The first chance Riyikith had alone with his daughter-- wow, daughter, how weird was that?-- was the morning after they'd brought her home. Bri had hovered all night, letting her nap off the exhaustion of hatching, making her dinner, giving her a bath, talking with her tentatively, and then finally putting her to bed. Riya had just been there quietly on the sidelines helping where he could, putting in a word or two, a smile or two, but mostly letting Bri do her thing, since she so badly wanted to.

He didn't know if Bri was happy. It was hard to tell with her, sometimes. She was smiling, but she was tentative; she had a walking, talking, baby dragon-bird, which was a long way from a baby human. So he didn't know. Himself? He was just glad he wouldn't have to change any diapers or decipher unintelligible screams. Well, so he assumed, since Ivana was fully sentient. Hopefully she was mature enough to be beyond temper tantrums.

Briana retreated to take a bath after breakfast, leaving Riya alone with Ivana for the first time since they met her. He sat at the kitchen table with his coffee and the remains of breakfast, and she perched on the back of the couch and watched him. It was a little disconcerting and he wasn't sure what to do about it. He had no idea how to entertain a dragon-child, or any child for that matter. All he hoped was that she wasn't like the firstborn, her impatient and selfish and, yes, bratty older brother. So far, at least, she didn't seem so bad.

You could always teach her how to read, Kethron suggested mildly, the kind of mild that usually meant he was amused but trying to hide it for his sake. He didn't bother hiding it that often, to be honest. Or how to fight. Or how to--

Thank you, Kethron. That's fine.

Or, you know, you could just try talking to her.

Well, there was that, yes. Riya glanced over at her again, where she was still watching him with her head cocked to one side, and he offered her half a grin. "So. Your first full day home."

"Yup," she answered. Her voice wasn't as precise at it could be, given she was speaking through a beak, but she was definitely understandable.

Struggling for something to talk about, Riya asked, "What do you wanna do today? I mean, I'm sure your mother's got plans, but you might as well have a say in them, right?"

Blinking birdlike at him, Ivana thought a moment, then admitted, "I don't know. I don't know what I like yet. What could I do?"

"Well." Riya took a sip of coffee while he considered. "We'll be taking you to the castle to meet people, I'm sure. Me and Bri-- your mother--" That was hard, not calling her by her name. "And there's plenty of books."

"I don't know how to read," Ivana pointed out.

"You will, eventually. We'll read to you, and teach you how. And there's plenty of places to go and explore and play--"

That had her perking up. "Like what?"

"Like forests and mountains," Riya said, imagining she must have inherited something from her parents, personality-wise, and Riya would much have preferred it be their mutual wanderlust and curiosity than Bri's temper or his over-active sense of humor. "And rivers and great plains full of rocks and snakes and things."

Yep, that was something she'd gotten from them, because her eyes lit up. "I want to do that!" she exclaimed. "We can do that, right?"

Laughing a little, wondering if Bri had ever been that enthusiastic, Riya said, "Sure we can. We've got plenty of time. Once Bri gets out, anyway."

"You're not going like that, are you?" Ivana asked, looking him up and down skeptically. "You can't even fly!"

Brows going up at her tone, Riya said, "How do you think we made you, kid? We shapeshift. Human form, dragon form. I'd show you, but we're kind of inside, and I don't want to wreck the house."

She frowned at him like she didn't understand. "How come I can't do that?"

"Maybe you will," Riya shrugged, a little awkwardly. He didn't know what powers his and Bri's kids would or could have; he wasn't even entirely sure what all he could do, sometimes. "When you're older."

"When I'm older?" Her little beak clacked at him. "Next week, then?"

"It might take a little longer than that," Riya said with a grin. "You're gonna have to be patient."

After a pause to consider that, her wings twitching and resettling on her back, Ivana finally said, "I hate waiting."

"So do I, kid," Riya agreed over the rim of his coffee mug. "So do I."