"Can I try some?" The four words I thought I'd never hear myself say.

For a second, I think, no, he'll reject it.

Nope.

That's not my Indy.

Indigo pushes me some braised horse meat. I have this thing, usually, about eating anything bigger than I am, but he has the big puppy dog eyes and I know he's hoping that I won't let him down like everyone else.

I eat all of it.

I feel nauseous.

Gale is eating at the other side of the table, his bowl of something safe, like bacon.

I stumble over to him. "Indy. Meat. Please."

He coyly takes it from me. "Oh, after your whole spat about being on Glaze's Group? With Indy, Fyera and Flare? You know Fyera's soft on you, don't give me those eyes. I'm with Azim and Minx again. They're nice. Azim says he's going to teach me to lucid dream."

"That's the thing where you can control your dreams, right? What do you want to lucid dream about?"

"A world where you don't ditch me every time you get a better opportunity."

"Awww, grumpy fluffball. I'll be with you next time... if you give me some bacon."

"Fine." He pushes the last piece of bacon, pathetically small and burned, towards me. I eat it greedily.

I spend most of the morning up on the top of the building, near the sky gardens. I test my wings a bit, Gale watching from the ground.

The autumn air is so sweet on my nose, I feel I could stay here forever, tasting it, breathing it, living in it.

I wish Gale could fly... suddenly, a large and ominous shape overtakes me, on his back a laughing certain someone with a flaming tail. I smell burning feathers.

"SHARE THE AIR, WOULD YOU?!" I yell.

"SCOOCH OVER, WOULD YOU?!" echoes Twitch.

"Sorry." Thistlepatch says calmly. "Air patrol. More of Pathogen's gang spotted around here."

"Pathogen." I repeat.

"We believe her to be the original carrier of the Plague. She's a huge threat." Thistlepatch tries to hover, but his huge wings send him soaring up and down.

"How big exactly?" I ask.

"Let's just say if she came into the City, her alone would be a Call Four. Not good."

I think it over. Katrina falling was a grave warning, and we've only had one Call Three since then. I can't imagine a Call Four. Plus, it's likely the first carrier would not be travelling alone.

"Anyhow, we've been tracking her followers for a month now, a month after... Katrina." He narrows his eyes, flicking his forked tongue suspiciously.

"Yup, terrible shame." Twitch agrees. "Anyways, tell the Forhaga we said hey. Bye!"

Thistlepatch hisses, but says nothing, soaring off. I return to the ground.

"Having a nice talk?" Gale asks.

"Yeah." I shuffle my wings, "The little piece of trash called her a Forhaga again. Real nice times."

We head back inside together, where Glaze and Azim are talking.

"How is she?" asks Glaze.

"She's fine. She and Heather miss you, but they say they'll make me relay the whole script to you." He says after a moment of concentration. Beneath his bulky build and menacing exterior, Azim is the strongest of heart I know- he takes after Torch, in a way, if you can make the connection. His Aura as a Lupis allows him to speak with the dead.

It exhausts him, he gets nightmares from hearing things no one among the living should hear, and he's going to drop years off his life from using his powers so often.

He takes a bit of time every day to find Katrina and Heather in the otherworld, talk to them, and relay everything to Glaze.

Minx is always there with a few sweetbones after a really long session of it. She notices me first. "Rena! Gale! How are you two?"

"Great." Gale says. "Just saw Thistlepatch and Twitch heading out."

"Heading out where?" she asks.

"They said they've been tracking Pathogen."

"So it is true, then." whispers Minx, hushed awe in her voice. Her slit pupils are now wide in distress.

"If we do find her, I volunteer to help." Azim looks up towards us, away from Glaze.

"Azim!" protests Minx. "We'll all help if anything of the sort occurs. I refuse to let you play martyr."

"I'm no martyr, I assure you. I just think any way we can finish this is a good way, even if it costs my life."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but getting rid of Pathogen won't stop the Plague. Why do you think we've held off on it so long?" Flare pads into the living room, swishing her fluffy tail around. Something's on her mind, I can tell.

"We know. Where are you coming from? I don't see you up here often." asks Azim, his tail waving placidly.

"No time to talk, I'm doing some training exercises downstairs. The usual class. Nina, Fyera, Auma, and Rain." Flare sighs.

"It's sort of odd Nina does so much training with you four, isn't it? Considering you're practically in charge?" Gale asks.

"She's a good fighter, if nothing else. I understand she's not the most social of animals, but then again, she is a Felis." Flare brushes it off, "You know, Minx isn't really a representative of all Felids. She's a lot more social than any Felis I've ever known."

"Excuse me?" Minx unsheathes her claws.

"I'm sorry if that came off as rude. I don't mean to stereotype." Flare says in a calm voice.

"It's fine."

Flare leaves, departing deep into the underbelly of our small world.

We stand there for a while after, Azim meditating while Minx sits by him. I notice that our huge group is divided, in ways, into many smaller groups. Gale and I, and maybe Indigo, Minx and Azim, Fyera and Flare, Thistlepatch and Twitch, and so many others I need to spend more time with.

I think about Indy for a minute. I think about our last big battle, a Call 2, when he dropped a piano on someone's head so I could get away.

Indy, Indy, Indy.

Gale has his eyes half closed, and he's resting his head on my wings. I smile, something deep within me feels warm and at ease. We spend a good hour relaxing, and then I listen to Azim's gentle voice as he explains to Minx how to meditate properly.

Something about Azim is spellbinding, powerful. I like that too.

I just love it here...

Glaze is baking, which is hard because unlike a Canis, she can't levitate items. My levitation and other basic skills, like simple runes, have been becoming more easy lately, but I mainly use my light magic. It feels more natural to me.

Glaze, however, has a mouth covered in burns from hot handles and special Canira-friendly equipment that isn't really Canira friendly.

She bakes more, and more violently, ever since Katrina died. That's what everyone says, at least- Katrina... well, Katrina and I were not acquainted long. Not even close to as long as I would've liked.

"I Have to ask a question." I say. "Well, two."

"Ask away." Azim says.

"One, why do all of you hate Twitch? Two, if you do, why is he here?"

Everyone goes silent. Well, they were all silent beforehand, but now the silence is tinged with a bit of awkwardness, a bit of coldness, and a bit of sorrow. Glaze drops her tray of just baked sweetbones, some of which fall on the ground.

"Are you okay?!" I ask.

"ACK! HOT! TONGUE! TONGUE!" she yells, dousing her tongue with water.

"I don't hate him." Minx says.

"I try not to hate people, but for now, let's just claim I strongly dislike him. Anyhow, we'll start with the second- have you noticed Thistlepatch is the only dragon in Lira City?"

"Yes." Gale and I say at once.

"Well, there were many of them once. They left to the safer mountains when the Plague came, but Thistlepatch stayed. His kind has a habit of keeping small Sentients as companions, who care for many of their needs. He had a young Nikapid named Twitch. However, she caught the Plague and recieved the Aura of a Lupus. As such, her ability to relive moments blended with the ability to see the dead, and she often saw the dying moments of unknown Sentients, surrounded by screaming and crying day in and out. Soon the moments switched to those of her friends, and she would not speak of them. One morning we found her lying dead. She had managed not to lose control all this time, only to kill herself. Thistle found our Twitch not long after and told himself he could atone for what had happened. I think he believes, somewhere within him, that this Twitch is the same or at least similar to that Nikapid."

I have tears in my eyes.

Gale looks confused. "So you know all this and you haven't at least pretended to like him?!"

Glaze frowns, "Gale, you know how bad he is! He's unstable! I mean, he knows, but he's just... not empathetic. He doesn't get it and he never will." 

"He's not that bad." Gale throws it out there, and then they're all arguing.

"He told me he knew Katrina would be next! That I'm a weak link to the team!" Glaze whimpers in distress.

"You're not weak. Ignore him." Gale protests.

"He does have a point, Glaze." Azim says.

"We could be nicer to him!" Minx objects.

"How has that been working out for you?" Glaze says indignantly.

I sit there, watching, wings folded neatly. I'm not sure what to think anymore but the squabbling is giving me a migraine.

"Amen to that." Glaze says, lifting the pan of sweetbones up. "Who's hungry?"

Suddenly, the door flings open. "We have news." announces Twitch dramatically. "We're going to have to go get Theo."