Teaser stuck his tongue out at her and wormed his way closer to Belle, displacing Thomas and making the White Court growl. Belle just snickered.

Andy snickered a little too, and then turned her attention back to her reading.

Belle made dinner that night, having fun experimenting with flavorings for the dragons on their fish. She thought it was fun. Her bishis all thought she was nuts.

"So, what do you want tonight?" she asked, looking over at Andy. "I still have pork and beef stored up, for a little while yet."

"Either one is fine with me," Andy replied, looking up from her book. She was almost done with it, and probably would be done by the end of the night.

Belle nodded and got out ribs. She loved ribs, and these ones had been marinating in the freezer for a week. She let them thaw out a little more before setting up a grill over the fire so she could cook them.

Andy was completely content to keep working on the book. She was so close to finishing, and everything was happening very fast, so she didn't want to have to stop and then find her place again.

Belle left her alone to do her reading, instead working on dinner quietly, occasionally humming or whistling a little phrase of a song. It would take a little while to finish, but she didn't mind waiting.

It didn't take Andy too much longer to finish the book.

"That was... really, really strange," she said. "And not entirely unexpected."

"Oh boy." Belle shook her head. "Is it one we're going to rant about once I've read it too?"

"Probably," Andy replied. "It was bizarre. It wasn't like the last twelve."

"Huh." Belle flipped the ribs over, checking them briefly. "Well, at least there's going to be more."

"Given that ending, there has to be," Andy replied. "It was that bizarre. There just has to be more after that, it's like he's baiting us."

"Well of course. Just in case you were thinking of not getting the next book, now you have to." Belle shrugged. "It's one way to make sure people keep reading."

"You'll see what I mean about this one being weird once you read it," Andy replied. "After all the weirdness, though, but before the real ending, there was a bit of warm-fuzzy. A little bit. And a lot of 'whoa what's going on.'"

Belle snickered. "That happens a lot," she said with a grin. "I'm kind of used to it by now. Oh, I have a new book I think you'll be interested in. It's a romance, but it's kinda cute and not totally cheesy. And every other page isn't sex."

"I'm listening," Andy replied. New books were always a good thing. "What counts as 'not too cheesy'?" Not that there was anything wrong with that kind of book, sometimes, but she would never admit that aloud.

"It actually isn't all that cheesy," Belle said with a shrug. "It has a few moments, but it's really not bad. Plus it has snark and sarcasm."

"Which is always a bonus," Andy agreed. "I'll have to read this now. I'll add it to my list." Leaning back, she stretched a bit. "At least now I'm caught up until the fall. Then more new things come out."

"Yeah really. There's always new things coming out, and there's always more things to be discovered." Belle sighed. "There's never enough time to read all the books I'd like to."

"I don't know how many others I want to read," Andy said. "I need to look over my lists again." Absently, she checked her gear. "So where do we want to go next? I kind of want to head back to the Temeraire territory. There's a town right near there that has a shop that works with dragon harnesses, and Temmy's is about to fall apart."

"Okay, that's fine with me. I've been meaning to get harnesses for the two little ones anyway, in case they need to carry things." Belle shrugged.

"Alright," Andy said. "I want to see about getting one for Xiang, too."

Xiang looked up when he heard his name.

"One what?" he asked. Andy looked over.

"A harness," she replied. Xiang looked puzzled.

"Do I need one?"

"Do you want one?" Andy asked in reply. Xiang considered for a moment, looked up at both of his parents, and then back at Andy.

"I don't know," he said.

"You've still got some time to think about it," Belle said with a smile. "So you don't have to worry about making a decision instantly."

"I won't make you wear a harness if you don't want one," Andy added. Xiang nodded a bit and settled back in to think about it. Andy thought for a moment before rummaging in her bag for another book.

Belle just snickered and shook her head, starting to cut the ribs before putting them on plates.

"Okay, food's ready." She grabbed her own plate, hoarding it off to the side. She absolutely loved ribs. Even when Thomas playfully tried to take a bite of one of her ribs, she bit his hand, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Okay. Well, now we know what she gets territorial about," Thomas teased, trying to take his hand back. "Hey. You can let go now." When she still didn't let go, he whined. "Come on, Belle!"

Belle let go with a huff and went back to gnawing on her rib bone, making sure it was stripped clean. Thomas looked at his now-red hand with a pout.