The two days that went by after Mint's unplanned bonding-day were immeasurably pleasant ones. Though Anova had had another meeting with Minister Falken in that time, Mint had otherwise monopolized it. For all that Anova had accepted his apologies and assured him she wasn't upset with him, he'd still felt guilty for what he saw as shirking his role as her only big brother. In 'apology', he'd made sure he was always around whenever she was struck with free time, and never left her alone in their suite. Instead of using the time to explore the city whenever Anova had to retreat into the apartment's office to tackle some little bit of work, he went about doing this or that little thing in the other rooms so he was at least keeping her company with background noise, instead of leaving her alone in the quiet little flat.

On those times he did leave the suite, he took Anova with him. First he managed to coax her to a quiet restaurant with a menu that could cater around her allergies, and another time he took her to the city's flight deck, where they'd watched a group of dragons chase each other about in aerial tag. It had been an exciting display of speed and agility, and Mint had been pleased to see his sister had been captivated in watching the magnificent creatures.

Little Sansu was an absolute gentleman, consistently amazing Mint with maturity that contradicted his newborn nature. To have been born with a complete (if mental) vocabulary and developed personality...Sansu was no adult, but Mint still knew plenty of noble ladies back home that probably would have loved for their children to have been born with all the maturity that the hatchling had! Sansu was incredibly perceptive, and never needed Mint to drop a hint that Anova might rather that he weren't around. In compensation, it seemed the little dragonet did begin to grow on her as Mint had hoped, for more than once the tiny hatchling had been found dozing contentedly in Anova's lap. Those moments would find Mint's heart swelling with love for them both, his sister and newfound best friend, thanking the Stag that he had them.

Over the two days, those moments also left Mint wishing Anova could feel the same. It wasn't fair for her to be so alone when Mint wasn't around, and it wasn't realistic to say Mint could always be with her. As much as he adored her, it wasn't a good thing for Anova to rely so much on him alone. The solution was obvious, but Mint spent a lot of those two days deliberating it. He wasn't sure his sister would go for it, and was afraid of what the consequences of it might be if it didn't work. His thoughts ran in a loop, weighing benefits against detriments almost like a fixation.

It was actually Sansu that spurred him into actually doing something. The afternoon after Anova had had a meeting with Minister Falken found her curled beside her brother on the couch, with a book between their laps, and Sansu on Mint's. The hatchling had started out 'reading' along, pulling a translation from his bond's thoughts as he looked across the words and tried to learn them, but his attention slowly grew more and more distracted until:

::I hate to intrude, but if you're ever going to ask her about it,:: he sent to Mint alone, ::now's as good a time as any.::

Mint jerked his head minutely, startled by the hatchling's sudden intrusion between two lines of Ethereal Outland. ::Beg pardon?::

::You know, ask if she'll stand at a hatching! I know you want to, so best just ask her and get it off your chest and stop worrying about how she may or may not react to it, right?::

Mint gave his bond a little glance, to which Sansu flicked an ear and added: ::If you don't ask, I will, but I'm pretty sure she'd take it better hearing it out of you first.::

::I don't know...:: Mint sent back uncertainly, trying to keep reading along. ::You're the dragon, the one with the inside view of a bonding...your opinion should weigh more than mine!::

::Then we'll both suggest it. The chapter's almost done, right? Good pause for it.::

::But I don't want her to feel like we're ganging up on her, pressuring her into it!::

::Bonded, would we really do that?::

::No, but she still might think-::

::It never hurts to ask.::

Mint gave in, though at the same time he appreciated that Sansu had made the decision for him. The dragonet sent him the mental equivalent of a smile, and he rubbed behind Sansu's ears in return.

A few more pages brought them to the end of the chapter, and as Anova turned the page to begin the next one, Mint took the plunge, watching his sister out of the corner of his eye. "Say, Anova...this'll probably seem rather random, but...would you like to try standing at a hatching?"

She turned to look at him right after he said her name, and he arched his brows questioningly once his query was out, and she responded with a dry smirk. Mint braced himself.

::I get to blame you for this afterwards,:: he quickly sent to the hatchling in his lap.

::Of course,:: Sansu chuckled.

"Me? Try to get myself a dragon?" Anova was saying. "Mint, what I told Deborah is still true. I'm not exactly dragon-bonding material; even if one might even look at someone who can't walk to go outside, I certainly won't be able to take care of it."

Well, better than he expected. He hoped that was more amusement than anything else, that he heard in her voice. Well, here it went.

"That doesn't answer my question," he smiled, trying to keep his tone light. Sansu lifted his head attentively, supporting his bond with a mental touch of confidence. "Whatever you are, whatever you can or can't do, would you like to? Would you, if you had the chance?"

"I'd never even thought about it," she responded easily. "I didn't know what a crippled businesswoman would do with a dragon. I still don't, really, but I'd never even considered the idea. So I guess I mean, I don't know."

"You think I know what I'm going to do with a dragon?" Mint found himself chuckling in response, and Sansu exaggerated a look of smugness. This was good, Anova was conversing. She wasn't shooting the topic down like Mint had feared (perhaps unnecessarily). "But I've been thinking about it, since after I came home with Sansu...about you standing at a hatching." He turned his head a bit, so he was looking at her more directly. "And I...well, I'd like to see you try. I wasn't going to say anything, but it turns out Sansu agrees with me...and he was going to ask you himself, if I didn't."

The hatchling nodded affirmatively when Anova glanced at him.

"I think I'm outvoted," she remarked dryly, but smiling. Mint chuckled bashfully in return, and after a moment she went on. "I don't know...You know how I don't like to be stared at..."

He waved a hand in negation. "Trust me, Anova...when the hatching's going on, nobody's paying attention to anything but the eggs. And I've seen the kinds of characters that make up this station--against them, there's nothing stare-worthy about a lady in a hoverchair." Did that sound as bad as I think it did? I hope not. "Now you know I wouldn't try to shove you into anything you didn't want to do, but I would like to see you give it a shot. Just to see, you know?"

He could've started explaining his thoughts and reasoning, but wasn't too sure how she'd take knowing he'd been fretting so much about her the past two days. If she asked, he'd elaborate, but if not..."And hey, if nothing else, you'll get an up-close look at one of the hatchings that drive the natives oh-so crazy, right?" he grinned.

"Just like what you wanted, right?" she teased, laughing a bit.

Mint grinned. "Well, yeah, exactly!" And if Sansu's confidence was correctly placed, and if things happened as he hoped they would, what had happened to him would happen to her, too. If it did, it would be nothing but good for her, of that he was certain.

"All right," Anova at last agreed. "Just to see."

He could've whooped in gleeful triumph, but refrained, though his grin still threatened to burst off his face. "Thanks, Anova, that's all I'm asking."

Sansu looked even smugger, and their bond was pleasantly fuzzy with the dragonling's cheer. ::I told you she'd take it just fine hearing it out of you first.::

::Oh shush, you.::

"I'll have to go home for a while," Anova added. "There aren't supposed to be any more hatchings for a while, and isn't the next one mothered by that...shiny, glittery dragon?" She didn't sound too enthused at that.

Mint snickered a bit. "That would be the lady Ignis, yes...but there's another on the sands with eggs due to hatch in a month or so. Lady...Tegwenessa. Not a single shiny scale to be seen upon her," he smirked, "though her mate is a fine striped fellow. I did figure her clutch would be better suited for you than Ignis'." Plus, Tegwenessa's clutch had more eggs in it than Ignis'--it made the possibility his sister would come away with a dragon that much more likely.

"Well, at least you know me well enough to know that," she commented with an amused smile of her own.

::And if I may say, Mi- Anovadiell,:: Sansu finally spoke up 'publicly', stumbling not to attach the titles Anova had asked he stop using after about a day of being called Miss or Lady Anovadiell. He couldn't help but throw in his own vote of confidence. He was, after all, a dragon, and dragons, even little ones, had a knack for recognizing candidate material. ::I am quite certain someone will find you right for them.::

"If you really think so, Sansu," she replied with smile that might have been the faintest touch on the humouring side.

The little hatchling made a chortling kind of noise in his throat. ::Oh, I do.::