"Okay! Go seek!" The simple blindfold lifted away from my head and revealed the bright world around me. I sniffed the air a few times to get my bearings... there! I perked my ears at the now-familiar scent and flew off of Minna's shoulder.

I had to admit, this particular bit of training was actually really fun.

Minna had taken us to another park - this one was much smaller than the one Susie and I had lived in, but there was still plenty of space in it - and had pulled a strange disk out of the bag. At first she had simply left the disk on the ground and I had ignored it, but after a few minutes she had tapped a button on her tablet which caused part of the disk to rotate open.

When she did that it exposed something inside that gave off an unfamiliar smell. It wasn't bad, exactly, but it was certainly strange. I came back to the disk to sniff it, and when I did, Minna gave me a slice of a sunburst berry.

That repeated a few times while I figured out the 'trick' I was supposed to be doing. When the disk was 'open' and giving off that smell, I would get a slice of a sunburst berry or a stroke over my back for standing on top of the disk, and I would get an extra treat if I trilled out, 'Found it!'. When the disk was closed, no amount of poking or showing off brought any kind of reward.

Once it had sunk in that the trick was to find the scent, Minna began hiding the disk around the park. It had been blatantly obvious and even boring - I wasn't being let off the leash, so Minna couldn't exactly get out of sight of me - but after a few of those Minna had put a simple hood over my head.

While I was distracted with hissing and flailing to get the thing off, Minna dropped the disk and carried me to a different part of the park. I wasn't too happy about being blinded like that... but tracking down the scent had proven to be a lot more fun. And I had gotten a sliver of shia fruit as my reward that time.

So for the last few hours I had played along with Minna's efforts to get me used to tracking that scent. It was actually a fun game, and before long I had even stopped trying to get the stupid hood off early. It was much more fun to give Minna the time she needed to properly hide the disk, and I could tell it made her happy when I waited for her to give the 'go seek' command.

Seeing Minna happy was almost becoming a form of treat in and of itself. Not as good as a real one obviously - barely on the level of a fresh mango, if even that - but it was still a good feeling. It would have bothered me even just a few days ago... but now I just let myself enjoy it. There was nothing wrong with making a friend happy.

I glided to the ground and sniffed a few times while Minna caught up with me. That was the first of two annoying parts of the game - it would have been much more fun to keep flying towards the scent, but the leash only allowed me to go so far. And, as much as I hated to admit it, it was easier to track scents closer to the ground anyways. I sniffed a few more times even after Minna caught up. I had been a little off in my direction before so I corrected for that, then jumped back up to continue after the scent.

The scent grew stronger before it suddenly changed direction. I landed again and sniffed around, turning in circles to try and track down the smell... then I stopped and looked up. I had been circling around a tree, and the scent was coming from somewhere up above me.

I scampered up the side of the tree, digging my claws into the soft bark, and came to the branch holding the disk. I sat up beside it and looked back down at Minna to trill out proudly. "Found it!"

Minna tossed a sliver of a shia fruit at me, and I snatched it out of the air. I fanned my wings out and ate the fruit happily.

The second annoying part was the other trick Minna kept trying to teach me. As soon as I had finished eating, my Kymari held up her gloved hand and spoke in a firm voice, "To fist."

I grabbed the closest thing I could get my hands on - in this case, a leaf - and threw it at her with an annoyed hiss. The leaf made it about halfway to her before it spun in the air and fluttered to the ground.

Leaves weren't very aerodynamic. It was better when twigs or pebbles were around.

Minna had gotten so used to it that she didn't even sigh in disappointment anymore. She just reached up and grabbed the disk, closing it and blocking off the odd smell as she did.

"So how is your first day on the new job?" I glanced up at the sound of another Kymari approaching and saw Arlia waving at us. I chirped out a happy greeting to her.

Minna waved back with the hand holding my leash. "Hi Arlia! It was a bit annoying at first - a lot of running around to get everything together - but it's been a pleasant afternoon. Just playing and teaching him commands. Did I lose track of the time?" She started to stand up, but Arlia shook her head.

"No, you're fine; we just got out early. Rittara has just been in a bad mood all day for some reason and let us go early so she could leave too."

Minna gave an amused snort. "Heh. Glad to hear that it's working out well." My Kymari glanced up at me, then back at Arlia. "If we've still got some time, do you feel like helping a little?"

Arlia's expression changed to a wary one. "What would I need to do?"

Minna grinned and held up the disk. "Take this somewhere out of sight and find a good hiding place for it? I'm teaching him to track and return on command."

I tilted my head to follow the disk as Arlia took it from Minna. "I can do that. I am kind of interested in seeing him in action. Anywhere in particular I should put it?"

"Just somewhere out of sight. Under a shrub is fine, but if you find somewhere that might confuse him that'd be good too."

"Okay. I will be right back." Arlia looked around the park, then strode off in a direction away from us.

Minna stood up and started untangling the leash from the branch. When she was done she held up a piece of a sunburst berry for me, and I glided down to perch back on her shoulder.

After a few minutes, Arlia returned from another direction. The disk was no longer in her hands.

"Found a good spot?" Arlia had a smirk on her face as she nodded, and Minna reached into a pocket to tap on her tablet. She looked over at me and stretched out her arm to point out in the forest. "Go seek!"

I dropped off her shoulder and spread my wings into a glide. I couldn't smell the odd scent yet, but I knew Arlia had come from this direction, so I would probably be able to smell it soon...

Minna and Arlia followed along as I searched for the scent. I had to drop down to the ground a few times to sniff around, and I began to worry I had gone too far away from wherever Arlia had hidden the disk... then I picked up a faint whiff of the odd scent.

I paused and lifted my head to sniff again, staring in the direction of the scent. Wait a minute...

I scurried back towards Minna and sniffed a few more times until I was certain. The scent was definitely coming from there.

I jumped and flapped into the air, and landed right on top of Arlia's head. I made sure to keep my claws retracted and let my tail dangle behind her neck as I trilled out a triumphant, "Found it!"

Arlia stiffened in surprise and froze. Minna burst out in laughter. "Arlia, tell me you didn't."

"You did say to try and confuse him. Will he try to hurt me if I move?" Arlia spoke slowly, but I could pick up a hint of laughter in her tone.

"I think you'll be fine. Go on, show it to him."

Arlia reached behind her and slipped her hand underneath her shirt. A second later the hand returned with the disk.

"You're lucky I'm not using actual sicora scents yet. From what I've seen with Ivy, they can get rather violent when they think one of those things is around. That was clever though; I wish I had thought of it." Minna tossed a piece of a sunburst berry up at me. I caught it and swallowed the treat in half a bite.

"I'm sure you would have eventually. I am also surprised at how well he responded to you; he flew off as soon as you gave the command. You only started that this afternoon?"

"Yes, we've only been working on it for a few hours. I think it helps that he's enjoying it. I've been trying to teach him other commands too, and it hasn't gone that well."

"Oh?"

Minna sighed and held up her gloved hand. She looked at me. I looked at her. She started to open her mouth to talk...

She closed her mouth and lowered her hand. "Actually, let's get him off your head first. He tends to try and throw whatever's nearby."

"Wait, what?"

"Here, I'll show you." Minna reached up and lifted me off of Arlia's head, then sat me down on the ground. I leaned my neck around and gnawed on the yellow leash while she stood back up.

She lifted her hand up, and I looked up to watch her. She looked at me again, making certain she had my attention. "To fist."

I hissed and threw the nearest pebble I could find at her. It bounced harmlessly off the leather glove covering her hand.

Arlia burst out into laughter. "I see what you mean. He doesn't like that one very much, does he?"

Minna smiled, but it was a bit of a hollow expression. "No, I don't think he does."

"Well, you can't expect him to learn everything on the first day, I guess. And it's still really impressive that you taught him the other command already." Arlia was still amused by the performance and grinned a little more. "He really throws stuff at you every time? That's actually really funny."

Minna sighed. "He does now, yes. It's... I tried to teach him this before, and I didn't really treat him right when I did. I think he's still mad about it."

I bent my head back around to gnaw at the leash still tethered to my harness. It was a good way to hide my reaction. Bingo.

"...oh." The humor evaporated from Arlia's voice as she seemed to pick up that there was more going on with my temper tantrum at the command. "Um. Well." She hesitated awkwardly and looked back and forth between us. "Maybe he'll respond to a different command, then? It might just be those words that are setting him off - try calling his name instead?"

Minna frowned a little in thought. "I haven't really settled on one for him yet. I have a few potential names but I didn't really think I would be keeping him until yesterday. Still, that's a good idea."

She held up her gloved hand and spoke a word that the blood memories translated to, 'snow on the mountain peak'.

The word sounded pretty, and it was a pretty poetic name that I assumed referred to the color of my scales... but it wasn't Nate. I dropped the leash from my mouth and wandered over to a nearby tree to sniff at the ground around it.

"He didn't throw anything, at least?" Arlia seemed like she was trying not to laugh again.

"That is something, yes." I heard her fumbling with the short tube that held all the treats. "Want a sunburst berry?"

I turned away from the tree at the word 'sunburst' and looked back at the two Kymari. Sure enough, Minna was holding a sunburst berry in her ungloved hand. I jumped into the air and flapped over to Minna, then landed lightly on her gloved fist to chirp up at her. "Yes please!"

Arlia laughed. "He's definitely learned what that 'command' means, at least."

Minna passed me the berry, but she was looking at me a little suspiciously as I balanced precariously on her fist and took it. "Yeah... maybe he'll tolerate a different command phrase after all. Trenil did say they can be picky about names, so maybe that extends to other things they will respond to. And I guess if nothing else I could just call him 'sunburst berry'." She lifted her hand to bring me towards her shoulder. "Up."

I hopped onto her shoulder and settled in. Minna tossed a small piece of a sunburst berry towards me, and I happily snatched it out of the air. Minna watched me a little too suspiciously for another moment, but I focused on the treat and tried to think innocent thoughts. I wasn't sure what she was thinking... but I had a feeling I might have displayed a bit too much intelligence by doing the 'trick' right as soon as she had changed her phrase.

After a moment she shook her head and looked back at Arlia. "I think that's enough exercise and training for him for one afternoon. Ready to check out a few places?"

"Sure." Arlia started off through the park. "Did you get a chance to look at any of the ones I found?"

Minna rolled the leash around her hand a few times and followed after her. "A few. The fifth one looked nice, if we could start there? It looked like it had plenty of room for him to fly around in, and the yard shouldn't be that hard to enclose."

Arlia slowed a little. "Is that going to be in your price range? I know the other handlers helped out, but can your savings cover that?"

I felt Minna shift a little as she reached into one of her pockets. "Actually, they can. Look at this." Minna retrieved a few folded pages that I recognized as the message sent by the Elder. Minna had read through them quietly a few times while we had been playing, and had seemed surprised, but I hadn't been able to figure out what they said.

Arlia took the pages and started reading them aloud. I tried not to react, but I was glad to finally know what they said. "'Bond Handler Minna, it is with great relief that I write this letter. I have been informed by Bond Handler Trenil that the Kymallata entrusted into your care for the aiding of his recovery has not remained in the wild as first reported, but has instead sought out and returned to you. I have been assured by the other fire lizard handlers that this is evidence he has come to fully accept you as his bond companion and is the final sign you have managed to tame him. It is my great joy to inform you that as of this morning you are officially recognized as a Fire Lizard Bond Handler, with all the privileges and duties that entails. Congratulations."

"I must also convey my personal gratitude for undertaking this task. I know you were against the idea initially and only undertook it at my urging, and I must again express my sincerest gratitude to you for doing so. I understand the last month has been very difficult for you and has resulted in many of your own career plans being disrupted; please allow me the chance to begin to make up for this hardship my request has caused you by helping you start your own career path with the enclosed."

"Again, thank you very much for your efforts in this. I cannot begin to tell you how much your success has meant to me. Sincerely, Elder Naishi.'" Arlia finished reading and just stared at the paper for a moment.

"Huh. That's very... unusual."

Minna nodded. "I know, right?"

Arlia nodded. "The second part of the letter was very... informal. That was way more than the standard, 'thank you for your service' letter. I think she was really grateful."

"Look at 'the enclosed'."

Arlia shuffled the pages. "'...per agreement with the office of Elder Naishi, reference number to follow, please provide the bearer with the commission of one set of armor appropriate for a ship inspector, specifications as discussed previously, as well as an identifying duty insignia and harness appropriate for her bond animal.' Huh. I didn't think about that, but yeah, you were going to need a set of armor at some point, weren't you? That's nice of her to give you."

"It is, though I suppose I'll have to come up with a name for him before I can use it. I'd hate to have them design a badge with the name-" Minna spoke an alien word that the blood memories translated to 'bright lining inside a cloud', then continued, "-only for him to refuse to answer to anything but-" Minna spoke another alien word, which the blood memories translated to, 'ink smudge on a paper'.

Wait. 'Ink smudge on a paper'?

Did she just consider calling me the Kymari equivalent of, 'Spot'?

I was pretty sure she wouldn't have to worry about me only answering to that name.

"But I meant the other one." Minna motioned to the last page.

"Record of payment for services rendered, from the personal account of Elder Naishi, to the personal account of Bond Handler Minna, to the sum of-" Arlia broke off in a fit of coughs. "Minna! This... this has to be a mistake!"

"It isn't. I checked my balance earlier; it's all there."

"And from her personal account... Minna, she used her own money for this?" Arlia shuffled the pages. "Even the armor came from her office account; this is... this is..." Minna's friend broke off, speechless.

"Yeah." Minna took a few more steps in silence, then nodded again. "Yeah. I don't have any idea what to make of it. Other than that for some reason, what I did meant quite a lot to her."

"That's an understatement." Arlia shuffled back to the last page and stared at the alien text there.

"So... yeah. Let's go check out that fifth house."