An Independent Terigon: Sai's Story

Sai glowered at the ground, tail tucked unusually low and forepaw picking at the carpet. Lyric waited patiently for her to come out with whatever it was she wanted to ask. She'd come all the way to his apartment to talk to him, which was rare enough in itself, but everything in her manner said that she wanted to ask something of him. Sai wanting to ask something of anyone was a once in a lifetime experience. Hence her unhappy demeanor.

Lyric didn't see Sai much anymore, despite being her official guardian, for she lived with Gyra rather than with him, Malk, and Othue. It was her attempt at seeming independent, no longer living with her "father". There were "family" dinners every week, of course, and the occasional trip to a movie or sometimes Gyra's concerts-- whenever Lyric was feeling brave, anyway-- but Sai was always fiercely independent. It was cute, really, especially since she, like the rest of her species, was still so childlike.

"Sai?" he finally prompted, when the silence stretched too long for his taste.

"I wanna go somewhere," she replied after a second. As if that opened a floodgate, she burst out, "It's through the portals. There are neat dragons and stuff there, and I want to go and see it, and maybe-- and--" She skipped that thought entirely and plowed on. "But Gyra has a concert, and it's off-world and she'll be gone for days. I can't go alone, the portal people won't let me-- and anyway, I don't have enough credits." That made her scowl. Sai didn't spend much, and the small jobs she managed to take on now and then mostly met her needs-- Gyra and Lyric together quietly and subtly met those she couldn't-- but there was no way she could afford a trip through the public portals, much less a private one, if this place she wanted to visit weren't public.

And now, after a pause for breath and steadying of composure, came the question. "Could you-- could you take me?"

"Well, certainly," Lyric said warmly. "When do you want to go?"

Sai blinked, silent a moment, looking much as if she'd expected him to say no. "Tomorrow?" she suggested.

"If you aren't planning on staying more than the day, tomorrow is just fine," Lyric nodded. Tomorrow was his singular day off during the week. "Where are we going?"

"Uhhhh." Sai hesitated, giving him a wary, almost guilty look, much like she'd somehow hoped to sneak their destination by him without telling him just where it was.

"I do have to pay for a portal-ticket," Lyric told her gently, amused.

The little terigon scowled again, this time looking embarrassed. "It's called... Kalyturn's, er, Hybrid-- Hybridization Center...."

Lyric was surprised, not by how she stumbled over the long word, but at the word, itself. "The place young Surni went to, and attached that friendly dragon of hers?" At Sai's nod, Lyric frowned in thought. "Are you planning on going to... do the same?" Sai glowered but, reluctantly, nodded again.

"I was gonna ask you about that, too," she admitted in a low voice, not looking at him.

"Ask me what, Sai?" Lyric asked with a small smile.

The terigon looked like she might choke on her very words, but she got it out. "If someone wants to stay with me, would you-- ... help me?"

Lyric chuckled softly. "All you ever had to do was ask."

Sai just rolled her eyes at him.