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Ai sighs again, pawing at her bandages. "This thing is annoying me. Help me get it off..." she begs. As Kero carefully slices through the bindings, she sits at still as she can. "I'm sorry about Bez, dulcha. He was so angry... at you and at me... and I don't know... maybe he was right... maybe I have sheltered you too much."

Ai sighs and feels her face. "Doesn't hurt anymore, how long was I out of it?" she asks giving herself a good hard shake. Then she settles down with a hefty sigh. "If I have, I'm sorry, Taro. It's just you have always been so prescious to me. And in many ways you were and still are a walking time bomb... not in a bad way... but you have so much potential in you... to do good... or bad... so much power locked away in such a tiny body. I needed to make sure you never hurt yourself... or anyone else for that matter."

"Hogwash!" quips Ai, sounding a great deal more like Tam than even before. "So we bumped heads, tripped over our ideals and fell on our noses.... what's to do but pick ourselves back up, brush off our knees and start again... Eveyone makes mistakes, Taro. I'm far from perfect... stop putting me on a pedestal. I messed up, too." She looks at her tiny body and then at his and chuckles. "Look at me... I'm a shrimp! Maybe you should raise me for awhile." But she's only teasing and he can sense it in her voice.

"Hey... hey... put me down..." she grumbles, then goes limp. "Dang cat.... " she grumbles softly yawning, purring, completely relaxed.

She blinks at him and giggles. "Don't think I can reach the stove anyway. Looking around she frowns. She sees Shar but no one else. "Dawnmistress, where is everyone?"

Shar gets a sheepish look and shrugs. "Master Hopian has taken his family and gone home... at my suggestion, so don't be angry with him. It was time they returned anyway. As for Lord Bez, I honestly don't know. He and Hopian had a disagreement and he left... hasn't been back since."

"He... he left?" stammers Ai worriedly. "He'll be back, won't he... He... he promised he'd stay...."

Ai hangs her head with a sigh. "You are only part of the problem, Taro... of this I'm certain. He and I had a long rather loud discussion before you ran away the first time... and I'm afraid I wasn't very understanding of his views... even though he was probably correct in having them."

Shar flashes them both a thin smile. "Screen you two... I can't keep doing it for you. Ai, I'm not sure what his trouble with Hopian was... but I did talk to him quite a bit over that last few days. He's been rather torn up inside... I suspect he needs to think things through a bit himself. Give him time."

"But he made me a promise... he wouldn't run anymore..." cries Ai and the pain in her voice is quite evident. "How can I be sure... how will I ever know how I feel, if he's not here ...."