I was careless, and the girl found the treasure I'd been concealing.
I had taken out the shard of Element while she was sleeping, trying to remember what my other self had done in my dream to fix its volatile form into workable metal.
I turned it back and forth in the dark.
Its glow was mesmerizing.
I must have fallen asleep trying to recover my dream-memory, and left it laying out by my side.
Nida warned me that the metal was dangerous to human flesh in this form, unstable.
She demanded to know what I was planning to do with it, if I'd cut myself with its sharp edges.
She scolded me like a child caught toying with fire, and I snapped at her like a wounded dog.
Neither of us spoke again for a long time after that.