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"Where I come from, no one has heard of the 'nations', or about bending actually," Rue said, now getting slightly angry after Setsuko's loud voice rang through the clearing. "But everyone has heard of the presidant, and the U.S." she said. Rue could've gone on, but she stopped.

"Well, where I have come from, no one has ever heard of the US or the president," Setsuko hissed back. She turned away from Rue. "It's like we're from totally different worlds." She hoped desperately that her slowly-coming tears where invisible in her voice. How she wished she had her parent's comfort right now.

"Yeah, it really is," Rue said, ignoring the fact that Setsuko sounded like she was slowly about to cry. She shrugged, loosening her wing muscles as she did so. "Maybe we are,"

Setsuko wiped her eyes on her blue tunic before facing Rue. "How is that possible?" She choked out.

Rue shrugged again. "I don't know, I don't think it is, but it sure sounds like we are," she said.

Setsuko stood up. "I wish I knew." She replied. She promptly leaned down again and put her arms around Jaci's scruff. "At least I still have Jaci," She said sadly. And as she said that, a though stuck her. What if she was trapped in a whole different world? She would never see her family and friends again, not ever. She closed her eyes tightly, but it was useless. The possible reality of this though filled her mind and had to flow outwards. She began to cry again, into Jaci's thick warm fur, no longer caring if Rue noticed or not.

Rue sat awkwardly, unsure of how to react to this. No one really cried in her 'family', they had to much practice in not doing so, so she hadn't had the experience in comforting someone when they were sad like this. Rue also felt sort of numb, her parents would be almost literally sick with worry, flying endlessly to search for her, but she hid it, she had alot of practice.

Setsuko held Jaci tighter, tears coming freely. Jaci instinctively purred to comfort her. He licked at the braids dangling off one side of her head, and then at her face, washing away her tears. Still sobbing, Setsuko managed a hard-to-interpret "Thanks, Jaci."

"It's ok Setsuko," Rue said tentavily, visibly wincing at how stupid that was. "Ok, maybe they aren't ok, but they will be, I'll make sure of it," she promised, her voice still tentative, hesitating before every word.

"You sound so unsure," Setsuko moaned. But she released her grip on Jaci and stood up, wiping away the tears with her sleeve. "But thanks, Rue."

"No problem," she said, releived that she had stopped crying. Her eyes were still rimmed red, but it was already fading.

Regaining herself, Setsuko spoke again. "Like I said, you sounded really unsure, just then. How come?" She stared into Rue's chocolate eyes with her own different colors. "Haven't you ever cried before?"

"Well, a few times," she said, remembering whne she was about 5 and had gotten her arm dislocated. It had hurt like cr**.

"I see," Setsuko said, noticing the wavering unsureness remain in Rue's voice. Perhaps she should change the subject. "So..." She began. "If you're memory's returned, do you mind telling me a bit about where you live, that...er...'arizona'?"

"It's really warm most of the time, except in winter, where it'll sometime snow." she said, recalling the soft white flakes that would blanket the ground. "Some of the parts are like a desert alomst, really hot without alot of grass or trees." She flew over those parts alot, it was easy to land on them.