A New Beginning

Chapter 48

"Well, that's a new one..." Soranto commented before shaking his head and wandering over.

"What did she do?" Adeline asked as she appeared in the doorway. "Oh. I don't recall seeing any mention of the fire lizards burying themselves."

"Nor do I."

Soranto tilted his head as he examined my handiwork. I lifted my head and trilled innocently at him.

He tapped his wrist comm a few times. "Taureen, have you ever seen the fire lizards bury themselves in sand?"

"No. Why?" Taureen's voice sounded like he knew the answer just because of the question, but was asking anyway.

Soranto did something else with his wrist comm. "I just sent you a picture."

Taureen was silent for a while. "I have never seen that before, but it never occurred to me to have a sand tray deep enough for them to actually bury themselves. The most they have ever done was dig out a bit of a hollow, and they never reached the bottom of the tray on those occasions. Did she sleep like that?"

"No, she slept in one of the nests higher up. She did this just a few minutes ago."

"Did you take a video of it?"

"Unfortunately not. She did it while I was preparing her breakfast in the kitchen."

"I'm curious to see if she makes it a habit."

The way the sand surrounded me was nice and warm, but I doubted that I would do it often. I had sand in places that sand probably shouldn't be.

Soranto glanced out the window before going to sit down. The brightening sky also had my attention, although there was still some time until the song started. I remained where I was until I decided to get up. It was really hard to move your legs or shift your tail when they were buried in sand.

Standing up wasn't too hard, although sand cascaded down my scales as I stepped out of the dip that had appeared beneath me. Bracing my feet, I shook as hard as I could to get the remaining grains of sand out from under the edges of my scales.

I glided in front of the windows before landing on the ground beside the back door. I bunted it with my head before looking back at Soranto, who was already getting up to open it for me. When the door opened, I darted through and flew over to the smooth tree stump that had appeared in the middle of the backyard last week.

Soranto's backyard was about three times the size of Taureen's. The netting was also different. The two trees which had previously blocked my view of the eastern horizon had been removed. Other than a few other plants being swapped out, not much else had changed yet.

I gazed towards where the sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon. The faint call was beginning to stir as it always did, which was reassuring. The sound of the door opening and closing again made me look back. Adeline and Maria had come outside and were sitting together as they watched me. Soranto had a video recorder in his hands, as per Taureen's request.

It only reminded me about how different this song might be. It almost made me nervous, but the sun's call was already strengthening. My eyes went back to the rising sun.

The light shimmered, and I took flight. My fears and reservations had all been for naught – the joy that the Song brought was the same. This time, the dance was simpler since I didn't have to evade other fliers.

It was strange to just hear my voice; yet, I didn't mind it. It meant that more people could hear it, which was strange considering how much I had previously enjoyed the flock's mass event. Either way was good – they were just different.