Lost Change

Chapter 40

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Author's Note - Happy New Year~!

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She didn't try to pet me, thankfully, so I begrudgingly ate the food she offered until I was full enough that the prospect of more pineapple slices couldn't convince me to remain in the Kymari's lap. I hissed at her again just because I could, then slipped out of her lap and hopped back down to the floor. I wasn't exactly tired - I still wasn't sleeping well, but I had been awake enough at this point that I didn't really feel the need to go back to bed - but my body had a 'well fed' feeling that made stretching out somewhere a very appealing idea. Normally I would go find a nice branch to sprawl on, one high enough up a tree for the sunlight to reach me while still being low enough for me to keep an eye on Susie, but the Kymari didn't have any branches in her apartment.

What she did have was a nice bowl of sand underneath a satisfyingly warm heat lamp.

I climbed up the end table and flopped in the sand. The coarse substance felt good rubbing against my scales, and the ambient heat made my leg feel better. I felt a bit of regret that I couldn't spread my wings out and soak up the heat properly... but it still felt really nice. Especially after the stress of having to eat like that.

The Kymari watched me from the couch, but the full feeling and the warmth all around me was too good to waste worrying about her. I closed my eyes and just enjoyed myself.

The soft chime rang through the room. I lifted my head from the warm sand and glanced around as I tried to wake up - I must have dozed off in the sand.

"Come in." I glanced towards the couch and saw the Kymari setting down her tablet.

The doors opened with a 'ding' sound. "Aunt Minna!" Lyzel ran through the doors and up to the Kymari, who stood up from the couch and grabbed the child in a hug.

"Hello Lyzel! How is school going this week?"

Lyzel pouted. "Bor-ing. Can we go to the park to play today? Daddy said we could if you were up for it?" The older male Kymari - Lyzel's father, Terron - stepped through the doorway and into the room.

I blinked and took a closer look at an object held in his hand.

"Maybe not today, Lyzel. I have to take care of a friend, and he's still a bit too hurt to go to the park just yet. I don't want to leave him alone for too long..." The Kymari glanced towards Terron, and I saw her smile as she noticed the same thing I had. "But he might enjoy playing with you some inside, if you promise to be gentle?"

Lyzel frowned for a second... then her eyes lit up. She looked around the room wildly, then threw her hands up in the air when she saw me. "Mister Fire Lizard! Yay!" She squirmed in the other Kymari's grip until she was put back on the floor, then the child ran the short distance over to her father. "Can I play with him today?"

The little girl reached up towards her father... and more specifically, for the yellow ball I had grown familiar with in the past few months, which he held in his hand. He started to pass it to her, but paused at the last second and pulled his hand back a little. "Remember what I said, Lyzel."

Lyzel was practically bursting with excitement, but she looked from the ball to her father and nodded. "I knowwww... he's hurt, and he needs to rest, so I have to be gentle with him. I have to stop when you or Aunt Minna tell me to, so he doesn't hurt himself more, and have to make sure it's okay with Aunt Minna before playing with him."