Carla paced up and down in front of the newspaper office, looking at her watch every ten seconds. Elsa had been due to arrive two minutes ago. Sure, her lateness wasn't exactly unexpected, it was Elsa after all. Carla was still impatient, though: her muscles were taut with nerves about today.

Thankfully, it wasn't long before Elsa trudged into view. Carla frowned. Elsa normally moved a lot faster than this, but now she was hanging her head, looking exhausted.

"Hey," Carla said gently when she arrived, deciding not to comment on her lateness. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah," Elsa replied, raising her gaze to meet Carla's.

Her answer was clearly belied by the dark circles underneath her eyes, but Carla was far from knowing her well enough to pass comment.

"Elsa, are you sure you're alright?" Jasmine asked concernedly, taking a step towards her friend. "You don't have to come with us, if you don't want to."

Carla gritted her teeth: Jasmine could speak for herself, but Carla needed Elsa. She'd be damned if she was going to do another interview that was a cheap cover for tearing her apart for being a voluntary, and while she didn't really understand why, she trusted Elsa to try and stop that happening. To succeed, too, probably. The woman was nothing if not stubborn.

"Oh, no, of course I'm coming," Elsa said quickly. "I don't want to leave you guys to do this alone.. unless you… do you want me to come?" Her voice became more uncertain, then, and she looked anxiously between the two of them.

"'Course we want you to come, Elsa," Carla said gruffly, without meeting the other woman's eyes. "We'd have told you before now if we didn't."

"Okay. Good. Jasmine, do you-?"

"Of course I do," Jasmine said warmly, smiling. "I'm really glad you're here. I'm much less nervous than I was last time."

Elsa nodded, her eyes drifting down to the floor again. "Kalran?" she murmured, her voice halting.

"Why in the Kandrona's name wouldn't I want you there?" Kalran asked, genuinely puzzled. "Elsa, are you sure you're alright?"

Elsa nodded, her eyes fixed firmly on the floor. "I'm fine."

"You don't look it," Kalran said frankly. "Is there anything I can do? I…" Kalran broke off, looking down herself. "I feel responsible for your pain."

Elsa twitched visibly in response to that. An expression of panic came over her face. "What? What do you mean?" Her voice came out high-pitched, clearly terrified.

What on Earth…? Carla was at a complete loss to understand Elsa's response: she was never usually scared of Kalran. Akhir, maybe, but she certainly didn't look scared even of her, it tended to manifest as over-cheerfulness, barely-contained energy rather than obvious fear.

Kalran looked panicked now, too. "I… I just meant that I… I was part of the Empire, too, for more time than I should have been. Much more time than I should have been, and I… I assumed it was your time as…" Kalran trailed off.

Elsa shook her head, her shoulders tense. She was still staring at the ground but the expression of panic had gone, replaced by a mixture of relief and more pain. "No, Kal, don't say that. You're not responsible for anything. You did everything you could to free me, sweetie, you're a friend to me."

"We're more responsible than you are, Kal," Carla muttered, surprising herself that she'd spoken the sentiment aloud.

With an effort, Elsa raised her head. "No, Carla, you're not. You couldn't have helped me. Nothing is your fault. And don't you dare even think about apologising again, Jasmine," Elsa added, seeming to sense that Jasmine had opened her mouth guiltily. "You really don't need to."

"Can we do anything, though?" Jasmine asked worriedly. "You… you look so upset, and I want to help you."

Elsa shook her head. "I'm a terrible actress, huh? Kalran's right, it's just been getting to me lately, the memories and stuff. I'm okay, though. I feel better already for seeing you all."

Carla winced, the guilt twisting at her insides. To cover it, she said hastily: "We'd better go in."

Elsa nodded. "Yeah."

The start of the interview couldn't have been more different to the one Carla and Jasmine had done. Not only were the receptionist and reporter warm and friendly, they even offered them coffee, and sat them on comfortable chairs.

"Okay," the reporter, Fiona, began, once they were all settled in. "So, as I understand it we're all here to discuss a campaign to allow the Yeerks in the Pool to take hosts? A campaign I believe you started, Elsa?"

"Oh, no, not quite," Elsa replied. "It was Sara's idea, really, she's…" she hesitated. "Well, I hate this term but I've never come up with a better one… she's Kalran's ex-host. I just offered to help out, help her start things up, along with a few friends of ours."

Fiona nodded. "Forgive me if this seems intrusive, Elsa, you don't have to answer, but I understand you were an unwilling host in the war yourself?"

Elsa looked down, nodding. Carla's shoulders tightened, and she put her mug of coffee down suddenly. She hadn't expected this to come up so soon.

"Yeah," Elsa said, in a small voice.

Fiona hesitated for a moment. "Again, you don't need to answer, but some of our readers might wonder why you, of all people, would want to help the Yeerks? After… what they did to you."

Elsa shook her head. "It's not quite as simple as that. 'The Yeerks' as a whole species didn't do anything to me, the Empire and the Yeerks who supported it did. Kalran-" Elsa broke off, her voice sounding choked. "She risked her life to try and save me, to save us all. Thank you, honey. And it isn't just her, all the peace movement did that. It's them I want to help, really, though as plenty of the Empire Yeerks have already morphed I don't mind them being included too. As long as they treat the hosts right." Elsa glanced at Carla and Jasmine protectively.

Carla felt a warm flush of gratitude in her stomach. She was still shocked that Elsa cared about her but was beginning to believe she truly did. Across from her, Jasmine smiled too.

"I see." Turning to Carla and then Jasmine, Fiona asked: "am I right in understanding that you both want to be hosts, if it were made legal? Can I ask why?"

Carla nodded. "Sure. I was infested, willingly, in the war. And I really miss it… having a Yeerk, that is, not the war," Carla broke off, glancing at Elsa.

"What do you miss about it?" Fiona asked gently, scribbling a few notes on her pad.

Swallowing back the tears that threatened at that question, Carla did her best to reply. "I- mostly I miss my Yeerk. I know I'll never get her back, she…" Carla tailed off for a moment, gritting her teeth against the pain twisting her insides. "She was murdered. She was in the Pool they flushed."

Fiona frowned uncertainly. "Murdered? Are you sure that's the phrase you-"

"Murdered, yes!" Carla repeated, her voice rising and her face flushing with rage. "They were prisoners of war. Helpless prisoners of war who were no threat to the Animorphs. It was cold-blooded systematic murder."

Nervously, Fiona glanced at Elsa.

"They were prisoners of war," Elsa said softly but firmly. "Carla's absolutely right. Although I appreciate how difficult a position the Animorphs were in, being thrown into trying to save the planet single-handedly when they were just kids."

Carla stared in shock for a moment. She hadn't expected Elsa to back her up to the point of criticising the Animorphs: they were practically saints to most of society. She was less pleased about Elsa's defence of them, though. Carla herself had been a pretty screwed-up kid, by her own estimation, but she'd known better at half their age.

"They were old enough to know better," Carla muttered venomously. She soon changed her tone, though, realising that going off on a tirade about the Animorphs would hardly do the campaign any good. "Anyway, like I said, I miss her. And I know I'd never have her back, but there are parts of having a Yeerk in general that I miss. It helps me a lot, being infested." She glanced across to Kalran. "And Kalran and Oglud, her mate, they're my friends. I want to help them."

"What exactly do you miss about it?" Fiona asked.

Carla sensed Elsa lift her head beside her, looking curiously in Carla's direction. They'd prepared for the question but hadn't gone into as much detail as this.

Carla shrugged. "Having someone see me," she admitted. "Not having to explain how I'm feeling. Half the time I don't even really know, but Silrin used to be able to help. Having someone around all the time, to have a laugh with. And it's nice to have someone who knows everything about you and still… accepts you, if you know what I mean. Still wants to be around you."

There was a short silence. Fiona shifted uncomfortably, as though she wasn't quite happy with Carla's answer.

"And helping them, too," Carla added. "I don't do much useful with my life, otherwise."

Kalran's sharp intake of breath sounded unnaturally loud in the quiet room. "You're indispensable to me," Kalran said quietly. "Don't say that."

Carla tensed, realising she'd probably been too honest. A look at Fiona's face confirmed it: the reporter looked very uncomfortable.

"Right…" she murmured, turning towards Jasmine. "And yourself?"

Jasmine hesitated. "I want to help the Yeerks in the Pool," she said eventually. "It's so difficult for them to be cut off from their family, their friends, and everyone else. And it seems unfair, that the rest of the Yeerks have human bodies and senses and they can't."

Fiona nodded. "Would there be any benefits for you?"

"Oh, lots! I like connecting with a Yeerk, too. It's a different kind of relationship to anything humans have, a different depth. Like Carla said, that sense of acceptance, it's just…" Jasmine trailed off, then sighed. "I feel a little guilty, though. Akhir- my Yeerk- she's wonderful, and I love her very much. I can't help feeling I'm betraying her, by missing that closeness. I know she's trying her best to connect with me as much as she can without her Yeerk body."

"Does she know about your involvement in the campaign?" Fiona asked.

Jasmine nodded. "Of course she does. She's helping with it herself, actually- you won't print her name, will you?" Jasmine added anxiously.

"I won't print anyone's. Elsa and I agreed that when we spoke on the phone."

"Oh," Jasmine said, sounding relieved. "That's good."

Fiona turned to Kalran, then. "I've been looking forward to speaking with you, Kalran. I've never spoken to a Yeerk before, not knowingly, anyway."

Kalran smiled, inclining her head. "Thank you for agreeing to interview us."

"Can you tell us a little about how things are from your perspective? Carla mentioned your – mate, was it?"

Kalran's smile disappeared, her eyes dropping to the ground. "They're not my mate any longer," she said in a tiny voice. "We've separated, now. It was too difficult, being physically apart and only being able to talk for a few minutes every couple of weeks."

Carla reached out a hand to cover Kalran's. The Yeerk took it gratefully.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Fiona replied uncertainly. "If that's the right response. I assume you miss them, but I don't really know how Yeerk relationships work."

"They're not really that different to ours," Jasmine said softly. "Not in the amount of love they feel, anyway."

Kalran lifted her head again, with some effort. "Would you like me to talk about that? The relationships Yeerks have, how they work?"

Fiona nodded. "That would really help our readers. Many of them won't know, either."

"Well, we have four types of close relationship. Schrelna, those are our closest siblings, the ones who are most similar to us genetically. That feels very much like your sibling relationships, as I understand them, except closer, and we take a much closer interest in our schrellie's children, if we're still alive at that point, as obviously they don't live to see them. Then there's schrellatna, close friendship. Then nishna, mates. They're the Yeerks that eventually reproduce together, and so there's always eventually three. Sometimes a dyad forms first and then a third is found, sometimes it might start with a larger group and split into threes. We spend many years building up our bonds with those we eventually choose to reproduce with. Evolutionarily, it functions to test their traits very thoroughly, as we obviously only have one shot to-"

"Kalran, honey, you sound like the Discovery Channel," Carla broke in. "A lot of humans probably think Yeerks are unfeeling beasts, they need to know about emotions. I know that's probably kind of hard for you to talk about, right now. Silrin never got into anything serious, mates-wise, though, so I haven't felt the emotion second-hand, I can't talk about it. Jasmine, what about Akhir? Has she ever- can you describe it?"

"That's too personal for me to answer for her," Jasmine said firmly.

Carla hesitated, glancing at Elsa. She was surprised to see her staring down at the carpet, as though lost in thought. "Elsa? Did- did your Yeerks ever…"

"I'll talk about it," Kalran cut in quickly. "I'm okay, I can manage to talk about the mate-bond without breaking down. Though it's kind of you, Carla," she added, forcing a smile. "It… it's hard to describe, though, in terms a human would understand. We love each other, of course, but it's not quite like any human bond. It's closest to your romantic relationships, probably, but it's… slower, somehow, less intense than that, and yet somehow more intimate, eventually, it…" she sighed. "I'm not explaining it very well."

Fiona nodded, looking as though she was listening intently.

"Maybe it's easier to focus on what's the same, not what's different," Jasmine said gently. "You love each other, support each other, miss each other when you can't be together, though maybe you need to connect less often than humans do. You want to be physically together, talking through the computer isn't enough. You'd fiercely protect your mates, you care for them. Have I got all that right?"

Kalran nodded. "Yes. Absolutely."

Fiona scratched a few more words on her notepad, her pen loud in the silent room, before she looked up. "Thank you, Kalran. I know that wasn't easy, but I have much more of an understanding than I did. And what Jasmine's just said really helps you make your case."

"It should be obvious," Jasmine said softly. "Maybe not about mates specifically, but we know Yeerks are a social species like us, it stands to reason they have people they care about and don't like to be separated from them. Is it really that much of a leap to think about that?" Jasmine winced, suddenly, and looked apologetic. "Sorry, Fiona, I didn't mean you, I just meant…"

"I understand," Fiona replied, smiling gently. "And everything you've said there adds to the campaign pretty well, as well."

Carla nodded. She'd never heard Jasmine talk so much before, but now Jasmine had apparently decided not to be cripplingly shy she was surprisingly articulate. "Maybe you should be our chief spokeswoman, Jaz," she said, only half in jest. "That was really good."

Jasmine flushed and looked down. "Oh, no, we all helped."

There was a short silence before Fiona looked back at Kalran. "Can I ask about the fourth group of relationships? You said four."

"I did," Kalran admitted. "Though the last one was taboo in the Empire. Tamna."

Carla felt a bittersweet mixture of emotions spread through her. "Hosts," she clarified for Fiona, who was looking puzzled.

Fiona's confused expression only intensified. "Wait, what? But…"

Elsa gave a disparaging snort. She'd been uncharacteristically silent for the last few minutes, so much so that Carla had almost forgotten she was there. "Yeah, I don't really believe that either, Fiona. If my Yeerks cared about me they were doing an amazing job of hiding it."

Anger sparked through Carla. "Silrin cared about you," she snapped. "You must know that."

Elsa shrugged. "Maybe. Not enough to try and change things, though." Elsa glanced at Kalran. "Sorry, Kal, I'm not doubting it in your case. No one can doubt how good a friend you are to Sara, you nearly died for her."

Kalran hesitated for a moment. "Elsa, I understand how horrible a topic this must be for you, but no, Sara's not my friend. Well, she is, but she's my host, too, and that means something to Yeerks, something very powerful. Even to those who tried to hide it or who… misdirected… it."

Elsa winced and looked down. "Please don't talk about that," she said, in a tiny whisper.

Carla stared in shock. What was wrong with Elsa today? It was almost like she and Jasmine had swapped personalities or something.

"I'm sorry," Kalran said instantly, sounding genuinely pained. "Oh, Elsa, I'm so sorry, I should never-"

"Not your fault," Elsa said tightly. "I'm sorry, everyone, I'm spoiling the interview."

"That can all be off the record," Fiona offered hastily. "Would you like me to put anything about how you say you feel about hosts, Kalran, or not?"

Elsa sighed, avoiding eye contact with everyone. "You better had. It is true, I guess, it's just – most of the Yeerks ignored it, or twisted it into hatred, and other involuntaries reading it are going to feel pretty invalidated to be told their Yeerks cared about them. They didn't, not properly, or they'd have done what Kal did."

"Maybe I can just put it's how Kalran feels, but talk about your experience as well, Elsa?"

Elsa shook her head. "That just makes us look disunited, doesn't it?" She sighed again. "Kalran's quote is pretty good, that hosts mean something to Yeerks, but that feeling makes some of them caring, even to the point of putting themselves at risk to fight the Empire, some of them try to ignore it and some of them twist it into nastiness and abuse. I think that would be pretty accurate." She glanced around at them all, finally. "Sorry, we should have discussed this beforehand."

"We couldn't address every possible topic," Jasmine said gently. She touched Elsa's hand. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Fine," Elsa said tightly, although she didn't sound it. She forced a smile, though, when she looked at Jasmine. "Thanks, Jaz."

There was a short silence, before Fiona turned back to Kalran. "If hosts are a close bond for you… would you ever consider hosting a Yeerk yourself? It should be physiologically possible, right?"

Carla jumped. The thought had never even crossed her mind, but of course! The morphed Yeerks were no different from humans, anatomically, and it would give them the closeness of connection they'd never otherwise be able to experience again. They must miss it.

"Perfectly possible," Kalran said. Her nose wrinkled with distaste. "But I… this is going to sound…" she hesitated.

"It can be off the record, if you like," Fiona offered. She smiled. "I'm curious about what you'd think of it."

"I never thought of that," Elsa interrupted, her eyes wide with revelation. "Wow, of course! How did I never realise that?"

Carla was thinking the same thing. Kalran hesitated, looking worriedly at Elsa.

"I… oh, Elsa, you'll hate me for this…"

Elsa frowned. "I doubt that. Why? You wouldn't want to do it?"

Kalran shook her head slowly. "No. I… I think I've internalised too much of the Empire line, here, but it feels… distasteful."

"You get the right to make a choice too, you know," Elsa said gently. "Though I am kind of surprised it bothers you. You're used to it, right? Palp touching and everything, having a host yourself… you're used to less privacy than us."

"That's not quite the same thing," Kalran said slowly. "You can control what you share when you touch palps, and of course you keep your bodily autonomy."

"The hosts in this situation will keep their bodily autonomy too," Elsa said forcefully. She turned to look at Carla and Jasmine. "It's your body. You want control of it, you tell them and they should give you it instantly, or we throw them back in the Pool. Same with memories, they go digging where-" Elsa suddenly stopped, blanching and falling silent for a second. "Well, you tell me and I'll cover the little slimeballs in salt. Metaphorically, anyway."

Carla was taken aback by the forcefulness in Elsa's voice.

Jasmine hastened to reassure her. "We'll be okay, Elsa. And I know you'd set up something that's safe. I'm sure the government would, too."

The rest of the interview passed without incident. It felt so much friendlier, so much more respectful than the last one they'd done that Carla couldn't help a welling of admiration and trust for Elsa. She'd clearly worked hard to set this up: Fiona's frequent references to conversations she and Elsa had had made that obvious.

What was more, even though she evidently wasn't feeling her best Carla felt confident that Elsa was poised to defend her and Jasmine from anything. Possibly too ready to defend them, at times, but that was a welcome change from Carla's usual experience of people not caring an ounce about her.

"That went so much better," Carla commented to her as they left the building. "Thanks. You did a great job setting it up."

Elsa jumped a little, looking surprised. "Oh." She smiled, then, more genuinely than she had all day. "Oh, no problem, Carla, not at all. I'm so glad it felt better for you."

Carla nodded. "Much better, thanks." She hesitated for a moment, before deciding she was feeling brave enough to be honest. "You clearly put a lot of work in, to help it go okay. Thank you, for that."

"Yes, you've done wonderfully," Jasmine added warmly.

Elsa smiled. "So did you guys. Couldn't have done it without you. We make an OK team, right?"

Even though a part of Carla was still reluctant to say anything too warm to Elsa, she couldn't help but agree. "Yeah. Not too bad."