Zabeth Firestone: Firebird

Nearly a year of raising a phoenix-chick who really needed little in the way of raising was an interesting experience. Zabeth had never raised something who, though being quite young, was still quite old and needed little in the way of aid or advice. It was not an unpleasant experience, though at times it was a little unsettling. Someone who was still a child in its eyes should not be as wise or experienced as little Kanna was. But she was also a good companion, a good friend, and someone who understood Zabeth surprisingly well.

The only difficult part, really, was that raising Kanna woke in Zabeth old instincts that it hadn't indulged in for centuries. Nearly a millennium, in fact. It-- it wasn't halfway through the yearly transition between male and female, and felt no need to subject itself to either pronoun just yet-- did its best to ignore them. There were other, more important things to be thinking about.

Even so, it found itself noticing certain advertisements whenever they came onto the holovision or the flickering screens and billboards across the space station. It found itself, despite its lack of gender, watching other creatures walking by as it passed them, considering them with a distinct lack of objectivity and a certain... appraisal. It definitely found itself restless and less interested in study than it was wont to be.

Kanna noticed, of course. She noticed a lot of things-- she'd been the first to notice their bond, even though it took longer than Zabeth had anticipated to really solidify. She noticed many of Ielta's idiosyncrasies before she had to be told of them, and had already begun to adapt to them by the time that point came along. She noticed very subtle effects of the magic she worked, with Zabeth's capable help. She certainly noticed Zabeth's moods and thoughts, when she looked for them. However, she was too polite to really mention it, and only gave her bond sly, side-ways looks whenever she caught the firebird's thoughts wandering.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Zamah-aisi also noticed. Though she was quite taken up with her new hatchling bond, the disturbing little Haliand, she still lived with Zabeth and the remains of her adoptions. "I'll always be part of the Firestone family," she'd said matter-of-factly when asked, and Zabeth had been a little touched by the obviousness with which she'd said so. She was less amused and a little more confused by what she saw, however, and rather than teasing Zabeth about it-- which Zabeth had frankly expected once it realized Zamah-aisi had sensed something changing in her guardian-- she seemed to skirt around the issue, as if it made her nervous. Despite how puzzled such a reaction made it, Zabeth tried to keep its wandering attention closer to home whenever Zamah-aisi was around to see it.

It was when Peta-mari, who visited with Zabeth only a few times a week for a shared lunch with the rest of the "Firestone family", as others were beginning to call it, made a comment that Zabeth thought it probably ought to do something about things before it embarrassed itself too badly.

"Zabeth," the dragoness had said tartly, pulling its attention back from a curious contemplation of whether that handsome anthropomorphic equine's hooves would breed true, "if you want a fuck so badly, it's not that hard to find willing partners. Even for someone as weird as you are."

"She's not weird," Yuriath protested weakly. The chick liked Zabeth, enough to stand up to Peta-mari a little despite her hero-worship of her, whenever her guardian was disparaging it. Well, despite her somewhat irritating tendency to use feminine pronouns on it whenever it wasn't obviously male, Zabeth liked her, too.

"I meant that in an amiable fashion, dearest," Peta-mari smiled down at the chick, who she liked well enough when the little one wasn't being too obviously worshipful. "Zabeth is different, but that's not a bad thing. --Really, Zabeth, you're being quite obvious about it, you know." She tsked amusedly. "And here I'd thought you didn't even have a sex drive, especially when you were stuck between genders!"

"It isn't that, exactly," Zabeth said, thinking, and pointedly not commenting on its lack of sexual activity. Compared to Peta-mari, everyone on the station was practically celibate, which made Zabeth positively sexless no matter what gender it was at the time, in her eyes. "Though I'll have you know I've had some very interesting mates in the past."

"The long past," Peta-mari agreed, nodding. "Well, if it isn't that," she leered a little, and Zabeth pointedly ignored that, too, "then what is it?"

"I haven't bred in a very long time," Zabeth explained simply, still thinking. "I am thinking that I might like to."

Peta-mari nearly choked on her drink. Yuriath sprang up to whap her on the back with one little wing. "Bred?" she demanded once she could talk again. "You sound like you're-- you're an inyu or something. Inyu breed. People like you have children. Not that I think you should," she added, wrinkling her nose in distaste. "What an unpleasant idea, clutching!"

"It isn't so bad as all that," Zabeth chuckled. "I've done it several times before. I just cannot seem to decide on a suitable mate."

"Can't find anyone to rival me, hmm?" Peta-mari batted her eyes at Zabeth, which it also ignored. Peta-mari's attempts at making it uncomfortable through flirtation had long since lost their sting.

"As I would wish to bear eggs rather than sire them upon someone else," it said instead, pointedly, "you are quite out of the question. Not to mention far too big, and without any traits I would particularly like to pass on to my own offspring. Besides, I have never felt any desire for you, and I doubt that will change now."

Peta-mari looked vaguely offended, and quite quickly changed topics.

That evening, however, when she shared with Kanna what had happened at lunch-- the little chick didn't much like Peta-mari, and so didn't usually go out to lunch with them-- Kanna seemed to like the idea. "Why don't you do it?" she asked. "I know you want to."

"I have you to raise, chick," Zabeth said. "Not to mention our bond, and you still being a child. Also, I will not simply leave any offspring of mine without care, but I do not know if I wish to raise a clutch of six, seven, even eight chicks when I should be doing research or attending to the rest of my family here."

"I don't need much raising," Kanna pointed out. "And I could block you out if I really want to. What if you only raised one?"

"I do know how many eggs I am likely to clutch, regardless of my mate," Zabeth said, shaking its head and throwing sparks to the carpet, which had long since been fireproofed with magic. Kanna batted at them as they fell.

"So give the rest to other people. Like dragons do."

Zabeth fluffed its feathers, surprised by the thought. But it did make sense, especially if it chose for its mate a dragon or dragon-like species. They abounded in the Nexus, even ones small enough that there wouldn't be much pain or any lost young in the process, and it wouldn't be difficult to find a suitor. "I did not consider that," it admitted.

"You could look into one of the adoption agencies," Kanna continued, warming to the subject. "Why, they all know you, already, what with all the researching you did. I bet one could even host you."

"The Abstract Destiny is far too busy," Zabeth said, shaking its head again. "And the station itself-- no, it has only recently opened its doors, and it quite full, already. But a public adoption-- and a public flight, perhaps, the way dragons do... it has merit, and it... interests me. I shall have to look into this."

Kanna grinned at it, pleased that her bond liked her idea. "You're welcome."

Zabeth clucked at her, bending down to preen a few of her feathers, before settling down to do some research into the breeding side of dragon bonding.