My toenails clicked against the hard floor as I walked the hallway.
I'd tried trimming them when I had some time to myself, remembering how much I used to dread the sound of an approaching Lycothan. It was an exercise in futility though, earning me an amused smirk from Raksha as I cursed under my breath, watching them start to regrow.
"Don't tell me you're a beauty queen," Raksha chuckled.
"No, just trying to be less... threatening," I admitted.
"Not that way you're not. None of us can really hide what we are. Your nails will always grow back with a vengeance. Do it enough and you'll just give yourself the munchies."
"...the munchies?" I asked, quirking a brow.
"Nails are protein. It's gotta come from somewhere."
"Gross," I muttered, making a face.
Raksha snorted. "The girl who hasn't even had her period since changing isn't allowed to talk to me about gross."
"That's a thing?"
"Damn straight that's a thing. Hell, you're here awhile you'll notice about half the barracks cycles together. Mood around here gets... bitchy."
"Pun intended?"
"Got it in one..."
I'd been in a sulk the rest of that evening, but the morning after I was pulled from my training early, pressed into service by Jinara. That's how I found myself walking down the hallway with a tray of food in my hands.
I scanned the doors, each of them having a bin next to them holding a file folder. Finally, my eyes lit on the right one.
995403.
As Lartara had expected, the head alpha of the facility was sending me to feed my friend Amanda. To say I was nervous was an understatement. It was too soon, and I remembered all too well what we'd thought of the guards. What I probably represented to her was another friend taken away from her. I didn't know how I would cope, if she looked at me that way. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, biting my lip as I worked up the nerve.
"I can hear you out there, you know," came Amanda's voice, muffled by the door.
I sighed and worked my keycard in the lock, swinging the door inwards. There she was, sitting on the floor. Much like I had been, or really any of us were at any given moment. Her dark hair cropped short as mine was, but now in hindsight I could see what features she shared with the feral beauty of Nillara. She seemed smaller than I remembered. She looked up at me, puzzled for a moment before I saw the look of recognition in her eyes.
"...of course they'd send you."
"I'm sorry, I know this can't be pleasant."
"It's just another way for them to twist the knife, Haley."
A look of hurt crossed my face, but I found my courage again.
"I'm not Haley. I'm Harkaal."
"Of course you are. You probably don't even know how you got this way. Jesus you're huge, by the way."
"They... told me what happened," I hedged. "It's a bit daunting to try to live up to the human I was."
"Don't bother. Now you're just another one of them."
"It doesn't matter why they sent me. I'm not here to hurt you."
"Then just answer me one question."
I nodded, setting the tray down in front of her. "Fire away."
She looked to the food, then back up at me, meeting my gaze with watering eyes.
"...are you happy, like this?"