When they landed, Suzan immediately went to get more water. Which was good. It gave Harmoni a chance to slide down and feel her feet on the ground again. Fleck was no help there. He was lying on the ground and taking deep breaths, trying to, literally, shake off the nausea.

Harmoni was feeling better by the time Suzan had finished pouring the water, but of course, Glimmer had seen her. So there was no point pretending she liked the whole thing. Something she’d forgotten about.

“I’m sorry you didn’t ave a good time,” Suzan said.

Fleck just went over and took some small gulps of water.

Harmoni shook her head. “Some of it was good. I liked flying over the open desert.” Her smile faltered. “But that canyon. . .”

Suzan shook her head. “Terrain change is a part a every race, part a the experience. An' if that doesn't work for you, you wouldn't like racing in general. But it might’ve been too much, to start you on that canyon.”

Harmoni . . . couldn’t think of an argument against that.

It was probably true.

They stood in silence for a moment.

Fleck finished drinking and stepped back. He was feeling better now.

Suzan clapped her hands together. “Well, you’ve been out in the desert for a while, and it’s gettin late. What da ya say we go in, have some water of our own, an something to eat?”

Glimmer took her head out from her trough. “We’ll give you a ride back after. You won’t have to get back in the dark.”

“We won’t have to get back in the dark alone,” Fleck corrected. It could still be dark by the time they finished.

Glimmer pushed his head in the sand. Gently.

Harmoni just nodded. The two went inside. Harmoni looked back at Fleck.

‘The upstairs area is small,’ he thought to her. ‘If Glimmer goes inside it’s in the basement. And I’d like to stick with her.’

He and Harmoni didn’t have compatible diets anyway.

Fair enough. Harmoni didn’t want to separate them. She didn’t really get it, how they interacted with each other, but the dragon siblings were clearly fond of each other.

Sure enough, it was small inside Suzan’s house. There was a bathroom to one side, but the rest was all one round room. There was a kitchen area, a table, a bed, and someplace to hang jackets. (And helmets.) Harmoni saw another pair of dusty boots under the bed. That was about it, but there was a hole near the wall, with stairs going down.

Outside, Glimmer was getting some dried meat for her and Fleck, bragging about how she caught it herself.

Inside, Suzan got some fruit out of a cabinet. At least, she said it was fruit. It looked sort of like a cactus, but when Harmoni tapped a spine, it was soft. When she ran a hand along the green shell, it felt almost fuzzy.

Suzan smiled sympathetically. “Oh I know. The food here can be wild. But give it a try. You’ll like it.”

She started cutting the fruit in half, and Harmoni’s eyes widened. It was purple inside. Harmoni was pretty sure Udo had cooked with it before, but she’d always thought it was like, some sort of sweet potato. Because he’d already gotten rid of the shell by the time she saw it.

“So, Fleck’s been here a couple times, but it’s nice he finally got a rider. He says you work at the spa. The one Udo and Aqua run?”

Harmoni nodded. “You know about it?”

To her knowledge, Fleck hadn’t known Aqua until the day he bonded with her.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“A course. Not many places that cater specifically to dragons. I’ve taken Glimmer there a time or two, after the races. She deserves it.”

Glimmer and Fleck were doing their own thing outside. Mostly eating and asking if Fleck had made any dragon friends. But they were, of course, aware of what was going on inside. Glimmer puffed up proudly at the mention.

“I gotta say, I feel a bit bad for Ferren.”

“You do?”

Out of anything Suzan could’ve mentioned, that was certainly not what Harmoni expected. Wasn’t on the list, hadn’t crossed her mind.

“Well yeah. I mean, she works at a spa for dragons, but is too old and has lived through too much to bond with one herself. She gets to be surrounded by a bond she can’t take part in, and can never have a major role there, because it’s hard to communicate with dragons without aving one. Udo will eventually die, and she won’t. And then she’ll either have to close down the spa, or work for somebody else.”

Harmoni had not thought about it like that before. Was that why she was always in a bad mood?

There was one thing that still made it hard to feel sympathy for her. “But if it’s so bad, why does she work there?”

Harmoni didn’t want to sound bad but . . . she wouldn’t mind if Ferren. . .

Left? Nothing wrong with that. She was intimidating.

“Well that’s the great mystery, isn it?” Suzan took a scoop out of her fruit.

When it didn’t seem like Suzan was going to keep speaking, Harmoni changed the subject. “What do you and Glimmer do?”

“Oh you’re seeing it. Glimmer an I get our food off the land, through hunting or scavenging. If we need money, we get that from the races. We don’t win often. But we can make some bets.”

“Oh.” Harmoni had never met someone who lived like that.

‘You wouldn’t know if you’ve met someone like that,’ Fleck pointed out.

‘I still have information, like what this planet is called and what bleach does to your clothes. I think I’d be more familiar with the concept if I’d seen it before,’ Harmoni pointed out.

"Isn't that . . . a lot?" Harmoni asked. She wasn't sure what it was a lot of. Work? Knowledge? Time?

Suzan seemed to get what she was saying. She wagged her spoon at Harmoni. "Darlin, most people on Xentron do some amount a foraging or gardening. An you've seen that, haven't you? In Xentron City? There's just not enough farmers for everyone to be separate from food."

Harmoni hadn't thought about it, but most yards did have plants. (Not many. Desert.) And a lot of them were probably edible.

Fleck shrugged. If it was what Glimmer wanted then she could do that, but Fleck didn't see much point in living with riders if they were still going to live like a dragon.

Harmoni took another bite of her fruit. She and Suzan kept talking, but they were almost done eating, and it was getting dark. Soon, it would be time to go home.

~~~

Visiting Glimmer and Suzan was always fun. It was also always a little . . . intense. It helped to have a lot of energy.

Glimmer was the eldest, and came off as the stereotypical powerful and perfect eldest sibling with little effort. There was no chance of catching up to her. That was also an intense part of the visit.

The same would not be said of Fleck’s other sister, Glow. The middle child. She lived in Xentron City, sort of Northeast of where they lived, on the other side of the fighting arena.

It was a courtyard. It was just used for fighting sometimes.

According to Glow, it used to be exclusively a fighting arena. You had to get permission from the owner to use it for anything else. And if he said yes at all, he’d charge a lot of money for it.

‘What changed?’

Fleck shrugged from where he sat on Harmoni’s shoulders. ‘The old owner was run out.’

‘I. See. Anyway, are we close?’

Fleck nodded. Actually, he could see the place from here. ‘It’s that one.’ He pointed with this tail.

The red building was a magic shop on the first floor, and a living area on the second floor, though both were a little small. Fleck used to be bored when he visited Glow. There wasn't space to do anything. But he was older now. He could appreciate Glow’s life better. And he had Harmoni with him, so he’d know what the rider was on about without Glow translating for once.

Harmoni just hoped she wouldn’t be accused of being evil again.

By his sister and her rider? He’d bite the rider’s head off if so.

Harmoni laughed, just a little. ‘But don’t,’ she told him.

Feeling better, she knocked on the door.

The person who opened the door was an imp with black hair pulled back into a pony tail. He had blue eyes, and black horns curling to both sides. His skin was a pale red. Maybe you could call it pink.

And he looked familiar.

“Don’t you fight in the arena?” Harmoni guessed.

She didn’t really watch the arena fights, but she walked this way sometimes, after work, especially if she wanted to go to the library. Also, Cooper had bet against this imp. He’d been right to.

The imp blinked, apparently a little taken aback. Maybe Harmoni shouldn’t have said anything?

Then he smiled, pointy teeth showing on the side of his mouth. “Well, I wouldn’t say I’m a regular. I’ve got this shop I’d rather run. But yeah, I’ve been down there a time or two.” He scratched his neck. His nails seemed sort of sharp for that, more like Fleck's than her own. Imp’s eyes didn’t move like the other species. You couldn’t just follow their gaze. But Harmoni did see him move his head, just slightly, to get a better view of Fleck. “You must been Fleck’s rider. And I’m Glow’s rider. Name’s Rial.” He didn’t extend his hand.

“Harmoni.”

This time when he smiled, is mouth was completely closed. It hid the pointy teeth. “Charmed. Well, let’s not stand out here. Come on in.”