Ten more sunrises. Two thirds of the way to freedom.

My Kymari went through her morning routine just like usual - the visit to Susie's grave had apparently been a special occasion, though I hoped it might happen again on her upcoming weekend. She woke up just early enough to record my song from the couch, then disappeared to change, then fed me breakfast... then went off to her job, leaving me alone in the apartment.

I stretched out in the bowl of sand like I usually did after she left, and drifted off to the sensation of pleasant warmth. She'd pester me with random music and drag me around the city for exercise when she got home, like she had all the other days this week, but for now I could just appreciate warmth and let my leg relax...

The soft 'ding' of the door opening interrupted my lazy sunbathing under the heat lamp. I lifted my head and blinked away some of my bleariness. That shouldn't be happening - she should still be out for several more hours, and nobody else would come over when she was out. Or... they wouldn't, would they? I hadn't seen any signs that the Kymari had a problem with criminals, but I hadn't really asked them. Maybe it was Terron, and he had brought Lyzel over to play? I couldn't recall anything being mentioned about them coming over while she was out, but if Terron was her brother, then she probably wouldn't mind too much. Right?

The idea that it was a stranger who might be coming in without her permission - or even worse, to take her stuff - bothered me on some level. I lifted my head out of the sand and perked my ear tufts in case I needed to hiss at an intruder.

The doors finished sliding open, and my Kymari stepped inside. She ignored me completely and went straight for the couch, sinking down into it and grabbing the phone device off the table.

Okay, that was odd. Home early, and ignoring me? Most nights she came over and tried to pet me for at least a few minutes; what was this? She hadn't even glanced around to try and figure out where I was at. I stood up and walked to the edge of the bowl of sand to get a better view of her.

She tapped a few buttons on the device. It made a beeping noise a few times, then went silent. "Hey, Arlia? I know you're probably still at work right now, and I'm not sure if you had anything planned, but could you please call me when you get home? I really need to talk to someone."

I felt the fuzzy tufts tickle the back of my neck as my ears drooped back down. She sounded upset - her voice had trembled several times through that.

The Kymari tapped the device a few more times, and it went through the same beeping sequence. "Hey Terron, I know you said you were going to be out this afternoon, but if you get this, could you please give me a call? I... it's nothing too serious, I just could use some help from my big brother when you have a little time. Thanks."

"Ivy?" I thought at the green dragonet.

Her voice came back almost immediately, with a cheerful tone that was very out of place with what I was seeing. "Hi Nate! How's it going? Leg back to normal yet?"

"Mostly. Um... can you ask Trenil a question for me?" The Kymari began tapping the device some more.

Ivy's tone became serious. "Sure. What's going on? Is everything okay?"

The device repeated the beeps, but this time the Kymari just tapped another button instead of saying anything.

"My Kymari just came home. I think something's wrong; she plopped straight down on the couch and started calling people. She sounds really upset."

"That doesn't sound good. I'll ask if Trenil knows anything."

Ivy grew quiet as I watched the Kymari tap more buttons on the device. It went through the same sequence a few more times, but nobody ever answered, and she didn't leave any other messages. I think I heard her sniffle once, but it was hard to tell over the beeps.

Ivy finally spoke again, this time sounding sad and concerned. "Trenil is saying that Minna was kicked out of her apprenticeship program today. He's trying to find out why; the 'official' reason is listed as poor work performance, but he thinks there must be something more to it. She had nothing but good reviews before this. Elder Naishi mentioned that when she asked Trenil to help her."

I had a nasty suspicion I knew. If she was doing fine before she had started taking care of me, but was being fired for not doing a good enough job after she had started taking care of me... then... then it probably had something to do with taking care of me. She had mentioned a few times that other Kymari weren't very happy with her doing that...

She stopped tapping buttons on the device and dropped it on the table. She lifted her head up to stare at the ceiling for a few seconds, then slowly fell to the side to curl up on the couch.

I stared at the back of the couch for a long moment and tried to sort through what I was feeling. I had gotten used to dealing with the strong instincts involved in being a dragonet - the drive to deal with hunger or cold, the nervousness when something larger than me was around, the powerful need to greet the sun every day. I wasn't always successful at fighting them off, and they often had a lot more influence over me than I liked, but at least I was used to them.

But this...

This was a leftover instinct from when I had been human, one I hadn't dealt with in years. The urge of compassion. Somebody was hurting - somebody who had done something that had really hurt me, yes, but somebody who had also tried to be nice to me. Who had looked out for me when I was alone, who had brought me to a doctor when I had been hurt, who had fed me and kept me safe while I was healing, when I wasn't able to do those things myself. Even comforted me when I was scared. She had done all those things for me without ever expecting anything in return, and with the knowledge it could get her in trouble, and... it had. Now she was the one hurting and in need of help.

For another moment I tried to fight off the feelings of sympathy rising up in me. I tried to remember the way the Kymari had looked when she had shot Susie, tried to remember how I had felt when Susie had stopped breathing, tried to remember all the times she had drugged me, all the times she had grabbed me, tried to remember every one of the indignities and hurts I had suffered because of her.

I heard the quiet sound of crying from the couch, and suddenly none of those things mattered anymore.

This wasn't the monster I had hated the past months. This wasn't the nightmare creature that had deliberately stolen my only friend from me, then kidnapped me for her own nefarious plans. That creature didn't really exist.

All that existed was a kid still trying to learn how to be an adult, one who had tried to do the right thing after making a horrible mistake... and one who had just had all the plans for her life ruined because of it. There was only a scared little girl whose world had fallen out from under her, and who was now desperate for anybody to give her a little comfort.

The same comfort she had been trying to give to me all this time.

I climbed from the warm sand and walked over to comfort Minna.

"Are you okay?" I chirped up from the edge of the couch, in the little bit of space not taken up by my Kymari.

She jerked and sat up suddenly, looking around the room before spotting me on the couch. She brought her hand up to wipe at her face a few times. "Oh... oh, hi Kymallata. Sorry... are you hungry? I'll get you something, just, um, just give me a minute?"

I fell back down to all fours and tried to think. That hadn't been what I was going for. Think, Nate. What would Ivy do if Trenil was upset?

I glanced around just to make absolutely sure nobody else was there that might see me, then jumped up onto the back of the couch. She tilted her head to keep watching me, and I tried to ignore just how unnerving it was to be that close to a face that large, or at least one in comparison to my own size. I had a strong urge to just turn around and hide back inside my den... but the watery eyes in the face gave me an equally strong urge to help.

I hopped from the back of the couch and landed lightly on Minna's shoulder. "Are you okay?" I chirped out again and stretched my neck up to nudge at her cheek.

She went completely still underneath my feet. She didn't even breathe, as if suddenly too scared to risk it.

Had I messed up? This was the first time I had gotten so close to her, at least not without her dangling food for me first, but it was the only thing I could think of that Ivy would have done. And for Trenil it probably would have worked if he was upset, but... Minna must be too confused at my actions to take any comfort from it. I had probably just scared her worse, and now she was just worried about messing something up with me on top of whatever had upset her.

Great...

I felt Minna's hand stroke slowly over my back. I hadn't even noticed it move - she must have moved it slowly, so as not to startle me. She began to pet me gently, and I settled down on her shoulder to let her.

She began breathing carefully, as if still scared it would startle me into running away, then whispered to me. "Thank you." Her voice was still unsteady, but some of the upset had faded. I nudged her hand with my head and started humming in what I hoped was a soothing tone. Everything else aside, the calm strokes did feel nice.

I let her pet me like that for about half an hour before the chime sounded through the room. I glanced up to the door and had a half-second of worry that Minna might do the same, which would cause her to hit me with her head, but she kept facing forward. I saw her free hand reach for her tablet and tilt it up, and I made out a picture of the area just outside the door centered in the screen. I recognized Arlia standing at the door. Oh. So that's how she always knows who is outside.

"Come in."

The door made the soft 'ding' as it opened, and I watched Arlia push through it. "I came as soon as I heard, they cannot do... " Arlia came to a stop a few steps into the room and blinked at Minna. And more specifically, at me. "Is he...?"

"He is." Minna's hand stroked over my neck again.

"When did that happen?"

"A little after I got home. He just climbed up on my shoulder and nuzzled my cheek, and I've been sitting here petting him since."

"Huh." Arlia stared at me, and I blinked slowly at her. "Do you think he'll let me sit on the couch?"

"I don't know. But there really isn't anywhere else to sit, and I'm not going to make you stand up all day. Sit on this side of me just in case, but even if he runs and hides... this was still big."

Arlia walked carefully around the table to approach the far side of the couch. I watched her with slowly narrowing eyes as she got closer, but I didn't move.

"Easy... it's okay..." Minna spoke quietly to me as Arlia sat down. She gave me a few more pets, then gave a light shrug and looked towards Arlia. "I guess he's fine."

"Huh." Arlia stared at me. I stared back at her.

"Sorry... I guess you got my message? I'm doing better now, I was just upset earlier."

"Message?" Arlia frowned and shook her head. "I haven't checked mine; they just put out new schedules and I saw your name wasn't on any of them. I got some of the story and came right over after my shift ended. What happened?"

Minna sighed, and her hand dropped away from me. "Rittara. She chewed me out for an hour straight and told me to get out. Called me a disgrace, said I was crazy to think I could do anything on my own, and said I should just go back home for another twenty years before even thinking about stepping foot outside my parents' home again."

I saw anger start to grow on Arlia's face.

"Apparently it's safer to ride in a shuttle driven by a blind, drunken Votak than it is to let me be the pilot. She said she was going to leave reviews explaining exactly how much of a menace I was, to ensure no one would ever let me set foot in a shuttle again."

Arlia started to say something, but Ivy's mindspeech broke in and distracted me. "Trenil did some digging. It sounds like Minna's supervisor wasn't happy with her taking you in to begin with and just lost it when she saw videos of you singing with Minna in the market. Apparently her supervisor is from a family that's had a few notable bond companions in the past. She fired Minna today and left some horrible things on Minna's permanent record. Trenil's going to try and bring it up with an Elder. He thinks she might have taken it personally that Minna is trying to become one."

I winced a little. So I had been right - Minna had lost her job because of me.

I suddenly felt a lot better about coming over to comfort her.

"She's not really trying to be a bond companion. I'm still out of here as soon as my wing is better, and she knows that."

"Yyyyes. Of course." Ivy didn't sound very convinced. "Still, it'll probably be okay. Trenil thinks he'll be able to get her job back for her; he's on the phone with one of the other handlers now, and they're talking it over. You might have a day or two longer on your weekend with her, and then I'm sure she'll be back to work."

"Yay. Great." I made sure my tone was heavy with sarcasm.

"Oh, grow up. It won't be that bad, you'll see."

I made sure neither Kymari were watching me, then rolled my eyes. I listened for a bit while Arlia continued what would probably have been an epic diatribe detailing the mating rituals of Minna's supervisor to anyone who understood the various names of alien species she kept throwing out. I didn't particularly want to go digging through the Blood Memories to learn those sorts of tidbits, though, so I settled for just enjoying the increasing volume of her voice and animation in her gestures.

Minna seemed to be enjoying it, too, and I saw her start to grin a little. I felt a bit of happiness at knowing she was feeling better.

Arlia finally finished venting and shook her head. "Grrr." She rose to her feet and started towards the door. "I am going to run out and get us an epic amount of junk food, and we are going to spend the next few hours watching movies and eating it all. I'll just be gone a few minutes, okay?"

Minna giggled and nodded. "Okay. I'll be here; thanks."

The door gave its usual 'ding' as it opened for Arlia, and she stepped out onto the walkway outside the apartment. Well. Minna's feeling better; I guess that means my work is done. I slipped off the Kymari's shoulder and skittered along the back of the couch, then hopped down to the floor and slipped into my den.

I heard Minna get up from the couch as I curled up around the blanket. She walked off towards the kitchen... then came back a few minutes later, pausing right outside the box I was using as my den. "Thanks again. I know you can't understand, but... that meant a lot. Thank you." I heard her bend down, and I bent my neck enough to glance out the entrance.

Not just one, but five sunburst berries were stacked on the floor right outside the den. And behind them was a plump shia fruit.

I trilled in delight and dragged the treats back inside with me, then started in on them eagerly. Yum!