Deimos trooped into the room, Perses and Icelus in tow along with Chi, who was bent nearly double holding Icelus’s hand. His brothers peered cautiously around the room, Icelus clutching Deimos and Chi tight enough that his silver knuckles went white.

“Oh!” Moros stood straight proudly. “That’s a waste hole, it’s just fancy and up high. And that’s a sink for the water, and that’s the bathtub for washing like in the pond!”

Lamis shot a look at Chi, who looked to be smothering a smile. 

“This is the enclosure?” Icelus asked uneasily.

Chi looked down at him, crouching to see his face. “Your dad’s kinda dumb. Can you tell me what you mean by that, sweetpea?”

“Um…” Icelus turned his head shyly, making sure his scarred side wasn’t visible. His single eye wandered to Deimos, who simply nodded. “It’s where we go when the big bell rings. They clean the Conservatory or um, they’re coming to get us for training or experiments. Sometimes we have to stay in there for a few hours so there’s a waste hole and water and a place where food pellets drop down.”

“They lock us in so we can’t hurt the feeders or cleaners, or ambush our handlers,” Deimos said, leaning over the bathtub to dip his claws in the water and sniff it. Moros sniffed it too, just for good measure. It smelled like the same water that came out of the sink, not the burning kind that came out of hoses.

“Ah.” Chi’s face stayed impassive. “We don’t have a room like that here. This room is for everyone to use, and that means you can come in and out of this room whenever you want as well. You can wash your hands and teeth in the sink, use the toilet for waste, and the tub when you want to take a bath. You’re never going to be locked in here. Do you understand?”

They all nodded, because they were supposed to nod when they were asked if they understood.

Chi looked between their faces, expression doing a sad thing. 

Lamis spoke, voice gentle. “You’re allowed to ask questions if you don’t understand. It’s okay if you don’t understand something.”

The four of them shifted, three glancing up at Deimos. “Will we be locked in anywhere else?” Deimos asked.

“No.” Chi’s voice was deceptively calm, like the moment before a lightbulb explodes. Moros saw it happen once in the Conservatory, it buzzled then popped and flared, before going dark. “No one will lock you up anywhere. You are not prisoners, or captives, or anything like that.”

“And you’ll tell us where to be or if we are in the wrong place?” Deimos asked.

“We’ll do a tour of the house right after bathtime,” Chi promised. 

Deimos sighed with his shoulders and nodded. He focused his attention back on the tub. That satisfied the rest of them.

“Right, we’ll get your bandages off first, then you all can get in the tub. Sound good?” Chi held out a hand, and carefully started to unwind the gauze from Icelus’s wrist. Icelus stood still for him, watching Chi’s hands with a happy-warm feeling that flooded through all of them.

Lamis helped Perses get his bandages off, and offered to help Deimos. Their eldest brother shook his head, peeling his own bandages off. Perses got the one on his back that he couldn’t quite reach himself.

Deimos paused at the edge of the tub, glancing at Lamis and Chi for permission. When it wasn’t given, but they weren’t scolded, Deimos stepped in. His scales lifted, and Moros eagerly climbed in after, dropping down into the water with a pleased sigh. He sank down under the surface, blowing bubbles from his nostrils.

Perses and Icelus followed, Deimos lifting Icelus over the edge. They all sank down into the water, submerging entirely.

They lazed like that for a while, then Moros lifted his head to poke his nose out and grab a fresh lungful of air. He spotted Lamis and lifted his whole head up, grinning at her.

Lamis waited at the edge of the tub, one hand supporting her chin against its side as she watched him. She smiled, dimples creasing her cheeks as she held up the chicken. “You want scale scrubbies?”

“Yeah!” Moros wiggled over to her, pulling his knees up under himself to push up under her waiting hand. There were textured stripes on the bottom of the tub so he didn’t slide around.

Lamis started at his shoulders, the chicken scrub foaming up with floral smelling bubbles, as she scrubbed little circles down his arms and back.

It was heaven. Moros began to churr, leaning into the scrubs. It was much better than the wet cloths they used to wash in the pond with! He hummed and rocked slightly from side to side, pleased at how good mama scrubs turned out to be.

“I can help with scales too,” Chi crouched at the other end of the tub, a sponge in the shape of a rabbit in his hand. “Unless you kids don’t need my help with that?”

Icelus slowly shuffled close to him, bumping his head against Chi’s hand. “I’d like help,” he said in his soft little voice he used when he wasn’t sure he was saying the right thing.

Chi’s smile softened. “Sure thing, sweetpea. Let me know if I’m scrubbing too hard or if anything hurts, ‘kay?”

He sprayed the rabbit with the same soap Lamis was using to scrub Moros’s back, before gently starting to scrub over Icelus’s shoulders and head. 

Icelus churred, a sound so soft it was nearly a purr. He leaned back into it, tail swishing through the water. Moros could relate; getting scrubbed was so far his second favorite thing, right after eating the black forest chocolate cake that his mama made him last night.

“I can help with your back when I’m done with Momo,” Lamis offered to Deimos, scrubbing Moros’ toes to muffled giggles.

Deimos stiffened. “I’ll be fine. I can do my own.”

Moros pouted over at Deimos. “It’s really nice, especially the back and shoulders, Dee.”

“I’d rather not.” Deimos found another scrubber in a basket by the side of the tub and started on Perses’ scales. Perses began rumbling low enough to ripple the surface of the water.

“Alright,” Lamis accepted easily. “I’ll get you one of Dio’s extra soft sponges for your scales.”

“I got it.” Chi piled some suds atop Icelus’s head like a mountain, before scooting over to investigate the drawers under the sink. After a moment he returned with a beige blob covered in holes. “It’s a sea sponge,” he explained, handing it over to Deimos. “Dio says they’re the ‘most optimal’ texture for silver dragon scales.”

Deimos inspected it, turning it over in his hands then running it experimentally over an arm. He nodded, then went back to Perses.

Moros became distracted from his siblings as Lamis put a different soap in his feathers, petting it through. “What’s that?” Moros asked.

“Special soap for feathers,” Lamis said, scratching her claws over his scalp. He melted into the touch. “It keeps them nice and clean and shiny, even better than a dust bath.”

“Will it work even though mine are messed up?” Moros sank against the side of the tub with a churr.

“They’re not messed up, they’re just short. I had my feathers short for a while, and they grew back, just like yours will.” She booped a sudsy finger against the end of his nose.

Moros’ snout scrunched and he grinned. “I hope so! Yours are so pretty, Mama.”

“Thank you sunshine! But you want to know something?”

“Yeah?”

She leaned close. “I think your feathers are going to grow back and be even prettier than mine!”

Moros laughed, delighted at the thought. He doubted it would happen, but it was nice that his mama thought so.

His mama rinsed off his head, helping Moros lean back into the water to swish his head around till all the suds washed away. By then, Deimos and Perses finished scrubbing, and drifted in the sudsy water.

Chi lifted Icelus out of the bath, the smaller dragon shaking off his tail.

“I don’t want to dry off,” Icelus said. “It’s loud.”

“Oh yeah? How do you normally dry off?” Chi’s tone was casual, as he set Icelus down on the plush bath mat.

“They blow air at us,” Icelus explained, eyeing the blanket he’d arrived in. Chi folded it on top of the towel shelf so it wouldn’t get wet. “It kind of hurts. It’s hot, too.”

Chi’s face purposefully stayed blank. 

“Well, we don’t do that here.” He reached into a cupboard and pulled out a bright blue plush towel, which he draped around Icelus’s shoulders. “We have towels we use to dry off here. No dryers. Only Lamis has hair, and she doesn’t even use hair dryers.”

Icelus snuggled into the towel with a smile. “It’s blue…”

Chi winked. “It’s my favorite color.” 

He lifted the towel so it made a little hood, and scrubbed it over Icelus’s scalp, getting the last of the water droplets off. Icelus giggled and bumped his head against Chi’s chest.