It turned out to be a small apartment located in the back of a shop. The lizard entered through an appropriately sized door into a cavernous room. The human slid off and instructed the lizard to kneel so Athenai could dismount. For that she was thankful, sliding the ten or so feet to the floor seemed impossible. And still, that human was there. Athenai awkwardly dismounted and found herself in her arms. She would have blushed a bit if it weren't for the shooting pain in her leg that make her cling tighter for support and whimper softly. She then turned in alarm for Zaiaku, but the lizard was lowering him gently to the ground. She released the human and stumbled to his side, beside herself with worry. Though Athenai would never admit it, she had come to depend on and even love the sweet creature, he had been the only protector she had ever known. Yetemna settled on his shoulder and made soft, concerned noises as Athenai gently wiped the caked blood from his eye.

"C'mon Zaiaku, you're tougher than this..." she murmured softly. "Here." The human knelt nearby, a damp rag held in her outstretched hand. Athenai took it and carefully mopped the blood off of the Sinu's face. One yellow eye opened slowly, then another and Zaiaku uttered a reassuring purr-like sound. "Ah, you stupid beast." Athenai sighed in relief. He shifted a bit and slowly lifted his head, then turned to peer up at the great gold lizard who loomed overhead. "Is he your bond?" Athenai blinked, her head suddenly heavy. She turned to look up at the human and in the process, crumpled to the floor and passed out.

"Oh for Bast's sake." Thea sighed in exasperation after the strange girl collapsed. She carefully turned her onto her back and lifted her, appalled at how light and thin she was. Are you sure keeping her here is wise? Esyscth asked worriedly as Thea ventured from the dragoness' sleeping room into her side of the apartment and laid the injured stranger on the couch. "She's hurt, and her bond is hurt-" It isn't her bond, it's more like a... watch weyr from the old world, though smarter. I've already tried talking to it and it doesn't speak. "-either way, we can't very well send them off into the station injured and covered in blood. I'm not even sure most of this is hers..."

Thea took a clean, damp cloth and began to wipe the many-hued bloodstains from her face. When she lifted her head from the arm of the couch, she noticed the long pair of steel-gray horns that