I splashed around in the water of the small park while Taureen sat on a bench and watched me enjoy myself. Once I finished, he held up a piece of strawberry, and I flew over to land on his hand to gently take it. He was currently working on getting me to come to his arm without a spoken command.

As I finished the fruit, I turned my head to examine the lady who was approaching us. She was looking at me in curiosity as she nodded a greeting at Taureen.

“Good morning. Is she yours?”

He nodded back respectfully. “Good morning. Yes, she is.”

The lady’s eyes never left me. “She is pretty. I have never been this close to a fire lizard before.”

“Thank you. It’s very difficult to get close to the wild ones.”

His surprisingly refined and courteous responses made me glance up at him inquisitively from where I sat on his wrist. The skin along his neck was slightly flushed, although I doubted that anyone else would have noticed. Is he blushing? Oh, I think he is… I think someone has a hidden crush...

Intrigued, I turned back to look at the lady, who was still watching me as if she had never seen anything like me before. Taking a closer look at her, I tilted my head as I examined the Kymari female. I’m positive that I have seen her somewhere before…

A glint of green from her ankle caught my eye. Now I remembered her; she had always been one of the watchers who had unfailingly shown up for the Morning Song. From what I recalled, she had always seemed quite nice.

I glanced at her wrists, but she had no jewelry there. Bracelets among the Kymari were the equivalent of serious courting gifts or marriage rings among humans. She had not accepted any suitors, at least at this point in time.

I could well understand Taureen’s interest now. For some reason, there were about three males born for every female among the Kymari. Over half of the males would be bachelors for life. That made for some stiff competition for any available ladies.

Coming to a quick decision, I tilted my head cutely and trilled at her.

“Do you think I could touch her?” she inquired hopefully.

Taureen spoke carefully. “We can try, but other than one child, I’m the only one she lets touch her. She tends to give warnings if she is about to scratch, though.”

Taureen slowly stood up with me still on his wrist, and as he raised his arm up a bit higher in front of him, he reassured me, “Easy, Tasha.”

The lady slowly extended her hand towards me as I watched her. I slowly stretched out my neck, and she let me sniff her fingers. I gently bumped her fingers with my nose, taking that as permission, she moved her hand to gently stroke my neck.

Let’s see if I can’t give Taureen an opening if he is seriously interested in her. Perhaps he will focus less on me if he starts pursuing her. It was a doubtful thought, though; as a bond animal handler in their society, I would always come first with him since it served their race’s needs.

Taureen was still free to court women and marry, but any female knew that he would be unable to give them his full attention. For humans, this would likely be a turn off, but among Kymari, it showed that the male was extremely responsible if he was trusted with such a role. It also reflected the fact that he was capable of taking care of a creature perfectly, even to an Elder’s high standards, and thus, would have no issues caring for children.

It gave Taureen a serious edge if she did consider him as a potential mate.

She gazed at me in wonder. “Her scales are so smooth.”

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I rubbed my head against her wrist and hummed, seeing if I could help Taureen charm her. At the moment, he was watching me in complete surprise. I grinned internally at his reaction, allowing someone else to pet me was almost worth the look on his face. Then again, I had never reacted positively towards a Kymari before – Taureen had to work for weeks just for me to drop my guard enough to wrestle with his hand. Soranto would have probably fallen over in shock…

The lady carefully brushed her fingers over my wings. “I usually watch the wild ones sing in the morning, but of course, I never got close. Does she sing like the wild ones do?”

“Yes, she sings and flies in a similar pattern. Would you like to come over one morning to watch her up close?”

I restrained a chuckle as he tried to use my presence as bribery. She slowly nodded. “I would love that. Does tomorrow work for you?”

He nodded genially as she gently scratched me under the chin.

“Yes, feel free to stop by any morning,” he replied. “If you scratch the base of her wings, she will probably really like that. She can’t reach that area on her own.”

For her to ask to come tomorrow showed that she was quite interested in either Taureen or me. Even though she was an avid spectator of the Morning Song, she had to be a least moderately interested in Taureen to agree to come to his place to watch me.

As she found an itchy spot on my shoulder, I leaned against her wrist and hummed, still trying to charm her for Taureen’s sake. Once the itch was gone, I sighed and pulled back as I shook myself.

She took a reluctant step back as she lowered her hand. “Unfortunately, I have to go. I will stop by your place tomorrow morning.”

“I look forward to seeing you then.”

She nodded slowly as she finally transferred her gaze to examine him. “My name is Aeria.”

Taureen bowed his head. “My name is Taureen.”

She nodded before glancing down at me, and her eyes softened. “See you later, Tasha.”

I sat on Taureen’s wrist with an innocent look and trilled at her. Her lips twitched as she hid a smile; she turned and started walking back down the path.

That meeting had gone very well. For a female to give her name during a chance meeting was unusual. Taureen would have known her name, but until she offered it, it wasn’t polite for him to use it when talking to her.

She must be intrigued to have agreed so easily. Hopefully she is interested in Taureen and not just me. Then again, this is not a popular park, so her appearance here was not just random chance. The fact that she didn’t ask where he lived also means that she was doing her homework before approaching him.

Taureen handed me a piece of shia fruit and murmured, “Thank you for that. You have no idea how important that was for me.”

I nibbled the fruit happily while humming.

~

Soranto shook his head in disbelief. “That’s not possible. Other than Maria, no one else has managed to touch that creature of yours unless she was heavily drugged.”

Taureen shrugged while I lounged on a wall perch near the ceiling. “Not even a growl. But I’m quite thankful for that.”

Tkael commented, “It might be because Aeria is female. Tasha could just have issues with most men. Either way, congratulations. I hope it works out for you.”

Taureen looked somewhat excited. “Thanks. I’m hopeful, although I know my chances are slim.”

Tkael found his excitement amusing. “You forget that you are one of only eight bond animal handlers on this planet, and none of the others are near her age. It’s quite unusual for someone under three centuries to be permitted to have a bond animal. That is a huge honor from the Elders.”

Soranto looked thoughtful. “Think about it for a moment. Most males who are highly honored are also very busy and usually spend a lot of their time travelling as their position requires them. A large number of them are also usually fighters or somehow involved with the larger battles. With Tasha, that isn’t going to happen. Even if they allow her past this planet’s orbit, you will never be in a warzone with her unless it has been cleared, so you’ll never be in an overly hazardous situation. Your time is taken up with an animal that also allows a female to join in the activity.”

“He is correct,” Tkael confirmed. “An unfortunately number of females are left widows by their fifth century, and no female wants to lose her mate. That fate is much less likely with your position. You may be tracking sicora, but the fighters accompanying you aren’t supposed to let those creatures near you two. Then again, a creature that will warn if a sicora is in the area would be a huge benefit in a household. She would probably protect the children from any danger as well.”

Taureen contemplated that for a moment before commenting, “Aeria is coming over tomorrow morning to watch Tasha sing.”

“Tomorrow?” Soranto asked, sounding shocked. “Wow. I have never heard of Aeria taking a suitor or showing interest before. You likely have a decent chance if she approached you. Even my mate didn’t want to go for a walk for four days.”

Taureen looked smug and didn’t reply. Looks like their praise has puffed up his ego. Great. I peeled a bit of bark off of the wood with my teeth and spit it at Taureen. He looked up at me incredulously as the small piece bounced off his shoulder. I rolled upside down on the wall mounted piece of wood and trilled innocently at him.

Soranto chuckled at my obvious innocent act while Taureen just shook his head.