Read Online The Bond (Book 2) by Adolfo Garza Jr. - Free Book Online Page B

could work out rather well.”
    “An excellent idea,” Master Doronal said. “We’ll devise plans in that regard soon. And should those efforts succeed, we will need housing for the increased number of bond-mates. Any ideas in that regard?”
    “I have an idea for what we can do while we continue to look,” Aeron said as he unrolled the map of the Caer, “and while a new location is being prepared.” He slid two map weights to Willem, and those, along with the two Aeron used, held the map open on the table.
    Placing a piece of the tracing paper onto the map, he said, “For the first dragon, we can build an extension, here.”
    Everyone moved closer to see the map.
    “It’s not as big as the original stables?” Millinith said.
    “Well,” Aeron replied, “we won’t need another office at the end. And we may or may not need another living space either.” He quickly slid the remaining piece of tracing paper onto the map and positioned it. “And then we can add two more dragon dens, one there, and another there, in the future.”
    “We talked about it earlier,” Willem said, “and there are a few benefits to building near the Dragon Stable. For one, people are used to a dragon being here. Also, the large scale for weighing them is here, and the routines for a dragon are in place for here too, such as feeding the dragon until it can go hunt on its own.”
    “Exactly,” Aeron said.
    I like your idea, Anaya told Aeron. It will keep everyone together, bond-mates and everyone caring for them.
    Aeron smiled. Me too, dear-heart.
    “That’s an excellent start,” Master Canneth said, “for all the reasons you mentioned. But we will eventually have to find a location for the much greater numbers we expect to need. Anyone have ideas for that?”
    Aeron waited, hoping someone did. He had only been able to think of one place, but he really didn’t want to lose it. It was his favorite spot to sneak off to when he wanted to be alone. After a few minutes, however, no one else had any ideas.
    Finally, Aeron said, “How about the quarry?”
    “The quarry?” Master Doronal’s brows rose. “That could work out quite well.” He looked at Master Canneth. “It’s enormous, has plenty of room to start and for future expansion, and is a little closer than the Farm, but far enough away so that it could be considered separate.” He nodded. “Yes. We will definitely study the viability of that location. A good start on that as well.”
    “Thinking about other needs of dragons,” Master Canneth said, “I had Sharrah do some rough calculations on food requirements.” He turned to the young zoology apprentice. “What did you come up with, Sharrah?”
    She checked her notes. “It seems that Anaya’s food intake has leveled off to about a deer or so a week, maybe two or three if she’s flown a lot. Now, she doesn’t always eat deer, but the amount she eats is equivalent. On average, deer are around two hundred pounds each, so that’s two hundred to six hundred pounds a week for one dragon. I think three hundred and fifty pounds is a good number to use for our purposes.”
    “Good grief,” Millinith said. “I didn’t even realize.”
    I could try to eat less, Anaya told Aeron. She sounded embarrassed.
    Don’t you fret about it, Aeron replied.
    “That’s a lot of food,” Cheddar remarked.
    Eat as much as you want, Aeron continued. You need to keep growing and you need to be strong and healthy so we can continue to do what we do.
    That is true.
    Sharrah looked up from her notes. “There is ample game in our large valley to easily support Anaya. As the number of dragons increases, however, we will eventually get to a point where their hunting will begin to impact the local wildlife’s ability to maintain its numbers.”
    “That doesn’t sound good,” Willem said. “We wanted to have a fair number of dragons, didn’t we?”
    “We do have a couple of options,” Sharrah said. “One, we can increase the