We wandered throughout the city some more before Minna stopped in front of a house. The sun was starting to set by then, but there was still plenty of light to see with. The house was tall - at least three stories - but took up less of the lot than similarly sized houses I had seen. The yard was clearly the focus of this house, with several beautiful trees in the front yard, and a long hedge of bushes lining the path up to the door. I didn't see any at the moment, but I suspected the yard would be full of blooming flowers in the early spring.

The backyard was fenced in and seemed obscured by some sort of mesh. At first I thought it was some kind of method to keep bugs in, as if the house was set up for a bee keeper or a butterfly gallery, but when Minna brought us closer I saw the gaps in the mesh were much too wide to stop bugs.

It would keep in larger animals, though. Most birds would be unable to fly through the barrier. Dragonets certainly wouldn't be able to, unless hatchlings were much smaller than I suspected. The mesh wouldn't block breezes or light from reaching the backyard, though it would offer privacy against anyone spying from the street.

And, I thought brightly, it would keep larger animals out. The entire backyard is a chicken coop, or a duck pen. An aviary.

Minna tapped a code on the panel by the door and took us inside. The house was empty, like all the other houses Minna and Arlia had looked at, but somehow it felt more... welcoming. The windows seemed to let in more of the evening light. The halls were wider. The dining and living rooms were more spacious, and the kitchen just felt happier, somehow. The other houses had felt like they had been built for survival, but this one felt like it had been built for living.

We glanced through the rooms on the first floor before Minna came to the back door. She opened it to a backyard even more impressive than the front had been. The mesh enclosed the entire yard, attaching to the house somewhere near the roof and stretching out towards the fence in the distance. There was plenty of room to fly around in.

Four fruit trees dotted the yard. They were short, but I could spot bright fruits growing from each of them. The branches looked sturdy and strong. They would cast plenty of shade if the sunlight grew too strong, and they would provide an excellent perch to relax in.

The ground was covered in soft grass, but looked to be loose dirt for the most part. It would be easy to dig hollows into if I wanted. Flowers and shrubs lined the fence, many of them with berries of their own, and a decent sized pond was nestled underneath one of the trees.

I stared at the pond in sudden curiosity. I wonder if it has fish...

Minna seemed to notice my interest and held up her hand. I hopped onto it and spread my wings for balance, then glanced back at her. She smiled at me as she reached up and unclipped the leash. "Go on."

I flapped a few times to get some altitude, then glided to the pond. Sadly, it was empty of fish... but it was still a fairly deep pond. The water was clear and smelled fresh, as if it was fed by a stream somehow and not a stagnant pool. It was late in the day, so it was a bit cooler than I probably would have liked, but...

I heard Minna laugh as I simply hopped into the pond and began splashing around. I felt a bit of happiness at knowing I had made her happy. The pond was wide enough to let me swim laps in without being bent into a circle, so I paddled around for a few minutes and simply enjoyed myself.

After I was sure I had washed off most of the dirt and dust my scales had collected through the day, I crawled out of the pond and sprawled on one of the rocks nearby. It was late in the evening, but there was still some sunlight, so I happily stretched out my wings to dry. Minna watched me for another minute or two, still smiling gently, then glanced back into the house. "I'm going to check out the upstairs rooms. I'll be back in a few minutes."

I yawned by way of acknowledgement. Even late in the day the rock was still warm, and it felt too good to move off of. Minna disappeared back into the house and I drifted off. This really was a nice design for a backyard. If I had found a clearing like it back in the forest, it would have been a nice place to put my den. Though the pond would probably have attracted the attention of other animals I would have rather avoided. Still, it felt nice.

The back door opened again after a few minutes. "Nate, come back."

I reluctantly stood up from the rock and jumped into the air. A few beats of my wings brought me back to Minna. I hummed happily up at her as I landed on her gloved hand. She clipped the leash back onto my harness and passed me back up to her shoulder, then slipped back into the house.

We made our way back through it, but Minna seemed to be walking slower. She paused at the front door and took one more look around. "This was Trenil's suggestion... but I do like it. There's plenty of room for you, and the views are all very nice. It's near enough to the spaceport without being so close that we'll always hear ships landing. It might be a lot of work to keep up, but I think I can manage it."

She stared for a little longer, and I got the sense she was imagining how it would look with furnishings. Was she considering this as her new home? I did really enjoy the backyard, and with it being enclosed like that she would probably let me go out into it without the stupid harness. And she did seem to like it...

I chirped a meaningless inquiry up at her. She shook her head and smiled. "Sorry. Just thinking. You're right, it's getting late. Let's go back." She reached up and rubbed my neck, then turned to go.

I sniffed the air as we stepped back into Terron's house. Something was different. Was that... I felt my ear tufts rise in recognition, and I chirped out in excitement. "Ivy? Is that you?"

Minna glanced at me... then her eyes widened in surprise as another dragonet sang out from somewhere inside the house. "It is! Hi Nate!"

I hopped into the air to go find the green dragonet... and remembered only barely in time that Minna hadn't unclipped the leash from me. I swooped back before I reached the limit of it and landed back on Minna's shoulder, then chittered up at her in frustration. "Hurry up!"

My Kymari smiled at me and held up her hand for me to jump to. "Good boy; you're learning."

I still wasn't sure how I felt about the 'good boys', but... whatever. She was right; I was learning to wait on her shoulder until she gave me the go ahead. Which probably would have made me upset just a week ago... but today, I just took it as a sign that we were growing closer to each other. She was learning not to hold me back unnecessarily, and I was learning to trust her judgement on when it was or wasn't appropriate for a bond animal to fly around in Kymari society.

'Inside Terron's house' was clearly an appropriate time to fly around, and she unclipped the leash from the harness. I fidgeted but waited, and a second later the harness loosened and fell away from me. "Good boy. Go on."

I tried not to feel too happy about the 'good boy', and jumped from Minna's hand to go search for the other dragonet.

I found her in the living room, and I wheeled through the air in excitement. She was perched on Trenil's shoulder... but that lasted all of a second before he muttered a 'Go on' to her. She joined me in the air, and we warbled and trilled out happy greetings to each other as we looped through the air of the room.

There weren't any obvious perches or resting spaces, and Terron and Loreena were both sitting on the couch, so I banked towards the window on the far side of the room and landed on the floor before it. I suspected Ivy wouldn't be that comfortable near strangers and would appreciate the space.

She landed near me with an impish grin. She fanned her wings out in a stretch, then folded them back against her sides... then promptly jumped the short distance to pounce on me.

I squawked in surprise and darted away. "What was that for?!" I suddenly had flashbacks to the last time a dragonet had tried to jump on me like that, and how that had ended in a desperate flight for my life from a crazed attacker. I glanced quickly towards the hallway and took a nervous half-step towards it.

"That was because I was cramped up in a shuttle for three hours, then had to sit on Trenil's shoulder for another two hours while he talked with those two. I'm bored; they wouldn't even let me play with the little girl when she asked to." Ivy chittered at me, then switched to mindspeech. "Come on, let's play some. It'll be fun!" The other dragonet crouched while her long tail swished playfully behind her... then she jumped into the air again.

I sidestepped her pounce and whirled to face her. I hesitated. I... hadn't really played rough with Susie. The dog had been bigger than me and was well out of my weight class. I had been painfully aware that I wouldn't be able to stop her if things got out of control, and did not want the dog to start thinking it was fun to toss me around. Most of our play had just been games of fetch; I hadn't even tried to wrestle the pinecones from her if she didn't give them back. Playing like this...

I let out a startled squawk as Ivy recovered and jumped on me again.

"Should we stop them?" I looked up from Ivy's hand pressing my head into the carpet and saw Terron looking at us in a mix of amusement and worry. Loreena had just brought her hand up to her head and closed her eyes.

"Yes!" I squirmed underneath the other dragonet.

"No!" She shouted out at the same time.

I was vaguely aware of Trenil shaking his head before Ivy pushed my face back down into the carpet. "It should be fine as far as they're concerned; Ivy isn't using her claws, and we often see them playing like this in the wild. I've never had her break anything, but if you're worried about that we can move them somewhere else? I'm not sure how comfortable Minna is with letting him go off leash outside though."

I heard Loreena sigh. "No, this is probably the best room for it. At least there is plenty of space here."

I squirmed out from under Ivy and darted underneath the low table near the couch. Ivy chased after but didn't follow me under, instead leaning down to peek after me. I caught sight of Minna stepping into the living room and sang out to her. "Minna, help! Ivy's being mean to me!"

I had to keep myself from giggling though. Now that my initial shock had worn off, I was starting to realize this was actually kind of fun.

Minna ignored me completely.

"Trenil! What brings you all the way out here this late? Is everything okay?"

I heard Ivy laugh from outside the table. I took advantage of her distraction to scurry out from underneath the table and pounce at her instead. Let's see how you like it!

Ivy either heard me coming or was expecting it - she nimbly dodged out of the way of my leap.

Then she pounced on me.

"Ack! What's Ivy doing; how do we stop them?" Minna finally seemed to catch on to what was taking place right in front of her. I started to tilt towards her as if I was going to try and ask for help... then when Ivy shifted to try and adjust for that, I ducked back and slipped out from under her.

Then I pounced back at her. And this time I did catch her off guard. "Ha!"

"They're just playing. It's fine, they do this. If it gets too out of hand they'll run back to us for help. But they usually know when to stop."

Minna didn't sound too convinced. "Are you sure? I've gotten him to learn a few commands; I think he'll come away if I tell him to?"

Ivy squirmed out from under me and knocked me back over. We rolled along the carpet in a blurred tangle of green and silver scales, wings, tails, and feet.

"I'm sure. Ivy's just happy to see him. Listen to them; they aren't even hissing. Interaction with other fire lizards like this will be good for him."

"I suppose..." Minna sounded dubious. "So what brings you here?"

"I had planned to come out for a check up tomorrow, but we had a ship cancel on us that freed up our afternoon, so I just decided to come by early."

Ivy and I continued rolling around on the floor. We fell apart for a few seconds and panted for breath... then she pounced at me again.

"Trenil has been telling us some stories about fire lizards. I didn't realize just how restrained they usually are, or how dangerous they can be. They will actually attack sicora, and not just track them?"

I noticed Minna watching me nervously from out of the corner of my eye as she settled in on the couch and nodded. "Yes. The first fire lizard came into captivity as a result of that; the main flock had swarmed a sicora that got into the park, and she was wounded in the fighting. That was also the first time we ever saw them use fire. They rarely use it outside of fighting sicora. We also know they hold back a lot with their claws. They're incredibly sharp, but they rarely do more than give light scratches even when they're upset." Ivy rolled me into a spin, but I was pretty sure I saw Minna put her hand over one of her sleeves before I lost sight of her. "They prefer to get away if something is bothering them. And if they can't, they will still give plenty of warnings in the forms of hisses and growls before actually striking anyone."

"Really? Even after being trained to get used to us?"

Trenil responded reluctantly while I pushed off the floor and pinned his bond companion in much the same manner she had just done to me. "They never really get used to us in that sense. Ivy is comfortable around me, but if you or Loreena got too close she would get nervous and try to leave. We have noticed they'll be a bit more accepting around another fire lizard's handler - Ivy will probably start to allow Minna near her and possibly even feed or handle her as she sees him being comfortable around Minna - but they still never quite reach a level of familiarity with anyone else. They'll always be too scared of you to risk attacking."

Trenil paused and I saw him glance back at me while I smushed Ivy's face into the carpet. I glanced back at him with an unconcerned blink. She had been the one to start this, not me. "Minna's fire lizard is the only partial exception we've found, actually. He's the only one we've found yet who doesn't hiss or growl at us. We think it's because he was raised by humans instead of growing up in the wild or being raised by other fire lizards; we're hopeful that will mean others raised in captivity will be more accepting of us. But Minna's observed he still tries to get away when he is nervous; he's not comfortable enough to actually attack anyone without significant cause."

"I see." Terron was quiet for a moment while Ivy and I wrestled. "Do you play with Ivy like that? Or is she too nervous?"

"I have to be careful not to get too rough so I don't play quite like that, but she still likes to play. Sometimes I'll hold a rope and she'll try to tug it free, or she'll wrestle with my hand; they're very light creatures, so it would be extremely easy to hurt them if you aren't careful. But they are all playful creatures and love to play with their handlers."

Ivy momentarily got the better of me, and I looked up at her from the corner of my eye. "Trenil plays tug-of-war with you?"

"Sometimes. It's a little too intimidating to just go straight into; he usually drags the rope over the floor for me to stalk, and it ends in tug-of-war when I get excited." I tried to take advantage of Ivy's distraction answering my question, but she was ready for it. We rolled across the floor and she ended right back on top of me.

"Do you think you could get Minna one of those? That's fun to play. I used to like doing that with..." I trailed off at the memory of tugging on ropes and branches with Susie. Even I could hear the sudden sadness in my mindspeech.

Ivy pushed me down into the floor and hopped off me. She glanced back with a sly grin, though I could see a flicker of concern in her eyes. "Trenil left some sunburst berries and a shia fruit in Minna's room!"

I felt my eyes widen and I jumped up... then paused. Wait a second... Trenil was still basically a stranger to Terron and Loreena; why would they let him in her room? Was Ivy just trying to distract me? I didn't remember smelling any shia fruits when we came in, and Minna's room wasn't that far away from the entrance. I should have smelled something if they were around.

"I'm going to get them all!" Ivy jumped into the air and flapped away.

I was almost certain Ivy was making that up to distract me... but there was a chance she was telling the truth. And I had to admit, I was having fun. Trenil was right - dragonet bodies liked to play.

I leapt into the air and chased after her.

We abandoned the four Kymari to the living room and chased each other through the rooms that had been opened for me. As I suspected there was a complete lack of shia fruits waiting in Minna's room, but it was still fun to just fly through the hallways in a game of aerial tag. Tag usually wasn't as fun with just two people, but... it was the first chance I had to play it since becoming a dragonet.

Every time I had flown from a pursuer in the past, it had been because something was trying to eat me. It had always been too terrifying to really call enjoyable. But chasing and being chased by Ivy was fun. Even in the closed environment of the house.

We chased each other for about ten minutes... then a spasm seized my left wing. I dropped to the floor and sprawled out on the soft carpet. Ow...

"Are you okay? What's wrong?" Ivy wheeled through the air above me but didn't land. She probably suspected a trick of some kind. Which was fair; it had been my turn to chase her.

"I need to rest for a minute. My wings aren't all the way back to normal. And I did a lot of flying earlier." I flexed my wing experimentally. The muscles responded with a burst of discomfort. I left my wing stretched out against the floor and slumped down a little more. "Ow."

"Oh no, I'm sorry!" Ivy landed to my right and gave me a gentle nudge. "Tell me next time if you're tired; now I feel bad!"

I smiled a little and nudged back at her. "I wasn't tired. And I was having fun! Don't feel bad. It's just a muscle spasm."

"Hmph. Sounds like it's time for you to experience another benefit of living with the Kymari then!" Ivy sounded way too cheerful as she sat up and glanced down the hallway we had landed in.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I craned my neck to try and see what she was looking at.

Ivy let out a creeling sound that for some reason made me want to go and find some food for her. She repeated it, then repeated it one more time... then Trenil appeared in the hallway, followed by Minna. Ivy chirped and hopped around me.

I flinched and pulled my wing back a little, worried Ivy might step on it, but she was careful to avoid it.

"What happened? Is he okay?" Trenil took a few steps towards us, but stopped while he was still well away from us.

"He tired himself out earlier today; he might just be exhausted?" Minna sounded a little worried as she slipped past Trenil in the hallway and held up her hand in a fist. "Nate, come here."

I did not feel like using my wing just yet, even for the few quick flaps it would take to jump up to Minna. I glanced up at her and stretched out my right wing before pulling it back to my side. Ivy pointedly hopped in place next to my still-extended left wing again.

I felt a strange sense of guilt at not following through with Minna's call to come to her hand, even with the soreness in my wing.

"Nate?" Trenil looked at Minna with a bit of a smile. "You settled on a name for him?"

"Oh - yes; I thought of it this morning. He seems to like it." Minna knelt down next to me and began to touch carefully over my extended wing. Ivy backed up a few paces, but I waited calmly while she prodded the sore muscles. "He's been very good about coming to me, even when I let him off leash. It doesn't feel like anything's cut, and he doesn't seem to be in any pain, but it does feel warmer than usual."

"He might have just overextended it. Do you want to give him an oil massage? That might help Loreena warm up to him a little more."

Minna scooped me up in one hand while she used her free hand to carefully support my wing. "You caught that, did you?" She held me up towards her shoulder... but the feel of her hand along the underside of my wing actually felt pretty good, and I didn't want to try and figure out how to support my wing while standing on her shoulder. I looked back at her and trilled pathetically.

"Big baby." Ivy's chirps carried humor as she flew over us and landed on Trenil's shoulder.

Minna just smiled back at me and adjusted her hands to support me a little better. "She has warmed up to Nate a little, believe it or not, especially after seeing his morning dances. She's just worried about Lyzel."

"I thought we made it pretty clear the fire lizards have never harmed children."

Minna hesitated and looked down at me. "She's not worried about Lyzel being physically hurt. She knows Nate won't attack her. But... you know how impressionable children can be..."

"...oh. I see." Trenil nodded as if that explained everything.

I didn't see, though. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Not every Kymari parent wants their daughter to grow up to be a bond handler. It's usually a guard role that the men pick up, and even as safe as it is with us, it's still more dangerous than most of the other jobs a Kymari could get." Ivy hesitated before continuing. "Other than Minna and Aeria, all the bond handlers are male Kymari. And even Aeria's a bit of a special case, since she's not technically a handler yet."

I got it then. I had heard it mentioned on several occasions that Minna's parents would not be happy at the news she had become a handler to me. Not to mention that phone call I had overheard. Loreena was probably worried that Lyzel might decide to want a dragonet companion of her own, without fully understanding what all came along with that.

I made a mental note to try and avoid Lyzel. Though, now that I thought about it, Loreena had been doing a pretty good job of keeping Lyzel away from me herself. I couldn't remember seeing the child at all since I had come back to Minna.

"I do have the oil, but I still haven't actually used it on him. He hasn't let me before."

"I have a feeling he'll be a bit more open to it now. Where is it? I'll grab it for you and meet you back in the living room, so you don't have to put him down."

Minna balanced me in her hands and began walking carefully. "In my room. Second door on the right down that hallway; it's in the blue bag, should be near the bottom. Thank you."

Trenil nodded and headed down the hallway while Minna carried me back to the living room. Ivy followed us, hovering near me protectively.

"It's okay Ivy, he's fine." Minna smiled at Ivy's concern. I noticed she lifted me up a little more and held me out from her body, as if making sure Ivy could tell I wasn't in any danger. It meant the ride got a little bumpy, but it was still easier than trying to fly on my sore wing.

Terron and Loreena both looked concerned when they saw me. "Is he okay? What happened?"

"He seems fine; we think he just overexerted himself. He's still only just recovered from his injuries, and he did a lot of flying today. Trenil went to get some oil that will help." Minna sat down on the couch and carefully arranged me in her lap while Ivy fluttered down in the spot Trenil had been sitting in. I shifted to rest my wing along Minna's leg, and she brought a hand down to brush lightly over it.

I relaxed and began to thrum softly. The gentle touch was already distracting me from the soreness.

"What's he doing?" Loreena leaned a little closer to me and tilted her head as if trying to hear something.

"They sometimes make this sound when they're happy. It just means he feels relaxed and safe."

Well. She wasn't wrong.

Ivy chirped a greeting as Trenil returned. She jumped into the air and flew around the room while he sat down, then landed on his leg and nudged her head pointedly at the jar in his hand. He grinned and pet her back with his free hand. "Okay, okay, I'll give you a massage too, calm down."

The green dragonet chittered a few times before dropping into a sprawl in his lap. She glanced up at him and chirped one more time. "Thank you."

"She seems excited. Is that some kind of treat?" Loreena looked away from me to watch Ivy.

Trenil opened the container and dipped his fingers into the clear liquid within. "In a sense. They all really enjoy this. Their skin tends to dry out fairly easily underneath their scales, and this helps a lot with that problem." He passed the jar over to Minna, then began rubbing the ointment into Ivy's scales.

The green dragonet sighed contentedly and began to thrum in Trenil's lap.

I eyed the oil in Minna's hand dubiously as she dipped her fingers into it. She saw me watching and brought her fingers to my nose, close enough that I could sniff them. It had that same vaguely fruity scent I remembered from before.

I had turned it down all the times before as a way to make sure Minna would respect my decisions, and not force things on me that I didn't want her doing... but... I was much more sure she wouldn't do that. I trusted her now, or at the very least I had decided I would allow myself to, and she hadn't done anything else to abuse that trust. I felt safe.

And I was curious how anything could possibly feel as nice as Ivy made it seem.

I sniffed Minna's fingers again, then lowered my head to rest on her leg. I thrummed a little stronger in my chest as a sign that it was okay.

Her fingers moved back to rub over my wing. At first I didn't feel anything different, and just enjoyed the feeling of her warm hand massaging my tired muscles... then I felt a dampness seeping through my scales. My skin started to tingle lightly where Minna had touched, then a gentle warmth seeped into the muscles beneath.

"Okay, this feels kind of nice, but it isn't that speci... oh, wow." I broke off my comment to Ivy as the feeling of warmth suddenly transformed and blossomed into a feeling of... of...

I wasn't sure what to call it. The only word that came close was 'relief', but it was still woefully inadequate as a description.

Tension I had only barely been aware of suddenly drained out of the muscles in my wing. An itchy feeling under my scales, one that I had been unable to do anything about in the wild and had instead simply grown used to, suddenly received proper attention for the first time in my life as a dragonet. The soreness of my overexerted muscles soothed beneath a cool sensation, then was replaced by the same gentle warmth and relief trickling through my wing.

"Mm-hmm... Told you..." Ivy's voice sounded heavily distracted and lethargic, though I picked up a tinge of amusement at my reaction.

I didn't care. The oil felt good.

I sagged in relief at the feeling and began to thrum louder. Minna seemed to notice the change and began to actively massage my wing. Her fingers pushed into my scales and put gentle pressure on the muscles beneath, working them out in much the same way she had those first days after the cast had come off. That had felt nice on its own, but with the oil it felt wonderful.

My vision started to go a little hazy as I struggled to keep them focused. The oil was incredibly relaxing, and it was hard to pay much attention to the room beyond. And so far Minna had only been touching my wing.

"Oh, wow. He already seems a lot more relaxed than I expected." Minna moved her hand to the front of my wing and began rubbing along the bones there. There had still been a little discomfort in my wing, a little soreness left behind after the injury... and it faded away beneath the oil.

"It usually gets them a little stronger the first time. They do a good job of taking care of themselves in the wild, but there are a lot of little itches and dry patches that can build up that they just aren't able to do anything about. He probably had it worse than the ones in the flock since he had to handle them on his own. There are places they can't reach, like the base of their wings; we've seen them help groom each other in those places out in the wild. They usually appreciate getting attention there."

Minna moved her hand to the base of my wing and I melted. Trenil had no idea how right he was. My entire wing tingled with a pleasant warmth that seeped deep into the muscles in a way I had never imagined possible. Her hand rolled over my scales and gently shifted my wing, thoroughly coating the worn out limb in the marvelous oil.

Then she moved to my other wing.

I barely had the presence of mind to stretch out my right wing for her. I held it in the air for all of two seconds before she began massaging it, and I let it go limp in relaxed bliss.

Everything was perfect. My body felt so relaxed and relieved. Minna's lap was warm, and the massage felt so nice. And it had been a long day. It wouldn't be the worst thing to just close my eyes a little, and let my handler soothe away all those aches...

I was only vaguely aware of my grateful thrums slowing as I drifted off into a relaxed sleep.