It had been a very, very long time since Carla had felt so terrified.

She was riding along in the back of Akhir's car, heading into town. Jasmine sat in the front beside her Yeerk: she'd avoided Carla's eyes when Akhir had picked them up, only whispering her greeting. Alniss and Kalran sat in the back, beside her. Akhir's car was tiny, and the ride crowded and uncomfortable, but Carla still didn't want it to end.

"How are we going to handle this, then?" Alniss piped up from beside her. Looking around, Carla could see her attention was on Akhir and Kalran, her head turning between the two of them. "How can we ensure she behaves herself?"

Kalran's voice was tense, irritated. "Try not using words like 'behaves'," she snapped.

"Definitely," Akhir agreed, though her tone was gentler, conciliatory. "We can't make sure of anything, at least not where Elsa's concerned. Alniss, try and remember she wants this to work, too, or she wouldn't be coming." Akhir paused as she negotiated a junction, hesitantly, then continued once they were on a clearer section of road. "We need to make it as easy for her as possible, because this will be incredibly difficult, even if she doesn't show it."

"Like it's not difficult for us," Carla muttered resentfully.

"I'm sure it is," Akhir said softly. "I know that, but you both have Alniss, and you have me, and you have each other. Elsa's going to feel pretty outnumbered, and she hates me, at least. She's probably not your biggest fan either, Alniss."

"The feeling's mutual," Alniss muttered.

There was a short silence.

"She's nice," Jasmine piped up gently. "She really is. She's not trying to hurt you."

Carla sighed slightly, rolling her eyes at Alniss in silent disbelief at Jasmine's gullibility.

"Alniss, just..." Akhir trailed off, reformulating her words before trying again. "It might help if you imagine you're talking to another Yeerk, not a human, when you speak to Elsa. When you speak to Carla and Jasmine, too."

Alniss frowned, looking puzzled. "What do you mean by that? I know they're humans."

"So you'd say a sentence like 'how can we make sure she behaves' if you were talking about Akhir, would you?" Kalran's voice sounded strained: she was probably trying to sound calm, but Carla could hear the annoyance in her voice.

"Well, I can be very badly behaved," Akhir said, in a humorous tone.

Her joke fell on deaf ears, and there was an uncomfortable silence.

Carla glanced sideways at Alniss: to her surprise, the Yeerk looked neither angry nor upset, merely lost in thought. She suspected that might have something to do with the criticism originating from Akhir: Alniss seemed to have an unusual respect for the other Yeerk, for reasons Carla couldn't fathom.

"Perhaps you're right," Alniss said eventually, glancing at Kalran. "I'll try."

A few minutes later, Carla's anxiety reached a new level as they pulled into the car park at the Burger King where they'd arranged to meet. She wiped sweat from her brow as she walked across the baking asphalt, though it could hardly be blamed just on the heat of the day- Carla was a writhing ball of fear by this point, trying desperately not to show it outwardly. She assumed they were all nervous: Jasmine was close to Akhir's side, and they were both unconsciously twirling with the bracelets on their wrists; Kalran was biting at her lower lip, while Alniss' face was set in a tight expression that, while it outwardly seemed confident to a stranger, was a clear sign of worry to anyone who truly knew her.

It was busy inside, noisy enough to make it hard to overhear conversations. They'd chosen it for that reason: a busy chain was more anonymous than a quieter cafe would be. It took a few moments to search the tables, and it was Jasmine who spotted Elsa first.

"Over there, by the window," she whispered, gesturing towards the back of a woman's head.

Collectively, they all took a deep breath. Akhir led the way, not directly to the table as Carla expected, but looping around to approach from another angle. Carla frowned, then realised the change meant they were no longer approaching Elsa from behind. Was Akhir worried about frightening her? Could this really be as terrifying for her as it was for them?

"Good morning, Elsa," Akhir called from a little distance away, confirming Carla's thoughts.

Elsa jumped slightly when she heard the voice, turning her head towards them. Carla dropped her eyes to the dirty linoleum instantly, not wanting to meet her gaze.

Carla heard Elsa reply with a cheerful 'Hi!', but kept her eyes to the floor. As she sat down at the table, though, she forced herself to look up, hiding her trembling hands in her lap.

Thankfully, Elsa was looking across at Jasmine, a broad smile on her face. "Hey, Jaz. How was the exam?"

"Oh," Jasmine looked down. "It... I don't think I passed. Not that I expected to."

"I find it generally goes better than I think it did, for me," Elsa said kindly. "I'm sure it'll be okay. Maths exams are always evil, anyway. I mean, does anyone get trigonometry?"

Jasmine smiled slightly. "I bet you do, whatever you make out. You're smart."

"So are you," Akhir murmured softly to her host.

"Uh-oh. Do I detect another thing I agree with you on?" Elsa said teasingly. Her gaze turned to Akhir as she said it, then swept the rest of the group.

Jasmine smiled slightly at the indirect compliment: clearly what she'd been looking for, Carla thought cynically. She kept the thought to herself, though: she'd resolved not to snap at Jasmine today, no matter how provoking she found her, and had so far managed to do so despite the stress of the day. She was distracted from her thoughts when Elsa's gaze fell on her. Carla forced her eyes to stay on the other woman, trying not to let her fear show in her face.

"Hey, Carla," Elsa said, giving her a broad smile. "How are you?"

Carla shrugged, not trusting herself to speak. There was a short silence, before Elsa seemed to decide she'd get no answer right now, and moved on, greeting the rest of the group. She finished with Alniss, who stiffened as she was addressed.

"How are you? Sorry, I can't quite remember your name," Elsa said meaningfully, glancing around them.

It took Alniss a moment. "Oh. Yes, I normally go by Alicia."

"Cool. Alicia it is then." Elsa turned to look at Akhir.

"Anna." Akhir smiled. "As plain and ordinary as I could think of. I thought that would be better. Can I offer you something to eat, Elsa?"

"Depends. Are you going to insist on it meeting some vegetable quota?"

Akhir smiled slightly. "Last time I bought you a double chocolate muffin, and we're in Burger King. What do you think?"

"They do salads," Elsa pointed out. "They're just dreadful salads. In that case I'll have fries and a strawberry shake." She reached into her purse. "Here. You can fetch it if you're going, but you don't need to pay again."

Akhir hesitated slightly, then took the proffered wad of dollars. "Thanks. Anyone else want anything? Jaz?" Looking at her host, Akhir sighed. "Can you manage a shake, maybe?"

Jasmine shook her head. "Just water."

Carla couldn't see herself eating or drinking anything, either, but ordered a coke anyway: she didn't want Elsa to see how frightened she truly was.

"So," Elsa began nervously, once Akhir had bustled off to fetch the food. "Have you guys seen, er... they published that article yesterday."

Jasmine jumped. "It's out already?" Her voice came out high-pitched with anxiety.

"We walked out of the interview," Carla muttered, irritated. "She shouldn't have written anything."

"We didn't say we didn't want her to," Jasmine countered, biting her lip. "She must have thought..."

"I phoned them yesterday," Elsa said, indignation lacing her tone. "I told them exactly that, Carla, that you'd walked out and in my opinion that made it pretty clear you didn't consent to them printing anything. And certainly not something so negative, not without letting you know, giving you a chance to comment on it first. They agreed to print an apology... eventually... but it still means it's been out there. I'm sorry."

"They're apologising?" To say Carla was surprised would have been an understatement. "Why would they do that?"

Elsa snorted. "Well, when I say I phoned them, I actually mean about twelve times plus a few hours this morning of waiting at their offices, repeating the same points over and over until they got so fed up they gave in just to get rid of me."

"You did all that for us?" Jasmine asked disbelievingly. "Why?"

It was the same thought that was echoing in Carla's mind: why on Earth would Elsa care so much? Even one phone call would have been generous: she had, at most, expected a half-hearted sorry for setting up an ill-researched interview, which would only have been meant to keep them part of the campaign. This amount of effort seemed disproportionate to anything Elsa could possibly gain.

Elsa frowned. "Why not?"

"We're voluntaries," Carla said, despite herself. "You don't care about us."

Raising her eyebrows, Elsa replied: "What makes you say that?"

Carla hesitated. Wasn't it obvious? Confusion mixed with her anxiety, and amongst the storm of emotions she could only manage to repeat herself, stupidly. "Because we're voluntaries."

"And?"

Carla was beginning to sense this conversation was going to go around in circles: why was Elsa being so deliberately obtuse? Thankfully, Alniss came to her rescue.

"Carla, Elsa arranged it and it went wrong," Alniss said, speaking carefully. "It's only right she tried to correct it."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," Elsa said brightly. "And I'm pretty reluctant to agree with Alicia on anything, so it must be true. Plus, as it happens I do care about both of you, and you're my friend, Jaz. I was mad as hell that they did that to you."

That statement shocked Carla even more: why in the galaxy would she see Jasmine as a friend? After everything the Empire had done to her, how could she be so forgiving?

They were interrupted by Akhir's arrival with the plastic tray of food. "Did what?"she asked, glancing anxiously at her host as she passed out drinks and portions of fries.

"I'm sorry," Kalran said before the rest of them could speak. "They... the newspaper published the article."

"Dapsen," Akhir whispered under her breath, with feeling, as she sat down. She reached across to lay a hand on Jasmine's shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Jasmine nodded, though she looked unsettled. "Elsa got them to agree to publish an apology," she said, her tone laced with admiration. "I couldn't have done that."

"It does help if you can reply to their 'but we have to protect the poor victims of the Yeerks' by saying you are one of those 'poor victims'," Elsa said, waving her fingers in the air to make quote marks around the words. "And if you have years of practice of annoying Yeerks, it builds your persistence."

Carla shifted nervously. The light-heartedness of the reference made her uncomfortable on two counts: she was pretty sure the joking tone was covering up deeper pain for Elsa, but she couldn't help remembering that one of the Yeerks she spoke of 'annoying' was Silrin. She couldn't forget Alniss' comments about the impact of Elsa's resistance on Silrin, nor her own glimpses of the extent to which Silrin had cared for Elsa. It must have been so painful for her Yeerk, to care so deeply for a host who hated her.

"Thank you for doing that." Akhir's voice cut through her thoughts, her tone conveying deep gratitude as she addressed Elsa. "That means a lot to us."

"No problem." Elsa took a sip of milkshake and picked up a fry. "Mmm, these are good."

They were quiet for a few moments, Elsa busily munching away at her food. Akhir had also bought a portion of fries, which she offered to Carla and Jasmine, though she seemed to expect their refusal. Kalran slurped at a shake too, chocolate this time, while Alniss had gone for a coffee and a muffin. Carla doubted either were up to much: certainly nothing close to the quality at Alniss' own cafe.

"So," Elsa said eventually, between bites. "How can we stop it happening again? I suppose it's too much of a stretch to go to an interview together?"

There was a short silence. "I'd like that," Jasmine said softly.

Carla's eyes widened. Her mind involuntarily flashed back to the time, at the Pool, where she'd met Elsa's eyes through the bars of a cage and turned away. It didn't help when she let out an unintended gasp, and Elsa's deep brown eyes made contact with her own again.

"Don't be ridiculous, Jasmine!" Carla exclaimed, once she had found her breath.

"Careful," Akhir reprimanded instantly, giving her a quelling look.

"Sorry," Carla murmured, looking at Jasmine. Beyond her fear, she felt both guilty and annoyed: she had been determined not to snap at the other voluntary, and she was irritated at herself for breaking that promise.

Jasmine gave her a hesitant smile. "That's okay."

"I'm guessing that's a no, then." Elsa tried to smile, too, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I promise I'm not about to murder anyone, if that helps."

There was a few seconds' silence, which Carla spent studying the plastic table top.

"Of course not," Kalran said gently, after a moment. "Carla, you're not still worried about that now, surely?"

Carla shrugged, still looking down. "That's not it, not really."

"Oh?" Elsa's voice sounded suddenly brighter. "Do you mind me asking what it is, then? We might be able to find a way round it."

Her heart racing, Carla curled tighter into herself. "You won't."

Elsa sighed. "Okay. I guess... maybe if we ran two interviews if it happens again? You and I go to one first, Jasmine, and then Carla can go. Unless there's someone else you'd go with other than me? Alma might be willing to come."

"Like that makes it any better."

"And I don't know Alma," Jasmine said worriedly. "Is she like you?"

"She's a lot more organised. But in the way you're meaning, yes. We could all meet up together before the interview, if you wanted."

"Carla just said Alma is no better, so I can't see why you would need to do that," Alniss interrupted. "Carla, are you okay?"

Carla felt the Yeerk's gentle touch on her arm as she spoke. She nodded, forcing herself to look up and meet Alniss' eyes, though she still avoided Elsa's. "I'm fine. I just don't want her to come."

"She won't. I'll make sure of that."

Alniss' tone was more confident than perhaps was wise, a suspicion that was confirmed when Elsa burst out with: "oh, will you? And how exactly do you propose to do that?"

Bristling, Alniss turned to her. "You just said you wouldn't go," she responded angrily. "And now you change your mind. Typical."

"Alicia, stop," Kalran said quickly. "Elsa, I think she was just trying to reassure Carla, I don't think she meant it like that. Did you?"

Alniss frowned, hesitating for a moment before realisation dawned on her face. "Oh. Oh, yes, I... I hadn't realised how that would sound."

Her eyes still on Elsa, Kalran didn't respond to Alniss' statement. Her face bore a worried frown as she watched her. Carla chanced a glance, and saw the reason for Kalran's concern: Elsa's teeth were gritted, and her face was a mixture of emotions, none of them good.

"Do you need a break, Elsa?" Kalran said hesitantly. "You know that's OK, right?"

It was Elsa's turn to look downwards, shaking her head. "It's just all so damn awkward," she muttered. "I don't know why I thought I could do this. Especially today." She sighed, raising her eyes. "Look, I – when I was leaving the newspaper office I was walking towards this woman and she did a double-take and crossed the street, like she recognised me. Never seen her before in my life, and it makes me wonder if she was a voluntary I didn't recognise, which is the best option, or an involuntary my Yeerks recruited who's so damaged she can't recognise the difference between me and them, which is the worst, or if, which seems most likely, she's a Yeerk. She could even have been one of my Yeerks, and I wouldn't even know, and I couldn't get that possibility out of my head. Something about the way she looked at me. So I haven't arrived here in the best frame of mind, and I overreacted, there, Alniss. I would say I'm sorry, but it's not like you've ever said that to me."

Carla was surprised at the vulnerability in Elsa's voice. It only intensified her guilt, but she wasn't about to say that aloud. Instead, she folded her arms tighter across her chest, trying to comfort herself with the pressure.

"Why would I need to apologise to you?" Alniss asked defensively. "I never did anything to you personally."

"Oh, so that makes it okay, does it?" Elsa rolled her eyes, opened her mouth angrily and then closed it again. After a second, she sighed. "Oh, never mind, I'm not getting into this now."

Alniss opened her mouth, as though she might say something else, but Jasmine interrupted her.

"Carla, won't you tell us why Elsa can't come?"

Jasmine sounded genuinely puzzled, and Carla was once again astounded by her idiocy. "You really don't know?"

The other woman shook her head, glancing at Akhir, who shrugged.

"I'm sorry, Carla. You'll have to tell us, if you want us to understand," Akhir said gently.

Carla stared at the two of them, disbelieving. "Fine! Jasmine, can't you remember what that woman asked us? All that stuff about 'didn't you agree with what the Empire did if you didn't fight back'?"

Suddenly looking very uncomfortable, Jasmine flicked her eyes back and forward between Akhir, Elsa and Carla. "Yes, of course I do," she whispered painfully.

"Don't you see how much worse it'll be if the reporter can jerk their head at her and ask why we never tried to help her?" Carla's voice was shrill, and she berated herself for letting her emotions leak through- she'd been determined not to let Elsa see any weakness.

Tears leapt into Jasmine's eyes, and she hung her head. Akhir reached for her host instantly, but Jasmine shook her head insistently, and she fell back, hurt and concerned.

There was a long pause, broken only by the noise of the busy restaurant around them. Carla hardly felt any better than Jasmine, but she wasn't about to let anyone see that. She did allow herself a quick glance sideways to Alniss, and underneath the table she reached for the Yeerk's hand. The squeeze of Alniss' fingers around her own was reassuring, and Carla eventually let her gaze drift back to Jasmine.

As Carla watched, Elsa hesitantly wrapped an arm around Jasmine's shoulder. Jasmine jumped a little, but didn't pull away, instead leaning into the embrace after only a moment's indecision. Carla watched in horrified fascination: how could she be so trusting? And how could she reject poor Akhir's comfort, only to take Elsa's a minute later? She looked over to Akhir, who was watching the two of them with a strange expression on her face: a mixture of pain, guilt, hope and gratitude, flickering across her face in rapid, repeated patterns.

"We've been through this, Jaz," Elsa said softly. "It's okay. Please don't cry."

"I'm sorry," Jasmine managed, pulling away slightly from Elsa's shoulder to look at her.

"You said that already. Days ago. It's okay."

"Days ago?" Akhir's voice was hoarse, and she seemed barely aware she was speaking aloud. "What do you mean?"

Jasmine looked instantly guilty. "Tamli, I... it wasn't anything against you, I... I just wanted to say..." she trailed off.

Akhir was silent for a moment, still looking shocked. After a minute, though, she gathered herself. "No, I'm sorry, Jaz, it's none of my business. I was just surprised, that's all." Her voice softened as Jasmine turned to look at her, smiling hesitantly. "And of course I know you didn't mean anything against me, although perhaps you should have done."

"No, you're fine," Elsa interrupted her, smiling forcedly. "You said sorry already."

Carla didn't have the easy ability Akhir seemed to possess to control her emotions, and she was still staring at Jasmine, open-mouthed, her eyebrows tightening into an angry line. How could Jasmine do that? Now Elsa would probably expect her to apologise, too, and Carla hadn't the least intention of doing that. Her stomach twisted in pity for Akhir: how could Jasmine not even have told her? Akhir was nothing but lovely to Jasmine, and to have shown her up in that way... Jasmine clearly didn't have a clue how lucky she was, to have her Yeerk still with her.

That last thought made tears prickle behind Carla's eyes, and she hastily redirected her thoughts, pulling her eyes away from Jasmine, who was now hugging Akhir, a hug that Carla felt should have been denied her, given that she had been pushing her Yeerk away not two minutes before. Instead, Carla's eyes met Kalran's.

Kalran's eyes were full of understanding, and she gave Carla a hesitant smile. "You okay?"

Not trusting herself to speak, Carla nodded. She felt Alniss squeeze her hand: she'd quite forgotten that the Yeerk still held it, and she returned the pressure gratefully.

Her gratitude for Kalran's question, however, was shortlived, as it seemed to prompt Elsa to turn back to them.

"So, carrying on with your analogy there," Elsa began brightly. She spoke as though there'd been no interruption at all, let alone such a dramatic one. "You do know that if they asked that I'd say something along the lines of 'well if I don't mind why should you?' and tell them to get back to the campaign? I'm not gonna suddenly turn on you in the middle of the interview, you do know that, right?"

Carla looked down at the tabletop. "They'd know you were lying. They'd push you."

"Would they? That'd be a neat trick, given that I wouldn't be lying." Elsa countered smugly.

Her tone infuriated Carla. "Of course you are," she snapped. "You expect me to believe you don't hate us?"

"I expect you to believe it less and less," Elsa acknowledged testily, irritation entering her own voice for the first time. "Doesn't stop it being true, though."

Suddenly, Carla felt a tide of inexplicable anger surge through her, and gritted her teeth against the sensation, her face wrinkling even further into a scowl.

To her left, Kalran leant forward quickly. "Talking of unbelievable things," she said hastily, "I've decided I want to help with the campaign, too. Maybe. I think. If I can be of any use, anyway."

There were a few seconds of silence. It seemed to take an age for Elsa to turn her eyes away from Carla, as though she was unsure whether to let the subject drop.

Her rage almost forgotten, Carla turned to stare at Kalran in shock. She hadn't heard a word of this, and she had been so adamantly against being involved until this point. What could possibly have made such a huge difference in such a short amount of time?

"That is a bit of a surprise," Elsa acknowledged eventually, looking at Kalran with her eyebrows raised. "Not sure I'd quite go with unbelievable, though. And of course you'd be useful, you'd be very welcome."

Kalran nodded slowly, biting her lip. "I don't know what I can do..."

"We'll work that out," Elsa said softly. "Just hearing how things are from your perspective would be a good start. You know, when you visit the Pool. We might be able to get some things to change to make it a bit better, sooner than we can do the whole host thing, but I don't really know what it's like, or what you'd want."

"I want to be able to touch them," Kalran said instantly, looking up with a flash of hope in her eyes. "I... they don't even know my scent, now."

Akhir reached instantly to touch Kalran's shoulder, her face etched with pained sympathy. Elsa, on the other hand, had wrinkled her nose, pulling her lip up into an unmistakeable expression of disgust.

"Eww," she whined, one hand going towards her ear, hovering over it protectively. "I mean, OK, whatever you want, but I don't think you're getting the eww factor here. It's really really not nice on human skin."

"They're her mate, Elsa, so I'm sure it would be fine." Jasmine said softly. "I can understand it," she added, looking empathetically at Kalran. "I can't believe they don't let you, it's awful. I was horrified when Geltrin told me."

Still looking sickened, Elsa muttered: "Well, each to their own, I guess. Anything else?"

"Get rid of the Andalites," Carla growled. "They're arrogant dicks. Except one of them." She couldn't forget the deep gratitude both she and Kalran had felt towards Fendarin, just from being treated with a grain of decency, and fury burnt through her body as she remembered how they were usually treated, like dirt on the Andalites' hooves. It wasn't fair, especially when Kalran had already been through so much, and she worried how they treated Oglud, who was under their power all the time.

"I don't think that's possible, Carla," Kalran said softly. "Unfortunately."

"Isn't it?" Elsa finally dropped her hand away from her ear, sitting up a little straighter. "They are on our planet, after all. Why can't we just kick them out?"

Akhir smiled. "I think the political implications are slightly more complex than that, Elsa."

"Don't patronise me, Yeerk," Elsa snapped, although she kept her voice low to prevent being overheard. "You know no more about politics than I do."

Akhir nodded, her smile vanishing instantly. "I'm sorry."

"Ak- Anna's just joking," Jasmine added worriedly. "She's just trying to help, that's all. She just-"

"Yeah, well, not funny," Elsa folded her arms across her chest. "Much as I like you, Jasmine, I'll make my own mind up about her."

Jasmine opened her mouth, as though about to say more, but stopped abruptly at a tiny gesture from her Yeerk. Small as it was, though, it was not missed by Elsa, whose eyes narrowed.

"Don't do that, either. Jasmine might not mind, but she should," Elsa said with emphasis. Turning to Jasmine, she added: "does it really not bother you?"

"Of course not," Alniss cut in, before Jasmine could answer. "Jasmine's a good host."

Elsa's eyes widened momentarily, before she burst out with a short, mocking laugh without any humour in it. "Unlike me, you mean? Thanks for the compliment."

"No, you prefer to give as much pain as possible," Alniss shot back. "No matter anything your Yeerk gave to you, no matter how hurt she was or how hard she was trying, just like Akhir, to look after you, to treat you with care, to guide you..."

Akhir closed her eyes momentarily, letting out an exasperated groan as Kalran turned towards Alniss, outraged.

"OK, that's definitely not what I'm doing," Akhir said, as Elsa began to swell with indignation. "I've been trying to treat Elsa with respect, and occasionally buy her apology chocolate. What are you trying to do? Earn the 'most-unhelpful-thing-ever-said' award?"

There was a moment of tension before Elsa's face broke into a tiny, amused smile. "Dammit," she muttered, looking at Akhir. "And I was trying to be mad at you."

Alniss' response was not so positive. "Do you have any idea the pain she put my sister through?!" she demanded of Akhir, enraged.

Carla winced, memories beginning to force its way into her consciousness: Silrin, dedicatedly cooking her favourite meal for her while Carla half-dozed in the back of her mind, waking up only to eat it; Silrin, playing back a pleasant memory in the detail only a Yeerk could, to soothe Carla to sleep after a nightmare; the stream of compliments Silrin had given throughout every day, that had slowly built up Carla's confidence, to the point where she felt like she was worth something. Yes, Alniss was right, Silrin had looked after her impeccably, and she was sure she would have done the same for Elsa, if only Elsa had let her. To have that thrown back in your face, time and time again, must have been incredibly painful.

"You're unbelievable," Kalran was saying heatedly to Alniss, once Carla had recovered enough to tune back into the conversation. "What about what Elsa went through? She lost everything: her privacy, her freedom, her voice... and you're complaining about... well, what exactly? Resisting all that?"

The tsumani of emotion Carla had momentarily been distracted from returned in full force at those words. "Stop it, Kalran." She hated how pleading her voice sounded, how pained, but she couldn't disguise it. "Please."

Kalran hesitated for a moment. "I'm sorry, Carla," she said eventually. "But you know I'm mainly here to help Elsa. I'm sure she doesn't want you to feel guilty, though, and neither do I. I..." she hung her head, and sighed. "This is too much pain, for all of you. I'm not worth you doing this."

"Yes you are," Carla said instantly.

Elsa nodded, reaching across hesitantly to touch Kalran's hand. "You're more than worth it," she agreed, her voice as soft as she could make it, though Carla could still hear the hard edge of her earlier anger underneath it. "And to demonstrate just how much I think you are worth, I'm going to choose to ignore her," she jerked her head at Alniss, "and let this go. I think that's something I'd only be willing to do for someone like you."

Kalran looked up at her. "I'm supposed to be helping you," she murmured. "This is so much harder for you than it is for me."

"Is it?" Elsa raised an eyebrow. "I can give myfriends and family a hug anytime I want, and talk to them without anyone looking over my shoulder. And that's thanks to you." Elsa paused to let those words sink in, then continued. "I want to help you have as much of that as possible, although I know there's always going to be someone listening in on your conversation with your mate. I can't change that, but I reckon I can make it Carla or whoever rather than Andalite guards. And in the meantime, I can try and get them to let you do the touching thing. However weird it sounds."

There was a short silence. Elsa's words had brought Carla's memory back to her time at the Pool with Kalran, watching her friend futilely brush her hand across a computer terminal, watching Kalran bursting into tears as soon as she left the entrance. Her guilt shifted form to focus on the disastrous interview she and Jasmine had done, that had barely even managed to touch on Kalran's plight before Carla had run from the room. Suddenly, she wanted to try again, to do something that, this time, made it work better. Even if that meant putting herself at Elsa's mercy in front of a reporter who hated her guts.

Hesitating, she glanced across at Alniss, who was still struggling with the fury and pain on her face, staring at Elsa. Carla's stomach twisted in pain: how could she betray Alniss by working closely with Elsa? But if it helped poor Kalran, and poor, poor Oglud, how could she not?

"Alniss?" she asked, in little more than a whisper.

The Yeerk jerked her head, surprised perhaps by Carla's voice out of some memory, and turned to look at her. "Yes, honey?" Her voice strained to be calm, welcoming, and Carla appreciated the effort Alniss was taking to make her feel better.

"I- can I talk to you for a moment? Alone?"

A/N: I have no experience of journalism, and not sure whether you even need people's consent to publish interview material about them, once they've already spoken to you in the interview. I tried to do some research online but it wasn't entirely clear and practice may differ from ethics anyway! So the paper here may well have been perfectly within their rights to publish the article without needing to apologise or do anything. If that's the case, I'm just going to chalk it up to Elsa a) not knowing that either, b) being irritatingly persistent and c) not being above playing on her involuntary host status to get people's sympathy when she really feels strongly about something. Corrections from any journalists welcome though!