"Wanna play with the ball for a little bit?" Ivy yawned and stood up in Trenil's lap, stretching as far as her legs would go, then she lowered and shook herself off. Her scales gleamed with the fresh oil as they chimed gently with her motion.

I glanced towards the floor by the dead plant where the yellow ball rested. It would be fun to play with it for a bit... I hadn't gotten much exercise today, and my body was feeling a little cramped. I still felt incredibly drained and conflicted emotionally, but I could probably muster enough energy to play some.

It had been a few hours since Trenil had sat down to oil Ivy. Minna had eventually given up trying to interest me, and had instead dried off her hands and put the oil back in the bathroom. She had seemed so hurt when she did... but there had also been a determination in her. A resolve.

If nothing else, I knew that Minna was the type of person who would go to great lengths to try and fix a wrong she had caused. No matter what it meant for her. She was sad I wasn't okay anymore... but she had been given a path on how to fix it, and she was going to see it through. Even if it hurt her.

She had spent a bit of time cleaning up the bits of wood that I had scattered over the room, then she had sat back down on the couch. By that point I had just felt too bad about everything. I hopped up on the couch and sprawled out on the cushion by her leg. She smiled a little and brought her hand down for me to sniff... which I did, then nudged with my head. She got the message, and she had pet me while Ivy napped.

A bit of exercise after all the lounging around would be perfect. And my leg was feeling more than up to it.

"Sure!" I hopped down from the couch and crossed the room to the ball. I nudged it a few times to get it away from the plant stand, then glanced back over at Ivy. She was still in Trenil's lap but was watching me with obvious interest. I whistled up at her for Minna's benefit. "Come on; I can't throw it up there."

The green dragonet smiled and glided down to the carpet. I backed up to get a running start, then bumped the yellow ball towards Ivy.

She jumped in the air and landed against it easily - she had the completely unfair advantage of being able to fly, something I still lacked due to my injured wings. The ball came to a stop and she sprinted a few paces away, then turned around and ran into it. The ball came bouncing back towards me, and I caught it the same way she had.

"Huh. I was wondering what the ball was for; has he done that before?" I glanced up long enough to see Trenil watching us curiously from the couch, then I passed the ball back to Ivy.

"He played it when Lyzel - my niece - came to visit. I think it's a game he used to play with the dog he was with. I mentioned it in my report. Um... I think." Minna frowned a little as she tried to remember.

Ivy bunted the ball back to me and I jumped into the air to stop its momentum with my own force. "Interesting. I've never seen Ivy or the others do anything like that, but I don't think we've ever really tried. It actually looks a little painful; have you thought about getting a smaller ball?"

"Lyzel would pitch a fit if I did; she gave him that after what happened to his dog." I eyed Ivy for a moment and decided to up the game. I hit the ball and sent it off towards her, but far enough away that she had to run to get it. "They might do better with a Ply Ball or something lighter, if you want to get one for Ivy. That one is really meant more for throwing and bouncing instead of kicking around, so it's heavier than it probably needs to be for them."

Ivy cheated by flapping after the ball, and managed to catch it before it hit the wall. Her eyes sparkled as she turned and hit the ball back towards me, and it was angled far enough away that I had to run after it.

"I'll have to look into that. They seem to be enjoying themselves. And it's probably good exercise, especially for him." Trenil watched as we passed the ball back and forth several more times, each of us now trying to cause the other to miss catching the ball.

"Do you think they'd let me play? Have you played with him?"

Minna hesitated. "I... tried, but he won't play with me. He did play with my brother, though, so I'm sure you'd be able to play with them. Just sit on the ground and he'll pass it to you." She glanced back at Trenil and smiled a little. "But if you throw the ball too hard and break my stuff, you're replacing it."

"Of course." Trenil grinned and stood up. We paused the game while he moved to sit on the floor next to the outside door. I had the ball so I glanced back and forth between them for a moment, trying to decide who to throw it towards, before I eventually decided to toss it to him.

Trenil was fast. He caught the ball like it was nothing, then immediately rolled it over to Ivy. She actually squawked in surprise and had to jump to catch it.

Ivy and I were soon panting for air from the exertion. This was way more fun than it had been with Lyzel and Terron. It was almost as fun as playing with Susie had been. The room was filled with sharp thumps as we passed the ball eagerly back and forth between us.

Well.

Between most of us.

I gradually became aware of a gnawing guilt through the fun. It reminded me almost of the emptiness I had felt during the Morning Song the past few months. The game was fun, but it wasn't quite as complete as it should be.

Ivy passed the ball towards Trenil and gave me a brief second to let my attention wander. I saw Minna sitting on the couch, on the other side of the table from us. She was watching the three of us with a smile... but there was a sad look in her eyes behind the happiness.

She wants to play, too.

Trenil passed the ball back to Ivy, then she passed the ball back to me. I hopped in the air and stopped it with my weight, then glanced back and forth between the two of them to decide who to throw it to...

...then I glanced towards Minna.

I can use the oil to prove I can trust her. I can keep turning that down to see if she's serious, and it really is my choice still, and that she won't try to starve me or punish me when I don't go along with what she wants.

I took the few steps back that I needed, then ran for the ball. I made sure to angle my head towards the base of the ball and pushed up when I hit it, smacking it hard enough to send it into the air. It passed over the table and landed right in Minna's lap.

But in the meantime, this will make her happy, too.

Minna slowly picked up the ball in her hands, looking suddenly terrified. I almost thought she was worried the ball would break if she touched it wrong. She looked back up at me, then over at Trenil. "Um... what just..."

Trenil smiled gently back at her. "He turned around and came back to you. At least, a little bit." He glanced back at me, then over at Ivy. "Throw the ball - he's ready to play with you, too."

The four of us played the simple game for another hour or so before Trenil had to leave. We all said our goodbyes, then they disappeared out into the fading rain.

Minna put a new bowl down by my water, and she put a few bits of fruit in it - mostly dried fruits like the kinds I had been given when I was still in the cage, but a few bits of fresh fruits found their way into the bowl too. She sat down on the couch with a different container after that, and held out a fresh pineapple slice.

It wasn't even a choice. I hopped up on her shoulder and let her pass me piece after piece of delicious fruit. I finished the sunburst berry at the end of the meal, then sat on her shoulder and let her pet me while I digested the meal. Minna seemed much calmer now. The part of me that was growing to like her felt a quiet happiness at that.

The part of me that was still confused and worried was relieved that the bowl of food had been left for me.

Minna turned on the screen and flipped through a few channels without ever finding anything that interested her. She finally started to yawn, and I hopped down from her shoulder as she rose from the couch. I was tired too, though much of my weariness was still emotional. I slipped into my den and curled up on the blanket to sleep.

Sleep wouldn't come.

I rearranged the blanket multiple times to try and get comfortable. I tried sleeping on the carpet directly. I crawled out of my den and stretched out on the warm sand under the heat lamp. I hid underneath the blanket. I dragged the blanket outside my den and over by the end table with the heat lamp, in case it had somehow just gotten too cold in my den with all the rain on the other side of the wall.

Nothing I tried worked.

I lay awake staring at the strange cartoonish figure woven into the fabric. This didn't make any sense. I had slept fine the night before, better than I had in months, and I had been even more upset then. But now nothing was working. I couldn't manage to get quite comfortable enough to fall asleep. It just didn't make any sense...

I closed my eyes.

No.

It made perfect sense.

I opened my eyes and dragged the blanket down the hallway to the bedroom. Maybe I could just put the blanket against the door and curl up on it. Maybe that would be close enough to Minna to work, and maybe I would be able to get to sleep then.

I tugged the blanket around the corner and stared in surprise at the darkness at the end of the hallway. My ear tufts twitched slightly as I heard the quiet sound of slow breathing from the room.

Why was Minna's door open?...

It had been closed every other time I had looked down this hallway. Ever since the time I had trashed her office and hidden under her bed; both doors had been firmly shut to keep me out. Every time I had gotten bored and explored, every time I had used the tray in the bathroom, every time I had washed my hands. Those doors had been as completely barred to me as the door leading outside the house.

But now it was open. There was nothing stopping me from walking in. I could make a mess of everything and hide out of reach again if I wanted to, just like I had the first time I had explored her room. She had to know that. So why had she done this?...

My ear tufts dropped at the realization.

If I wanted to.

My choice. My decision.

I tugged the blanket along with me and quietly arranged it in a bundle beside her bed. I climbed up on it, then hopped the rest of the distance from it to the bed, then crawled onto the blanket Minna was sleeping beneath. I moved as carefully as I could as I walked over her, then quietly lay down over Minna's stomach. I thought I had been gentle enough to avoid waking her... but her hand came to my back and gently pet me. "Hi."

My hands gripped the soft fabric of her blanket while the rhythm of her belly lifted me gently up, then lowered me back down.

In seconds I was asleep.

I woke up to the feeling of Minna's hand against my side. It was warm. Her scent was all around me. It brought the same instinctive association of sunburst berries being nearby that I always got when I smelled her. Her breathing was still slow. She was still fast asleep.

I felt the tug of the Morning Song, too.

A sleepy glance around the room revealed a window at the back of the room. The shade had been opened halfway, and I could see hints of a glow out through it. I moved softly along the bed and hopped the distance to the windowsill.

The call of the Morning Song built up within me. I watched the horizon with growing anticipation. It had been two days since I had greeted the sunrise. I was more than ready for the sun to rise. I needed the sun to rise. I needed to sing for it. I needed to dance through the air for it, too, but I still couldn't do that yet.

But the sun would not be rushed. The building call of the Morning Song also brought a sense of calm over me. The sun was coming. I didn't have to worry.

I let my eyes drift half closed and inhaled slowly, just savoring the last seconds of quiet.

The sun rose.

I sang.

The two days of constant rain had caused an emptiness to grow inside me... and I released that into my voice. I sang my sorrow at the darkness of the past days, and sang my relief at seeing the sky finally brighten once more. I filled my voice with the sadness of knowing the sun had been absent from our lives for so long, and filled it with the comfort I now felt at seeing the sun reclaim its proper place. I sang out my dreariness from the cold and rain of the last few days, and I sang out my joy at the knowledge today would be a day full of brightness and cheer.

The sun replied by scattering rays of light over the city beyond me. It reassured me it would always come and bring its brightness, no matter how long or dark the storm. Its light glittered off the millions of droplets of water covering the landscape beyond me in a promise that soon the last traces of rain would be dried away, and that the world would be warm and safe once more. I wove the sun's message into my song and sang it back to the rising star.

I channeled all the turmoil of the last few days into the song. The misery I had felt while I had gone hungry and cold. The betrayal I had felt at knowing someone I had begun to trust had been responsible for those feelings. The realization that I had started to trust that person in the first place. The confusion at discovering I had begun to care about her. The worry that she might not feel the same way about me, and the worry that she did feel the same way about me, and the worry that she might hurt me again. The worry that I might hurt her and cause her anguish.

The terrible fear that I was being disloyal to Susie by liking this person. The gnawing guilt that this friendship was really an ugly betrayal that now stained me.

But the sun replied to my song with warm reassurance. The brightening clouds told me that the darkness was behind me, and that I didn't have to worry. The things that had once been ominous and terrible had become fluffy and light, and were now building a wondrous sky that would have been lacking and empty without what the once-stormy clouds had led to.

And the sun washed away my secret fear by casting light on the world below... and reminded me that in the brightness I now saw, nothing was ugly. There was nothing but beauty in everything this sunrise touched.

My friendship with Minna was no different.

I wove the sun's message back into my song, and added my growing relief to it. I ached to stretch my wings and add the sun's message into a dance, but the casts held them firmly at my side. I let out frustrated warbles that lamented that I could only sing, and felt the sun promise that it would come to rise for me when I could dance again. Worried chirps scattered throughout my song in concern that I couldn't give the dawn the greeting it truly deserved while I was stranded on the ground, but each time the sun reminded me that the dawn was even brighter with my life, and with the life of all who heard my song.

I crooned in sadness in a desire to be outside and to reach people out in the world with my melody, instead of being sealed away in a room with only a tiny bit of glass to see the world through... and the sun reminded me that the room I was in was also a part of the world, and that the sun was bringing a new day to it, too.

I let out small whistles of sorrow at the knowledge a close friend was no longer there to hear my song, or to see the sun rise. The small whistles of sorrow I hadn't even known I had been making until the day I had heard Minna play back my song for me.

And for the first time in five long months of wounded Morning Songs, the sun responded to those whistles. The sunlight filtered through the room and fell over the Kymari on the bed, who had woken up at some point through my singing and had shifted to watch me. The rising sun showed me that I had a new friend now, someone already growing dear to me. Someone who had cherished my singing these past weeks and who would cherish each and every sunrise she could watch me greet.

The sunrise answered my mournful whistles with a gentle reassurance that I no longer had to be alone, and soft hums finally filled the previous half-seconds of silence.

The sun crested the horizon. The long storm and the dark night were over. A new day had dawned.

I closed my eyes and felt tears of relief forming in them.

The emptiness that had been in the Morning Song for so long had healed. For the first time since the day Susie had died, my song was complete.

Only seven more sunrises...