Tessa’s POV:

  I stretched out as far as I could on the warm sand, reveling in the ability to do so without bumping into someone. The complete silence was strange, as well as a bit eerie, but it was the best sleep I had enjoyed in a very long time. I was kind of sad that Dirk had dibs on this heat lamp tonight.

  With a faint sigh, I got up and flew through the narrow gap in the door. The house was still quiet. Was I really the first one awake? A quick check confirmed that gold, silver, and blue scales slumbered under the main heat lamp. I rarely woke up this early in the morning.

  I decided to go outside and gaze at the stars. I slipped out quietly, not wanting to wake the others. The sky was still fairly dark, so the moon and stars stood out.

  I sat on the big piece of driftwood and gazed at the sky appreciatively. The air was chilly, but not a breath of wind stirred. Other than a few crickets, the world was silent as the stars glittered overhead. There were no words to describe the experience, so I memorized the peaceful feeling to share later.

  The stars faded as the sky became lighter. The door flap quietly thunked as Dad came outside. He flew over and beside me as we waited for the sun to rise. It wasn’t long before Mom and Dirk joined us.

  I could feel the sun begin to send out its call even though we couldn’t see it yet. The call’s strength grew as the sun peeked above the horizon, and we waited motionlessly for the cue to begin. A ripple of the light had us leaping toward the sky as our voices sang of our joy.

  The happiness and hope filled my heart, even as I swerved to miss Dad. My aerobatics didn’t interfere with my song. My flying had gotten much better. I barely even had to think about it as I flew in loops around my family.

  Joy and gladness danced through my veins, chasing away any other emotions. All that mattered was the song and the important message it wanted us to relay. Another day had begun, full of hope and possibilities—and we were a part of it.

  Eventually, the sun rose above the horizon, and the song came to an end. We flew over to where Taureen and Aeria sat. They already had several bowls of fruit out, so we enjoyed our breakfast while occasionally trading for our favorites.

  “How was your night alone?” Dad asked.

  I swallowed a piece of watermelon and grinned. “It was great. Dirk didn’t growl at me once for rolling on his tail.”

  Dirk snorted. “Maybe that explains why I slept better. You move almost as much in your sleep as you do during the day.”

  I flicked him with my tail and proceeded to ignore him.

  “What are we doing today?” I asked Taureen and Aeria.

  “You can come with me,” Taureen replied. “We’re going to walk through a few marketplaces and visit a school to do a small presentation about bond animals.”

  My ear tufts perked up. “That sounds interesting. Are Aeria, Dad, and Dirk going to the training room?”

  “No, the training rooms are currently being cleaned and rearranged. We won’t be able to go there until tomorrow.”

  That was both exciting and unnerving. I would get to learn new things, but I also wouldn’t have any idea what to expect in the training room. That was what the training sessions were for though; to teach me about the variety of things I might encounter. I couldn’t wait to see what the Kymari had managed to dream up this time.

  There was never a rush in the mornings. Other Kymari might be on their way to work already, but we had to wait until those people were at their workplace. As nice as it was to relax while my scales were oiled and massaged, I was still impatient to get going.

  As soon as Taureen began walking to where our harnesses hung on the wall, I flew over to land on his shoulder. Thankfully, Mom wasn’t as slow as Dirk, so we were out of the house before the others.

  A shuttle landed at the edge of the road with Tran and Vick already inside. Somewhat to my surprise, we got into the shuttle. We usually walked wherever we were going, unless it was quite some distance away.

  I gawked at the city from my new vantage point. The roads formed patterns I hadn’t known existed. There were a lot of small parks, although most were just a couple dozen trees and a few benches. I would have to share the images with Abby during our usual evening chat.

  When we got out of the shuttle, I wasn’t sure where to look first. There were so many interesting and different things! Even Mom looked around in curiosity.

  There were hundreds of tables and stalls along the path ahead of us. Each one seemed to have something different. There was a lot of noise, but not as much as I would have expected with so many people present. The clash of smells almost made me want to close my nostrils, although none were unpleasant.

  My eyes widened when I saw people who weren’t Kymari. There were other alien races here! One had scales, another had fur and pointed ears, and some had blue skin. All of them were selling things at a booth or table.

  The variety of things around us was bewildering. Electronics, food, clothing, and almost anything that anyone might possibly need. There was just so much stuff!

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  The shiny items kept distracting me. I craned my neck to the side as I stared longingly at a table with sparkly round objects that reminded me of the ‘shiny’ I had seen as a nestling. Now that I thought about it, I never had seen it again. I’d have to ask Aeria tonight. She would probably remember it.

  Taureen noticed my interest and paused, following my gaze. He held his hand up to me, and I stepped onto his glove. To my delight, he walked over and lowered me closer to the table with the grape-sized shiny balls that sparkled in the sunlight.

  “Take one,” he told me.

  My eyes widened in excitement, and I quickly tried to find the prettiest one. There were so many to choose from!

  With a quick glance up at him, I gingerly stepped off his glove, carefully stepping between the pretty stones and glass balls on the table. The Kymari woman sitting behind the table smiled, likely amused at my indecision and excitement.

  Did I want the pretty clear blue one? Maybe a red one that matched my scales almost perfectly? Or one of the clear ones that glittered with rainbow colors? It was so hard to choose! I wasn’t sure if there was a color in existence that wasn’t on this table somewhere.

  Taureen murmured, “We are trying to get the youngsters well socialized. Would you mind seeing if she will let you pet her?”

  “Those Elders are going to drive me crazy with their request for the youngsters to meet five strangers a week,” Mom muttered peevishly.

  The woman’s smile grew larger with delight as she slowly moved her hand closer. I sniffed it and let her gently stroke my neck and back. I liked the attention, but the glittering objects surrounding me were much more interesting.

  My eyes skimmed over all of them quickly, trying to see which one captured my attention the most. I kept looking back at one in particular, a clear one that somehow caught the light to produce glimmers of the rainbow deep inside.

  It was almost twice the size of most of the ones near the front of the table. I sat down beside it and put my hand on it as I looked up at Taureen hopefully.

  He nodded with a smile. “Sure, you can have that one. Back up.”

  “Thank you!”

  I took a few steps back, making sure my tail didn’t knock or touch anything. The woman picked up the shimmering ball and pulled something out from under the table. I watched in fascination as she attached a small clasp to it and looped a thin piece of leather cording through it.

  She held it out to me, and I trilled a thank-you before taking the cord in my mouth. Wary of the downdraft from my wings knocking something over, I trotted to the edge of the table. Taureen lifted me back up to his shoulder before pulling a small bag out of his belt pouch.

  I firmly held onto the leather cord with one hand as I sat on Taureen’s shoulder. I was quite certain that the pretty stone was much nicer than the old shiny I had once caught.

  The woman shook her head at Taureen’s money pouch. “Only half of the marked price. Having a bond animal choose an item from my table is something not many can claim.”

  He thanked her and handed over some strange pieces of what looked like metal. Some sort of money, although even the Blood Memories didn’t know much beyond that.

  We continued walking, although it was hard to pay attention since I kept getting distracted by my new treasure. I’d quickly discovered that when Taureen walked, it shifted from side to side on its cord, which made it really catch the light. It was hard to look away from the rainbow hints within.

  My nostrils flared at an unexpected scent, and my head swung around as a faint growl rumbled in my chest. Taureen glanced at me, and Tran and Vick became more alert. Mom lifted her head and took a deep breath before getting to her feet with a growl of her own.

  “Good catch. It was so faint that I didn’t even notice it until you growled.”

  I took another breath, but there were too many scents masking the crawler. It was much harder to detect than it had been in our training sessions.

  “Well, this is going to be fun,” Tran commented, looking at the busy marketplace. “At least they aren’t worked up enough for a sicora.”

  Taureen clipped a leash onto my harness and held his hand up to Mom. She stepped on, still sniffing the air.

  “Go on. Find it.”

  She launched skyward, flying well above the heads of the people as she circled in ever-widening loops. Then she backtracked and came to a hover, staring pointedly down at a table farther ahead. I took mental notes of how she had circled outward.

  “Tasha, shoulder,” Taureen called out.

  She flew back and swooped down to land on his shoulder. Her head turned to stare back at the booth. Most of the people around us had stopped what they were doing and watched us in curiosity. Some of them spoke quietly to one another; from the few conversations I overheard, this was the first time they had seen a fire lizard working since we usually caught everything while it was on the spaceships.

  Tran and Vick had their weapons in their hands, but they weren’t holding them like they did in our training session, possibly due to the number of people around. We stopped in front of the table, and Taureen had her step onto his wrist again.

  “Is there any chance a crawler or sicora might have gotten into your booth?” Taureen asked the Kymari seller.

  “I don’t think so. I haven’t seen anything, but there was a crawler on the ship my new fabrics came in on.”

  “Do you mind if we check?”

  “Not at all. If there is one, I don’t want it around.”

  Taureen nodded and lifted his wrist higher, telling Mom, “Go on. Find it.”

  She took off and circled around the small stall, eventually landing on a pile of blankets. Taureen walked closer and checked under the table, although there was nothing underneath besides neatly-stacked empty boxes.

  Mom dug down between two of the piles before backing up and tilting her head in confusion. With a snort, she bounded onto another pile of blankets and rooted through it, knocking the pile sideways in the process. It looked a lot like what Dirk and I had once done with a clean pile of laundry.

  After a few more checks, she gave up and flew back to Taureen’s shoulder. She rustled her wings before sitting down and looking around.

  “If there was nothing in the crates, then she’s probably just reacting to the lingering scent from the ship,” Taureen said.

  “The crates weren’t airtight, so that’s probably why. It’s reassuring to know that the fire lizards are checking the ships. I really don’t want to find a crawler in my workshop or in my home.”

  “Sorry about the mess.”

  “Don’t worry. She only knocked a few piles over.”

  Taureen unclipped my leash as we continued walking through the market. I glanced back at the lady who was easily restacking the piles.

  “It was just the scent from before?” I asked Mom.

  “Yes. The scent of a live one is much stronger when you’re close. It’s better to have several false alarms than to potentially miss something. I just had to dig around to show where the scent trail ended. I’m impressed that you smelled it before I did. Good job!”

  I trilled a soft gratitude for the praise. It made me feel like I was glowing inside.