Michaela and Will were yet too young to understand the implications of their actions. They didn't know why a friendship between a Keidran and a human would be bad or unacceptable. They didn't understand what a girl and a boy sleeping in the same cramped sleeping bag meant. But they did it anyway, the ignorance and energy of their youth allowing them to escape the hate and traditional confines of the world they lived in. It was a beautiful thing.

Will felt something warm in his arms and against his bare chest. Something soft. Something furry. As his brain warmed up, he realized that the warm and fuzzy thing was, in fact, Michaela. She was wrapped in his arms, facing away from him. He wasn't sure if he wanted her to wake or not. He'd love to talk to her some more. She truly was a fascinating character. But she was warm and comfy as she was, and he feared that she might not like where she was, that she would want to move, if she woke. What time was it, anyhow? Had Will awoke at dawn? No, there were no voices in the campsite. The fire was not crackling. Birds were not chirping, but instead the creatures of the night. Judging by some of the air leaking onto his bare back, which wasn't far from one of the bag's seams, it was still cold out, too. The air was merely a trickle when compared with the seemingly sun-like radiating warmth Michaela gave him.

Even though Will hadn't decided whether he wanted Michaela to wake up or not, she did. She stirred for a second before realizing that she was inside Will's arms. Will hastily moved to untangle her from his arms.

"No, no," she said groggily, "they're warm."

Will froze, letting his arms fall back into the comfortable place they had held around the Kiedran. He realized how small she was. She felt frail in his arms (which weren't that far from frail, either).

"Okay," he whispered back, "I just didn't want to make you feel awkward."

"No," she said, lowering her voice. "Keidran instinctually like warm things. You're warm."

Will chuckled quietly, "I don't like them instinctually, but I do happen to like them."

Michaela yawned, "That's good with me. Say, what time is it?"

"I don't know. I can't see outside and my watch is outside the sleeping bag."

"Oh, that's fine, I was just wondering."

"I'll check, shouldn't take long."

Will unwrapped Michaela from his arms and reached up, untying the knot in the top of the bag. He slipped his hand outside. Bloody hell was it cold out there. He felt around, searching for the wristwatch. No such luck, either. He opened the end of the sleeping bag some more and pulled his head out. Bloody hell was it cold. He looked around. There it was. He grabbed it and retracted back into the sleeping back like some kind of cave-dwelling dragon. Heck, even the freaking watch was cold out there. He pulled the cord on the sleeping bag taught and tied a slip knot in it. He opened his watch. The whole face glowed blue from embedded manna crystals.

"A little before three," he said, placing the watch into a small compartment in the side of the bag.

"Oh, what time do we have to wake up?"

"We're already awake," he commented with a poke to her ribs. She squirmed. He again wrapped his arms around her. She shifted around a bit.

"What time do we have to get up, then?"

There was another unfamiliar Human word –"is at 7:00."

"Okay," she yawned.

The yawn, apparently contagious, spread over to Will's maw as well. "You plan to go to sleep, I see?"

"Yeah, I had," she said smartly, poking him in the ribs. He, too, squirmed. She poked him multiple times. He squirmed more each successive time. He pointed an accusing finger at her, waving it slightly.

"Stop that. Save it for tomorrow. I'm tired."

"Fine, fine," she said with another yawn and shifted around again. Will didn't think it was long before they were both asleep again.

Michaela breathed sharply in. Her eyes shot open. She realized that she was kicking and attempting to flail her arms. Will held her incredibly tight, almost suffocating her with his arms.

She panted. Blinked rapidly. She'd dreamed that… No, she didn't want to think about that any more. Only her dreams brought that back… Or her nightmares, at any rate.

"You okay?" Will asked, "You were whimpering and trying to run and fight something. You almost tore my bag."

"Yeah," she muttered, "I'm fine. I just had a bad dream, that's all."

Will nodded. He seemed happy with leaving it at that. Good, it was better that he did. She shivered, trying to shake the cold of the terrible dream away from her.

"Cold?" Will asked.

"Little," she replied slowly. "I think it was... just the dream..."

Will raised an eyebrow. That was when she realized that she had twisted in his arms, now facing him. He had scratches on his chest from her claws.

She gasped, "Did I do that?"

Will grinned sheepishly, "Yeah, you did. Its fine. Can I ask what that dream was about?"

"About an old master. He beat me for sport..." she shivered.

Will held her tighter, "I'm sorry. It's over now, I promise."

"Yeah," she muttered, "yeah."

He gently rubbed her back, which arched itself. She heard a pleased growl emit from her throat. It was the closest thing a Fox had to a Cat's purr. Will grinned, "I take it that feels good?"

"A little," she grinned sheepishly.

Will smiled warmly, stopping. He looked her in the eyes, something Michaela wasn't very comfortable with. Keidran took that as a sign of aggression. She knew that wasnt how Humans saw it, but she still didn't like it. Maybe she would adjust to it eventually. "We're going to have to go out soon. We better get ready."

"What do we have to get ready?"

He glanced at her bare fur, "Right. Well, I have to get dressed."

He began to unwrap her from his arms and climb out of the bag. Of themselves, her arms shot out and grabbed him, "Nya!"

"Michaela, now, I have to go." Michaela found that she couldn't let go. She found that she couldn't say anything, either.

Or perhaps she could, as she started in a long strain of pleading, begging Keidran- a language she thought she'd forgotten after a year of living among Humans.

Will froze. Moved back down into the sleeping bag. "Okay, I might be able to hold off a little bit, but we're going to have to leave soon. What's wrong?"

"I... I don't know," she admitted. "It was... instinct. I can't stand to have you leave me... you're the only person nice to me..."

Will looked at her with… Was that empathy? Pity? Michaela wasn't quite sure. "Well, then, come with me, then.

"But I don't want to get up," she grumbled with a sheepish smile.

He looked at her blankly and started to get out again. Michaela reluctantly followed.

By the time she'd wormed out of the bag (what kind of infernal contraption was this thing?), Will already had his shirt on and was fitting his foot coverings—Shews? Shrews? Michaela made a mental note that she really needed to learn the proper word for those things. Another time, another place. For now, the two of them went out of the tent, discovering that they weren't quite the first up, but they were among the first, something Will seemed to take some small pride in. They sat around the fire-which was being brought back to life after the night's neglect of it.

Michaela huddled close to the fire as it grew, trying to shake off the morning cold. She noticed that Will rolled his eyes and returned to the tent for a minute. He emerged with a coat, which he handed her, saying "Use this and move away from the fire, you're going to singe your fur."

She grinned sheepishly as she wrapped up in the coat and sat on log that was still relatively close to the fire. The coat smelled like Will—the same smell that had been wrapped around her only a few minutes earlier. Deep within her, Michaela missed that encompassing feeling. She buried that longing. It was foolish. Childish. Primitive. It was instinct, nothing more.

She sighed. Sometimes, she just wanted to slip into that primeval world, hold on to nothing but bare instinct. She could never be let down in that world. Never abused, punished, restrained.

Alas, she'd also heard that going feral wasn't a pleasant experience, and she didn't want to find out by experiment, but it was a pleasant thought at times. It was something to toy with, something to knock back the cruelty of the world with.

Of course—she eyed Will discreetly—he'd helped a lot. He'd shown her… Things she'd never seen from a Human before. Things that she'd never seen from her own kind, either. She let out a contented sigh. She was stuck with him until she died or John and Korey sold her, whichever came first. That was a good thing. Just from her first week, she could tell that the Cooper household wouldn't be nearly so bad as the slavetraders to whom she was merely a piece of property—a piece of property that was rapidly declining in value. Several of the traders had taken out their anger at that fact on her. She shrugged. At least John hadn't bought her for her resell value. The fact that she'd been bought for her, and not for her profit was actually a wonderful feeling in and of itself.

Will snapped his fingers—a Keidran would have clicked their claws—in front of her. "Hello, you there?"

She shook her head. "Yeah, yeah. Here."

"C'mon, time to eat, then," he said, handing her a plate.

"Oh, oh, thank you, yeah," she said, trying to bring her brain back under her own command again, taking the plate and standing up, getting in line with—and behind most of—the rest of the troop. Michaela's sensitive ears heard the other Youth making jeers at her and Will, and especially their closeness. She shrugged and hoped that Will couldn't hear them; he'd probably reject them.

"Ignore them," Will whispered at a volume he knew only she could hear. "I'm not their biggest fans, either."

That made Michaela giggle a bit.

They went through the line, getting a plateful of bacon and scrambled eggs. They were both pretty good to Michaela.

Some of the other boys did sit around and talk with Will. They talked about their merit badges and ranks, mostly. Will seemed to be—no, was—the highest ranked of them. He hangs out with the younger kids. Weird. No wonder the older boys picked on him. The younger boys seemed to idolize him, nonetheless. She also noticed an older boy picking on some of the younger ones, just for being younger. Michaela nodded to herself. Will treats them equally. No wonder they like him. So Will's good treatment wasn't exclusive to her, after all. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. It said something about his character, if nothing else. Something good about it.

She noted that the boys—Will included—were now talking about the slave market. They all seemed very apt and up-to-date on it—Michaela would know all about that particular section of the economy in intimate detail.

"Yeah," one of the boys was saying, "pa says that the market's going downhill."

"No, my pa says it's goin' up."

Michaela decided to step in, "It's inflating. The prices of slaves are going up, but their value is going down. There's too many of us on the market and too much is being charged for us. That means that prices are collapsing."

They all—Will included—looked at her, seemingly stupefied.

"I've been owned by slave traders my whole life. I know a thing or two about the market," she said with a shrug. They could take it or leave it.

One of the boys nodded. "That makes sense." He looked to Will, "Strong-willed, ain't she?"

Will shrugged, "Don't bother me."

"Say, what's she doin' here, anyhow, Will?"

"Long story. Momma said something about us 'bonding,' whatever the hell that means."

Michaela couldn't tell if he was being serious or if he was avoiding a touchy subject.

Nonetheless, the other boys laughed. "Sounds like your mother," one remarked.

Walking back to the tent, Michaela muttered to him, "You must talk down to your mother a lot at this place."

He nodded.

"You shouldn't," she said, "Your mother's a nice woman."

He nodded, "I know. Darn good momma."

Michaela raised a questioning eyebrow and half-raised an ear.

"You don't talk your parents down and you won't last long at this place. How do you think I fell out of favor with the older boys?"

That effectively closed the debate.

In the tent, Will re-assembled the collection of pots and pans that he called a mess kit. He dug through his bag while Michaela sat bored on their sleeping bag. Will looked at her and sighed, clearly trying to say something, but not finding the right words. He finally found them, "Michaela, could you step outside?"

She looked at him in confusion, "Why?"

"I have to change clothes," he said, as if that settled something.

She continued to look at him in confusion.

"It's embarrassing for humans."

She didn't change the look she was giving him.

"Could you at least turn your back then?"

Michaela sighed and did so. She heard a rustling of fabric behind her as he changed his wrappings, things Michaela didn't see a real point to. She shrugged and waited for him to tell her that she could turn around. When she did, he was buttoning the last of his robes. The things seemed to be more complicated than they were worth—Michaela couldn't see that there was any worth to them at all, especially with all the fuss that the things took. She shrugged, none of her business, she supposed.

It became her business. Will thrust a white throw-over smock-like garment with the Templar logo on it in her face. "Save us both some trouble, wear this."

Michaela rolled her eyes and dutifully did so.

They proceeded out of the tent, to an assembly area in front of a blue and white banner emblazoned with the Templar logo. Will showed her how to stand at attention as all the boys lined up in perfect formation, Michaela in with the best of them.

The Headmaster passed over them, looking over all the boys with a wary eye. He looked Michaela over with an especially wary eye, but passed on without a word to either her or Will. That seemed to be a gracious act. He fussed heartily at several kids whose uniforms were out of order. Thankfully, Michaela didn't have much of a uniform to get out of order.

He finished going through the ranks of the Youth and went back to the front of the lines. "Alright, then boys, today we're going to be working on some magic. Break up into patrols and I'll direct you individually."

All the boys nodded. They went into groups that all the boys seemed to be thoroughly familiar with. The boys in Will's group all cut up and laughed about things that, quite frankly, weren't very funny to Michaela. When the Headmaster showed up, though, they were all instantly serious.

The older man looked the group over with what seemed to be his usual inspection. He nodded, "Okay, boys, I'm going to give you a special task since you have a special guest," he nodded to Michaela. "Keidran cannot use manna out of the ground, like we Humans can. Instead, they rely on manna crystals. Manna crystals form when manna is concentrated and kept still; it condenses. This can happen naturally, but Humans can recreate the effect. Your task will be to form manna crystals. If they're good, our slave here will be able to use them. If not, well, she won't be able to. You'll find instructions on page… hundred and something… of your handbook. You all are smart, you can find it."

Will flipped straight to it without the least bit of trouble. Creating the crystals, however, he seemed to have more trouble with. All the boys did, actually. Michaela briefly considered asking for the page so she could read it and see what she could do. It was about then that she remembered that she couldn't read Human. That in mind, she sat down and crossed her legs, waiting as patiently as she could manage. Time was precious to Keidran. By nature, they had a hard time waiting. It wasn't in their blood.

Perhaps the most incredible thing about the growing relationship (not courtship, mind you) between Will and Michaela was that neither of them understood how fundamentally different they were, not only in their biology, but also in their personality; their very souls, the things that made them who they really were. Will was a patient, slow and conservative boy, a logical thinker. Michaela was impatient, quick to think and react, she decided not by logic, but instinct. Instinct had driven her past. She'd always had to rely on her instinct to stay alive as a slave. It was their past that separated them… Or, that should have separated them. They couldn't stay apart any longer. Their destinies had been intertwined. They would never be far from each other, not until they left this world and parted ways as they made their way to the other side.

Will stared at his Templar Youth handbook in confusion. They were supposed to be making manna crystals. It wasn't happening. According to the handbook, if he clamped his cupped hands together like so and funneled manna into them, a crystal should have formed.

Perhaps if his hands were cupped less? Ouch, ouch, ouch, no. The manna was compressed, alright, but it didn't condense, it instead combusted. Which hurt. On the bright side, he'd learned the principles for a basic fire spell.

What if he was slower with it? Natural crystals formed over years of heat and pressure, didn't they? He left his hands barely cupped and slowly, cautiously, moved the manna through him, pulling it from the ground and letting it flow through natural channels in his body, slowly letting it fill his cupped hands. His hands got very hot. He pushed them together gently. His face lit up when he realized that they had clamped down on a solid object. He pulled the excess manna out of his hands and let them come apart. Indeed, there sat a blue glowing crystal.

"What?" one of the boys said, though Will didn't catch which.

"Will got one!" another said with excitement.

Will grinned proudly. "Well, Michaela, give it a shot," he said, handing his newly made crystal to the little Fox Keidran.

She stared at it in bewilderment. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Use it," Billy said.

"How?" Michaela asked timidly.

"Billy, it's illegal to teach slaves magic," Will said. "She doesn't know what it is or how to use it. Michaela, try and pull it into you and channel it around." Technically, that should have been far above her skill level, as she'd never tried it before. Will couldn't remember how long it'd been before he'd been able to feely move manna around his body. Michaela closed her eyes and the crystal glowed more brightly for a second, and then seemed to melt into her hands. She moved her arms around fluidly, clearly moving the manna around. She then let it flow out of her claws, where it fell back to the ground and returned to its home.

"How did you do that?" Billy asked in shock

Michaela shrugged, "I just… did it."

The boys nodded and got back to work. Will sat down and leaned up against a tree; he was done with the task. The other boys got back to work. Bill made a crystal… Sorta. It shattered in Michaela's hand instead of dissolving. When it hit the ground, it absolutely disintegrated.

Billy shrugged and got back onto creating another. His second worked flawlessly.

Michaela sat down beside Will, sighing.

"Bored?" he asked.

"A bit."

He shrugged and chuckled, "Yeah, well, welcome to the club."

They both laughed. Will held his hands together again and made another crystal, handing it to her. He made another and handed it to her, too. "Here," he said, "these are for you to keep and use however you want."

She clearly started to say something, but refrained and took the crystals, putting them in the smock's singular pocket. Will smiled and nodded to her.

Will couldn't remember how many boys finished their crystals at exactly that moment, but Michaela had to test all of them. All were good crystals that Michaela had no trouble using. By about the fourth one, she was able to make a whip out of the manna and slash a tree. She's good, Will thought. She's learning faster than anyone I've ever seen. Will had heard that that was a mark of intelligence, not just skill. Michaela definitely seemed to have a bit of both.

Another boy finished his second crystal right about then. Michaela stood up to try it. It had no sooner landed in her hand than they all heard a growl in the woods.

Michaela may have had the sharpest senses of the group, but she heard the bear growl at the same time as they all did.

"Ohhh, that's not good," Will said with a groan. The bear appeared at the edge of the woods. "Run," he said flatly. Michaela was stunned by how he sounded both very calm and very urgent at the same time.

The boys did, indeed, run. Michaela knew that it was impossible to outrun a bear. She didn't know how, but she knew, somewhere deep inside her. That established, she hoped to the gods that the kid's second crystal had formed right. It dissolved into her hands perfectly. She grinned and formed a whip out of manna, hoping that it would deter the bear. She slashed at it, smacking and slicing the bear squarely in the side of its jaw.

Unfortunately, all it did was piss the bear off. A lot. And the whip fell apart.

Michaela started to curse, but she was cut off by some kind of change in herself. She felt her senses sharpen even farther. Her ears laid down. Her vision was suddenly crystal clear, but with an almost… Yellow twinge to it. She realized that she was on all fours, with her hands spread wide and the claws out. It was about then that she figured out that she had slipped into a feral state. She felt as though she wasn't living out the events that were happening to her, but watching a play, watching them being acted out.

She watched a little Fox Keidran, almost a baby, fight with a pissed off mother bear. The bear swiped for the little Fox, an enormously powerful clawed mass moving to extinguish another life. The Keidran dodged, jumping over the paw and sinking its tiny claws into the massive arm attached to the massive paw.

Michaela saw Will run up, summoning fire in his hands. The Keidran seemed to ignore him. The littler of the two animals jumped, using its dug-in claws for a large leap onto the black mass of the bear's back. Fire appeared in Will's hands, and he propelled it at the bear.

The Fox slashed the bear's throat, near where Will had burned it. Michaela wasn't sure if the Keidran slashed there on purpose or not. The bear bucked, throwing the little animal off its back, despite the claws the Fox had dug into its back.

The little Fox wasn't shaken by the hit. It was back into an all-fours stance, its mouth open and growling, snarling fiercely. The bear, however, was running from Will, whose hands were both on fire.

The only snarling animal left shook its head and breathed sharply in. Michaela stood up, rubbing her head. "Did I just..?" She looked at the blood on her claws. Yep. She'd done it. She realized that she was panting and extremely tired. She collapsed against a tree, breathing shuttering breaths. Her whole body seemed ready to collapse on itself.

Will ran over to her, "Michaela! Michaela! Are you alright?"

"Y… Ye… Yeah… Okay… Okay… I'm okay…" She managed to shutter.

"No, you're not, shock's a terrible thing, ain't it?"

Michaela had no idea what shock was, so she didn't answer.

"Can you walk? We need to get out of here."

Michaela struggled to get up, but failed.

Will picked her up, holding her in his arms. Michaela could tell that it was a struggle for him, but he carried her all the way out of the woods anyway. He kept right on carrying her beyond the woods and to the edge of their campsite, setting her down incredibly gently. Once he'd accomplished that, it was his turn to collapse.

The headmaster walked up. "You two look like you just fought off a hungry bear!"

Despite their tiredness, they both had strength to join Will's patrol in fits of laughter.

All the boys in Will's patrol goofed off in the large creek below the plateau. Normally, they would have shamelessly gone nude. With Michaela in there, however, they, for some reason, wore shorts. Will thought it ironic; Michaela didn't wear clothes. Didn't want clothes. Didn't understand clothes. Will shrugged off the irony and got back to splashing Billy. The cool off time the boys enjoyed in the creek was an odd cross of bath and fun. After going through shock fighting the bear, it was, in good part, relaxation time for all of them, too. That fact was made evident when all the boys settled down and sat on the sandy smooth bottom of the creek. That never happened. Michaela was perched on a rock, licking herself clean.

"I didn't think you was a Cat, Michaela," Billy said when he saw her.

"I'm a Fox, not a Dog, Billy," she said matter-of-factly. "Licking for a bath isn't something we enjoy doing, but we do it when we have to."

Billy shrugged and sank further into the water.

The day had been pretty warm, as it usually was. Also as usual, the night was about to get cold. With that thought, Will got out of the creek, dried off, and headed back to the tent. Michaela was, as usual, right on his heels. He didn't mind. She'd never been on one of these camping trips and had no idea what to do. She did pretty well by following his lead, though.

"Don't come into the tent until I'm done, now, Michaela."

"Okay," she said, looking quite pitiful. Will ignored the puppy face and went into the tent, changing out of the wet shorts and into clean pants and a shirt. "Okay, Michaela."

She entered immediately.

"You really don't like it when I do that, do you?" he asked.

"No, not at all. It's awkward standing out there, cold, and the only of my kind."

Will shrugged. "Nothing we can do about it."

"You could let me come in."

"Not happening."

"Well I don't understand why you're so embarrassed!"

He shrugged, "I don't understand why you're not."

Her mouth opened in an attempt to reply, but closed again as she reconsidered. Her ears laid back in thought. "Fair enough," she finally said.

Will grinned, "I thought so. Now, here's a coat, because it's about to get cold out," he said, handing her said coat.

Michaela smiled.

"Don't get too happy. I didn't feel like going back to the tent when you got cold."

She stuck her tongue out at him. He shrugged and exited the tent, bumping into her on the way out. She was wet.

"Get outta my tent. You're wet."

She came out, coat in hand. "I'm going to dry off by the fire."

"Just get dry or you're not getting in my sleeping bag" he said, poking her ribs. She jumped a bit and gave him an evil eye. He grinned widely as they got into the fire ring. Will sat on a log while Michaela dried off by the fire. She occasionally licked down spots in her fur that were out of place.

About half an hour later, the sky was black and sprinkled with stars and Michaela was bone dry and her fur was spotless. Will was slightly amazed at how she did that. Human girls could do the same sort of thing, he supposed, but they usually used ten kinds of combs and picks, magic and a hundred pounds of makeup, and they weren't covered in fur head to toe, either.

Will shrugged. It was interesting, not that it mattered. He was much too young to be interested in girls, but old enough that he wasn't grossed out by them, as he was at one time. As a matter of fact, he didn't quite understand why he'd ever thought that girls were disgusting, but he very well had. He shrugged. Not that it matters.

He realized that it had grown dark. Michaela had gotten dry and was sitting beside him. Most of the boys were talking quietly amongst themselves. Some, mostly the tired ones, sat quietly. Will and Michaela were among them.

The Headmaster stole the show and begun telling the gathered youth about the adventure Will and Michaela had had fighting off the bear. Will and Michaela nodded tiredly along.

The Headmaster laughed, "I see that the ordeal tired them out."

Will smiled tiredly, "You could say that, sir."

Michaela's head thumped on his shoulder, fast asleep.

"And apparently, her more than I."

"Well, you get her to bed. Good job today."

Will nodded to him and carried her to the tent. He had quite the time getting the rainfly open and not dropping the little Fox too hard, but he managed somehow. He couldn't get her into the sleeping bag, no matter what he did, so he shook her gently. She didn't wake. He shook a little harder. Tapped her cheek. Finally, she woke up. "Michaela, get into the sleeping bag."

He chuckled as she crawled in, ears drooping and tail hanging, leaving his coat laying on the floor of the tent. He changed into more comfortable clothes for sleeping and crawled in right behind her, this time being wise enough to bring his watch with him. The two begun the process of tiredly getting comfortable. Michaela, whom Will could tell was barely awake, turned her head to face him and tiredly asked, "Could you put your arms around me again? I liked that. It was warm."

Will smiled, "Yeah, I can do that."

He pushed his arms around her and wrapped them tightly. She shifted a bit and her head dropped. Will grinned and chuckled lightly, slowly drifting into sleep himself.

Will awoke to Michaela shifting in his arms. He chuckled, "Finally wake up?"

"Yeah, you shut up."

"Well, you are… Incredibly tired."

"Yeah, I kinda went feral there for a second."

"You're kidding?"

She shook her head tiredly. "It tends to drain you."

"No kidding. No wonder you were able to completely kill that bear."

"No," she said, "you did a lot. That fire and all."

"I actually just figured that one out, when I was trying to make the crystals. I compressed my manna a bit too much and it exploded."

"Good for you," she said and poked his nose with a blunt claw.

He glared at her, "None of that, now, do you want to sleep or not?"

"Well," she said, "I don't think I'll be able to."

"Why not?" he asked, feeling his brow furrow.

"Well, I just keep thinking about it… I just slipped into it… I couldn't even control myself… It was like I was watching someone else… I was watching someone else, in my own body. It was like my instincts, my base, just took over."

"It's what happens," Will said. "Nothing you can do about it. Nothing I can do about it. Don't worry about it. It's part of who you are. It is in your blood. Instinct drives you, keeps you alive. It lets you do things you shouldn't be capable of. Embrace your biology, don't fear it."

She rolled over in his arms so she faced him. "You're the first person to ever tell me that… All the other Humans… they told me that I was just a stupid Keidran and that I should hate myself for being born this way, and that…"

Will cut her off with a finger to her lips. "Shhh… Shhh… They lied. They lied. You are who you are, no matter what. You are a person, same as me. You're not stupid or an animal or anything else you've been told. You're smart. Incredibly smart. You've learned magic faster than any Human I've ever seen. You're good. You're just used to being called stupid and you can't get over it… And" – he ran a finger over her leather strip of a collar – "this control spell is designed to lower your self-esteem. Makes you behave much better when you think that you're inferior. Hold on." He started manipulating the spell, removing that small chunk of the spell and covering his tracks, so to speak. "Hopefully that'll help."

"I don't feel any drastic change."

"You won't. It's more of a slow gradual thing."

"Oh, okay," she said and yawned.

"The spell is gone instantly, but it'll take time for it to affect your psychology."

"Oh."

"Don't worry about it. I'll get you fixed up yet," he said, winked, and poked her wet nose. It made her face scrunch in an odd way that Will thought… cute? Would that be the right word? I think so. That thought, he poked it again, causing her to squeal quietly and scrunch her face again.

"Stop that," she said in a demanding whisper.

"Okay," he said reluctantly.

"I want to get some more sleep," she said, rolling over in his arms and falling asleep in short order. Will fell asleep smiling.

Will and Michaela knew that they felt warm, they felt safe, together. They didn't understand why and they weren't fully aware of it, either, but it was true, nonetheless. Together, they were warm and the world outside that small sleeping bag was very, very cold, in more than one sense of the word. It was literally cold, yes, but it was metaphorically cold, as well. It was cold and cruel. It did its best to crush the hopes and dreams of a little Keidran doing her best to stay alive and stay sane in a world set against her.