Argone wasn’t there when they went outside. Apparently he’d gone to get more dragons.

They’d need help with the dragons inside. And it would be better if the dragons still living in the caves, without a bond, found out about this sooner than later.

So they stood outside as Daradyn and Amier got dragons outside. Anna and her dragon still seemed to be exploring the other areas of the lab, the cleaner part dragons wouldn’t be in.

Fleck and Harmoni still weren’t being directly told any new information, but there wasn't much attempt to hide things from them either. People talked out loud, and it seemed no one expected Fleck to read. When Anna came out with some papers, Fleck walked underneath her to read them. It seemed like whoever had worked here, was sending baby dragons out to other planets.

Seemed like very cruel treatment for such a simple crime.

They were treating dragons as potential pets. Harmoni should go back to thinking of if this happened to humans. Of course whoever was doing it wouldn’t care much for their lives.

More dragons showed up. Which was good, because quite a few of the babies had been brought out by now. They'd need someplace to go. Both dragons from the caves and from Xentron City had shown up. One had even brought a cleric with them.

Harmoni just rubbed Fleck’s head, trying to bring him some comfort.

Then, Amier walked up to them. “No people in there,” he announced.

Harmoni blinked. “What?”

“Daradyn and I have been carrying the dragons out, but Anna and Snowflake have been specifically looking for people. They couldn’t find anyone, and according to Snowflake, no one’s been in there for a while.”

“Why would you tell us that?” Harmoni asked. He seemed perfectly willing to keep them in the dark before.

“You were here earlier. You said you saw someone was here. Would you have any idea what they looked like?” He cast a glance at Fleck. “Snowflake’s having a hard time picking up any specific scent, with all the cleaning supplies.”

Harmoni frowned. “We never saw them from close up,” she pointed out. “We were trying not to get seen by them. I don’t think it could’ve been a gnome, a dwarf, or an imp. Wrong body shape.”

Fleck shook his head. “And I wasn’t with them.”

Amier sighed. “Less information than Snowflake could offer up then.”

Wait. Less?

“Well, thank you. You’ve done all you can. You don’t need-”

“What did Snowflake find out?” Harmoni cut him off. Amier frowned. “And don’t tell me I don’t need to hear about it. What if whoever owned this place saw me? I could be in danger.”

Amier sighed again. “The only thing Snowflake could pick up was the smell of the species. There’s been an elf and an imp in there. She might be able to recognize the specific elf and imp if she saw them, but right now, that’s as far as we’ve gotten.”

He put his hands in his pockets. “You two aren’t suspected as being involved, if you’re wondering.”

Harmoni had not been wondering. She had not considered the possibility, but that was good to know.

‘You were briefly worried someone here might be involved, weren’t you?’ Fleck wondered.

‘Yes but I worry about everything. I don’t think it’s the same.’

Amier continued. “I'll warn you, this seems difficult for an elf and an imp to pull off on their own, without any help from a dragon."

"You think a dragon betrayed their species like this?" Fleck asked.

Amier shrugged. "It's basically impossible to tell for sure. There's no way to tell if the smell of dragons inside the lab are just from the babies, or if there was a bonded one in there. But it would be considerably easier if they had one, so I'm just letting you know."

Fleck was angry at the idea, but partly because it wasn't impossible. A dragon could have the right malice, ambivalence, or be bought with the right price.

"It seems like you’ve told us everything you can. Unless you’ve got something else, you two can go home.”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

The two stared at each other for a moment. Did Harmoni have anything else? Cooper might know more. He had the binocular vision after all. But he’d been avoiding the Desert Crest.

But if he did know more, he should tell someone. There were two dragon kidnappers on the loose, who might have seen the riders when they went to the lab.

The compromise was probably to go to Cooper themselves. If he remembered anything more specific than them, he could warn them, and could go to the Desert Crest. Their office wasn’t exactly hard to find. And if he hadn’t seen anything, no one would bother him.

“I think that’s it,” Harmoni sighed.

“What’s going to happen to the dragons?” Fleck asked, stepping in front of Harmoni.

The baby dragons had been released from the cages, but were still largely just lying there. Ones with obvious, serious injuries were being healed by the cleric, while the others were being looked over by the adult dragons. Argone was helping with this, but he must’ve been paying a little attention, so Amier could understand Fleck.

“They’ll go back to the cave systems for now,” Amier said. “The adults will try to see if they have family, but with some of these, it will be hard to tell, and to my knowledge, most baby dragons grow up in a sort of nursery together anyway.”

Oversimplification but sort of. Fleck supposed they could have normal lives in the creche after they healed.

“You could always visit them after they’re settled in. You tell the dragon healers you found these ones, they’ll let you in,” Amier assured them.

Harmoni nodded, head actually dipping forward far enough, it could be a little bow. “Thank you.”

She was annoyed at his insistence that they stay out of things, but she was glad that he’d helped so quickly. And she was glad he’d answered their questions.

Amier nodded back. “I have to get back to work.”

Then he wove into the crowd of dragons.

Harmoni slowly looked down at Fleck. Amier did say they could go home. ‘Do you want to go home?’

‘Yeah.’

The answer wasn’t that straightforward in his head. He wanted to know what happened to the babies, but felt terrible standing here, but felt bad that he couldn’t stomach it. . .

But at the end of the day, they’d done what they were supposed to. There wasn't really anything they could help with. Fleck didn't know how to take care of babies. They should go home, and maybe take Amier up on that offer to visit the babies later.

~~~

Harmoni stood inside one of the tubs, cleaning it out. She leaned on the brush as she cleaned the wall, putting a lot of weight on it. Today was . . . surprisingly busy in the dragon spa. Harmoni had to get this tub clean so they could use it again.

Fleck wasn’t surprised. It was getting colder out. Taking a hot dust bath in the sand was out. Unless you were an ice dragon, going into the hot water would be nice.

‘I thought you said it didn’t get cold here?’

Fleck shrugged. There wasn’t a winter on Xentron. For a while, it would rain more than usual. And for an even shorter while, it would get colder. But the cold lasted . . . about a month? Maybe. With a gradual shift before and after it.

“Hey Harmoni.”

Harmoni lifted her head, and saw Cooper leaning over the side of the tub. He smiled, dropped down beside her, and pulled out a brush of his own. He started cleaning beside her.

“So, what did I miss? I heard about something going on at the lab, but it would be nice to hear it from you.”

Moon hopped down beside Fleck. “We did tell other people about the suspicious activity,” she told him, as Harmoni caught Cooper up. “But it looks like the Desert Crest were fast this time. There was already some big crowd gathering by the time any of us tried to show up.”

Cooper frowned as Harmoni recapped what had happened.

Moon cringed back, but nuzzled Fleck to comfort him as the story went on.

“I didn’t really see the person any better than you,” he admitted. “The only time the binocular vision came in handy was when they were shooting across the desert on the sand crawler. And they had protective clothes on during that. Best I can say is our mystery figure was probably a man. Well, I could’ve guessed species, but you said they already figured that out?”

Harmoni nodded.

“Do you think they’ll be OK? The dragons?” Cooper asked.

Harmoni glanced at Fleck.

Fleck looked at the ground and shrugged. “The younger ones might not remember this, as they get older. But I don’t know about the ones who will.”

They worked in relative silence after that. What was there to say? Finding out about this was a good thing. They’d saved the dragons. Udo had congratulated her this morning, and had promised they’d do something to celebrate this evening. But it seemed a bit early to celebrate, in a way.

It was probably more like rewarding the two of them. But that word would’ve been even stranger to use.

It was an awkward position. They'd "rescued" the baby dragons, but things weren't alright. It seemed too early to celebrate, in bad taste to go around like normal. But it also seemed bad to be bogged down by this. It was pointless if they couldn't do more to help, and would just make things worse for the people around them.

It was as they were climbing out of the pool that Cooper spoke again. “So, I wanted to ask you something. If everything’s wrapped up. . .?”

Harmoni nodded. Aside from work, she had nothing else going on now.

Cooper’s eyes lit up, and he leaned in. “You want to come to the magic expo with me?!”

Harmoni couldn’t help but flinch as he spoke so loudly, so close to her face.

He must’ve picked up on that, because he quickly pulled back, rubbing his neck sheepishly. “Sorry.” He took a deep breath and started again, speaking slower. “There’s a magic expo traveling the galaxy. It’s supposed to be here in about a week, in the courtyard where they host fights. I can’t do magic, obviously,” he laughed nervously. “But I’d like to see what they’re showing off.”

He'd slowed down, hands clasped together, but he was still smiling as he spoke.

Harmoni wanted to say yes. She’d liked learning about magic from Rial. She liked spending time with Cooper. And he seemed so happy about this. She didn’t want to disappoint. And it would be a good distraction. But there was the slight complication that she’d be around incredibly powerful people who all sensed something wrong with her.

Maybe they could go see Rial again? See if there was any way they could hide that feeling?

‘Good thought.’ Harmoni smiled back at Cooper. “Yes. I’d love to come.”