Kaylin's eyes fluttered but she did not allow them to close. She inhaled deeply and moved just a little closer to the small body of heat, her hand gently petting coarse hair.

"Kay?" came a whisper and her dark eyes moved over to the door. Her initial instinct was to hush the already quietly speaking man but her throat was too dry not that she had the strength to make any noise anyway.

The dark shadow in the bright doorway stepped in and her eyes adjusted to allow her to see Kair. She blinked, her red eyes wishing to stay closed but she forced them open. Kair walked over to where she was laying and bent down, looking from Kaylin to the little boy she was huddled against. His small chest, covered in welt-like burn scars, barely rose and lowered.

"Kay, I'll admit, that thing outside is really making me uncomfortable."

Kaylin swallowed, "that thing saved Tyke's life," she managed in a hoarse whisper, and her eyes burned, threatening tears again but she had cried them all already. Now they just stung.

Kair nodded, "I know, I know. I'm just sayin'," Kair looked down at Tyke then up at Cee, sitting against the wall of the small room they were in, one leg propped up and an arm resting on it, "look at that honky you made it through the night."

"Only because that thing outside would have killed you if you had tried anything."

Kaylin's face twisted, "guys, please," she whispered and the two bit back their words. Kaylin looked back at Tyke, a single sob choking her for a split second. Her hand had not let go of his since they were brought here.

"Kay, I promise you, whoever did this will pay."

Kaylin lifted her burning eyes to Kair and did not answer. He sighed. She knew he was trying to be comforting, she wanted to be grateful for that, but it hurt too much right now. She looked back to Tyke, leaned over and gently kissed Tyke's head.

"Maybe," said Cee softly, "Kay, you should go outside and get some fresh air. I'm sure that this… this guy will watch Tyke for a few minutes for you."

Kaylin shook her head, "I want to be here if he wakes up," she whispered, feeling a painful twist in her chest and a sob escaped her throat, "or if he passes…."

The room was quiet for a second, then Kair stood up and turned to leave. He made a sudden unhappy noise and Kaylin looked and saw Jitar standing there. Nobody had heard him enter the room. She had nothing to say to the alien at the moment. His emotionless mask staring down at her and the child. He made no noise as he stepped forward and bent down beside the young child and made a very soft rattle. He reached forward and held his hand over Tyke's chest. He then closed his hand in a tight fist and looked up at Kaylin. Kaylin's eyes search his mask and inhaled a bit looking down at the boy. His heart is strong.

Kaylin swept her hand over Tyke and pointed at Jitar, hoping she was conveying her question of saving the boy correctly. Jitar responded by running a claw down the scar on his chest. He saved Tyke, because she saved him.

There was silence for a moment, then Kair spoke up, "okay… what are you two… 'talking' about?"

There was a beep that interrupted and Jitar looked up. He stood and caught what looked like a bird at first, but then Kaylin saw that it was some sort of metal device with a red lens that heavily resembled a boomerang. The 'wings' folded into itself until it was the shape of a teardrop and fit easily in Jitar's palm.

He attached this to the side of the gauntlet on his right wrist. Jitar said nothing and went jogging out. Kair followed after and stood in the doorway.

"Well, he's gone," he said and looked back in at Kaylin, "where's he going?"

Kaylin shook her head and shifted a little closer to Tyke and laid her head on her arm, squeezing his small hand in hers.

She stayed like that for a long time, ignoring the heavy pull of sleep. Eventually Cee got up and left; she was unsure if he was going back to the Skulls or if he was just stretching his legs. Other people came to check in on her, including Clari, Tyke's aunt. She stayed for a long time, just sitting in silence like Kaylin was, taking her bandana off of her hairless head and using it to dab away the sweat from Tyke's body. But she also left eventually.

The light coming in the room from the small window turned deep orange and was starting to fade. Her eyes were closed but she was not asleep. She would not allow herself the luxury of sleep. But her mind was blank and in a haze. Partial thoughts continued to form and then fade just like the dying light. None of them were pleasant.

She heard a gasp and her eyes opened with some difficulty, looking down at Tyke with a frantic heart, fearing that what she had heard had been his last breath. Instead she saw a thin line of dark and in Tyke's eyes that roved around. He took another heavy breath and turned his head to look at her. Her mouth split in a strange mixture of overjoyed smile and agonized grimace and sobs wracked her whole body as tears painted her face.

"Kay," Tyke whispered with great effort.

"Yes Tyke?" she sobbed, sniffing in a breath to try to control herself.

"Is the Algae okay?"

Kaylin sniffed again, "yes Tyke she's fine," she forced a smile. She had completely forgotten about Algernon in her devastation and such a small mouse in a large forest was surely lost, possibly forever, but with her genetic enhancements, Kaylin was sure the tiny creature would survive to a ripe old age.

Kaylin pet Tyke's hair and kissed his brow, giving the child a breath of a hug before looking him over,

"Does here hurt?" she asked gently touching his chest."

"A little," he breathed and the thin white line of his eyes disappeared for a few seconds.

"Okay, I know it's hard to think right now but can you tell me what number it hurts?"

Tyke breathed deeply a few times, his small lips pursed slightly as the corner of his mouth twitched, "seven?"

"That's more than a little big guy," Kaylin whispered and kissed his head again. She was feeling calmer now, maybe not better, but her body wasn't shaking anymore. She very carefully moved herself from the child and stood up from the bed, feeling the protest of her muscles for lying down for so long. Tyke's barely open eyes followed her.

"I'm going to go get your aunt, okay?"

"Okay," Tyke whispered and closed his eyes, "hey Kay?"

"Yes Tyke?" she said immediately turning away from the door.

"Is the alien okay?"

Kaylin inhaled a bit and then sighed with a smile, "yeah, he's okay."

"Good…."

Kaylin smiled and hesitantly stepped outside the door. There was no one guarding outside. She stepped out to the darkening street and navigated the village to where Clari lived.

"He's awake," she said quietly, as if she didn't dare hope it was true. Clari grinned and was up from her seat instantly.

"I'll be right back," she told her family and rushed out the door with Kaylin. They made their way back to Jone's house and Tyke was still alive and still awake. Kaylin let out a sigh of relief and moved to the boy. Clari laughed in joy and gently bent to half-embrace the child.

"Hey aunt Clari," Tyke said, giving as much of a smile as he could.

"Missed ya little man," Clari said quietly and smiled, eyes shining with tears.

"Clari," Kaylin said and brushed the woman's shoulder. The woman turned and looked at her, "I'm going to go see if any of my medicines survived the fire. I'll be right back."

"'Course hun," said Clari and sat on the edge of Tyke's bed.

Kaylin smiled and touched Tyke's head, "I'm going to go get medicine, okay Tyke?"

"Yeah."

She didn't like how difficult it sounded for Tyke to speak, but it was possibly just due to being exhausted from his ordeal. Amazingly, she didn't feel it herself anymore. She was wide awake and read to run.

She turned and left the house and immediately set up a brisk jog. The ache in her muscles eventually went away, only to be replaced later with the burning from her exercise. She ignored it and kept going. It was possible several of her medicines survived the fire given they were kept in stone containers. She would get what she could for Tyke, and whatever else she had lost she could just make from scratch. Supplies would likely be hard to get now, now that many no longer trusted her.

She pushed that from her mind. One step at a time. She'd help Tyke, then help Jitar, and if she survived, she would figure out how to put the pieces of her life back together.

It was very dark by the time she arrived to the charcoal pile that had been her home. Her skin had been well assaulted by bugs but she ignored the stinging and burning and moved to the home. She began to dig through the ash and wood pieces, colored black almost instantly.

It wasn't difficult to find what had once been her medicines; cracked stone jars, mortars with cooked black paste baked onto them. She hoped that by some miracle one of the syringes survived, but then remembered that Algernon was missing. Tossing away useless and destroyed artifacts she began to lose more and more steam, until finally she knelt down in the middle of the ash pit and looked around.

Her eyes scanned the mass of grey and black and pieces here and there. A tear fell from her eye and hit the dust, causing a small plum to rise, colored purple by the light of the moon. What had happened here? Who attacked Tyke? The Colonial Marines? Had they tracked her there? Why was Jitar not there to protect him? Was she wrong to think he would stay for the child? She couldn't be angry at the alien who had saved Tyke's life. But who had done this?

"What happened?"

Kaylin jumped at the sound of her own voice coming from behind her. She turned and saw Jitar standing there.

"What happened?" he asked again in her voice. She sniffed and stood up, stirring the ash as she walked forward. Jitar tilted his head switched his weight from one foot to the other, "what happened?"

"What?" she asked hoarsely and Jitar lifted his arm.

Jitar tilted his head back straight and rattled, "Where is he!?" came a familiar voice from behind Jitar's mask, "where's the alien!?"

"Julian…," Kaylin's eyes widened and her heart dropped to her stomach.

"Stupid honkey—stupid honkey," Jitar continued, suddenly in Tyke's voice, "there ain't no alien stupid honkey."

"Tell me where it is you stupid little shit!" Kaylin flinched retracting away from Jitar with her arms raised in defense. There was such anger, she didn't think Julian could… she didn't want to believe it.

"No leave him alone!" screamed Tyke's voice and Kaylin's chest twisted again, "leave him alone—leave him alone you stupid son of a bitch!"

Kaylin took heavy breaths, hands clamped to her chest but it was silent until Jitar's rattle purred through the air.

"Julian," she whimpered, "how… why?" her voice broke and she turned away from Jitar, holding a hand to her mouth. How did he know about Jitar? How could he do that to Tyke? Why? Why!?

She choked on a sob and felt her face burning with sudden anger. That man, she trusted him. She probably trusted him more than anyone else on this whole planet. He was different, like her, or so she thought. Now she knew better. She shouldn't have been so trusting of someone she just met, someone she didn't really know.

Kaylin sniffed in a breath, chin wrinkling as she gnashed her teeth.

A rattle interrupted her and she looked up at Jitar who had moved in front of her as silent as a ghost. He said something, but it was too low for her to hear, so he lifted his hands and pointed, "Julian."

The sound of her own voice coming from the large alien didn't disturb her as much as it maybe should have. Instead her hands dropped from her chest, curled in tight fists at the sides of her body.

"Take me to him."