We checked out three houses in total over the next few hours. I was surprised at how easy it was - I had expected we would just glance at the outside and move on, but we were actually able to look at the inside, too. Minna simply held her hand on the door control for a few seconds, and after that it opened for us.

I assumed the system kept some kind of record of who went into the available houses and would let somebody track down whoever caused problems, but it was still a bit odd to see it running off of what was essentially an honor system.

The houses all seemed like mansions to me. The ceilings were even higher than they had been in Minna's apartment, which I had come to expect from Kymari dwellings - they were larger than humans had been, which meant they needed larger rooms - so I had plenty of room to fly around in. There were lots of rooms in each house, with some rooms repeating themselves for reasons I couldn't understand - there were multiple kitchens, rooms that were obviously intended as parlors or living rooms, rooms whose size and proximity to the kitchens meant they would be natural dining rooms, and so on.

I couldn't understand why anybody would need so many rooms. Every member of a typical family could host separate events for friends and never get in the way of anyone else, if they wanted to. It seemed... unnecessary.

Or, a darker thought occurred to me, they could continue on even if part of the house was inaccessible. Perhaps due to a disaster, or an occupying force.

Once I had that realization, the Kymari architecture began to make more sense. This wasn't a mansion - it was a castle. And castles had always been built, first and foremost, as fortresses.

The multiple rooms were there in case the residents had to retreat, and were all organized in a system that gradually moved deeper into the house. The hallways were more than wide enough for me to enjoy, but they were cramped for Arlia and Minna - a single defender in the hall could block anyone from getting past them. The doors and walls were pretty, but solid.

There was a significant home-field advantage to each of the houses we looked at.

I was happy with all three of the houses, though I could tell Minna really only cared for the third one we saw. It had plenty of room on the upper floors, and for some reason I got the feeling that was important to Minna - she spent most of her time looking through the rooms up there, as if she was visualizing where she would put things. I suspected she would probably spend most of her time upstairs.

She also seemed interested in my reactions to the houses, but by the third one I think she realized I would be happy with anything she decided on. The only items of any particular interest were the yard, and each had lots of space and enough low trees to relax in, and the power outlets.

I was happy to finally get a proper look at the outlets without any furniture blocking the view, and spent a few minutes puzzling out how they were able to carry power throughout the house... but I noticed Minna growing anxious the more I poked around them, so eventually I gave up and just watched from her shoulder. I could always take a closer look at them some other time, when it wouldn't make her nervous.

I didn't really have much of an opinion on the houses otherwise. Without any furniture inside it was just a bunch of empty rooms. The stairs actually turned out to be my favorite 'room' in the empty houses, since the steps and banister were the closest things to perches in the entire place. It was also kind of fun to fly up and down the stairs.

It was late at night when Minna and Arlia finished exploring the final house and closed the door behind them. I was getting tired by that point and sprawled on Minna's shoulder to rest while they said their goodbyes and parted ways. Minna was quiet while she walked back to Terron's house, but she would occasionally reach up to pet me during the trip.

The house was quiet when we arrived. Minna grabbed a pair of food containers from the kitchen and took us to the guest room. She unclipped the harness from me and dropped it on the dresser, then opened the container of fruit and sat it down beside the harness.

I flew to the container of fruit and 'accidentally' knocked the harness down to the floor as I began eating. Minna rolled her eyes and sat on the side of the bed, then started in on her own meal. She watched me for a few bites before she suddenly sighed. "What am I going to call you... I don't suppose you'd like-" Minna spoke a word that the Blood Memories translated to, 'starlight on a cool winter night'.

The Kymari seemed to have a lot of descriptions for colors. Or maybe it was just a quirk of the Blood Memories, and she had only said the shading equivalent of 'teal' or 'rose'.

I ignored the name and pretended to keep my focus on my food, but I turned my thoughts to Ivy. "Okay, I need your help."

"Hm? What's wrong?" The green dragonet's voice held a tone of interest, but no concern. I had tried to keep my own tone conversational and calm, and I guess it had worked.

"Minna's trying to figure out what to call me. How do we do this?"

"Wait until she's falling asleep, then use the mindspeech to whisper your name to her. That's what the rest of us did. It's tricky to time - if you wait too long she'll be asleep and you won't get through, but you don't want her to be alert and focused either. When she wakes up, she'll remember the idea of the name and consider it with the rest of her choices, then all you have to do is respond to it when she tries it. She'll accept that as your name and stop trying others."

I thought about that. It... seemed like it could work, I guess, but... I reached for another piece of fruit to cover the motion of glancing towards Minna's hand and looking at the scratch marks covering it.

"What if I just sent her an image instead? She'd be less likely to think that was me, right? It'd seem more like a dream?"

Ivy's tone sounded a little confused. "I guess that could work. Why not just say it? You'll be talking to her in three months anyways."

"I've already been with her a whole month; isn't it just two months now?"

"She wasn't your official handler then! Clock starts today - if you change your mind or if something happens, it'll be better if she doesn't know too much. Plus it gives her more time to get attached to you, so the other dragonets don't have to be worried about her telling the rest of the Kymari or anybody coming after them. One extra month won't be that bad."

I thought over her explanation. It made some sense, I guess, but it still seemed like an awful lot of unnecessary paranoia. "That seems silly. Are you just playing a prank on me?

Ivy was quiet for a moment, and there was a quiet sense of hurt in her tone when she finally continued. "No prank. Trust me on this one, Nate."

I blinked at the sudden somber change to her tone. Had my words upset her somehow? I suspected there was something more she wasn't telling me, but... something about her tone made it seem personal. I didn't feel right prying. "...okay." I nibbled on an apple slice and tried to focus back on how to clue Minna in on my name. "So can I just do an image, then? She's more likely to think that's a dream than a strange voice she's never heard before. Less chance of her thinking I'm talking to her."

"It still seems weird, but I guess. What did you have in mind? You aren't just going to think up a picture of a nametag to send her, are you?"

I tried to think. "Um..." I sighed as another thought occurred to me. "She wouldn't be able to read any writing I sent, would she?"

"Well, I doubt they taught much English literature in Kymari school." I heard a bit of a giggle in Ivy's tone and perked my ear tufts, even though she was teasing me. I hadn't liked that sense of sadness earlier and was glad it was gone from her voice.

"I guess not." Still... that thought seemed to have some potential. I bounced the idea around in my head a little more while I ate. "Would Trenil be willing to help?"

"I can ask. What are you thinking?"

I paused from my chewing to glance down at the harness lying on the floor. I imagined my name emblazoned over the strap that rested against my neck, then sent that image to Ivy. "The idea is for her to confuse it with a dream, right? With so much changing for her, she'll probably have a few dreams about her new job. Maybe some images of that, with a few name suggestions in Kymari?"

"Ooo, that's... actually a really good idea. Hang on, let me ask Trenil." Ivy went silent for a moment, then returned. "Trenil likes that idea too. He's sketching some ideas up now."

"Drawing? Can't he just write out the words for us?"

"He could, but come on, this will be a lot more fun!" I heard a subtle mischief in Ivy's tone and had a feeling she was planning something more than she was telling me.

"Are you sure Trenil won't mind? I don't want to cause him too much of an inconvenience."

"Nah, he's fine! He's actually a really good artist; his 'official' job has always been as a guard, or as a bond handler, but he does a lot of artwork in his spare time. It's how I met him, actually. He worked a night shift, and came by once it ended to watch and draw the Morning Song. I watched him draw us afterwards; he's done a lot of them. If you visit one day I'll show you some of them." Ivy's thoughts began to speed up as she grew more excited about something.

I was now absolutely certain the other dragonet was up to something as she went off on the tangent. But something she had said seemed a little odd. "Oh. Then... you had already met him before you were injured? Not after you were attacked by... what was it again, a fox?"

"Um." There was a bit of guilt in the short word and Ivy went quiet.

"Ivy?" I paused from eating. "Is something wrong?"

It was quiet for another moment... then Ivy sent me an image of one of the Kymari computer screens. "Ta-da!"

It took me a second to make out what the hurried sketch in the center of the screen was supposed to be, and I flattened my ear tufts against my neck as soon as I recognized it. "I am not sending Minna a picture of me swimming in the toilet!!"

Laughter filled the mindlink. "Come on, she's going to be imagining it anyways!"

I fished a grape out of the container of fruit and stuffed it in my mouth to stop from growling. "No!"

"You were just talking about not being an inconvenience! Trenil worked really hard on this; you aren't just going to let all that go to waste, are you?"

I sent a sigh across the mindlink. "Ivy..."

Ivy sent me more laughter, then she calmed down. "Okay, okaaaay... here you go."

Another sketch came from Ivy, and I tried to make sense of it. It was a drawing of a Kymari shoulder with a silver dragonet stretched lazily out on it. The orange straps of the harness stood out against the silvery scales, and bright silver symbols dotted the harness.

"Oh wow." I had to admit, it was a pretty image. "What does it say?"

"Uhh..." Ivy went quiet for a moment before coming back. "Something like 'Official Bond Animal' on one, and the other one says 'Tom'."

"Tom?" I paused in nibbling on the next apple slice.

"One of the other dragonets. Trenil wants to do three pictures, just so it feels more like it was Minna's own ideas." Ivy's tone got a little happier. "And I think he's happy to have the excuse to draw you."

"Oh." I went back to eating and tried to remember the image. "I'm not sure I can remember all of these symbols."

Ivy sent another image, this time of a silver dragonet sniffing at a door. More silver symbols glittered over the harness, but I couldn't remember if any of them were the same or not. "I'll send them to you again when you're ready."

I tried to commit it to memory, but I doubted I would be able to accurately remember the strange squiggles. "What name is this one?"

"Charles. I don't know if you met him; he lives in the wild. But it's a good example of our names, so it would make sense that Minna would think of it."

"Ah." I finished eating and sprawled on the dresser to relax. "So what are you planning for mine?"

Ivy sent me the same sketch of the dragonet swimming in the toilet. "What, you don't like this one?"

I sent her another sigh.

She was quiet for another moment, then a picture of a silver dragonet dancing in the early dawn light came through the mindlink. More silver symbols dotted the harness. "I told him to put your name on this one."

I made sure Minna was still distracted with her meal, then smiled. "Thank you. They're all nice, but I like that one especially."

A feeling of pride came across the mindlink. "I told you, Trenil's good. I like that one too." She paused for a minute before continuing. "He's going to touch them up a little more, and I'll show you them again when he's done."

I sent my sense of gratitude over the mindlink and settled in to wait while Minna continued eating her supper.

Minna only took a few more minutes to finish her meal, then she went over to the bags she had brought from Trenil. She unpacked a heat lamp and plugged it in behind the dresser, though she left it off, then set up a small box that she emptied a packet of red dirt into. Lastly, Minna picked the harness back up and sat it on the dresser again.

It mysteriously fell back to the ground almost as soon as she did, through some strange quirk of fate.

"Or," Minna stared at the fallen harness and spoke in a tone of bland disapproval, "Maybe you would like 'shiny fish trapped out of water and flopping around on the shore'. It's a bit long for a name, but I think it fits you rather well."

I blinked at her slowly and calmly reached over to touch the heat lamp, as if I had no idea what she had said and was far more concerned with the potential heat source. I looked back at her and chirped at her hopefully in the dragonet language. "On?"

Minna shook her head. "No, it's too late, and it's too bright. I won't be able to get any sleep with it on. I'll turn it on in the morning."

Which was actually fine with me... but it didn't hurt to sell the act a little. I pretended to scratch at the side of the lamp, then looked back up at Minna and frowned. "Please?"

She looked down at me for a minute then smiled gently. "Okay. I have to go shower and get ready for bed anyways. Just for a little bit." She leaned down and adjusted something on the back of the lamp. A second later it began to glow, and the dresser beneath it began to grow warm.

I sprawled happily out on the dresser beneath the lamp, then chirped up at Minna. "Thank you!"

She smiled more and watched me enjoy the lamp for a long moment. Her hand came up to stroke slowly along my back, and I rumbled in contentment. She pet me for a little bit, then pulled her hand away. "I'm so glad you came back. Today... today was a very nice day."

I smiled under the heat lamp. Even with the annoying restlessness at the beginning of the day, it had been a lot of fun playing and looking at houses with Minna. It had been nice just being with my friend. I agreed completely.

Minna left for a time while I soaked in the warmth. She was dressed in her sleeping outfit when she returned. She turned off the lamp and crawled into bed, and I flew over to rest on her belly.

Her warm hand stroked comfortingly over my back. I did my best to keep it from lulling me to sleep, despite how relaxed and content I felt. Finally the pace of the hand grew slower, then fell away from me to lay on the blanket.

I focused on Ivy. "Okay, Minna's falling asleep." Ivy was quiet for a moment, then the three pictures came back to me. I did my best to remember the short strings of symbols, then sent them on to Minna.

The rise and fall of her chest picked up ever so slightly... then it returned to the slow rhythm of the last few minutes. Then it grew slower as Minna passed into sleep.

I let myself relax. Either way, it was done now. No more sense worrying about it.