"Hello, Daddy."

Deborah swung herself down onto the arm of her father's chair, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing his cheek. He blushed, like he usually did when she gave him such child-like shows of affection, but he still smiled beneath his moustache. Despite being a master politician and adept businessman, his daughter always seemed to unravel him and put him at his most awkward. It was amusing, really.

"Hello, princess," he returned warmly, and with the air of one granted an unexpected gift. His next words proved it: "Home so soon?" Somehow he managed not to make the question not sound as uncomfortable and disapproving as he probably meant it-- but then, he was a politician and businessman, so even unnerved, he should at least have some control over his voice. As for his discomfort, well, it was understandable. She was very rarely back before the dawn of the day-shift, if she went out somewhere, even if she'd done out fairly early-- early for her, anyway-- and it was only late afternoon. Public Minister Cedric Falken wasn't at all happy that his daughter led such a wild life, but for some reason, he never had the heart, or the stomach, to confront her on it.

All the easier for Deborah, who didn't particularly like confrontation, either, and was quite content to let things simply remain unspoken. She knew he disapproved, and he knew that she wasn't about to change even though he disapproved unless he actually forbade her, and she knew that he would never forbid her anything. She was, as he'd called her, his little princess. In his eyes, she still hadn't grown up, and probably never would.

"Did you have a nice day?" she asked girlishly, feeding his image of her as was her own habit, and she smiled and settled on the chair's arm beside him, not relinquishing her hold of his shoulders.

"Oh, it was just the usual," he answered with a little smile. "Busy."

"You really should take a vacation, Daddy," Deborah scolded lightly. "You work too hard."

"I'm fine, sweetheart," he assured her, patting her cheek lightly before glancing back down at the report on something or another in his hand with a faint frown. Deborah looked down at it, too, but didn't really bother to try to read it. She usually would, out of sheer curiosity, but right now she was distracted, and could only think about one thing. She'd hoped that she could banter with him, make small talk, to lead up to what she'd come in here to ask, but he obviously wasn't in the mood to talk, so she'd just have to be direct.

"Daddy...."

"Yes, princess?" he asked absently.

"Can I bond a dragon?"

Cedric nearly dropped his report-pad, fumbled for it, then really dropped it, onto the coffee table in front of him instead of his lap. Deborah was forced to release his shoulders at the sudden movement, but she didn't move from where she lounged on the wide, fairly comfortable chair's arm. Cedric liked his chairs either in leather or plush, and this one was plush. He looked back at her once he'd recovered from the brief fit of clumsiness, looking rather shocked. She arched her brows hopefully at him, but all he did was continue to look stunned. It was such a funny expression that Deborah was hard-pressed not to giggle at him.

"It's not as if it's unusual, Daddy," she added reasonably, though she never entirely lost her child-like tone and expression when dealing with him, rather the same way he never lost his affectionate discomfort. "People want to bond all the time. With all the dragons around, why wouldn't anyone?"

"You've just never been interested before," Cedric answered, recovering and blinking at her. "In fact, you've never even mentioned thinking about it, not since you were six." It seemed like everyone went through that stage on this station, Deborah included, the phase where they wanted nothing more than to be a dragoner. Deobrah grew out of it very young.

There really was no answer for that, but when all she did was shrug and smile, he looked a little suspicious. "Why now?" he asked.

"Because I've found a dragon I like," she replied. She might as well be honest. "The station's dragons are all very nice, Daddy, but I just wasn't very interested. But I met one today who was really very charming, and he invited me to their next bonding in five months or so." Well, it hadn't exactly been an invite, but her father didn't need to know that. She adopted her most pleading expression and, completely shameless, begged, "Pleeeeease can I go?"

"Now, Debbie," Cedric began, but she pouted at him, and he stopped again, mildly flustered. After a moment he asked reluctantly, "Who is it? Did the flight happen here?"

"Oh, there wasn't any flight, Daddy," she explained. "The babies aren't even his."

"Then how could he invite--"

"It's not a hatching, Daddy," she continued, a little excited despite herself. "They do it different, where Aedelian-- that's the dragon-- where he comes from. They bond as children, after they've already hatched. It's not something they have to do, but they choose to do. Oh, Daddy, you should see him-- he's so different! He's furry!"

Apparently her exuberance had worn down her father's shock and skepticism into simple wariness. "The clutch-- ah, bonding, you say? The bonding isn't on the station, is it?"

"Oh, of course not," Deborah said. He would have known, if so; very little on the station in the way of public events missed his attention. He was the Public Minister, after all! "They aren't about to send their own babies out to some strange station, after all. No, it's on their planet. Avengaea. Heard of it?"

Of course he had. Cedric Falken had contacts everywhere, and Avengaea was hardly an exception, but he didn't bother to answer the question. "I don't like the idea of you haring off to some planet alone and unprotected," he said, obviously trying to be firm-- but he only succeeded in sounding stubborn.

"So I'll bring people with me," Deborah suggested. "I'm sure they'd love more potential bonders, and I'm sure lots of other people around here would love to go."

"That's not what I meant, Debbie--"

"Or you could come with me." She gave him a look both hopeful and sly. "You do need a vacation, Daddy, and they could easily give you a week or two of leave-time. Maybe you could even pretend to be making a business meeting, or something-- or make a real business meeting. I'm sure they have something to sell there."

"Debbie, I--"

"Daddy, please? I really want to do this. You can come and some of my friends can come, and I'll be perfectly safe-- you do believe that I'd take care of a dragon, don't you?" At that, she let a little hurt creep into her voice, and it got exactly the reaction she wanted.

"Of course you would, princess, it's just a very big step to take," Cedric said. "Bonding a dragon is not like getting a pet. It's--"

"It's a lifelong commitment, I know, I know," Deborah interrupted. "I am related to a dragoner, you know." The mention of her mother only served to put him more off-balance; even Deborah knew he still loved her. "I can do it." Neither of them mentioned that she'd never committed herself to anything longer than a week's long fling in several years, but from the expression on his face, her father was thinking it. She flushed a little. "I'm not as shallow as I act sometimes, Daddy," she said, this time with a little real hurt.

"I know," he told her, brushing back a strand of her hair and tucking it behind her ear. "But sometimes actions become how we really are, if we do them too much, and I don't want you to turn into the person you act like sometimes. You're better than that, smarter than that."

"Then give me this," she suggested. "Take me to Avengaea in five months, for that bonding. I can't be too shallow and wild and irresponsible if I'm looking after a baby dragon, can I?" The hopeful little smile she gave him made his own mouth twitch into a wan little smile, of his own.

"All right," he finally said, still reluctant, but unable to turn her down in the end. "If it makes you happy, all right."

"Oh, thank you Daddy!" she squealed, throwing her arms back around him and hugging for all she was worth. It startled him a little, but he managed to pat her shoulder kindly in response, chuckling faintly. She planted another kiss on his cheek, then quite suddenly released him and skipped out cheerfully-- before he could change his mind!