We all stared openly at her, William and Rebecca’s chewing went a lot faster all of a sudden as they raced each other to be the first to protest.

“I’m the one he grabbed!” Fauve said loud enough that it was ‘almost’ shouting, leaning forward in her chair and slapping her free hand on the table, the dishes rattled against the wood while she went on, “It’s my story! I know what he did, nobody else does! Nobody gets to speak for me but me!”

“Fauve, you’re fourteen! They’re going to grill you up there. Some of them because they’re reporters and that’s their job. But some of them have probably been paid off by now to find some way to make you look bad. And others will probably be working for one of those xenophobic extremists! You don’t know what you’re going to walk into! Let me and your mother do it.” William protested to his daughter, “Or maybe I can get our lawyer to speak for you...”

Fauve’s fierce demeanor relaxed itself a little. “I love you both, mom, dad. I couldn’t be a luckier kid than to be yours. I mean that. I don’t say it much, but I mean it. I’m really glad you want to protect me. But I have to do this!” She exclaimed, her relaxed demeanor began to fade and the hand that was flat on the table, curled into an angry fist.

“Why?!” Rebecca exclaimed, “That pervert should be the one getting grilled, not you! Why put yourself through that, we can just release a statement through a media expert or something,” she looked to her husband, who nodded, “and let the grownups all deal with this. You’re still a child, you shouldn’t have to solve these problems!”

“I have to be the one to do it.” Fauve said again, “I may be a kid, but not to some people, and if I don’t speak for myself now, I’ll never feel safe again. I know it. I’ve been reading online ever since…” She swallowed hard and picked up a cup of milk, she drank deeply, leaving a milk mustache behind, she smacked her lips and explained, “ever since then. You remember when I was a little kid, dad, how I got bitten by that racoon and had to get those shots? What I was doing while we were at the doctor’s office?”

“You were reading the website about racoons and rabies the entire visit as I recall. You wanted to understand them both.” William said, affection clear in his voice and parental pride etched on his face, and Fauve nodded.

“Right, this is the same thing. An animal hurt me, so I wanted to understand what happened and why. So I’ve been reading a lot since then, learning about the subculture that supports that kind of thing, and how I can start feeling okay again. The only thing everybody agrees on really, is that he has power over me as long as I stay quiet. He’ll always get the comfort of knowing I was too afraid to speak for myself, even if he goes to jail, even if he gets confinement, he’ll come out smug and confident that I was afraid to say anything. Fauve Walker isn’t going to live like that!” She pounded her fist on the table, her cup toppled and the milk spread out over the table in all directions away from where she sat. “Even if nobody believes me and he goes free, he’ll never get to pretend he frightened me into staying quiet and hiding in my house forever.” She added and righted her cup, “Sorry.” She mumbled, though whether it was about the way she spoke to her parents or spilling the milk, I never learned.

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William and Rebecca reached for the napkins at the center of the table and began to mop up the spill, they were silent while they cleaned up the damp liquid and turned Fauve’s words over in their heads.

I spoke up, “I think she should do it.” I admit I was afraid when I said that, my knowledge of humans was still rudimentary, at least compared to other humans. But what she said, it felt right.

That said, I felt the will of her parents to protest, so before they could, while William was opening the garbage drawer and before he could toss away the wet, milk soaked dregs of used napkins, I offered a compromise. “I should go with her. They’ll want to question me. And as long as I’m hiding out, they can make up anything they like. I’ll bet nobody even knew I was a dlamisa until well after the fact. In fact I’ll bet a battery full of energy credits… and dlamisa never gamble, that the first widespread knowledge of this was when the press showed up and found the security guards from both our worlds out front.”

“Don’t you hate crowds, can you do that? Are you going to be okay?” Rebecca asked, ever the concerned motherly sort, she darted her eyes between her daughter and I.

“If I’m allowed to stand back from them… I-I think I can manage. I wish I were a lot braver than I am… I really do… I’m kind of a coward… but I should try.” I answered.

William sighed heavily and closed the drawer that held the kitchen waste. “You’re determined to do this, aren’t you Fauve? Even if we say no, you’ll just sneak online and do an interview yourself, won’t you?”

“Pretty much, dadu.” She said, and a smile danced across her face despite the subject.

“Fine then, but one condition. We all go. You can speak for yourself, but we’re going to be there to support you. Every step of the way. And don’t you even dare to protest.” William said and approached her, he put a hand on her shoulder.

Fauve looked down at the comparatively large hand of her father, “Yes, dadu.” She said with a twinkle in her eye.

“Now about you, Bailey.” Rebecca remarked and set her son on her lap, she began to bounce the little wiggler and said, “You’re no coward. Look I was never a soldier like my husband, but you rushed in without any regard for yourself to protect our daughter. If that’s not courage, damn me if I don’t know what is!” She said as she reprimanded me. “No more talk of being a coward, while you’re living under this roof.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” William added, “When all this comes out, nobody in this world will think you’re a coward, so you definitely shouldn’t think of yourself that way either. Cowards either run away, or do nothing, you did the exact opposite of cowardice, and you’re the bravest dlamisa I’ve ever met.”

“You’ve met four of us.” I pointed out, and he and his wife huffed and flicked their hands at the same moment, waving away my objection.

“Details.” He said. “You’re no coward, and we’re damn sure not going to let you think you are.”

If it had been said any other way I’d have thought they were angry at me. But if anything, the way they looked at me, I was fairly sure it was a mix of worry and pride.

Such is the nature of a human family.

Such is the nature of my human family. I told myself, and began to mentally prepare to do everything in my power to protect it when tomorrow came.