"Whatcha doin'?"

"Filling out paperwork, what's it look like?"

"Paperwork for what?"

"There's a xenodragon hatching coming up. I'm sure you've heard of it. Was a damned frenzy, from the sound of it; there's gonna be hoards of eggs."

"What's that got to do with you?"

"Well, you know how violent xenos are. Gavin wants something like thirty security guards there, particularly bonded ones, and I'm one of the officers he wanted there."

"So you have to fill out paperwork?"

"Yep. Everythings done with paperwork around here. Even if it's not really paper, it amounts to the same thing." Keren sighed, eying the portable minicomputer with build-in keyboard. "I kind of miss paper, to be honest."

"So you're going to be at the hatching, then?" Kalaia persisted, hands clasped behind her back, looking oh-so-innocent. Charity sat a ways behind them, washing a paw in a catlike manner. Igess had managed to squeeze into the office, at least partly, for it was sprawled out with its head in Keren's office and its tail across the hall in Gavin's office, so it could be in the presence of both its bonds at the same time. The other four xenodragons were out in the larger part of the apartments, the Minister's three because they were restless and Nekeress because she simply wouldn't fit in the human-sized side. Talek was somewhere or another, probably dozing in Gavin's office. 

"Yes," Keren affirmed again, "I'm going to be at the hatching. Why do you care? You're not."

"Yes, I am."

Keren gave her sister a sharp look, but the girl was only smiling sweetly, and a little excitedly.

"No, you're not."

"But I am. That's where my dragon is going to be."

"Kalaia, xenodragons aren't really the kind of dragon for a good little girl like you--"

"But Igess and Ytoss like me, and they're not really as bad as everyone thinks they are, really."

"You say that about everything, Kalaia. You'd like the most horrible, evil creature out there, just to prove it can be done."

Kalaia ignored that. "Besides, these are going to be different, aren't they? They're all-- mixed up. They're not really xenodragons, they're only bits and pieces xenos."

"And bits and pieces of other dragons who are just as vicious, if not more so. One of the fathers has four heads, for Royals' sake! You're not going, Kalaia, I don't want you to get hurt."

"I won't get hurt-- and I have to go! Don't you see? My dragon's there! If I don't go-- I won't meet it, and-- and-- what if it dies because it had to have a bond to live, and I wasn't there? I have to go, Keren. I have to."

"Gods and Royals, Kalaia, how'd you get it into your head that your dragon is at a xenodragon hatching?"

"I just-- do. I don't know why."

"What's all this about?" Gavin asked from the door, poking his head around the door frame, there only being just that much room between it and Igess' shoulder. The xeno nuzzled its muzzle against his neck, rewarded for its habitual affection by an absent pat on the neck.

"Sir, Kalaia's got this fool idea that she's going to the Mayonaka hatching." Keren might refer to the Minister as Gavin, but even after knowing him for more than a year and a half, she still addressed him as "sir". To Kalaia, he was always "uncle Gavin", and he didn't seem to mind.

"Of course that's out of the question," Gavin stated.

"But I have to!" Kalaia wailed. Why wouldn't anyone believe her?

"It's dangerous, Kalaia. You could be hurt, even killed. Xenodragon hatchlings are vicious, you've heard what Nekeress did, and that only just out of her shell. And hydra hatchlings eat each other or anything that conveniently gets in their way. The bulk of these hatchlings are going to be part xenodragon and part hydra-beast. It's too dangerous for a little girl, I'm sorry."

He sounded so reasonable, but Kalaia was not about to give in. "I'm not just a little girl!" she exclaimed. "I'm a mage, too, even if I'm not a very good one. And-- and-- I'm older than you are-- and-- and-- I've got Charity, too!"

::Please don't drag me into this,:: the ojee said from across the room, sounding a bit embarrassed. Kalaia ignored her, too.

"I'm going to do it, whether you say no or not. I bet Igess would even take me there, if I asked him to!"

"Gods and Royals, Kalaia, why can't you see reason. It's dangerous!"

"But you're going to be there."

"I'm a police officer, I'm trained to deal with dangerous situations."

"Then I'll stick close to you."

"Kalaia, you know that isn't possible. I'm going to be busy, I'm assigned to the feeding tables, and these things squabble like nobody's business--"

"Hang on," Gavin commented from the door. "We could always just assign her a guard. I've got some really good men-- and women, of course-- going to be there who'd be glad of a solid assignment like that."

"You're not serious. Sir, this is my sister."

"And she has a right to make her own choices. Strange and, ah, dangerous as they may be."

"Traitor."

Gavin only shrugged, a little sheepishly, but Kalaia had already tackled him with a hug. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou! I'll be careful, I'll do whatever you say, I'll be really nice to the guard, I promise I'll be good, thank you thank you thank you!"

Embarrassed by the excessive gratitude and babbling, Gavin patted her shoulder and hair gently. "I'll hold you to that. I think your sister would never forgive me, if I let anything happen to you." The gentle tone of his voice proved that he'd probably never forgive himself, either. She just beamed up at him, then stood on tip-toe to kiss his cheek.

"I'll be careful," she promised.

Chapter Four

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