By the time the Canarics gave their final inspection and announced the new home on the edge of the Watcher clan "village" to be finished, it was two weeks past the equinox. Both Alder and Humain showed up on Chaith and Deiv's doorstep to invite the five, and the parents, to see the results of half a year's work, Canaric funds, and Watcher labor. Humain even looked pleased, despite her usual discomfort with the surroundings.

It was the dragons' one day off of the week when the time came, and everyone was inside for breakfast, most of them preparing for a day spent outside. The weather was perfect for everyone but Cacopheny, who still preferred clouds but who didn't mind watching everyone else spend a morning in the sun while he sat under the "safety" of a shady tree. After two weeks of thunderstorms-- which had made the spring equinox less than festive, since it was accompanied by rapid streaks of lightning and growls of thunder-- there was excitement in the air of the Watcher household at the thought of the first clear, sunny day in weeks. Even Sentio, who normally preferred quiet and books to actual rambunctious, outdoors play, was caught up in Akija, Chario, Kenjista, and even Aeta and Onis' cheer. The knock on the door wasn't remarked upon, except for Akija leaping up to go answer it.

"Everything's ready," were the second words out of Alder's mouth when Akija opened the door to find him and Humain standing there, right after, "Good morning, Akija."

For a moment, Akija stood still, as if she was confused, but Sentio-- already scrambling off his chair to scamper to meet his parents-- knew exactly what he meant, and breakfast was officially forgotten. Cacopheny knew even more quickly-- presumably hearing shadows, again-- but he rose with a little more decorum from the breakfast he'd only eaten a few bites of. Akija apparently figured it out, too, because when he skidded to a stop behind her, impatiently waiting for her to get out of the way, she exclaimed, "Awesome!"

"Once everyone is finished with breakfast," Humain sniffed, though she was smiling, "we would be honored to give you your first tour."

At that, the rest of the bonded-company made it a point to get to their feet, as well. Sentio backed up a step with a sheepish grin as Akija looked back over her shoulder and nearly bumped muzzles with him; behind him, he could hear benches pushed back and paws-- and feet!-- padding the floor. He didn't want to look back to see them all getting up and coming to join them at the door, but he could certainly hear them. Cacopheny even commented, with some amusement, ::I fear Aeta will choke, if he tries to eat any faster to leave with us.::

"Guess we're finished enough," Akija snickered, looking back to the Lights. Sentio looked over her shoulder at his parents and grinned. Alder even grinned, back.

"You all can go on ahead," Chaith chuckled, behind them. "We'll clean up here."

"Thanks, Chaith!" Sentio made sure to say, this time looking back over his shoulder and flashing a smile at the massive daemoness-- noting Aeta finishing shovelling his food into his mouth as fast as he could manage, Chario and Onis coming to join them, Cacopheny standing over his shoulder, and Kenjista only now jumping off the table, in the process.

"Excited?" Alder chuckled, but both he and Humain looked pleased by the near-instant reaction.

Akija put a pretend look of utter solemnity onto her face. "Now where do you go getting an idea like that?"

"I can think of a few things," the Light dragon mage replied dryly, looking from face to face as the whole bonded "community" of the Watcher household gathered behind her.

"Shall we, then?" Humain added, beaming at the group as a whole, and stepped back to lead them all out, keeping her husband's arm and drawing him along with her.

Akija followed after, though probably not as much out of desire than to keep from being trampled by everyone else who was also following-- particularly Sentio, who wriggled past her the moment he had room and bounded after his parents. To his embarrassment, he found that his last couple inches of growth spurt had put him taller than his mother's head. Not his father, not yet, but it was bad enough being taller than his mother.... I've got to get working on my human form-- I feel so big and gawky!

Surprised stumbling behind him made him flick an ear back, then look over his shoulder. What he saw made him snicker: Chario had skipped up and, in mimicry of Humain and Alder, captured Akija's arm. "Shall we, then?" he chirped, in fair imitation of Humain. The only thing he got for his pains was her free palm in his face and a laughed command of: "Get off!" She helped him obey by shoving him, and-- this time-- he obediently backed off, sniggering.

Sentio, sensing better behavior for the rest of the walk, looked back frontward, at his parents, but not before he caught Cacopheny's utterly expressionless face as he watched at Akija turn back towards their destination and guides. Utter expressionlessness was usually not good.... ::Cacopheny?::

::What?::

::You okay?::

::Yes.::

The tone of the half-demon's mental voice brooked no argument, and Sentio was wise enough not to try. Not right now, anyway. He would ask him about it later-- after the tour of their new house!

The house itself had been under shield for the past months, protecting its incomplete walls and vulnerable innards from the weather. Alder created it himself, the only way he could constructively aid the endeavor, and he had given the key to one of the Watcher workers he'd hired with magical talent. However, that shield had served a double-purpose: perhaps out of a little mischievousness of his own, Alder had made the shield opaque, and none of the daemons had seen fit to alter that. Even after all this time, Sentio only had basic floorplans and his own imagination to supply details, for he'd never so much as gotten a glimpse of it once it got past the bare-timbers stage. Neither, he thought, had anyone else.

Now, though, the shield was gone, and once the little procession reached the edge of the Watcher settlement, almost to the trees, it was as clear as the perfect spring day that the house was complete: two stories tall, freshly white-washed and the trim painted a neutral but not unappealing brown, with the path they currently trod leading right to it. Sentio tried not to bounce with glee at the size of it-- he'd never feel crowded, here!-- and Aeta whistled in appreciation, while Chario murmured: "Pretty cool." Akija just took it in with a grin, and Cacopheny, as usual, said nothing.

The front door was open, offering a tantalizing glimpse of what lay inside, but Humain and Alder led, first, around the back. The whole troupe followed them, and past curtained windows and more whitewashed wall, until along the side wall, near the back, a much larger door-- nearly fourteen feet tall, in fact, taking up most of the wall to the double-storied room beyond-- stood open to what was obviously going to be Kenjista's room. It was decorated in her favorite colors, the Canarics had asked everyone about such things, several months ago-- which meant it was almost unbearably bright with oranges, yellows, and whites-- with a table along the near wall, a bed against the far wall, a circular, open fireplace in the wall central to the whole house, and two large windows on the right. Inside, a window opened onto both stories above the table, one into the kitchen and the other into a room no one could see from the floor, and beside the bed rose a human-sized staircase leading up to the second story.

"Kenjista, dear," Humain announced, rather needlessly, "this room is for you."

That was when Kenjista scampered in to inspect everything. Sentio noticed with a little amusement that Chario had been stepping on her tail to keep her from bowling his parents over in her enthusiasm or, more likely, greed to get at her new things. There was no "thank you", but then, Sentio had known there wouldn't be; all they got was a mental whoop of excitement, a thorough and critical examination of the room, and finally an accepting and, thankfully, not particularly grudging, ::Nice.:: Humain smiled indulgently, Alder wryly, and Sentio with immense relief. He didn't think she had been likely to throw a temper-tantrum in front of his parents, but there was always the possibility.

"We can come through here, to the rest of the lower story," Humain suggested, then, and led the group through the extra-large room, past the table and window into the kitchen, past a circular, open fireplace in the center of the building, and to a door set under the stairs, temptingly ajar. Kenjista followed with obvious reluctance-- clearly not interested in anything other than her own room-- but the rest were far more eager. The rest of the house, after all, was theirs.

"Through here is the living room," Humain continued, motioning the group through ahead of her and Alder with a smile.

The living room was spacious and seemed to have a circular theme, with the round fireplace in one corner-- the same one connected to Kenjista's fireplace, in fact-- the partial circle of tile hearth before it, and the circular basket-chairs created in imitation of those at the Watcher house. There was a more conventional couch along the outside wall, and a circular table in the middle of the room that chairs, couch, and fireplace all seemed to be centered around. The walls were paneled in dark, warm wood on two walls-- the ones directly opposite the door, and to their left-- and the other two were simply whitewashed. A thick carpet of green was underfoot, quite pleasant to walk on, and cushions for both couch and basket-chairs were a warm cream color. Oddly, it gave the vague impression of being at the edge of a forest; it helped that, through the window on their right, you could actually see the forest, and that when they looked up, the ceiling was painted a soft, cloudy, shadow-dappled blue.

Akija was immediately smitten, laughing delightedly, "Oh, that's neat!" at the well-textured ceiling. Chario grinned, as well, and Sentio cast Cacopheny a curious look to see what he thought of it. The half-demon's expression was impossible to read as he gazed around at first, but as he, too, looked up, he smirked faintly. "A sky that ends," he muttered to himself in demon-speech, sounding amused. When he caught Sentio's eyes on him, he smiled a bit more and added, "Your parents did a good job."

Though no one could understand him but Sentio, and possibly Akija, Sentio still puffed up proudly. The other dragons made a concerted effort not to shudder at the sound-- Alder even succeeded-- and then Humain took up the tour again. "Right across the way, here," she said, slipping through the small crowd and crossing the room, "is a half-bath, just a toilet and sink...." Through the half-open door, a little bathroom decorated largely in white, peach, and gold was just barely visible.

There was another door ajar beside it, though, and the room within was most definitely not warm and bright. "Cacopheny," Humain added, "through here is your bedroom." Obedient to the implied summons, and ignoring Humain's only slightly nervous smile as he passed her, Cacopheny poked his head around the door frame curiously, then the rest of him followed to inspect his room. Sentio went after him, pausing at the door.

Though it was a room Sentio didn't know if he would ever set foot in, he could tell it was perfect for Cacopheny. The walls weren't whitewashed, entirely paneled in dark wood and shrouded in tapestries, some moved from his room in the bonding complex and some new, but all in his preferred dark colors. The ceiling here was painted dark blue and, in keeping with the "outdoors" theme, speckled with stars, but this time, Cacopheny made no comment about it. Through a door in one corner was another, private bathroom, also decorated in shades of gray and blue. Best of all, there was no bed-- nor, really, any furniture at all, just a wardrobe beside the door and a carefully arranged next of blankets and pillows in the far corner. Not even the lights, currently bright enough so that those not used to darkness could see, were from standing lamps, but rather recessed, light-infused water tubing, like in Sanctuary itself. The Canarics had done their best to make something Cacopheny would be comfortable in, and from whatever Sentio could tell, he thought they'd done a good job.

After a long moment of looking around-- looking strangely reminiscent of Kenjista's inspection of her room, in fact, only without the obviously critical eye-- Cacopheny drifted back to the group and offered Humain and Alder a shy smile. "Ssank you," he said simply.

"You like it?" Alder replied, looking pleased, and Cacopheny nodded.

"Excellent!" Humain exclaimed, clapping her hands and beaming. It looked like a room she would never set foot in, either-- and probably never had-- if just because she knew what it would eventually contain. She was perfectly content, though, to continue the tour, and led them all through a doorless archway and into what was obviously the kitchen. This wasn't in keeping with the "outdoors" theme, but it did look remarkably like a mix of the old stone kitchen in the Canaric manor and Chaith's kitchen. One corner was taken up with the hearth, and beside that, a stove and oven. The table filled the middle of the room, pressed up against the wall right under the open window that looked onto Kenjista's table, and a sink and counter took up the far wall, under another window that looked out into the Watcher clan's portion of the village outside Sanctuary's dome. This room was done up in warm colors, browns and golds with a hint of red. In the far corner was a staircase, and directly to their right, a small, strangely unadorned room simply painted white leading to the open front door.

There was approval all around, though Chario snickered and made the comment, "Guess somebody better learn how to cook, eh?"

Akija's response was to cackle and suggest, "We'll get carryout from Mum."

That thought hadn't yet crossed Sentio's mind: how would they feed themselves? He didn't have much chance to ponder it, however, for Humain was starting towards the stairs up in the corner. "Up we go," she said merrily, quite pleased with her role. Sentio hurried to follow, clamboring clumsily up the stairs.

"I can't wait until I've actually got my human form," he muttered at the steps, which weren't at a comfortable size or height for a dragon kit of his size.

The staircase doubled back on itself and emerged into another living room, or perhaps a study, packed with short, cushion-like chairs, a low table in the middle of the room, another couch, and a couple mostly-empty bookcases, waiting to be filled. There was a window that opened to Kenjista's room, currently closed. This room's carpet was as plush as the downstairs room, and its colors were warm beige on the walls and carpet, white in the cushions and wood, and blue in the trim. It looked to Sentio like a perfect place to flop down with a book, if one was in the mood for something more cheerful than the dark yet natural downstairs living room.

Several doors led off this room, all currently shut: their bedrooms.

"Pick a door, any door?" Chario grinned, wiggling his fingers like one of those slight-of-hand magicians humans employed. Sentio smothered a giggle behind a hand.

The Canarics both chuckled, and Humain admitted, "Well, one is rather boring, so we'll get that one over with, first." She turned the group directly left, to the first door in the adjoining wall-- which turned out to lead to a bathroom the two dragons would share, done up in cheery yellow, green, and blue tile. The door next to that, though, slightly recessed into the wall with the room tucked into the corner of the house, led into none other than Akija's bedroom.

Humain let Akija through, first, to take the first official look around, but Sentio stood behind his mother, chin over her shoulder, to see in, as well. It had come as something of a surprise to Humain, when they'd come by asking about favorite colors, to find Akija's was brown-- she had been dead certain on red, like the daemon's bright fur. Thankfully, at least, Humain had asked, rather than assuming, so Akija's bedroom was done up mostly in warm browns and golds, with more of the beige carpet from the living room on the floor-- apparently it made sense to carpet the whole floor the same.

There wasn't a whole lot in the way of furniture in Akija's room: she had a wardrobe and dresser together on the right wall, a desk and a bookshelf opposite them, and a narrow bed on the far wall, under a wide window that looked out into the forest. The bed had a patchwork quilt on it-- a gift, actually, from Cacopheny's old guardians, Chiya and Ketvia-- in brown, red, and gold, and hung over the foot of the bed was a tapestry showing an autumn scene. Everything looked finished, but empty, as if waiting for its occupant to make it her own: all of Akija's personal things were still at the Watcher house.

When Akija made her "investigation", she was definitely not reminiscent of Kenjista, or even Cacopheny-- not that Sentio had really expected her to, but her "inspection" was still. Rather than poking around, she trotted over to the bed and flopped onto it on her belly, her head towards the bed's foot-- much like she sat on her bed, back at home. Er, their old home. At the Watcher's.

Goddess, now I have three homes, he thought, a little chagrined and a little amused.

With her feet curled in the air and her chin in her hands-- and Cacopheny edging inside to watch her as well as take in the room, himself-- Akija pondered the room from that point of view, and grinned. "Perfect!" she declared, hopping back to her feet.

Humain looked even more pleased. Sentio had the vague thought that she might have been happier as an interior decorator than a diplomat. "I'm so glad you like it!" she beamed. "Come, come, there's still two more rooms to go--" She ducked around the rest of them, but only walked two steps before opening the next door. The instant a crack large enough to see through appeared, Sentio knew it had to be Chario's room: it was green.

Chario's room contained much the same things as Akija's room: a wardrobe and dresser on the lefthand wall; a desk just inside the door; a tapestry of springtime on the righthand wall; and a bed opposite the door, under the window and draped in another patchwork quite, this one in various shades of green, with peach and white thrown in for color. The carpet was the same beige as outside: something of a relief, in Sentio's mind, since the walls were all painted green, as bright as-- and even textured like-- grass! All in all, with the dark wood of the furniture, the pale of the carpet, and the green of the walls, it turned out to look less overwhelming than Sentio would have imagined. Here, at least, the room wasn't empty and waiting: the Canarics had obtained some of Chario's things from his parents, including several drawn portraits framed on the walls, a few images that were obviously less than professional pinned up over the desk, some books and a figurine or two.

Chario apparently liked it: he was already cackling when he stepped inside, looking around appreciatively and checking up on his things. He focused in on the charcoal sketches quickly, though, leaning over the desk for a closer look, and then standing back with obvious pleasure. "Torva did these!" he laughed, looking back at everyone. He looked at the pictures to point at one that looked something like a fluffy bean with stick legs and wings, and a poof-ball-tipped tail, and grinned over his shoulder again; looking at them, Sentio could definitely believe Chario's little sister had done it. "That's me," Chario explained, and Sentio tried not to laugh.

"Looks just like you," giggled little Onis, down at everyone's knees, the first words he'd said since they arrived at the house.

Chario beamed at Humain and Alder as he came back to the group. "I love it, thank you."

Alder gave a polite little bow in answer, and Humain continued to smile happily. "You're very welcome, my dear. All of you are-- it's the least we could do for you." Akija grinned at the thought, and even Cacopheny seemed to have trouble thinking of what more they could have done.

Sentio knew what was coming next, and he could hardly keep from rushing to the next and final door. He wasn't fooling anyone, though. His father chuckled and his mother kissed his forehead. "All right, dear, you can go see your room now."

Permission given, Sentio scrambled to get the last door open, and he wasn't disappointed when he did. Somehow, his parents had managed to replicate his room at the manor, only smaller and without the large, marble fireplace. The colors were right-- except for the carpet, which was close enough-- in its various shades of blue, the pale gray wood of the furniture, the gold trim on it all, everything. His books were here, as were his favorite tapestry and one of his rugs, and even, he noticed with some embarrassment, his favorites of his old toys, which he'd been too embarrassed to try and bring to the Watcher's house. He couldn't think of anything to say, and when he turned to his parents, he had to bite his lip to keep it from trembling. He was leaving home-- for reals, not just a "vacation" because his bond didn't like the manor-- really and truly leaving home. And moving into a house his parents had paid for, just for him and his friends. Another moment of thinking about it, and he just might cry.

And right then, saving him from even more embarrassment than their seeing his slightly battered stuffed cat sitting on his pillow with his favorite blanket, their neat little doorbell-- they had a doorbell!-- rang downstairs, carrying clearly from the entry room and the open door. Sentio jumped, but Akija was quicker to guess what the unexpected sound meant. "Company!" she singsong exclaimed. "Bet it's mum and pop-- come on, we'll tour them around too," she grinned, snaring Aeta's arm and neatly managing to drag him off with her. Chario followed, as did Onis, who needed no cue at all to stay close to his own bond. Kenjista, after a moment of indecision, hurried after Chario-- just so she could strut and preen with ownership when the second tour reached her room. Cacopheny had simply vanished.

So, Sentio was quite safe when he buried his face in his parents' warm arms a moment later and let them hold him while he cried for this very drastic, slightly frightening, but possibly exciting change.