Here's a hint at my new fantasy. 

Suki's caramel-colored fur lay smooth and flat.  Her small, round ears were pinned tight against her head.  Normally, her fur puffed and stood on end, but that was only when she was happy.  Today, she was sad.  She stuck her pink nose through the golden bars, at the front of the hamster cage, and sniffed.  The room smelt of sickness. Her beady, black eyes watched Penny.

Penny lay still on the bed — her sandy-blonde hair fanned out on the pillow, and her blue eyes closed.  Air whistled as it moved in and out of her nose, and the color of her face resembled the whitish-grey ashes they carried from the fireplace to the garden spot.

Suki worried.  Her nose twitched side to side, causing her whiskers to wiggle forward and back.  Penny was sick.  The doctor had said if she wasn't better in a few days, she'd have to travel three hundred miles to the hospital in Centertown.  Three hundred miles.  Suki couldn't bear the thought.  Without Penny, no one would think to include her, and as her guardian, Suki must accompany Penny everywhere.

There was only one thing to do.  Suki must find the Aldon, the leader of the Supers on this planet.  Only one problem presented itself, she had no idea where to look for him.  The Aldon visited every super when they arrived, and that was all.  Suki must travel to Hootannie's tree, the owl set to govern this region.  If she could do that, Hootannie would know where the Aldon resided.

Suki pushed the door up, launched herself from the cage with her back feet, and flew to the bed. 

Penny remained still.

Climbing up the pillow, Suki placed her front paws against Penny's cheek.  It felt hot — hot as the sidewalk on a blistering summer's day.  "Oh, Penny."

Suki brushed a few strands of the blonde hair from Penny's brow.  Beads of sweat stood like raindrops falling from the sky on her skin.  Suki licked one or two away.  The taste of salt indicated that it definitely wasn't rain.  She crouched beside Penny's ear.  "I have to go, dear one.  The Aldon will know what to do.  I'll be back as soon as possible.  Please, hang in there."  Suki kissed the girl's cheek then jumped from the bed.

Flying had become hard.  Even though Supers were supposed to live twenty years, Suki felt old and weak.  It was all she could do these days to make it from her cage to the bed, or fly out the window to the other side.  She was left with just her small feet and legs to travel across the garden, through the forest, and up Mount Tippy to Hootannie's tree.  But if that's what it took, she'd do it.  Penny must be saved.

Suki scurried to the door, then flattened herself and pushed through the crack at the bottom.  Penny's parent's room showed no signs of life.  Suki turned and rushed down the hall.  She paused at James' open door.  Bright light filtered into the hall.  Of course, he'd be awake.  Suki stood on her back paws and peeked around the corner.  James sat at his desk, pencil in one hand, and glasses perched on top of his head.  He peered into the microscope beside him then scribbled notes on the paper.

The hamster flattered her body as much as possible and skittered across the open doorway.  She hated James.  When Penny wasn't around, James would sneak in and poke and prod Suki.  He even extracted blood from her on a regular basis.  James attended college, pre-med, whatever that was.  Suki hurried to the end of the hall, jumped down the stairs, and ran to the door.  This one didn't have a crack beneath it, and she'd already exhausted her flying capabilities for a while.  She clawed her way up to the mail slot and with her nose, pushed it open and dropped outside to the porch. 

A cold wind ruffled her fur and moisture tinged the smell of the breeze.  Winter was just around the corner.  Suki looked up at the half moon hanging low in the sky.  Not the best time for a hamster to travel, but then, as small as she was, there would be no good time to be outside.  Her strength still held true.  The loss of power seemed limited to flying and distance jumping.  She'd have to be more careful now than she'd ever been.  Penny's life depended on her.  The Aldon would know how to get back to Pluttonia, and there she could petition the Chief Aldon for medicine to save Penny.