"3967, 3968, 3969, 3970, 3971..." Max counted out loud as he did pushups in his personal gym. This went on until Starling came in, a few minutes after he'd switched to sit-ups.

"Please, don't get up for my sake..." She teased, seeing him in the middle of one as she casually walked over.

"Very funny... I'm up to 629... mind spotting me?" He smiled slyly, but her frown convinced him to stop, get up and brush the sweat off his forehead. She sat on the edge of a chair nearby, which placed her uncomfortably close to a steel mannequin. She mulled over the strike points outlined on its body, and her eyes widened when she saw that it was for melee combat training, not target practice. As he came closer, she smiled slightly.

"You train with steel practice dummies?" She asked, clearly concerned.

"Of course. Who doesn't?" He answered casually, as though it was normal. She simply shook her head and continued.

"Max, we need to talk about-"

"Saerah... yes, I imagine you have a few questions..." He hissed out the last word, almost in disgust.

"Max, why didn't you tell me your uncle had kids?"

"Which uncle are you talking about? I have a few... this one has a daughter with a few... problems..."

"So what? That means you get to treat her like crap?"

"Of course not! How could you say such a thing!?" He suddenly shot back, noticeable hurt by her accusation.

"Max, what I saw out there was not love and affection..."

"Not by your standards... you humans have strange ways of showing love... you basically had to spell it out for me when we got together..."

"That's different, Max, and you know that..."

"Starling, you simply don't understand..."

"What's to understand? She's your cousin... you should treat her like family..."

"She's not close family, and even if she was, she's still abnormal..."

"Max, how can you say that!? She may be different, but she is your cousin..."

"That may matter to you, but it doesn't to me... it never has..." He turned away sharply, trying to hide whatever expression was on his face. Starling scowled at him, unsure of what else to say.

"Well, why doesn't it matter to you?" She inquired.

"Because she's Onyxian... she's expected to behave a certain way; be proud of our cultural heritage... instead, she flaunts her father's wealth, buying expensive excesses that only serve to fuel her... I suppose you could call it 'greed'..." He turned to face her, a stern expression clear on his face. She grimaced a bit, not expecting him to be so sudden in entering such a foul mood.

"Then maybe her staying here isn't such a good idea... I mean, if that's the kind of love and affection she can look forward to, I can think of plenty of other places to get it from..."

"What are you suggesting? That I don't care about her?" He narrowed his eyes; Max was always an enigma when dealing with family, especially his own.

"No, no... I just mean that I wouldn't want her to feel unwanted, that's all..."

"So, you're saying she should live somewhere else..." He pieced together what she was trying to get at.

"In short, yes..." She answered with a heavy sigh.

"Well, it's not your decision to make... it's mine, and I've decided that she's staying..." With that finality, the tall warrior strode out of the room, throwing his cloak over his shoulders and securing it in place as he walked.

Meanwhile...

"So, Saerah..." Aerrow tried once more to get the girl's attention. She had her focus wrapped around a suddenly self-conscious Radarr, who cowered back to stay out of her grasp. The poor fuzzball had hidden himself in an overhead cabinet, and the young lady trying to reach for him struggled desperately to stretch her fingers far enough. She willed the little guy closer, but to no avail. Finally, fed up with his mistreatment, Radarr leapt onto her, sinking his teeth into her shoulder. Saerah yelped in pain as he scurried over to Aerrow. The redhead put up a protective stance as she came closer, but the chaos subsided as her caretaker entered the bridge. The scowl on his face told them he'd fought with Starling, but no one dared question why. When he was angry, Max would attack anyone who got on his nerves.

"So, what's the verdict?" Piper said hesitantly. The pointed glare she received told her what she wanted to know; Starling said 'no', he said 'yes', and now she was sulking in their room, waiting for him to return so they could argue some more.

"She's staying..."

"Yay-!"

"But..." His prompt statement interrupted her joyous skipping.

"If you're going to stay here, you're going to learn to be useful... at dawn tomorrow, you'll begin your training... I'll expect to see you up by then, or there will be consequences..." His deadly glare shifted to his cousin, who cowered a bit as he stared her down. She gulped loudly as the older Onyxian smiled; a twisted, evil smile.

"O...kay... anything we can help with, Max?" Aerrow offered helpfully. The Onyxian thought for a moment, then shook his head.

"No... I'm afraid you're ill-equipped to train an Onyxian..." He answered, with a somewhat haughty tone. Piper rolled her eyes.

"Well, just let us know if you need anything..."

"Oh, I'll need you all; except Aerrow. No offense, but anything you can teach her, I can teach more efficiently..." He smiled a bit; he meant to be polite, but didn't quite hit the mark.

"Oh..." The Sky Knight responded dejectedly, hanging his head a bit. Seeing this, and hearing the disappointment in his voice, Max scowled and thought of a compromise.

"Well, now that I think about it, I could use your help, Aerrow... after all, you're the best Skimmer pilot we have..." His admission came as a complete surprise; he almost never complimented his teammates, other than an occasional word of encouragement to Stork or Starling.

"Really? You think so?" Aerrow's eyes lit up. Max's smiled widened quite a bit.

"I don't think so... I know so..." He offered. The expression on Aerrow's face said it all; high praise from the master.

"Alright, guys... looks like Saerah's here to stay..."