A New Beginning

Chapter 16

"We were in the lab when the white aliens first arrived. That was also the day we escaped and took shelter in the forest." I paused. "It was a lot of learning. We had to teach ourselves where to find food and how to avoid wild animals. The Blood Memories helped, but often not until we were face to face with each situation or problem.

"It got harder over time since strange animals appeared – dangerous creatures released by these aliens. It was almost a month before we discovered that we could breathe fire-"

"How did you learn to breathe fire?" Tessa interrupted.

"Pure chance. Someone was trying to protect their mate from a predator and accidentally discovered the trick to breathing fire while hissing. It took more than a few mindlink conversations, but he managed to teach the rest of us how to do it."

"Can you teach us?" Dirk asked eagerly.

I smiled fondly at him. "When you get old enough, I will happily teach you, but it is something that comes with age."

"Like our scales chiming?" Tessa inquired somewhat sullenly, still put out that she couldn't get her scales to chime.

"Exactly. But, back to our story. Things got easier once we could scare most of the dangerous animals away with fire, but it didn't always work well, and some of them kept coming back. Roughly two months after that, a different type of spaceship arrived, and chased the white aliens away. Any idea which alien race this was?"

"The Kymari. And the white aliens were the Votaks." Tessa's eyes were distant, likely following what she could see in her Blood Memories.

"Correct. The Kymari took over the planet and built their own cities. They didn't like the wild animals that the white aliens had let loose, so they built large walls around their cities and included many parks inside. The wild animals had their own babies, and that made the forests even more dangerous. Some of the other animals also ate fruit, and food became scarce."

Once the kids were much older, I would tell them more about those dark days. About the vicious predators that had killed more than a few dragonets, the difficulty of finding enough to eat without straying into unknown and dangerous areas, and having to constantly look over your shoulder for danger.

Even the dragonets who were still terrified of the Kymari wouldn't consider leaving the sheltered parks unless they were in danger. That showed just how dangerous life was outside the Kymari's walls.

I continued, "One night, all of the dragonets flew over the wall and snuck into the big park in the middle. It's so big that it takes hours for us to fly across it. There were many fruit trees and almost no big animals. It was almost like paradise."

Tessa spoke slowly, as if trying to puzzle her way through her thoughts, "And the dragonets avoided the Kymari because they were scared?"

"Yes. Many were scared because they didn't know what would happen if they got too close to the Kymari."

"But we are in Taureen's house now. Why did you move from the park if you were scared of the Kymari?"

"Because I loved your Mother and wanted to be with her. Even though I knew Taureen and Aeria wouldn't harm me, it took me almost a year before I finally managed to leave the park and go with Taureen and Aeria."

That had been an ordeal, but I was glad that I had done it. It had been nearly six months before Tasha convinced me to land on Taureen's shoulder so he could hand me a slice of shia fruit.

I still clearly recalled Taureen's and Aeria's endless patience during the numerous attempts that I ended up aborting out of fear. Tasha had always quietly encouraged me, while never trying to push me beyond what I wanted to attempt.

"The first time I left the park, Taureen called a shuttle so we could come here without walking along the streets." I shared images of the journey, while carefully editing out my fear and paranoia. "It was a huge change. I went from the wild forests in the park to a house and a backyard. It was probably a month before I went for a walk with your mother and Taureen to a nearby park. It did get easier over time, although it was months before I went on my first patrol."

"What's a patrol?" Tessa asked in confusion, likely seeing dozens of different human and Kymari variations of what a 'patrol' was in the Blood Memories.

"For the dragonets, a patrol is when the dragonet and their handler walk through the city or on a ship to look for crawlers or sicora." My body remained relaxed, although I watched them intently as I casually included several rather innocent-looking mental images of the two creatures.

Both fledglings were immediately on their feet with fierce hisses. Dirk took a defensive step back while Tessa unfolded her wings, ready to dart into the air at a moment's notice. The automatic reactions pleased me – they wouldn't be the type to sit there, too stunned or shocked to move, if they encountered these dangerous predators.

I didn't care if their reactions were flight or fight, as long as their instincts were strong enough to keep them from being an easy target.

"What was that about?" Taureen asked in mild curiosity, watching the two fledglings uneasily look at each other and around the room.

"I was telling stories of our patrols and showed them what a sicora and crawler looked like," I told him, letting everyone in the room hear me.

Dirk hissed at the name, now connecting the image to the word. Tessa bared her teeth silently, still not folding her wings completely.

"Well, it looks like it isn't a learned behavior."

"We already knew that. But we will have to teach them to not react to the name until they go through whatever tests you and Tkael were discussing earlier."

"I've already put a request in to the Elders. These two are growing much faster than they anticipated, so it probably won't be too hard to convince them to let the initial training start earlier in case they have to learn from you two. It probably won't happen until they are ready for their first park outing."

"The earlier that happens, the happier I will be," I commented blandly.

Taureen nodded, knowing that we wanted the children to experience both the park and some aspects of sicora hunting so they would have some personal experiences to base their choices on.

I couldn't imagine what kind of backlash he would face if one of the fledglings 'disappeared' while in his care. It was almost a betrayal of his race to let them escape into the park, but it also showed how much we meant to him.

The Elders probably wouldn't remove his rank since Tasha would never accept another handler, and they would never separate me from her. There would be repercussions, though. I was certain of that, even if I might not be able to understand them.

I didn't really care which path my children chose, as long as they were happy. Tasha, myself, and all of the other bonded dragonets were pretty certain that both of them would choose to track sicora.

In the end, though, it was a choice that they would have to make at some point in the coming months.