Seeing Wings of Green

Chapter 19: How to Train Your... Mini Dragon

My stomach growled at the sight of the treasured treat that sat before me. Though I knew that if I wanted it, I had to unfortunately get closer to where Brogh was sitting. I watched as Vircea- without pausing in her conversation with her brother- reached into her leather tote bag, fished around for a few seconds, and then came away with a small leaf that looked like it belonged to a succulent and crushed it between her thumb and index finger. Almost immediately, the already sweet smell of the Sunburst Berry was almost tripled in intensity, which caused my nostrils to flare excitedly as the scent of the leaf of the Sunburst Plant filled them. The scent was so overpowering, that I found myself salivating and I started to believe that I could feel my pupils start to dialate. If that Sunburst Berry had been- for example- a piece of mango or pineapple, it would've been ignored. You clever, clever motherfu- I stopped my thoughts and growled quietly to myself.

The yummy-looking berry was just outside of my cage, so at least I didn't have to go too terribly far to get it. Unable to resist the lull of the little orange berry that sat outside of my cage for any longer, I took my time getting to my feet and once I was, I began to cautiously creep forward while keeping my body held close to the ground and as I moved, I kept a watchful eye on the pair of Kymari siblings. They remained sitting in their respective seats, but any extra movement from them had stilled; as in Brogh had stopped drumming his fingers on the couch's arm rest and Vircea had stopped rapidly bouncing one of her legs up and down. Both Kymari had dropped their voices to just above a whisper as they continued on with their conversation as they (horribly) pretended that they weren't paying attention to me and my movement. If it came down to me and them in a game of Poker, I would be able to immediately tell when they were bluffing.

I took a brief pause at the water bowl as I passed by it in order to get a drink. There was no use in me pretending like that was what I had been going to do the entire time; as I was pretty sure that the Kymari had seen my reaction once Brogh had placed that Sunburst Berry down in front of my cage. My thirst having been quenched for the time being, I resumed inching my way towards the sweet, little, orange berry. I stopped just before the cage's opening and extended my neck out towards the treat. Only my head left the cage as I snagged the berry in my jaws and made a hasty retreat back to my nest of blankets in order to enjoy my treat. Vircea was now openly observing me.

"So, the information that I found online is true." The female Kymari chuckled. "What made you try the Sunburst Berry Approach, brother?"

"Oh, mere curiosity is all." Brogh replied as he turned his attention to me. "I read through the most recent articles that you sent me about Fire Lizards that had been written by a resident in the city with the other Fire Lizard population."

The male Kymari paused and briefly watched me finish up the last bit my treat before he turned his attention back to his sister and continued on with what he was saying.

"The author said that he had seen some of the local Fire Lizards at certain planters that lined the street next to their habitat and after he learned of a captive Fire Lizard, he decided to check each of the planters that he had seen the reptiles visiting in order to find out what had lured them out of their territory."

"And those planters had the Sunburst Vine." Vircea finished.

There was a light chuckle from Brogh.

"All stripped of their ripe berries, too." He replied with a nod. "Apparently, someone else in that location had moved a few new Sunburst Vine planters to the border of the Fire Lizards' habitat and as expected, the vines in the new planters were stripped of their ripe berries before the sun had even set."

A pause before Vircea spoke back up. Her light brown eyes were now shining with excitement.

"Ah, of course." She grinned. "A favorite treat is a great training tool that can be used to bring the animal out of its comfort zone quite quickly and easily."