"Well, here we are," John said, letting the door swing open.
The group stood there for a moment, blinking. They all knew there was a not-so-minor problem, but Raistlin was the first one to voice it.
How we fit?
It was the truth. The little house had been fine enough to hold three tidy, calm people, but with four people, three full-grown dragons, and a hyper little baby bishel, there might be a bit of a cramp. Well...a lot of a cramp.
"I don't know, love," Starre frowned, walking forward a few steps to enter the dining room. "Mom? Dad?"
Nina frowmed. "Well..." Her brow furrowed, she gazed around the tiny space. "Well...."
"Could we just buy a new house?" John suggested hopefully, but he was immediately met with vicious stares from the other people.
"Are you kidding?" Stevan asked furiously.
"This house was my grandfather's!" Nina exclamied.
"...Yeah!" agreed Starre.
"Okay, okay," John said hurriedly. "Just a thought."
Everyone was quiet for a moment, until Raistlin spoke up again.
We build more? she suggested in her young voice, cocking her head.
Everyone looked at everyone else, and nodded and grinned.
"An addition is a fantastic idea!" Nina exclaimed. "You dragons could live there, while the people live in the main part of the house! We could make...a tower! A tower, connected to another big room, so you can fly. It could have windows for a ceiling...ooh...!"
Stevan, Starre, and John grinned at each other. While Nina ran off to call 'someone that does that kind of stuff,' Starre turned her attention to Raistlin. The little red wyrm was taking in her surroundings with wide-eyed wonder.
This big place, Rai said nervously. Will I get lost?
Starre laughed. "No, Rai," she promised, "you won't get lost. It's not that big, either, compared to some of the other places you'll see someday. But, if you're still nervous, why don't I show you around?"
Rai nodded, and Starre let the wyrm crawl up onto her shoulder. She then began a tour of the house, with Gana, Kivo, and Io trailing along behind at Starre's command.
"We're in the dining room right now," Starre explained, pointing to the round table. "Over there's the kitchen, which is where we make the food that we eat in the dining room. You with me so far?"
Yes, Gana said. That makes sense. Keep going.
Starre led the group around the dining room table (where everyone else now sat, going about their business) and through a doorway that led to the living room.
"This place is called the living room," Starre continued. "This is where we usually hang out as a family. We can watch TV --"
TV? Kivo asked with interest. What's TV?
"Television," Starre said, walking over to the huge flatscreen on the far side of the room. "Here, watch."
She pushed a button, and the TV flickered on. Currently, a baseball game was in progress, and a man zoomed around the field as a ball flew through the air.
How did they get in there? Io asked suspiciously, walking closer to the TV and inspecting it cautiouly, as though expecting the ball players to jump out and attack him any second.
Starre giggled. The dragons reminded her so much of her father when he first arrived in America. "The men aren't in the TV, Ionkori," she explained through her laughter. "Someone is taking...well...a moving picture of them, and they make it play on the TV. I'm not quite sure how it works." Shrugging, she turned the TV off again.
Rai in particular appreciated the cushioney couches and chairs packed together in a semi-circle around the TV. She found innovative ways to jump on them with her limbless body, thrusting herself into the air with her muscular tail. All the dragons delighted in the big stereo Stevan had gotten for his birthday, a joint present from Starre and Nina. They were amazed when music came out of the two big speakers, and even Io could not resist the urge to dance.
"Okay," Starre gasped, turning off the stereo. "We'll have plenty of time to dance later, eh?"
The vote to dance again sometime was unanimous.
"All right," Starre said, cradling Rai in her arms. "This way is Nina's office."
Walking through another doorway in the wall of the living room, the group entered a crisp, cleen office, full mostly of computer supplies and equipment. The room's centerpiece, however, was a magnificent computer, with approx. 2.5 gazillion wires running from it to various appliances in cabinets on the walls.
"Nina's a web/graphics designer," Starre explained. "She designs stuff like logos and websites for companies. I'd show you some stuff, but she'd kill me if I touched anything."
KILL you? Rai asked in awe, black eyes wide.
Starre shook her head, forcing back laughter. "No, not really kill me," Starre said. "If I say that someone would kill me, it usually means that they'd get really, really mad at me and I'd get in big trouble."
Oh, Raistlin replied. That sort of makes sense.
"Good," Starre said, walking up to another door. "Now, these are the bedrooms. You can see mine first."
Starre led the dragons into a short hallway, then turned and opened the first door on the right.
Starre's room was, in short, very cool. The windows were draped with a silky lavender material, matching the shag carpet perfectly. The walls were darker violet, as were her bed's covers. The bedframe itself was painted pale, cloudy lavender, matching her dresser and cabinet.
Nice, Kivo said approvingly, sniffing the carpet. Rai was fascinated by the curtains, and Gana was busy inspecting Starre's bed. Io looked sick.
Purple, the dragon muttered. Girly crap....
When the dragons were satisfied, Starre took them to Stevan's room. His room was a jolt from Starre's calm, peaceful haven. Posters of various sports teams cavoered his white walls, barely showing any paint beneath them. His furniture was made out of dark wood, and his covers were blue. Starre had never been able to stand his messy room; it aggrivated her so much that she sometimes snuck in, cleaned it, and blamed it on Nina. Io liked it, however, and admired the posters appreciatively.
Nina and John's bedrooms were all adult-ey, with matching furniture sets and plain colors like yellow and dark blue. All the dragons (and Starre, for that matter) found the rooms rather boring and left quite quickly.
"Now," Starre said eagerly, "here's something you'll like."
She led the dragons back to Nina's office, and up to a sliding glass door. "The backyard!"
It was huge. Grass stretched out for yards and yards in what seemed to be a never-ending expanse of green. The three dragons were impressed, but Rai was absolutely captivated.
Go out? she asked eagerly. I see backyard?
"Sure," Starre said. "Out you go." She opened the door, and let Rai off her shoulders to crawl around and exercies.
Rai burst through the opening, and practically bounced through the grass. When she found a small area with no grass, she, to everyone's surprise, began to use her nose to tunnel under!
"Rai?" Starre called nervously as dirt flew from the hole. "Rai, what are you doing and why are you doing it in Nina's backyard?"
Rai's now-muddy head poked out of the hole. Rai dig, the little wyrm explained. Then Rai fly, see?
Starre, who didn't 'see' at all, simply nodded and watched her bishel dissapear, back into the hole.
Soon, the dirt stopped coming out of the hole. Starre wondered if Rai was going to fly now. Indeed, a burst of red shot out of the hole like a spring, wooshing through the air high above. Starre cried out in panic, and ran to be underneath the red creature, who was now coming down. She somehow caught the happy but exhausted, Raistlin. Rai was breathing heavily (as was Starre!) but she had a 'whoofun!' look on her face. Or...what you could see of her face -- it was all muddy, along with her body. AND, to top it all off, there was a big, gaping hole in the middle of Nina's perfect yard.
Oh well.
Starre snuggled Rai close to her chest. "That was pretty cool," she admitted. "But you need to be very careful, or you could get very badly hurt!"
Ok! Rai said happily, wriggling with excitement. I like it here.
Starre grinned. "Good," she said, "because you'll be here a while, if I have anything to say about it. You, too," she added, turning toward the dragons with an apologetic smile -- she'd nearly forgotten them while talking to Rai.
Gana smiled back. We understand, he said, or we would have chewed on your foot long ago.
Starre laughed, and led the group back into the house.
"Good news!" Nina squealed as Starre entered the dining room. "I found someone who'll do the addition!"
Starre beamed, and Rai cooed. The three dragons seemed releived as well -- they'd finally have somewhere to fly.
I climb in tower? the wyrm asked Starre.
"Well, Nina...?" Starre asked. "Do you think we could put some rocks for Rai to climb on?"
"Sure!" Nina said, scribbling on graph paper that already had countless markings on it. "By the way, how'd Rai get so dirty?"
"Ohnothingdigging," Starre said casually, but Nina locked on instantly.
"Where?" Nina asked darkly, standing up and narrowing her eyes.
"Um..." Starre began, but Rai piped up.
Dig in backyard! she explained cheerfully. It very fun, you know.
Nina kept her irritated face, but sat down. "We...will...just...have...to...make a digging room for Rai!" she finished jubilantly, and Starre sighed with relief.
"But you should go wash up, little wyrm," Starre said, kissing Rai's nose and generally fussing over her. "Come on, to the kitchen with you!"
Within minutes, Rai was in a tub of warm, soapy water, being passionately scrubbed by Starre and her washcloth. Contrary to the reactions of most small, dirty things in soapy water, Rai was enjoying popping soap bubbles with her nose. She was not dissapointed to be removed from t he water, however, and wiped her face vigerously on the fluffy white towel.
"Now," Starre said, "how hungry are you?"
I can have food now? Rai asked eagerly.
"Of course!" Starre laughed. "I'm not going to starve you, you know!"
The girl then produced two deep dishes, one for food and one for water. She filled both with their intended contents, and laid them on a mat in the kitchen.
"If you're ever hungry," Starre explained, "you can just come in here and eat out of these two bowls. Gana, Kivo, Io -- you guys can just raid the refrigerator." Winking, Starre picked up her baby bishel and pulled her close into her chest, looking forward to a fun day, and many fun days to come.
**--**--**
Several weeks passed as a whole new routine was established in the Copper/Matthews household. John had taken on the responsibility of watching out for Gana, while Nina cared for Kivo, and Stevan was stuck with Io (though neither had much of a problem with the arrangement). Starre, of course, took care of Rai.
The wyrm was growing up quickly, becoming more mature and intelligent every day, while still maintaining her youthful exhuberance. She had many new hobbies, most of them involving the very newest 'addition' to the lives of the companions.
The addition was magnificent! It was in the massive backyard, connected to the house by a hallway big enough for 5 full-grown dragons of Gana's breed to walk abreast. It ahd an arched glass ceiling, but even that couldn't take away the 'wow!' when one finally entered the main chamber.
It was HUGE! 75 feet wide, its smooth glass ceiling reached a peak high above the ground. The left wall was painted to resemble a forest, while the other walls were a twilight sky, a prairie, and a desert. A kitchen counter (painted to match the walls it stood against) had a myriad of foods for the dragons, and the water bowls were always full.
There were several halls leading from the main chamber, one of which led to a huge tower, two stories high. The entire wall of the second story was tiled with windows, and the octagonal structure came to a point at the center of the glass ceiling, similar to the one in the main chamber. Gana, Kivo, and Io could fly around near the ceiling, while Raistlin could climb around on the rocks embedded in the walls of the tower. One of the wyrm's favorite passtimes, she rarely ever started without managing to get to the top of the first story, where the rock wall ended, and the windows began. She and Starre would cimb up there, sit on a little ledge built for that purpose, and watched the sun set. Starre enjoyed it just as much as Rai did.
Another one of Rai's passtimes involved the destination of the other hallway. It was a darker room, painted to look like an earthy cave. The floor was dirt, and the ceiling matched the other two chambers, but the glass was tinted, making the room darker. This was Nina's idea for Rai's digging site. Indeed, if one could see beneath the soil, they'd see a small web of tunnels that Rai had made for herself. Most of them led to her little hoarde, where she kept a few toys (Kabo remained in the main chamber, still a faithful friend) some pictures of the family that Rai had received from Starre, and some lovely, shiny things from random people.
One of her favorite possessions was a beautiful necklace. The thread was gold, with a sparkling blue gem set in matching gold. Starre called the gem a sapphire. Rai didn't care what it was. From the moment she found it lying in a gutter, she wore it everywhere.
Even now, she was admiring it in Starre's bedroom mirror. Different parts of the gem shone whenever she moved, and that fascinated the little wyrm.
"Rai?" Starre walked into the room.
Starre! Rai said happily, twisting around to see her friend. Hi! What's up?
"Just going to bed," Starre said, flopping down on the matress. "Looking at your sapphire again, I see."
Rai nodded. Yes, she said, it's very pretty. I'm glad I found it.
"I'll never figure out why someone just left it there," Starre sighed, pulling the covers up to her chin. "You sleeping in here tonight?"
I think I will, Rai said happily, sliding over on her stomach and hopping up onto the bed, falling asleep on Starre's pillow.