Another quick update, guys! I love my neo and thanks to all who have reviewed this story.

Chapter 5

"Galian," Annalaya quietly said. She felt her heart shattering in a million pieces.

The little sparrow hopped into her hands, his expression was saddened. The tree girl should be happy that he turned back into his old self. He didn't understand why she looked like she could cry all over again.

Annalaya stood up with Galian still in her hands. She carried him away to her tree house, or she should say their tree house.

By the time she had reached it, her tears were coming down steadily. Some tear drops landed on the sparrow she held. Galian had to shake a few times to keep himself from being dripping wet.

Annalaya set the sparrow on her shoulder and climbed the ladder up the tree.

Shielding her emotions from Galian, she sat him on his branch and hurriedly went into her tree house before he saw her face.

Once inside, the dam let loose and Annalaya cried harder than she ever had.

Galian could hear the wails coming from the tree house. She sounded wounded. He wanted so much to comfort her, but he knew the state he was in was the reason of her distress. So he did the one thing he knew that always comforted her. He sang, and although it was mournful he knew it would comfort his tree girl. It wasn't long before her cries quieted.

He couldn't understand why she was so upset at him becoming a sparrow again. She had wanted to help him turn back. It made little sense to Galian.

He wanted to be a human again if that was what made his best friend in the world happy. Maybe she was lonely and needed human companionship. It was selfish of him to take it from her wasn't it?

I wish I was a human; the little sparrow closed his eyes tightly and wished with all his might. It was worth a try.

Galian felt that heated sensation again and was alarmed as he felt himself transform. His first thought was he was in a tree and his last thought was of falling.

Annalaya awoke with a start. She could have sworn she heard a man's scream. It sounded an awful like Galian as a human. No, she was imagining things. Galian was sleeping in his nest on his favorite branch. He couldn't turn back into a human again. It was impossible. Or was it?

Annalaya scrambled down the tree like a squirrel and jumped down quickly. "Galian!" she cried out in horror.

Galian lay on the ground in his human form face down.

A groan emitted from his throat, telling Annalaya that he was conscious.

She dropped down beside his crumpled form and turned him over gently.

Galian gave a groan before opening his golden brown eyes. "Hello, dear Annalaya."

Annalaya hid new tears that were threatening to come down her face, "Hi."

"Apparently I can change back whenever I want." He gave her a smile, but it turned into a grimace.

Annalaya looked down to where he cradled his left hand with his right. His wrist was sticking out in an odd angle and she was realized Galian was hurt.

"You're hurt!" Annalaya reached for his hurt wrist.

Galian shrank away from her as if he were afraid of her touching it.

"May I see your hand?" Annalaya asked gently, gesturing toward it.

Galian slowly gave it to her. "I never hurt myself like this in my entire life. What's wrong with it?"

Annalaya examined it gently, "You dislocated it. It needs popping back."

"Popping back?" Galian's eyes grew large.

"Let's get you up into the tree house and I'll fix you up," Annalaya replied, extending her hand for him to take.

Galian took it and allowed her to help him stand.

It was slow getting him up to the tree house because he could only hold onto the ladder with one hand, but Annalaya was behind him every step of the way.

She made him sit down on her bed before sitting beside him. She had to think of a good distraction to keep him from knowing she was about to pop it back in place.

"How does this popping back in place work?" Galian was nervous as he faced her.

Annalaya had an idea come to her. She knew it was crazy, and it was a possibility Galian wouldn't like it, but she had to do it. It was the only way she knew she would have him fully distracted.

"Well," Annalaya took his arm and held it in her lap. Her fingers gently glided over his dislocated wrist. She let her eyes slide down from his eyes to his lips. They beckoned her and she knew this would be easier than she thought it would be.

Her hands circled his wrist in the right places while she leaned in toward Galian.

The sparrow man's eyes widened at the proximity of her.

Before she lost her nerve, she pressed her lips to his in a soft but demanding kiss.

She heard Galian gasp in surprise and almost sigh and she hated what she had to do. She just wanted to kiss him. It felt so right and so natural to do this.

Without further ado, Annalaya jerked his wrist back, still kissing him.

Galian cried out in pain but it was swallowed up by Annalaya's kiss.

She let go of his hand and touched his face for the first time. Feeling a little braver, she let her other hand caress his hair. She was right, it was just like downy feathers. The softest of the softest and she found she didn't want to stop running her hand through it.

"All better now," she mumbled against Galian's lips.

He responded by kissing her back, taking the tree girl by surprise. She had expected him to push her away and yell at her.

When she finally untangled her fingers from his hair and her lips from his, they were both breathing heavy from lack of oxygen.

And then Annalaya felt shy and refused to look at her sparrow man.

"Thank you for fixing me," Galian said, wanting her to look at him.

"It was no trouble," Annalaya glanced at him and then away again.

This was going to be awkward…

What do you think is going to happen now?

Review!