Tessa’s POV:

  Tilting my head, I watched Maria hide a berry under one of five upside-down cups and move them in strange patterns. The cups looked the same, and I quickly lost track of which one held the treat. Once she stopped and sat back, I leaned forward to sniff them and nosed one of the cups over to reveal my reward.

  “I guess that proves fire lizards rely on their noses even if they can see something,” Maria murmured. “I think I need to find some airtight ones.”

  “There are some small containers on the second shelf in the kitchen,” Adeline commented, halfway watching us while preoccupied with the computer on her lap.

  “Thanks!” Maria jumped to her feet and jogged into the kitchen.

  While waiting, I stretched and arched my back while flexing my wings. A faint prick of pain in a claw made me inspect it more closely. I didn’t see anything, but when I put more weight on it, the early tell-tale crack of a split appeared.

  I sighed internally. I hadn’t been sharpening them regularly, and my overly long claws must have hit a rock or something wrong during the Ply-Ball game earlier. Trying to sharpen a split like this would only make it worse.

  The last time this happened, Taureen had trimmed the nail for me and filed it down so I could safely sharpen it. I had no clue how to ask Soranto, and if I couldn’t see it, he wouldn’t be able to. The crack was almost invisible, so small that I could only feel it when I pressed it against something.

  That only left one option. I flew to the bathroom and carefully washed my feet before perching in one of the trees. I began chewing on the offending nailtip, ignoring Maria as she set up the berry game again.

  My claw was quite hard, and I had to chew at a certain angle to avoid worsening the split. The sharp edge of my nail grated unpleasantly against my teeth. I was really going to have to decide which tree base in this room was going to become my official scratching post. It would be easier for Soranto to replace just one section instead of having several of them looking shabby.

  The piece finally came off, leaving a ragged tip that would take me days to sharpen into a point. I spat out the shredded nail fragments, using a claw to get some loose. One piece was really wedged between my teeth, so small that I couldn’t get a grip on it. There was no mirror in this room for me to see what I was doing, nor any dragonet to lend a helping talon. I kept trying to get it out.

  Almost nothing was as frustrating as having something small and hard jammed between your teeth. Shaking my head, I took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. No hot flames appeared to help char the trapped annoyance.

  Being unable to ask for help was frustrating. I was beginning to see just how much I had taken my ability to speak with Taureen and Aeria for granted. Soranto wasn’t even officially my handler yet, so there was no point in asking if I could talk to him earlier.

  The fragment between my teeth was terribly annoying and impossible to ignore. There had to be some sort of way to get his help… I just had to figure it out. I glided down to Soranto’s lap and trilled at him.

  He began petting me. “Did you see that Maria has more berries?”

  Half unfurling my wings in something like a begging pose, I chirped and whistled. With a fond smile, he dug in his belt pouch and offered me a sunburst berry.

  Even with the claw fragment stuck between my teeth, I couldn’t pass that up. Alas, every bite was aggravating, and only reminded me of my problem. Sitting down, I began scratching at my teeth, trying to reach the piece that was causing the discomfort. I paused and shook my head before running my tongue along my teeth. Still no success. My claws came back up to try and get it out.

  It didn’t take more than a few repetitions before Soranto leaned over for a closer look. “What are you doing? Here, let me see.”

  One hand carefully held my head while his other lifted my lips as he inspected my teeth.

  Just when I was about to try running my claws over the trapped piece to indicate where it was, he said, “Maria, could you please go into my workshop and bring me the kit with the small tweezers? She’s got something stuck between her teeth.”

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  Maria disappeared into the room and soon returned.

  He picked a rather small pair of tweezers out of the kit and lifted my lip again. “Easy. Hold still.”

  With a gentle tug, the tweezers pulled the piece out and relief swept over me. The discomfort was gone! I shook myself off hard, earning a chiming noise from my scales. I trilled a grateful thank-you at Soranto, who was examining the tiny frayed splinter.

  He scratched me behind the ear tufts, and I thrummed my happiness.

  “What is that?” Maria inquired.

  “Looks like a claw fragment. She was chewing on one a few minutes ago.”

  Picking me up, he laid me upside down in his lap. My long neck made it easy to watch as he examined the tattered claw tip, then pressed the base of several claws to make them extend.

  He opened his cleaning kit and flipped the divider to reveal clippers and files. Perking up my ear tufts, I remained where I was, hoping that he would trim the mess I had made of my nail.

  Methodically, he trimmed each nail before using special files that shaved away small layers with each pass. Tilting my head, I tried to figure out how his large hands were able to delicately hold my claws and use the tools so precisely. It was a mystery to me.

  By the time he finished, all of my claws were the length they were supposed to be. I sighed in relief as I flexed them experimentally. The curve wasn’t quite normal, but it felt so much better than before.

  I was going to have to remember to keep them sharpened and at a proper length. I nudged Soranto’s fingers and gave them a small lick as a kiss. He put the tools to the side and gently ran his fingers over the underside of my partially opened wings.

  I spread them wider, letting him have a better look at the extraordinarily tiny scales on the wing membrane. His fingers were almost ticklish as they lightly skimmed the edge of my wing. Baring my teeth playfully, I grabbed onto his hand and began mouthing his fingers.

  “I don’t recall you trying to eat anyone else’s fingers… They are mine. You do know that, right?”

  He tried to wiggle his fingers free, only for me to tighten my grip and hang on with my back legs as well. When he lifted his hand, I dangled upside down, still nibbling on his fingers. Having four feet gave me the advantage when he tried to loosen my claws when he only had one free hand. He lowered me back to his lap, and a long feather appeared.

  My ears went back as he spun the tickle device between his fingers. I slapped it with my tail, refusing to relinquish my hold, which, of course, did nothing. The feather darted in and tickled my sides. With a squeak, I tried to grab it, but my new-found foe moved too fast for my extended claws to shred.

  He used to be an equipment engineer—he was not supposed to be pulling feathers out of his pockets to torment me! The feather came back again and again.

  Finally, I accepted the outcome and let go of his hand, immediately rolling to my feet and lunging at the feather. My teeth chopped down and immediately released it. Still mid-leap, I spread my wings and quickly banked around to land on his shoulder with a laughing whistle. The poor feather bent in half and flopped pathetically, mortally wounded by my strike.

  “You killed it…” Soranto commented sadly, twisting it idly.

  With a pleased chortle, I glided down to where Maria sat with six containers and a bag of berries. She held up a berry and put it in one of the containers, then slid them under the cups and began shuffling them around.

  The cups were moving fast, and it was hard to follow the one holding the berry. When they stopped, I nosed one of the cups over and heard the faint thump as something inside hit the side of the container. It took a bit of wrestling to find the proper spot I had to pull to get the lid off.

  After a few more rounds, I lost interest in the game. I looked around; there wasn’t an obvious scratching post, so one of the tree bases in this room was going to become the lucky winner. It shouldn’t be too hard for Soranto to replace one section regularly.

  One of the trees to the side stuck out a bit more, and damage wouldn’t be seen as easily by visitors, so I figured it was a decent choice. At first, I dug my claws in tentatively; partially to see if Soranto would object and partially to make sure I didn’t get an unexpected hangnail after his trimming.

  I dug them in deeper and deeper with each stroke, until I had to brace myself while pulling down. Now that my claws were sunk into it, I knew the trees weren’t actually wood. The material was a bit softer and didn’t have as much resistance, although it was sharpening my claws more efficiently.

  Soranto’s wrist comm beeped, and he checked it.

  He was silent for a long moment. “Elder Dairno will be visiting this planet tomorrow for a council meeting, and he’s requesting permission to visit us in the evening.”

  “Tessa has been living with us for almost three weeks, so we were expecting it,” Adeline replied.

  “True. The only reason for such a visit would be to officially declare me a fire lizard handler. There haven’t been any suggestions or requests for change. Nothing to indicate his lack of support.”

  It was a struggle to continue sharpening my claws as if I was unaware of the discussion. This was what I had been waiting for, and I had absolutely no reservations about having Soranto as my official handler. My ears tufts tilted back as I listened intently.

  “Did he mention a preferred time?”

  “No, I’ll ask what time would work best for him.”

  Gazing up the tree trunk, I folded my wings tightly and began climbing with my claws. Picking one of the warmer nooks, I curled up to enjoy the heat, hoping it would relax my muscles when all I wanted to do was bounce around in celebration.