A vivid memory flickers through her mind. The first meal Lynia fed her, on the night they found her: that sensation of fullness in her belly, so unfamiliar and new, and the sudden absence of the gnawing hunger that had been her constant companion.

For the first time in her existence, Eve the sxelanth is sated.

Teresa's eyes are closed. She's just...feeling. The spikes retract; the blades withdraw. It doesn't stop the pain. Her body is still cut and broken and ruined. But she doesn't worry about it, because there's nothing to worry about. Eve wanted it this way, so it's Eve's concern.

Eve caresses her with a gentle touch, a hundred tendrils light upon her skin. There is tingling, and the pain fades. She wipes away the blood, too, absorbing it: leaving only smooth skin behind.

The pain...is leaving. She almost misses it. She opens her eyes.

Eve leans over her, human again, or looking like it: there is a facade of human skin all down her front, and tentacles fan out from behind her, reaching down to bathe Teresa's body inside and out in the pale healing fluids of the sxelanthe.

She sees that Teresa's eyes are open, and bites her lip, and swiftly closes the last few cuts and tucks away her tentacles beneath human flesh. Folds up the membranous wings cocooning the two of them, and hides them away too.

Teresa gazes up at her. Her heartbeat is quickening again, but not from fear.

Eve swallows. There are tears in her eyes.

"I love you," she whispers.

The tears come loose and fall upon Teresa's face.

They are acid, and they burn, leaving trails of red down Teresa's cheeks. It hurts.

Eve bites her lip again, and her right arm becomes a tentacle, branching at the fingers. She reaches for Teresa's scarred face.

Teresa takes the tentacle in her arms and clasps it between her breasts. The sxelanth flesh is soft and warm and slick-surfaced beneath her touch. Unnatural.

It is Eve's. Teresa smiles up at her.

"I love you too."

Lynia sits imprisoned in her bedroom, crosslegged upon the mattress amid the dimming light, and frets. They've been gone a long time. All evening, it feels like. They will be back, won't they? They...

The door opens, and they are standing there. Eve and Teresa both.

She leaps up to greet them, and then they are both embracing her: one from each side.

"Where have you been?" she asks Teresa. Petulantly, but she deserves to be petulant.

Teresa presses her lips together and looks to Eve.

Now that's strange. Since when does Teresa...

Eve turns Lynia to face her.

"Teresa's very brave. I... Braver than I think you know. She was helping me."

Oh. Well, she doesn't really understand, but that's okay. And she sort of wishes that she could have been the one to help Eve, but that's okay too. Teresa likes to help people, even if she's not always good at it.

Anyway, Eve is... She's okay; Lynia can tell. She's really okay. Teresa too. And if Eve's okay, and Teresa's okay, then everything that matters is just fine.

They lie down in Lynia's bed, the three of them, snuggled up close together.

Eve holds Lynia and whispers to her. "I promised you I'd take care of you. Do you remember? Well, I'm going to. I'll look after you, and take some of the burden off Teresa. Since I can -- I can trust myself better now. As long as she's here to help me."

"I can endure it," Teresa says, and her voice is soft and contemplative and almost sleepy. "I think... I think I'm a little stronger than I realized."

Eve is crying.

Lynia looks at her, concerned.

She smiles through the tears. "I'm just so glad you're safe. Thank you." She kisses Lynia's forehead, and looks beyond her to Teresa, lying opposite her. "Thank you, Teresa."