Tessa’s POV:

  When I saw Soranto’s house, I sat up on Taureen’s shoulder, eager for our visit. Taureen waved his hand in front of the doorbell, and it chimed.

  Soranto opened the door with a smile. “You know you don’t have to ring the doorbell, right?”

  “That is what I keep telling you and Tkael, and you two still do it every time.”

  Soranto shrugged. “Old habits and courtesies die hard. Besides, it gives Tasha and Keegan some warning that company is about to invade their domain. Come inside. Dinner will be ready shortly.”

  Taureen stepped inside and stopped when he saw the living room. Aeria squeezed through the gap behind him and also paused. Adeline and Maria grinned at their reactions from where they stood in the kitchen doorway.

  I blinked several times, wondering if we were in the right house. The walls and windows were the same, but that was about it. The massive and mostly empty layout was a mere memory. In its place stood something that looked like a dragonet’s paradise.

  The left and right walls had fake trees and branches reaching to the ceiling and forming arches over the doors. The branches and leaves created perches and places to curl up everywhere. Some of the little leaf cubbies had faint red illumination inside, while a couple had a blue tinge emerging from within.

  Amid the greenery on the left wall, one spot had a brightly lit sandstone cliff ledge. I didn’t see the tray of sand, but judging by how thick the shelf had become, he had sunk it into the cliff instead of using a raised tray.

  A tiny trickle of water ran down the wall from branches near the ceiling. It filled a matching water bowl beside the shelf before continuing to a tiny pond on the floor.

  I gazed around the room with wide eyes, marvelling that there were even perches in front of every window, as well as end tables with sunken sand trays beside all of the chairs.

  Aeria eventually commented to Adeline in a stunned voice, “This is different.”

  Adeline laughed and gestured to the room. “I’ve been looking for an excuse to redecorate for years. This is much more my style. My family can’t even complain it isn’t proper since Tessa is bonding with Soranto.”

  Soranto chuckled, clearly pleased with what their family had accomplished. Taureen finally exhaled slowly and seemed to unfreeze. He took a few more steps inside, slowly turning his head as he examined the room.

  “When you mentioned you did a few renovations,” Taureen slowly said, “this was not what I had assumed.”

  “I know,” Soranto replied smugly. “We wanted it to be a surprise, and judging by your expression, I assume we succeeded.”

  “Indeed.” Taureen’s dry voice was completely at odds with his intrigued and curious expression as he continued to survey the room from where he stood.

  I didn’t know where to look first, but I really wanted to go investigate every little spot.

  When I trilled an inquiry, Taureen said, “Go on.”

  Mom and I immediately flew to the trees. The branches stuck out about as much as Taureen’s wall perches did. I landed on one and was surprised that it felt just like a real tree branch, not a dead branch or piece of driftwood.

  Beside me, branches and numerous fake leaves formed a hollow with a faint blue light illuminating the interior. It looked big enough to comfortably stretch out in. I stuck my head inside before jerking back with a surprised snort—it was much cooler inside.

  “It’s the opposite of a heating lamp!” I excitedly told Dad, who landed beside me.

  After peering inside, he crawled in to check. “I have never seen anything like this before.”

  He came out and hopped to another branch to check out another mostly enclosed spot. I followed behind him, curious to see if the barely visible red light inside meant this one was warm. To my delight, it was.

  Next, I flew over to the sandstone shelf, and sure enough, the long heat lamp was now hidden under the long branch that stretched above the sand.

  It had doubled in length and matched the slight curve of the branch, which kept it from looking unnaturally straight, while also following the uneven curve of the shelf.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  The outer edge of the sandstone shelf was a slightly darker color and hard. I stepped onto the paler sand, which sank beneath my feet. A few scratches confirmed the sand was deeper than our sand tray at home.

  When I glided to the floor to investigate the small pond, Dirk joined me. The water cascaded between the stones, and the reservoir at the bottom was too tiny for us to climb into. It was clearly just meant for drinking.

  I sniffed it before taking a sip. The cool water flowed over my tongue; it lacked the stagnant taste that the water in our bowls usually got within an hour, but it didn’t have the muddy aftertaste the creeks had. The clear, pure water was the best I’d ever tasted.

  When Dirk tried it, his eyes widened and he began drinking deeply. “How did he make water taste like this?”

  Mom landed on the shelf above and tried the water in the bowl. “Part of it is because it isn’t sitting, but there must be some sort of filter as well.”

  I looked around, wondering what else Soranto had done. I flew over to the new end tables and landed on the one beside Soranto. The outer edge was polished wood with a sunken round bowl of sand in the middle. Intrigued by the fact that there wasn’t a single raised sand tray in the room, I stepped into it and jumped back when my hands touched the surprisingly warm sand.

  Lowering my head, I sniffed the sand before looking at the empty air above it. There was no heating lamp, yet the sand was nice and warm.

  “Is there a heater on the bottom of the tray?” Taureen inquired, watching my reaction.

  “For that one and most of them, yes. I put a heat light above the ones I could, since they like sunbathing so much, although I left a few without anything. Three of the alcoves in the tree branches have cooling pads.”

  “I’m surprised that you managed to get all of this done in just a week,” Aeria commented, watching me dig a small hole in the sand to curl up in.

  Soranto gestured to his wife and daughter. “It turned into a family project that we spent most of our free time on.”

  “It was really fun,” Maria said with a smile. “We haven’t done much to the rest of the house yet.”

  “I don’t think you need something this elaborate in every room,” Aeria commented.

  Adeline replied, “No, this is where we spend most of our time. We will make some changes so the rest of the house matches the new theme and provides some perches and resting areas, but it won’t be as extensive.”

  I wondered what their version of ‘not as extensive’ was. Adeline seemed to throw herself whole-heartedly into something once she made up her mind, and I wasn’t sure if anything would limit her since Soranto and Maria were just as enthusiastic with the renovation project.

  Taureen curiously asked, “What else do you plan to do?”

  “Mostly just wall perches and a few branches,” Soranto replied, “We’re going to cut a few holes in the wall between the living room and the kitchen so Tessa can wander between the main areas as she pleases without worrying about the doors.”

  I was getting more and more excited, so much so that I couldn’t sit still. Getting to my feet, I flew over to the perches in front of the windows facing the backyard. Not much had changed out there, but some plants had disappeared and other ones had replaced them. The new ones didn’t really fit into the cultured theme, so I suspected that more changes were coming.

  A quick glance over my shoulder confirmed that the rest of my family was still exploring the trees, and my eyes widened when Dirk walked behind some leaves and disappeared. Turning around, I took to the air and flew over to where he had been.

  It wasn’t until I landed on the branch that I saw the hidden tunnel behind the leaves and tree trunk.

  “What’s back there?” I asked Dirk as I peered down the narrow tunnel.

  “It leads to a room inside the tree trunk.” He sent an image of a very dark and very roomy den. “I’ve found three like this so far.”

  Backing up a bit, I looked around, trying to spot more potential hiding spots. I didn’t see a single one from here. Apparently, I was going to have to investigate every single branch if I wanted to locate all of them.

  As I gazed around the rather big living room, I realized just what a large task that was going to be. At least Mom, Dad, and Dirk were helping, if only out of curiosity. I joined the exploration as the Kymari watched us in amusement.

  As I flew past the slightly opened bathroom door, I landed on the ground and squeezed through the narrow gap to see if anything had changed. The lights turned on when I entered.

  There was now a proper wall sensor, as well as an additional shelf with a bowl of water and a drying towel. With my curiosity satisfied, I left the bathroom to see what else I could discover in the living room.

  Adeline was just entering the door that led to the kitchen. Flying quickly, I managed to swoop in after her.

  “Land here,” she said kindly, tapping the island counter. “This kitchen isn’t quite safe for you guys yet.”

  I obediently landed on the slippery surface and folded my wings as I watched her in curiosity. This kitchen was larger than Taureen’s and had more appliances, some of which my Blood Memories couldn’t identify.

  Adeline pulled dishes of food out of several different food preservation doors and set them on a large tray, along with empty plates, cups, and cutlery. As she turned back to the counter I was sitting on, she offered me a sunburst berry.

  Once I finished the treat, she held her hand in front of me. “Step up.”

  Being careful with my claws, I climbed onto her hand and wrist while partially unfurling my wings for balance. She raised me to her shoulder, and I stepped off. The material under my feet was stiffer than I expected; I carefully scratched it and realized it was like the material on some of Aeria’s shirts. My claws wouldn’t pierce it.

  Soranto came into the kitchen and picked up the heavier tray, leaving the lighter one for Adeline. With me still on her shoulder, all three of us left the kitchen. I flew into the trees to keep exploring as the Kymari settled down to enjoy their dinner.