Months after a court-mandated break from snacks (a cruel and unusual punishment if you ask a certain lizard), Elric is trying to keep his life simple. Simple being a relative term when you live with a fire-happy monster who thinks curtains are chew toys.
Then along comes an apprentice. Not hired—found. A homeless child with more grit than sense and a stubborn streak to rival Elric’s own. Suddenly, Elric isn’t just running a monster pet shop; he’s teaching medicine and wrangling their newest a five-hundred-pound owlbear cub abandoned and injured.
Between the exploding training sessions, the community’s side-eye at mythical beasts, and lessons in anatomy that mostly boil down to don’t get eaten, Elric has his hands full. But in the chaos, there’s a strange comfort—because sometimes, healing others means finding a little healing for yourself.