Tessa’s POV:

  I quickly flipped upside down while flying to prevent Dirk from stealing the long ribbon attached to the back of my harness. It had been longer when we started this game, but the pieces readily tore if someone grabbed them.

  Our parents focused on each other, although Dad had a bit more ribbon left than Mom did. Dirk didn’t have much ribbon left. All of my practice was paying off. Not that it helped if Mom or Dad decided they wanted a piece of my ribbon.

  I was getting better at flying with it. When it had been longer, it did funny things like trying to slip in front of my wing if I banked too sharply, and having it wrap around my tail if I spun upside down just felt weird.

  The backyard was almost too small with all four of us flying around as fast as we could. A few quick wingbeats let me catch up to Dirk. Stretching my neck out, my jaws closed around another section of his ribbon.

  A light tug tore it free. We were only allowed to take one section at a time; otherwise, I could have snatched several. He hissed, upset that I had stolen another piece. With a laughing warble, I banked away before he could try to nip me.

  Predictably, he gave chase. With a big beat of my wings, I angled sharply upward while furiously backwinging mid-air. Dirk shot past me, not anticipating my sudden stop. My back foot managed to snag another piece of his ribbon. Folding my wings, I dove down to gain speed before flying off again as Dirk tried to catch up.

  Dirk and I needed a rest long before Mom and Dad did. We landed on the big rock while they zipped around the backyard. A light tug on my harness made me look back.

  “Hey! That’s no fair! You can only take pieces of my ribbon when we are flying!”

  In retaliation of the unfair theft, my tail snagged a piece of his ribbon. It quickly turned into a wrestling match. Dirk was bigger than me, so by the time we finished, neither of us had any sections of ribbon left on our harnesses.

  “Good evening, Taureen. How is it going?”

  I looked up to see Soranto and two Kymari approaching the back gate. Taureen pressed a button on his wrist comm, and the gate clicked. Soranto held it open as the woman and girl walked through.

  “It’s going well, Soranto. Adeline, Maria, welcome.”

  The woman replied, “It’s been a while since we visited. I brought some salad for the meal tonight.”

  “Thanks, Adeline,” Aeria said as she stood up. The two women disappeared inside, leaving Soranto and Maria to visit with Taureen.

  I dug through the Blood Memories, guessing that Maria was about nine or ten years old. Possibly even twelve. It was hard to guess a Kymari’s age. I hadn’t realized that Soranto had a kid or a wife, although it made sense considering how often he mentioned their names.

  Taureen brought some more chairs over to the patio, and I landed on his shoulder to get a better look at the girl sitting beside Soranto.

  She smiled and murmured to Soranto, “She’s so cute.”

  “She is, but remember to keep an eye on her mother,” Soranto replied, his watchful gaze shifting between me and Mom.

  Mom and Dad were still darting around with several sections of ribbon still attached to their harnesses. There was no way they could have missed the trio who walked beneath them, but they continued chasing each other.

  Maria turned her head to watch the silver and gold shapes that were somehow managing to find and fly through every single available piece of airspace.

  “It’s always so neat to watch them with the ribbons,” she said in admiration.

  Soranto nodded. “It is. And it’s a very good way for them to get their exercise and keep their flying skills honed.”

  I laid down on Taureen’s shoulder as I hid a smirk. The game may be a very good way to build our flying skills, but Soranto had no clue that we mostly did it because it was fun.

  “Taureen, do you mind if I try to get her to come closer?” Maria inquired.

  “You may.”

  She pulled an orange berry out of her pocket and placed it on the arm of her chair. I jumped off Taureen’s shoulder and glided past Soranto to land on the chair arm. I happily ate the berry, then sniffed her fingers. The faint smell of sap made me suspect she had picked several berries off the vines. I hopped onto her lap and shamelessly began checking her pockets.

  “See, that’s why I told you to hide them better,” Soranto murmured.

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  Maria gently stroked my back, not minding my attempts to locate the hidden treats. Her pockets were empty, but at least I had confirmation that more sunburst berries were around. I should have known that Soranto would have shown her how to hide the berries. He always gave me one when he left in the evening, but I never managed to locate it before it appeared in his hand.

  Aeria and Adeline came back outside with a tray of drinks.

  “We will have to go inside before the storm hits,” Aeria said as she looked into the distance.

  I lifted my head and spotted towering dark clouds in the distance. They were far away though, so I wasn’t sure why the clouds bothered Aeria. The sun was still shining.

  With a yawn, I glided over to the sunning rock where Dirk was snoring. A nap sounded like a good idea. I laid down beside him and spread my wings to catch the warmth.

  ***

  A loud rumble woke me up right before a large wind gust blasted across the backyard, ripping leaves from the trees and sending them flying. My head shot up in alarm as I groggily tried to figure out what was going on.

  Mom landed beside us, somehow managing to fly even though the wind threatened to blow me off the rock.

  “Let’s go inside,” Taureen called over the wind as he held the door open and waited for us.

  Dark clouds loomed above us, almost ready to blot out the sun. A cold raindrop hit my back and rolled off my scales. A couple of other big drops splattered against the stone, leaving dark spots that foretold of what was to come.

  I spread my wings, but before I could jump into the air, the wind plucked me off the rock. A startled squeal escaped my lips as I rowed my wings against the invisible force. The wind came in bursts, forcing me to keep my wings close to my body so the wind couldn’t grab them. What should have been an easy glide turned into a struggle to simply fly without letting the wind throw me across the backyard.

  The faint low howl and the groan of trees bending in the wind gave me just enough warning to drop to the ground, fold my wings tightly, and dig my claws into the grass. Dad landed beside me and covered me with his wing, forcing me closer to the ground.

  The large gust of wind felt like a big wave hitting me. Dirk had been dashing across the stone patio to the door when the gust hit, and it was strong enough to send him rolling. Taureen bent down and scooped him up, holding my brother against his chest as he waited for the gust to pass. Leaves and twigs rained out of the trees and blew across the grass.

  The trees began to stand straighter, and in the brief respite, I darted out from under Dad’s wing and raced to the door. He was right behind me as we ran inside. Taureen closed the door behind us. I looked around wildly until I spotted Mom on Taureen’s shoulder. She must have flown there while we were running for the door. All of us had made it inside. I breathed a sigh of relief.

  Even inside, I could hear the wind howling in protest of our escape. I flew to the window as the sun disappeared behind the black clouds. From how the grass and flowers kept bending over, the wind wasn’t letting up. Streaks of water splattered against the window and ruined my view. This was going to be a big storm.

  “It looks like we’ll be taking the shuttle home,” Soranto observed.

  His wife shrugged. “We knew it was coming.”

  Taureen set Dirk on the windowsill as he looked outside. “If this lasts past dawn, it’ll probably be big enough to keep the wild flock from singing.”

  Dirk and I looked at each other, unable to imagine not singing the Morning Song. But if we couldn’t even stand up outside, I had no idea how the others would be able to fly. The rain came down heavier, and I shivered just from looking at it. With a shake of my head, I flew over to the heat lamp.

  I sighed happily as I curled up against Dad under the warm light. It was much better to be inside when such a storm was raging outside. It made me wonder how Abby was doing. We hadn’t been back to the main park for several days.

  My chin rested on the sand as I focused on my memory of her face. “Hi, Abby. Is this big storm reaching the park too?”

  “Yeah. We went into the tunnels the moment we saw it. It’s too dangerous to go outside when so many branches are falling.”

  “Tunnels?”

  She sent an image of darkness—the lack of light underground. “There’s an entrance, an exit, six bedrooms, and a room with some dried fruit. It’s pretty cramped, but it’s safe. Where are you weathering out this storm?”

  “We’re inside the house.” I sent her an image of what I could see from where I lay, along with the feeling of the heat lamp above and warm sand below.

  “Ohhh… I wish I were warm right now. They let you go inside without putting you in a cage?”

  I wasn’t sure what stories Mia had been telling, but I decided to set things straight. “I’ve never even seen a cage. There is a small door so we can go in and out as we like, although I have no plans on going outside right now.” I shared the memory of how the wind had bent the trees and blown Dirk over, followed by the rain streaking the window.

  She was silent for a moment. “That is a really strong wind. No wonder Dad made us go underground the moment he saw the clouds. Trees often fall down in storms like this. Can you show me more of the backyard?”

  I tried to send her everything I remembered. The big piece of driftwood, sunning rock, trees, shrubs, heated pond, the small door, and the patio area where Taureen and Aeria usually sat. Then I sent some images from our game of ribbon tag earlier, of Dirk in his harness with the ribbon fluttering behind him while he tried to evade me, as well as Mom and Dad flying insanely fast.

  “I’ve played a game like that before. We held a long piece of grass in our back claws though.”

  My eyes closed as she shared several memories of grass tag. Since we were both bored, she continued showing me things from the park. Little by little, a mental map formed with creeks, ponds, fruit trees, paths, and little clearings.

  Foxes weren’t too dangerous if you weren’t on the ground, and most of them knew better than to bother fire-breathing dragonets. Likewise, the few eagles in the park were also wary of the dragonets.

  Eventually, she ran out of things to show me. “What’s it like with the Kymari?”

  I returned the favor of showing her as much as I could. The heat lamp, wall perches, and how we had the run of the house. The fruit dishes with their ever-changing variety. Being able to sing inside if it was raining outside.

  I made sure to include as many things as I could remember from our outings since she had never been in a store or down a street. The memory smell of the sicora hide in the training area startled her, but when she didn’t say anything, I kept going. By the time I ran out of things to share, it was late, and we were both tired.

  “Thanks for the chat, Tessa. I’m going to go to sleep, but I’ll talk with you tomorrow.”

  “Okay. We should do this more often. Dirk gets tired of me talking.”

  Her silent laughter rolled down the mindlink before it faded into silence.