Zara approached the small glass enclosure slowly, trying to be as quiet as she possibly could. The room was lit dimly, and the enclosure was even more so, the soft light barely illuminating the tiny occupant laid out on a small bed. 

She was small, sickly, and pale. Her eyes were opened, but of course she couldn’t see anything. 

“Sophia?” Zara spoke softly. “It’s Zara.” 

“Hi… Zara…” Sophia gasped. 

“Do you mind if I pick you up, sweetheart?” Zara whispered softly. 

“Please.”

Zara swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. She carefully reached into the enclosure and gently worked her fingers underneath the young woman. Sophia helped as much as she could, scooting into her palm, but she had gotten so weak it was almost a wasted effort. 

Zara blinked away the tears that were forming in her eyes. 

Sophia curled up in a ball in the palm of Zara’s hand. It felt so nice to touch someone, to know that someone else was there and wasn’t just a fevered figment of her imagination. 

“Zara…” Sophia whispered softly. “Has there been any word on Nick?” 

“Oh sweetheart, don’t worry about him. Pryvani and Taron have gone to get him back from Trell. He’ll be fine.” 

“I know you’re trying to keep me from worrying about him.” Sophia told her. “It’s sweet, but it’s not going to work.” 

Zara sighed. “I know. I’m worried about him too. But neither of us can do anything to help him, and worrying about him is just going to stress you out. I know it’s hard, but you have to trust that Pryvani and Taron will bring him home safe. Okay?” 

“Okay.”

A heavy silence stretched between them as Zara gently stroked Sophia’s back, while cupping her protectively in her palm. 

“Have they… have they made any progress?”

“On what?” Zara asked evasively. 

“You know what.” Sophia shook her head. “On a cure.”

“So you move from one heavy topic onto a different one huh?”

“Come on Zara.” 

“Okay, okay. They have made progress. Loads of it, in fact.” Zara responded carefully. “We’ll have you back to normal in no time.” 

“Don’t lie to me Zara.” 

“I’m not.” The titaness replied. “Brinn and Dr. Selil have made tremendous strides towards finding a cure. They’re very hopeful and you should be too, okay?” Zara glanced around desperately looking for something to change the topic, to distract the human woman. 

“How about a bath?” 

“A bath?” Sophia blinked her sightless eyes incredulously. 

“Sure!” Zara responded brightly. “I know we’ve been keeping you clean well enough, but I know a good soak always makes me feel better.” 

“Sure… okay…” 

Zara nodded and carried her over to the sink, filling a shallow bowl with cool water. Sophia’s skin felt hot to the touch and Zara didn’t think a hot bath would be good for her.

After filling the dish, she gently eased Sophia into the water until all but her head and neck were submerged. 

“How does that feel?” 

“Really good, actually.” Sophia sighed contentedly. 

“Good. I’m glad.” 

Zara began gently cradled Sophia in the palm of one hand while scrubbing and massaging her body, with the other. The Titan began to carefully run her fingers over the soft flesh. 

“Hmm…” Sophia sighed. “Zara?” 

“Yes?” 

“I’m going to die, aren’t I?” 

Zara felt her heart break at the utter hopelessness she heard in Sophia’s voice. She had to take a deep breath and steady her hands before she felt she could respond to what she had said. 

“Don’t talk like that. You aren’t dead yet and you aren’t going to die from this. It’s not going to help anything to be thinking like that while you’re still breathing, okay? Now come on, think of something else to talk about.”

There was a tense silence that passed between them as Zara continued to carefully massage Sophia’s wet skin. 

“Can you tell me a story?” Sophia finally asked, in a quiet, almost timid voice. 

Zara blinked in surprise. 

“A story?” 

“Yes. You said you wanted to take my mind off of things. So tell me a story. One from your world.” Sophia smiled dreamily. “I told you one from mine, after all…” 

Zara paused to consider. “All right. I suppose that’s only fair. What kind of story should I tell you?” 

“I don’t know. Whatever sort of story you like.” Sophia yawned. 

Zara took a moment to think about it, before choosing a story she remembered from childhood. 

“This is the story of Kirredee the Atza and the Curse of the Number Four.” 

“What’s an Atza?” Sophia asked. 

“It’s a type of bird, very small. Eats insects and royal berries. They have white and purple feathers usually. Kirredee is a character from children’s stories who is this type of bird. He’s usually very clever, but also very greedy.” 

“I see.” 

“Anyway: One day, long ago there lived a little girl, named Four.” 

“Four? Who names their kid after a number?” Sophia interjected. 

“That’s the point of the story, now quiet.” 

“Anyway, the other children of the village teased Four mercilessly over her name. They laughed at her and taunted her and bullied her endlessly. They even said that her name was proof that she was a sorceress.” 

“How did they figure that?” Sophia asked. 

“I don’t know, maybe sorceresses all had number names, not let me continue.” 

“Right.” Sophia snickered. “Continue.” 

“Well, one day, Four decided she was going to punish all those who had made fun of her name. She decided to cast a curse on the number four, so that any who said it would disappear forever.” 

“Aha!” Sophia crowed. “So she was a sorceress!” 

“Apparently.” Zara muttered, rolling her eyes. “Anyway, so she casts the spell and soon anybody who said the word four vanished forever. 

“Now, you can imagine what kind of a hassle this caused for the village. Nobody was able to count past three, people in the market couldn’t charge certain prices, children couldn’t learn their math.” 

“I’m sure they were broken up about that…” 

Zara elected to ignore the interruption. 

“One day, Kirredee the Atza bird heard of this curse and- being a very greedy little bird, decides he needs to find some way to take advantage of people’s inability to say Four.” 

“He goes to the side of the road and plants four hustana plants and waits for them to sprout. When they do, when the plants are just big enough to push out of the dirt, he sits down by the road and waits. 

“Soon enough, an old farmer comes up from a nearby town with his baskets full of taltzi fruits, heading for the market place. 

“’Excuse me, kind sir’ says Kirredee. ‘I have never learned to count, could you tell me how many hustana plants I have here? 

“One-two-skip-a-few ninety-nine one hundred.” Sophia sang, an amused grin on her face. 

“Hush.” Zara whispered, smiling indulgently. “The old man looks at Kirredee with a sneer of contempt. ‘Stupid atza.’ He yells. ‘You want to know how many you have, learn to count them yourself!’ And in a huff he keeps walking down the road.

“Kirredee was not discouraged; he merely waited for the next person to come by. The next person down the road was a young boy with a basket of lekta roots and gristain. 

“‘Excuse me,’ Says Kirredee. ‘But I was ill and sickly as a child, so I never went to school and never learned to count. Could you tell me how many plants I have here?’

“Ah, changing the story, making himself seem more pitiable. Good call.” Sophia interjected, with a grin on her face.

Zara knew exactly what Sophia was trying to do, so she valiantly ignored the interruption and pressed on with her story. 

‘Of course,’ said the boy. ‘You have- one, two, three f-’ WHOOSH! As soon as the boy said the word ‘four’ he vanished, leaving behind his basket of food. 

“So Kirredee ate the food and tried again, and again, with any travelers that came down the road. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t, but Kirredee began to amass quite the haul of treasures for himself.

“Eventually, along came an elderly woman with a small basket of berries. Kirredee beckoned her over and asked her to count his hustana plants for him. 

“‘Certainly,’ the old woman said. ‘You have one, two, three… and then this one right in front of me.’

“Kirredee shook his head. ‘No no, that’s not right. Count them again!’”

“So the old woman counted again. ‘One, two, three and this one right in front of me.’

“By this point Kirredee was hopping mad. ‘No! That’s wrong! That’s not how you count!’

“The old woman looked at him, ‘Well’ she asked. ‘How should I count them then?’

“‘Like this!’ Kirredee said angrily. ‘one, two, three f-’ WHOOSH! As soon as Kirredee said four, he vanished without a trace- leaving his pile of food and treasures for the old woman. The End.” 

Zara looked down at Sophia in confusion, having expected a snarky comment. She found the young woman completely still in the water. For a moment, Zara’s heart froze; but then Sophia shifted and Zara realized with a rush of relief that she was only sleeping.

“I guess that’s enough for now.” Zara said fondly as she lifted Sophia from the water and patted her dry. “You do need your rest…”

Zara had carefully settled Sophia back onto her bed, and was turning to go when a small voice suddenly interrupted her. 

“Zara?”

“Yes, Soph?” 

“Promise me something. Promise me that if I die-”

“You’re not going to die.” 

“Just listen for a second okay?!” Sophia snapped, before breaking into a coughing fit that shocked Zara into silence. 

It took a minute, but eventually Sophia was able to calm down enough to speak again. “Promise me that if I die… you and the others won’t be sad for me, okay? Remember me with happiness. Tell stupid jokes and funny stories. Laughter. No tears, you got it?” 

Ironically, Zara was already tearing up. “That’s going to be really tough. You know how emotional Brinn is.” 

“Yeah well.” Sophia crossed her arms resolutely over her chest. “It’s my final wish, so you’re all just going to have to deal with it.” 

“Okay.” Zara nodded. “Okay.” 

A moment of silence stretched between them, and Zara thought maybe Sophia had fallen asleep again. She turned to leave the lab again. 

“But I’m not going to die, anyway. So it’s all right.” 

Zara smiled.