Alright, some of you had a busy week with reviews. So, in return, I have some honorable mentions for everyone who's reviewed thus far. I'm only sorry that I'm just now doing this.

Toniann1313 - Thank you for reading! I'm glad you're enjoying it so far!

Debatable-Cerealkiller - I'm glad SOMEONE reads them! I put so much effort into them! (obvious lie) But really, I love being able to give a little bit of my own commentary to the chapter and sometimes I might drop little hintsies.

BlackxValentine - Your most recent review made me cry the most overwhelmed tears of joy. I am so happy that you have stuck with this trainwreck for so long and still enjoy every word I type. It means so much to me that some people are as invested in this as I am.

Ground-Cinnamon - Oh my goodness, someone was busy. I honestly don't know if I have enough words to describe what your reviews have done to me. Each and every one has put a smile on my face. I'm absolutely loving the chapter-by-chapter commentary of a reader and am dying to answer some of your questions. I don't want to give too much away, however, but I CAN clarify some things for you: I only wish that I could go more in depth of Sonia's relationship with Yondu, Arvo and Tajuun, I might do a couple of one-shots further down the line or just add little one-shot-bonus chapters at the end. Not sure, might make a collection. I know that rereading it seems that Sonia just accepted things without a fight, I still didn't have the greatest handle on her character yet, and even writing her now, she's a little unpredictable for me. You'll get more werepanthery goodness, don't worry. I've got a few pages of notes about Sonia's abilities. I'd say more, but I don't want to give anything away. Finally: Sonia is 26 and her eyes change color with she's feeling closer to her panther side. She's spent so much of her life under duress, however, that it's become near-impossible for her to fully distinguish the two, which is why she'll shift without even noticing. Her eyes are more green when she's calm, or happy as a human and become more gold if she's frightened or angry. They are always gold while she's in panther form.

Okay~ Keep the reviews coming, good folks!

There was a small gasp from one of the female Krylorians as Sonia shifted back. The two immediately rushed over and began assessing her. They said something to the others that I wasn't quite paying attention to and one rushed off while the other came over to move the cot. I started to follow after them but one of the women stayed behind and blocked my path.

"We need to know some things." She stated simply.

I narrowed my eyes, "Why should I tell you anything after you tried to force us out?"

She sighed, "I apologize for your treatment, we couldn't have a dangerous animal on the loose here. We've had… incidents before."

She gestured over to a couple of chairs off the side of the room. I took one last look down the hallway where they'd rolled Sonia and reluctantly followed the nurse. As she sat down, I leaned against the wall near her.
"Please, sit."

"No, I'm good." I said dismissively. I didn't owe her anything. Not after she was such a bitch to me.

She sighed and pulled out a pad, prepared to add notes. I could see things being filled in, the other nurse must be compiling a file about Sonia. The woman studied the pad for a second before looking up at me.

"She's a Terran, but unusual. What kind of care has she been under recently?" She gave me a hard look.

"Mine." I said curtly. "I bought her as a pet a couple weeks or so ago."

"What about before?"

"I don't know. She said she's had a lot of other owners. She doesn't talk much about herself." I shrugged, what the hell did she want from me?

"Well, it appears as though she's malnourished and has been poisoned, but the toxicity report came back clean. The plasma hit didn't do as much damage as it should have. What was she hit with in the chest?" She continued to read as she asked me questions.

"A knife."

"A knife? Interesting…." She tapped a few letters on the pad and pulled up the report on the front wound. "It's not closing, or even showing any signs of healing. The poison seems to be emanating from there."
"It was a silver knife. She's allergic to silver." I said, for lack of a better term. If the werewolf information I'd read earlier carried over to her, allergy was a good way to put it. Although, it seemed to be spreading. I hadn't quite put two and two together until I saw her veins like that. It seemed to carry through her blood.

She typed a few notes. Nodding to herself in satisfaction, "We'll start removing the silver immediately. After then we'll drain the burn and cover it before putting her in healing waters."

"How long will it take?" I asked. I knew that the longer it took, the more it would cost. Not that it was a huge issue, I was also ansty about her waking up. I knew full well what she was capable of and I needed to be there when she woke.

"It's hard to say. Most Terrans are pretty fragile and take a long time to heal up proper. Of course, that's only what we've heard. We've only ever treated one Terran at this clinic and it was more than 20 years ago. The staff from back then aren't even here anymore. But from what I understand, their physiology is quite similar to that of a Xandarian," she tucked away her pad and stood up as she relayed all of this. She had a small smile on her face as her eyes met mine. They widened slightly as she finally got a good look at my face. A small blush crept up to her cheeks.

"So can I go back there or what? Trust me, you'll want me back there when she wakes up." I said gruffly, crossing my arms. I didn't have time for her shit anymore.

She shook her head, "Absolutely not, we can't have you interfering."

I glared in her direction before muttering, "I'll be back."

"Wait! You need to fill out a couple forms!" She waved the pad at me. I turned and eyed them suspiciously. "It's only for our records, and can only be accessed with her DNA."

I took the pad from her and looked over the form. As I read down it, I realized how little information on it I could actually provide. I didn't even know her last name. Did she even know her last name? I left it blank. What year was she born? Actually, I could figure that one out; It was the same year we picked up Peter. I filled out what I could and gave the pad back to the nurse. She looked it over, if it was lacking anything she didn't say so. After that I quickly departed, I didn't need her trying to chat me up.

Not knowing where else to go, I headed for the nearest food stall. It'd been awhile since I'd eaten anything, now that I felt a bit more confident about Sonia's status, the hunger hit me hard. I ordered a bowl of whatever stew they had cooking back there and a cold brew. I needed some alcohol to take the edge off. I took out my personal pad in the meantime and tried to access some Terran news outlets. If Sonia had been reported missing, I might be able to learn something about her.

After about forty minutes of failed searches, I was finally able to get a hit. On my screen was a picture of a very young female child with long black hair. I selected the article underneath it, a short little blurb and read it.

Sonia Iversen (5) reportedly went missing on Sunday, August 31st during a family barbeque. She had wandered away from the rest of family and was last seen just outside the woods on the family's property. Sonia is the youngest part of the prominent Iversen family who are well known in Great Falls for their success in the construction and landscaping businesses. Father, Henrik, has told reporters that he believes his daughter was kidnapped. No traces of intruders could be found near the house. Police have no leads. If you have any information to help with the investigation please call (406) 385-2994.

Huh, that seemed very abrupt. There had to be more to the story. Unfortunately, all I could find were a couple of blog posts questioning Henrik's sanity as he blamed 'aliens' for his daughter's disappearance. Confused by this, I searched the term to find it to be the Terran word for people who weren't from Terra. It was almost startling to realize just how little Terra knew about the rest of the Galaxy. I knew that Terra was pretty backwater, but this level of ignorance was almost sad.

I finished my food and drink and wandered over to a shop. There were a few things of interest and I bought a couple of new shirts for myself and a couple of things for Sonia. I kept it simple, not quite knowing her tastes yet. She seemed pretty okay with wearing my stuff so I just picked a couple things that I'd wear. While exiting the shop, my personal communicator went off. Slightly confused to see it wasn't Yondu, I answered it. It was the red Krylorian woman from the hospital.

"Mr. Obfonteri! You need to return quickly. It's as you predicted, and you are needed here immediately."

With no further words, she ended the call. I instantly broke into a run back towards the hospital. Sonia must have woken up already. The woman's hair had been a bit razzled and she looked shaken. What the hell was going on?

?_? Oh noes!
~F2tM