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This was not the conversation Kathrin had expected to have in the middle of the night.

A firm knock on the door had awoken her; from the near total darkness of the room she could tell it was still long before daybreak. I must have fallen asleep tending to Zen, she thought to herself as she tried to focus on her surroundings. She was still half-sitting in the chair she had pulled up beside the bed, but she had dozed off leaning over onto the mattress, her body creating a bridge between the two pieces of furniture. Her back twinged as she attempted to move; she'd have to be careful to avoid sleeping like that again.

Something heavy was holding her to the bed. She looked down to see Zen, who had somehow migrated in his sleep from his own pillow to her "extras." His mind is even dirtier when he's asleep than it is when he's awake, she thought amusedly as she extricated herself, taking a moment to fix her shirt before padding over to the door, hoping that whoever she was greeting wouldn't notice the wet spot from where the wolf had drooled.

She had fully expected the late-night visitor to be Natani, coming to check on his brother, or possibly Raine. Even Rose stopping by to check on them and bring more supplies would have been a reasonable assumption, though Kat doubted the elderly wolf would have bothered to wake her. But she was thoroughly startled to see Evals standing there when she opened the door, looking as tired and defeated as she'd seen him in ages.

"Hey, Kat, since you're not using your room tonight, can I crash in your bed?"

Kat blinked, the dog's words reaching her but failing to register. "I'm sorry, I must still be half asleep," she said, shaking her head to clear it as she held onto the door. "Did you just ask to sleep in my room? What's wrong with yours?"

"Mike and I had a fight. I don't really wanna be in a room with him right now." Upon seeing the bewildered look on Kat's face, he added, "It's a long story."

"What happened?" Kat was genuinely concerned. "Did you--"

"Look, I'm really tired and I just want to get some rest. Do you mind?" Evals seemed impatient.

Surprised at being cut off, Kat nodded. "Uh, sure, go ahead. Is Mike--"

"Thanks, Kat, I'll see you in the morning." Evals was halfway down the hall before she could so much as blink. Something serious had occurred between the two friends, and Kat knew she wouldn't be able to get any rest herself until she found out what it was. She glanced back at Zen, still unconscious and snoring softly. He'd be fine on his own for a little while. Closing the door gently behind her, she padded off toward the bedroom that would contain half of its usual occupants.

---

The room Evals had left was, for the moment, the gloomiest in the estate. Only a single bedside lamp provided a modicum of light, casting long shadows over the various pieces of furniture in the room. It was as if all the energy and warmth had left with the dog, leaving only a cold, barren space in which his absence was felt every bit as much as his presence had been.

Mike lay in the center of the bed, staring listlessly up at the ceiling. He'd stopped crying by then, mostly out of exhaustion, but the prospect of sleep was about as appealing as it was achievable. He'd lost track of how long he'd been laying there; time and the outside world had both ceased to matter. He was so zoned out that he almost didn't hear the gentle knock on the bedroom door. He glanced in its direction, not bothering to lift his head. Evals wouldn't have knocked, so it wasn't him, and Mike was certain the dog wasn't coming back until at least the morning anyway. But he also didn't feel like talking to anyone else, so he remained motionless, hoping whoever it was would decide he was asleep and just go away.

His hopes were dashed as he heard the doorknob turning, accompanied by an additional knock. "Mike?" called Kat, poking her head through the doorway and looking around the room. "Are you awake?"

Mike briefly considered pretending to be asleep, but he decided it wasn't worth the effort. "Y-yeah," he croaked out, pulling himself up into a sitting position. He hadn't realized how dry and raw his throat had gotten until he'd tried to speak, but it hurt to even try to talk.

"Are you okay? Evals said you two had a fight...?" Kat closed the door quietly behind her and padded over to sit on the edge of the bed. Mike noted that she was clad in only a button-down shirt; between his shorts and her shirt, they had one full outfit. In other circumstances he may have found it more amusing, but he was in no mood to laugh.

"Y-yeah... we did."

"What happened?"

Mike brooded over how much detail to share, but ultimately settled on an abridged version of the night's events. "It was my fault."

Kat furrowed her brow. "That's not really an answer."

"It's the truth, though."

If Kat's earlier conversation with Evals hadn't been unusual enough, Mike's evasiveness was downright foreign. She shook her head. "Let me try this again. How did it start?"

Sensing he wasn't going to avoid answering the question twice, Mike relented. "I had a bad dream."

"What was it about?"

"That's what started the argument." Mike rubbed his eyes. "I didn't want to tell him."

"How come?"

Mike hesitated again before answering. "It's personal."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Kat backtracked, "but I'm more than happy to listen if you do. I know we aren't exactly the closest, but I've read it's sometimes easier to talk things out. And if I'm being honest," she continued, "I feel like I owe you for how much you've helped me."

Mike's ears perked up. "Wait, really? How did I help you?"

"Once I started... growing up," began Kat, gesturing at her chest, "all the other servants and slaves just treated me as the house bimbo." Her ears drooped slightly at the thought. "Except you. You were always nice to me, from the first time I even saw you. It made me feel like I could talk to you and trust you in a way I couldn't with some of the others."

The revelation took Mike by surprise, but he downplayed it. "Well, I don't feel like I really did anything special, but I'm glad I could help. It's not your fault that you look the way you do. There was no reason for anyone to take that out on you, especially when you were younger." He paused for a moment to reflect. "I guess with... well, with how we were born and all, we just related to each other better. We do kind of come from a similar background."

"Yeah, I guess that's true." Kat shifted the rest of her weight up onto the bed, facing Mike and sitting cross-legged. She'd gotten him talking, which was a good start; now she had to keep it going. "Do you remember much from before the Vaughans bought you?"

"Oh, yeah." Mike nodded. "I was young when they got me, but I wasn't that young. I remember bits and pieces of my childhood. I remember finding out I was going to be sold off. I had some idea it was coming, but it was still kind of a shock, with having to leave my parents and all. Then there was the auction block..." he drifted off.

Kat nodded and fiddled with the hem of her shirt; this was never an easy topic to discuss. "Being sold to a bunch of strangers must be terrifying."

"I was honestly relieved that I was," said Mike, rubbing his hands through the fur on his legs. "I had to go up on the block a couple of times before anybody even bid on me, much less bought me. Not a lot of demand for scrawny little male foxes on the slave market."

The way Mike spat out the description of himself stabbed into Kat like a knife. Though she'd never been to an auction herself, she had heard stories about the experience from other slaves. Being unwanted and unsold seemed even more humiliating than being sold, if such a thing were possible. Knowing Mike had gone through that shame multiple times at such a young age made her feel sick; there was no telling how hard it must have been on him. "At least you landed with a good family," she offered.

Mike tried to hold back a laugh; it came out as sort of a strangled cough instead. "Well, relatively speaking I guess."

"I mean, sure, they weren't perfect," countered Kat, "but compared to a lot of other masters the Vaughans treated us pretty well."

"I guess it's true that we're still alive, but that seems like a pretty low bar to clear."

"Oh, come on, they were better than that." Kat was nonplussed. "I know I didn't get quite the same treatment in the house as you guys did out on the boat, but it couldn't have been that much different."

Mike pointed at the scar on his cheek. "Do you know how I got this?"

Kat was certain she'd heard the story before; she looked up toward the ceiling as she tried to recall. "You hit the corner of a metal crate, right?"

The fox let out a mirthless chuckle. "Yeah, but do you know who slammed my head into it?"

Kat's eyes widened. "Oh my gosh, Mike, Eric didn't do that, did he?"

"Oh, no, Eric was never that deliberately cruel," said Mike, "but you're close."

For a moment, Kat puzzled over who could have done such a thing; nobody in the family had seemed that sadistic. Then, in an instant, it all clicked into place, and her expression darkened. "It was Roderick, wasn't it?"

"The funny thing is," continued Mike, barely acknowledging Kat's realization, "it wasn't even the worst thing he did to me..."

---

"...and these should be the last two." The Vaughan family patriarch directed Mike to a pair of crates sitting on the dock. They were re-supplying the Na'Rella for a trip to Edinmire, due to set sail the following Monday. "You know where they go. Stow them away, and that should be the last thing we need from you today."

"Yes, sir." Mike tried to get the words out before the magical collar forced him to, but he could still feel the little jolt of mandatory compliance as he lifted the crates. They were bulky and awkward for the diminutive keidran to carry, but Mike had been working long enough by then to be able to manage their weight without any serious difficulty. Keeping an eye downward to maintain his bearings, he expertly navigated the gangplank up to the ship, crossed through the open door leading below deck, and made his way past the captain's quarters toward the stairs.

"Hey, you."

Mike froze. Roderick stepped out of the doorway to the captain's quarters, quickly closing the distance between them and circling the keidran the way a vulture circles a dying animal. "And just where do you think you're going?"

"I'm putting these crates downstairs per your father's directions, sir." Mike had learned the hard way that professionalism and neutrality was the second-best way to talk to Roderick. The first was to not talk to him at all, but that was not a luxury he had in this situation.

"Carrying two crates at once? That's a little risky, don't you think? Makes it hard for you to see where you're going." There was a toying nature in the elder Vaughan boy's voice that made Mike nervous, as if he were being lured into a trap.

"I always carry two at once, sir. I can get work done faster this way." And you'd berate me for slacking if I only carried one at a time, Mike thought to himself.

"Alright, it's your job, do it how you will, I suppose." Sensing the conversation was over and relieved that Roderick was letting him go without further harassment, Mike started forward again, peering around the crates to locate the beginning of the staircase leading down to the ship's lower levels.

Roderick brought his boot down hard on Mike's right foot, crushing it against the floor. The fox yelped and stumbled forward, the falling sensation rising through his chest as he plummeted into the open stairwell. Down the stairs he fell, tumbling alongside the crates he had been carrying, their sharp corners narrowly missing him as they cascaded downward. His fall was only broken by the end of the staircase, the now-battered crates coming to a rest on either side of the keidran.

Facedown and disoriented from the multiple impacts, Mike whimpered from the spot where he landed. Any concern about injuries he may have suffered in the fall was drowned out by sheer terror at the sound of his master's elder son descending the stairs to where he lay. The footsteps stopped at the bottom of the stairs, and Mike forced his eyes open. His vision was limited by the angle at which he lay, but he could clearly make out the pair of boots responsible for his fall inspecting each crate before turning their attention to him.

Roderick reached out with a foot and rolled Mike over onto his back, causing the fox to gasp as boot leather connected with his newly bruised ribs. The two locked eyes, the look of mild amusement upon the human's face contrasting with the fear and pain on his slave's. "Guess two was a little much for you after all, eh?" he mocked. "You know, you should consider yourself lucky there was nothing fragile in those crates. Would've been a real shame if something valuable had been damaged." Roderick turned and walked out of Mike's line of vision, his footsteps growing distant as he retreated up the stairs and out of sight.

Mike remained where he had fallen, unable to bring himself to move. He half-expected Roderick to return, either with someone who might have cared about the fall or simply to berate him further, but the only sound that could be heard over the throbbing in his head was the gentle creaking of the Na'Rella as it rocked in its mooring. Once he was certain he had been left alone, Mike clawed his way to a standing position. Every bone and joint in his body protested at the effort; he felt as if he'd been trampled by a horse. He gingerly attempted to put weight on the foot Roderick had stepped on and immediately regretted it; pain shot up his leg, making him cry out and bringing him back down to his knees. Using the crates to hoist himself back to his feet, Mike limped down the hallway toward his cabin, moving slowly and using the wall for support. Feeling his balance slipping as he reached the door, he grabbed the handle to steady himself--forgetting once again that the door opened outward. He managed to get his injured foot out of the way of the swinging door, but at the cost of his remaining dignity as he found himself on the floor once again.

Rather than attempt to stand back up, Mike crawled across the floor of the cabin and up onto his bed. No sooner did his body touch the mattress than the emotional damage of his ordeal finally caught up to him, releasing in the form a tidal wave of tears. It just didn't make sense; he was far from the only slave in the family, and he was better behaved than most. So why did Roderick always single him out?

Eventually the tears subsided, and Mike worked up the nerve to check himself over. Every careless movement still stung, and he winced and gritted his teeth as he moved his foot around to check for breaks. He was going to have a lot of bruises, and he'd probably walk with a limp for a few days, but based on his amateur diagnosis it looked like he had at least escaped serious damage to his foot.

His self-examination was interrupted by the telltale creak of floorboards and thud of footsteps, growing louder as they moved down the hall. The footfalls seemed to have more emphasis than usual, which puzzled Mike at first. His confusion changed to panic when he realized that he had left the crates he'd been carrying on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. One of the Vaughans had probably noticed and was now coming to find him.

His first instinct was to try and hide, but he knew with his current condition it would be nearly impossible, not to mention the world of trouble he'd get into if he was caught. On the other hand, if Roderick opened the door and found him lying there, he'd be as good as dead anyway. The footsteps reached the door before he had time to react further, and Mike reflexively flinched as the door was flung open.

"Oh, you won't _believe_what Eric had me doing today!" Evals crossed the room without so much as glancing in Mike's direction and flopped down on his bed, a bitter expression painted on his face.

A wave of anger rushed over Mike. "Damnit, Evals, don't stomp down the hall like that! I thought that was one of the masters." I bet your day wasn't as bad as mine either, he thought to himself.

"Oops, sorry about that." Evals sat back up and looked at Mike. "By the way, what was with those crates sitting out at the bottom of the stairs? I put them back with the others, but were they left out for some reason?"

For a fleeting moment Mike considered telling Evals about what Roderick had done. But his heart and mind protested the idea every bit much as his body had protested moving, and his will to fight it had long since been defeated. "N-no, I just forgot to put them away. Thanks for doing that for me."

"Hey, no problem." Evals waved a paw dismissively. "So anyway, guess what I had the privilege of fixing this afternoon..."

Mike listened to Evals ramble on about the rigging repairs he'd had to climb around the ship to make, zoning out and just letting the dog talk. He was still in a lot of pain, and he was certain it was going to be a lot worse in the morning, but at least for the moment Evals' voice was the best medicine he was going to get. And it would have to be.

---

"...so yeah, I guess that's it." Mike finished the story of his abuse, his unfocused gaze directed at the empty space in front of him. Despite having been terrified of starting, he had settled into a strange calm as he talked. It felt unnatural, almost as if someone else was using his voice to share his words, but once it began it had just kept coming as an uninterrupted stream of consciousness until he had divulged every moment of torment he had kept secret for so long.

Kat didn't know exactly when she had started crying, but her shirt was damp from where she'd lifted it to dry her eyes. "Mike... I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that."

Mike shrugged. "Eh... don't be. It's not your fault. It's not like you knew about it or anything." An uneasy silence hung over the room, and the fox noticed. He turned around to look at Kat. "...did you?"

"Well... no. At least not directly. I never saw anything happen, but it kinda seemed like you went out of your way to avoid Roderick whenever you could. Not that I can blame you for that." Kat looked down at the bed. "You... weren't the only one he abused."

Mike's expression evolved from suspicion to sympathy. "You too, huh?"

Kat nodded. "It wasn't nearly as bad as what sounds like happened to you, but there were a few times..." she drifted off.

Mike reached over and put his hand on her knee, rubbing it gently. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, Kat. You deserve better than you've gotten."

"Hey, who's comforting who here?" Kat tried to lighten the mood as she halfheartedly swatted at Mike's hand. It was enough to get the fox to crack a smile for the first time all night. The two keidran remained quiet, both enjoying a moment of mutual understanding of the plights they had faced.

Finally, Mike spoke. "Does Eric know about what Roderick did?"

"To you or to me?"

"Well... both I guess."

Kat shrugged. "If he knows what happened to you, he never said anything to me about it. But he bought me because of what he saw Roderick do to me."

Mike winced reflexively, imagining the horrible things Roderick might have done to the slave he had inherited. Against his better instincts, Mike continued. "What happened?"

"I dropped a tray of drinks I was carrying. Just lost balance was all. Roderick was furious. It... it wasn't the first time he hit me, but it was the first time he did it in front of someone." Kat's ears drooped. "He hit me in the face, then in the back of my head... then suddenly it stopped, and Eric was there. He told Roderick that if he ever laid a hand on me again, there'd be hell to pay."

Mike was surprised. "_Eric_said that?"

Kat nodded and narrowed her eyes. "I have never seen Eric as angry as he was that day. Not even when he thought you and Evals were trying to mutiny." She paused. "_Were_you trying to mutiny?"

"Nooooooo no!" Mike's eyes grew wide as he shook his head. "Like... Evals was grumbling about stuff, but you know how he is."

"Yeah, that definitely sounds like Evals." An uneasy silence blanketed the room as the subject wound its way back to the reason for their late-night conversation. Both keidran knew what question was coming next, but it still took Kat a moment to work up the nerve to ask it. "How come you never told him?"

Mike's ears drooped. "I... I don't know." He shifted positions, curling up and resting his chin on his knees before he continued. "Part of me thought he would've just done something stupid and gotten us both in trouble if he knew. And like... this sounds ridiculous, but it was almost nice that he didn't know. I didn't have anybody feeling sorry for me all the time. There was a part of the world where I could just forget about it. Roderick could do whatever he wanted to me, but I could just go back to my room in the ship and listen to Evals talk about random nonsense, and I didn't have to think about how much it hurt..." his voice cracked and gave out as the tears restarted, and he buried his face in his knees.

Mike felt Kat's hand on his back a moment later, but she stayed quiet, rubbing her hand gently through his fur while he cried. The pair remained in that position for a while, with Mike's muffled sobs the only sound permeating the room. Eventually, they slowed and stopped, and he lifted his head. "I'm sorry I'm such a wreck, Kat."

"Anybody would have a hard time dealing with what you've been through, Mike," said Kat. "But you're still here. You survived. And I know you're going to go on to do great things after we leave here."

"I'm glad you're so confident," Mike quipped, "because I'm sure not." The response came out harsher than he meant it to, and another pang of regret washed over him.

But if Kat had noticed the venom in his words, she ignored it. "You've just got to remember that it isn't your fault. None of it was. None of what happened to me was. Roderick was..." Kat hesitated before continuing. "He was a horrible, terrible person, and I wish him nothing but the worst for as long as he lives for what he did." She glanced around the room as if she expected one of the Vaughans to jump out of the furniture and reprimand her, but the wardrobe remained closed.

Mike noticed. "Feels weird to just be able to say that, doesn't it?"

Kat nodded. "I know I had a lot of leeway that you and Evals didn't get, but I still couldn't speak my mind," She paused. "But being able to is a good thing. Keeping everything bottled up all the time isn't healthy--for anyone."

The fox sighed and flopped backward onto the bed. "I know. And I know I should tell him. But it's not easy for me to talk about, and let's be honest--you're a little more understanding than Evals can be."

Kat didn't deny it but continued. "You guys have been practically joined at the hip as long as I can remember. I know Evals would do whatever he could to try and help you." She looked at the fox, their eyes connecting momentarily. "Friendship is a powerful thing. I'd hate to see it hurt over something like this." She glanced toward the window. The dark navy of the night sky was changing into lighter hues; it would be sunrise soon. "Looks like we talked longer than I thought."

Mike propped himself up on his elbows and looked out. "Guess so. Sorry for keeping you up all night, Kat."

Kat shook her head and smiled. "It's more than okay, Mike. Sometimes helping a friend is more important."

Getting up from the bed, Kat yawned and stretched, standing on her tiptoes and causing her shirt to ride up and expose her abdomen, before relaxing back down and walking toward the door. "I should go check on Zen. I'll let you know when breakfast is ready."

Mike watched her go, absent-mindedly staring at her rear as she walked. Kat certainly wasn't his usual type, but beneath the stereotypical exterior was a genuinely good heart. She deserved someone wonderful, and he hoped she'd be able to find them. "Hey, Kat?"

Kat paused, halfway out the door. "Hmm?"

"Thanks."

Kat only smiled at Mike before turning away, the door clicking shut behind her as she left.

---

The morning sun crept across the bedroom floor and onto the bed, working its way upward to where Evals lay sleeping. The light drew him out of his slumber slowly, then suddenly as he opened his eyes to the blinding sunshine. Squinting and rolling over, he silently cursed himself for not thinking to close the drapes when he'd moved to Kat's room in the middle of the night.

Though really, it was ridiculous that he had to be there to begin with. What in the world had gotten into Mike? First, he'd refused to come back to the pack, despite Evals' reassurances that he would be fine, then he freaked out after another one of those nightmares and basically told Evals to get stuffed when confronted about it. It was as if he'd become a different person the instant they'd gained their freedom.

Then again, maybe the fox had been onto something about the house; it was weird. Evals hadn't noticed it at first, but the more time he spent there the more it felt like the entire building was watching his every move. Despite the luxuries of the estate, the whole place gave him an uneasy feeling that just wouldn't go away, no matter how hard he tried to bury it.

His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. "Evals, are you up? It's time for breakfast," called Kat as she entered the room carrying a tray full of food.

If Evals hadn't been fully awake yet, the smell of a freshly cooked meal was certainly enough to rouse him. "Ooh, breakfast in bed! Now THIS is living!" He frowned as Kat shot him a look. "What?"

"This is for Zen, not for you. You're perfectly capable of going downstairs and getting your own food. I'm just stopping by to let you know."

"Aww, can't I just have a bite?" He shot her his best sad puppy face.

Kat smirked. "Nice try, but I know better." She turned to leave. "Oh, and you should go tell Mike before you go down."

Evals' expression soured at the suggestion. "Can't you go tell him?"

"No, I've got to go give Zen his breakfast before it gets cold."

"Maybe you could go after you give that to Zen--"

"Evals, stop it." Kat turned around to face the dog. "You're an adult. Act like it."

"So is Mike, but I notice you came to me first."

Kat sighed. Zen was going to have to wait a minute; this was more important. "I went and talked to Mike last night. He told me about what was going on."

"Oh, come on!" exclaimed Evals. "He won't tell me a damn thing, but he told you?!?"

"Well, I was just--"

"I don't get it." Evals threw his hands in the air and looked upward, as if he expected the answer to be hovering above him. "We've been best friends practically our whole lives, we've shared every little space together forever, and suddenly now that we're freed, I'm not good enough to talk to anymore?"

Kat attempted to intercede. "I don't think that's it--"

"I guess that's what I get for expecting better from a fox."

"Hey!" interjected Kat, her eyes widening with shock at the flippancy of the dog's response. "That's just rude!"

"Well, what the _fuck_is it then, Kat?" demanded Evals. "Why won't he talk to me?"

"He doesn't want to hurt you, damnit!"

Evals opened his mouth to retort, but the words caught in his throat. He stared at Kat. "What?"

Kat paused to collect herself before continuing. "Mike hasn't told you about what happened _because_he cares about you, Evals. He doesn't want you to blame yourself."

Evals leaned back against the headboard as he processed what Kat had said. When he finally spoke, it was as much to himself as it was to Kat. "What in the world happened to him?"

"Look," began Kat, "I can't tell you what Mike has been through. He has to do that himself. But you should know that it's a very, very hard thing for him to talk about." She leaned against the door frame. "Like you said, though, you guys are best friends. Even if you can't physically do anything to help him, just being there for him to lean on is important." She looked Evals in the eyes. "Especially since you won't be much longer."

Evals sighed and looked away. "Don't remind me."

Kat glanced down the hall; she had to get this food to Zen before he decided to start hunting for breakfast himself. "I've gotta go. I'm not going to hold your hand and make you go talk to Mike," she turned to leave, "But I know it's going to bother you until you do." With that, she was gone, leaving Evals alone with his thoughts.

Dragging himself out of bed, Evals stood up and stretched, his back letting out a satisfying series of pops as he vanquished the last remnants of sleep from his body. He crossed to the door and looked out into the hall, debating whether to go left, toward the kitchen and breakfast, or right, back up to his room to talk to Mike. Sighing to himself, he started down the hall to the right. He still had no idea how to approach Mike, but Kat was right; it was going to bother the hell out of him until he at least tried.

---

Mike sat propped up against the headboard, staring absentmindedly out the window at a lone cow grazing in the pastures below. He'd briefly considered trying to go back to sleep once Kat left but ultimately decided against it; morning was too close at hand, and he would probably have a chance to take a nap later in the day anyway.

The notion of even being able to do that was foreign to him, and he wondered if he'd even be able to rest if he tried. While Evals had never been shy about sneaking off to take a break, Mike had always been more hesitant about trying such a maneuver, in part because of what happened to him the one time he had. He traced over the scar on his face with a finger. Roderick sure trained me well, he thought with disgust.

On the other hand, though, Kat had a point--he had survived. He also had two things most keidran of his birth could only dream of: Freedom and money, and he wasn't about to let either one of them go to waste. But for every opportunity his turn of good fortune offered him, there were a dozen more unknowns and risks waiting in the shadows. He was as lost in the free world as Evals had been as a slave when they first met, and that left Mike feeling as terrified about the future as his friend was excited.

His darker thoughts were interrupted by his stomach growling. Those inner demons could wait until after breakfast. Shrugging them off as best he could, Mike crawled over and sat at the edge of the bed. No sooner had his feet touched the floor than the bedroom door opened, and Evals walked in.

Evals seemed surprised to see Mike up and moving. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Kat says breakfast is ready downstairs."

"Oh, okay. Thanks for letting me know." Mike paused and looked up at the dog. Evals didn't move a muscle. "So... do you wanna do this now or after we eat?"

"Let's do it now."

"Alright."

An awkward silence filled the room as Evals stood beside the bed where Mike was still seated. Neither could quite bring themselves to look the other in the eye, and both seemed hesitant to be the first to start talking.

Mike was the first to break the silence. "I'm sorry, Evals. I shouldn't have said that stuff about you. About us."

Evals sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I mean... nothing you said was wrong, really. I've been so focused on getting away from all this crap once the opportunity arose that I haven't really paid attention to how anybody else felt about it." He paused. "And I'm sorry for doing that. I know you wanna do your own thing, but after we did basically everything together for so long it takes some getting used to, you know?"

Mike nodded. "Yeah, I get it. It's gonna be weird not having you around all the time."

"Yeah." Evals turned and looked at the fox. "You're honestly the only friend I've made since I got captured--and thank the masks I did. You knew how all the slave stuff worked. Without you around I'd probably have gotten myself killed by now."

"You would've figured it out," Mike insisted. "Almost everyone does."

"What happens to the ones who don't?"

"I think we're both better off not knowing the answer to that."

"Yeah, that's probably true." Evals paused. "Speaking of things I don't know the answer to, though..."

Mike's ears drooped as the conversation looped back around to the part he'd been dreading the most. "Yeah..."

Even Evals could sense his friend's discomfort. "Look... you don't have to tell me if you don't want to--"

"It's not that I don't want to," Mike interrupted, looking up at Evals, "it's just... you know how sometimes Eric would tell you to do something you really didn't like doing, and you'd try and put it off as long as you could, even though you knew you had to do it or you'd regret it?"

The dog grimaced. "Yeah."

"Well, it's kinda like that, but worse."

Evals exhaled sharply and walked over to the window. The view from the bedroom was spectacular; the rolling hills and pastures of the estate giving way to the forests and mountains of Mekkan that surrounded Edinmire. It was the kind of view that even most humans could only dream of having--yet to Evals, in that moment, it seemed so unimportant.

"Give me a day."

Evals blinked once, then turned around. "Huh?"

"Give me a day." Mike looked up at the dog. "I just need a little bit of time to think."

Evals nodded. "That's fine. You can take longer if you need to."

"I know."

"So we're cool?"

Mike nodded and smiled. "Yeah. We're cool."

Their eyes met for the first time since Evals had returned to the room, the dog breaking into a grin that matched the fox's smile. Mike felt himself getting lost in the creamy brown depths of Evals' eyes, a familiar warmth washing over him as he gazed at the dog. The brightness and energy that emanated from his friend made Mike's heart jump, and that was a sensation he knew he would never tire of.

Evals' expression changed from compassion to confusion, and it dawned on Mike that he had been staring for a long time. He quickly looked away. "So, uh... you said breakfast is ready?"

"Oh, yeah!" said Evals, his eyes lighting back up as he crossed to the door. "You should have seen the tray Kat was bringing to Natani's brother. We're gonna eat like kings!"

Mike stood up to follow Evals as the dog rambled on about an increasingly fanciful and unrealistic list of foods he'd seen or smelled on the solitary tray. The fox was still exhausted, and he felt like he'd been through a wringer, but emotionally he felt as if an enormous weight had been lifted off his shoulders. His scars were never going to go away, but they were healing. And that was what mattered most.