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What her pair-bond leaked noas urgency And fear, though not for herself

This latter wisp of eh the coluht to the Wadi’s senses The problem was: it had becoht that dominated her old ho everywhere they went, solid and ferocious For the Wadi, it was like a giant fang you soon curl your tail around and ignore because it has hung idle in your den for so long

The Wadi tensed up as her pair-bond turned down another canyon Odd, these canyons All at sharp angles and pocked with square holes, all disgorging e beasts like her pair-bond Like her in size, anyway, but different in the tendrils of smoke that trailed out fros

Her pair-bond ran as hard and fast as a Wadi now, her breathing raspy and labored The Wadi exuded aspulse she felt with her tail to relax itself She also put out courage smoke She curled her head around her pair-bond’s neck and released asher need to conserve her energy

She waited to see if her pair-bond would respond

It was so frustrating, trying to communicate But she had only herself to blaht in her stoe to eat and drink and nourish her eggs--it left little energy for anything else So very little energy And even less tiasping for breath as she slowed Ahead of her, the street pinched tight with rubble, leaving just enough rooh one at a ti those ahead while buggies blasted their horns in futile frustration

Molly veered out of the crush of people and sca the roadblock Two younger kids were up even higher, sifting through the rocks and laughing Beyond the hullout over the street like a sundial As she sca, Molly checked the street nu for the address of the Navy office Four twenty six She had missed it

She turned, looking back over the rubble and down the street where the crowds flowed dense into a tight strea number on the other side of the rubble had been--

It hit her As solidly as the bo for Molly looked down at her feet Her destination was right below her, caked up in the treads of her flightboots

"No flanking way," she muttered She scanned the crowd for anyone in Navy black as the Wadi nudged her chin with its head "It’s okay," she told her Molly held her hand up and rubbed the Wadi’s neck with her finger "Everything’s gonna be fine," she lied

That’s what she loved about having a pet You could lie to the what she knew to not be true made her feel better It dissipated the bad sensations inside, just as the wind had rens of the downed shuttle Its great colu her run into town, but noas gone, scattered across the winds like so n of Navy officials, but that was hardly surprising She wouldn’t be shocked to discover they hadhad done the sa option for help felt like a poor choice; the town’s sheriff had seemed a tad incompetent the last tier to help her out But Molly couldn’t think of any alternatives

She looked around, trying to get her bearings straight The se all of a sudden--there was just soprecious ite; flaer, the love of her life and her father gone froet ready to be alone again, Saunders and his crew and all they’d been through, and so many Callites sent off to their death

As Molly turned in place, trying to locate the steeple of the great church in the center of town, she felt like her surroundings turned at a different rate than herself, as if the world spun on her while she stood still--and likewise stood still while she spun Through a haze of sreat church and used it to locate herself To center herself She scah the twists and turns of unplanned alleys

The Sheriff would be able to help her, she told herself She put one hand on the Wadi’s back so it wouldn’t use its claws, and hoped he didn’t feel the same way about Callites as he had about pets

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Molly approached the town square one street over froh a narrow alley that should duht by the sheriff’s office Her skin crawled as she plunged into the crack between the two buildings The shade trapped between thehtti sun

Molly berated herself for her childish terror, but picked up the pace again The tickling sensation of having soic fear she once harbored for Parsona’s cargo bay When she was young, she used to run fro ahead of the monsters to the safety of her father’s lap The sudden recollection clawed at her breath in a way the running couldn’t Molly burst out of the alley, gasping, tears in her eyes as she reainst his belly while he spoke softly to himself, his voiceup and down her back or sht there!"

The outburst startled that skittish memory back into the folds of Molly’s brain The accusatory words had arrived as well-aih the din of so round noise Molly turned, her ears attuned to the fact that the speaker had been looking right at her as he yelled it

There, behind the bars on the sheriff’s , she found two eyes peering right back at her A hand stuck out between the bars and pointed, the finger tre with excitement "That’s the one!"

Molly turned to look behind herself, to see if there was so When she turned back, the sheriff loo any doubt

"Hey, wait a sec--!"

The sheriff pulled her arht behind her and force-marched her the last few steps she had intended to take anyway Molly autoainst hih the door

"Fine piece of detective work there, Sheriff Browne"

"That’s enough out of you," the sheriff said to a prisoner in the far cell

"What’s going on?" Molly asked She felt cuffs snap down around her wrists before she was handed off to a deputy, who nodded politely and tipped his hat before escorting her toward one of the e arrested?"

"Assault and battery, ma’am"

The deputy smiled, winked, and dipped his chin His accusation and flirtations didn’t mix well

"Do what?" Molly looked down at her manacled hands, as if to con-firm the bizarre turn of events

The deputy pushed her into the cell and slid the door shut with a bang He then reached inside and unlocked the cuffs before pulling theh the bars Molly watched the bizarre charade of bureaucratic inefficiency and felt herself beco to someone else She peered past the deputy to the sheriff, as looking her up and down

"You sure this is the woman that licked you?"

"Positive," a man said He moved closer, out of the shaft of dust sus-pended around theThe light kept hinize him by his massive frame, if not the accusation Once she knehere to look, she could clearly see the bandage around his neck as well

The sheriff laughed "Paulie, are you sure you wanna go on record and say this girl whooped your ass?"