Broken Boundaries

06 - Steadfast Support

'Good to go.' said Alain at the exposed control circuitry of Tiness's pod.

'Here we go.' Asitha said and typed commands on her tablet. The lights inside her pod went out and a couple of buzzers went off. Alain cut the power relay to the door and stuck a screwdriver between two pins on the circuit board. The zap and tiny flash were followed by a metallic clink and Alain pushed with his flat hands against the door. It slid open with a little effort and Tiness stared in horror at the shadowy figure of Alain in her doorway.

He spotted her curled up on her bed and she pressed herself back against the wall at the first step he took inside. In the light from the doorway he saw her red eyes and the mess of her face. For a moment Alain kept in mind that she might lash out at him in fear but she hid her face in her arms and tucked her tail tight around her as she whimpered softly. 'You've had two days to cry, you're done now.' he said.

Tiness gasped and her heart raced when he grabbed her wrist and pulled her from the bed. There was little resistance she could put up while her whole being trembled in fear of what was to come. They would punish her for hiding the truth, just like her father and mother had done when they found out her true nature after they discovered her hidden clothes and banned books, and her diary with the things she couldn't talk about. They had thrown her out and it was pure luck that she met others like her on the outskirts of the city. She was relatively safe with them until a raid by young males destroyed the place they lived in and left everyone beaten and badly wounded.

Her fear was painful, but not as much as the guilt for betraying the two people that had trusted her and were her friends. Tears ran down her sticky cheeks while she thought she deserved what was coming to her. She couldn't even ask for forgiveness.

Alain pulled her with him to the couch and sat her down. He went to the kitchen and she feared he'd come back with a knife or anything else to hurt her. She wanted to curl up into a tight ball again but her trembling body wouldn't listen to her.

When he came back he put a tray with a full plate with her favourite foods on it on her lap, and sat down next to her with Asitha at his other side as usual. She turned on a movie and they started on their own meal.

Tiness trembled even harder from the shock of a normal routine getting pushed onto her. They didn't treat her like trash, they didn't yell at her, called her names, or hurt her.

Alain looked at her crying in her fists. 'Hey, I said you're done crying. There's no reason to feel sad or anything.'

Tiness shook her head and a her mouth quivered a smile and the words stuck in her throat. 'I'm happy.'

Alain pulled her head against him and he pet her while she cried until relief flushed all fear from her mind.

***

By the time the movie ended Tiness had finished her meal with some effort because her hands still trembled a little from the stress of the previous days. The comedy had helped to take her mind off of it and she felt like she could breathe again. Asitha poured her a drink and she took it with two hands to prevent spilling it or dropping the glass. The familiar warmth filled her and it calmed her down further. She glanced sideways at Alain and Asitha relaxing like usual. 'Thank you.' she said softly with her hoarse voice.

'Don't thank us.' said Alain and smiled a little mischievously. 'You have kitchen and laundry duty to catch up to. 'And you'd better give it your all on the next retrieval mission we have to undertake.

Tiness almost snorted her drink through her nose and rubbed it as it tingled furiously inside while she laughed. 'Yeah, I do.' She took a deep breath and let it out, and looked down with flattened ears.. 'I wouldn't have blamed you if you hated me.'