"He wasn't that friendly, at first," Yuyan replied, grateful to be talking about Saith and not herself. "We didn't know why, but he didn't--he didn't want to talk or be friends with anyone, and when another friend of mine didn't leave him alone they got into a terrible fight."

"We found out why, later--he was one of the Serpent Folk, but he'd been raised as human. He didn't know he was one of them until he changed for the first time, and he had to leave his home and family. Before he came to us he'd been moving from place to place, trying not to get caught." She shook her head sadly. "I guess he was surprised when we didn't kill him or chase him out, even when we all knew the truth."

She crossed her legs on the couch, thinking carefully of what to say next. "Even after that, though, it wasn't easy to be friends with him. But we all wanted to be, so...I guess we kept trying? He let me see what his past was like, eventually." She held up her hands. "I can do that, if I touch someone long enough, but if that person doesn't have a peaceful life, it's...not at all pleasant. So I got a little sick." She shrugged. "But in the end, it was worth it, because he trusted me, and before he didn't trust anybody."

"And some time after that, he decided I was his little sister. I'm still not really sure why, but it makes me happy anyway."