Rex woke up before Lucas. Spending your whole night producing Weapons-Grade Fartronium inside your guts will do that.

  So Lucas was by himself in his shared room when he heard the sound of the Nuphidri shouting, and gagging.

  "BY THE MOTHERHIVE! IT COMES WITH SMELL-O-VISION!"

  The Nuphidri as a people aren't usually for loud theatrics, but the memories being blasted out by the dragons included the smells that forced them to go snuggle with Lucas in the first place. Nuphidri have more much more sensitive olfactory perception than humans. Not as good as cats or dogs or dragons, but still far better than humans. As a mildly telepathic people in the first place, poor Nuphidri was able to experience almost the Full Bouquet Rex had provided for the dragons Enjoyment, in his sleep.

  Flix and Flox had woke a little while after Rex. He left the door cracked as he headed to the toilet at emergency-evac speeds. The little lizards had had enough of Lucas' memories for now. They were kinda bumming them out. If we're being completely honest, that was some pretty rough stuff for a two day old creature to understand.

  The cute little mind invaders encountered the Nuphidri first, as she was headed to her quarters to rest. They let her know all about Lucas, and also, you know... the smells. Once she'd fled, without even thanking then, they gave Rex a taste of his own brand as they passed the bathroom. He enjoyed that very much, and then he got to Lucas' history, which he did not enjoy as much.

  When the dragons entered the bridge, they let the ladies have it. Bethany and Sheena tolerated the memories of Rex's extraordinary smells better than Nuphidri had. All the same, they were still going to talk to Bob later about mind magic defensive techniques, particularly parsing dangerous or unwanted ideablasts and maybe a trick to plug their mind's nose too while they were at it.

  Would Rex realize uncured brunderspuds and his inside were mortal enemies having a war in his inside? Doubtful. That was normally the sort of thing the Nuphidri noticed for him and adjusted the whole ship's diet over. Lucas was usually more than happy to help enforce such food rules too. Gee... I wonder why?

  Rex's trip to the bathroom rightfully turned into another shower, and then he met Lucas in the kitchen, where he'd just finished making two snack wraps for he and Rex to start their shift.

  "I didn't you know you used to be a pirate," Rex said, absolutely full of tact, and social acumen. He took the wrap from the dumbfounded Lucas. "Thanks for stoppin' those guys that I couldn't. That was a lotta stunner rounds I took to the noggin that day. Ha!"

  Lucas watched Rex take a bite, like everything was totally normal. Lucas had lied to them - back then - about who he was, and why he was in that cell with them when Bethany's mother bought them all back from the Pirate Queen. He'd heard Rex's very true - if missing a few critical parts - story about having been the child of smugglers before he joined the military. Lucas had stuck with just the smuggler part. Made more sense with his skill set. Said he was captured by pirates.

  "So... Rex? You're not uhh... mad about what those little guys shared to you."

  "Why would I be mad?" Rex talked with his mouth half full, but he did that so often he was actually pretty understandable still, "You picked up protecting the girls when I couldn't, even before I knew you. Always knew you were a hero-type."

  Lucas suddenly felt very warm, and flush in the face. "Oh, I dunno about hero..."

  Flix and Flox had been banished from the bridge for their telepathic scent-crimes, and other mind-crimes. They came tumbling into the kitchen all snarling, growling, and battling one another like puppies that consider Newton's laws as mere suggestions.

  "Totally a hero, bro. You didn't even know us, then." Rex said as he pulled a piece of S-meat from his wrap and tossed it at the two snarling combatants floating through the room. He watched with glee as they savaged it apart.

  "You're gonna regret that, dude." Lucas said, but it was already too late... the dragonlings sniffed, and then rushed Rex's wrap in his hand, and suddenly it was a 2v1 battle for snack time spoils.

  Rex thought he'd get away with stuffing the whole thing in his mouth at once, but he couldn't quite fit it all within the cage of his teeth, and the parts sticking out around his not quite closed mouth were absolutely dragon fodder. Black and purple, green and gold, shimmering scaly noodles wrapped Rex's head.

  They used their little hands to pull chunks of meet directly from Rex's mouth, and they tickled his ears and face so much that he started snorting laughing trying to maintain his share of the wrap in his mouth.

  "Well..." Lucas couldn't help but laugh at his big goofy brother from another mother... or, test tube as it turned it out. "I cannot be your hero against those two. I'm not the dragon slaying type, just the maiden rescuing type."

  Rex collapsed to the floor, conquered by tiny tickling menaces, and Lucas excused himself to the bridge, to rescue the fair maidens from their shift.

  "So uhh... about my..."

  "Lucas." Sheena stopped him. "All is forgiven. You may have lied to us at the start, but you've more than proved yourself since then. I owe you my life more times than I care to count. Any other secrets you want to share before the dragons do it for you one night?"

  "I used to have a huge crush on you, Sheena." He answered.

  "Secrets we didn't already know, Lucas." Bethany shot across the bridge.

  "Oh, uhh..." He stammered a second, embarrassed. "I didn't realize you already knew that."

  "You weren't exactly good at hiding it, my man." Sheena said, "Anyhow, the report for shift change..."

  They gave their report that the travel had been incredibly unexciting. The ship was running better than it had in ages, and there was nothing on the scopes.

  Most of the time traveling at warp was like yond olden days of wooden sailing ships with canvas sails on calm seas and steady wind. As long as there were no other ships around - and there wasn't - it was boring sailing. The scouts in the crows nest were all automated, same with a man at the helm, keeping you sailing straight. Just needed a person on the bridge in case the automated scout noticed anything worth looking at.

  Bethany and Sheena found Rex all giggled out and defeated on the floor in the galley area. The dragons were devouring a half chewed wrap that he'd spit out on the floor. And tears of laughter streamed down his face.

  "Did you lose, big guy?" Bethany asked as she took one hand in both of her, to pull the big doofus up to his feet.

  Rex nodded. "They're crafty, and tickly, and fast. Flix got to my armpits, and Flox held my nose shut, and I spit the whole thing out."

  Sheena patted him on the back. "You want me to make you a new snack before you head to the bridge, since yours seems to be war spoils on the floor."

  Flix was 'roaring' atop his war spoils, and swishing his tail in his brother's face to make it hard for him to get a bite of their prize.

  "I was just gonna wait until they start to fight again and snatch back what's left."

  "REX!" Bethany was appalled, "It was on the floor!"

  "Sure, but the floor's pretty clean."

  "No... No it isn't." She pulled him over and sat him down at the table and clicked the comms to to the bridge on. "Sheena's gonna make us a snack down here, and then we'll send Rex up. He lost his battle with the little ones."

  "That's fine. Expected, actually. He was getting his ass kicked when I left. I'll see you in a bit Rex." Lucas answered.

  "I wasn't getting my-" Bethany closed the comms on him mid sentence. "ass kicked."

  "You kinda were, Rex." She condensed a ball of water from the air, and bounced it gently on his face to pull the bits of stuck food from his cheek, and to gently dissolve the mustard in his stubble. Finally she ran it through some of his hair to remove the flecks of S-meat and other food bits.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Rex smiled, and for some reason he didn't quite understand, his heart started beating really fast, like was running. But he was just sitting there, letting Bethany gently clean his face and hair, with gentle, loving, kiss-soft caresses of magic water. He'd be pondering that all shift.

  When she'd cleaned him up, and had a properly dirtied ball of water, she flicked it at Flix and Flox, hitting both of them as they fought over the last of his stolen scraps.

  They squawked and hissed back in her direction. "I don't wanna hear it you two. That's for picking on Rex for food! You twos could be polite you know, we'll happily make food if you ask!"

  "Ma Mra ma." Flix sassed, pooling up the water off himself with magic. If she was gonna use magic, for play-battle, so was he.

  "Brrup prrffththth" Flox blew a raspberry, and then started shaking himself off like a wet dog, adding to his naughty brother's planned return projectile. He added more, by pulling water he wasn't even wet with from the air as Bethany had done, until together they had a ball of water the size of Rex' bicep.

  "Don't do it." Bethany warned. She'd already imagined the spell that would catch the water and send it back, in a continuous spray this time, rather than a single blast.

  Flix fired, and was duly blasted back in the face by Bethany's reply spell. Like a dog attacking a sprinkler, he chomped away at it the return, leaving most of it on the floor, and actually drinking some of it.

  "HEY!" Sheena shouted. "No magic play on the ship. We got several more days to go until we get to Sadao's. Bethany, you started it. Say you're sorry."

  "I'm sorry, Flix and Flox, Truce?"

  "I'm sorry too." Rex said.

  "For what?" Sheena asked.

  She'd figure out they played ecto-ball games later... maybe.

  "Well, I'm on shift, catch you guys later. Thanks for cleaning my face Bethany. I... I really like that, I think."

  Bethany turned beet red as Rex left for the bridge.

  ____

  An hour after their shift started, the dragons disappeared from the bridge. Like cats, young dragons prefer to sleep roughly twenty hours a day. They'd already learned to break into Rex and Lucas' room, so Bethany and Sheena's was no issue. It was the exact same locking mechanism. The vengeful noodles had a small score to settle with Bethany, so they slithered up into her bed planning to wet it for her... but then they found it quite comfortable and warm. She had much higher thread count sheets than either of the boys, and a fuzzier blanket.

  … Oh, this is quite nice. Smells so much better. Wetting this would be a Sin too far.

  … Yeah, sleeping with the smelly boys was a mistake, brother. Sleeping with these women? Now that's where it's at.

  They joined the dream in progress... and Rex was there, and also, another Rex was there, and then... a third Rex was there. One of them was rubbing her feet, and another her shoulders, and the third… Bethany spotted the dragons - watching her - and gasped in surprise and disappointment as the third Rex stopped rubbing what he was rubbing.

  The Rexes all stood up and took the walls down, like they were doing a stage play. They picked up the panels that made the room she was in and walked off with them. A fourth Rex walked off with the fourth wall.

  Her whole childhood had felt like an orchestrated play, at least unto a point.

  Through the power of dream magic, Bethany was in the audience, watching. Just her, and the dragons, with hundreds of empty seats nearby. On stage there was a little girl crying. Her mother had died. Her real mother. Oh stars and stones... Bethany had forgotten her real mother.

  "A little girl should have a mother!" Her grandmother declared, and soon her dad started taking callers, courting him, trying out for the role.

  It wasn't long until that crying little girl was walking down the aisle tossing flowers for her dad's second wedding... even less time until dad was dead too, and she was attending his funeral on a bright sunny day, where the cheerful birds wouldn't stop singing, giving her a lifelong melancholy when she heard happy sounding birdsong.

  Her Mother's belly grew, not long after a sister was born.

  Bethany's grandma tried to take her, but the one she called Mother loudly declared, "She is my daughter to raise! Her Father wanted it that way. I will love her like I will love my own."

  Bethany jeered in the audience, "Boo! Bullshit, lady! The fuck you will."

  A little sister was born, and Bethany was all but ignored by Mother.

  The girl on stage's father's household was large; servants, maids, stewards, all people who had worked for her father. Some amongst them cared for her, giving the girl lessons on this thing or that, doing more than their station, to help where they could.

  But her Mother slowly whittled them away, replacing or firing old servants, until the little girl was all alone, again... and then, A red light hit the mother on stage, and all the other lights faded away for a brief maniacal laugh.

  "A bit ham-fisted, don't you think?" She asked the dragons, but they weren't very good judges of live theater.

  The favoritism started to show. Bethany went to public school, her sister went to private school. This was a mistake on Mother's part.

  The girl was was starting a new year of school, at a higher level of school, one might call it a high school. Bethany wanted to run from the theater, but the dragons had her pinned down on either side, and somehow there was an immense social pressure to not step past them. Like, she felt it would be an unforgivable faux pax to leave the show, even though she hated it.

  The first day, every student was to be tested for latent magical aptitude. Untrained mages are dangerous to themselves and others. Every freshman student was told to get in line, and most students put their hand on the orb and nothing happened. The girl on stage put her hand on it and set off the device like a disco ball. In fact, she just flipped on the disco ball with other hand.

  Once the government knew about Bethany, it was determined that she would need to be given magical training, which was expensive, but Mother could afford it with the money left to her. Right?

  Begrudgingly, Mother paid for a tutor.

  The girl on stage looked to actually be enjoying her magic lessons, but as soon as Mother realized, she found her a different, more dour instructor.

  In time that instructor too was dismissed. And the next, and the next, and eventually the girl on stage made an announcement. "Grandmother has secured my acceptance at the Avalon Academy... I just need tuition and travel expenses."

  The lighting flashed, and stage hands on the sides of the stage shook sheets of metal to simulate thunder.

  A woman who looked just like Bethany, walked on stage. To speak directly to the audience of one. "Herein we find a hidden memory, made secret by a power beyond your understanding at the time, but now released by the more cunning power of draconic instinct. Take this knowledge carefully, for you've known it all along, deep inside..."

  The stage spun, showing the girl, with her back against a wall, on the other side, her Mother, talking with a man.

  "This is going to cost me a fortune, traveling from world to world isn't cheap, and of course she'll want to come back here on summer break every year. How long am I meant to be responsible for this brat anyhow?"

  "We could arrange with the pirates to have her ship blown up. I know a marine sergeant that'll be ready ready to flip any time I want."

  "That seems... a little cruel, even for you."

  "Do you want to pay a quarter million creds a semester for her?"

  "No."

  "Then let me save you the money, darling. The timing is perfect. Serendipitous, really. I can set things in motion today that will culminate before she ever sets foot in this home again."

  The girl gasped, loudly, and the man heard.

  He threw a hand up toward her direction, and he reveals himself as a powerful mage. The girl was yanked through the doors, and landed on the table. The wires doing the actual yanking caught the door on the way by, and sent a part of the set crashing down.

  But, the show must go on, so Mother continued, when it was clear no one had been harmed "I'll Hold her, you make her forget she ever heard us."

  He started using mind magic on her, which the production simulated by having the girl close her eyes, and him putting on a glove with laser pointers in the fingers and then wiggling them over her face.

  In the audience, Bethany turned to ask the dragons, "Is this for real?"

  Rex was behind her in the dream, suddenly. "Didn't you hear the dramatis personae, these are unlocked memories, my lovely little friend. True as farts."

  The bit of stage with the girls Mother, and her Mind-Magic Mister were rotate off, while the girl ran to catch a rocket off to school. Oblivious of the danger.

  Rex stood up, and before walking to the stage, he said, "This is my favorite part coming up."

  The girl was happy, for once she was really happy. She went to class and studied hard, and one day she met a nice lady in the library. A fellow patron by the name Sheena. They talked and became friends, and Sheena didn't know anything about Society, or her father's title, or her Mother. Sheena was teacher on this world, for children. A simple, common woman, and she was amazing. Sheena was honest and genuine in a way no one Bethany had ever known was. She had one face, she always wore it honestly, and it was usually smiling.

  "I wish my Mother was like Sheena, and not like Mother." The girl said, voicing a deep dark secret that made Bethany in the audience scream.

  "Ohh, but why?" Rex started walking toward the stage. "That was my favorite part! Sheena's so nice. I wish she were my mom too."

  "Oh... no! Rex, please don't go on the stage! You're skipping the rest of the school year!"

  "But, it's my cue? Only the most important memories, 'member what Bob said?"

  He jumped up on stage and walked over to his mark while looking down at the floor. He hit is mark and turned to face the Audience, put his hands on his hips, and thrust his pelvis out in an awkward sort of 'enter the room, dick first' kind of pose.

  "I'm Rex, Princess!"

  "Dammit Rex!" Bethany shouted from the audience. "That's not how it really happened."

  "But it's kind of how you remember it, isn't it?"

  The girl on the stage stomped, "Ahem! Do you two mind if I do my lines?"

  "No, go ahead. Sorry." Bethany sat back down and buried her face. Listening would be bad enough. The dragons watched though. They were enthralled.

  A woman joined her, the lady from the library, and together they giggled and looked at Rex. "He's so handsome we should see if we can get him aboard the ship for the trip back. I'd like to climb aboard... let him use my docking port."

  "Oh, stop it Bethany. At least get to know if he's a nice man first." Sheena chided, gently. "Or his name first... Oh, Governess! Find out that tall blonde marine's name, and see if he wants to join us for the rest of the voyage home."

  A number of blaster sounds came from off-stage, and suddenly it's no longer a play. Bethany was in that ship again, not some girl in a stage play. Her. Under attack once more by pirates. She hadn't had this dream in a while... The big handsome man she forced aboard the ship but was still too shy to talk to was now slaughtering the boarders, thus ensuring she would never be brave enough actually talk to him.

  The dragons laughed. They laughed in her face in her dream in her most dire moment.

  "Hey, you rude little shits. What the fuck are you even doing in my bunk!" She wrestled herself awake, just enough to chuck those little noodles bastards down a bunk. "Euughh... Sorry Sheena."

  She went back to sleep. They went back to sleep. Sheena... stayed asleep.