The night Simon had been sent away seemed wonderful despite all the terrible things that had happened at its beginning and the lingering effects of those events.  Carnoc's muscles burned whenever he moved because of the shocks Simon had given him and hunger gnawed at his belly after being denied an evening meal, but he didn't care.  He could fly again!  Tonight there were no straps pinning him to the ground, nothing cut off his sight, no muzzle was bound around his snout...  He roared as long and loud as he could as he circled above the habitat, then listened as the animals in the other cages at the zoo cried out in terror and scurried into whatever hiding places they could find.  This was his element, this was what dragons were supposed to do.

Almost.  If only those barriers didn't cage him into a tiny little cube of air, if only he had room to really stretch out his wings and soar over everything, if only he could hunt some of the prey he'd just scared with his call.

But being able to fly again felt so good it almost didn't matter.  He flew all night despite the pain in his limbs, despite his hunger and despite his growing weariness, and when he finally went inside to wait for the arrival of the morning meal he felt as good as he had since he'd woken up in the cage.  Vical was still asleep when he set down, but not long after sunrise she stirred, yawned and stretched, then looked over at him.

"Did you have a good night?" she murmured sleepily.

"Better than the last few."

"Of course.  I missed being able to curl up against your side, though; your scales are so warm..."  She purred briefly.

"You aren't my mate," Carnoc growled.  "You shouldn't have."

"But you didn't tell me not to, and you looked like you needed comforting in that terrible harness.  Would you have preferred to be completely alone while you were helpless?"

He growled again, more loudly, but didn't respond; he knew those nights would have been much worse if he'd been left by himself.

"Either way, I'm glad Simon won't be able to do that to you anymore, and that you're happier without him."

"Just... don't bring up what he did to me again," he lashed his tail, and had to suppress a shiver when he thought about how it had felt to be helpless and facing such terrible pain.

Vical looked away.  "Sorry."

They were quiet for a few minutes, then the door in the wall opened and three handlers walked inside.  Carnoc saw one difference about the humans immediately: unlike when Simon had been in charge of them, they weren't carrying rifles.  But they also didn't have any food; instead they were wheeling an odd collection of objects on a cart through the small barrier-protected section and into the main cave.

"Good morning!" Jeff said, and he turned to smile at them.  "We were able to borrow some things from vacant rooms around the resort to put this together so you can see your messages and respond to them.  We'll set up something more permanent in the next couple of days, but this will do for now.  You probably remember the names I gave you last night, so is there a message you wanted to see first?"

Carnoc nodded and opened his mouth to answer, but first Vical said, "what's going on?  Where's our not-prey?"

"The humans are going to let us see the messages we've received first, or at least that's what Jeff said."  He switched back to English and said, "Melora's."

"Right."  Jeff turned to face the cart of equipment and fiddled with it for a little while, then said, "there we go, here's the message," and stepped out of the way.

A small screen standing on top of the cart lit up, and after a moment Melora's face appeared on it.  She was quiet for a moment, then another dragon's voice said, "okay, start talking."

Melora's head tilted to one side for a moment, then she looked at whatever had recorded her image and said, "hello, my mate.  I'm sure you're worried about me, so I thought I'd send you one of these messages to tell you that the egg and I are both fine.  The humans locked me up in some place called San Diego, wherever that is, and I'm here with one of the fledglings of your clan, Aithsa.  He's a sweet little dragon and we're getting along fine, so don't worry about me, all right?  I don't know how long the humans are going to keep us here, but hopefully they'll set us free before it comes time for me to lay...  Well, we can worry about that later, I suppose, and Aithsa says our handler thinks we won't be caged for that long.  Anyway, I miss you, and send me a message when you get this to let me know you're all right.  ...goodbye."  Then she looked off to the right and said, "that's it," and after a moment the screen went black.

"Okay," Jeff said, "would you like to record a response to that message?"

"Yes."

He worked with the devices for a few moments, then said, "do you need a moment to think about what you want to say?"
Carnoc shuffled his wings; there wasn't much that had to be said.  "I think I know."

"All right."  Jeff returned to his controls and after a moment the screen lit up again, this time showing Carnoc's chest.  The image panned up until his whole head was in the frame, then zoomed out a little.  "I'll tell you when to start, and you let me know when you're done.  Ready?"

He nodded.

"Right.  Stand by, and..." he raised his hand, "begin."

"Hello, my mate," he said, trying to ignore how strange it felt to be talking to an image of himself.  "I got your message, and I'm glad to hear you're doing well.  I...  Well, when I first got here the human taking care of me tried to hurt me and humiliate me at every opportunity, but his boss stepped in and sent him away and now things are much better.  I'm fine now, anyway, here at Disney World--and I don't know where that is, either, but it's a few days' flight southeast of my clan's cave.  Vical is trapped here with me, so I'm not alone, and she and I are getting along.  Let me know if anything happens with you or the egg, and hopefully we'll be able to actually see each other soon.  I miss you, too..."

Vical nudged him out of the way, whispering, "I want to say something to her."  He ducked out of the way and let her put her head in the center of the image, and she said, "hey, Melora, it's me.  I'm sure it would make you nervous to just know that your mate is going to spend all his time so close to another dragoness, so let me reassure you that I won't try to get between you and him.  You know I'd never do that to you, and since I stopped scenting two months ago nothing will urge him and me to mate unless we're stuck in these cages for at least two and a half years.  Just know that he and I weren't put together by any choice of ours, and that you have my word I won't try to draw him away from you."  She whispered to him, "did you have anything left to say?"

"Just goodbye."

"Right, we'll say it together."

He put his head up next to hers and paused a moment as Jeff got both of their heads fully in the frame, then they both said, "goodbye."

Carnoc added to Jeff, "we're finished," and after a moment the screen went black again.  Then he turned to Vical and said, "what was that all about?"

"Melora and I are friends, and I didn't want her worried about me being close to you when she can't be."

"Yeah, but like you said to her, we didn't decide this.  Humans did."

She snorted.  "You have no idea the kinds of duels dragonesses have fought over jealousy.  She knows just as well as I do how strongly every dragoness of my clan was drawn to you, and I had to tell her that it wouldn't get the better of either of us so she wouldn't have any reason to feel suspicious or jealous of me."

He sniffed the air.  "Drawn to me?  I know I'm a warrior, but..."

"Remember what I said to you when I gave you that prey?  You're very handsome, you're capable of incredible things, and you have that independent, dangerous demeanor every dragoness loves.  Think about it: just a little while ago, I wanted to be paired with you for a mating cycle as badly as I've ever wanted anything, and now here we are in a place where not only can we not be separated, but if we did do anything, no other dragon would ever know about it unless we admitted it.  If you were in Melora's position, wouldn't you be at least a little worried that something might happen between us?"

"And you think I wouldn't be able to fight you off?" he growled.  "I have a mate with an egg growing in her belly to think about."

"Oh, you do.  But blowing against your other wing you have a beautiful dragoness living alone with you who you can't help but look at whenever she's around you and you know would likely be more willing than you if you ever wanted something to happen between you and her.  If you were Melora, wouldn't you be afraid of that one moment of weakness that catches your mate and your best friend off guard and makes them both betray you?"

Carnoc faltered for a moment.  "I..."  He cocked his head to one side.  "You really did want to mate with me, if you took the time to think about this so much."

"I did.  Still do," she sighed and flicked her tail, "but I've consigned myself to waiting for another chance--hopefully next cycle--and I'm not going to put myself between you and her.  I just had to tell her that, so she wouldn't worry about it."

"...I'm sure she appreciates it."

He paused, and neither of them looked at each other for a little while.  He had to struggle not to look towards her belly, hindquarters or tail; to know that a dragoness who was that interested in him had no choice but to share a cave with him...  He couldn't help but imagine what they might do if that "moment of weakness" she'd brought up actually happened.  Vical was beautiful, really...

Thankfully Jeff broke the awkward silence before he could think about her long enough to be aroused by what he'd just pictured in his head.  "Which message did you want to view next?" the man asked, looking up at them with one raised eyebrow.

Carnoc paused; both Vallen and Nesleh were certain to have sent stern lectures reminding him to be very careful with his temper.  Maybe it would be better to hear Vallen's first, he thought; sure, his elder was likely to be more stern, but he also might have included information in his message about how long they should expect to have to live at a zoo before being set free.  "The message from Vallen," he said.

"All right."

Vallen's image soon appeared on the screen, and he said, "hello, Carnoc.  I'm sure you're curious, so I'll tell you what's happened since we were all captured again: both clans have been scattered around the world to various human zoos, theme parks and so on, and most dragons live alone, while a few are in pairs.  As for Sean, he's started his movement of protests to set our kind free and give us rights equal to those of humans, and while he has a lot of supporters the government has yet to acknowledge them.  He told me to expect not to be freed for several months, and quite possibly a full year or more, so keep that in mind.

"Which brings me to the point of this message.  I know you're not going to enjoy being at that zoo for a year, or a few months, or even a week, but you must control your temper regardless.  One of the main arguments made by Sean's movement is that dragons and humans are perfectly capable of coexisting, and if you attack or kill anyone because you can't control yourself then it could very well mean we'll never be set free.  Hopefully Vical is watching this, too, because I have a message for her: Vical, be aware of Carnoc's temper at all times and keep an eye on him.  If you think he might lose control of himself, get in his way and make sure he doesn't harm any of the humans until he calms himself down.  I'm sure both of you are aware of the importance of this, so don't forget it.  Goodbye."  The message ended.

"Do you want to send a reply?"

"No."

"All right...  I think it's Vical's turn next, so I'll show her the one from Dulna."

"Hey, Vical," Dulna's message began.  "I've been informed you're living with Carnoc, so I trust I won't have to explain our current situation to you.  I just wanted to send this message to let you know that if you have any problems with the humans or questions about them while we're all in captivity, send them to Vallen in St. Louis.  His zoo has given him a lot of freedom and he's the one most in touch with the humans trying to have us all set free, so if you have any questions about what's going on or want some problem solved, he'd be the one most able to help you.  I hope you're managing well, and I hope we're all freed soon so I can see you again."

"Does she want to send a reply?"

"Jeff needs to know if you want to send a message back to Dulna."

"No, not now," she pawed at the ground.

He relayed her answer, and Jeff went back to work with the devices.  "All right, last message for now...  Here's the one from Nesleh."

Nesleh's image was brought up on the screen.  "Hello, son.  I'm sure Vallen has already sent you a lecture reminding you to keep your blood in check, so I won't bother giving you my own.  Just remember your calming techniques, ignore any humans who try to insult you or humiliate you, and you'll be fine.  I know you can do it.  From what I heard no dragons of either clan were injured in our capture or transport to zoos, so if you haven't heard from your mate yet she and her egg should be doing just fine--not that she really needs you to care for her at this stage, but even if it takes a while for us to be set free I'm sure the humans will do more than a good enough job protecting her and providing for her in your stead.  Anyway, I miss you, and I hope we'll be able to see each other again soon.  Bye."

"Do you want to send a reply?" Jeff asked.

He thought for a moment.  It was nice to hear from his father, sure, but he wouldn't really have anything to say except that he had indeed received Nesleh's message.  Of course that he heard the message actually had been in question for a little while thanks to Simon and how he'd treated him before being fired, but Nesleh didn't have to know how badly Simon had hurt him--no one did.

"No, I don't need to tell him anything right now."

"Okay.  That's all the messages for now, and we should have a permanent message center installed soon; let me know if either of you want to send messages to any other dragons.  Anyway, I'm sure you're hungry, so..."  He signaled the other two handlers and they left the cave only to return a moment later with two trays of beef, which they set down before the dragons.

Carnoc ate eagerly, half-starved after exercising all night and having gone a full day without food.  The second thought made him pause a for moment: back home he'd only ever known having one meal per night, and after just a week here he already missed when he didn't get two?  Though the meals he was given here were smaller, so that had to make a difference...

By the time he'd finished and cleaned off his face and claws the sound of humans outside was already building, but he didn't mind it that much today, he thought as he curled up to sleep.  Today he wouldn't have to worry about disobeying Simon and being punished for it that night, he wouldn't be doing his best to stay awake so the uncomfortable night would pass more easily, and a night of exercise and a full belly were already urging him to sleep.  Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to live here after all, now that he didn't have humans pestering him all the time...

"You know," Vical said, "you don't have to spite Simon by refusing to go outside anymore.  Are you sure you don't want to go spend some time in the sun with me?"

He sighed.  "I'm sure.  I'm glad he's gone, and Jeff and Edward seem much nicer, but it doesn't change how I feel about this place."  He yawned and laid his head down on his front paws.  "Go have fun, if you can."

"Sleep well," she said, and walked outside.