Chapter Four

Kaolin slowly opened her eyes as she awakened upon a cushy bed, and she took a deep breath of the cool, crisp, filtered air. A cool moist towel had been placed on her forehead and her utility belt was sitting on a small table nearby. Perplexed, she looked around her immediate vicinity without moving her head, and saw a dresser, a cabinet set, some paintings, and a few lamps. Someone had put her in a tidy bedroom.

"Look, she's awake!" The small excited voice caused Kaolin to jolt slightly.

Another small voice followed with a whisper. "Not so loud! You might scare her! Oh...too late."

Kaolin turned her head to the right, and her eyes fell upon two very young, sickeningly cute squirrels. One was a green-furred boy, and the other was a light-green-furred girl with two pink bows in her hair. Both of the children were staring at her with huge, curious eyes.

"What...what happened...where am I?" Kaolin squinted and blinked to make sure they weren't illusions in a dream. The ash-gray fox started to sit up and rubbed the back of her head, feeling the frayed ends of the hair which had been singed by the heat from the blast. She winced when a massive headache set in, and gasped in pain when she moved her legs, having agitated the bandaged stub of her lower-right leg.

The little boy's eyes widened. "No! Don't move! You have an owwie!"

"A BIIIG owwie," added the little girl.

Kaolin looked down at her leg and was immediately reminded of the brutal reality of the crash. The wound was saturated with a tingly, burning sensation. It wasn't as bad as earlier, though, which made Kaolin suspect that someone had put a numbing agent on the wound before bandaging it.

A creaking sound emanated from the doorway, and another little boy, a few years older than the other two children, walked in with more towels and some medical supplies. When the dark-green squirrel saw that their guest was awake, he looked at his siblings with an accusative eye and spoke in a scolding tone. "Mom told you not to wake her up! It's very rude."

"It was Roger's fault!"

"Nuh UH! Samantha took over my brain and made me do it!"

"I did not!"

"Yuh-huh!"

The oldest interrupted them with an insidious glint in his eye. "How 'bout I knock both of your heads together and we call it even?" The threat struck instant fear into the other two, but they quickly got right back into arguing.

As the three of them bickered, their mother walked in with a tray of food. She quickly examined the situation and softly posited an idea. "How about we all settle down and give our guest some peace?"

That shut them up immediately.

Her kind eyes fell upon the injured fox, and the dark-gray squirrel walked to Kaolin's bedside and set the food onto a wooden table, near where the utility belt was laying. "I'm sorry about that. They can be a bit rambunctious." She grabbed the towel, which had fallen from Kaolin's forehead, and tossed it back at one of her kids to be taken to the washroom. "I thought you might want some food to help with your energy. Losing a limb can take it out of you. Heard it from many patients."

"You're a doctor?" Kaolin's question came shortly before she glanced at the food tray, spotting a sandwich, pickles, potato chips, and a cup of water. It was then that she noticed the hungry pit in her stomach.

"No, just a nurse, but I've helped many people over the years, especially recently. So many soldiers have been injured in this dreadful war." A sigh and a pause followed as memories flooded her mind, showing up as a mournful facial expression. "Speaking of battles, that was quite a crash. If my kids hadn't found you sooner, you might've been in even more trouble."

The light-gray vulpine smiled. "Yes, thank you for that. Thank for everything you're doing. I can't describe how much it means to me, ma'am."

The woman's head tilted slightly at being called 'ma'am', a title she hadn't heard often. "Oh, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Liorah Avondale. These are my kids, Jason, who is ten, and the twins, Roger and Samantha, who are seven." Liorah looked back at her kids and smiled.

The expressions of the twins brightened, and they exclaimed in unison an addendum to her claim. "We'll be eight in two months!"

"Yes you will!" Their mother turned her attention back to Kaolin. "And what is your name?"

"I am Kaolin Prower, one of the Freedom Fighters. My husband is Miles Prower, widely known as Tails." Her reply came with an enthusiastic air of pride, and it caused Liorah's eyes to widen slightly.

"Ah, I've heard about you two and your heroic adventures. No wonder you seemed so familiar. I must express my utmost gratitude for your services."

Kaolin blushed unnoticeably. "Hey, it's my job..." Her voice trailed off when she remembered her husband, and her smile quickly disappeared. She figured he had most likely seen her radar dot disappear from view, and since the radio had been destroyed, he probably got static from any attempts at contact. "Oh my, Tails probably thinks I'm dead. Could you hand me my belt?"

Liorah acquiesced, but when Kaolin looked for the compartment with the auxiliary beacon, she saw only an empty space with tattered shards of fabric and strings. "Great, the beacon was torn off in the crash. I need it to send a special rescue signal."

Liorah grinned. "I'll command one of the fire droids to search for it then, since it was probably ejected in the explosion. The fires are almost extinguished, anyway." Kaolin's expression quickly brightened, and Liorah pulled a small touch screen from a pouch on her belt and began entering some commands, then sent them into one of the drones outside. "One is on its way, and once the fires are all out, I'll send the others."

"Thank you so much. The faster I get rescued, the faster I can be fitted with a prosthetic and get back to helping my teammates." She looked over her belt a bit more and blinked once, face showing disappointment. "Aw, my gun is lost, too."

"Actually, I put it away for safe keeping. Didn't want the kids to mess with it. They're not ready to handle weapons that powerful yet." Liorah glanced back at her children. Kaolin nodded and took a mental note to take special care with such things if or when she had kids. "Now then, I suggest you eat something before sending the distress signal. You might need the energy during the trip."

Kaolin grabbed half of the sandwich and took a bite, then stopped when the unexpected flavor hit. The taste was much better than she had expected it to be, and she had already expected it to be good. "Wow, this is really good. It reminds me of how...my parents made sandwiches for me when I was little." In fact, Liorah herself bore stark resemblance of her mother, something she had just noticed. She let out an extended breath as memories from her early life came rushing back, leading up to that tormenting day when her entire world was turned upside down by Robotnik's sadism.

Aware that something deep was troubling her guest, Liorah moved her hand behind her back and motioned her kids to leave the room. "If you'd like me to bring something a bit less evocative, I can do that."

Kaolin sighed. "No, this whole place is evocative. It's okay, really. It brings back comforting memories of when my parents were alive. My mother made the best sandwiches."

When Liorah saw a tear travel down Kaolin's muzzle, she looked at her guest with concern. "I know the sharp feeling of loss. A few months ago, my husband was killed in an operation against one of Shauland's carrier fleets. The attack was only partially successful; they managed to down a little over three-fourths of the enemy forces, but the remaining fleet ended up destroying the city they were targeting, including the hospital I once worked at. Now I work from home, since there are no major hospitals nearby that I know of. What was almost worse than the loss itself was having to explain to the kids why their daddy wasn't coming home. Roger still comes up to me and says that he hopes Jesus will let him come back. It's..." She paused to wipe away her own tears, and concluded, "I'm...I'm sorry. I got myself worked-up again. I'm sure you didn't need the added angst, either. I'll go and get some napkins."

Kaolin acted as though she was about to say something, but she kept silent and watched as Liorah left the room, thereby allowing her to have the place to herself for a little while. She lay there and gathered her thoughts while listening to the air softly blow in from the circulation vent in the ceiling. Having heard her story gave even more of an incentive to bring an end to the war sooner—an incentive to try even harder than they were. It gave her greater motivation and courage to fight. However, she also knew that they really were trying as hard as they could. If they tried too hard, they could become careless and suffer dearly for it.

Careless.

That word triggered thoughts of the dogfight which led to the current mess. She knew she could've done better. She knew she could've flipped a few more switches and gotten the autorepair systems to work faster, even if by a scintilla of time. Perhaps then the ejection seat would've worked. It was panic which kept her from doing everything in her power to work at her full capacity, and she paid for it with part of her leg. She knew that if it happened again, it could cost her life. Conversely, she also took into consideration that her accident may have kept her alive. If the ejection seat had deployed properly, her attacker could have swooped back in to finish the job. In that case, her leg wasn't too much to ask for.

Liorah returned a short time later with cheerful composure, as though she hadn't cried at all that day. She had brought napkins and an extra cup of water. With a smile, she seated herself upon a chair and set the items upon the closest table. "Sorry about earlier. Anyway, here are some napkins and another cup of water in case you need a refill."

Kaolin thanked her, but expressed her disagreement with the apology. "No need to apologize. A lot of us go through these things and we cry. I understand it, and can certainly handle it."

Liorah smirked. "Well, I still felt bad about it. Now, onto my next subject. How...is the war looking? Is it in our favor? Their favor?"

After swallowing another bite of her sandwich, Kaolin gave a faint smile. "Well, the battle-before-last was a spectacular display of fail for them. We bombed three bases into oblivion, shot down ninety-six fighters, downed a large carrier, and captured and interrogated its captain. We had planned on executing another attack today using his information, but they got to us first." Her smile dulled somewhat. "Overall, it's hard to tell, though I hear we are very slowly gaining the upper hand. The tables may have turned, though. I was shot down by something truly skilled...er, well-programmed. It was a robotic entity rather than organic. Our base was overrun with those things, and a base in Vasyugan was completely destroyed by them. I honestly don't know what became of ours. I don't know if any of my friends are still alive. I don't know if...my husband survived, either. I'm sure he did, though. He always seems to get out of sticky situations."

"Oh I hope so." Liorah nodded. The device on her belt began to buzz, and she jumped from the unexpected activity. "Oh! The fire is out. We can use all the droids to look for your beacon now! With their combined effort, it shouldn't take too long. They're good at finding lost items."

"Wonderful!" Kaolin looked Liorah in the eyes and thought for a moment. She had seen such a stunning display of kindness and hospitality in such a short amount of time. There was something special about her, and she and believed it to be the beginning of a very good friendship.

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Author's notes: Chapter Five is coming soon! Thank you for reading, and please leave a review!

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Canon Sonic characters and places © Sonic Team, Sega
Kaolin, story, other original characters, countries and organizations, etc © NuclearCookout