My ears perked up as the wind carried a familiar sound with it. I blew on my whistle in response and picked up my basket. Food was no longer a problem for us, so my gathering wasn’t quite necessary. Still, Mum insisted that I needed to learn how to take care of myself in case things took a wrong turn. The knights who visited us encouraged her idea, as long as I stuck to their rules.

Despite being official citizens, Sir Fuchs said it was important that we remained hidden, since most ‘civilians’ didn’t know of our existence. To aid us with this, they brought us a pair of special whistles. With them humans would only hear the calls of some of the local birds, however, our hearing allowed us to tell the difference between them and the real thing. Thanks to these, Mum allowed me to explore the outside on my own. There were a few conditions to this, of course.

The most important one out of them all was that I couldn’t stray too far from home. This was a given, considering humans were not the only source of danger in these woods. Mum told me most predators stayed away from her territory, but this didn’t mean it was impossible to find some. If I did encounter something like a bear, I was supposed to climb the nearest tree and blow the whistle as hard as I could until she arrived. Doing so distorted the noise it made, which fit perfectly as an alarm. The only downside was that it hurt my ears to do so.

This communication system was only a temporary measure while the knights got us something better. Phones were the first idea, of course. Mum was even eager to try using one of them. Unfortunately, they came with their own set of problems. The biggest challenge was finding a reliable source of energy to recharge them. Being so far deep into the world’s densest forest did make it a bit difficult, plus it caused a lot of signal interference. Still, the knights promised they would find a solution.

Mum trusted them. “They could’ve killed us if they wanted,” she said back then. They outnumbered us, and I was defenceless. There was no way she would have dealt with all of them, no matter how good her magic was. Fortunately for us, that never happened.

Instead of hostility, the knights brought commodities. Food, tools, clothes, books; anything we could ask for, they provided. Even when they discovered I was the girl they were looking for, they patiently waited for Mum to tell her side of the story. Because of this and my own memories, it felt odd to perceive humans as a threat. And yet, I knew people weren’t all good.

A sudden hiss brought me back to the present. I stopped to look ahead of me. There stood a huge maroon lizard. It looked slightly longer than my arm, though I didn’t plan on getting any closer to verify. I knew better than invading a wild animal’s space. It gave out another hiss and slowly backed away, limping with one leg as it did. Normally, its aggression alone would’ve been enough for me to turn around and take a different path. This time, however, something told me this not-so-little fellow posed no threat unless I carelessly approached it.

Feeling pity for the poor lizard, my thoughts shifted from caution into a desire to help. I knew that if I could somehow take it home, Mum could heal its wounds, just like she did with me.

“Come here, buddy,” I said, squatting to look smaller.

No luck. It remained motionless, watching my movements.

“Would you like some food?” I asked, not really expecting a reply.

I looked at my basket and dug through it in search of something to offer. It didn’t strike me as a herbivore, so the plants and mushrooms I gathered previously were, most likely, not going to work. Still, I grabbed some herbs and presented them to it. Its eyes quickly glanced at my stretched hand, then back to my face. It took a step back and tilted its head silently.

“Wait! I know what I can give you,” I went back to digging through my basket until I found the item I was looking for. A hard boiled egg. It was my lunch, along with a sandwich that no longer existed. I showed it to the lizard, and I could tell it was interested, though it still didn’t approach.

I pinched the egg and took a bite-sized piece, which I placed in front of me before carefully sliding backwards to give the reptile some space. Noticing this, the lizard took a few tentative steps, though it still didn’t seem comfortable enough to take the piece. I backed some more and sat down, trying to look relaxed and trustworthy. That was enough for it to finally approach the snack. After a brief sniff, it took the snack and ate it in one bite.

“Tasty, right?” I smiled and took another small piece from the egg. This time, I stretched my arm and hoped that it would get it directly from my hand. “Come on, I have more here.”

It paused, probably contemplating if the tiny morsel was worth the risk. I remained motionless and silent in an attempt to show it I meant no harm, and it eventually decided it liked the egg more than it feared me. I didn’t move a muscle until it was done. After that, it backed again. This time, much closer to me than before.

Another whistle from Mum reminded me I was running late. I looked at it once more and sighed. The next step was the toughest. I needed to convince the lizard to hop in my basket so I could carry it. If it didn’t feel safe enough, it would jump out and likely injure itself even further. It needed to come with me, though. Only Mum could heal it back to normal.

After some brief contemplation, I decided helping it was worth the risk and put the egg inside the basket. Unexpectedly, the lizard didn’t hesitate climbing into it to devour what was left of the snack, and I slowly tried to lift it, causing it to hiss again.

“Calm down,” I cooed, “Everything’s okay. You’re safe now.”

The lizard remained motionless as it stared at me for a long time. I was already thankful for that much. After what felt like an eternity, it finally decided it didn’t care and curled inside the basket.

“Thank you,” I whispered. “Let’s get you healed.”

__________

“Took you long enough,” Mum admonished with both hands on her hips as I walked through the doorway.

“Sorry,” I replied, looking down.

Once the wall was sealed, she continued, “And why didn’t you reply to my last call? I was about to go there and get you myself.”

“I’m truly sorry, Mum,” I replied, carefully placing the basket on top of the table. “I couldn’t risk scaring your newest patient.”

She blinked silently, and looked around. “Come again? My newest patient?”

“Here.” I lifted the basket’s lid, revealing the now sleeping lizard.

“Wha-”

“Shh!” I dashed to her and covered her mouth. “Stop, you’ll scare it,” I whispered.

She removed my hands and frowned. “I’ll scare it!? I’m the one who is scared! What even is that thing?”

“A lizard?”

Mum quickly chopped at my head with her hand. “Did you even stop to think it might be venomous?” she asked.

“Sorry, Mum.” I rubbed the top of my head, even though her attack didn’t hurt.

“I don’t want you to apologise! I need you to think and have some sense of self-preservation!” She sighed heavily and looked back at the basket. “We’ll talk more about this later. What’s wrong with it anyway?”

“Its leg. I think it might even be broken.”

She took another breath and walked closer to the basket to examine the reptile. “Which one?”

“This one.” I said, pointing at its left hind leg.

“It doesn’t look broken to me. If it is, it’s fortunate that the bone wasn’t displaced. That should make it easier to heal properly. Do you know if it ate something recently? It will need energy.”

“I gave it an egg.”

“You little- No, forget it. I guess it’s in our blood to help injured little critters.”

“Hey!”

Mum smiled smugly. “I could always go back to scolding you. You certainly need it.”

I simply covered my mouth and shook my head in response.

She snorted and focused back on the reptile. “Bring me a small rag. We’ll need it to keep this one calm.”

I did as she said and got back to them.

“Good,” she said with a nod. “Now put it on its face. Make sure it covers both eyes.”

As soon as I did it, she pinned the lizard’s head and body, causing it to hiss once more. “Oh, shut it. I’m not that comfortable with this either.” Satisfied with her grip, she turned to look at me. “Now help me keep its body under control while I work on its leg.”

The lizard barely moved as Mum healed it. It even seemed to calm down as the spell worked on its injury. After a few minutes, Mum let go of the reptile’s body and carefully took its blindfold off.

“How weird,” she commented, closing the basket. “I expected it to move a lot more after the treatment.”

“I think it knows what you did.”

“Are lizards even that clever?” Mum shrugged and walked to the entrance of the cave, opening it again. “Well, the patient is ready. Time to say goodbye.”

I bit my lip and stared at the basket, then at her.

She raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“Can I keep it?”

“Nyx…”

I nodded. “I’ll make sure to feed and take it out for walks and, and, well… whatever a lizard needs!”

“It’s a wild animal, Nyx,” Mum countered. “It deserves to roam free and be happy out there, living under the sun. Our lifestyle won’t be good for a reptile like this.”

“What if it’s nocturnal?” I insisted.

“I also don’t want to wake up one night and discover it decided to keep me company in my bed,” she added.”

I sighed and looked at the basket once more. She was right, wild animals belonged in nature. I reluctantly grabbed the container and brought it outside where I put it on the floor and opened the lid to find the lizard staring directly at me. “Go, you’re free now.”

I stood up, backed away from the basket and walked inside. However, just as Mum was about to close the door, the lizard got out and ran into the cave.

“I think it also wants to stay here, Mum.” I said, looking at the lizard, who now rested next to my feet. “Are you sure I can’t keep it?”