Yes and No

Chapter Summary: Ember needs to learn good manners.

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"Ember! Let go! It's not yours!"

Bilbo went tumbling back as he finally wrangled his father's spectacles out of the little dragon's grasp. A moment later there was a pitiful wailing cry of sorrowful affront from the little dragon that Bilbo had once more taken away his favorite thing. Bilbo felt horrible when Ember began crying pitifully, and truly, you have never heard anything more heart wrenching than a crying baby dragon. Bilbo cuddled the little one close and comforted him as he took the spectacles back to his father and handed them over, the wires only slightly bent out of shape.

"There there, I know. It's alright. But you can't take things that aren't yours Ember. Stealing is bad. You have to be good, and good dragons don't steal." Bilbo gave Ember a chicken leg and a soothing scritching over his head and back until he calmed down. Bilbo took the little dragon into his room and let Ember examine all his toys, but when the little dragon got that same look in his eyes when he spotted Bilbo's marbles, Bilbo had an idea.

"If you want something, Ember, you have to learn to ask, and you have to learn how to share."

For the next several months Bilbo painstakingly taught Ember how to ask for things by rearing up on his hind legs, clasping his front claws together, and making a 'prrrrrreeeeee' chirping sound. It was the cutest thing he had ever seen, and it worked miracles on the unsuspecting people of Hobbiton who couldn't part with their treats fast enough when Ember asked for things in such an adorable way. Bilbo rewarded him every time he used his good manners, and it worked, because Ember was a very smart dragon. But then Bilbo also taught him the meaning of the words 'Yes' and 'No', until Ember realized that just because he asked for something didn't always mean he would get it if it belonged to someone else.

After that, Bilbo tackled the extremely grueling task of making Ember give him things that he might not necessarily wish to part with, until he could make Ember hand him anything that the little dragon had picked up and he said 'no' to. It was very much a long and difficult fight, and Ember was not happy in the least to hand anything over without much protestation and crying, but gradually the dragon got better and better at it, rewarded with food, petting, compliments, and treats, until he realized that the less fuss or time it took to hand over whatever had been a 'No', the bigger the treat Bilbo gave him was, and his tantrums tapered off.

Bilbo knew it couldn't just be him that Ember listened to either, so he had his parents do the same thing, and even let Ember see them telling Bilbo 'No' to things just for show, like sweets and toys and such, just to show it wasn't just Ember who had to follow the rules. When even Bilbo's mother or father could tell the dragon no, and he would almost immediately give up the item he had taken with minimal fuss, Bilbo decided to reward Ember for being so very good and working so hard.

He took his little wagon all down the hill and around town, stopping at every home in Hobbiton, where he politely asked if they had anything shiny they no longer had any use for, didn't matter if it was broken or whole. They were happy to load him up with junk and mathoms and broken things alike. His favorite had been the brass hand mirror whose glass had broken and never been replaced. It was a hodge-podge assortment of things he returned home with, but finally Bilbo thought that he had a rather good collection of things. He set them all out in front of the fireplace and brought Ember in to look at them. Every time Ember asked for something, Bilbo said 'Yes Ember' and the little dragon happily ran back with his treasure to the fireplace and placed it where he liked the look of it best.

Eventually the pile had all made its way into the hearth, and as Bilbo watched his dragon curl up so fiercely proud around his little hoarded mountain of shiny things, Bilbo knelt down and held out the final items. Six pairs of broken spectacles. Ember's eyes went wide, and you could tell that he wanted them badly, but he had learned not to ask for them because it was always a 'No' item.

"Yes Ember. These are yours, just yours. They are Ember's spectacles. You get them for being so good and learning your manners. Yes Ember. Yes."

And the little dragon chirped in joy, grabbed the glasses and put them all on the very top of his pile. He then rushed out of the fireplace and loved and purred all over Bilbo, before running back to the pile for a moment to happily chirp and coo over them, before heading straight back to Bilbo over and over again, overjoyed with his treasures.

Bilbo was very glad he had such a happy, and much more well behaved dragon. He would teach Ember proper Hobbit manners yet.