He follows after her, not quite scampering, bottle carefully carried so it's not going to fall or be broken. He's still exhausted though, and he does eventually start to lag some, and stumble a little.

They've still got a way to go. 

"How are you doing? Do you want to ride in the basket for a bit?" Said basket is mostly empty, with only a thin cushion of green leaves in the bottom, and looks like it would be quite a comfortable place to curl up. 

He pauses, looks conflicted, ducks down on himself some. "I- don't want to- be a burden?" (Quite literally in this case.)

"No, no, it's fine, I don't mind." Hmm, that doesn't seem likely to work. How about...

"I mean, you'll only slow me down if you try to keep walking."

...oh. There's a flinch there, and then he nods. "I-if that's...easier for you?"

"Yeah."

She sets the basket on the ground so he can climb in. 

He hesitates, before cautiously climbing in and curling up. (When she lifts her basket, she'll notice that he probably weighs less than you'd think would be healthy.)

"There, see? You're not very heavy at all."

She lifts him easily, trying not to jostle the basket too much. He's still got that little bottle, right? That looked delicate. 

He does, he's curled back around it, protective again.

That's good. Probably.

She continues walking home, careful of her burden, and attempts to come up with an explanation that won't make Mal raise the eyebrows he doesn't even have at her. Three years and she still doesn't know how he does that. 

The motion of the basket manages to lull Tyau into a light doze, although he'll likely wake at the slightest provocation.

Awwwwww! 

She is very very careful not to jostle the basket the rest of the way home. He looks like he needs the rest. 

In which case, he will sleep all the way! Snuggling his bottle like it's a soft toy.

(Awww.) Eventually, the trees thin out, and the forest gives way to more hilly terrain dotted with small scrubby bushes. A tall tower stands on one of the hills, and Kavia makes her way towards it up a winding path.

If Tyau hasn't woken up by the time she reaches the foot of the tower, she'll try waking him. Putting the basket down so she has her hands free to open the door will probably do it. 

He is pretty tired. And yes, putting the basket down does cause him to wake - flinching slightly and curling tighter.

"Um. We're here."

She digs a little silvery pendant out from the collar of her dress and waves it in front of the door, which swings open. They've come to the back door, which is sized for humans rather than big enough to fit an adult dragon. Mostly out of habit, but now she's glad of it. The big doors would probably be intimidating for the tiny baby dragonling. 

"Do you want to get out and walk again now? It's a lot of stairs to the top of the tower, so I can keep carrying you if that would be easier." 

"C'n walk," he says, scrambling out the basket. (Stairs sound like they'd be harder to carry him up.)

"Okay then." She takes the basket with her anyway, since the workroom is halfway up the tower and that's where she's taking the dragonwort.

It's a lot of steps. There are landings on every floor where they can stop and rest, which Kavia will do on the third landing even if Tyau somehow doesn't look like he needs a rest by that point. 

He does look somewhat worn out, but he's doing a very good job of hiding it. "I- m'okay?" He seems to get that she's stopping for him. "Don't wanna hold you up?"

"I needed to stop anyway. It's a lot of stairs!"

She does seem a little out of breath. "Don't worry, we're halfway up. Only three more flights to go." 

Well, he'll take the rest gratefully.

"Thank you," he murmurs. (Because you told people you were grateful, for whatever they allowed you.)

"Ready to move on?" she asks once he seems to have caught his breath. 

He nods earnestly. "M'ready, miss, thank you."

The second half of the climb is pretty much like the first. Kavia goes slowly and keeps an eye on the tiny dragon to make sure he's keeping up.

Finally, they reach the top floor of the tower. It's all one big room, opening out onto a broad balcony that has to have at least a hint of magic in its construction judging by how far out it goes. 

A medium-sized dragon, scales gleaming a soft pastel blue, is stretched out across the floor, half on the balcony and half inside the room. He lifts his head when they arrive.

"Kavia, welcome back," he says pleasantly, then notices Tyau and blinks. "Did you find a new friend in the woods?"