't!"  The Kymari shook her head furiously.  "It wasn't like that at all."

"I spoke with your supervisors.  They say you requested permission to use one of the invisibility veils, and that you often went to that park on your off time.  You were also seen leaving sunburst berries at Su... at the dog's grave.  Were you attempting to tame the fire lizard?"

I briefly considered giving a sad chirp at the almost-use of Susie's name, just to make her feel a little more miserable, but I decided against it.  I didn't want them getting the idea I could actually understand them and taking the conversation somewhere else.  I settled for half-heartedly lifting my ear tufts as if I had heard something interesting, before lowering them a few seconds later as if I had grown bored.

"No."  The Kymari almost whispered the word as she shook her head.

Arlia spoke up softly.  "Minna feels guilty.  The more that people talked about him, the harder it got for her.  We looked up the notes on the fire lizards and learned they liked the sunburst berries; she was bringing them to try and apologize."

I thought back to all the sweet berries that I had found waiting for me at Susie's grave.  Now I understood why they had been left there, and why they always had the same scent lingering around them.  I... wasn't sure how to feel about that.  Knowing the welcome treats that I had been excited to see had really been coming from her, and were being offered as an apology, was... confusing.

"Is this true?"

The Kymari nodded.

"And when you followed it with the invisibility field?"  The Elder looked at her pointedly, suggesting she didn't want Arlia to answer.

It took her a moment but she finally answered.  "Everyone was saying the fire lizards couldn't survive on their own.  The coyote... the dog that had protected it was gone.  I was worried something might happen to it, and didn't want that."

"Yet he is here now, in your care.  Is it not your intention to try and keep him?"

"He was attacked right in front of me!  He would have died if I had left him there.  I tried to get somebody else to take care of him, but nobody would.  I just want him to get better, and then to go back out in the park.  I'm only here for an apprenticeship to learn as a shuttle pilot.  I want to go back home once it's over, not stay here as a handler.  The veterinarian said it'll just take him a few months to heal, and then he can go back out on his own."

"You understand the fire lizards are a protected species, correct?  That taking one from the wild without permission of an Elder is a criminal act, and that attempting to train or tame one without permission is expressly forbidden?"

Arlia and the Kymari both flinched... then nodded slowly.  I felt my ear tufts quiver in excitement, though I tried not to look too interested.  I hadn't known that.  Somebody's in trou-bleeee!

"Then I feel I have no choice in this matter."  The Elder picked up the cup and sipped from it slowly, then lowered it to hold in her lap.

Here it comes...

"I would like to give you my permission to keep Kymallata if he is willing, Minna, and would consider it a personal favor if you would make the attempt to tame him as your bond animal."

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Author's note - History Lesson

When I first read Upon Wings of Change, one thing that stood out was how much the Kymari valued nature.  The parks, and the position of the bond handler or bond animal.  And I wondered how the Kymari would treat the examples of animals that we're impressed by - the dog that runs into a burning building to get someone, the cat that attacks a larger animal to protect a child, etc.  The animal that is dedicated, and shows an aspect of humanity that even comes to impress us.

And two very specific examples came to mind.

The first is actually rather common.  The most famous example is probably Hachiko, from Tokyo, who went to the train station every day, for nine years... to wait for a man that had died, but which the dog had gotten into the habit of meeting.  There are other examples of it too - a German Shepard in Argentina that came every day to guard a grave, a dog in Kentucky that went to the train station too, a dog named Fido that lived in Italy and did the same thing at a bus stop.

It was the inspiration for a heartbroken dragonet that went to the same spot, day after day, to sing and dance for his friend.  And I felt that something like that would deeply impress the Kymari.

But there was a second example that I also thought of, and I wanted to draw attention to it.  Most of the examples in the Elder's hologram are ones that I made up, but the last one is a direct reference to an animal that a lot of people may not have heard of.  He was a messenger pigeon in World War 1, named 'Cher Ami'.  He was given an important message to carry... and was almost immediately shot down and wounded.

He got back up anyways, and flew 25 miles (40 kilometers) - despite the injuries, despite the battle still going on all around him - and delivered a message that informed the British artillery that they were firing on an area that still had their own soldiers in it.

Cher Ami saved hundreds of lives by doing that.  And his name translates to 'Dear Friend'.

I felt he was exactly the type of animal the Kymari would admire, and I wanted to make sure this story had a reference to him in some fashion.

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