Being a teen inside a baby’s body could really be boring at times. For those empty moments he would fantasize about the scenery he would get to see, when he could walk around and be by himself. He wanted to get a look of those fabled dinosaurs and the magnificents of real, not ruined and fallen, castles with knights and servants on them.

Maybe a quick glance at their gorgeous ladies in dresses and jewellery too…

Luckily he didn’t have to get bored too much, as his body needed a lot of sleep. So he spent most of his time sleeping, eating and growing.

****

The cool thing about these dinosaurs were that they weren’t like the ones on earth. The most important difference is that some of them survived long enough to coexist with humans up to the medieval development period. These dinosaurs were also abnormal as they had special abilities. Abilities that could be shared by making a bond with it.

Normally they would bond with their parents, making both the parent and child stronger while sharing their abilities. A child’s ability could mutate and become different, sometimes even much stronger than the parent's. Thus it was an important transaction for the parent.

Humans found out about this bond and as the curious creature they were, they went ahead and tried to bond with the younglings. Surprised and overjoyed to see that it worked.

Not only would the bond make the human live much longer than none-bonded humans. They would also get half the strength, vitality, agility and instinct equal to the dinosaur’s.

But not just anyone could bond with a dinosaur. First you must be a boy, according to the legends...

Second, owner and dinosaur have to be compatible with each other for the bonding to work!

Third, to make yourself and the dinosaur grow, you must cultivate! Things like treasured plants and potions could help both partners to grow and become stronger, but the most effective way was to kill. The ‘stronger’ the opponent the more power one would gain… Thus many battles and conflicts were made, solely for the purpose of making dinosaurs and people alike, stronger…

Another important thing to remember is that a dinosaur can only be bonded once and that is when they are young. When they reach 5 years of age the bond can no longer be established!

But humans are not a creature dependent on bonding, nor is it in their genes. So they can easily bond with dinosaurs, no matter their own age and with any number of them.

However no one has successfully tried to bond with more than one dinosaur at a time before. Other than of course the protagonist in the book he read! But whether that person existed in this universe, was a different matter for another day…

The reason why a dinosaur can only be bonded with ‘once’, is because it would normally bond with one parent, then that parent would naturally die before the child. Often when the child has reached adulthood. Then the cub will go find a mate and get their own baby. This baby dinosaur is the one making the bond possible. The adult cannot make a bond with other dinosaurs that are not in the bonding age...

The best time to bond with a dinosaur is when the human child is 10 years old. At this age they can hunt their own dinosaur cub and rear it as their pet. Not as a partner.

Dinosaurs were not seen as equals! Humans couldn’t communicate properly with them…

Many dinosaur types were clever enough to understand human-language, but the humans couldn’t understand them. It was one-way communication. Just enough for the human to relay their orders.

The dinosaur didn’t have a choice but to follow them. For they see the human as their parent the moment they bond and the dinosaur is programmed from birth to follow the lead of the one they are bonded to.

****

William would soon turn 1 year old. He was born in the spring season, so he was used to hearing the rain hammer down on their wattle and daub house. When winter came the humidity and cold air was much worse. He couldn’t help but cry out to his mother to fetch him. If she wasn’t cradling him he would freeze terribly!

Vanessa got tired of going back and forth to the baby and her work, so in the end she grabbed the poor thing and swaddled it close to her bosom. She went into the living room in front of the fireplace and sat down to continue her weaving. William sighed and enjoyed the warmth that was seeping into his little body.

Joss on the other hand couldn’t understand why the baby constantly needed his mother.

He went over and poked William in the face, asking “Mom! How come Mirabelle can sit with you, but I can’t!?”. Vanessa widened her eyes and soothed “Little Mirabelle quickly gets cold… She wont stop crying if I don’t warm her up”.

Joss got angry at this sentence and interrupted Vanessa’s work, complaining “I’m cold too!”.

Vanessa sighed and said “Joss, I can’t work like this… You’re too big to be held by mother. Why don’t you go out and help father with work?”.

Joss lifted his white and slightly blue hands and said “I have been helping him, but father told me to head inside because my fingers were too slow”. It was easy to get frostbites during the winter. Sadly, this middle class family could barely afford an extra layer of clothes for this cold season, much less gloves…

Vanessa hugged the ice cold fingers and kissed them, before saying “You’re such a good boy Joss. Don’t worry. Next winter we will have gloves to protect our hands”. As the three weak humans gathered and comforted each other with warmth, the father came in through the door with a snow shovel in hand.

His nose was red and his skin white like the snow. He was rather frustrated and commanded “Vanessa! Help me get that pesky trotash out of the chimney. The nest is stuck and the damned bird-creature keeps biting my hand!”.

The man’s hands did indeed have many cuts that bled. Vanessa immediately stood up and took of the heavy 9 months old baby from her front. William wanted to complain but was quickly collected by another warm human.

Joss said obstinately “I’ll keep Mirabelle warm!”.

He had grabbed after William, seeing the boy’s eagerness, Vanessa let him have the baby.