I hear a soft knock on the door.

"Room service."

"Come in."

The door opens and one of the attendants enters, pushing a small cart. She is a light-furred fox, probably the same fennec who served us once before. Her enormous ears twitch slightly as she places the things on the table.

"I brought your new clothes, as well as the coffee you requested."

She points to a cardboard box on the cart containing my new clothes.

"Would you like me to help you put them away?"

I nod gratefully as I watch her take everything out of the box and set it aside. Meanwhile, I watch the steaming coffee sitting on the cart.

The smell reaches me immediately. I pick up the cup with both hands.

As soon as my fingers wrap around the ceramic, I feel a sharp pain.

"Ow!"

I immediately let go.

The cup falls forward, sending coffee flying. Unfortunately, it goes straight onto the attendant's skirt, and she lets out a deep cry.

As quickly as I can, I try to pull the skirt away and take it off her to keep things from getting worse.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

We manage to remove the skirt quickly, and I hurry to take the fennec to the bathroom.

"Come on, you need to soak it in cold water. Let me see."

But when I look at her legs, the terror is far greater. I expected to see coffee and a burn, but instead I see something much worse.

She has dozens of horizontal scars, cuts that were clearly made deliberately. They have all healed, and a large amount of her fur is missing as well.

"What...? Who did this to you?"

The fennec is clearly uncomfortable with the situation. She lets out a sigh before answering.

"I did. It was a long time ago."

"Why would you hurt yourself like that?"

She shrugs. She doesn't have an answer.

I decide to go over to the entrance of the room for a moment and ask for a change of clothes for her.

I press the button to make a request.

"Please, I need a replacement uniform for Miss..."

What's her name?

"What's your name?" I shout towards the bathroom.

"Nira." She calls back.

I turn back to the intercom.

"For Miss Nira."

"Understood. Right away."

The intercom goes silent, and I return to the bathroom.

"Does it hurt much?"

"No. I'm used to the pain by now."

I approach her and watch as she continues soaking her leg in cold water.

"You said you used to do that until some time ago. What happened?"

"I started working here."

"Did working here help you?"

"Yes. Well, at first I still hurt myself, but they found out. The president had people assigned to watch me."

"Did they think you might do something worse?"

"Yes. They thought I might kill myself. Every day they searched my room in case I had hidden a knife or a razor blade."

"And thank goodness they did." I say without really thinking.

"I hated them. And ever since then, I've had to attend sessions with a psychologist chosen by the president."

"He must care about you a lot."

"Yes."

Suddenly, someone knocks on the room's door.

"Come in." I shout from the bathroom.

The attendant enters, and I can see that she is the feline who is always so afraid of me.

As soon as she reaches the bathroom doorway, she freezes. I think she's trying to figure out what happened.

"I dropped the coffee and she got burned." I point towards the fennec.

"I understand." The feline says.

"Thank you for bringing the clothes."

The feline nods and moves a little closer to the fennec.

"Are you okay, Nira?"

"Yes, don't worry. It was an accident. Sarah didn't mean to hurt me. And she helped me."

I decide it's better to leave them alone. They clearly get along very well. I leave the bathroom and try to clean up some of the mess with whatever I have at hand.

A few minutes later, both attendants come out of the bathroom. The fennec is now wearing the clean uniform, and both of them seem quite happy.

The feline approaches me.

"Thank you for helping her. Although I can't help being afraid of you."

"Why?"

"Because humans are dangerous. That's what everyone says."

"Do you really think I could hurt you?"

"Yes."

I laugh a little and decide to prove her wrong.

"Look at me. Do you really think I could hurt you with this body? I don't have claws or fangs like you do."

I hold up my hands and show her my teeth.

"Here, let me show you."

I place my hand on her arm. She flinches for a moment and looks at the fennec, who reassures her.

I begin scratching her arm, pressing as hard as I can. She can tell that I'm genuinely putting a lot of force into it.

Once I'm done, I point at her arm.

"See for yourself. Not even a scratch."

The feline looks at her arm, and sure enough, there isn't a single mark. I might as well have been tickling her.

"You're right."

"I told you she's not dangerous." The fennec says beside her.