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 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 holding down the man's 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, 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."
Jun Lin looked up at her. "Even so, I would recommend you call him."
"Are you saying my brother doesn't have much time?" Dalai said.
Jun Lin got up bowing to her. Dalai sat as she called the doctor.
"There is something you are keeping from me. You need to tell me," she said his face as set a glass of water on the table beside him.
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. There was a faint gleam from her neck. Something shining in the sunlight. He leaned down and saw a tiny pendant on a string tied around her neck. He reached down and picked it up against her skin. She startled awake and made an odd. He fell backward still holding onto the pendant. The crumpling string snapped off her neck. She exhaled sharply looking up at him. He scooted away looking down at the pendant carved into a rough diamond shape. There was something black etched onto the stone. He got up and jogged to the house.
"Jinora!"
She emerged from a room, arms folded neatly. She frowned. "Please be more quiet."
"I'm sorry. It's just that I found this," he said, holding up the necklace.
Here eyes widened. "Where did you get that?"
"From the girl."
"What's going on?" Tetsu said entering the room.
Jinora grabbed the necklace from Ren's hand and threw it onto a table.
"What is it?" both brothers said.
"That symbol has strong spiritual properties."
"What do you mean?" Tetsu asked.
"Come on," 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 and ran for the room. She tore the room apart things lay scattered in disarray and stood in the middle of the room panting. Her eyes glanced across the space.
"What am I looking for?" she murmured. "What would you leave here..."
Her eyes focused on a small paper crane in the corner. She approached 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 stuck up. She pulled up on the floorboard, but it stayed in place.
"ANhh."
She stood up and paced out of the room returning with a large knife and ripped up floorboards. Dust plumed into the air and she coughed, fanning the air. Dalai peered down into the gloom. She reached her hand into the opening until her shoulder lay pressed against the wood. Her fingers grasped into the space crumpling something in her hand. Her other pal pressed to the wooden floor and she pulling her arm out of the space. She looked down and screamed. On the floor lay tattered papers, a tiny book and a bone.