Tessa's POV:
I quickly flipped upside down while flying, preventing Dirk from stealing the long ribbon attached to the back of my harness. It had been longer when we started this game, but the pieces readily tore if someone grabbed them.
Mom and Dad were focused on each other, although Dad had a bit more ribbon left than she did. Dirk was a slow flyer. He didn't have much ribbon left on his harness at all. All of my practice was paying off. Not that it helped if Mom or Dad decided that they wanted a piece of my ribbon.
I was getting better at flying with the ribbon. When it had been longer, it did funny things like trying to slip in front of my wing if I banked too sharply, and having it wrap around my tail if I spun upside down just felt weird.
The backyard was almost too small with all four of us flying around as fast as we could. A few quick wingbeats let me catch up to Dirk. Stretching my neck out, my jaws closed around another section of his ribbon.
A light tug tore it free. We were only allowed to take one section at a time; otherwise, I could have snatched several. He hissed, upset that I had stolen another piece. With a laughing warble, I banked away before he could try to nip me.
Predictably, he gave chase, trying to take my ribbon. With a big beat of my wings, I aimed up while furiously backwinging midair. Dirk shot past below me, not anticipating my sudden stop.
My back foot managed to snag another piece of his ribbon. Folding my wings, I dropped down to gain speed before flying off again as Dirk tried to catch up.
Dirk and I needed a rest long before Mom and Dad did. We rested on the big rock while watching them whip around the backyard. A light tug on my harness made me look back.
"Hey! That's no fair! You can only take pieces of my ribbon when we are flying!"
In retaliation of the unfair theft, my tail snagged a piece of his ribbon. It quickly turned into a wrestling match. Dirk was bigger than me, so by the time we finished, neither of us had any sections of ribbon left on our harnesses.
"Good evening, Taureen. How is it going?"
I looked up to see Soranto and two Kymari I didn't recognize approaching the back gate. Taureen pressed a button on his wrist comm, and the gate clicked. Soranto held it open as the woman and girl walked through.
"It's going well, Soranto. Adeline, Maria, welcome."
The woman replied, "It's been a while since we visited. I brought some salad for supper tonight."
"Thanks," Aeria said as she stood up. "I'll go put that in the kitchen and bring some drinks out."
"I'll come help."
Adeline and Aeria went inside, leaving Soranto and Maria to visit with Taureen. I dug through the Blood Memories, guessing that Maria was about nine or ten years old. It was hard to guess their age.
I hadn't been aware that Soranto had a kid or a wife, although it made sense considering how often he had mentioned those two names.
Taureen went to the side of the house and opened a sliding door that I had never seen them use before. He came back out with three more chairs, setting them down beside the other ones.
I flew over to the open door and landed in front of it, peering inside. It was a long narrow room filled with things like chairs, folding tables, and various tools to trim the trees and grass.
"Tessa, no," Taureen said kindly. "The shed isn't a place you should be playing."
I looked back at him and decided to get a closer look at Maria. I flew over and landed on Taureen's shoulder as I examined the girl sitting beside Soranto. She was watching me with interest as a smile graced her face.
"She's so cute," Maria murmured.
"She is, but it's her mother that we have to watch out for," Soranto replied, his watchful gaze shifting between me and Mom.
Mom and Dad were still darting around with several sections of ribbon still attached to their harnesses. There was no way they could have missed the trio who had walked beneath them, but they weren't stopping their game just because three apparently familiar Kymari had walked by.
Maria turned her head to watch the silver and gold shapes that were somehow managing to find and fly through every single available piece of airspace.
"It's always so neat to watch them with the ribbons," she said in admiration.
Soranto shrugged lightly. "It is, and it's a very good way for them to get their exercise. It also helps keep their flying skills honed."
I laid down on Taureen's shoulder as I hid a smirk. The game may be a very good way to build our flying skills, but Soranto had no clue that we mostly did it because it was fun. He was so clueless...
"Taureen, do you mind if I see if I can get her to come closer?" Maria inquired.
"You may."
She pulled something out of her pocket and opened up her hand to reveal a bright orange berry. My ear tufts perked up in interest as I sat up. She placed the berry on the arm of the chair she was sitting on.
I took off from Taureen's shoulder and glided past Soranto to land on the arm of her chair. I happily ate the berry and looked up at Maria. My nostrils flared as I hoped to pick up the scent of more berries.
Tentatively, she held her fingers closer, and I sniffed them. The faint smell of sap was an indication that she had likely pulled more than one berry off of the sunburst vines. I hopped onto her lap and shamelessly began checking her pockets.
"See, that's why I told you to hide them better," Soranto murmured.
Maria slowly reached out and gently stroked my back, not minding that I was trying to locate the hidden treats. Her two pockets were empty, but at least I had confirmation that there were more sunburst berries to be had.
I should have known that Soranto would have shown her how to hide the berries. He always gave me one when he left in the evening, but I never managed to locate it before it appeared in his hand.
Aeria and Adeline came back outside and passed everyone something to drink before sitting down.
"We will have to go inside before the storm hits," Aeria said as she looked into the distance.
I lifted my head and could see a few towering dark clouds past the trees. They were far away, though, so I wasn't sure why the clouds bothered Aeria. The sun was still shining.
Leaving Maria's lap, I glided over to our sunning rock where Dirk was dozing in the sunlight. A nap sounded like a good idea, so I laid down beside him and spread my wings to catch the warmth.
A loud rumble woke me up as a large wind gust blasted across the backyard, dislodging leaves from the trees. My head shot up in alarm as I groggily tried to figure out what was going on.
Mom landed beside us, somehow managing to fly even though the wind was threatening to blow me off the rock.
"Tasha, Keegan, Tessa, Dirk," Taureen called over the wind. "Let's go inside."
He held the door open, waiting for us. I looked up to see that the dark clouds were nearly upon us and almost ready to blot out the sun. A cold raindrop hit my back and rolled off my scales. A couple of other big drops splattered against the stone, leaving dark spots that foretold of what was to come.
I spread my wings, and even before I could jump, the wind plucked me off the rock. A startled squeal escaped my lips as I rowed my wings against the invisible force.
It was way harder than flying with the leash. The wind came in bursts, forcing me to keep my wings close to my body in an attempt to keep the wind from grabbing them. What should have been an easy, short glide turned into a struggle to simply fly without letting the wind throw me across the backyard.
The faint low howl and the trees bending in the wind gave me just enough warning to drop to the grass, fold my wings tightly, and use my claws to hang on tight. Dad dropped down beside and dug his claws into the grass as he covered me with his wing, forcing me closer to the ground.
The large gust of wind felt more like a big wave hitting me. Dirk was dashing across the stone patio towards the door when the gust hit, and it was strong enough to send him rolling.
Taureen bent down and caught him. He stood up, holding Dirk against his chest as he waited for the wind to die down a bit. Leaves and twigs dropped out of the trees, and the wind blew them across the grass.
The trees began to stand straighter, and in the brief respite, I darted out from under Dad's wing as I raced to the door. He was right behind me as we ran inside. Taureen came in and closed the door behind us.
I looked around wildly until I spotted Mom on Taureen's shoulder. She must have flown over while we had been running for the door. I breathed a sigh of relief, glad that we had made it inside safely.
Even inside, I could faintly hear the wind howling in protest of our escape. I flew over to the front window and looked outside.
The sun had disappeared behind the black clouds. From how the grass and flowers kept bending over, the wind wasn't letting up. More streaks of water marred the window and ruined my view.
This was going to be a big storm.
"It looks like we will be taking the shuttle home," Soranto observed.
His wife shrugged. "We knew it was coming."
Taureen walked up behind me and put Dirk on the windowsill as he also looked outside. "If this lasts past dawn, it'll probably be big enough to keep the wild flock from singing."
Dirk and I looked at each other, unable to imagine not being able to sing the Morning Song. If we couldn't even stand up outside, then I had no idea how the others would be able to fly.
The rain outside was coming down heavier now, making it hard to see across the street. It made me cold just looking at it. With a shake of my head, I turned and flew over to the heat lamp.
I sighed happily as I curled up against Dad under the warm light. It was much better to be inside when such a storm was raging outside. It made me wonder how Abby was doing. We hadn't been back to the main park for several days.
My chin rested on the sand as I focused on my memory of her face. "Hi, Abby. Is this big storm reaching the park, too?"
"Yeah... We went into the tunnels the moment we saw it. It's too dangerous to go outside when so many branches are breaking off and dropping."
"Tunnels?"
She sent an image of darkness – the lack of light underground. "There's an entrance, an exit, six bedrooms, and a room with some dried fruit. It's pretty cramped, but it's safe. Where are you weathering out this storm?"
"We are inside the house now." I sent her an image what I could see from where I lay, along with the feeling of the heat lamp above and warm sand below.
"Ohhh... I wish I were warm right now. They let you inside without being in a cage?"
"I've never even seen a cage. There is a small door for us, so we can go in and out as we like, although I have no plans on going outside right now." I shared the memory of what I had seen outside the window, of when the tree branches had bent so far, and how it had blown Dirk over.
She was silent for a moment. "That is a really strong wind. No wonder Dad made us go underground the moment he saw the clouds. Some trees will probably fall down, too. Can you show me more of the backyard?"
I tried to send her everything I remembered. The big piece of driftwood, sunning rock, trees, shrubs, heated pond, the small door, and the patio area where Taureen and Aeria usually sat. Then I sent some images from our game of ribbon tag earlier, of Dirk in his harness as his ribbon blew behind him while he tried to evade me, as well as Mom and Dad's insanely fast flying.
"I've played a game like that before. We held a long piece of grass in our back claws though."
My eyes closed as she shared several memories of playing the grass tag. Since we were both bored, she continued showing me things from the park. Little by little, a mental map formed in my mind; of creeks, ponds, fruit trees, paths, and little clearings.
Foxes weren't too dangerous if you weren't on the ground, and most of them knew better than to bother the dragonets who could breathe fire. Likewise, the few eagles in the park were also wary of the shiny dragonets.
Eventually, she ran out of things to show me. "What's it like with the Kymari?"
I returned the favor of showing her as much as I could. The heat lamp, wall perches, and how we had the run of the house. The fruit dishes with their ever-changing variety. Being able to sing inside if it was raining outside.
I made sure to include as many things as I could remember from our outings since I knew she had never been in a store or down a street. The memory smell of the sicora hide in the training area startled her, but when she didn't say anything, I kept going.
By the time I ran out of things to share, it was late, and we were both tired.
"Thanks for the chat, Tessa. I'm going to go to sleep, but I'll talk with you tomorrow."
"Okay. We should make this a habit. Dirk gets tired of me talking."
Her silent laughter rolled down the mindlink before it faded into silence.