Tessa’s POV:

  Just as we opened the door to a room with a bed, Adeline’s voice came through the wrist comm, “Hello?”

  “Adeline,” Soranto began, “Tessa and I are alri—”

  “Soranto! You had me so worried! Next time you plan on infiltrating an enemy base, at least take my fusion blaster!”

  “She has a what?” Soranto’s father asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

  Ignoring his question, Soranto told Adeline, “How about I don’t infiltrate any more bases, and we get that thing decommissioned?”

  “I agree with the first part, but not the second one. Besides, this is the first time it’s seen the light of day since we moved here. Are you sure you and Tessa are okay?”

  He sat down on the bed as he said, “We already got scanned, and Tessa is fine. I have a cracked rib and a sprained ankle, but that’s it.”

  Tilting my head, I sent him a mental image of his face with the various bruises from when the crate exploded. Perhaps he didn’t know what he looked like, or, perhaps, it was a good thing he had a couple of days to heal before Adeline saw him.

  Soranto shook his head slightly and started removing pieces of his armor.

  “With all the fighting going on, that warship is the best place to wait until things settle down,” Adeline said. “Now that I know you’re safe, I can relax and wait patiently instead of terrorizing people. Take care of Tessa. Keeping her out of mischief on a warship could be interesting.”

  “I’ll stay here until it’s safe. Get some sleep, my love. We’ll see each other soon.”

  “Good night, Soranto.”

  The love in her voice was enough to make Soranto’s father examine the far wall, although Drae ignored their conversation as he helped Soranto remove his armor. With the call over, Soranto reached down and removed his boot with a wince. The ankle was a bit puffy, and I didn’t think he’d be able to get the boot back on until the swelling went down. He removed his other boot with no such problems.

  All that was left was Soranto’s chest armor. He reached up, and I hopped onto his wrist. The moment I was off, Drae and Soranto’s father immediately unclipped the shoulder pads and continued dismantling his armor.

  From this angle, I could see small dents in the metal. I jumped down and continued to watch. Soranto pulled off his shirt with another wince and a sharply inhaled breath. His green skin was much darker in several spots, and he examined the areas ruefully.

  Drae picked up the jar of salve. “I can tend your back if you want, but the cracked rib is yours to rub in.”

  “Thanks.”

  The two of them began gently rubbing the nearly-odorless salve onto the bruises. Soranto’s arms and legs were peppered with bruises where his minimal armor didn’t protect him. I wasn’t sure what his chest armor had stopped, but Soranto clenched his teeth as he liberally applied salve above where the cracked rib must be.

  It wasn’t right for him to be in pain. Rustling my wings, I chittered my growing agitation. Even though I knew Drae was only trying to help, I felt like nipping his fingers to get him to leave Soranto alone.

  Soranto petted me with his other hand. “It’s okay.”

  “No. You’re in pain. I can smell it.” I shook my head, trying to not focus on his injuries.

  He was doing a decent job of hiding the extent of his pain, but the rather sharp smell was beginning to strengthen. The odor made me want to growl at whatever was causing it. If my throat muscles weren’t so tense, I probably would have growled by now. The faint musky taste at the back of my mouth was unpleasant. My throat began to feel oddly warm.

  My eyes widened slightly as I recognized the taste—it was what Drake had shared with us. It was the same one that heralded a plume of flame. If I exhaled through my mouth, I could probably breathe fire right now. I quickly memorized how my muscles felt so I could try it in a safer place.

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  I was grateful for the advice my parents had repeated so many times. I swallowed the air in my mouth and throat, sending the potent fire-starting gasses to my stomach where it would be rendered harmless. This wasn’t the place to play with fire.

  Soranto misinterpreted the hard swallow and opened the container of fruit. He opened it, and after a quick check of the contents, set it beside me. I investigated the bowl; every piece was a type I had eaten before, mostly from the fruit trees that had originated on another world and could be found in the main park.

  Drae and Soranto kept applying the salve as I sampled more than a few pieces of fruit. It was fresh and juicy—much better than slightly dried-out minnows. My stomach ached by the time the container was nearly empty.

  “Adeline has sent updates to both sides of the family,” Soranto’s father quietly said, checking his wrist comm. “A few scouts checked the moon where the hidden base was located, but that section was blown into rubble. The Defense Labs have already discovered a scanner frequency capable of detecting those new stealth shields and have sent the code to all warships.”

  “Any idea where those Votaks managed to get such a cloaking device?” Soranto asked.

  “From what I’ve heard, no. It’s similar to Kergarian technology, but different enough that our scanners didn’t detect them. The two we recovered were different models, so that Votak group was almost certainly responsible for making them.”

  “It was a rogue group?”

  “From the rather noticeable lack of Votak spaceships bothering our ships, it would seem so. Which makes sense if they had been holed up in that trading ship for nearly a month.”

  Soranto winced as he rubbed another dark spot on his skin. His father sat in a chair and watched.

  Drae cleaned his hands and headed to the door. “My room is next door on the right. I’ll keep my wrist comm on.”

  “Thanks, Drae.” Soranto said.

  The guard nodded and left the room. Silence fell and became oddly heavy. I grumbled under my breath and curled up on Soranto’s lap. The lack of a heat lamp or anything really familiar was keeping my exhaustion at bay for the moment, even with my full stomach.

  “A fire lizard?” Soranto’s father finally asked.

  “They are capable of tracking sicora and crawlers.”

  “I know. When you first told me about your promotion to a bond animal handler, I hadn’t heard of them before and had to go do some research. Not that there is much known about them. Why did you choose to be a bond animal handler instead of remaining one of the top equipment engineers?”

  “I can always go back to being an equipment engineer. The opportunity to become a bond animal handler is rare, a chance that few ever have.” Soranto said in a slightly clipped voice.

  “Soranto,” his father said firmly. “Lying won’t work with me now anymore than it did when you were a mischievous youth.”

  With a huff, Soranto lifted his head to stare at his father as he stated, “Because she stole my heart, Father. It doesn’t matter to me if she tracks sicora or is now too scared to go on another spaceship. She has become a part of my family and nothing is going to change that.”

  It sounded like a challenge—and Soranto’s stance clearly showed he wasn’t about to back down.

  His father’s lips tugged up in a slight smile. “It might have taken nearly two centuries and a small red lizard to make you stand up against me for something you believe in, regardless of the consequences, but you finally did it. I’m proud of you.”

  Soranto blinked a few times, taken aback by the sudden change. My mind was also trying to catch up. What had looked like a big fight brewing had turned into rather unexpected approval.

  “I think you did the right thing,” his father continued, “both in accepting her and in going after those who kidnapped her.”

  Soranto just stared at his father, as if he was too shocked to reply. From the little I recalled overhearing, his father rarely praised him, so I had likely just witnessed a historic event.

  His father got to his feet and paused in the doorway. “I’ll let you and your companion rest. One day soon, I’ll have to stop by and visit. Don’t bother tidying up or changing anything to meet my supposed expectations—I know you adopted a very different lifestyle when you moved there, and I’m curious to see what kind of life you made for yourself.”

  The door quietly slid shut, leaving Soranto and me alone. Soranto continued staring at the door blankly. The blank gaze reminded me somewhat of the daze that the Morning Song sometimes caused.

  Leaning over, I gently nipped one of his fingers. He jumped and jerked his hand back as his gaze snapped down to me.

  “Sorry, but you looked like you were going into shock.”

  He rubbed his forehead and replied, “More like I am shocked. That wasn’t how I expected that conversation to go.”

  “I liked your second reason more than your first one,” I replied with a yawn.

  He chuckled and petted me. “The second one is also more accurate.”

  I curled up a bit tighter and rubbed my head against his hand with a hum.

  He removed my harness and set it to the side. “Will you be okay without a heat lamp? If you need anything, please let me know.”

  “The wild dragonets don’t have a heat lamp at night, so I’m sure I’ll manage. I wouldn’t mind cuddling though. Your skin is nice and warm.”

  “Sure. Do you want me to clean your scales before we go to sleep?”

  My ear tufts perked up. “Please!”

  Now that he mentioned getting clean, I realized how grimy my scales felt. They were still bright red and shiny, but they didn’t quite have their normal gleam.

  The cleaning kit came out of Soranto’s belt pouch, and he began gently scouring my scales. The familiar routine and quietness rapidly lulled me to sleep.