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After a while Supra lost interest in Troe and wandered off, and other potential sponsors came in, which mildly distracted Halubaphie. Savnorafeta though stayed intensely interested in what Troe had to say. Eventually Troe told Halubaphie to head off to greet others, and the dragonet left gratefully. Savnorafeta watched him intently once both the others were gone and said nothing for a very long while.
~Are you going to take one of us with you?~ he asked eventually, surprising Troe with his directness.
"I think that depends," said Troe with a smile. "It seems you're the only one still interested. Did you want to come with me to Kilandaia?"
Savnorafeta nodded his head and turned and walked away. Troe blinked in surprise but watched him go with curiosity. It turned out the pup just needed to inform his father that he'd made a choice. As Troe had already told the pup all about where they were going Troe himself didn't have to do much of anything. The pup said goodbye to his father and his siblings and came back to Troe. ~Alright, I will go with you.~
Savnorafeta and Troe headed back to the hotel which fortunately had dragon accomodations for those that had dragon bonds. While he and Savnorafeta were waiting at the counter, making the necessary arrangements to accomodate the pup, Troe happened to turn around and saw Nyera striding across the room with a sprightly foal-like dragonet at her heels. She stopped suddenly when she saw him, eyes wide as she took in the dragonet by his side. The little foal bumped up against Nyera's suddenly immobile legs and looked up at her in surprise and concern.
Nyera found her voice and regained control of her legs apparently because she began moving again, walking directly toward him. "Hi there," she said with a slightly puzzled look on her face.
Troe grinned at her. "Hi, how are you doing? I haven't laid eyes on you since we got here!"
Nyera colored slightly at his comment and turned to look down at the foal who had moved up to stand at her side and nuzzle at her hand questioningly. "I'm doing really good! This is Anshoku'Hyouzou, my bond, surprisingly!"
The young woman's face lit up as she said those words and Troe felt a sudden pang of jealousy that he quickly squashed. "Wow, congratulations! This is Savnorafeta, he decided he wanted to go to Kilandaia with me when we head back. Sav, this is Nyera, a coworker of mine."
Sav inclined his head in acknowledgement to both Nyera and Anshoku and the little foal nudged Nyera with her tiny horns. "Oh! Anshoku, this is Troe, we both work at the Lodge on Kilandaia. And thanks, Troe, it's still a bit of a shock, Anshoku here grabbed me out of the audience!"
Anshoku puffed herself up then, apparently very proud of herself and Troe had to stifle a chuckle, but still his eyes danced with merriment when he looked back at Nyera. They made eye contact for a mere moment before Nyera blushed and took a step back from him. She shook her head and Troe watched her in surprise, the smile fading from his face at her strange behavior.
"Well, I have to make arrangements for Anshoku here, I hope it's not too much trouble. Did you find everything you were supposed to research?" she said, sounding flustered and uncomfortable.
"Some of it, I'll be doing a bit more research tomorrow but then I should be just about done," he replied, keeping his tone more formal now that they were talking business.
She gave him an indescribable, almost confused look and then nodded. "Good, well, I guess I'll see you when we head home then. Good luck with the research."
And then she was gone, Anshoku galloping along at her heels, leaving both Troe and Sav watching after them in surprise and confusion. ~What was her problem?~ asked the pup, his surprise driving him out of his typical silence.
"I really have no idea," replied Troe. But then the woman behind the counter was back and assuring him all the neccessary arrangements had been made for Savnorafeta. Troe thanked her and tried to put Nyera out of his mind as he and Sav headed for their room.
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