Seeing Wings of Green

Chapter 18: So Begins the Taming Process

I sent my feelings of relief and gratitude through the link at the sound of Averill's mind-voice. If only I had the same mind-linking ability that everyone else had. Then I would be able to tell her that I was safe.  I thought. Held hostage and studied against my will, but safe. I sighed out loud in relief and tucked myself deeper into the blanket-nest.

"You're okay, right?" Averill asked me worriedly.

I could still feel the strain of her trying to keep the link intact over our distance; however far that was. I sent some feelings of confirmation down through our unstable link. I wished that I could alert her to the fact that our flock was unknowingly being subjected to Kymari study, but again; no mind-linking ability meant that my flock would have to be kept in the dark, unless one of the other captive Dragonets from our flock had managed to hear about the study as well and then was able to get the word out. There was a sigh of relief from Averill's end of the link.

"Good. Just try to continue to stay safe. I hope-"

Before my friend could finish her sentance, the already shaky link was suddenly severed and I was once again left alone with my own thoughts. A brief flash of panic surged through me; as I immediately assumed something horrible had befallen the gold Dragonet before I forced myself to slow down and think rationally. Her mind-voice sounded calm, relaxed, and alert; all signs that she was doing just fine during our brief interaction and that there was no cause for alarm or immediate action on my behalf. I took several deep, measured breaths to calm myself and once I had relaxed, only then did my eyes reopen. Stay safe, right. Kinda hard to do when I've been around at least one Kymari constantly every day since my abduction. I thought with a quiet snort. If I could frown in this new body, I already would've been doing so out of displeasure.

By now, I could hear the veternarian thankfully saying his goodbyes and telling Brogh to contact him if anything changed regarding my health or behavior. Soon after the vet left, Cirynn had decided that it was time for her to say her goodbyes as well. In a span of ten minutes, it was just down to Brogh, Vircea, and myself in the room. The conversation between the two Kymari siblings revolved largely around things I didn't understand; namely Brogh's job and the gadgets that I had seen him working on. As for me, I remained curled up in my nest of blankets; intently trying to decipher what the two Kymari were talking about. From what little information I was able to understand and gather, Brogh was basically an I.T. specialist who focused on fixing and mantaining all of the advanced gadgets and weaponry that the rest of his kind used and that he was also very good at his job and as a result, was well-respected by his peers. 

"Wait here, sister." Brogh said suddenly as I was in the middle of re-orienting myself once again so that the remaining Kymari were in my line of sight. "I want to try something with the Fire Lizard and I want you here in case something goes wrong on either end. I figured I'd better try this with no one else but an animal expert close by."

"Of course, brother." The female Kymari replied with an almost amused grin. "I want to see for myself how good your animal handling skills are."

Great. I thought sarcastically as my ear tufts flattened slightly in response to Brogh's words. Yet another experiment! I thought I was done with those after the lab got destroyed! My whole body went rigid as the male Kymari passed by my cage and I could feel a hiss forming at the back of my throat as I warily tracked his movements. Though it appeared that Vircea's gaze was following her brother as he walked towards the door that led into the kitchen, the Blood Memories told me that she was actually watching me instead. Oddly enough, the door didn't close after Brogh passed through it. Instead, it remained wide open and I could faintly hear the sound of something being picked up and moved in that other room; though what is was, I didn't know. After a few minutes and no signs of Brogh, I allowed myself to relax somewhat; but kept an eye on his still-present sister through half-closed eyes and with Brogh out of my sight, I didn't dare let my guard down completely. I had no idea what the male Kymari was planning; but I did know that if he tried to touch me, I would make sure to have my serrated claws come into contact with his skin.

Five minutes later, he was back. I didn't know what he had done, as he wasn't visibly holding anything different and he smelled the same as he did before he left. Unfortunately for me, the first thing that he did when he re-entered the living room was to walk straight over to where my cage was. Oh no. I immediately tried to bury myself as deep in my blanket nest as possible. My eyes widened when I saw Brogh's hand near the latch of my cage. The sound of the locking mechanism disengaging rang painfully in my ears as the cage door opened completely. Thankfully, instead of reaching a hand in, he just left the cage door open, turned around, and resumed his spot on the couch and started a conversation with Vircea regarding the current gadget that he was working on. Though the pair seemed engrossed in their conversation, they were both subtly watching me; probably waiting to see what I would do next with the clear promise of "freedom".

Since the only way out of the cage was facing Brogh, I had no desire to go anywhere near that opening. I decided that everything Brogh would be doing from here on would all be part of some sort of test and a puff of air escaped my nostrils. Thought I was done with test-taking the moment that I was abducted by a bunch og crazy people and forced into a tiny dragon body. I thought, vexed. There was no point in leaving the safe confines of my cage anyway. I already knew that there was nowhere in the room for me to hide and it wasn't like I could fly anywhere with one of my wings bound in a heavy plaster cast.

After a few minutes passed and with no noteworthy changes in either Brogh or Vircea's mannerisms, I forced my muscles to relax. Their conversation had moved to talk of what I had guessed to be Vircea's job as an animal trainer. I treated their voices as white noise while I half-closed my eyes in an attempt to sleep away the boredom that came with being trapped in a plexiglass cube. No sooner did my eyes half-close before they snapped open on their own accord just in time to see Brogh's right hand extend towards my cage. My mane immediately bristled with unease and I curled my weaponized tail around me so that the scale blades pointed outwards in an offensive position. A low hiss started at the back of my throat and only increased in volume with the decrease in distance between the male Kymari's hand and myself. I was not at all happy with this sudden development and I wanted to make sure that Brogh knew it.

Much to my suprise, his hand stopped moving just in front of the opening of my cage and when he withdrew his hand moments later and went back to conversing with his sister, I was shocked at what had been left behind:

A single, perfectly ripe Sunburst Berry.

I lifted my head and blinked several times as I stared at the small, jarringly bright orange berry with surprise. This was a treat that I seldom got more than fifteen times a year due to their slow growth rate and the fact that there were other members of my flock who were brave enough to leave the safe confines of the park in order to seek out the little fruit that was the Dragonet equivalent of Catnip for felines. How did Brogh know that fruit was so highly sought after by my kind? My gaze flickered from the Sunburst Berry to the male Kymari, then back to the berry. Was this a trap or an attempt to gain my trust? My ear tufts flattened slightly. There was clearly no point of luring me into a trap when I was already in a cage, and with what I had heard the group of four Kymari discuss in terms of the possibility of taming and training us earlier, I now had a suspicion of just what exactly Brogh was up to.

Author's note: Sorry for the wait and happy late holidays/New Year's! This chapter is a little short, but the plan is to have the next one make up for it.