“Silly thing,” she murmured, rather enjoying his bouncy excitement. However, he tired out before long (he was just a newly hatched wyrm, after all), and settled around the base of the mast, atop the little mini-cabin, so that he could watch all around with still bright and excited eyes without moving much.

     They were soon out over the lake, within sight of home, as always, and Aise turned the sails so that they wouldn’t catch the wind. As soon as they’d stopped, Oku un wrapped himself from around the mast and moved over, closer to his bond, watching what she did curiously. Which was prepare the hook and line on her pole.

     Aislin chose a ‘fly’ as her father called them, though she’d rather refer to them as ‘feathery hooks,’ since that’s what they really were, and tied it securely to the line.

     Oku watched, captivated, as she lifted the pole and flung the feathery hook out over the lake, then brought it back and flung it further, and a third time, then let it rest where it lay. When she sat still, Oku became bored and left her side to peer over the edge into the lake. It was shallow here, and he was fascinated by the fish below, especially those flashy ones.

     Aise watched as he leaned forward, bright little eyes intent on the sparkling depth below. She giggled and turned her attention to the suddenly jerking line, trying to pull in the fish. She’d almost had it a moment later when the little wyrm’s mental flicker of alarm caught her by surprise, and she heard a splash behind her, followed instantly by some frantic, high-pitched dragon fly squeaking. Aise, fearing the worst, let go her pole and turned to where Oku had been perched on the railings.

     “Oku!” she cried, alarmed; he wasn’t there. She peered over the side into the water, hoping that he hadn’t been eaten by a big shadowfish, not remembering uncle J’s revelation that the big fish wouldn’t hurt anything in or around the Ssounaa’ouna.

     Some splashing brought her attention to the fore of the ship, where her pole had fallen into the water when she’d let it slip.

     *Wheeee!* the little dragon’s gleeful mindvoice startled her as she peered into the water, expecting him to have been at least a little afraid. Nope, he was happily bobbing up and down on the little wavelets, his little spined tail wrapped around Aise’s fishing pole. The fish was apparently not large enough or strong enough to pull him, though from the way the pole was bobbing it was certainly trying it’s hardest.

     *Fun swim!* he said, splashing some more with his back spines.

     Relief flooded Aislin, followed by anger, then giggles in quick succession. ‘Thank goodness he’s okay!’ was followed by ‘he shouldn’t have tried to swim all on his own, what if he’d drowned!’ which was in turn followed closely by ‘oh, he’s so cute!’

     It was all very confusing to the little wyrm, who’d been aware of her thought process.

     *No fun swim yes?* he asked, confusion evident in both is mental touch and the way he’d phrased the question. Aislin decided that she’d need to teach him to speak better before she took him to meet her parents.

     She sighed, but smiled “It’s alright, you just scared me! Come here, silly dragon,” she said, holding out her arms towards him. Oku obediently wriggled his little body, swimming serpentinely closer, using his spines for propulsion and dragging the fishing pole with him.

     Aise scooped him up out of the water and hugged him, careful as ever to beware those sharp spines. She wondered how something so cute and innocent could be so dangerous.

     “I was afraid you’d get hurt, vissaa,” she said, taking the pole from him and lodging it under the railing so that it wouldn’t move until she had time to pull in the fish. “You shouldn’t have jumped into the water.”

     *Didn’t jump, falled,* Oku admitted sheepishly, then went on quickly to reassure his bondmate. *But can swim! Can swim very good!*

     Aislin smiled, tempted to giggle again “Yes I saw that,” she said, letting a fair amount of pride seep into both her voice and mind. “Just, next time you wanna try something, let me know, okay? What would’ve happened if you couldn’t swim very good? I would’ve had to look for another baby dragon, that’s what!” she teased, feeling his dismay as he realized what she meant.

     *Not do again,* he promised, *Not look for another baby dragon. Only baby dragon yes.* Oku said fervently, coiling about Aislin’s arms possessively.

     She couldn’t help but giggle, and hugged him tightly. Good, she thought at him, ‘cause I don’t want another baby dragon.

     Well, one crisis averted, Aislin and Oku proceeded to re-reel in their catch, the latter watching it flip on the end of the line, wide-eyed. Soon after it was decided that Oku much preferred fish over pretty much anything he’d eaten that day, except maybe the milk. Which was a good thing; Aise didn’t think she could sneak any more food out of the house without being caught. This way, she could feed both the dragon fly and Oku without having to worry about it too much.

     Which would be a good thing, in the times to come.