Minna held me for what felt like hours. After the last few days alone, I savored each and every second of it. It was still much too soon when she relaxed her grip and patted her shoulder. I clambered up and perched there while she stood. She was wearing a different type of shirt this time, and the material was lighter under my feet. I felt my claws prick through the shirt and shifted to keep from digging them into her skin.

She walked to the living room where Terron waited patiently with the pet carrier. I blinked and looked around. No harness or leash?

"Sorry, but you'll need to go in this for now. We'll need to adjust a few things in Terron's house before you can fly around in it anyways. I'll get your harness back from Trenil tomorrow, and then we won't need this again; it's just for tonight." Minna seemed to be talking as much to reassure herself as to reassure me - I doubted either of us wanted to be apart right then, even if it was just the small barrier of the carrier walls - and she carefully picked me up from her shoulder. I grumbled a bit, but I let her move me to the carrier without putting up any serious fuss.

I was still too relieved to be back with her. The stress and turmoil of the last few weeks had finally been resolved. It felt like I could finally breathe again after having been slowly strangled. I didn't want to be stuffed in a pet carrier like an unruly cat... but I wanted to be with Minna more. If the way to do that was to put up with it for a few minutes, that wasn't too bad - and I suspected she was only doing it because she was worried about what could happen to me if I wandered away or got lost. Putting up with it for a little bit would ease her worries. It would make her feel better.

I felt a small glow of happiness at the knowledge I was putting up with an annoyance in order to make things easier for Minna... and this time, I simply accepted it. It wasn't anything to be scared of or worried about. Minna was my friend. There was nothing wrong with feeling good about doing something nice for her.

Minna carried me out of the apartment and down to the street. She paused there for a few minutes while Terron spoke with somebody - probably one of the Kymari who had come across me - then they continued on.

I sat in the darkness and rocked with the subdued motion of the carrier for what seemed to be a bit over an hour before I heard the 'ding' sound I had come to associate with a door opening. The cool night air grew a little warmer, and I got the impression of moving through several rooms... then the carrier settled on a stable surface and the door opened.

I crawled out and found myself on the bed of what seemed to be a guest room. The walls were plain and the only pieces of furniture were the bed and a simple dresser. The bed actually seemed to be nicer than Minna's, but there weren't any windows to look out of, and I couldn't see any obvious power outlets. A small closet in one corner rounded out the room. The door that led out to the rest of the house was closed.

I felt a bit of nervousness at being trapped in a strange room with only one exit... but I forced myself to relax about that. Minna hadn't gone through all this trouble just to hurt me now. And I had spent a lot of time 'trapped' in her apartment. It would have been nice to have more room, but I would be okay for now.

I stretched my wings out and flew around the room once, then flew up behind Minna and settled on her shoulder. She smiled and began unpacking things from a suitcase propped against the bed, pausing between arranging vaguely familiar items to just reach up and pet me.

I could tell she was still very happy.

After a few minutes there was a tap on the door. Minna held her hand on my back with just enough pressure to keep me from easily jumping into flight, then called out. "Come in."

The door cracked open and Terron quickly slipped inside. He closed the door behind him and walked over to the bed. "I wasn't sure what he liked so I threw in a bit of everything we had. Is he going to need anything else tonight?"

Minna took a small container from Terron and I gazed at it eagerly. I hadn't eaten all day, and the variety of sliced fruits inside it looked delicious. Minna grinned and began passing me the meal. "This should be fine; he's not usually picky. Thanks. Were you able to find anything for a bathroom?"

I forced myself not to look around the room. I had still been using the tray of dirt at Minna's place, and there wasn't anything equivalent in this room. I didn't have a pressing need to use the bathroom right at the moment... but if they planned to keep me here for any length of time, that would be a problem.

Terron shook his head. "I'll try and find something after I take Lyzel to school tomorrow. You'll just have to clean up any messes."

Minna didn't look too happy about that. "Ah, the glamorous life of a bond handler."

"Hey, if you don't want the job, we can probably still get you on that flight..." Terron grinned at his sister.

"Not on your life," she retorted lightly as she handed me another piece of fruit and stroked gently over my neck. "Can we set up a room for him to dance in? They get depressed if they can't see the sunrise."

Terron seemed to hesitate. "There's the sunroom, but it has most of our plants in it. Will he hurt them?"

"I'm not sure. They can get very energetic in those flights; I don't think he'll do it on purpose but he might run into something on accident."

I tried not to snort in derision at that idea. As if a flight guided by the sunrise could be that clumsy.

"Can he dance outside instead?"

Minna hesitated, and she fidgeted a little. "I... don't think I'm comfortable with that. I haven't gotten him trained to come when I call. He might come back eventually, but a lot of things could happen to him before that."

Terron nodded and seemed to be thinking. "I'll go look for something. Come find me when you're done feeding him, and we can make sure it's safe for him."

"Okay. Thank you again, for everything, really." Minna stood up from the bed and reached over to hug her brother.

I squawked and jumped into the air, not quite prepared for her to have moved so quickly and not wanting to dig my claws into her shoulder. I wheeled around to land on the bed while they hugged... and snuck a piece of fruit from the container while they were distracted.

Minna broke the hug after a moment and Terron slipped out of the room. She glanced back at me and I froze in mid-reach for another piece of fruit. I knew she wouldn't mind if I fed myself... but I also knew she would find this funny. After the past few weeks, and the last few days especially, I wanted to see her smile and laugh again.

She watched me with a hint of a grin but didn't move. I slowly began to reach towards the container again, stopping when my hand closed over the fruit and glancing furtively back up at her. Then I quickly snatched the fruit - in this case a slice of an apple - from the container and began chewing happily on it.

Minna giggled and nudged the container back towards me. "Silly. Have as much as you want. I'll just go help Terron." She reached over to give me a pat on my head, and I tilted my head to nudge back against her hand.

She slipped out of the room and closed the door behind her, and I went back to my meal. I finished eating and sprawled out on the bed to relax with the contented sensation that came after a meal.

I waited in the empty room.

And waited.

And waited.

Where was Minna at? How long did it take to get one room ready to let me fly around inside of?

I hopped down from the bed and took a closer look at the luggage she had been unloading earlier. It was just various bits of clothes and her tablet. I suspected there might be more stuff hidden in pockets behind the various zippers and buttons, but I doubted there was anything inside them that would be worth the effort. Maybe if I had smelled a sunburst berry it would be different, but as it was I suspected it was just random travel essentials.

I glanced under the bed and confirmed it was too small to slip underneath. I peeked behind the dresser and spotted a power outlet. A quick glance over the carpet revealed a dresser-shaped depression in another part of the room, which led me to suspect they had moved the dresser to block me from getting to the power outlet. I guess they were worried I would stick my claws in it or chew through the wiring. What do you think I am, a two year old?

I guessed it made sense from their perspective - a half-wild animal might try digging into the wall at the one 'weak' part of it, and run the risk of clawing through a live wire - but it still felt a little insulting. I had been an electrician; I probably knew more about electrical safety than all of them put together.

Well. Unless Terron was an electrician. It suddenly occurred to me that I didn't know what he actually did. Before today I hadn't expected it would ever be important to know, since I had planned on returning back to live in the forest... but now it seemed like the kind of thing I should know about Minna's family. Same for Lyzel's mother; I hadn't even seen her yet. That... seemed a little strange, actually; as often as Lyzel and Terron had visited, it would have made sense for her to tag along on at least one of the visits, if for no other reason than to see what all the fuss was about. Maybe she didn't like Minna for some reason?

I spent a few minutes reaching behind the dresser just to see if I could reach the power outlet before abandoning the attempt as useless. The dresser was just too heavy for me to move, and too closely wedged against the wall. I sighed and flew around the room one more time. Where was Minna?

This was getting ridiculous. It had to have been at least a few hours since she had left. What was she doing?

I glided to the floor by the door and sat up to scratch at it. "Hellooooooo? Is anybody there?" There was no answer, so I scratched at the door again.

I didn't expect it to make any difference, but it did make me feel better.

I glanced up at the wall but didn't see any controls like I had seen on Minna's front door. I doubted I would be able to use them anyways. The door itself had a simple handle set inside it, and was probably quite easy for a Kymari hand to pull open. For a dragonet...

I spent about five minutes flapping around the door. I could get to the handle easily enough, but I just didn't have enough leverage while I was hovering. If I dug my claws into the door and perched above the handle itself I had even less leverage on the handle. I was able to push on the wall itself, though, and after a few minutes of struggling I managed to open the door the tiniest of cracks... but the thing was just too heavy to move any more than that.

I dropped back down to the floor and scratched at the door again, then tried pulling at the bottom of the door. It was still just as useless. I sighed and stretched out before the door. If I angled my head just right I could almost make out the hallway beyond...

After what was most definitely an eternity, I spotted feet through the narrow gap and felt footsteps approaching. I leapt into the air and hovered at shoulder height.

The door opened and Minna stepped into the room. She paused in surprise at the sight of me flapping right before her. I chirped out an excited "Finally!" and flew towards her shoulder.

I caught sight of Terron looking equally startled in the hallway as I neared Minna. He jerked and lifted his hands up in the air, as if preparing to catch me... but I had no intention of going out in the hallway. I landed on Minna's shoulder and folded my wings against my back, then tilted my head to chirp a quizzical "What?" at him.

Minna giggled and reached up to pet me. "I think he just misses me right now." She turned her head enough to look at her shoulder. "Sorry about that, but we're all finished for now."

"Do you need anything else?" Terron stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. He really did not want me getting out into the rest of the house.

"I think that's it. I'm going to call Trenil and let him know, then I'm turning in. It's... been quite a day."

"Understandable. We're just down the hall if you need anything. Otherwise sleep tight; I'll see you tomorrow." Terron slipped back out through the door and closed it behind him.

Minna moved over to the bed and leaned down to sort through the luggage. I shifted with her, spreading my wings a little to keep my balance as she bent down. She retrieved her tablet from the bag, then sat up on the side of the bed.

I watched the screen change as Minna fiddled with the tablet. The letters and words didn't make any sense, and I didn't recognize the icons enough to know what they might be for. After a few taps a new window filled the tablet, and I heard the familiar beep noise that came whenever Minna called somebody. A few seconds passed while the beep repeated itself, then the blank screen changed to the image of Trenil.

"This is Tren- Minna! Is that...?" Trenil's face immediately brightened in a smile as he took in what he must have been seeing.

"It is. He came back. He found his way back to my apartment; they caught me at the spaceport." Minna smiled and stroked my back again. I chirped a greeting at the screen.

"That's very good new-." Trenil broke off as a flurry of excited chirps and whistles exploded behind him.

"Nate! Is that you?!" Ivy flew onto Trenil's shoulder and glanced at the camera, then hopped in excitement. "You're back with Minna!"

I felt embarrassed at the attention but ducked my head in a nod. "I am. I'm going to stay with her now."

"Yay! I'm so glad to hear it; you already sound much happier! I was so worried. You jerk, you've been blocking me for two days now; I haven't even been able to ask how you were doing! You had me worried sick!" Ivy's voice sounded more relieved than upset, but I still got the impression I had really concerned her.

I flinched on Minna's shoulder. I still wasn't used to the mindspeech. I quickly visualized all the 'tunnels' to my mental den being swept clean. "Sorry."

"It's okay. I know you're still not used to talking to like this. It took us a while to get used to it, too. So tell! How are you doing? You've decided to stay with Minna?"

"I think Ivy's glad to see him, too." Trenil smiled at our short exchange before focusing back at Minna. "This is good news. I had been trying to reach your ship – I just finished a shift with Ivy, and noticed his tracker had him back inside the city, so I had been hoping to catch you - but it sounds like you already know why he's there."

Minna smiled, and I heard a happiness in her voice. "He turned and came back. Like you said."

Trenil's smile grew a little deeper, then he nodded. "I'll let Elder Naishi know. She will be glad to know he's going to stay with you, and she'll make sure you get recognized as an official handler. I still have his things here, but I can't really take another day off to come up there just yet. Will you have a chance to pick them up?"

I focused back on Ivy's questions. "I'm doing better. It's... still a little scary, but I think... making the decision has helped. It's been a relief just to be back around Minna."

"I'm glad to hear it. You already sound much happier."

"I can come by tomorrow morning and get them? I'm staying with my brother right now, and I'd like to be able to go out with him in the afternoon. I need to find a place to stay."

"That should be fine. I'll have the stuff you dropped off, and a few things to help you start training him. You'll probably want to start that in the next day or two, before he starts forming habits of his own that you have to train him out of."

I did my best not to glare at Ivy. "Training?"

"Uh-huh! Training! Don't worry, it's fun. It's just little stuff. She'll feel a lot better knowing you'll come back when called, in case there's a threat around, or in case somebody is getting nervous about you flying around."

"Oh, thank you. Is there anything I should focus on first, or try to do?" Minna tapped something on her tablet and a new window sprang up on the side. It looked like a long list of notes, with about a third of the items crossed out.

I eyed the list nervously. That looked like an awful lot of words to just be 'teach him to come when called'.

"You should be fine keeping to the same schedule. Just remember to keep him fed even if he struggles with an item." Trenil's voice grew stern, and I felt Minna flinch a little at that reminder. Trenil's eyes shifted a little and seemed to look at me. "Have you given any thought to a name for him?"

Minna hesitated. "Not really. All I've really decided is that I hate 'Kymallata'; I didn't really expect... I hadn't thought about one that much before now."

"It might be a good idea to start thinking of one. It'll help with training if you can call him by name."

Minna went quiet and looked thoughtful.

"I'm not sure I like where this is going. How do I keep her from naming me the Kymari equivalent of 'Trogdor, the Burninator'?"

"...the what now?"

"Never mind. How did you get Trenil to call you Ivy? Am I going to have to put up with a weird name until I can talk to Minna?"

"Nah. If you're careful I can help you slip an idea to her while she's falling asleep. It's what most of us have done so far. Well. Except for Keegan; he cheated by being able to talk to his handler from the start. Lucky jerk."

I had a vague memory of Ivy complaining about Keegan before. "He's the one you were trying to slip the sedative to, right? How did that work out?"

Ivy's tone grew grumpy. "It didn't. Tasha figured out what we were up to and grabbed the sunburst berry we had dosed. And then she slipped it back to Tom and got me with another one; it was so unfair."

"Hmph." I felt a bit of sympathy for Ivy. It was annoying to know there was another dragonet out there that hadn't had to go through that. "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help." I tried to think back to what we were talking about. "So wait, I can talk to Minna?"

"No, this is just the one exception. Again, I'll show you how to do it; the whole point is to keep her from knowing it's you talking."

"This is just confusing. I suppose it wouldn't just be easier to carve out 'N-A-T-E' on my food bowls?"

"Not if you want to keep everybody from having solid evidence you're smart. The Kymari would be super interested in discovering one of the fire lizards could read and write. They'd be very curious about that; I'm sure every Kymari on the planet would want to come have a chat with you. Lots of questions. Long conversations." I could hear the smirk in Ivy's tone.

She made an excellent point though. The last thing I needed was every stranger I met expecting me to talk with them. "Okay, okay! We'll do it your way. You'll help?"

"Of course!"

Minna finally seemed to work through her thoughts. "If you don't mind my asking... how did you come up with the name 'Ivy'? I've wondered that about a lot of the fire lizard names; they all seem... exotic. Why not something a little more common, like 'Kadrid'?"

Trenil hesitated. "I can't really explain it, beyond that the fire lizards seem to have their own ideas for what is and isn't an acceptable name. Look over Alec's notes in particular; he tried out a few names, and they just refused to respond to any of them. It was the same with Ivy. Yours might be even worse about it, especially if he's already used to a name he had when he was younger. Think through a few names and try some of them out; if he likes it, he'll let you know."

Minna frowned as if she wasn't quite convinced, but nodded. "Okay. I don't suppose you have any suggestions?"

Trenil hesitated, and almost looked like he was about to give one. I froze - there was a good chance that through Ivy, he knew my name was Nate. Would he suggest that to Minna? That seemed like it would be a dead give away, if he just 'magically guessed' my name right off the bat.

"Well, none really come to mind... but if you can't think of one, there's always Kymallata." Trenil grinned back at us.

"Thanks. Really. Thanks." Minna glared back down at the tablet.

Trenil chuckled. "Don't worry about it that much. I'm sure you'll figure something out that he likes. Now go get some sleep - I'll see you tomorrow."

Minna nodded. "See you then. And thank you again." Her hand came up to stroke along my neck, and I nudged at her hand with my head. "I really appreciate all the help you've given me."

"It was nothing, really. We were all glad to help."

Minna smiled again as Trenil reached forward... then the screen went blank.

"Okay. I think that's everything. I'm going to wash up, and then I think it's time for bed. Sound good to you?" Minna looked back at me with an expectant grin.

It had been a draining day, and I was tired. I glanced back at her and yawned.

She giggled and carefully moved me off her shoulder and onto the dresser. I grumbled a bit but stretched out on it, letting my wings fan a little to get comfortable. "I'll be back soon."

She grabbed the half-empty bag of luggage and left the room... but this time she was only gone for about ten minutes. She wore the crumpled up outfit I had gotten used to seeing her wearing in the mornings and was still a little wet from the shower. I waited while she crawled under the covers, then I flapped over to sprawl on the blanket.

I closed my eyes and let myself drift off to the steady rise and fall of her breathing. Despite everything - despite being stuck in the small room, despite missing all the things I had grown used to, despite having a thrown together meal with none of my favorites - I was back with Minna. I was back where I was supposed to be.

I yawned and fell asleep in the warm comfort of home.