Anxious Pet Parent (PVersusNP)

[DragonSong]

@PVersusNP


Of all the things that Caliope disliked about being acknowledged as the "mainland expert" on teacup dragons was that she was not, in fact, an expert. Oh, she did her best, of course: read every piece of literature even remotely related to the little creatures, fed them, played with them, kept them in a safe, warm home until they were ready to be adopted out into the world--and then only ever to people whom she had thoroughly vetted. She knew she wasn't the only way drakarys micro were spreading through the mainland--in fact, she doubted she even made up a real percentage, when it came down to it--but she honestly didn't want any part of the whole process.

She just hadn't been able to stop herself from buying that first shipment of hatchlings off a trader she wouldn't have trusted to show the animals proper care and consideration, and then, well...Then she had a dozen tiny dragons in her house, and not one single idea of how to care for them. So she'd learned. It had been a blow when she learned that they were so young when they came to her that they would likely not survive in the wild on their own--they simply hadn't learned how. And then more traders had come through with more dragons, and no one else who knew how properly care for them, and...well, things sort of spiraled. She had to start adopting them out if she wanted any space in her own home! Never mind the fact that she'd written no less then five entreaties to the sea-traders guild begging them to stop the trade of teacup dragons; there were plenty enough on the mainland now to be getting on with, thank you, and no one but her seemed to be putting any effort in learning how to help them adapt to a new environment!

So when she ran into a problem, what she got was, "You're the expert, you do something."
 
"If I had the coin for it, I'd be starting an expedition to buy up every last hatchling those poachers take and get you all back to Yoreiq," she told the tiny bundle in her arms as she hurried briskly down the wooded path. The dragon she held--a juvenile she'd taken to calling Meeka--peeped tiredly at her. She bit her lip and adjusted his blanket as she quickened her pace. "This is just the sort of thing I keep telling people is bound to happen," she muttered. "Of course draconic resilience makes you hardy little things, but there's always going to be a flu or--or something that sneaks in, and--"

Meeka sneezed a small puff of sparks and she held him a little tighter. She'd dealt with sick animals before--but never a teacup dragon. And when her usual go-to's for a cold hadn't seemed to have any effect, she'd gotten frazzled enough to visit her local healer.

That had been a fun trip: more "You're the expert, Caliope, don't you know?" until she wanted to scream. Eventually, though, the condescending old bat had told her of the alchemist and apothecary who she sometimes did business with just outside of town. Cali had never actually had occasion to meet the man herself, but she was vaguely aware of his existance.

She just had to hope he would be able to help her with a tiny, sick dragon.

Once she actually caught sight of the cottage, her stride moved from a "hurried walk" to an "outright trot", and she was reaching out with one hand to knock quickly before she'd even fully scaled the front stoop.

"Hello? Hello, is anyone in? I--I need some help..."

[PVersusNP]

A northbound trail leading out of La'marri branched left before a smaller but substantial clearing, taking its traveler to a modest-sized hill wearing a cottage like a crown. Behind the cottage laid a small field where ginseng, mint, and other herbs joined more arcane flowering plants in not-so-orderly rows. A patch of dirt existed where boxes of supplies and outgoing deliveries sat near the base of the hill where the occasional homing eagle also arrived to deliver and receive letters.

"Come in!" A woman's voice could be heard through the closed door. Past the entrance was a small but cute-looking storefront: Darkwood shelves packed with prepackaged healing potions intended for sapient use lined the western wall while freestanding shelves carried wicker weave bags containing ground tea leaves alongside low-grade ointments and other adventurer kit. A small empty mithril cauldron sat besides the freestanding shelf closest to the entrance, its curved surface bearing a metallic plaque reading "Not For Sale - Undergoing Repairs."

The human woman standing behind the counter was wiping down the dark countertop where a messy customer had ripped and spilled one of their healing ointments they'd purchased some half hour ago. The spot in question was undoubtedly clean, but perhaps she smelled something that hardly anyone else could, or the proprietor probably had a policy of strict cleanliness wherever customers congregated. The apothecary's assistant apothecarist wore a plain light gray tunic overlapping the thighs of her pants. A note of peppermint lingered in the air as the assistant spoke again: "What can I help you with?"

[DragonSong]

"Oh, um, hello," Caliope murmured as she ducked into the shop, clutching her wriggling bundle a little closer. She looked for all the world like an anxious mother cradling a newborn. "I—I have a patient—well, not a patient exactly, he's, um..."

She looked down at Meeka, then back up at the woman behind the counter rather sheepishly. "I don't suppose anyone here would know how to help a sick dragon?"

[PVersusNP]

In her two years apprenticing under the apothecary's proprietor, the shop assistant quickly learned the appearance of an overly nervous mother- or parent, for that matter- with a deathly sick child. Her brown eyes narrowed upon hearing the word "dragon," the corners of her lips facing downwards. "You have a dragon in that bundle? What kind of dragon-"[/i] Then she saw it: Those big rounded ears, the CUTEST little crest the assistant had seen on any creature... Her frown stiffened when "Meeka" sneezed again and blew sparks into its blanket. The shop assistant looked into Caliope's eyes, hers widening in realization.

"So you're the one who's been studying these... Teacup dragons, you call them? I'm sorry, but I don't think we've even sold a single potion for lesser dragons, let alone one in this state-" Another plume of sparks interrupted the shop assistant again, looking down again at the creature. Something familiar came to mind, of her bringing a compound to a sick apothecarist's "bedroom," if that overcrowded den could even be called such... But would it work? The apprentice apothecarist reflexively brushed her hair back, sighing deeply. "We don't normally treat mystical creatures' ailments, but my Master might have something to try. But before I call him in here, here are his rules for customers: Don't comment on his appearance, and don't touch ANY part of him without his consent." Turning her attention to the door behind her, the shop assistant knocked twice. "Master Zilmiel! We have a patient- well, not a patient so much as a caregiver and their 'pet.'"

"A pet, you say?" A muffled shout came from the room behind the closed door. The assistant apothecarist cast a rueful glance behind at Caliope before the deep draconic voice continued, this time directly behind the closed door and much clearer. "What kind of pet are we talking? We don't have much in stock for livestock."

"It's not a cow, pig, or chicken- It looks like a tiny feathery dragon. I already gave her the rules." The shop assistant began, hanging her dirty washcloth on a hook behind her. "It's pneumonia if I have to reckon."

"Very well. Take over the healing potions in the compounding room, if you may. I will handle this... dragon, if that's what it is."

Bowing her head, the assistant stepped aside, allowing the voice behind the door to expose himself as it opened.

Icy clawed fingers, clawed dragon feet, scales, scales, SCALES everywhere; and two horns adorned the male half-elf's head like a crown, his ashen aquamarine skin contrasting almost beautifully with his frosty horns protruding from his wing joints. He closed the door behind him after the shop assistant made her way around, careful not to step on his ridged tail, and surveyed the room. Piercing blue dragon eyes settled on the half-elf woman for a second before they shifted to the curious bundle.

"I am the apothecarist here. Name's Zilmiel in case I have not met you before. What seems to be the issue?" Zilmiel asked, his draconic voice betraying his elven facial features and swept-back black hair.

[DragonSong]

"Err, I didn't actually call them teacup dragons," Caliope found herself muttering, a knee-jerk response. She'd found herself having to explain the more common name for her little charges so often that in most cases she just did it bother. "Technically they're classified as drakarys micro..."

Then Meeka was sneezing again and it didn't matter. She drew the tiny dragon up higher against her chest and cooed at him, stroking one finger over his nasal crest with a small, concerned frown. She nodded along with the assistant's instructions, only half listening to them.

She did catch the word "pneumonia", which made her head snap up, eyes wide. "You don't think—"

Then the shopkeep himself put in an appearance, and she found herself abruptly tongue-tied. "Aaaahhhhhhh pneumonia?" she repeated lamely, blinking round eyes behind her half-mo spectacles. She looked down at Meeka, who whined and tried to burrow into her chest.

All her confusion and vague social panic faded in favor of ever-growing, slightly more practical parental panic. She looked at the apothecary, mildly desperate. "I—I'm Caliope, and this is Meeka, but please, just..." She started to hold the bundle out to him, but the tiny dragon wriggled in protested and she brought him back into her chest again, rocking and cooing gently. "I'm sorry, he's not really used to strangers yeet. But he started sniffling last night, and then this morning it was a cough, and—" She swallowed thickly. "I don't know what wrong with him, I'm so sorry, but I—I need help."

She was clearly and rather abruptly on the verge of tears.

[PVersusNP]

"If the disease started yesterday, there's a chance it can be cured, but we'll need to act quickly," Zilmiel started, ignoring Caliope's stutter as if it were nothing as he craned his neck forward to take a closer look at the toy dragon. "I have something I took for my own pneumonia nine months ago, but we'll need to dilute it for Maek- Meeka, sorry. Give me a minute..."

Zilmiel opened the door behind him again and peeked down the corridor. "Emelys, bring me the-"

"Already got it." The woman's heed peeked from another open door, holding out a glass bottle still containing an eighth of its contents. "I figured you'd need it."

"Great recollection you have, Emelys. Bring me two water flasks and a scale if you can," Zilmiel ordered. The woman reemerged thirty seconds later from the compounding room and handed over a copper tray containing both flasks, a balance scale, and a rectangular box that, judging from their weight, contained all the weights used for measuring out solution masses.

As the door closed behind Zilmiel again, the apothecarist set the brass scales on the counter to his left before laying out the weights. The scale platters appeared just barely enough to fit one teacup dragon.  "First, please tell me Meeka's weight. If you don't know it, then my assistant will have to dig up the old package scale." Zilmiel said, popping open the medicine bottle and pouring its contents into the clear graduated bottle before him.

[DragonSong]

"Oh, um, he's about five and a half pounds," Caliope answered in something of a mumble. "He's—he's a little small for his age; I hadn't thought anything of it, but I've never had one of them get sick like this before, so maybe..."

Meeka coughed pitifully in her arms and she held him a little tighter, accidentally starting to wrap up the trailing sleeves of her dark green robe in the blanket she'd already bundled around the young dragon.

"They're native to tropical climates," she muttered, seemingly almost on a reflex, "but I've never had one get pneumonia before. I assumed draconic resistance will out, even if the dragon in question is the size of a cat..."

[PVersusNP]

Five and a half pounds... Zilmiel listened carefully even as he began pouring water into the second graduated bottle. "I would not know if he's small for his age. All I can say is that creatures are in a vulnerable window during their youth. The youngest share their resistance from their mother while adults can fight off colds and such, but this one..." The graduated bottle stopped filling at the topmost point as Zilmiel set back down the flask, looking intently at Caliope for a minute with his eyes. "As I said earlier, there's a chance we can cure this condition, but you must prepare for the worst." Zilmiel's claws pried open the countertop drawer and counted out seven pinkie-length phials, standing them upright in a wooden phial holder to the right of the scales. "Draconic resistance only applies to adolescent and older dragons, not wyrmlings. Otherwise, we'd..." Zilmiel paused, a note of discomfort apparent in his eyes. "... overpopulate the place. Anyway..."

Zilmiel eyeballed the first phial, noting the number of drops of concentrate required per hundred drops of solution. With impeccable precision, Zilmiel gently tapped the concentrate bottle, filling about two percent of the bottle with the potion before he switched to the water bottle and filled the remaining volume. "This is the test dose, I suppose. I'm giving this little fellow twice the dose for his weight, and I want him to ingest half of the first phial. If his condition improves or stabilizes at least, I will prepare the remaining phials and give them to you. If it continues to worsen in the next two hours, well..." Picking up the first phial between two claws, Zilmiel held out the phial for Caliope. "I am not great with consolation. All I can offer is well-wishing."

[DragonSong]

Caliope nodded along with his instructions, jostling Meeka as gently as she could into the crook of her elbow when he squirmed. "I, um..." She sniffled a bit, eyes watery behind her spectacles. The frizzy curls of her hair had started to come loose from the bun she'd pulled it back into on her walk from the main village. "I don't suppose you have...any fruit, or something? He might take it down easier if there's a treat with it..."

[PVersusNP]

"A treat? I might have something..." Zilmiel's voice trailed off, reaching his fingers into a cabinet behind him and besides the closed door. The storage cabinet opened without fuss as a fruity aroma penetrated the room: Apple, pear, and blackcurrant met Zilmiel's nose shortly before he pulled an apple fresh from this morning's harvest from the base shelf where two other apples waited to be dehydrated and candied. Zilmiel set the healthy apple on the countertop, ripe and deep red as it was. "Fresh from the tree. Let me get a knife and cut it up... You may need to feed the medicine directly to the little one while he's eating. The apple is already saturated with moisture as is." Zilmiel reached into the cabinet's top drawer just below the shelves, pulling out a cutting knife before returning his attention to the apple. "Assuming it works, he will need to take half a phial in the morning and half a vial in the evening. I will mark the open phial and two others differently to remind you to use those first. The remaining four will have half the total dose. Make sure you administer Meeka the entire course, or the pneumonia will relapse."

With the apple cut into eighths, Zilmiel cupped the slices between his left palm and the knife blade before pushing them before Caliope. "One sliced apple ready."

[DragonSong]

"Thank you." Caliope carefully moved Meeka onto the counter so she could start feeding him and giving him the first dose of medication. "Thank you so much."

She got the sickly little dragon to open his mouth in expectation of a delicious apple slice, before sliding a few drops of the medicine into his lotus instead. The teacup dragon mewled in protest, giving her a baleful look, but seemed mollified when she gave him the bite of apple before moving to repeat the process.

"I'm...sorry for just barging in here," she murmured with a glance at Zilmiel as she worked. "I just...I'd heard you were one of the best in your profession, and these little ones aren't exactly a typical patient, I just thought..." She trailed off, flushing a little, and fidgeted with her spectacles. "Ahem. Anyway, ahm, thank you. H-how much do I owe you?"

[PVersusNP]

"Don't mention it. I follow reports of whatever herbs and other ingredients arrive in this village, and occasionally I hear about exotic 'pets.' I almost expected something like this to happen: Some trader brings in animals they know nothing about. Someone rescues said creatures and comes to discover how ill-prepared society is in handling their ailments," Zilmiel said, watching Meeka as the dragon bit into another apple slice, dripping juice onto the counter. Meeka blew another plume of sparks right after he took a followup bite. "Nothing to apologize for here. You've done the smart thing by reaching out to someone who knows how to experiment. However, we'll talk about the payment after we see whether Meeka's treatment works. Feel free to take a seat on the stool to your right." Picking up another apple slice, Zilmiel tilted his head slightly, settling his piercing blue eyes on the teacup dragon before holding out the apple slice in his palm. Meeka recoiled for a split second before he sniffed the tips of Zilmiel's claws. To the half-dragon's pleasure, the teacup dragon took a bite of the apple with glee, dripping more juice into Zilmiel's palm as Meeka swallowed another bite of the apple.


Two hours passed. The apothecary's sign read "CLOSED" from the outside, though the apothecary's four occupants were hardly vacant from the premises. Meeka had curled into a ball thirty minutes after Caliope administered the teacup dragon's first dose of potion. He occasionally sneezed in his sleep, but the intervals between sneezes grew by the minute until, before the end of the second hour, Meeka had not sneezed once in the past forty-five minutes. Zilmiel carefully poured several more drops of concentrate each into the six remaining phials before diluting and capping them. Wax seals secured each phial, with the half empty phial and the first two following it enchanted with glowing charms as a reminder to administer those first before the four others.

"Count me surprised. We did it..."

Meeka continued to nap on the counter while Zilmiel marked some parchment listing all transactions for the day, purring once or twice after Zilmiel cautiously rubbed behind Meeka's ears, taking care not to pierce or scratch the teacup dragon's skin. "The potion itself was about to expire next month, and that was one of ten bottles I had to take for my own pneumonia. You'll only be charged for the apple, which comes out to about five pips. I only ask that you keep Meeka in a room separate from your other pets, if you have any. Otherwise, even I won't have enough concentrate to help with an epidemic."

[DragonSong]

"Yes," Cali sighed as she sank onto the indicated stool. "It's exactly like that--would you believe I've tried to arrange an audience with the sea trader's guild five times and they still refuse to see me? I've just about given up on the hope of banning the trade for drakarys micro entirely, but they could at least place some reasonable restrictions, gods! Every year there's a new trader coming through now with another fresh-caught batch, and now people think I want to keep taking them in--not that I don't, exactly," she hurried to add as Meeka began eating out of Zilmiel's hand. Her expression softened as she watched. "They are dear little things, and surprisingly useful companions. But it's just..."

She sighed and spread her hands. "If I had my way, I would be studying them in their natural environment--not trying desperately to make them comfortable after they've ben poached out of it. I've been able to arrange passage for some back to Yoreiq, the ones that are able to be properly rehabilitated, but most of them come to me so young..."

She trailed off again, then shook her head quickly. "Ah, forgive me. I'm rambling," she murmured with a nervous little laugh, cheeks coloring slightly. She subsided into quiet as Meeka finished his first dose of medication.


As the tiny dragon steadily improved over the next few hours, Caliope gradually felt th tension start to bleed from her shoulders. She was so relieved when the wyrmling seemed to be sleeping peacefully enough that Zilmiel's patting hardly disturbed him in the slightest that she nearly burst into tears. She almost didn't hear the apothecary giving her the bill.

"Wait--what?" She snapped her attention away from Meeka and blinked owlishly at him behind her spectacles. "I--no. No, I can't possibly--can I at least pay you for the potion components?" she stammered out. "You have no idea how grateful I am that--I mean, it wouldn't be right to just...I can't just pay you for the apple!"

[PVersusNP]

"The potion was due to expire soon anyways. I mean- okay." Zilmiel looked down at Meeka after staring intently at Caliope. The little dragon slept soundly throughout the exchange, not stirring even as Zilmiel started sliding the seven phials into a wicker weave pouch while speaking. "If you insist on paying for the potion, I will ask only for additional information about these dragons as payment. In particular, what are their dietary considerations, have you found any other sicknesses specific to their kind, and what else should someone know about them? As you said earlier, traders keep bringing these creatures in, and you definitely won't be the last caregiver coming in with a sick teacup dragon. I'll at least have a head start in preparing remedies for those like Meeka." Meeka purred again right as Zilmiel scritched his ears with a finger. With his other hand, Zilmiel applied another wax charm on the pouch before a glowing wax seal formed between the pouch flap and body, leaving all seven phials ready for Caliope to take possession.

Meeka opened his eyes fifteen minutes later with a yawn before stretching his forelimbs on the counter. The scales and bottles were put away, faint streaks marked where the washrag cleaned the counter, and the cabinet behind Zilmiel was locked once more. "You said earlier that you have other drakarys micro creatures?" Zilmiel asked, wiping one final measuring phial clean for the late afternoon as the reddening sun lit the shop in beautiful warm hues.

[DragonSong]

Cali shrank a bit under the intensity of his stare, but she held her ground. Luckily, he didn't require much more persuading--though she was inclined to think information about her diminutive charges was hardly worth possibly saving Meeka's life.

Still, she was happy enough to talk about teacup dragons. "Well, they eat just about anything, to be honest," she chuckled quietly. "There unfortunately isn't a lot of literature on them--as far as I understand it, they aren't exactly common even on the isles; they mostly stick to the deep jungles, away from humans, so there aren't that many accounts of people keeping them as pets before traders started bringing them to the mainland. Which isn't to say they don't, of course, I actually managed to set up a sort of pen-pal relationship with a clothier in Ainu who has been a wealth of information. Her grandmother used to feed a flock of them that visited her house during their migration, and--"

She realized she was rambling again, blushed, and cleared her throat. "Err--that is, they seem to prefer fruits, but they'll take bits of meat, nuts, even bread. As long as the main staple of their diet is vegetation of some sort, and preferably some fruit, they're quite content. Aiyla--the clothier I mentioned--said she saw a few scavenging her uncle's kill when she was a girl, and in my experience they're certainly not adverse to meat." With a glance at Meeka, she frowned a bit and added in a softer voice, "Before this, I'd actually never seen one take ill--like I said, I assumed they had some sort of draconic resistance to illness and poison." She sighed and scrubbed her hands over her face. "This is the problem with people thinking you're the expert no matter how many times you try to tell them otherwise."

She was quiet a moment, then seemed to physically shake herself out of the melancholy and held her arms open for Meeka to bounce into as she looked up at Zilmiel. "Ah, yes. Yes, I do have a few in the shop now--a trader came through about a month ago with Meeka here and his siblings, and then I have El, Tam, and Zyn. They're full-grown, from the first shipment I bought about four years ago. I couldn't find good homes for them, so...they sort of stuck with me." With a sigh and a small, sheepish laugh, she added, "They just laid their first clutch, actually, so that's three more babies in the next few months--I didn't realize when I decided to keep them that they'd form a breeding triad."

[PVersusNP]

Zilmiel listened while wiping one measuring glass clean. "It sounds like you have your work cut out for you, trying to figure out how to accommodate the new wyrmlings on their way as well as trying to stop the trade. How are Meeka's siblings doing?" The dirty washrag hung from its hook above the basin again after Zilmiel returned the clean measuring glass in its cupboard. The door opened behind Zilmiel before Emelys ducked underneath his wings.

"Master Zilmiel, the potions are ready for shipment tomorrow, and I have made a good head start on the ointments," Emelys reported, rubbing a bead of sweat from her face before she stared at Meeka for a second. A look of pleasant surprise came over her face, startled at the young dragon's renewed health. "H-how'd it go, boss?"

"Better than expected, Emelys. Our customer here has the doses her dragon needs, but we will need to plant more roots and Niahiweed cuttings. We may have to replicate the potion I ordered for my sickness months ago, if you know what I mean..." Zilmiel replied, closing his eyes. Emelys opened her mouth but didn't speak, passing through the counter turnstile as she smiled at Zilmiel and the woman.

"Why, that's wonderful! I will see you tomorrow, Master."

The front door shut behind Emelys as the woman descended the stoop, leaving Zilmiel alone with Caliope and Meeka. He returned his attention to the same peppermint-y spot Emelys scrubbed vigorously three hours earlier. "Hm... Smells like I owe my apprentice an apology. I spilled a drop of peppermint extract- anyway, be sure to give Meeka his second dose from the half-empty bottle tonight. Give him the first half of the second bottle tomorrow morning, stop by here, and feel free to bring El, Zyn, Tam, or any other dragon with you. I am intrigued by these tiny dragons, Caliope," Zilmiel admitted, his eyes lingering on Meeka before he turned to face the door behind him. "I wish Meeka a solid recovery, gods willing."

[DragonSong]

Caliope once again shrank into her robes a bit when Emelys appeared, but she smiled at the other woman shyly. Meeka, seeming much more alert, breathed a puff of periwinkle smoke in her direction as she left.

"Ah, that's friendly," Caliope assured the shop master with a sheepish chuckle. "I...I think he's trying to match your colors, actually. They're automimetic, so if they take a liking to someone they try to copy them in small ways." She smiled, running two fingers over Meeka's crest and earning a happy trill. "He must know that you helped him."

She nodded along with his instructions, gratefully taking the rest of the medication and tucking the lot carefully away into her pack. She glanced up, eyes wide with surprises behind her half-moon lenses, but smiled when he mentioned she could bring some of the other dragons along the next day.

"I--I'll see if any of them feel like an outing," she promised with a gentle curl to her lips. "And thank you. Truly. For everything."

Jostling Meeka into the crook of one arm, she half wrapped him in the blanket she'd used to bundle him into the apothecary, but paused before she actually turned to leave. "Ah, Master Zilmiel?" Cheeks pink, she told him with another little smile, "You can call me Cali, if you like."


Meeka was certainly doing better, but he was tired. She let him sleep, sequestered away from the rest of the animals in the house--in addition to her own three teacup dragons and Meeka's siblings, she had two hunting dogs staying with her that she was training for a neighbor--only disturbing him to give him the next doses of his potion as the alchemist had instructed.

Though he still sneezed occasionally, and was sleeping quite a lot, he wasn't listless in the same way he had been, which she took as a very good sign.

Meeka's clutchmates--two females she'd taken to calling Keema and Kora--began peeping at her anxiously the moment she started bundling him up again for his return trip to the apothecary.

"Alright then," she chuckled, "into the basket with you."

The other two juvenile dragons jumped eagerly into the woven basket she sat down in front of them. With Meeka in a makeshift sling across her chest and his sisters in a modified picnic basket hanging from her elbow, she set off back along the wooded trail that led to Zilmiel's shop. Though she certainly looked less harried than she had the day before, she still cut a rather odd figure as she once again knocked on the door and peered curiously into the shop.

"Ah, hello?"

[PVersusNP]

"Come in, Caliope! Master Zilmiel told me you'd be here first thing in the morning." Emelys's voice broke the shop's morning silence. The assistant alchemist could not contain her smile at the sight of Caliope's two basket dragons, but Caliope's chest bundle made her snap her smile away. "I see you've brought back Meeka and what appear to be his siblings? How is little Meeka doing?" Emelys asked, replacing an exhausted candle with a new one in its brass holder; from her angle, she could not tell whether Meeka was napping or wide awake. "I know the potion causes drowsiness from what I remembered helping my boss last year with his cold. The final four doses should cause less drowsiness-"

"Emelys, is that Cali? I mean, Caliope?" A voice called from the closed door behind Emelys.

"Yes boss! Caliope has also brought in two more teacup dragons!"

"Splendid."

The door opened moments later to Zilmiel's half-draconic form clutching two apples between his claws. Emelys stepped right to give Zilmiel's wings and tail clearance when the latter closed the door behind him and laid out three apples. "Welcome back, Cali. I-"

Zilmiel's eyes relaxed when he saw the two dragons snuggling together in the basket. "- I hope Meeka has taken well to the medication? May I also ask for the names of those two dragons?"

[DragonSong]

Cali smiled at Emelys, one hand cradling Meeka's slight weight in his sling. He was dozing lightly, but his breathing certainly came easier than it had the day before. "He's much better, thank you. And yes, these are his sisters." She lifted the basket slightly and both Keema and Kora poked their heads out curiously, peeping as they looked around the shop.

Her smile widened when Zilmiel appeared, carrying apples. "Yes, he seems to be doing much better," she told him, glancing down at her dozing bundle before carefully setting the basket with his sisters on the counter beside the apples. "And of course—that's Keema, with the streak of green down her spine, and that's Kora, with more blue in her feathers."

Both tiny dragons peeped at the sound of their names, front paws gripping the edge of the basket as they stared around with wide, curious eyes. Keema, evidently the more adventurous, fluttered her tiny wings and reared up further onto her hind legs to try to get a look at the treats Zilmiel had left out. She looked up at the apothecarist and squeaked demandingly.

[PVersusNP]

"That's great to hear!" Emelys cheered quietly as she opened one of the drawers. "Master Zilmiel, which knife?"

"The shallow-serrated one." The half-dragon responded, tilting his head curiously at Meeka's green-streaked sibling named Keema. "It is a pleasure to meet little Keema and Kora. Keema- this is Keema- sounds like she's hungry." Taking the knife Emelys laid on the counter, Zilmiel cut the first apple in halves, then quarters and finally eighths. He pinched the first apple slice and carefully extended his offering to the now-placated Keema, who eagerly snatched and bit into her apple slice. Kora watched her sister snack on the fruit before she squeaked again, lifting her head and standing on the basket's edge as well. Zilmiel took another apple slice and held it out to Kora, who took it in her mouth and began nibbling it in her basket. Keema let out a vibrant plume of periwinkle smoke.

"I think Keema thanked me for giving her apple slice. You said drakarys micro mimics the appearance of those they like?" Zilmiel asked, extending his  clawed fingers holding a third apple slice to Meeka who stirred in his nap. "What will you do with Meeka, Keema, and Kora once Meeka's feeling better, if I may ask?"