Lost Change

Chapter 54

Minna held the harness up towards me. "Are you ready to get those casts off?"

Am I ever...

The last week had been... confusing. Minna had been true to her word. Every day there was fruit left out for me to eat. A shallow tray of water appeared in the bathroom for me to bathe in. The doors that had previously been shut were now left opened. I had control of my life again. It was entirely up to me if I did anything that Minna wanted.

And I kept doing more and more of the things Minna wanted me to do.

The food Minna had was better. The sponge Minna used got me cleaner, and involved warm water. The room Minna was in was just more comfortable to be in. Seeing her smile and knowing she was happy caused me to be happy, too.

It scared me so much.

I felt like a yo-yo. I would have moments where I was comfortable with Minna and would happily do things with her... and then I would be worried about how attached I was becoming, and I would retreat to a different room or pull away from interacting with her.

One meal would be delicious fresh fruits filled with treats, and the next would be dried chunks that had been left out in the open for a few hours. One bath would be warm and relaxing, and the next would be a quick roll through the lukewarm water in the shallow tray. Stretches of relaxing pets in her lap or on her shoulder would end when I simply couldn't handle the idea of what was happening any longer, and turn into long hours huddling inside the dark box of my den.

Minna never pushed me. But I could tell she was deeply worried about what she saw happening to me. She offered to oil me each day... and each day I turned it away.

Her friends came to visit us. Minna had more free time now and was available during the actual days off of other Kymari. Terron brought Lyzel to play in the afternoons. Arlia came by in the mornings. Trenil and Ivy even visited one day. Terron came over once all by himself, just to talk.

All of them were worried about her... but she was okay. Apparently the Elders had stepped in and paid for enough things to last her until I was recovered, and had gotten the bad performance reviews removed from her record. Whatever happened... whatever I ultimately did... she would be okay.

I was no longer sure that I wanted to leave her. Which scared me most of all.

I climbed out of the bowl of sand and shook off, only stopping when my scales chimed against each other and confirmed no stray grains of sand had gotten lodged under any, then sat up on the edge of the table. Minna looped the harness over me and clicked it in one smooth motion - she had gotten much better at putting it on me, and it took her no time at all to do it.

It helped that I was no longer trying to avoid it or make it difficult for her to put on me.

Yes. Let's get this done with.

Minna brought the carrier with us, but she didn't make me go in it. Instead I rode on her shoulder for the trip to the vet. I glanced up at the sky during our trip and daydreamed about how good it would feel on the way back, to finally be able to stretch my wings and once more glide through the air...

The vet's office was mostly empty when we arrived. Another Kymari waited in the lobby with an animal that looked vaguely like a poodle, but other than that it was empty. The vet called us to the back after only a few minutes.

Minna sat me on the scanner and started petting my back. She spoke calmly and produced a metallic container from one of her pockets. "I'm really, really sorry about this, but I know how much this scares you, and it's very important you stay still. Your bones and flesh might be healed, but your muscles are going to need a bit more help, so you need to relax." She opened the container and drew out a small shia fruit.

I shrugged off her apology and happily ate the fruit when she held it out for me, then grabbed a second one she brought out, too. Two shia fruits! That never happened, but I certainly wasn't about to complain.

They both had a funny metallic taste to them, probably from the container Minna had been hiding them in, but they were still really good. Shia fruit was always really good.

She didn't need to apologize, though; the scanner had only terrified me because I had been too drugged up to think straight. I knew it wasn't a threat, and I wasn't on those awful sedatives, so I would be fine. The scanner was nothing to worry about. In fact, it even looked a little pretty. I could just stare at it for hours, actually; it just looked so... so... neat...

...oh come on, not again!

Minna kept me calm during the scans. Senica looked over everything and said the bones were all fused back together and fully healed. A few loud noises, a bit of burning smells, a couple of minutes laying limply on the table... and the casts that had trapped me for nearly a month were finally, finally gone.

And all I could think of was how interesting and neat Minna's plain, perfectly ordinary shirt was.

She carried me back home in the carrier and sat me in her lap on the couch, then went carefully over my wings with the soft sponge. I was dimly aware of the water getting dirtier and knew that my beautiful wings must have been caked with all sorts of disgusting, nasty things.

But it was okay. Minna had cleaned them for me.

She gingerly stretched out my wings. That had seemed unfair, even through the haze of the medicine. They were my wings, and this was the first chance I'd had in weeks to move them; I should have been the one to stretch them...

But moving was just so much effort. It was so much easier to just let her stretch them for me. Her hands were warm, and she was being careful. And it felt nice, to finally feel those cramped muscles stretch out. To finally feel some attention on all those itchy places. It was nice, just how it was...

I drifted off, and spent my first day of freedom from the cast asleep in Minna's lap.

The second day passed the same way. As did the third. It was only on the fourth day that Minna stopped feeding me food that had been tainted with the drug and allowed me to wake from the haze.

I should have been mad. Should have felt helpless and taken advantage of. Should have felt upset.

But all I could feel was gratitude.

My wings felt so very, very weak, even with all the gentle exercises Minna had given them. If I hadn't been out of it, I would have tried using them. It was just too instinctive - a hop would see them flapping, a shift in Minna's stance would have them flared out for balance, even waking up and yawning would have ended in a stretch that very likely would have torn something. My muscles were just too weak.

Minna had protected me from that. I felt gratitude for what she had kept me from.

I hated myself for that feeling.

I sat on the windowsill and stared out over the city and tried once again to get a grip on what I was feeling... but it was just as useless as the other times. I stretched my wings slowly out and held them that way for a moment, then pulled them back for rest.

Just a few more days. Just a few more days to get my wings stronger... then I can get out of here. I can get away from her, and not have to worry about all these feelings confusing me.

I had no idea if I wanted them to pass quickly or not.