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High School is never easy for anyone, regardless of birth.

At least, this is the usual argument teachers and parents tell their children, to try and help them cope with the stress. Even in her youth, Tsumé understood how false this really was; not everyone struggled in school. Some took advantage of this to lord over the students who were less fortunate than themselves. Those who had trouble fitting in, those who were different...

Or sometimes, just the guy that everyone decided was too 'happy' all the time.

She watched as Pavan was thrown into the lockers by Todd, while his two girlfriends Joyce and Linda cheered him on, and threw insults in the poor boy's face. Todd was a huge anthropomorphic reptilian - a beaded lizard, born to a Mexican immigrant family but raised in Canada

Todd was a brute, and his girlfriends took full advantage of the fact. Pavan was hardly half the boy's size and on top of that, Todd was quite fit; he played for the school basketball team, and was also part of the athletics club. Even his teammates were leery of him but he was so good at the game they tolerated him just because he was one of their best chances of winning every season. He had nothing to prove against someone like Pavan who was simply a guy who loved music, hip hop dancing, running and socializing.

But apparently Joyce and Linda, after being upstaged by Pavan during the school talent show, had taken it personally. The judges had been more partial to their contempary ballet dance - the first female duo to attempt such at the school rather than the usual man and woman team - scoring them above Pavan, but that wasn't enough for them; they wanted the attention too. When they didn't get it, they of course complained to Todd, and he decided to 'defend their honour'.

"You think your punk hip hop is worth anything?" Linda, a scrawny gecko girl with green scales and yellow undertones, threw at him. "You think your crappy techno shit is better than our classical?"

"Hey, she asked you a question, freak!" Todd shouted, without ever really giving the light-brown avian time to answer, a hint of his parental accent in his voice.

"Well, not really?" Pavan asked with a helpless smile and a shrug to match. "I mean, I didn't score too high in the show, to my recollection."

"Then why the hell are you so happy about it?" Joyce, another reptilian - a brown anole, added. "Missing the point, happy-go-lucky boy; your whole performance was a fucking joke, and yet the entire audience ate it up! Do you know how hard we worked on ours?"

For the second time, Pavan shrugged. "Again, not really. I just did my own thing for the fun of it; I lost, but that's not why I did it."

"Oh_listen_to this little twerp!" Linda groaned, rolling her eyes. "Still doesn't get it!"

"Should I knock some sense into him then, ladies?" Todd asked, punching his right hand into his left fist.

"Oh hell yes. Maybe bust him up so he can't dance again; that'll teach him!"

"I doubt it, but it'll still be worth it to watch."

Pavan tried to move out from his position against the locker but the two girls flanked him, and suddenly he was cornered as Todd moved in.

"Hey! Asshole!" A voice piped up from around the corner; Tsumé decided she'd seen enough of this poor spectacle, and that it was time to step in.

The three turned in her direction, eyeing her with disgust as she came up the hallway toward them, her brown eyes glowering at them. "The hell do you want, Mondiale? We're busy."

"Busy with your own insecurities anyway." Tsumé returned spitefully, grabbing Linda by her shoulder and forcefully pulling her out of Pavan's path. "Come on, Pavan."

"Hey, cunt! No one asked you!" Linda spat, pushing Tsumé back - although the wingless avian female barely moved in response to the push. "Go back to your prissy mansion while we 'commoners' deal with our own problems."

"Touch me again, and I _will_hurt you," Tsumé warned, glaring sharply at Linda.

"Oh, is that so? Going to get your chauffeur to come slap my wrist, hu-?" She moved to push Tsumé again, but her words drowned in a shriek of surprise as her legs were swept out from under her and she fell, heavily, to the floor.

"I said hands to yourself."

"Hey!" Todd growled, lunging at Tsumé and pushing her roughly; unlike with Linda, Tsumé didn't have the height to resist this huge lizard, and she flew hard into the lockers, catching herself. "Nobody does that to my girl, not even some upper class princess!"

Tsumé rolled her eyes. "Boy do I hate being called that," she groaned.

"Oh? Prefer something else, your highness? Queen? Empress? Your ladyship?"

Tsumé stepped away from the lockers, ignoring his goading. "Same warning as your little groupie. Touch me again, and you're going to the nurse's office, so back off."

Todd threw back his head and let out an obnoxious laugh. "Oh what the fuck are you going to do you, Frenchie - throw croissants at me?" He challenged as he moved to push her again.

Tsumé's movement was so sharp and sudden, Todd barely registered she had even ducked under his arm until he saw her in his peripheral, down on her hands and one leg in a low crouch, as her other came up and struck him across the back of his head, stumbling the off-balance reptile and sending him head-first into the lockers.

"Todd!" Joyce cried out.

Tsumé got back to her feet as Todd rolled over and put her foot on his chest, flashing a talon in front of his face which brought him to a halt as the deadly point hovered above his eye. "Be glad I had these curled in, Mexicain- next time I'll go full Comanche on you and pull your scalp off,comprende moi?"

Todd nodded slowly, never taking his eye off the sharp, black talon hovering above it until Tsumé lifted her foot from him. "Let's go, Pavan." She said as she held her hand out to the male, taking his when he hesitated to accept it and led him away from the trio as Todd sat up.

Tsumé cast a look over her shoulder at the three. "And for the record, I don't _have_a chauffeur - I drive myself," she called to them before continuing to lead the way down the hall.

Tsumé looked back several times to make sure they weren't being followed, or that the two entitled girls hadn't run to find a teacher and rat her out with some one-sided story. When she was sure they were free, she led Pavan to the gymnasium; fortunately, it was empty, along with most of the school since it was long past home time and the talent show had ended an hour ago.

She released Pavan's hand, turning to him, seeing he wasn't even looking at her. He was still looking back at the school, wearing a curious expression. "You okay there, hip hop?" She asked.

"Huh, me?"

Tsumé arched a brow. "Who else?"

"Sorry. Just... don't get what they were so mad about. They beat me in the talent show - it's not like I got a trophy."

"They're attention-whores; don't worry about it," Tsumé stated plainly, waving her hand. "Only thing that bugged them is that you're more fun than they are."

"R-Really?" Pavan asked, looking at her hopefully.

"That wasn't an invitation to ask me out on a date," she stated before he could speak again.

"Aww..." Pavan moaned, disappointed.

Hardly the first time; Pavan had asked Tsumé out a few times, and once she had even humoured him and gone with him to a corner store during lunch break to split some dumplings. He'd run ahead of her several times on the trek, often trying to pull her along. To her he seemed constantly in a hurry, and when they got to the store, he had done nothing but shuffle about while waiting for the dumplings to be cooked by the store attendant. Tsumé had to buy a bottle of coke to keep him distracted until the food was ready.

His impatience had been annoying, and his constant need to move quickly just didn't sit well with her, feeling that he wouldn't wait for the relationship to progress if they were to go for an actual date and so she had to let him down easy by telling him she wasn't interested. He'd been disappointed, but they kept a positive relationship otherwise - they attended two of the same classes after all, and sometimes worked together, which Tsumé was okay with - as long as Pavan didn't make it awkward or at least reined in his hyperactivity to work on projects.

"So what're your plans tonight?" Pavan asked.

Tsumé shrugged. "Nothing important," she said. "Dad was going to host me a birthday dinner tonight which would have been great, but-"

"Wait, wait, wait; it's your birthday?" Pavan asked, cutting her off.

"Tomorrow, it is, yes," she replied. "Midnight tonight I'll be eighteen."

"Dang, wish I know! I'd have bought you an ice cream cake or something - if I wasn't broke," he added sheepishly, and then perked up. "Hey, hey I think my boombox is in here," Pavan remarked as he made a dash for the men's locker room.

"Pavan, wai-" Tsumé started to say, but he had already dashed out of sight. 'God, he's fast.' She thought, shaking her head. "What do you even need your boombox for?"

"For music! Doi!" He called.

Tsumé slapped her forehead. "Not what I meant."

Pavan emerged from the locker room a moment later, carrying a compact stereo with an MP3 player taped to the top, and plugged into the device with an auxiliary cable. Before Tsumé could ask, Pavan had already set it on the floor and scrambled to plug it in.

"Pavan... why did you bring that out?"

"Come on; you dance too, don't you?"

"I do Capoeira - technically yes, it's a dance, but it's more of a-"

"Well then come on; let's have some fun before we head home! I've still got energy to burn!"

"-Martial art..." Tsumé concluded, exasperated as the music started playing.

The first song on the track was a classical rock song, and Pavan was already dancing to its beat, his feet moving about in tandem with its flow and hips jerking side to side in response to the tempos. He bobbed his head, hummed along, all in all seemed to melt into the flow of the music.

"Pavan, I just said I wasn't going to date you," Tsumé called over the music.

"Dancing doesn't have to be a date; can just do it for fun!" He replied.

After a moment or two longer of watching him, Tsumé eventually gave in, throwing out her arms and shaking her head. "What the hell." She said, before she moved over to Pavan to join him.

It took her a moment to match his rhythm, but soon she was dancing in tandem with him, her hips swaying and arms held above her head as she swayed to the music, their feet carrying them both into twists and turns. Their movements were not the list bit in tandem; neither one was trying to do any specific dance. They simply enjoyed the music and the thrill of movement; as they got into it, Tsumé even let Pavan take her hands and dance with her.

They lost track of time dancing there in the gym, with the songs cycling from rock, to techno, to metal and back to rock several times before the opening of the gym doors interrupted them, and they saw the school custodian coming in to investigate the noise.

The middle-aged labrador looked at the two oddly as Pavan shut off the music. "What're ye kids still doing 'ere? Talent show ended three hours ago - school's gettin' locked up for the night." the canid asked with a thick, Scottish accent.

"Sorry, Mr. McKee," Tsumé apologized. "We lost track of time."

"Well get ye goin' now," he urged them.

"Can I put this back in my locker first?" Pavan asked, holding up the now unplugged boombox.

"Sure, ye can, just make sure ye actually head for the doors once ye 'ave."

"Yes sir."

The Labrador remained at the door as Pavan unplugged his stereo and ran back into the locker room with the item in tow; a moment later, a locker door slammed shut and a lock clicked before the avian came back out. With that, he fell into step with Tsumé as they left the gym, bidding goodnight to the janitor before they made their way to the main doors and left the school.

The sun was setting in the distant horizon, giving them a clue as to how late it really was, shocking both of them how they had lost track of time.

"Oh blimey, my dad is going to be home any minute!" Pavan exclaimed. "If I'm late for dinner he'll ground me for sure."

"You want a lift home?" Tsumé offered, pointing to her car in the parking lot.

"Appreciate it, but I'll probably get home faster if I fly," returned Pavan.

She grimaced; if there was anything Tsumé envied about her other avian kin is that they were capable of flight, but her kind were not - they were flightless and grounded, she'd never know the thrill of feeling the wind rushing over her feathers. But that was okay; she had abilities of her own that at least made up for it. Besides that, she loved her car, and loved having it.

"So, see you after the weekend?" Pavan asked.

Tsumé nodded, offering a more genuine smile this time. "Of course. Thanks for the dance, Pavan; I had fun."

"Think we can do it again sometime?" He asked.

"You're going to be late," she reminded him, dodging the question.

"Right, right! Going!" He squawked before he spread his wings and broke into a run. "Bye, Tsumé, and happy birthday!" He called as he began to ascend, beating his wings repeatedly to gain altitude until he flew over a house across the street.

She watched Pavan fly away for a moment until he was almost out of sight, and with a sigh she turned and made her way to her car. It was one of the only ones left in the parking lot, making it all too easy to spot, assisted by its garish green colour that would stand out even if she parked it on top of a grassy hill. The colour had not been her idea, but at least it was a model she liked; a Lotus sportscar, with an electric engine. Quiet, and beautiful to drive, though she might one day consider having it repainted. Maybe to a nice shade of blue.

Leaning on the side of the car, her lower back supported against her driver's side window, Tsumé picked her phone from her pocket and tapped a button to light up the screen; she wasn't that surprised to see that she had numerous messages waiting for her, but she had put her phone on silent to avoid causing a disturbance during the talent show. What made her roll her eyes however, were that the messages were from her family; six unread messages were listed before her, three from her father, one from her mother and the last two from her sisters.

"Come_on,_dad; you had the whole family checking up on me as if I'd answer any of them over you?" She asked aloud. "And you wonder why I keep my phone on silent mode."

She pocketed the phone without responding to any of the messages, but she was not looking forward to when she went home, knowing what would be waiting for her.

Tsumé was not three steps through the front door to her family home before she lifted her gaze to find an older, male green-feathered avian - wingless like herself, standing over her, his arms crossed over his chest and wearing an expression of deep scorn.

"Where have you been, young lady?" Louise demanded of his daughter, speaking in their native French dialect.

"I stayed after school to watch the talent show - I _told_you I was," she answered - also speaking French, throwing out her arms in exasperation.

"And I expressly told you that you were to be home in time for dinner! We had an esteemed guest here tonight!" Louise sharply retorted. "You chose to attend some children's performance rather than make a good impression? Do you remember who we had here tonight?"

"Some higher-up in the Raven Group-" she started to answer dismissively, but Louise cut her off.

"The_President_of the Raven Group himself!" Louise returned. "The wealthiest, most influential avian on the planet! Christopher Lo'Raven himself! We waited for you but you never arrived. We ended up starting the meal without you; do you know how embarrassing that is?"

"You saying he turned down the sale?" Tsumé asked, reverting to English.

"Non, he accepted the purchase, but-"

"Then_why,_are you getting on my case?!" Tsumé demanded, her voice raising. "You didn't need me for any of it; you never do!"

"You dare take that tone with your own father?!"

"At midnight tonight, I'll be a legal adult by Canada's laws," Tsumé retorted, holding up three fingers for emphasis. "What are you going to do, _ground_me for the next few measly hours?"

"Why must you always be so difficult?!" Louise demanded. "You have shunned your responsibility to this family for the past two years; skipping dinners, avoiding meetings, not to mention that time last year you snuck out; how irresponsible that was!" He turned from her, pacing irritably across the carpet of the foyer. "Do you not care about the well being of this family? Tonight could have been the first step into a partnership with the biggest corporate conglomerate the world has ever known! The CEO who was here tonight could have been our first step in becoming a partner and you compromised that!"

"How is it _you_can't separate family from business?!" Tsumé shot back. "This was my last night as a minor - the last night before I became a legal adult, and yet you still made it about business! You invite some complete stranger into our home for what was supposed to be _my_night; you couldn't wait until tomorrow for either that meeting _or_my birthday - no, you had to mix them together, save yourself an extra day or so!"

"Everything I do is for this family, Tsumé, and that includes you!"

"No, it isn't!" Tsumé exploded, and her father recoiled, aghast. "You integrate our family into modern society, you start a business and amass humongous wealth. But for what? To what end,_dad? All of those partners you've spent years accumulating will be dead before the turn of the century; how are you going to explain to their successors how you haven't aged a day since then? So what if you met Christopher Lo'Raven himself; become his right-hand man or whatever. What about when he kicks the bucket and you still don't look a day older when his son or whoever the fuck else is running the show? How much will all that wealth matter when it's revealed that we're_freaks?!"

"Such insolent words!" Louise spat, his expression now akin to one who had just been immersed in rotten garbage and was recoiling from the stink. "Kicking the bucket? Slanderous profanity, and 'freak'? Where did you ever pick up such talk? From that Apache man you are always visiting, or those simpletons at the public school?"

"I guess I prefer the company of people with personality," Tsumé returned venomously.

"I should never have let you enroll in a public school; their very existence has turned you into a... a...!"

"What. '_Peasant'?"_Tsumé finished for him. "Like I told the jock I put into the floor earlier, I-" she paused, and shut her eyes in exasperation. "Fuck..."

"Into the... you were in a _fight?!"_Louise exploded, eyes wide like a madman and arms thrown out to his sides. "What is the matter with you?!"

"Some jock was pushing around one of my classmates; I stepped in. It's called 'decency'." She shrugged. "He pushed me, and then I served him the floor."

Louise looked as though he were going to shake the house down as he paced in a wide circle. Indeed, his steps seemed to cause the whole house to quiver, even though the foundation beneath their feet was solid concrete. Louise was ranting in such thick, accented French and speaking so rapidly that Tsumé could not understand half of what he was saying, her ears unable to pick the words from his grunts and aggravated mumbling.

What he said at the end of it all, when the pacing stopped, his words became coherent again. "I cannot believe this. My youngest daughter, my innocent child, has become a delinquent!" He cried, screaming at the ceiling as if calling out to a higher entity. "How have I let this happen?"

"Maybe you should've spent less time advancing the family and more time watching the people in it," Tsumé answered coldly, walking around her father and storming away.

"Wait! I am not done talking to you, daughter!" Louise called after her.

"But I'm done talking to you," she returned. "I'm done with all of this; this house, this lifestyle - fuck all of it! Tonight, I'm out of here."

"You can't just walk out of this house, young lady! If you walk out that door, I will close your trust fund indefinitely!"

"Then it's a good thing I made a private account _long_ago," Tsumé retorted without looking back at her father.

"W-what?!" Louise sputtered in disbelief. "You cannot fill an account with my money; I can claim theft!"

"Not if the money was given as a gift. I've been saving my birthday money for the past four years, from all of you; maybe you should have considered there are gifts that _don't_involve cash. So take back your trust fund - I haven't used it since I bought my car anyway!"

Her father made no response that she heard, not that she was listening. She strode up the stairs and made an immediate beeline down the hall to the right, making her way to her bedroom and ducking inside. She slammed the door behind her, and considered throwing herself onto her bed and screaming into her pillow. Tempting though that was, it was not her way to deal with stress, but she had already packed up her throwing knives and foam targets, all of it loaded in a suitcase she dragged out of her closet.

She sat on the edge of her bed, casting a look at her clock. "Three hours to go," she said, shifting her feet impatiently and letting out a breath. "Damn. Why couldn't I have been born with time powers instead?"

She went to her desk then, tucked away in the corner opposite her dresser and to the left of her bed. She pulled open a drawer, taking out stack of papers stapled together in the corner; 'Lease Agreement' was written in bold letters near the top. "76th Ave. Almost right to the border, and better yet dozens of blocks from here or the offices." She said to herself, nodding as she folded the paper. "Better still, owned by a competing property management company; dad will never see my name on any paperwork."

She returned to her suitcase, opening another compartment to place the paperwork in. She glanced at the clock again but only minutes had gone by since she last glanced at it. "Urgh!" She groaned, throwing up her arms. "Mon dieu! Fuck this!"

She pulled out her phone, pulling up a number and hastily dialling the number for a local cab company. She couldn't take her car; it had been bought with her father's money, and as a minor she had to have someone cosign for her so it did not technically belong to her. An indulgence she would have to leave behind, before she left this life behind for good.

With the cab enroute, Tsumé picked up her suitcase, grunting with effort as she struggled to move it. "_Mierde..._did I over pack?" She asked.

She started to wonder how absurd this entire idea was; could she really not wait the remaining few hours until midnight? Better still, could she not just wait until tomorrow morning, walk out the door a legal adult?

No... she knew her father. She knew her whole family; they would band together when she made her plans known, talk her down as a group. She could picture herself like an accused individual in a courtroom, withering under the collective spiteful stares of the jury following a guilty verdict, but the jury was replaced by the six members of her family; her father, her two elder sisters, her mother and her grandmother.

If she let them get her in a room, it didn't matter how stubborn and stalwart she was; they would break her, and she would spend months recollecting her resolve. No. Staying in this house was not an option; she would not let her family talk her out of it.

With a mighty heave, feeling blood swelling into her face as she picked up the suitcase and dragged it toward the window. "Fucking carpet; why couldn't you have had this place built with floors?" She wondered aloud, knowing if she tried to use the suitcase's wheels it would get caught in the carpeting.

As she reached the window, she had just started to remove the screen when a knock at her door sent her heart leaping into her throat. "Tsumé?" She heard her father's voice calling out from beyond the door.

Tsumé let out a silent curse, peering out the window for anything that might aid her. She noted the creeping ivy running up the length of the wall, the sight of which gave her an idea.

"Daughter? Are you in there?" Louise, accompanied by his wife, Tatiana - a wingless avian with brown feathers and a pale yellow undertone on her neck. "Tsumé?"

"Daughter, please, may we talk?" Tatiana called in a heavily African accent, reaching for the door handle, which did not budge. "Locked?"

"Tsumé, locking the door is unnecessary; please, open it," called Louise. A short time after, when no response came, he called out. "Daughter, I will unlock this door, and we will speak." Still no reply. "Very well! We are coming in; you will hear us, whether you like it or not!"

Producing a ring of keys from his belt, Louise hastily unlocked the door, barely turning the handle before he stormed inside, searching the room for his daughter. "Tsumé?" He called. "I know you are in here; please, stop this nonsense."

"Louise," Tatiana spoke up, her husband rounding on her to see her pointing across the room, where Louise found the window wide open and with the screen lying beside it.

"No... she wouldn't!" Louise exclaimed in disbelief, running over to the window and leaning out, searching the grounds until he spotted the figure walking out to the front yard of the estate grounds. "Tsumé!" He called at the top of his lungs. "Come back here at once!"

Tsumé only walked faster in response to her father's call, wheeling her suitcase behind her as she hurried up the boulevard toward the property gates. By the time she reached them, she was nearly running as she stood at the curb, looking both ways frantically.

"Come on, come on," she muttered impatiently; she could already imagine her father running through the mansion to come after her.

To her relief, she saw headlights coming her way. As it drew closer she made out the outline an illuminated sign atop the car's roof, and knew it was her cab. She waved to it, running up the sidewalk to meet it as she was certain her father would be there at any second.

As if to confirm her worst fears, she heard Louise shouting just as the cab rolled to a stop. The driver was about to get out to help her with her bag, but she threw open the door, ducked in with her suitcase in tow and told him to drive.

"Where to?" He asked.

"Just go; I don't want to talk to that man coming this way," she said, pointing out her father, seeing him almost to the estate gate.

"Okay," the driver replied, shrugging as he put the car into drive.

Louise had been seconds from the gate when the cab passed it by, driving off into the darkness with only its tail lights showing its location as it followed the poorly lit street.

"Tsumé!" He shouted after her in vain, swearing under his breath before he spun around and started walking back to the house, his rage pushing him at a brisk pace.

Tsumé breathed a sigh of relief as she saw her father fading into the darkness behind her, thankful she had escaped without having to confront him. She almost didn't hear the cab driver repeating his question about where she wanted to go, until he asked her a third time and she could sense the growing trepidation in his voice, clearly concerned at what he had been pulled into but not bold enough to outright ask about it.

"Sorry," she said. "What's the cheapest hotel you know of?"

"Well let me think," the cab driver replied, who she only now noticed had a slight accent to his voice though she couldn't place its origin. "Maybe the Victoria Inn & Suites; I take a lot of people there who are fresh off the plane or awaiting a flight. Are you flying out?"

"No, but if you recommend it, I'll take it," replied Tsumé, leaning her head back against the rest of her seat, trying to calm her nerves. "How long?"

"Ten minutes, depending on the lights," the driver replied, peering over his shoulder at her. "Are you alright, ma'am?"

"I'm fine," she replied gently. Then, as a thought crossed her mind, a smile crept its way onto her face forming at the corners of her beak where they became flesh. It was the only time she had smiled at all that day, she realized - maybe a smirk when she was dancing with Pavan but not a genuine show of joy like she was showing now.

"Better than fine," she reiterated. "I'm free."

~~~~~

"Runaway kid, is it?" Obsidian mumbled to herself as she received the APB from dispatch, setting her radio back onto the console with a sigh after giving her confirmation. "Well, this is going to be quite a night."

Obsidian hadn't had many cases of runaway kids in her career - something she was thankful for as they did not always turn out well for the missing child. More often than not, she wondered about the conditions at the minor's home and what would drive them to run away from their families. She looked up the missing girl's name; Tsumé Mondiale, the surname sounding familiar to her.

"Mondiale..." She repeated, and then it hit her; she had seen that name on countless For Sale signs all over Unity Falls during her patrols. "The Realtor company? So is this girl the owner's daughter?" What could drive such a well-off girl to run away from home?

With a shake of her head and a last check of the details on her screen, she shifted her car back into drive and started up the street. The area where Tsumé had been reported to have fled was not on her patrol route, but she wasn't far away and made a point to memorize the information of the taxi that Tsumé had reportedly left in.

Even though it was only a couple of hours until midnight, the city was alive with activity, with people coming in and out of bars and restaurants lining the streets as she drove. She had to flash her lights and sound off her siren to force some teenagers bickering beside the curb off the street so that she could continue driving. It seemed to break up their fight as well.

Within the next half hour of patrolling the downtown area, she was soon due to move on to another part of town since she had covered every street. As she made a right-hand turn onto another street, she noticed a cab ahead, and eyed its license plate. She quickly realized that she recognized the plate; that it belonged to the cab that the runaway girl, Tsumé, had left her home inside of, parked outside of a bar with a very intoxicated male dragon nearly falling into the back seat after opening the door.

She pulled up behind the cab and reached for her radio, flicking on her lights as she made her report to let the driver know not to leave. "Dispatch, this is Eight-Seven, comeback."

"Go ahead eight-seven."

"Dispatch I have eyes on the cab, reportedly used by the runaway ten-one-eight; I'm ten-oh-five on sixty seventh street. Going to step out and talk to the driver, over."

"Dipatch to eight-seven, ten-four. Proceed; 10-2 when able."

"Ten-four," she replied before setting down the radio, unbuckling her seatbelt and stepping out of her cruiser.

She walked up to the driver's door of the taxi; the driver diligently rolled down his window, already having his license and registration in hand though Obsidian didn't asked for them. "Good evening, sir." She said, kneeling to meet his gaze.

"Good evening officer. Something I can help you with?' The driver, a male canid, asked.

"I'm looking for a young lady; an avian girl with green feathers. She's been reported as having run away from home and her father put out a call for her."

"Young girl... avian, with green feathers?" He asked for clarification, and then nodded. "Yes, I did pick her up, over an hour ago now. But I since dropped her off."

"Can you tell me where you left her?" Obsidian asked, reaching into her breast pocket for her notebook and pen.

"W-Will I get in trouble for revealing customer information?" The driver asked, apprehensive.

"It's a welfare check on a minor; even if she tried to sue you for doing it, it wouldn't hold up in court," Obsidian assured him.

He nodded, appreciating the reassurance. He opened his mouth to speak when his intoxicated passengers spoke up.

"Hey! Officer... gimme a break here. I'm not even driving and you're... pullin' me... over?" He asked, rolling around in the seat as he struggled to find which way was right side up.

"It's alright, sir; just some questions for your driver here," she replied, and ignored his disoriented retort as she looked at the driver again. "Carry on?"

"I left her at the Victoria Inn & Suites, near the airport," he explained. "The last I saw of her, she was going to check in at the main office."

"How long ago did you say?"

"A little more than an hour."

"Did she happen to say anything about why she was leaving home?" She asked.

"Nothing. When I picked her up there was this man - same colours as herself. Her father, or an older brother, I guessed," he shrugged. "He was running after her. She said she didn't want to talk to him and just told me to drive. So, I did."

"Did you find the man at all suspicious?" She asked.

He shrugged again. "Not really? But it isn't the first time I've picked up somebody being followed; usually it's someone running from an abusive partner. I don't question why they want to go, just where."

Obsidian nodded, writing down everything in a brief, descriptive manner before nodding her thanks to the driver. "That's all I need," she said. "Have a good night, sir."

He nodded to her and rolled his window back up as Obsidian made her way back to her car, climbing inside and shutting the door before reaching for her radio, giving her update to dispatch and letting them know where to go to find Tsumé. After being told to standby, a brief pause followed, but before long she received a response. She was informed that she was the only officer available to travel to the hotel, and received the order to go.

With that, she confirmed her instructions and punched in directions to the hotel in her GPS, once more taking to the street.

"Mondiale... yes, room two-sixteen, officer," the agent at the front told Obsidian when she asked the girl's name. "She registered under a different name, but I remember her driver's license had the name Mondiale on it."

"You let a seventeen year old girl check into a room without a guardian?" Obsidian asked crossly, her hands on her hips as she glowered at the agent.

"Seventeen?" He echoed.

"You didn't check?"

"I shouldn't think I'd miss that," he said, turning and stepping over to a row of folders on the counter opposite the desk, finding one marked '216' before extracting the paperwork it contained and reading it. "Oh yes, her," he said. "Yes, she _is_seventeen, technically speaking, and I did address this with her when she came to the desk." He walked over to Obsidian, offering her the sheet of paper with Tsumé's photocopied driver's license filling a spot on the page.

"So why did you let her check in?" Obsidian asked, reviewing the photocopied license to confirm the dates, seeing that Tsumé was indeed turning eighteen on tomorrow's date.

"When the clock struck midnight, it would no longer have mattered," the clerk replied with a shrug. "I even consulted my supervisor, and she said to allow it, since the girl seemed distraught and she'd have been waiting down here until twelve either way. In our defense, we didn't know if someone would come looking for her."

Obsidian's face scrunched with confusion as she considered the situation. "If she wanted out of the house so badly, why didn't she just wait and walk out scot-free?" She thought aloud, shaking her head before passing the folder back to the clerk. "I'll have to speak to my captain, but keep in mind you still technically violated the Innkeeper's Act of Alberta by checking in a minor, so don't let that become a habit." She added pointedly.

"We won't, officer," the agent assured her. "Will you be going to see her now?"

Obsidian nodded. "Yeah, I still have to get her statement, and birthday tomorrow or not she's still legally a minor so I have a job to do." The dragoness shook her head as she crossed the lobby toward the elevator, resting the fingers of her left hand against her forehead in prediction of the headache she suspected she'd be sporting before the night ended.

"This is going to get complicated," she thought aloud as she pressed the call button with her other hand.

Tsumé was half-asleep on her bed when she heard the knock at her door, snapping awake immediately after hearing the five knocks on the door, and someone's voice calling out, though she couldn't immediately make out the woods. Hastily, she got up, putting her skirt and shirt back on before running over to the door and looking through the peephole.

Her heart sank when she saw the purple dragoness outside, dressed in a police uniform. With a groan, Tsumé unlocked the door and opened it, stepping forward to lean against the doorway as her disgruntled gaze met the officer's.

"Well, my dad certainly shows how obsessed he is with micro-managing my life," she said in annoyance.

"You are Tsumé Mondiale?" The officer asked.

"Yep."

"I'm Officer Obsidian Kimoyama; I understand you left home without parental consent this evening," she said.

"Sure did," Tsumé replied, turning to look across her room at a clock. "But in thirty-five minutes, it's not going to matter a damn, because I'll be a legal adult."

"Unfortunately, the law is specific, in that until that time comes you're still a minor," Obsidian answered, doing her best to keep her expression neutral as she spoke.

"So what, you're here to drag me back home even though by the time we get there, I'll just be able to walk back out again?" Tsumé asked. "Is that really worth the time?"

"That's not my call to make, miss," Obsidian replied.

Tsumé groaned, running a hand down her face in exasperation, rubbing her eyes with a finger and a thumb as her flustered mind reeled at the absurdity she had brought on herself. She was silent for a long moment, and didn't lift her gaze until Obsidian cleared her throat.

"May I come in so we can talk in private?" Obsidian asked.

Tsumé gave a slow, helpless shrug before stepping back into the room and holding the door open for Obsidian, allowing her entry.

"Thank you," the dragoness said before she entered the room.

She took in the modest hotel room - a single queen size bed with a desk tucked away in the corner, accompanied by a small, cheap armchair. A wall-mounted television sat across from the bed, at the foot of which sat a dresser, though it was unused with Tsumé's suitcase sitting below it - Obsidian would have tripped over it had she not noticed it at the last moment, bulging with its contents. Beside the bed at a bathroom that even to Obsidian looked fairly cramped as it only filled a single corner of what would otherwise have been a square room without the wall between the main room and the bathroom.

As Obsidian made her way to the one chair in the room, Tsumé threw herself back onto her bed, laying down in a manner that seemed more akin to someone visiting a therapist's office than being met by a police office. Obsidian said nothing of it as she pulled out the chair and, lifting her tail so as not to crush it, lowered herself down and lifted her gaze to meet Tsumé's.

"So... what's this about?" Tsumé asked.

"Just want to get your side of things," replied Obsidian, pulling out her pen and notebook in the event she needed them. "You're still entitled to speak in your own defense."

"Will it even matter if I'm still a minor?"

"Given how close that is to changing, exceptions can be made, much like the hotel staff here did for you," replied Obsidian. "But before I can do that, I need to hear your side of the story." She added insistently, folding her hands across her lap with her notebook open and waiting. "So, let's start with your dad. I gathered he owns a local company here - I've seen the name Mondiale all over the city."

Tsumé nodded. "Yeah... he's a Realtor. Or, it'd be more accurate to say he's the CEO of a Realtor," she explained. "He's a great businessman - I'll never deny him that. One of those 'could sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo' types. But..." She trailed off, her expression saddening. "That's all he is... Business. He always says what he does is for the good of the family, but it's caused him to become very controlling, and always tried to bring up my sisters and I in a way that might help further his practices."

Tsumé huffed. "Like tonight. As you probably already figured out, my birthday is tomorrow," she went on. "Tonight, we were supposed to have a celebratory dinner, for my last night as a minor. Was just supposed to be us; him, my sisters, my mom and my grandmother. But no." She shook her head. "Last fucking minute I find out he timed it specifically to align with a meeting he was having with some big-shot from the Raven Group - I don't even care who.

"Point is, it was _my_night... he didn't even give me much notice about it, to even let me suggest we move one of the dinners to the next day. He didn't ask, he_insisted_I be present at the dinner. Naturally being the rebel kid I am, I didn't go - I stayed after school to watch the talent show. It was way better than sitting through another business meeting _disguised_as a family dinner."

"I get home to receive a reaming like never before for missing it," she said. "Out came all the claims that I'm selfish, and his constant excuse that what he was doing was for the good of the family - how is it good for the family when it alienates the ones in it?!" She demanded sharply, sitting up and slamming her hands on the sheet between her knees. "It's bullshit, all of it! It's never 'for the family' with him, it's 'for the company'. So I went up to my room and locked myself inside."

Obsidian listened attentively to Tsumé's words, not taking any notes as so far everything she heard was personal and not relevant to the case itself. "So why did you leave before midnight?" Obsidian asked.

"I made my intention to walk out clear after our argument," replied Tsumé, pulling back her legs and holding her knees with her arms. "I told him that the moment that clock struck twelve, I was out. But I know him; he was never going to let me leave. He'd call me to a 'family talk' and have everyone gang up on me until I broke and changed my mind. I _refuse_to let him do that to me again."

"Again? It has happened before?" Obsidian asked.

"Oh hell yes. My dad is _very_controlling and has a way of finding everyone who sees his side of things, bringing them all together for a verbal beatdown on those who don't," Tsumé explained. "And my family is the worst of his followers; I'm the only one who calls him out for his crap. Penelope and Tamira get everything they want - what do they care if daddy's not home? My mom spends most of her time at parties and social gatherings when she's not helping my dad, and my grandmother usually goes with her."

"So when I started rebelling it was like everyone turned against me; I was the problem, I didn't _appreciate_having such a comfortable life," she scoffed. "I just wanted to_have_a life... and to have my family to share it with, but no. I bet anything that the entire reason he wanted me at that dinner tonight was to show me off to some rich yahoo that has a kid of his own and hope he could convince me to marry into that family so that he could expand our assets - newsflash dad, arranged marriages died off with monarchy!" She shouted at the wall, her voice breaking with the last few words.

"Hey, hey," Obsidian said gently, leaving the chair to step over to Tsumé, resting a hand on her shoulder, giving her a reassuring squeeze.

Tsumé sniffed. "I've never been important to him... he convinces himself otherwise but business is all he cares about; I'm just living decor to him, his pretty little girl to show off to his friends at dinners," She buried her face between her knees "I couldn't take it anymore... so I chose not to. I left, and good riddance to that garbage."

Obsidian let out a deep sigh, taking her hand from Tsumé's shoulder and resting it around her chin as she considered what she heard - and read in Tsumé's mind; unknown to the girl, Obsidian had a clear picture of the night's events already, fresh from the girl's memories.

"I'll tell you what," said Obsidian. "I'm going to call my captain, and I'm going to ask him how to proceed with this."

She extracted her phone from her pocket, returning to her chair from before as she unlocked the smartphone and dialed Gregory's number, leaving Tsumé to brood in silence on the bed.

"_Vinson,"_came Gregory's voice over the phone.

"Hey boss," replied Obsidian. "Just 'Sid here. Need a bit of advice, as I'm in a bit of a kerfuffle."

"Everything alright?"

"Yes and no. I'm just with the girl who was reported running away from home earlier tonight," she said. "She sounds like she really doesn't want to go home."

"Unfortunately, she doesn't have much choice if she's still a minor,'_replied Gregory. "_She's still under the rule of her legal guardian and we can't control that."

"Well, that's the thing, actually," began Obsidian, looking up at the clock on the wall beside the TV. "She turns eighteen tomorrow; in the next twenty minutes if you want to be specific. In the time that it'll take me to even drive her home, she'd be able to walk away the moment I entered her driveway."

There was no immediate response from Gregory, although Obsidian heard him let out a grunt as the words sank in. "That does complicate things... we received the call while she was still a minor, but she won't be one when you get her home... but we can't just leave the call unanswered." She heard tapping through the phone, easily imagining the blue sparrow-hawk was tapping his pen on his desk as he considered how to proceed. "Tell me... how much does it seem she doesn't want to go home, and has she said why?"

Obsidian cast a glance at Tsumé, who hadn't moved since Obsidian had made the call to her superior. She pushed the phone back to her ear, answering in a hushed voice. "She _really_doesn't want to go home, and from what she's told me I can't really blame her."

There wasn't an immediate reply from Gregory, though Obsidian could still make out the sound of his pen tapping on the desk as he considered. "Take her along when you go to deal with her father," he said. "You have to report to him in person if his daughter isn't coming home, so... deal with that, as best you can, and take your break afterwards."

Obsidian let out another sigh. "Roger that," she said. "Seeya later, chief."

"Good luck." He said to her. "And keep me on speed-dial in case he plays the 'speak to your supervisor' card."

"Will do. Later, chief."

Obsidian ended the call and returned her phone to her pocket before she turned to address Tsumé. "I'm going to ask you to do something for me," she said, gently. "I need to go talk to your father, and by the time I get there you'll be a legal adult regardless. But I'm not going to make you go home," she assured her. "We're going there to tell your father that you're a legal adult now, and that your life is your own to decide. Are you willing to do that for me?"

Tsumé looked up at Obsidian, a tear visible in her eye and her cheeks slightly moist from those she had already shed. "Will I have to talk to him?" She asked.

"Not if you don't want to," Obsidian replied with a shake of her head. "This is more for his peace of mind that you're safe, but that's the most you'll need to be there for. As soon as we're done, I'll bring you right back here."

Tsumé considered the proposition for a moment, staring at her knees as she ran the scenario in her head. As much as she resented her father for his disregard of her feelings, she didn't hate the man; not enough that she'd disappear from his life altogether. Deep down, she knew her father cared for her at least enough that he worried for her safety, and she didn't want to throw that in his face...

With a deep breath, Tsumé looked at Obsidian and nodded. "Okay... let's go," she said.

~~~~~

Louise was heading for the door the very moment he heard from the perimeter sensor at the gate that someone was at the gate and requesting entry to the property. While the rest of his family had already headed to bed, he had stayed up to wait for word from the police about Tsumé, and by the time he reached the bottom of the stairs he was all but sprinting toward the front door.

The knock came just as he neared it. Within seconds, he unlocked the door and opened it, the dim light of the house's foyer spilling out to illuminate the officer outside - an eastern dragoness with purple scales, a dark purple man and bright blue eyes. She had her hands folded across her midriff, and gave a nod of greeting to Louise.

"Good evening, sir," she said.

"_Bonsoir,_officer," Louise returned. "Have you found my daughter?"

"We did, sir," she replied. "She was checked into a hotel in town after she was dropped off by the taxi she called."

Louise looked around and behind the officer, seeing the cruiser parked at the base of the stairs leading up to the main door, but he did not see Tsumé anywhere, until he saw a flicker of movement in the back of the police cruiser, and saw his daughter's frowning face watching him through the window.

"Well, thank you for bringing her home safe," he began to say. "The department has my thanks."

"I'm afraid it's not like that, sir," replied Obsidian. "Your daughter has made it clear she has no intention of returning home."

Louise blinked, and then clenched his eyes as he shook his head. "_Excusez-moi,_miss, but that is not her decision," he stated.

"I'm afraid it is, now," replied Obsidian. "As of fifteen minutes ago, Tsumé became a legal adult as recognized by the laws of Alberta. Therefore, your status as her legal guardian is revoked, and she now has the right to make her own decisions."

"She was not eighteen when I called you; how is it my fault you did not find her before midnight?" He demanded. "I still expect my daughter to sleep in her own bed tonight and not in some backwater hotel!"

"Even if I were to release her to you now, you could not keep her here," stated Obsidian. "And if you called to report her missing again, your call would be discarded since she can no longer be classed as a missing child if she left of her own volition."

"This is absurd!" He spouted. "Let me speak with her."

"She has made it clear she does not wish to talk to you or her immediate family," the officer stated. "By her right as an adult, you cannot force her to see you against her will."

Louise tried to ignore her, and called out toward the cruiser. "Tsumé! Daughter, please, stop this nonsense!" He called. "We can talk about this; please, come inside!"

Whether or not Tsumé heard him, he couldn't tell, but her expression remained unchanged as she turned her head away from him, and made no motion in response to his calls that followed.

"Sir, please," the dragoness officer cut in. "She has made her choice, and I am obligated to respect her decision. She came with me here of her own volition, but she made it clear this is not where she wants to be."

"I want to speak to your supervisor," Louise stated firmly.

Without missing a beat, the dragoness extracted a phone from her pocket, unlocking it and tapping the touch screen with her thumb before offering it to Louise. "You were prepared for that," Louise remarked observantly, accepting the phone.

"My captain expected you'd want to talk to him," she answered honestly.

Louise lifted the phone to his ear, waiting as it rang twice before being answered, "Captain Vinson speaking." The receiver stated.

"Captain Vinson, this is Louise Mondiale, father of Tsumé. Your officer here is telling me that Tsumé doesn't wish to return home, and that I am no longer her guardian." Louise stated.

"That's right, Mr. Mondiale," Vinson replied. "As of midnight, Tsumé Mondiale became a legal adult according to Albertan law, and as such she is no longer subject to the decisions of her parents or guardians. If she does not wish to return home, we can no longer force her."

"She was still a minor when this case was started! That should still uphold!" Louise returned. "At least let me talk to her!"

"The laws do not change based on the time a call was made," Vinson stated. "As of now, your daughter is of legal age, which means she makes her own decisions."

"What about my rights as her father?!" Louise demanded.

"Your parental rights were terminated the instant she came of age,"_Vinson stated. _"From this hour forward, any contact Tsumé has with you must now be a unanimous decision between the two of you."

"Captain," Louise began. "Do you have children of your own?"

"I do, and that's irrelevant," Vinson stated firmly. "Both of my children are still minors, and subject to my decisions. Tsumé is not. Were my son eighteen now as she was, I would respect his individual rights, even if he decided he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. This is no longer a police matter, Mr. Mondiale."

Louise lowered the phone from his ear, offering no response to the captain. The call ended a moment later when there was no reply from him, and Officer Kimoyama stepped over to request her phone back from the elder avian.

"Will she really not even let me speak to her?" Louise asked as he handed the phone over.

"She made it very clear she doesn't wish to," the officer answered as she pocketed her phone once again.

"Can you at least tell me why?" He asked, looking past Obsidian to the cruiser. "Why is she so adamant about leaving?"

The officer looked over her shoulder to the cruiser, as if silently asking Tsumé for permission to answer him. Tsumé didn't look up or even give a nod or shake of her head, and the officer turned back to Louise. "Out of respect for her privacy, I cannot say," she replied. "All I can suggest is that you look back on your previous interactions with her. Perhaps the answer will come to you." Slowly, she turned from him. "Now, I need to be going. Good night, Mr. Mondiale." She said as she descended the stairs.

Louise, in a flash of anger, stamped his foot on the concrete stair, and the officer froze when she felt the ground shake with the single motion. She looked sharply back at Louise, wondering if he too had felt the tremor; he seemed to show no reaction to it, but she noticed something strange about the step below one of his feet; a slight crack had formed in the concrete stair, one she wasn't sure had been there before.

She said nothing of it, seemingly chalking it up to her imagination since Louise didn't say anything about the tremor, and made her way back to the driver's side door of her cruiser to climb back in.

Tsumé lifted her head as the car was shifted into park, looking out at her father as Obsidian began to drive away. Louise stared after her, and the hurt and confusion she could see on his face was nearly enough to make her second-guess her decision to leave under the circumstances she had. But she held firm to her decision.

_'Sorry, dad... but if you want me to be part of the family again, you need to start thinking about the people in it.'_She thought.

Unknown to her, Obsidian glanced into her rearview mirror at the young avian girl resting in her backseat, her gaze carrying a sympathetic look in them as she watched Tsumé hug herself, shaking either with anger or grief she didn't know but the girl was visibly hurting.

Obsidan reached for the radio on her console, bringing it to her mouth and announcing to dispatch that she was briefly going off the clock; she was almost an hour past her scheduled lunch break by now, but she had the okay from her captain to take it. Besides, to her, it seemed like she wasn't the only one who needed a good meal at that moment.

"Hey, Tsumé?" Obsidian asked. "You hungry at all?"

After a few seconds, the young avian nodded. "A little..." she said.

"You want to stop somewhere before I take you back to the hotel? My treat," she offered.

Tsumé gave a slight smile and nodded again. "Yeah. And don't worry, I can cover myself," she assured Obsidian. "I may have left home but I'm not lacking in money."

Obsidian nodded back before turning her attention back to the road as she drove on.

Before tonight, aside from snacks she might have enjoyed from the store near her school, Tsumé had never eaten anything but the meals prepared by the cook who worked at her house, or at equally high-end restaurants her father took her to when she had to accompany her on business trips. She had been kept away from burger joints, pizza parlours and other 'peasant' food for all of her life, and so had no idea what to order from the menu as most of the items were strange to her and she asked Obsidian what she might suggest.

Following Obsidian's recommendation, she ordered a simple cheeseburger, and from the moment she bit into that sandwich, her world seemed to flip entirely on its head. It was the type of food her sisters scorned, the things that made her avoid the school cafeteria or the restaurants between her school and house, thinking none of them could own up to the quality she was used to. Perhaps her spoiled upbringing had affected her more than she cared to admit...

"You're digging into that like you haven't eaten in days," Obsidian remarked, unable to stop herself from laughing at Tsumé's ravenous appetite.

"I have never eaten anything so _freaking good_in my life," Tsumé returned.

"You've never had a burger?" Obsidian asked, surprised.

"My dad always kept a private chef at home, and even when we went abroad we visited these high-end places that most 'peasant folk' as he calls them, can't afford to go." She shook her head as she took another bite of her burger, swallowing it before continuing. "I did not believe food could _be_this tasty without hours of preparation beforehand."

"I guess I take it for granted, since it's more the norm for me," admitted Obsidian, leaning back in her seat at the booth and taking a sip of her latte before turning back to her meal - a chicken burger with a side salad.

Tsumé polished off the burger within moments, and began to munch on the french fries it had been served with. "I'll never get over why they called these 'french fries' considering they weren't made in France," she remarked.

"Really?"

"Nope. The original idea of frying potatoes was conceived in Belgium in the 1600's," Tsumé explained. "They didn't actually get the name 'French fry' until the Americans started making them, and I guess they can't tell the difference between us and the Belgians."

"Just as most of us Americans can't tell the difference between the English and the Australians I suppose," Obsidian remarked with a snicker to show she was only being half-serious.

Tsumé tilted her head. "Wait, you're American?" She asked. "But you work as a Canadian cop and have a Japanese surname?"

"Well!" Obsidian paused to chuckle again before clearing her throat to explain. "Long story short, my mother and father are both Japanese but they moved to the US due to a career opportunity with my father. They lived in Seattle for while which is where I was born, and I lived there for most of my life before I moved out and came here. I attended the police academy, and scored a job on the Canadian side of the fence and... yeah!" She stopped to nod and give a proud flick of her tail. "The rest is history."

"How'd you land a job on the Canadian side without citizenship?" Tsumé asked.

"I'm a dual-citizen!" Obsidian answered, chipper. "Unity Falls' police force is a little unique; it falls out of the jurisdiction of the RCMP or Montana State Police because of it's place on the border so it has its own academy. Part of the application process is also applying for citizenship of the opposite country; while I was training to be a cop, I was also being approved as a Canadian citizen."

"Huh. Didn't even know that was possible," admitted Tsumé. "But I guess this city would be a special case, given its size as opposed to the other border town in Canada."

"There's another one?"

"Yep, out in Quebec. Never been there myself, but my geography teacher mentioned it once," replied Tsumé, biting another fry in half before tossing the other half into her beak and swallowing. "Just a small town though, not a big city like this one."

Obsidian nodded, intrigued by the idea. "So, I noticed your dad spoke French when we met. Were you raised in Quebec?"

Tsumé shook her head. "Mixed family, both sides French-speaking," she replied. "My dad is Paris-proud, my mom is from Rwanda - fled to France during the genocide incident. I was technically born _in_Paris, but my parents came here to Canada almost right after I hatched. We were only in Quebec for the first year of my life before my dad found an opportunity here and moved across the country to start his new company. Unity Falls was a hotspot for Real Estate and he was all over it."

"So you're French-African," Obsidian said, nodding. "You seemed to have picked up English really well."

Tsumé shrugged. "Seventeen years in Alberta; you'd have to. French speakers are pretty few here."

"Try finding someone who speaks Japanese," Obsidian remarked, with a twitch of her eyebrows.

"Touché."

As they sat chatting for a few moments, the waitress came back to their table and placed something down on the table in front of Tsumé. "Here you go, girl," the kind waitress said as Tsumé looked at what had been placed in front of her. "One of our made-to-order mini cakes. Hope you like it."

A small cake, six inches wide and four high covered in blue-coloured frosting, sat on the table now, decorated with flakes of white chocolate and berries. Tsumé stared at the cake puzzled before looking up at the waitress. "I didn't order this," she said.

"I did," Obsidian clarified, leaning forward and resting her arms on the table as she offered Tsumé a warm smile. "After everything you went through, especially when I showed up, I felt you deserved to enjoy at least one little birthday tradition."

Tsumé's face was an unreadable mask of both shock and delight as Obsidian spoke, staring at her with a wordless thanks before she turned her attacking to the cake, picking up her fork and dug into it, taking her first bite. She tasted the frosting first; butter cream frosting, with blue food colouring, which was fine with her as blue was her favourite colour. The inside was a lemon cake, which tasted heavenly when she felt the white chocolate flakes melting on her tongue.

_'So good...'_she thought, too overcome with joy to question how Obsidian knew her favourite flavour...

Obsidian walked Tsumé back to her room at the hotel after bringing her there, having to walk with some haste in her step as her break was moments from ending and she needed to get back to work soon. Tsumé extracted the keycard to her room from inside her wall as the door came in sight, and it unlocked with a swipe through the card reader.

"I hope things work out for you, Tsumé, truly," Obsidian said. "If you ever need anything, you have my number now."

"Yeah..." Tsumé replied, pausing halfway into her room before she looked back at Obsidian, who was just turning to leave. "Wait a moment," she said.

Obsidian turned to her. "Yeah?"

Tsume grimaced, but eventually it shifted into a shy smile. "If I hug you right now, will I be charged with assault?"

Obsidian chuckled at the question. "Only if I took it as an assault," she replied. "Which I won't."

Tsumé practically ran up to her and hugged the dragoness tightly, nearly forcing some of the air from Obsidian's lungs as the avian squeezed her middle tightly. "Thank you so much." She said. "You gave me the one thing I actually wanted on my birthday."

"What was that?" Obsidian asked, looking down her chest to the much smaller avian girl who only stood up to her neck.

Tsumé pulled back and looked up at Obsidian, almost glowing with the gratitude she felt toward her. "Someone to share it with, who actually wanted to be there," she said. "It's all I really wanted, was to just not feel so alone on a day that's supposed to be special."

Obsidian smiled back, and gave Tsumé another hug and a gentle, "You're welcome," before she had to leave her then.

Tsumé walked back into her room and made a beeline straight for her bed, shedding her shirt and skirt before she shut off the lamp and slid under the covers, feeling happy for the first time in recent years that could remember. Outside, Obsidian waited until the door was closed before she turned to walk out of the hotel, her own heart warming with pride knowing she had made one girl's day a little brighter...