Page 71 of The Dragon at the End of This Pregnancy

"Not so fast," I said. "She's starving. She'll need to eat a few meals before we take her back out. She can meet them in the pen inside."

Sunny nodded. "She likes food bribes. Got it." He led her off to the pen and then brought Copper and Nickel, the two hatchlings, out from theirs.

"How do you plan to get back?" Han asked me.

"I was hoping you'd lend me another dragonet. Rapture's enamored with our daughter and won't leave the cave."

"Rapture's sister is still here." Vice had bitten me a few times, hence the name, but she was a decent enough mount now that she was two years old. I handed her a few pieces of dog food and a hunk of jerky, and she seemed eager to come out of her pen to fly with me.

* * *

I could feel Galen's excitement through our bond while I flew back to the cave. It wasn't strong enough for me to hear their thoughts the way they could hear mine, but they were vibrating with joy. Despite my relief that our wild dragonet had been caught and tamed so she wouldn't die of starvation or become dragon food, Galen wouldn't be nearly this happy about my success.

When I landed at the cave and sent Vice on her way, Rapture did not greet us at the landing. I entered the cave and found him far from his usual place. He, Galen, and Slate were all huddled over baby Opal.

Our kobold daughter had shed scales all over the stone floor. The pile of blankets that had once formed our nest now lay in a heap along the edge of the bowl to give her room. She slithered and wriggled across the floor on her back, discarding old scales and skin and bringing a bright new set to the surface.

I joined them, completing the circle around her.

"Ahp!" She wriggled closer to me, and the last bit of stubborn scale attached to her tail came free, leaving her all shiny and new after her first molt. She climbed up my legs until I could catch her under the arms and hoist her to my shoulder. Another molt, and I'd have to leave her on the floor and take her hand, but for now, she was still my shoulder-riding little buddy.

"She calls me Para, but it mostly sounds like Pa,'" Galen said fondly. "And Rapture's name has been shortened to 'Rap.'"

"Ahp!" She repeated for me.

"Opal," I said, turning to give her a peck on the cheek. "I'm proud of you, little one. We can go home now."

While Galen and I still had a long way to go to restore our magic, Rapture had no problem taking us back to our cave with all our belongings in his interdimensional space. Galen held Slate, and I held Opal for the short flight.

The cave was cold and damp at the entryway, but Galen lit a fire while I gave the blankets a quick wash and returned them to their original place in Galen's bed.

"This won't do at all," I mumbled. We had no privacy in our cave. The bed was near the pool we used for water and bathing, but it was only a few paces from the kitchen.

"This is the fun part," Galen said. "Now you get to tell me where you want the bedrooms and playroom."

"What about the bowl you made for your bed?" I asked, pointing to the giant dip in the floor.

Galen held out their hands and raised them. As they did, the floor raised with them until the blankets I'd just washed were now in a neatly folded pile in the middle of a flat stone floor.

"I worried our cave wouldn't be big enough for two babies." Galen gestured at the space larger than the fortress's gym with a vaulted ceiling high enough for Galen to stand on their hind legs and still not touch the peak. This was important to them, so I tried not to laugh.

"I've learned how to make the interdimensional spaces Rapture uses," they continued. "We can section off an area for the kids to play, and our bedrooms can be larger on the inside than they appear on the outside."

Opal was already asleep in my arms after the flight. Slate had crawled onto Galen's shoulders and nestled around their neck, but our dragon baby's eyes were closed. We needed to get them to bed.

"Let's make a makeshift nest here," I said. "While they sleep, we can plan."

We got the babies situated in a much smaller temporary version of our prior nest when we heard scrabbling at the doorway and an excited chirp from Rapture.

"Hello! I heard from a little dragonet wrangler you were home!" I recognized Coz's voice. We'd had many conversations before he'd felt comfortable letting Sunny train with me at the barn.

"Are you dressed?" Tuft's high, clear voice echoed in the cave, now that Galen had shoved all our furniture into an interdimensional space.

I ran to the doorway and greeted my friends with hugs. Coz had brought Sunny with him, and the little beta was petting Rapture's nose and telling him what a good dragonet he was for guarding the entrance. Punky walked around, examining the walls, while Lark hastily tucked something back into an interdimensional space of his own.

"We thought you'd had time to plan a nursery, with all these requests," Tuft said. He was decked out in a rainbow tie and suspenders over his vibrant yellow shirt to match his stripes. Even his belt buckle had a rainbow on it.

"They weren't home," Axel reminded him. "And they warded the entrance so no well-meaning friends could stop by and build nice things for them while they were off having babies."

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