Lost Change

Chapter 106

"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."