Happily! Sorry; I start babbling and then figure I should stop well before I get to the meat and potatoes. Thank you for a chance to explain.
Despite dealing with animals and Animals all during the books (and even having a Goose familiar), the only kinship of any kind that Liir admits is to the dragons. They are capable of terrible things, just as Liir is capable of terrible things (Bengda bridge is a good example, though a better one is probably his bitter actions against a supposed 'friend' over nothing so harmful as affection for his own mother) but they are more than that. Their dexterous claws and graceful forearms are remarked upon more than once, perfect for exacting work, much as Liir prefers to do such as when he acted as Cherrystone's secretary or even just keeping order in the bunks, and even later in life when he decides to write a treatise on the complicated nature of power. Even the horrible things the dragons do are done with precision, and Liir is all about precision (he takes to the army well, does everything with care and exactness) when he can. They can recognize their own, but much like Liir, they didn't know what to do with it any more than Liir does; family is not a natural concept to either the dragons or to Liir though both are shown to try and act in the best interest of the group. They are intelligent, which Liir definitely is, though not terribly good in a crisis; when they knew they'd been poisoned, they cried out but the didn't do much more than that. Liir is similarly terrible in a crisis, freezing (as he did at Bengda) or losing his head (as he did when Dorothy came to the keep).
Dragons, in and out of Oz, are solitary creatures (even in the dragons in the Citadel need their own pens to live in); Liir is similar, not really making friends or looking for romance (though it's found him a time or two) and generally defaulting to being alone for the most part. Connection is not something that happens easily for him. That said, they do respond extremely well to sweetness and kindness and despite the fact that Liir doesn't get terribly much of that in his life, that's what he responds to as well. Trism, the dragonmaster, would quite literally 'whisper sweet nothings' into their ears to send them on assignment and Liir similarly responds well to praise (Cherrystone) and to affection (Trism).
The fact that they take to the sky is DEEPLY important, as flying is a deeply important part of him and any creature that couldn't fly wouldn't really be suitable; his first actualization is made by his first flight and it's one of the very few things that give him any joy in life. Similarly to the dragons, he doesn't particularly like 'sharing' the sky; it's kind of a personal place for him, somewhere to be free of everything else.
Further, the concept of dragons are intimately tied to the Time Dragon in Oz as well and all of Oz is part of the Dragon's dream; Liir's own greatest revelations and understandings come in trances and dreams and half visions. The Time Dragon's actual creation of time, and of Oz, is likened to an accident, happenstance, action taken with great consequences that were never foreseen or intended and that's pretty much Liir's life in a nutshell.
Expansion on the Daemon Section
Despite dealing with animals and Animals all during the books (and even having a Goose familiar), the only kinship of any kind that Liir admits is to the dragons. They are capable of terrible things, just as Liir is capable of terrible things (Bengda bridge is a good example, though a better one is probably his bitter actions against a supposed 'friend' over nothing so harmful as affection for his own mother) but they are more than that. Their dexterous claws and graceful forearms are remarked upon more than once, perfect for exacting work, much as Liir prefers to do such as when he acted as Cherrystone's secretary or even just keeping order in the bunks, and even later in life when he decides to write a treatise on the complicated nature of power. Even the horrible things the dragons do are done with precision, and Liir is all about precision (he takes to the army well, does everything with care and exactness) when he can. They can recognize their own, but much like Liir, they didn't know what to do with it any more than Liir does; family is not a natural concept to either the dragons or to Liir though both are shown to try and act in the best interest of the group. They are intelligent, which Liir definitely is, though not terribly good in a crisis; when they knew they'd been poisoned, they cried out but the didn't do much more than that. Liir is similarly terrible in a crisis, freezing (as he did at Bengda) or losing his head (as he did when Dorothy came to the keep).
Dragons, in and out of Oz, are solitary creatures (even in the dragons in the Citadel need their own pens to live in); Liir is similar, not really making friends or looking for romance (though it's found him a time or two) and generally defaulting to being alone for the most part. Connection is not something that happens easily for him. That said, they do respond extremely well to sweetness and kindness and despite the fact that Liir doesn't get terribly much of that in his life, that's what he responds to as well. Trism, the dragonmaster, would quite literally 'whisper sweet nothings' into their ears to send them on assignment and Liir similarly responds well to praise (Cherrystone) and to affection (Trism).
The fact that they take to the sky is DEEPLY important, as flying is a deeply important part of him and any creature that couldn't fly wouldn't really be suitable; his first actualization is made by his first flight and it's one of the very few things that give him any joy in life. Similarly to the dragons, he doesn't particularly like 'sharing' the sky; it's kind of a personal place for him, somewhere to be free of everything else.
Further, the concept of dragons are intimately tied to the Time Dragon in Oz as well and all of Oz is part of the Dragon's dream; Liir's own greatest revelations and understandings come in trances and dreams and half visions. The Time Dragon's actual creation of time, and of Oz, is likened to an accident, happenstance, action taken with great consequences that were never foreseen or intended and that's pretty much Liir's life in a nutshell.