DAR

I'm not happy about having to work with Zedd's boy, but it really is the only way. I start my own assessment of his skills. A mere few minutes in, I can tell that his heart isn't in it. "What's wrong, Tommy?"

"I'm not sure. I'm not comfortable."

I sigh. "Sorry, I just thought that this would be best-" I stop when he shakes his head.

"Not you. Them. I recognize Jason and Andros, but not the other two. Why are they here? What do they want with me?"

Oh boy. How do I answer? Remembering that he had mentioned my being honest with him before, I decide to give it a go. "This Rita is the same one that was your enemy all those years ago - back when I was - less humanoid than I am now. At that time, Zordon was your mentor. He definitely didn't look the way he does now."

The boy nods at me to continue. "Let me back up a little. The simple version of this is that one day Rita came to try and take over Earth. Zordon, as its assigned protector, chose five teenagers to use the Mighty Morphin Ranger powers to stop her since he was unable to do it himself. Rita acquired another power coin which she turned evil and she chose you as her champion." I try to keep the bitterness out of my voice as I tell the story. "After many battles, the other Rangers - primarily Jason - broke the spell on you and returned you to the side of light."

The boy stares at me blankly for a moment. Once more he gasps in pain, grabs his head and falls to his knees. Unsure what to do, I wait anxiously for him to recover as he did earlier. Just as I'm about to give up and summon Pina, the tension leaves him and he looks up at me, tears of pain streaking down his face. "Oh my god. I was the evil Green Ranger. I hurt so many people! What did I do?"

I bite my lip, unsure what to say. If I screwed up his recovery, I can't even imagine what Zedd and Pina will do to me, never mind the former Red Ranger currently with Zedd. I continue being honest, not knowing what else to do. Reluctantly, I speak. "It wasn't your fault. What you did, you did under Rita's influence."

"Jason said that too. But how can I trust her now if she did that?"

I sigh. "Remember that Zedd and Pina talked about the evil being destroyed and how it changed us? Well, Rita got caught in the purge of evil too. Since she was under a spell that made her evil - like you - when the evil left, it broke the spell and she returned to who she should have been - a goddess on the side of light."

He hesitates. "That doesn't mean that I can trust her."

"I suppose not. Either way, we'll just have to wait-" I pause. I can feel Pina and she's angry. I almost wish that we had bonded in a way that I could hear her thoughts. Once she seems to get her rage under control, I return my attention to the man before me, who has a far away look in his eyes. He speaks again. "I think Zedd is telling them what happened in the rehab place." Oh do you now? "He's angry, but not the same like if he was mad at Jason and Andros."

I nod. "Pina is mad about whatever Zordon and Rita are saying."

"Dar, are you and Pina and Zedd from the same place?"

Startled by the lightning fast subject change, I nod. "Yes, but only Zedd and I are full Eltarian. Pina is only three quarters, but was raised on Eltar, the same as we were. Why?"

"Sometimes when I'm upset, Zedd speaks to me in another language and I think that it's his native language. I want to learn it too. Is there some way that I can learn Eltarian while I'm relearning English? I want to surprise him one day."

I contemplate this for a few minutes. "Yes, I think so. I don't know how long it would take you to become fluent, but I would think that you could learn enough to make yourself understood in about a month."

The boy scrubs the last of the tears from his face and regains his feet. He looks past me, eyes locked on something. I look over as well and see the bird again. As I stare at it, I really don't know what to do here. Pina told me that this was the purpose behind her taking the boy into the woods, but I'm really at a loss here. I watch as he slowly crosses the garden toward the creature. Stop him or let him continue? "Tommy-"

"Hush!" he snaps. Okay, wasn't expecting that. The closer he gets, the more nervous I'm getting. With the way my luck is running, this would be just the time something would go wrong - the first time I voluntarily watch over him. I'm going to chew my lip off before this is over.

Finally, he stops and slowly raises his right arm. My heart stops as the bird transfers from the wall to his arm. I hold my breath as he lowers the animal so that they are at each other's eye level. They stare at each other for a long, long time. So what in all the hells do I do now?