Jun Lin held down Dalai's brother down on the bed.
"Can you get your brother?" he asked, a sheen of sweat glistening on his forehead.
Tetsu got up and ran to the garden. "Ren! Come quickly."
Ren fell to the ground from his crouch but quickly got up dusting his pants off.
"What do I do with her?" he said, glancing at the girl.
Tetsu spared her a glance. "Just come," he said, pulling Ren after him.
They pressed into the walls of the cramped room both clamping down on the man's flailing arms. Jun Lin wiped the blood from the cut and poured something on the injury which was ugly and purple like a bruised fruit.
Ceramic shattered in the other room. "I'm going to kill that thing!" they heard on the other side of the wall.
Jun Lin wrapped a white bandage around the man's neck, and Tetsu held it down while the man groaned in pain.
Jun Lin patted sweat from his forehead. "He seems stable."
Ren and Tetsu returned to the garden as the sun pressed against the edge of the wooden garden beds. Sweat pressed their clothes to their skin and their fingers shook.
"Where do you think she came from?" Ren asked, looking at the girl curled in a ball.
"I don't know."
The girl ended up being kept in a small shed away from the house. Someone would bring her food. It was usually Ren or Tetsu.
Jun Lin leaned over the man on the bed. "It's been two days now, is there a doctor anywhere nearby?"
Dalai stepped further into the room wearing a pale robe. "The nearest doctor is four days away by foot."
Jun Lin looked up at her. "Even so, I would recommend you call him."
"So you're saying my brother doesn't have much time," Dalai said.
There was silence in the room and Jun Lin got up bowing to her. Dalai sat by her brother as she called the doctor.
"There is something you are keeping from me. You need to tell me," she said wiping her face as she brought him water.
Chetan lay on his side with his arm out, a small ink brush in his hand dribbling ink onto a piece of paper as he made slow movements.
Dalai bent over and read the page.
You do not want to know.
"I do."
After a few minutes, he produced another sentence on the page.
I took an oath not to say.
"Who made you?"
Father.
In the morning, Ren carried food out to the shack. When he opened the door he saw the girl curled up in a corner her tattered clothes hanging off of her like paper. In the morning light, he saw the faintest gleam near the collar of her neck. He leaned down and saw a tiny pendant on a string around her neck. He reached down and picked it up against her skin. She startled awake and made an odd sound which startled Ren. He fell back still holding onto the pendant with one hand causing the crumpling string to snap off her neck. She exhaled sharply looking up at him. He scooted away looking down at the pendant carved in a rough diamond shape out of a ruddy rock-like material. There was also something black etched onto the stone. He got up quickly and jogged to the house.
"Jinora!"
She emerged from a room with her arms folded neatly and a frown on her face. "Please be more quiet."
"I'm sorry it's just that I found this," he said, holding up the necklace.
Her eyes went wide. "Where did you get that?"
Ren looked around. "From the girl."
Tetsu came into the room. "What's going on?"
Jinora grabbed the necklace from Ren's hand and quickly threw it onto a table.
"What is it?" both brothers said.
"That symbol has strong spiritual properties."
"What do you mean?" Tetsu asked.
"Bring me to the girl," Jinora said.
They walked briskly to the shed and entered. The girl was growing scales on her skin that also looked like feathers. Ren held a hand over his mouth and Tetsu's eyes stuck to her. Jinora took in a sharp breath.
Dalai again sat by her brother dabbing sweat off his forehead with a cloth.
"Can you please tell me?" she said.
He shook his head faintly in a lull.
His tight hand stretched out, and understanding she placed a page down and pushed a brush into his hand.
I can't tell you. But if you want to know look in father's study.
She stood up and raced for the room. She entered and searched the whole area tearing the room apart. When she stood in the middle of the room sweat collected in her hair. Her eyes glanced across the room.
"What am I looking for?" she murmured. "What would you leave here..."
Her eyes focused on a small paper crane in the corner. She stood in front of it and looked down. The crane sat on two books. She picked up the crane and the books throwing them aside. She bent down her knees scraping the old wooden floor, and noticed a section that scratched her knee. She pulled up on the floorboard, but it stayed in place. She yelled stood up and paced out of the room returning with a large knife. She ripped the floorboard open with the knife, sucking blood from her fingers that welled ruby droplets. She coughed as dust plumed into the air. Fanning the air in the opening she peered down. She reached her hand into the opening all the way down to her shoulder holding herself aloft with her other arm. She grabbed at the object crumpling something in her hand and barely grasping something underneath. She grunted pulling herself and the object up and throwing them onto the floor. She panted, looked down, and screamed. There was, in fact, a crumpled series of tattered, yellow papers. Under was a tiny book and then rolled away slightly was a bone.