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Emeral nearly collapsed as she finally made it to Lyza's house ten minutes later--a trip that normally would take twenty even at a brisk pace. After a brief recovery, she knocked furiously at the door. When it pried open the small rabbit stood in her pajamas, clutching a worn teddy-bear in her left arm.

"Hey, Lyz," she greeted, softly and calmly.

They embraced for a long moment at the threshold, comfort-bear forgotten and cast to the floor. The rabbit sniffled, and broke the hug, waving her hand for the tigress to come inside.

Emeral retrieved the bear and followed her friend.

Lyza's home was very elegant, with many wooden chairs and tables. It was like walking into a house of solid chocolate, each piece of furniture gently glowing in the sandy, golden hues of the lamps and shaded windows. The walls were a deep reddish-orange, and some rooms were sea-green or marigold. It was fairly dim, but not in a dreary kind of way.

They lived in a one-story house with lots of little corridors, built specifically to confuse people; or, at least, that's what it felt like. It took Emeral weeks to figure it out, and it still felt like she was finding some rooms for the first time, like sealed off chambers in an Egyptian Tomb. Each room was decorated just a little differently, with pictures and paintings and little trinkets on tables.

Lyza was like a ghost as she led Emeral to her bedroom. She wore a baby-blue nightgown that draped down to her calves, with matching socks, and the motes of dust and drifties in the light gave her white fur an ethereal halo. She intimately knew every sore spot of the scuffed wooden floor; she drifted over these spots so gently that they did not groan or whimper, leaving Emeral to be the one to blame.

When they approached the bedroom door the tigress half-expected Lyza to just pass on through.

The door shut with a creak behind them, and Emeral set her backpack down in its usual spot, home-away-from home next to Lyza's on the chocolaty floor. The tigress waited patiently as her friend went to the windows, opening the blinds just a little to let more light through. But finally she couldn't take it anymore and ran to embrace her once again.

The rabbit welcomed it, shivering with dry tears.

"It's okay," comforted her friend.

Memories flooded back into their minds. Shouting matches, slamming doors, screeching wheels, muffled wailing and sobbing coming from through the walls. The days where one minute they would be playing with cards or dolls, and then dashing to hide under the bed while the floor quaked and trembled the next.

The memories chilled Emeral, and she could only imagine what they were like for her friend. At least she could escape, could go home when the tension was high--had often been told to by Lyza's mom. But Lyza herself had to live the fear out. She would hide in her room for periods of time. Once she did it for three school-days straight, and scarcely came out for a drink of water from the sink in the bathroom--which was beyond Kval's room.

"It's okay," Emeral repeated, patting Lyza's shoulder.

"I need to talk to him..." Lyza said softly, her voice strained a little.

"But what if your mom--"

"She's out for a while, she had to go to the shop cuz of an emergency." Another sniffle, and a wipe of the nose. "Emmy, will you come with me? I need someone there...I can't go alone..."

"Kval won't hurt you," Emmy replied comfortingly.

"I know, I just need...mor...morey-support."

Emmy patted her friend some more, mercifully filling in the word-gap. "Kay. But your mom could be back any minute so we just gotta be quick, agreed?"

A feeble nod, and then hand was taken into hand as Emmy led her down the hall.

Kval's room used to be like the doorway to hell itself. It would always be shut, usually with smoke seeping from under the crack. He had even installed a lock on it without his parents' knowing, and only he had the key. Now his door didn't match any others in the house, since their father had broken it down once. The memory had to be pushed back with great effort.

Lyza bit her lip as Emmy bravely raised her loose fist and glanced back with a very calm expression. Knock-knock-knock. The white door carried the sound through the air.

"That had better not be my little sister disobeying mom's orders," his voice dared from a distance away.

"Kavl-waffle," Emmy spoke her special nickname, "May I come in?"

"Hmm...that does not sound like my little sister disobeying mom's orders," the voice came closer, and the doorknob jiggled. He stood, in jeans and a plain-white undershirt. "Sounds like my little sister getting someone else to disobey mom's orders for her." He smiled paternally down at the girls.

Lyza began to step away.

"Ah-ah."

She froze.

"You've come this far, little sis. Might as well go through with it like the little trouble-maker you are." He stepped aside, "Come on in, you're welcome, too, Emmy."

"Thanks," the tigress meekly replied, and took Lyza's hand.

Once past the threshold, Kval closed the door so that it was just ajar. He went over to the bed and sat down.

His room was not the dungeon that it once was: the walls were bare, no longer covered by posters of grotesquely disfigured faces or bodies; and the shelves and drawers were all kept neat and clean. Not an article of clothing on the floor, nor a dust-bunny under the bed. Every grain of wood was straight and polished. His only flaw was a well-contained book-case near his bed, wherein his books, CDs, hand-helds, and other knick-knacks lay in unorganized piles and stacks. Controlled chaos in an otherwise sterile room.

Kval patted the bed. "Volunteers?" He asked.

"I'll stand," Emmy spoke up, walking over to lean against the wall.

Lyza quietly made her way over and clambered up. She wanted so badly to say something but couldn't speak. She just sat for a moment, kicking her legs with her eyes half-open.

"Hmm...you're not very loquacious this post-median congress. Care to divulge your objective?"

She pouted her lips. "Stop using big words!" She blurted. "I don't know what they mean."

He smiled. "Well, you would know what I was saying," he reached over to the bookshelf and nabbed the dreaded yellow book, "If you'd study your vocabulary." He handed it to her. "You left that here yesterday. Don't you have a test over unit three on Friday?"

She nervously tapped the book.

"Oh, Emeral, I meant to ask."

The white tigress looked up, "Uh-huh?"

"How'd it go?"

Her mouth opened a little nervously. "Uh..."

"How'd what go?" Lyza asked quizzically, attention switching between brother and friend.

"Shh," Kval pressed a finger to his lips, "That's Emmy's secret, and she doesn't want anyone to know... yet."

"Why not?" She glared at Emeral, flattening her ears. "Why not?" She asked again.

"I...It has to be kept secret until...well..."

"Emmy has her reasons, little sis," the big brother said, tousling his sister's hair, "I shouldn't have really brought it up. I'm sure she'll tell ya when the time is right."

"You will?" She asked, glancing to Emmy, who was smiling bashfully, looking off to the side.

"Now..." Kval began, a seed of seriousness in his tone, "Are you okay enough to start talking to me, Lyz?"

Immediately her cheeks puffed and her eyes wiggled with tears. She burrowed her face into her brother's chest. He stroked her ears, calming words trickling from his lips onto her scalp.

He looked up at Emeral, mouthing, "Sorry."

She put her hands up, "I'm not here," she mouthed back.

He nodded, attention returning to the sobbing sibling by his side. "Why cry little guy?"

"Cuz...cuz mom...she...and you and she...and you haven't..."

He shushed her soothingly. He picked her up and crossed his legs, laying her down across his lap, supporting her head. He set her so she was facing away from Emeral, looking out the window. The blinds were drawn up, and she could see the wispy clouds scudding by in the royal blue sky. "Now...in complete sentences, say it again."

She sniffled. "Did you...why did you have drugs in your backpack?"

His smile wilted just a little. "Do you think I've gone back to being Big Bad Brother?" He asked softly.

She couldn't answer. It was on the back of her mind. But, she wanted to ignore it. Make it go away.

"Do you want me to go back to being Big Bad Brother?"

Her head shook violently; so much so, he had to brace her to hold still, lest she take a dive.

Sadness came over his face, his smile faded and eyes wilted. "Don't worry," he said in a wavering voice, placing a hand on her forehead, "I'll never. Not ever-ever. Be Big Bad Brother again. No matter what. Got it?"

She sniffled, noticing a single tear beading at the corner of his eye.

"This means yes," he nodded, then shook his head, "this means no..."

She nodded, then spoke in a crackle, "Got it."

His eyes closed and he took a quelling breath. Some peace seemed to return to his face and he wiped his eye with his other hand for just a second. He leaned over, and kissed her wet nose.

"Eww, I'm all snotty..." she said, rubbing the kiss away.

"You think I care?" He retorted, tousling her head, "We're family; vashi sopli - nashi sopli, as dad'd probly say." He shifted, allowing her to sit up on his knee. "Now...you deserve an explanation. But," he said, tapping her nose, "when I tell you, I want you to decide if you want to believe me or not."

"But I do believe--"

"Nh-nh," he waved a finger. "Sis, I used to be a bad person. I've worked really hard, but I could relapse." His ears swiveled behind his head. "I don't want to relapse, so you can't go easy on me, kay? I care about mom and dad, and what they say is law 'round these 'ere parts," his country accent was atrocious, "But there's one person that I care about most of all. Even if I got locked away or something." His sister shook her head at the words, "I don't want that person to be sad."

He smiled and fixed her hair, "Do you know who that person is?"

"...Me?"

"Right-o kiddo," he said, knuckling her shoulder. "So it's up to you to keep me in my place, got it?" A nod. "If you don't believe me, and I'm telling the truth, I'm going to try extra hard to do good so that you do believe me, y'know?" Another nod, a little confused but a nod all the same. "And if I'm lying and you believe me, then I probably deserve to be locked away, yeah?"

She paused. The way he said it made her insides quiver. She looked up at her brother, and he nodded as if to respond for her. She closed her eyes and fell against his chest, against the wet spot she'd made with her tears earlier.

"When I was in middle school, there was this kid we called Buggy," Kval began, in a story-tone voice, stroking her ears, "He was one of my bad-friends, the one that got me into doing that nasty stuff you don't like."

She shifted, looking up at him with her head half-nuzzled in his armpit.

"Well...when I switched schools I left him and everyone else behind. Problem is, he's switched now too. He's at my school, has been for a while. I tried avoiding him, using my ninja-rabbit skills; but...he still found out I was there, and now he's been trying to get me back on that stuff."

There was a moment of silence, an intermission. He breathed in quickly, and out slowly.

"I dun' wanna go back on that stuff, Lyz. I really don't," he admitted with sad-voice, "But Buggy dudn't understand. So I think he decided to slip some of that bad stuff in my backpack, to try and tempt me. You know what 'tempting' is right?"

She nodded.

"So then, mom found it by accident; I didn't even know it was in there. And now I'm in trouble, but it's not really my fault--although," he said cautiously, breaking his story-tone voice, "I could be lying about this whole thing."

She looked up nervously.

"Mom thinks I am, and she has every right to."

"It's not fair!" Lyza shouted, slamming her fist into his chest, eliciting an oof! "That stupid Buggy! Why does he hafta be so de...de...devirous!"

"Because, little sis, he doesn't have a little sis at his home that he can care about."

Suddenly the earth rumbled, and Kval's bedroom door burst open. An adult rabbit, as round as she was tall, stood in the threshold with eyes as blood-red as her dress. "Lyz-a-a!" She called with thick accent, "I zouwt I told you, nots to tahks to Kval?"

"But mom he's--"

"Noah butsah!" She warbled, ears flopping angrily. "I vwant yous to goes into your rhooms, and nots comes out ahnteel yah fah'sers gyets homes!"

Lyza glared angrily, trying to protest again, but Kval gently covered her muzzle. Her ears fell down in defeat, and he let go. "Fine," she pouted, hopping down, "Come on Emmy."

"Net!" The large woman said definitively as her dress rippled with the stamp of her foot. She then spoke with a more friendly and clear, yet stern voice; "I am szorry, Miss Em'rrl, buts you 'ahff to be goingk homes. Lyza is grounded for rest of z'vweeks."

Lyza shouted and ran out the door past her mother. "Nenavizhu tibia!" She screamed in the hall, and went to her room, slamming her door. There was a moment of petrified silence.

Emeral stood frozen, as much an alien as she was a family friend.

"Mama, dolzhen li ya otvezti Emmy domoi?" Kval asked neutrally.

"No. Yous vwill alszo stay in your rooms until fah'sers gets home. Vwe vwill decide vwat to do vwi'hs yous togeszers." She turned to the young tigress. "Com'e dear," she said with less of an accent and more of a butterscotch voice, "I vwill vwalk you outzid'e, and ahm szorry you a'd to see zes..."

* * *

Home. Blessedly quiet and calm home.

The impulsive thought made her feel a little guilty.

"Emeral?" Mom's voice came from the kitchen, among something frying on the stove. "Dear where've you been?"

"I was at Lyz's," she replied haggardly, "Kval had drugs in his backpack."

"Oh my gosh!" She practically flung contents off the pan as she turned to her daughter, "Is he back on them?"

"No, mom," she raised her hands, "He explained it to us and," she slapped her sides, "...well, I believe him, but I don't really wanna talk about it okay?"

The mother tigress's face became proud. "So you went over to comfort your friend, huh?" She set the spatula aside and tousled her daughter's hair. "I raised my little girl right."

On the inside Emeral felt sour. Here she was, at home with a nice meal being cooked. Meanwhile Ket was foraging for food while his mom worked, and Lyza and Kval were being punished for something that wasn't even their fault.

"Well, I think it's time you were rewarded for showing some responsibility." Her mom said, and went over to an orange bag on the table. "What has free nights and weekends, and unlimited texting?"

Emeral shrugged, replying irritably; "I dunno mom. A gerbil?"

"Oh hurr," her mother commented, pulling out a sleek and shiny red thing from the bag. "Try again," she said, displaying the object in her hand.

Emeral caught it as it flopped into her palms, and felt its weight. She opened it up; it sort of snapped upright like a soldier at attention. The inside screen winked on, displaying a moving background of a spinning windmill. She closed it, the little screen winking on to a similar image. "Thanks," she said neutrally.

Her mom sort of dimmed. "Well...I guess I'll just let you appreciate it when you're out of your little funk. I added my number in, so now you have to text me when you're out so I know you're safe, kapoodles?"

She nodded.

"Now, go do something to make you happy, and dinner will be ready before you know it. Dad's working late tonight, so it's just you and me. I'm making French toast to use up that bread."

Emeral sighed, took the orange bag off the table, and went into her room.

She opened and closed the phone over and over, just getting used to the motion. It was calming, repetitive; mindless. She could just shut her brain off. Fwip, glow! Fwap, little-glow. Fwip, glow! Fwap... After a few minutes she kept it open, watching the little icons. She opened the address book--for the first time, and yet it seemed like she'd done it a hundred--and saw Daddy :-( as the first contact. Mommy :-) was the second.

Inside she giggled, though it hurt her mood to do so, and set about changing the names to the less-incriminating Mom and Dad. Then, she looked at the Student Directory on her nightstand, seven digits scrawled on the inside cover. She felt a little guilty. Maybe Lyza's should be the first number she put in. But then, Lyza would understand if she knew. Then she decided, she'd do it alphabetically.

It took a second to figure out how to add the numbers and spell the names right, but at last she had them in.

She thought about calling him. She wanted so badly to talk to him, like Lyza wanted to talk to Kval. It was pleasant, watching them come close as brother and sister. Seeing them like that made her feel warm, and right now she wanted to be close too.

But that would have to wait. They were still just friends. But, he'd pretty much said he wanted to be closer. That he wanted to be boy- and girl-friend as quickly as possible. He was trying really hard, too. She sighed, falling back onto her pillows. Today was such a roller-coaster, and she was still holding her cookies by some miracle.

She closed her eyes... Nap for a bit.