You don't know you can keep

Sally and Aurora sat together in the second bedroom. Aurora had soaked a towel in water, and had it wrapped around her torso. She stole irritated glances at Sally now and then, who shifted her attention between Aurora and her phone.

Finally, the agitated blue woman broke the silence. A shimmer of light orange made a wave across her arms and back.

"Szälly to-led..."

Sally looked at her in confusion. To-led? She probably meant 'told', right? Unless she's been looking into foreign languages...

"Told what?", Sally asked.

"Jämesz to-led. Szälly...gave szea-kratt.", she huffed. She didn't have any pouting face, or childish demeanor. She looked like a woman accusing someone of betrayal.

Sally managed to put it together. "Oooh...well... I told him something bad happened."

Aurora flickered green, her face softening. "No to-led...full?"

Sally had to think for a moment about that one. Full? Like, full story? She shook her head. "I don't know what really happened to you...just something along those lines."

Aurora looked confused this time, flickering white. "Szälly...can not hear it?", her spots flickered the same sickly green color for a moment.

Now she's lost. "Hear what?"

"...För Nove...can hear. Hear how Earth can feel...but hear other Nove. If hear-feel is szame...both Nove do."

That was...incredibly cryptic. "I...don't understand."

Aurora showed a wave of yellow, and her face scrunched up. A vibrating hum of frustration left the hole on the back of her neck. "Mmm...Earth.", she gestured at Sally. Sally nodded. She gestured at the outside. "Earth sad...another earth sad...Earth hear-feel?"

Sally pursed her lips. "I uh...don't get it."

Another, more intense hum. "Does Earth one...feel here pain of other earth one?", she gestured at her heart when she said "here".

"Oh. OH. Woah...no, uh...we sort of remember what made our own pain but...no."

"Szälly...not hear I's here pain?", a sad blue color flickered across her head. It settled into place when Sally shook her head. Aurora's eyes dropped to the floor. "Ah..."

"Do you...want to talk about it?"

Aurora scrunched her face again. "...Yuesz but...do not know...how to words..."

"Well... I'll be here for a few days, okay? When you learn the words...just come and get me."

Aurora faded into a brighter blue, and her chest turned an odd brown color. Her cheeks shimmered green. "Yuesz."