“I could have continued working on logs,” Alys grumbled as she followed me down into my lab.

  “Yes, but I have a few things I need to take care of that I can only do in here.”

  I didn’t have to defend myself, of course, but I didn’t like making my dragoness grumpy. Though she didn’t seem to be genuinely protesting, I knew she wasn’t fond of breaking her routine. Yet I really did need my lab.

  “I know, I know.” She sighed. “I just… hrm, never mind. I’ve been feeling a little restless, I suppose.”

  “That’s just the pregnancy jitters.” Amara giggled from behind my dragoness, having chosen to join us.

  I had noticed that Alys’ mother was loath to part from her daughter. Even saying ‘good night’ took an unusually long amount of time as Soren gently fought to unlatch his wife from Alys. I didn’t think my dragoness minded, though. If anything, she always looked supremely pleased by her mother’s displays of affection.

  “I’m not having jitters!” Alys protested. “Probably…”

  She trailed off into grumbles as we entered my laboratory. The two draconians chose a corner and settled into the two chairs they’d brought along, and I immediately set about casting all the relevant protection spells over my guests. Then, just for good measure, I cast a wider-reaching air cleansing spell over their corner, making doubly sure it eliminated smells. This was not something I typically wanted out of the spell, since scent was an important aspect of tracking how well a brew was going, but they didn’t need to suffer with me.

  Alys had a bucket of plain old earth in one hand. This amused me, even though I knew what she planned to do with it.

  “Alright,” I announced when the spells were complete. “I won’t be doing anything dangerous or poisonous, but you probably still should not move out of that area you are in. Especially since I’ll need your noses once I’ve made anything passable.”

  Amara burst into giggles at my phrasing. Alys just shot me a quick grin before digging a clump of earth from her bucket and focusing on it. A thin stream of flames escaped her maw and quickly liquefied the dirt. I watched for a moment as my dragoness glared at the patch of flameshard glass.

  Ever so slowly, it started to twitch and shift under her will alone.

  With a slight smile, I turned my attention to a project I had neglected over the last few days: perfume.

  Perhaps that seemed like a silly thing to focus on. I could have worked on the potions Nelaeryn needed to guarantee a safe birth, or I could have played around with the materials Shaessath had donated. But the perfume was important for what we planned to handle tomorrow: a visit to Swiftband so we could announce that we were expecting a child.

  I also needed to ask the elders why they hadn’t gotten the word out about my shop and its pricing, as we had discussed. Though Lucinda had promised to spread the news, I hadn’t seen any new visitors since the wolfkin. In fact, other than Kiri’s animal couriers and Alys’ work crew, no one had even approached our patch of land. That probably had something to do with the fact that an actual dragon had decided to visit us*,* but I had no way to prove that.

  Regardless, perfume would be a nice draw to my shop, judging by the reaction of everyone to whom I’d pitched the idea.

  I also wanted to do something nice for Nasha. Most of the townsfolk did have the option of acquiring some perfume through visiting caravans, but the beagle was stuck, both because of her nose and her role as a scout. She needed a perfume she could wear out in the wilderness without it adversely affecting her tasks.

  That’s why I had two important goals for the second half of the day: attempting a new perfume using one of the local flowers Lucinda had provided me with, and experimenting with pine for Nasha.

  I already had some decent Lily of the Valley samples. The day after I nearly ruined her nose with the overpowered belladonna version, Alys had confirmed that the other perfume did hit the right mix of subtlety and potency. Still, that was hardly enough stock to show off to the townsfolk and my friends.

  Doubly so since I wasn’t planning to give the belladonna perfume to anyone other than Alys. It had originally been meant as a symbolic gift to show my affection, but since learning I actually smelled like that, no one was getting that scent other than my dragoness. Even the idea of someone else having it made me feel strange.

  “Whatcha doing?”

  “Gah!”

  I almost dropped the vials I was preparing. Amara had managed to sneak up on me while I wasn’t paying attention.

  The question, the shock, and the small grin on her lips all reminded me of Nasha. Not that it was hard to draw parallels between the two, with how chipper Amara tended to act.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “I thought we agreed you would stay with Alys inside the well-protected and smell-proof area?” I asked pointedly.

  “You suggested it, yes. I never agreed!”

  Her delighted laughter drew her daughter’s attention. Alys smiled at the two of us brilliantly, a sort of happiness coming over her features that took my breath away.

  My dragoness was very, very pleased to see me getting along with her family.

  “True enough. I suppose watching Alys play with dirt failed to keep your attention?” I teased lightly. I hoped Alys was still listening in, but she had already refocused on the flameshard glass with utmost concentration.

  “I love my sweet hatchling, but I need things to do, too. It’s very touching to see you two insist on staying together, you know? Aesa did tell you it’s fine to separate during the day so long as you spent the night together, and I don’t think that would prove a problem for you two.”

  I didn’t like the teasing tone that snuck into her voice, mostly because it was far too effective. It also felt odd to hear my wife’s mother tease us about how, ahem, affectionate we tended to be.

  “We don’t want to take any chances,” I explained, pulling flowers from their ingredient preservation boxes. “And Grandmother did say our child will soon absorb all the mana they need, which is when we can return to our old routine… if we want to. I admit I feel much better knowing where Alys is at all times, even if I’m aware that the urge is unhealthy.”

  I expected judgment, but Amara only sighed, her expression losing some of its constant cheer.

  “No wonder you two get along so well,” she mumbled. I had the distinct feeling I wasn’t meant to hear the comment, especially when her smile returned a moment later. “Don’t you worry about my sweet hatchling! She’s much tougher than you’d think.”

  I snorted as I looked through my flower collection, searching for the varieties I’d seen about the forest in abundance. “Oh, I think Alys is plenty tough. Trust me, I know my concern is not based in logic at all.”

  “Hrmmmm.” She looked thoughtful again, but it lasted for only a moment before she rolled up her sleeves and beamed at me. “Well then, please tell me how I can help!”

  I hadn’t expected she would want to do more than talk. The suggestion dredged up memories of working alongside my parents, but rather than causing pain, it filled me with irresistible warmth.

  Besides, having an assistant could be helpful!

  “Very well.” I returned her smile with ease. “First, we need to select which flowers we’ll be experimenting with. I’m open to suggestions if you have a preference.”

  She did. We quickly picked out snowdrops and witch hazel as our main ingredients for the day, in addition to my pine experimentation for Nasha. Then we set to work.

  From there, I could honestly admit Amara surprised me. Alys had told me that her mother was skilled in various art forms, but the surety and speed with which Amara picked up everything I shared was still impressive.

  Throughout it all, we talked. Amara kept her voice low, ‘so as not to distract Alys’, and I followed her example. She also avoided any touchy subjects which could potentially make things awkward. Instead, she brought up topics that would help us learn more about each other. Our favorite foods, hobbies, book preferences, little things we liked to do to relax or just while away the time.

  At first, I thought I wouldn’t have much to contribute to the conversation, but that was another of Amara’s skills. She could needle me in a way that brought back a surprising number of my childhood memories. I found myself sharing stories I hadn’t thought about in years, small moments of levity when I’d been allowed to do whatever I liked and had found my own amusement.

  I even remembered an occasion on which I’d found a poisoned squirrel in our family gardens and then ‘secretly’ tried to nurse it back to health. The story did not have a happy ending, but I had gotten to have a pet for a while. I’d even managed to cure the poor thing… before I discovered it dead one day from obviously inflicted wounds.

  I never did find out who had done it. Now that I was forcing myself to remember, though, the image of one of my cousins flashed across my mind. He was sneering at me while I stoically refused to show weakness.

  The thought made my hands clench for a moment.

  It was also one of the few occasions when my parents had shown overt compassion. They’d offered to get me a different pet, but I’d refused. If I couldn’t keep a squirrel safe, I didn’t want anything else to die under my protection…

  Perhaps some of my issues were a bit more deeply seated than I thought.

  Amara’s expression faltered at that story, which I understood. But her mood also dimmed in response to several other stories that I couldn’t pin down the reason for. She did pat my back every time, though, in a maternal manner which I appreciated.

  Furthermore, we were making good progress. We’d gotten a very good result out of the witch hazel, and pine was also developing nicely. I hoped to have an acceptable sample of it by the end of the day to offer to Nasha. I thought we could start with that scent for her, since pine was so common in the forest, and then advance to subtler flower scents if it proved possible.

  Naturally, I also spared a few moments through the course of the day to glance at my dragoness and see how she was doing. While we tinkered with the perfumes, she had come a long way from barely nudging the molten flameshard glass into action. Already, she was prompting it to shape itself to her will.

  True, the results were crude. They resembled flailing more than any kind of actual control. Even so, the fact that she was progressing so quickly at all was beyond impressive. This was a whole new way of using her powers, and she would probably be ready to put it to practical use in a few days at most.

  I knew that would open some interesting options for her, from accenting her woodworking to crafting entire pieces of flameshard glass. I wouldn’t mind having dining sets made out of the material, since I already knew how tough it was. I’d bet Alys could force it to hold an edge for knives and such. Perhaps she’d even be able to craft tools out of it? That would make her significantly more valuable to the town, which I knew she would appreciate.

  My thoughts were disrupted when Amara pointedly pushed her elbow into my ribs. I turned my gaze onto my dragoness’ mother, only to pause at the serious expression she was wearing.

  “I was hoping to ask you for a favor, if you don’t mind hearing me out.”

  Her voice was calm, but the intensity of her gaze told me how much this particular conversation meant to her.

  I steadied myself for whatever she was about to say, a frustratingly familiar urge not to disappoint her coursing through me.

  “Of course.”

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