Understanding

Sally managed to get mostly brought up on what had happened in James's life the last few days. After enough back and forth, she managed to calm down and work things out. James had left out the phone call with Lee, though.

Sally took deep breaths before addressing everything. "So. She was here yesterday. As in when Mom and I stopped by?"

"Yeah.", James nodded.

"And Mom didn't find her, how?"

Aurora spoke up, "Feet szound. I put I this here." She tapped her toes at the underside of the bed.

"And she's already learning how to speak English?"

James nodded again. "Aside from getting burnt by coffee, it's about all she has to do right now. I did some research. Apparently they're really fast learners. She said earlier today they didn't have a choice but to learn fast."

"Right. And we don't tell anyone she's here because...", she trailed off, half sarcastically leaving the end open.

James sighed, "Because I don't think it's a good idea."

"Isn't she supposed to like...go back to her assigned house or whatever?"

Sally hardly finished when Aurora flashed red and nearly shouted, "No!"

Sally and James shared a glance. Sally nodded slowly, "Okay. No telling...gotcha. But why?" Aurora turned a pale green color and wrapped her arms around herself. Her gaze cast itself aside, to the floor. Sally's eyes widened. "Oh...shit."

James looked back and forth between the two. "What? Don't tell me you know what her colors mean, because I've been going crazy trying to figure it out."

She shook her head, "No....but I know the look." Aurora flickered yellow and stared at Sally. "Don't worry. No telling."

Aurora faded into a kinder looking green, and her shoulders relaxed. She and Sally shared a sympathetic smile at each other. James remained lost.

"Well. Now you know why I called off work and why I was weird yesterday...", James said. He patted his knees and stood. "I'm getting more coffee...don't fight."