"All right."
He disappears to the ice house, and I drift over to where Ember is lounging on top of the oven. She's flicking her tail and looking like she's expecting something.
"What?" I ask my dragon.
Her expression says it all.
"Are you hungry?"
Nate laughs as he reenters the room. "She's gotten used to me feeding her at this time," he says as he sets down a bowl of scraps in front of my dragon and pulls his hand back quickly. I know his burn has healed, but the memory of it is there.
"She's spoiled."
"She's the dragon of a princess," he points out. "She's going to be the most spoiled dragon in existence."
I turn to face him even as a stream of dragon fire comes past me. "You can't possibly know that."
He's so close that I can see the reflections of the gas lighting in his eyes, and the crinkles around them from when he smiles. "I can guess. And I know you, you're going to want to give Ember the best life you can."
"Of course I do. She's so tiny and helpless." I break eye contact with Nate and look over at my dragon, who is tipping her head back in order to swallow down some meat.
"She's hardly helpless," Nate counters. "But I understand what you mean."
"How can you understand what I mean if you don't think she's helpless?"
"Well, she's not helpless because she has claws and fire to protect herself with, but she's also small, and wouldn't be able to survive on her own, so I get that she is helpless."
"Oh, I see." I watch as Ember eats another piece of meat. "Maybe I should train her to hunt."
"You don't like hunting."
I wrinkle my nose. "I know. But if it's what's good for her, then maybe I should?"
"Maybe."
"I'll talk to Artie about it," I respond. "He knows animals better than I do. He might even help me do it."
"That's a good idea."
"And while he's at it, he can help me figure out how to teach her to toast meringues."
"I feel like that would be fairly obvious. We should put some in front of her and let her fire her flames at it," Nate suggests as if it's the simplest answer.
"I've tried that," I respond.
"Ah. What about rewarding her when she does it right?"
"I've tried that too, but I gave up quickly because I kept almost getting burned."
"Hmmm."
I reach out and put a hand on his arm. "It's all right, we don't need to fix the fact that she can't do it yet. But we can bake."
"Do you know what you want to make?" Nate asks as he steps away and pulls out a bowl.
"Quiche," I respond.
He raises an eyebrow. "I thought you said that you found quiche crusts to be dry and the texture of the custard to be unsettling."
