“Do you have a name?” She paused, glancing around the courtyard. “You’re not like the others, I don’t think. You’re smaller. You can barely even carry me around, yet you did. Am I heavy?” Cythiria snorted. “I don’t see how I could be. Not since being here.” She rubbed the Vérkatros’ body, more vigorously this time. Its skin flashed orange and then red and returned to green, yellow, and then gray. “And those colors. Why do you change color so often? The others don’t. They always stay the same. But you’re different.” She smiled sadly and then sighed. “Are you trying to express your feelings? I wish I could express mine. Right now, I just feel kinda numb. Like, I don’t know why I’m here. Only that Rive, who took care of me back in Nissy, she brought me here.” Cythiria’s voice cracked, and her eyes grew damp. “And she took me away from someone. Someone who cared about me.” The colorsof the Vérkatros flashed yellow and then red and returned to gray. “I…don’t think I’ll ever see her again. I just don’t know….”

Cythiria turned and leaned her back up against the side of the Vérkatros. She slid down and sat on her haunches. She pulled her knees close to her chest and wrapped her arms around her shins. Tears streamed down her cheeks. “I can’t do this anymore. I just want to go away. I want to be left alone. I don’t belong here.” She felt the Vérkatros skin grow warm, and it started to vibrate a steady, soothing hum. Cythiria lifted her chin and gazed up at the bulbous eyes of the Vérkatros. She stood up, rubbed her wet, sniffly nose, which had grown a shade of pink, and wiped away the tears from her eyes and cheeks.

“I don’t know if you have a name, but I’m going to name you.” The Vérkatros’ skin flashed orange, then red. She paused, gazing up towards the sky and pursing her lips. She lifted her forefinger to her chin. “I’m going to name you Blinky.” The Vérkatros vibrated and flashed, its colors bright red and pink. Cythiria chuckled. “You know, because you blink your colors so much, kinda like a neon sign back in Nissy. In fact, to make it official, I’m going to give you a ribbon.” She glanced around the courtyard and then down at her shirt. She pulled at the edge until she was able to tear away a small strip. She jogged to a burnt and blackened part of the courtyard, picked up a stone, and rubbed it into the strip. She jogged back to Blinky and held it up to his bulbous eyes. “See? It has your name on it.” She looked over Blinky’s body and reached for one of his flicking antennae. She tied the ragged ribbon onto the antenna, double and then triple knotting it. “It won’t fall off. And if anyone asks, you can just say you’re Blinky.”

Blinky flashed red and pink, then yellow and gray. The twinkle in his bulbous eyes faded, and then he was still, motionless. Cythiria tilted her head. “Blinky? Are you ok?”