I scoured the Kymari's apartment for the next hour or so, but in the end I came up empty. I was pretty sure the fruits were kept in the kitchen - that made the most sense, after all - but the cabinets and countertops were still no less inaccessible to me as they had been any other time I had checked them.

I was able to climb up the tables and couch in the living room by clawing my way up the sides - or by using the small boxes the Kymari left beside them for me to hop up on, though that didn't cause nearly as much damage to her things - but the cabinets in the kitchen were made of a hard, slick material that reminded me of marble. It was impossible to climb them.

The small boxes were deceptively heavy, too. I wasn't able to move them without running into them, and even then the best I could hope for was to tip it over. Dragging one all the way to the kitchen wasn't going to happen.

Eventually I gave up and sulked in the bowl of sand. The two Kymari finished up their movie and started another, interrupting it occasionally to comment on things like the plot or the attractiveness (or lack thereof) of the various actors, and when it finished they broke for lunch.

I dragged myself out of the sand to follow them towards the kitchen, stopping in the dining room and peeking around the wall just in case they revealed where the shia fruit was kept, but they mostly just made food for themselves. Once they had piled an assortment of vegetables and meats into a strange meal I wasn't able to identify even with all the cooking shows I had been exposed to, the Kymari opened another cabinet and half-filled another container with various fruits.

I made a mental note of where that cabinet was. That was probably where any shia fruit would be found.

I was pretty sure they had known I was watching them - the one Kymari was pretty good at not reacting to me, probably out of a desire to not frighten me or cause me to be uncomfortable around her, but Arlia had started grinning for no reason I could figure out about halfway through making the meal.

Still, just on the off chance they hadn't, I scurried back into the living room and climbed back up to the bowl of sand. I sprawled out again and closed my eyes most of the way, leaving them open just enough to see the hallway, and pretended to be asleep. The last thing I wanted was for her to realize I was on to her. That might cause her to move the shia fruit before I could get to it.

Arlia walked into the living room with her plate, took one look at me, and burst out laughing.

I was now much more certain they had caught me watching them.

I closed my eyes all the way and kept pretending to be asleep just on general principle. I heard the other Kymari come into the room and move towards the couch.

"Hey, you mind helping me try something?"

"Sure." Arlia's voice sounded curious.

"Sit on this side; I want to check something."

There was some shuffling from the couch, then they grew silent. The sound of them eating was all I heard... though I began to pick up the scents of various fruits. At least one of them was a pineapple.

I opened my eyes and glanced towards the couch.

Arlia had switched seats and was now sitting closer to me. The other Kymari was on the center cushion, and the bowl of fruit was in between them. She was holding the slice of pineapple closer to Arlia, too.

It seemed fairly obvious what she was curious about - would I go the longer way around the room so as to avoid Arlia, or would I be okay climbing over her to get to the food?

I stood up and shook the loose sand from my scales, then slipped over to the couch. A short hop onto the box, then another hop up on the couch, and then I was perched on Arlia's leg. I took the pineapple slice from the outstretched hand and began nibbling on it.

Arlia hadn't been the one to kill Susie.

"Not even a hiss." The Kymari's voice sounded dejected.

"Yeah..." Arlia's voice sounded just as sad.

The Kymari passed me the rest of the fruit in the container, but she seemed to lack a lot of the energy that had been present at breakfast. The portion for lunch was smaller - I usually wasn't that hungry until dinner, and this was more a collection of snacks than an actual meal - and it didn't take long to finish. The reward at the end was a sunburst berry, which I happily took with me as I hopped down from Arlia's leg and returned to my den.

The blank expression on the Kymari's face while I had eaten had bothered me. Far, far more than it should have. It was the same look I had seen on her face after I had walked away from the ball, and I knew what it meant.

She was starting to grow to like me, and it was starting to hurt her that I was holding a grudge against her. When she saw me fighting with or hissing at her, then saw me happily go along with another Kymari doing the same thing, it upset her a little.

But this was her. Why was it bothering me so much to know she was upset?

Was I starting to grow attached to her?

And why didn't that thought scare me so much anymore?

I burrowed underneath the blanket and tried to sleep.

Arlia was gone when I woke up.

I peeked my head out from my den and saw my Kymari on the couch by herself. The container had been refilled with fruit - my stomach happily informed me that it was now dinner time - but there was also a shallow tray on the table.

I crawled out of the box that served as my den and hopped up onto it, then sat up on my hindlegs to get a better view. The bottom of the tray had water in it, maybe just enough to come up to my sides if I stood in it, and also held a pair of sponges.

Aha. Bath time.

I started to hop down and go over to the water... but stopped when I caught sight of the orange berry in the Kymari's hand. I settled back down and watched her.

There was no sense passing up an opportunity of free sunburst berries. If I just started doing things she wanted without being bribed into it first, she might start to realize she was giving me way more of the delicious things than she probably should have been. Something that delicious was probably meant to be a once-a-week thing. And I was getting multiple ones every day.

She held the berry out towards me... but I just blinked at it. I also didn't want her thinking I was a vending machine. No, 'insert berry, get trick'.

"Come on. Come get the treat." She bobbed her hand in the air over the tray. "Come on."

I watched her for another minute or two - it was actually kind of funny, and I could tell she felt embarrassed - but I eventually relented. I was looking forward to getting clean, even if yes, it meant suffering through her touching me, and I didn't want to push her too far. She might think I was scared of the water or something.

I crossed to the table and jumped up onto it. I stared at the tray for another moment... then carefully dipped my hand in the shallow water.

The water was warm.

I couldn't begin to describe how good that felt. This was the first truly warm water that I had felt in nearly a decade - even the water from the bathroom sink came out cold when I jumped up and down in front of the sensor, and I hadn't figured out how to change that yet. The water in the river had never gotten beyond 'cool', and in winter it was more appropriately described as 'freezing'. Aside from an occasional summer storm, I hadn't been able to experience truly warm water since I had become a dragonet.

I stepped into the tray and promptly lay down in it, forgetting all about the sunburst berry. The water completely submerged my tail, but only barely rose over my legs. I couldn't feel anything on the side with the cast, but my belly and other side felt nice inside the warm puddle.

"Ack! No, stand up!" The Kymari exclaimed in surprise and reached for me. She grabbed me and carefully stood me back up.

I landed a deep slash at her palm before she got her hands away from me. I hissed at her in annoyance and glared at her.

She reached for a small towel that had been resting beside the tray and dabbed at the blood on her palm. "Sorry, but you can't lay down. You'll get this wet." She picked up another towel and gently pressed it against the hard cast at my side.

I hissed again, but I let her dry the cast.

She kept talking in a calm, slow voice. "You need to keep that dry. It's doing extra work that your other casts aren't doing, and is holding a lot of your weight off of your ribs, so that they can heal. If it gets wet it won't be able to do that as well, and you'll have trouble breathing." I knew she thought I couldn't understand her and was just talking so her voice could try and calm me... and I hated that her voice actually did calm me a little.

I narrowed my eyes up at her and slowly sank back into the shallow water.

She sighed and lifted me back up. I scratched her again, and she dried the cast off again.

I managed to keep from grinning through two more attempts at rolling in the water, then I stopped and stood in place. Antagonizing her was fun, but she was right; I didn't want to mess up the cast.

We watched each other for a long moment while she waited to see if I would try laying down again... then she slowly reached for one of the sponges.

I shifted like I was going to lay back down, and her hand shot back over to steady me. I took a second to calm down and keep in my laughter... then I swiped at her hand.

She sighed in exasperation and pressed the towel back against her hand to cover the bleeding.

She reached for the sponge again, and this time I stood there calmly. She squeezed some of the water out of it, then brought it over to my side. I hissed at her, and made a show of sniffing it warily... but only for a second or two. I moved my head away and let her continue without complaint.

The warm sponge felt way, way too good.

It had obviously been designed for scrubbing counters or other rough surfaces, and would have been an irritant against soft skin, but against me it was perfect. It brushed over my scales with just the right amount of friction. It was like I had just found the perfect rock in the river, except instead of having to rub against it, it was rubbing against me.

Itches that I had just accepted I would have to live with finally got attention as she scrubbed over my back and side. The clear water grew dark as dirt and sand fell away from my scales, and I felt a bit of embarrassment at realizing just how dirty I must have been. She scrubbed over my neck and the base of my wings, stopping just before the cast, then scooped some water up with her hand. She carefully angled her hand so the water missed the cast as it flowed over me.

I sighed happily. She must have practiced this on Ivy or someone else. Or maybe she was just naturally good at it. Either way, it was nice. I had to fight the urge to sink down on the tray, though this time the urge was out of contentment rather than out of wanting to be mean to the Kymari.

The rough sponge was swapped out for the other sponge, which proved to be much smoother. It didn't feel as nice as the other sponge and didn't seem to be able to clean as well, which led me to wonder why the Kymari had brought it. She rubbed that quickly over my side and back, then used the clean towel to dry me off.

I thought about trying to stretch out in the water again just to mess with her, but I didn't want to ruin the moment. I felt clean. No need to diminish that by having her touch me.

I carefully stepped out of the tray and dripped water from my legs and feet. I spotted the sunburst berry lying on the table where the Kymari must have dropped it, and trilled happily as I grabbed it and bit into it. It lasted a bite and a half.

I glanced up and saw her smiling at me. "Ready for dinner, too?"

She reached down and retrieved a pineapple from the container, then held it up over her leg. I hopped over from the table and perched on her leg. She passed me the pineapple ring and I sank my teeth into it, happily devouring the fruit.

"Well, that's certainly improved your mood, hasn't it?" I swallowed the last bit of pineapple and tilted my head up at her, then chirped a confused, "Huh?"

"Oh, sorry." She grinned wider and grabbed a slice of mango for me. That didn't exactly answer my question, but the fresh mango was tasty. I finished it off... then realized what she had meant.

Oh. I'm not hissing at her this time.

She fished out a raspberry for me, and I hesitated, wondering if I could pull off hissing again. I still had a vague plan of one day biting her during a meal once she had relaxed her guard enough, and that would be harder to pull off or explain if I had become 'comfortable'... but... she was right. The short bath had made me feel a lot better.

Purposely ruining a good mood just for a silly act would be stupid. I was sure I could find plenty of other chances to bite her.

I took the raspberry and devoured it just as eagerly.

"Just like when Arlia fed you. No more hissing." She passed me another mango. "You're almost the exact opposite of the other fire lizards. All of them have been nervous around everyone, and only ever managed to become comfortable around one person, maybe two. None of them would accept food from anyone else. Like Elder Naishi said. Even Tasha still has problems around strangers, and she's been around us the longest."

"But we know from the dog that you must have lived among humans. The vet didn't think you were that old. Nine or ten years at the most." An apple slice found its way into my hands while she continued musing. "You must have been very young when the humans were wiped out, which means you must have been even younger when you were first introduced to them. Were you raised by them as soon as you hatched? Is that why you are so comfortable around us, while the others all start out so frightened?"

I chewed on the apple and thought about that. No. It's because the others were all traumatized by whatever was done to them in that lab. Even the younger dragonets born after grew up hearing those stories. But I missed out on all of that.

I'd had some fear of the Kymari when I was living in the forest with Susie, but... that had just been an instinctive fear of something so much bigger than me. And the days on the sedative have already removed even that little. Aside from what Terron might do to me to protect Lyzel, I'm not really nervous or frightened of any of you.

"I wonder... if that's truly the case, maybe I'll be able to leave you with somebody else in certain cases." She passed me a grape - then immediately gave me another slice of apple. Grapes didn't tend to last long. "I might be able to go to other worlds still; Arlia could watch you. Or you could stay with Ivy and Trenil." She hesitated. "I could still visit people, maybe. See my parents again."

I wasn't sure what she meant by that. She could leave as long as she wanted, and go as far away from here as she wanted, as far as I was concerned. She certainly would never have to worry about not being able to leave me without her.

It was quiet for a moment while I nibbled on the apple slice... then I felt a gentle touch on my back.

I hissed and dropped the apple, then bent my neck back to snap at her hand. My teeth grazed one of her fingers as she jerked it back, and I glared at it as it retreated to her side.

She sighed a little and dug out another piece of mango from the container. "Sorry. You're not ready for that yet, I guess. Stick to the schedule, Minna, the other handlers know what they're talking about."

I hissed for a few more seconds, but she appeared to have learned her lesson. I let out a final warble of warning, then picked the slice of apple back up.

The rest of the meal passed in silence.