Lost Change

Chapter 74

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.