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But not now. Later. When he didn’t have five hundred freaking years of history to catch up on. And food. Wow…gods, could he possibly eat five hundred years’ worth of meals in one sitting? He was willing to give it a try.
“Amaru?”
He jerked his head up from where he’d been staring off into nothingness as his mind continued to reel. Luka’s sweet face was smiling at him, his pale blue eyes warm but full of concern.
“Yes? Sorry? What? Were you saying something?”
Luka motioned toward a sky blue fabric structure that seemed to have popped up in a matter of seconds. Where had that even come from? Had his mind gone blank for that long?
“Would you like to go inside and sit down? I think it’s going to rain again soon. Vasily has run to find you some clean clothes and food.”
Amaru nodded and allowed Luka to guide him inside. He ran his fingers along the thin fabric and then over the long, slender poles that held it all up. They weren’t wood but some other material. He sighed and shook his head.
“Something wrong?”
“No!” Amaru spun around and grinned broadly at Luka. The expression was genuine as he really did feel the excitement build, like a spring bubbling inside his chest. “Nothing is wrong. I was just thinking that I’ll need at least five hundred years to study and understand all these new inventions and materials. It’s…daunting.”
“But an exciting new adventure?”
“Yes! Yes, it is,” he agreed with renewed energy. Luckily, he’d found his mates. Once they were all bonded, he’d benefit from the dragons’ nearly immortal lifespan. He’d have all the time he needed to understand this new world he found himself in. “First, though, I need to get caught up on what’s happened to all the mages and the dragons. And how did you uncover my clan in the first place?”
The light coming through the doorway to the giant room was blocked by Vasily’s large form. His arms were full of colorful garments as well as a bucket of water. “I stole some clothes off Luka and Sam,” he announced. “You appear to be closest in size to them. I also brought a bucket of warm, clean water, soap, and a towel. I thought you might want to freshen up after years of being locked in that box. It’s not much, but it should hold you over until we can get back to the hotel for a shower.”
“What’s a hotel? And a shower?”
Luka and Vasily exchanged a long, wide-eyed look.
“Um…a hotel is a business where you can rent a room to sleep for a night when you are away from your home,” Vasily explained. “It’ll probably be easier to show you what a shower is instead of explaining it.”
“We’ll leave you alone so you can have some privacy,” Luka said, shoving Vasily back outside once he’d set down the clothes on a chair.
Amaru stared at the two in silence as he watched them disappear and close the fabric door behind them. Did mates need privacy while bathing? In his clan, the mated dragons and mages were never apart, even when bathing. Was this an ice dragon thing? Or had times changed that drastically?
He shrugged and added it to the endless list of questions rattling around in his brain. The water was comfortably warm and the bar of yellow soap had the most wonderful scent. It reminded him vaguely of Vasily. He’d only caught a faint whiff when he’d kissed the dragon, but Amaru was pretty sure the dragon had given him a bar of his own soap so Amaru would smell like him. Yes, that made perfect sense.
After scrubbing clean and rinsing, he dried off with the fluffy towel and wrapped it around his waist so he could turn his attention to these new clothes. He picked up each item and slowly inspected them, marveling at the amazing softness. It was easy to tell which were Sam’s and which were Luka’s simply by the smell. Amaru tossed aside Sam’s items. He was clean with Vasily’s soap, so now he should be wrapped in Luka’s garments. That was only logical.
A loud, unrestrained squeal erupted from his mouth and brought both dragons running.
They found him sitting on the floor of the tent, playing with the metal invention filled with teeth that fit perfectly together.
“What’s wrong? Are you all right?” Vasily demanded.
“Have you seen this?” Amaru cried. He held up the garment and shook it at them. “This is amazing. All these teeth fit together to pull the fabric together when you drag the little metal bug up and down.”
“The metal what?”
Luka groaned and leaned against the other dragon. “The zipper. He discovered the zipper. I almost had a heart attack because of a zipper.” He patted Vasily on the shoulder. “You help him get dressed. Ha Na has some food ready. I’ll fetch him a plate and be right back.”
