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"Aren't finals finished? You should be out of school now, shouldn't you?" A voice comes up from the edge of my desk. I don't have to look to know it's Ray; a 3-inch tall, white-furred wolf Xori. I keep tapping at my keyboard, just responding to a few chats with friends.

"Yea, I finished last week," I say, now looking at him-- standing on an enormous windowsill, staring down at the snow from the inside. The taste of caramel coffee enters my muzzle as he takes a drink from the cup. I'm still not used to the way this works, but I've grown more accustomed to it over time. I keep tapping at my computer, even as I stare with him out of the window at the snowfall. The room is just slightly too cold to be completely comfortable, or perhaps it's the chill flowing in from the window pane.

"Why are you still at school, then?" The wolf asks, staring at me. "You just really like sitting in the quiet or something?"

"Something like that," I murmur, hoping not to talk about it-- not that it matters. He-- Ray-- feels what I feel. We even know each other's thoughts sometimes. He'd know I'm in a mood even if I tried to play it off. "Do I need a reason to want to be alone?" I respond, stopping my typing and looking outside-- on top of the windowsill again. Ray and I are in different places, but our... connection... allows us to 'visit' one another-- apparently telepathically. I'm not actually on a windowsill, but I can see, feel, hear, and taste what he does as he stands on the windowsill where he lives. I can see the world from his eyes and he can see it from mine. It sounds weird because it is, but it feels weirder. Ever been hot and cold all at once? What about happy and sad? We haven't really decided what to call it... I just say it's a connection. That's the narrowest term I can think of that describes it without assuming how it works. I haven't told anyone about this yet. I'm still not convinced I haven't lost my mind.

"Something you wanna chat about? You don't have to think about everything in your head anymore, you know?" Ray asks.

"Nothing," I murmur.

"What's the point in us being able to do this if we can't even talk about this kind of stuff? Every time you're in a mood you just shut down." Ray presses.

"Look, I just..." My eyes settle on him at the edge of my desk. "Isn't your owner coming back soon? Shouldn't you be worrying about that instead of interrogating me?" I feel his heart sink, which means my mood quickly follows his down-- but I'm not sure why. He knows when his owner gets back; that shouldn't be new or a surprise. It's funny-- or maybe it's sad, I dunno. A month and a half ago, I couldn't see myself getting this worked up because of a Xori. Now, though--

"Sorry," I say, staring at him from the windowsill again. I look up towards the cage he's kept in the distance and sigh a little. The first time I met Ray, I woke up in that cage. Thought I was having a bad dream. The wolf is lucky that his owner is a fan of connecting everything to his home's wireless; it's the only reason I can let him out of the cage or get the coffee maker to make him coffee remotely.

"Are you?" He asks, but then shrugs and waves a paw. "Don't worry about it. I'm just a Xori, right? I'll stay quiet 'til the connection ends if you just tell me how far away Perce is."

I hesitate but bring up the tracker I'd created and bugged Ray's owner's phone with last week. "He's off now. You have 15 minutes or something like that-- But hey, just..." I start to say, staring down at him on my desk again. "I'm...trying, alright? To get better at this. At talking to you. The reason I'm pissed isn't even something worth talking about. I just don't... want to go home. Rather stay here in the dorms. Pisses me off that I have to go back. That's all. I just want some space to brood quietly until it's time to go. I didn't mean to snap at you, alright?"

He rubs a paw over one of his ears. "Yea. Thanks for the info. And... I'm sorry, too." Something is still bothering him. Before I can ask, the connection is gone. I'm not on the windowsill and he's not on my desk. I sigh a little-- we aren't good at this yet, but we've gotten better over the month. Sometimes, when I think about him, or when one of us needs the other, we automatically connect. I haven't figured out how to make it always work, though. I sit there a while, thinking about how weird it is seeing things through his eyes. Before our connection formed, I never thought much of the Xori-- they're small, they make good companions or pets, a lot of them are klepto... but ever since I woke up in that cage, I just...

*BZZZZT* -- *BZZZZZZT*

I snap out of my thoughts and grab my buzzing phone, staring at the screen as it vibrates against my fingers. It's Mom. "Right on time," I murmur, answering it.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Son."

"Hi, Mom. What's up?"

"When do we need to come by and pick you up?"

"The dorms close tomorrow so--"

"We could come tonight if you like?"

"Tomorrow, please. I have a few things I wanna finish up." It's only a half-lie. I do have things to finish but it's nothing I couldn't do at home.

"Alright, sweetie, we'll swing by tomorrow around 4 in the afternoon. How're you? Did you finals go alright?"

"Yea, they were fine. I knew the answers most of the time and I think I did okay even when I wasn't sure. And I'm okay, just busy as normal."

"I'm glad to hear-- we're proud of you, Lu. I'm looking forward to seeing you at home again, I miss you."

"I miss you all too, Mom. And thanks, I--"

"You should bring your suit back with you this year-- don't forget it again. We'll be going to church this year as a family."

I sigh a little. "Sure, Mom, I won't forget it."

"Good, don't want you coming in khakis again like last year. Plus there've been some cute girls showing up at service lately--"

"Okay, Mom. I gotta go, alright? See you tomorrow?"

"Oh uh, yeah, alright, Luta. See you tomorrow, sweetie. Love you. Mwah."

"Love you, too, Mom." I hang up and groan, tossing my phone to the bed and leaning back in my computer chair and staring up at the ceiling for a good 10 minutes. I hope Ray's alright. I hope this Xmas is easier than previous years. "Why me," I mutter, wincing as a loud *grrrrlll* rises from my belly. I don't feel like getting up, but now that my stomach is begging for food, it's getting hard to stay sitting. Now's as good a time as any for dinner, I guess. Begrudgingly, I get up, get my coat on and grab my keys. As I open the door to my dorm room, I walk out of the door to my cage and into a hand--

"Hey, Ray. You doing okay today?" Perce asks, wrapping his fingers around me. I begin to panic and thrash against what feels like thick, warm, prehensile tree-trunks that could crush the life out of me if they wanted. No matter how I jerk against his grip there's just no fighting it. "Fuck!" I shout before I hear a door open. I'm in the hallway of my dorm, jerking, hyperventilating, and trembling on the floor. I freeze up when I hear a door open.

"You alright?" A fox asks as he looks out of his dorm room door. Of course one of the last people in the dorm hall happens to be right next door to see me act like a mad otter on the floor.

"Y-yea..." I murmur, trembling but winning control of myself again. "Yea, I'm fine... " I struggle to get to my feet and stumble down the hallway towards the stairs. Once in the stairwell, I lean against a wall and take a few deep breaths. Fuck.

"It's not me, it's Ray," I tell myself quietly, trying to calm myself down. I consider going back to my room, worried I'll connect again on the way to get food. "I can do this... I can do it... I just have to control it." I close my eyes, focusing on the wolf. Focusing on the dread Ray was feeling as he was grabbed.

"Not great," I hear Ray say. I'm standing nearby on a desk while the looming form of a rabbit-- Perce-- sits above Ray and I. I'm standing behind a cup with a bunch of pencils in it. I don't think Ray knows I'm even visiting yet. It doesn't seem like Ray had the same reaction to being grabbed as I had. He seems calm. I try focusing on them and walking down the stairs slowly. It's a hard feeling to describe-- almost overwhelming. It's like typing something on your cell phone and also running full speed down the street at the same time.

"Why not great?" Perce asks, tapping his claws nearby Ray. "Your family is coming over soon for the holiday-- what's not to be happy about?" I feel the wolf's heartbeat quicken.

As the claws continue tapping, Ray's gaze shifts toward a little machine nearby-- a claw polisher. The wolf stands up, walking over to it and picking it up calmly. He approaches the formerly tapping finger claws and begins to buff over them with the machine.

"Ray, come on," Perce says softly, reaching to pet the wolf gently with his free finger. "You can talk to me-- what's eating you?"

"You don't have to pretend you don't know, Perce," Ray mumbles. "Look, you know how my family is and you know--"

"They're good role models and you should try to behave more like them," the rabbit interrupts. "Look, you realize that the more you cooperate the more I can let you walk around on your own, have your own free time. You even get a regular salary-- you can buy your own stuff. That's more than most Xori."

Ray keeps polishing, keeping his eyes on the claw. His heartbeat keeps climbing-- and now mine is climbing with it. I try to keep walking down the stairs slowly even as I watch from behind the cup. It's hard. Especially as Ray's adrenaline rush becomes my own.

"Ray, you know I care about you, right? I just want to make things easier. You stress yourself out for nothing. What're you still fighting me on this for?"

"If you really care so much, why not let me go? Find another Xori if so many would love to be in my position."

"You'd die out there on your own, Ray. There's nothing for you. Be reasonable-- you can go on vacations with me if you want to get out of the house. What's wrong with that?"

As I reach the bottom of the stairs, I'm trembling, angry. Somehow, Ray manages to keep it together but my fists are clenched now.

"You're too small. What's a Xori going to do out there that they can't do in here? Studies show that Gamxins in your position live the longest and happiest lives of all. If you'd just accept it--"

I can't do it-- it's too much; I feel a headache coming on. I try to ignore the voices and focus on where I am. Focus on the cold air as I open the door to leave the dorm hall. Soon enough, it's just me and the dark, cold winter night again. I take a few deep breaths and close my eyes. Fuck. It takes a minute for me to get my heart rate down, but the cold air helps. I try not to think of the wolf for my own sake as I walk to the shop.

It's only when I manage to make it back to my room an hour later that I let myself think about what I'd seen. I don't know that I understand it fully. Why did he feel so much anger? I kick my shoes off and lie down on my bed, taking a deep breath and staring up at the ceiling. Why does Ray want to leave so badly?

"Feel any better?"

I open my eyes, looking down to find the wolf on my chest. I stare for a few moments, then reach a finger down slowly. "May I?" I ask.

He nods slowly. "If you like."

I pet over his chest and stomach and then respond. "I don't feel much better, no. But I think I'm ready to talk about it if you want. On one condition."

"What is it?"

"You tell me what's bugging you, too."

His head lifts and he looks up at my face. "Heh, yea, sure. No secrets between us, right?"

"Right. Though, shouldn't this connection include us just knowing one another's thoughts? I know it happened to me at least once. You saw my thoughts."

"Yea. I don't know. Maybe someday in the future, we won't need to explain things to one another. If we ever manage to control this fully. You wanna start, then?" He reaches up and feels along the fleshy webbing between my fingers while my fingertip continues rubbing at his torso.

"It's my family," I mutter. "Especially during the holidays. The questions-- 'when are you going to find a girlfriend?' -- 'is there a special lady back at school?' -- 'you should come to church more often, do you have one to attend at college?'". My finger keeps rubbing against his abdomen, thinking it's weird that I can feel him.

"Oh-- they don't know that you prefer--"

"I don't know what I prefer," I interrupt. "At least, I know it's not just one or the other. I don't need them prying, though. It's the same question every year. Every holiday. And then Aunt'll go off about how she and my uncle met and how it was love at first sight and how the church is the cornerstone for all of it. How I should strive for the same. My uncle'll give me advice on how to meet women and then he and my dad'll turn an old football game on and talk about politics. It's a nightmare. And since I'm graduating soon and have a job lined up, they've been asking more and more. I don't want to have to tell them that my partner might not end up being a woman. But more than that, I'm afraid of what they'll think of me. That they'll be disappointed I won't be giving them a grandkid or something."

"I get that," Ray grumbles. "I don't have to struggle with sexual identity, but my parents still give me shit about other things. Well, not just my parents... Perce, his parents. Rodigans don't understand what it's like for us."

"I think I'm starting to," I murmur. "But whatever it is that lets us do this..." I try to be careful with my words. "I might be the only Rodigan that knows what it's like to be in someone's fist. It's not comfortable."

I see a little smile crack across his muzzle."Heh. Ever hear of a Gamxin?" He asks.

"Xori servants for high society Rodigans, right?"

"Yea. A glorified prostitute, but an expensive one. Trained to entertain; do shows, have sex, massage to the best of my physical ability. It's part of my family at this point. I was born into it. From day one I was meant to be employed-- a fancy word for owned-- by Perce."

"Gamxins are paid, though, right?"

"Yea and I can buy my own stuff and decorate my own little home, find a wife, and have my own kids who'll be trained and grow up to serve Perce's offspring just like what happened to me. Yea, I have it 'better' than other Xori... or at least that's what they tell me. But it's not living. I make none of my own choices and I live to watch someone else fulfill their own dreams. That's not even the worst part for me, though. The worst part is that my family is complicit to the point of absurdity. I tell them why I'm depressed and they tell me I should just be happy. I tell them that this isn't fair, that I don't want this life and they rat me out to Perce. I ask them to just hear me out and listen, but they tell me I'm spoiled and need to get over myself. I'm the problem. My needs are the problem. If I can't tell my own fucking mother and father that I'm not happy and that I don't know what to do about it then who the fuck am I supposed to tell? And now Perce knows and is trying to train it out of me."

"It drives you insane," I say. "I don't know how you could handle the kind of anger you felt earlier today. How you could keep working even when you wanted to scream and shout."

"So you -were- there; I thought I felt you. It was faint, but I heard someone ask if I was alright. Anyway, I'm afraid they're not going to leave me alone about it until I crack or I'm dead."

"I only saw a little before I had to stop watching. I could feel what you felt inside-- but your body language was the opposite."

"I don't like what they did to me. I hate it. But the training works. It works too well." He's quiet for a few seconds before speaking again. "But honestly? I needed this. The day I woke up to you standing in my cage, I thought I'd finally gone mad. Now I'm just happy for the occasional company."

I can't help but smile a little.

We lie there silently and I rest my paw over his little form in my room, while in his cage we lie next to one another. I can see out the window from where we are-- it's still snowing pretty hard. "You ever go out there and build tiny snowxori or something?"

"I have... not recently. When Perce would go outdoors when we were a bit younger-- yea. Christmas has always been a weird time for me. It used to be one of my favorite holidays but as I've gotten older, I've grown sour towards it. Well, really, I've grown sour towards the people I spend it with."

"It'd be my favorite holiday if I could keep certain topics out of our family discussions," I mutter. "If you did get your freedom, what would you do with it?" I ask.

He's silent a while before heaving a little sigh. "Explore, work a few jobs, meet people, try things until I find something I like doing and see if I can make a career doing it... just not this. I mean, look at what you do. The fact that you can open this cage from wherever the hell you are is amazing. I don't know the first thing to that-- at least not without your help. There's so much out there that I'll never see. I'll live longer than 80% of Xori and see a quarter of what most of them saw."

"I--" I begin to say before we feel footsteps nearby. I look towards the door, then at him. "Perce?"

"Yea, probably about time for bed." He looks at me. "Thanks. I'm glad at least one person will listen to me."

I huff a little. "Likewise. I'll pray for your survival on Christmas day if you pray for mine."

"Tell me who to pray to and consider it done, man. Have you figured out how to disconnect yet?"

"Nope, but this feels nice. We can just lie here quietly." I hug against him in the bed, taking a deep breath. Back in my bed, I have him pressed to my chest. It feels good. I never knew that giving... well, effectively, myself a hug could feel like this.

--Christmas Day--

The next week is smooth, at least. I make it home, hang out with Mom and Dad during the day and spend the evenings working on side projects. I even manage to prepare a little surprise for Ray. We bake a bunch of cookies to ship to family members and decorate the living room with the tree, streamers, stockings, old Christmas cards, candles-- the works. Honestly, decorating for Christmas is one of my favorite parts. Christmas morning is a bit earlier than I intended for it to be, as I wake up to the sound of arguing.

"Listen to yourself, Ray. You're stressing over nothing. All you have to do is perform a few simple duties and you could live in the lap of luxury. Other Xori would kill to be in this position," says a smooth, female voice. "Perce has been nothing but kind to you; you're lucky he only keeps you in that cage all day as punishment and not something worse."

"I'm lucky it's not something worse? And from my own mother-- that's rich. Look, you like this place so much? You can have it. I'm not trying to take that from you. I don't even know why you bothered coming to talk to me-- oh wait, they probably commanded you to-- is that right?"

"You owe everything you have to them. Have you ever gone hungry? Been cold? Have you ever wanted for anything? Why do you need to leave? With your allowance, you can buy anything you want and have it sent here!" She's a snowy-furred wolf just like her son. Her pelt is longer around her head and ears-- the woman definitely has an air of pompousness around her.

"You're not listening to me, Mom. I. Want. To. Leave. I don't want this life-- I don't care if it means I don't know where my next meal is coming from. I don't care if it's a bigger risk than staying here. I don't care if other Xori would kill for my position; they can literally have it. Go find someone out on the fucking street and drag them in here. They can have it," Ray shouts.

She rolls her eyes and turns to walk a few steps away. "You'd rather die outside in the cold than stay?"

"Yes," Ray growls defiantly. "Please. Any day of the week."

"I can't believe you grew up so ungrateful."

The room shakes a little as Perce makes his way up to the room. I watch the door open and the large rabbit walk in. "We got a package for you, Ray," the rabbit says. "Do you know who would send you a package?" He sets a small box about half the size of Ray next to him.

To his credit, Ray's composure returns immediately as the lapine walks in. "Er... no, I don't," he murmurs, walking over to it. "Did you look inside?"

"It's your present," Perce says. "You open it."

Even his mother looks interested, having turned to stare towards the box and her son. Ray looks over the box a few times, then tugs the lid up, lifting it over his head and digging around the inside. I actually know what this is.

"It's a... tablet?" Ray says, tugging it out. I'd loaded up a Xori-sized tablet with a bunch of geographical information and left instructions to the wolf. I hope he finds the instructions or else he won't understand why I gave it to him.

"See? If you didn't live here you do you think you'd have received something like that?" His mother asks. Ray doesn't answer.

"Said it's from anonymous-- but it seems pretty cool. Oh! And Mom wants you, Samantha. You want a ride down?"

Ray's mom nods. "Yes, I'm done speaking to him. I'm sorry he's been such a burden on you, Perce."

"It's... fine," Perce murmurs. "One day he'll come around." The rabbit takes the wolf woman, rubs a finger over Ray's head gently, and starts out of the room. "I'll be back for you later, Ray."

"LU!" My head shifts towards my own door where my Mom has her head poked in. "Wake up-- people are arriving! We want to start eating and opening on time."

"Alright," I murmur, rubbing my eyes. I get myself showered and dressed before walking down the stairs and towards our living room. The whole house smells like fish and turkey. My uncles and aunts from both sides are already here with their kids. Three of them, Nick and Velma's kids, are screaming and running around the house after one another. Paul, Cal and Louise's son, is just sitting on our couch staring at the TV looking kind of glum for the holiday. He's only a few years younger than me at 18. We hang out together now and again on campus since he got accepted last semester.

"Luta, long time!" I twist my head to see Uncle Cal, my dad's brother, walking over and giving me a hug. "How's school been?" He puts an arm around my back and walks me towards the kitchen while we talk.

"Fine, I guess; glad to be out. How've you been?"

"Same old. Look, I wanna ask you something about Paul. Has he been acting weird at school?" He begins keeping his voice down while we stand in the back of the kitchen-- out of earshot of the living room. Huh.

"What do you mean by weird?" I ask.

"Y'know..." he looks back towards the living room and sighs. "Well, okay... the other day we were going through his room cleaning up when I brushed his laptop while taking things off his desk. The screen saver turned off and the image on the screen was pornographic." He stops as if that were enough. I just kept staring at Uncle Cal, waiting for the bad part. At least, until I recall how religious my family is.

"Ah. Well, I mean, he's 18--"

"Sure, sure, if it were just normal pornography it might not be a big deal but... it was a picture of another male. I just wanted to know... have you noticed him, y'know..."

My cheeks begin heating up and I have to remind myself that I'm not the one he's asking about. "Oh uhm... no. No I haven't noticed anything," I say. It's a lie, but I don't think Paul needs any more heat than he already has.

Uncle cal nods his head a little. "Alright. Well, if you do please tell your parents or me. After we found out about it, we pulled all of his gifts for this year. I just can't believe it-- and he never said a single word to me or your aunt," he sighs. "I just don't know where we went wrong." Now my heart is really pounding. I chuckle but only because I really don't know what else to do.

"Heh, w-well, y'know college campuses these days..." God just get me out of here. Please just make him walk away.

"Yea, yea. But we're gonna make sure he gets the help he needs. Have you met anyone yet?"

"No," I say quickly. "Too busy studying, heh... heh."

"You should make time to find yourself a nice woman while you're surrounded by them. Trust me. Soon as you graduate, the selection goes way down." He makes a diving motion with his paw and then pats me on the back. "Anyway, I better go see if the wife needs any help pulling the food out. Please send a prayer up for your cousin." He turns to walk off and I just watch, trembling a little. Part of me wants to talk to Paul, but another part doesn't know what I'd say.

"Hey, Luta. How're you, hun?" Aunt Louise walks in holding a roasting pan.

"Fine Aunt Louise, you?"

"Good, good. Can you go grab the pot out of my trunk?"

"Yea," I say, quickly walking out to her car. I feel bad for Paul, but I decide I won't say anything to anyone. It's none of my business, anyway. I help Aunt Louise and Aunt Velma get the food set on plates and trays while Mom helps arrange the presents with my uncles and the others in the living room.

"Alright, that should be fine," Aunt Velma murmurs once we have everything arranged. "I think we'll be doing presents first this year, right?"

"Yea," Aunt Louise says. "Let's go see if they're ready for us."

We walk out into the living room to find the presents in piles. I glance at Paul who, of course, has nothing next to him. I can't believe they're going through with this now of all times.

"Ya'll ready??" Aunt Velma grins. The three youngest otters are already shaking and feeling their presents, arguing over who's going first. I go sit next to my pile, which is near my Dad, Uncle Cal, Uncle Nick, and Paul.

"Hey, man," I say to Paul. I don't want to, but it'd be rude if I said nothing.

"Hey," he murmurs. God this feels wrong.

We start with the youngest. It's always cute watching them tear the wrapping paper off and squeal, dancing around with whatever toy they happened to get and immediately trying to play with it before they've even finished opening the rest. My aunts push them to open the next and we repeat. It's worse when they get a noisy toy 'cause then they have to mash the button that makes the noise at least fifteen times before they quit.

After about fifteen minutes, when the kids start on their final gifts, I realize Paul should be next since he's the youngest before me. I glance at him again and he's just watching the television, slouched against the arm of the couch.

"Why don't you say something?" Ray's voice calls. I look down at him silently; he's standing there on my leg. I can't talk like this, though. Instead, I visit him. He's in his cage. I can hear the rest of Perce's family downstairs. I look around a little, but he presses me. "You shouldn't just watch that happen. What they're doing is fucked up."

"What am I supposed to do? I can't make Uncle Cal give him his gifts."

"We're the only ones there that understand what he's going through and he doesn't even know it. They're torturing him and we're complicit," Ray growls.

"It's not my responsibility! Why does this fall on me? They don't know about ME and I don't want them to. I don't want that pressure, Ray."

"I'm not telling you to come out to them! I'm telling you to stand up for your cousin. Stand up for what's right."

I roll my eyes. "You don't get it."

Ray sighs. "Please. Don't do him like my siblings do me. Don't ignore him here as if he's the problem. I can't stand here and watch this happen for the second fucking time today, Lu. I won't."

My hand curls into a fist. 'Why me?' I think to myself.

"You mean why us. It's me and you. Both of us," Ray says, walking nearer. "You're not out there alone, I'm with you. I can help if you let me." He holds out his hand. "We can stop this from happening together. Besides, even if they did find out what are they going to do? You're not a kid anymore. You're an adult-- what're they going to call your job and tell them not to hire you?"

"You're not going to tell them, are you?"

"No. But I want us to stand up and tell them this is wrong. We both know it's wrong. You don't want Paul to go home tonight and think his world is coming down around him, do you? If we stand up here then at least... he'll know we have his back."

"...y-yea, I guess. Yea." I take his hand. "But don't take it too far."

"Do I ever?"

Ray and I had only done this once before. It's not that he has full control over my body, but it's like... my body and brain just know what to do. It's actually an amazing feeling. My doubts melt away as the wolf's strength gives me confidence I've never felt in a situation like this.

"Alright, Lu. Your turn," I hear them say, skipping Paul.

"I won't open my presents unless Paul can open his," I respond.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Paul look at me.

"Luta, don't be ridiculous. Open your--" My dad begins to say.

"No. Paul hasn't done anything wrong and I won't sit here and watch you all do this to him. So either he opens today or I won't."

"Luta you are -way- out of line," Uncle Cal growls.

"Your son is sitting here probably wondering if his life is over. You wanna know why he didn't tell you? Because he knew something like this would happen. You're a bad parent if you think this is the right--"

"Luta--" Mom tries to interrupt but I keep going.

"Way to deal with this is to make him miserable. Both of you." I look at Aunt Louise, then at Paul who's gawking between me and his parents. "Paul you've done nothing wrong and don't let either of them convince you that you have. They should be working to understand -you-. THEY should be listening and they aren't. They're ignoring you."

"Alright," Uncle Cal growls, standing up and approaching. I stand up, too, but my dad grabs Cal's arm and pulls back.

"Cal! Back off come on..." He stands up.

"No! Jeff! He's way out of line here! He can't talk to us like that! Are you just gonna stand there and--"

"Cal, come on. Let's go get some water." He pulls harder even as Uncle Cal resists. Dad looks at Mom and motions at me like he wants her to do something. Mom looks at Aunt Louise and then at me. The rest of the family seems dumbfounded. No one wants to say anything.

"Alright, well, why don't we just let Paul open and we can move on from there?" Uncle Nick says. "That sound good to everyone? Louise?"

"If it'll get Lu to sit down," she mutters.

"Alright, Lu?" Uncle Nick looks at me.

"Thank you," I say, sitting down calmly and looking at Paul. "Your turn."

Paul hesitates, looking at his Mom who just motions at the presents in a defeated manner. He stands up and goes to get his gifts right afterward.

Unfortunately, Uncle Cal comes back still livid. He rounds Aunt Louise and Paul up, saying that they're leaving. He doesn't make eye contact with me as he angrily picks all of their stuff up, including whatever they'd gotten for me, and storms out of the door-- but not before Paul can pull me in for a hug while his parents are rushing to get out to the car. "That was crazy, man... "

"It was worth it," I said. "If you need anything, call me, okay? Don't hesitate."

"I don't think I'll have phone privileges for a while but... I'll see you at school." He rushes off to catch up.

I feel great. I've never felt better. Mom and Dad try to give me a stern talking to after we finish but I brush it off. I know I did the right thing and there's nothing they can do to me.

For the rest of the evening, I can't get how great that felt out of my head. I feel so... powerful. Like nothing could stop me. I go to bed feeling like a million bucks. "I think we did well," Ray says, lying on my pillow next to my head.

"Yea. You were right. I'm glad we stood up to them."

"Me, too. I needed that win after today, to be honest. But hey-- before I forget. Thanks for the gift. I really appreciate it."

"It's the least I could do. Did you read the note?"

"Yea," he says. "It's an interesting idea. I like it."

"Find which ones you want to go to. I'll go there for us and you can connect to me. I know it's not the same as you actually being there, but at least you can kind of experience it. Plus it'll be practice for us."

"It's a start, yea. Heh, who am I kidding? This is probably the nicest thing a Rodigan has ever done for me."

I smile a little. "One day, maybe we can get you out of there. I don't know. It'll be hard since you're a Gamxin..."

"I wouldn't bet on it. But this is the next best thing. At least I can feel like I'm not stuck here all the time. Being able to hang with you hasn't been the smoothest ride, but the more we do it the more I like it. I know it annoys you sometimes, but it helps me more than you might realize. I almost feel like I can choose to leave and hang out with a friend. Just to be able to do that is amazing. I can't tell you how good it is to have someone to blow steam off with."

"It doesn't annoy me. I just... I'm not used to expressing myself when I'm mad. You're not the only one this has been good for. I would never have done what I did back there without you. I've never met someone with... I dunno, courage, like that."

He grins. "Maybe that's why we're connected. Maybe we can help each other out. One way or the other, I'm glad we are. I wanna get better at it-- together."

"Yea," I murmur. "Me, too. I think this is the best gift I got this year. Merry Christmas, little wolf."

"Merry Christmas, Lu."