Kiernan couldn't help but to feel pride in Lucy from the way that Liyal stared at her. It was hard to believe that he had spent the better part of his adult life giving up on this childhood dream of his to become a Dragon Rider, but now, he wouldn't want any other life, and he couldn't imagine any of it without Lucy. He'd have to visit Bryce someday soon to thank him for pulling him out of his self-loathing misery.
When she landed, he was very relieved that instead of breathing fire at him, she only snorted at him, a cloud of dark smoke flying in his direction. Kiernan waved his hand to keep the air around his nose and mouth clear and shook his head.
"Come on now, don't be like that," he nodded towards Liyal. "Look who's here!"
She regarded the boy for a moment longer than normal and then, if Kiernan didn't know any better about dragons, he would have sworn that she had shrugged as she settled into the grass. Well, this was a good sign, for sure; she was finally starting to warm up to the kid.
Kiernan raised his eyebrows but kept up his grin. "You wanna go flying? We can do that!" He turned back to Lucy. "Ready for a joy ride?"
Lucy gave Kiernan a Look, but considering she did not fidget or protest otherwise, he knew that she had acquiesced to the request. Good! "Thanks, girl. You need help getting up?" he asked of Liyal.