Udo’s house wasn’t far from the dragon spa. (That's what she was calling it now, anyway.) It was the next street over to the East and took maybe two minutes to get to. Harmoni looked around on the way there, but honestly there wasn’t much to see. She hadn’t walked down the block the spa was on before now, but nothing much stood out on it. It was the last street in this area, opening up onto the desert to the South. This made it easier for the building to have a missing wall, she supposed, since it just opened up to desert. She had walked down the block Udo lived on, but it seemed to be all houses.

Udo opened the door and the two stepped inside.

Harmoni couldn’t help but let out a little sight of relief. After being in the hot desert for so long, it was nice to be someplace cool.

She took a brief look around. To the right was what looked like a living room. Ahead of them was a hall that opened to a kitchen. There was also a staircase ahead of them. It was narrow, leaving more space for the hallway, but at least it didn’t look steep.

“Shoes off in the house please,” Udo said.

He slipped his own off and started to climb the staircase.

Harmoni couldn’t take her own shoes off nearly as easily. She quickly fumbled with her shoelaces, and jogged after him.

They reached the landing. The hall swerved to the right, with doors along it, but there was also a door to the left. Harmoni frowned as Udo turned to that one. She’d seen the house from the outside. The second floor was smaller than the first. (Not that it was a huge house to start with.) This door shouldn’t open to anything except a wall.

That was obviously not what happened. At first, when he opened the door, it looked like a brick wall. But then the bricks moved back and out, stretching into a regular rectangular room. Objects popped up like the room was a popup book. Or maybe it was like a tent. You could fold it up for travel, and then make it expand with a tug. When it was finished, the walls were white and the floor had carpeting. The room had a bed, a dresser, and a chair. There was even a door that led to a very small closet. As she walked into the room to see it, the carpet gave a soft bounce beneath her, and if she pressed the wall it seemed real enough. Everything in the room was a very plain white, but it looked comfortable. And honestly, the bed and the room itself was bigger than she needed.

“I take it this will work?” Udo asked.

Harmoni nodded. “Yeah.” She knew she was still a little distant, metaphorically speaking. She was caught up in whatever magic this was. “This is good.”

Udo smiled. “If you’d like to make changes to the room, you’re welcome to. Although, if it’s a permanent change, run it by me first. Now, I’m going to my room. If you need anything, it’s the door on the right side of the hall. You get settled in tomorrow. The next day will be busy.”

Right. Because she’d have to bond with a dragon.

She shut the door once Udo had walked away, sliding down it to sit on the carpet. This was the first time she’d been alone since she’d gone unconscious. She was fine. Everything was fine.

Except, she had to figure out what bonding with a dragon meant. She wasn’t going to get any sleep tonight, was she? Maybe she could ask someone tonight instead of tomorrow? It was late, but surely some people with dragons were still up.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

She listened at the door. She didn’t hear anyone moving around. She opened the door a crack, and looked around. She didn’t see Udo or Aqua.

With that, she slipped out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind her. She was good at making her movements quiet when she wanted, and she was soon down the stairs and out the front door without anyone asking where she was going.

~~~

“You want to know about owning a dragon?”

Harmoni nodded.

Once again, she hadn’t even had to ask. The zenny here repaired spaceships. As soon as she’d approached, he’d spoken up.

He was standing on a dragon’s head, the dragon helping him reach high spots on the spaceship. The dragon rolled its eyes. Was it doing that towards the zenny? That made more sense than rolling its eyes at her.

The zenny set a wrench on top of the spaceship, and put his hands on his hips. His hands were so grimy they would stain the clothes, if they weren’t already black. Was that why the zenny’s typically had black uniforms for space travel?

“I suppose I can humor you,” the zenny said. “For starters, you don’t really own a dragon. Or if you do, they own you as well.”

Harmoni was confused. The zenny continued. And this time, she doubted he was seeing the future. She hadn’t been planning to say anything.

“When you ‘get’ a dragon, you go to one of their homes, and sit with them. There’s a mutual decision where you and a dragon decide you like each other. I’m not sure how you find each other. Magic, I suppose. Magic is also what allows you to bond. It connects your souls.”

Harmoni gasped and couldn’t help the little lurch she did. “You mean a bond with a dragon meddles with my soul?”

“I wouldn’t really consider sharing to be meddling. Or if it is, you’d both be meddling.”

“Why would anyone do that?” Harmoni asked.

“Hey! You realize you’re talking to two of us who did do that?”

The dragon huffed, apparently also indignant.

The zenny carried on. “Personally, I don't see why you wouldn't want that. Why would you get married? Why would you stay in touch with family after you move out? Why would you have a pet? People like company, and a dragon can fill that role better than anything. You’re always connected, even when you’re not close by. And you can understand each other better than anyone else. There's no misunderstandings, or judgements, and you can help each other through your connection. I don’t know. I’m not good at explaining this. . .”

He looked back at her and sighed. “And I can see I’m not getting through to you. Well, tell you what. Bonding with a dragon has to be a mutual decision. If you go there, and a dragon wants to bond with you, you still have to decide to make that connection. To agree to it. If you get there and still don’t want to bond with a dragon, it’s not going to happen.”

Harmoni straightened up a bit.

The zenny sighed and ran a hand across his face. “Yes, really. Can I get back to work now?”

“Right. Sorry to bother you sir. And thank you.”

With that, Harmoni turned and headed back into the city. (Ship repairs were naturally done at the edge, where there was more space.) By now, it was getting late, and dark. A few street lamps lit the way, but they seemed to be placed without any rhyme or reason. She saw more from lights inside buildings, or the stars above. Or the moons. There were three moons for Xentron, it seemed. All of them were in different phases in the sky, one of them incredibly hard to find.

Well, Xentron was a pretty big planet. Did that make it more likely to get moons?

She wasn't really worried about bumping into trouble. She’d been wandering around outside all day and night before this, and nothing had happened. Sure enough, she got back to Udo’s home without any issue, and slipped inside.

She stayed in the landing for a moment, ready to hide in case she’d woken anyone up. But if she had woken Udo, he wasn’t coming. She went back up to her new room, and laid in bed.

The zenny was right about his inability to explain. Harmoni wasn’t sure she understood this “bonding” any better than before, and what she did pick up raised more questions than it answered. But he had said bonding with a dragon was optional, that she had to want it. And that part was good. With that cleared up, she was able to calm down, at least enough to get to sleep. Her eyes got heavier until she closed them, falling into dreamless sleep.