"Daddy, what is it?" The voice was very soft, but it still woke her.

Kitty looked up from her soft bed by the fireplace, and blinked a few times to see the young girl who was looking down at her.

She had the same red fur as her father, and her blue eyes, that were wide open in wonder, made her face seem to shine.

"I'm not sure, but I promise she'll still be here when you get back from your mom's."

The girl nodded and picked up her bag from by the door. Kitty watched as she opened the door and left. Maybe if she flew up to the doorknob, she would be able to open the door herself.

Moving just enough to shift her weight caused a stabbing pain along her wing, and she decided she could stay right where she was. The fire was warm, the stone was smooth, and she had food and drink within reach. The only problem that she could find was the pressing need to go potty.

"Is there anything you need? If not, I need to go do chores." Dane was pulling a coat on, and Kitty was entranced at the idea of a second skin to provide more warmth. She wasn't sure how he made it, but it looked like a wonderful idea.

"I need to.." she wasn't sure how to tell him she needed to go to the bathroom.

Thankfully he seemed to understand, and came to pick her up. Her wing was really hurting, and she turned to look at it, as he carried her to the door. The cut looked even worse, and she wanted to cry.

She slowly did her business, just outside the door, in the predawn light, and he carried her back to the fire.

"When I'm done with chores, I'll look at your wing again. Perhaps washing it with simple soap and water will help. I may need to put some antibiotic cream on it."

"I'm not looking forward to you using any more of that medicine stuff. It hurts bad enough as it is, thank you very much!"

"Do you want to lose the wing?"

His words terrified her, and she turned to look at it some more, as he left. Her mother always licked her cuts and scrapes so she tried to lick it, but it hurt so bad after the gentlest touch, she couldn't continue. She lay in pain, waiting for his return, thinking about how horrible it would be without one of her wings.

When he finally returned, she was even willing to let him use the horrible stuff that hurt so bad.

"Please don't let me lose my wing," she whimpered as he picked her up.

"Oh, I doubt it's that bad," he chuckled, setting her on the table again.

She looked at the cut again, uncertain about his good mood. Tears were about to fall.

He set out several different medicines this time, none of them looked or smelled like the first type he had used. She watched as he mixed up a cup with some warm water and then he gently began to clean it with a rag soaked in the warm water. It hurt so bad, she couldn't help crying and whimpering.

When he started placing a special soap on it, to get the infection out, he claimed, the pain started to fade, and she had to look at it to make sure the wing wasn't gone.

"The soap causes the pain to fade, so it won't hurt so bad."

"I like this soap stuff. Why couldn't you use it last night?"

"It's expensive and I only have a little of it."

"What does expensive mean?" she asked curiously. Now that the pain wasn't overpowering, she could focus on other things.

"Well, it's complicated. I can try and tell you about it later."

He finished washing it, and she watched as he applied some of the cream he had mentioned earlier, however, when he went to bandage it, he couldn't figure out how to do it. Her feathers kept getting in the way.

"I'm going to have to leave it open to the air, so you're going to have to try hard not to move around too much."

She sniffed it, smelling the strange cream that covered the wound, and agreed. It looked a lot better than it had, the inflammation was down and it didn't look so angry.

He sat her down near the fire again, and she immediately began to doze. He cleaned up the table, and left the room.

When she awoke, the little girl was laying on the floor, watching her. It startled her, and she jumped back, almost into the fire.

"Oh! It's alright! I won't hurt you!" She threw her hands out and managed to stop her from stepping on the hot coals.

"You scared me!" Kitty complained, settling herself and glancing at her wing. It didn't hurt as much as it had, and looked like it may be healing.

"Daddy said you could talk! Do you have a name?" the girl asked, breathlessly.

"My momma called me Kitty," she explained, looking back at the girl.

"Really? That's my name! Well, my real name is Kiterina, but everyone calls me Kitty. Mom is kinda weird when it comes to names, but it's okay. Can I ask you a question?"

Kitty was puzzled. Wasn't that what she was already doing?

Once she finally nodded, the girl started bombarding her with many questions, not just one.

"What are you? Where are you from? Are there more of you? Where is your mom? What about your dad? How old are you? How did you hurt your wing? How can you talk? Can we be friends?"

Kitty watched her, unable to answer a single question, until the girl ran out of breath and had to stop.

"That was more than one question," she said.

Kiterina giggled.

"Well, I'm me, I don't know what you mean by what am I. I'm from a tree, where I was born, not far from here. I'm the only one left, as a big bird killed everyone else, including my momma. I don't know what a dad is. I don't know what you mean by how old am I. I got into a fight with a creature that is furry and hops around, because I tried to follow it into its hole, and it attacked me. My momma taught me to talk, and I don't mind being friends." Kitty looked down for a moment to think if she had missed any of the questions.

"Kiterina, your mother is going to be here any minute, I told you to get ready. She's pretty ticked that you came back here instead of going to her house after school."

"I know daddy, but I just couldn't wait to meet Kitty," she beamed at her as she got up from the floor.

"You know that you have to keep her a secret, right? This is very important. If anyone, even your best friend at school, finds out about her, those scientists will be here to take her away and experiment on her. You think you can keep quiet?" He looked very worried as he handed her, her school bag.

"Of course! We're friends now and I wouldn't ever do anything against my friend!"

"Alright," he said, uncertainly.

A noise from outside got their attention, and Kitty watched as they both left the room. Her stomach was rolling in fear and doubt. These scientist people sounded downright scary.