Tessa’s POV:

  I peeked out from under the bush before sneaking through some very long grass. I quickly pulled handfuls of the green blades over me to make a small grassy cave. It wasn’t the best, but it would have to work.

  My mind kept going back to the conversation I had overheard. Dragonets were much more important than Mom and Dad had let on. We protected entire planets! Or, rather, we could if we had a handler and enough training. I wondered what the dragonets in the park did.

  If I understood correctly, we had to go through training first. I didn’t know what training was, and the Blood Memories weren’t helping since the word applied to many things. Once this game was over, Serena would probably tell me. It didn’t take much to get her talking.

  Too excited to sit still, I left my hiding place and jumped in the air to join the game. I was faster than Dirk, but that didn’t stop the others from tagging me. I wasn’t able to catch them, despite how hard I tried. It was fun to play with so many dragonets at once.

  When my wings grew tired, I joined Dirk on a big rock in the sun. It wasn’t long before the adults also came to sunbathe. Serena lay down beside me, politely not blocking the sun.

  “Hey, Serena?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Do you do the same thing Mom does? Clearing ships and stuff?”

  “Yes, all dragonets with handlers do.”

  “How do you do it? Did someone teach you?”

  She yawned sleepily. “I thought your mother would have told you about this. Our handler walks around and we hiss or growl if we smell a sicora, crawler, or ktari. Once we find it, the fighters with us do the rest.”

  “Is there something like training?”

  “Not really. Every dragonet reacts to the smell. Most of our training is a joke since we can understand the Kymari. Most don’t know that though, so it’s more for show and to practice things like coming when they call you, regardless of how distracted you are.”

  Well, that sounded much easier than I had feared.

  “How does a dragonet choose a handler?”

  She was quiet for so long that I thought she had fallen asleep. “It depends on the person and the situation. For me, I had been badly injured. Alec was with Taureen when they found me. Neither of them knew the truth back then. By the time I healed, I didn’t want to return to the park—I wanted to hunt sicora instead.”

  “What about others?”

  “Many of them found someone they liked and began following them for several months before eventually leaving the park.”

  That also seemed simple enough, but it meant that I would have to leave Mom and Dad.

  “What about the friends and family they left behind?” I asked quietly.

  “Your mom may not have visited the main park since you hatched, but before that, went there every day. We still get to see and visit our friends and family. That’s a thought for the future though. You’ve barely fledged, and you are still young. No Kymari would even consider taking you from your Mom before you two were ready. You have months or even years to think about what you really want to do.”

  My muscles relaxed both from the heat of the sun and with relief. She was right. There was lots of time to think, although I was very sure I wanted to become a planet protector.

  I just had to figure out this training thing and then pick a handler. That was going to be a big decision, but it sounded like I was going to be meeting lots of Kymari. Choosing the right one was important. No one had said it out loud, but every bit of information I’d heard highlighted how significant the choice was.

  I yawned before letting the sun’s heat lull me to sleep.

  ***

  I stretched out before happily bounding over to Aeria to let her put my harness on, eager for our afternoon outing. I grinned when she had to adjust the straps to get my harness on. They had felt a bit snug at Alec’s earlier, and my big lunch probably hadn’t helped.

  Taureen and Aeria were wearing light armor and their heavier shoulder pads again. These were the type they wore whenever we left the house. I flew up to Aeria’s shoulder and let her put the leash on. I hoped we were going to the training room. I wanted to see what it was like now that I knew what to expect.

  When Taureen and Aeria went out the front door, their guards were waiting for them, just like they had been the last two days. We hadn’t gone on a real patrol yet, but we had walked around the city and visited various small parks.

  A shuttle landed nearby, and when two of the guards went inside, I realized that we were going in as well. My ear tufts perked up—I had never been in a shuttle before! I looked around eagerly, but the plain seats, windows, and pale grey walls were kind of a letdown.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Taureen entered a code on a screen, and the shuttle started moving. I looked out a window as the shuttle flew just above the road. Many, many buildings went by before the shuttle stopped beside an area with a lot of trees.

  The door opened and let us out. Mom was lying on Taureen’s shoulder, halfway sprawled out, as if she didn’t have a care in the world. Dad watched everything from where he sat. I tried to copy their relaxed pose.

  Taureen unclipped my leash, but I remained on his shoulder as the Kymari entered the trees and walked down some stairs. I soon lost sight of the road and buildings. All I could see was greenery. I couldn’t even see the sky.

  Taureen paused and said, “This should be good enough. Go on.”

  With a joyful trill, I threw myself skyward to weave among the branches. I was a much better flyer now. Not as good as Mom or Dad, but much better than I had been. It took a lot of flying to tire me now.

  The Kymari strolled down the path as we flew overhead or explored nearby.

  “Is this the park with the other dragonets?” Dirk asked.

  “No,” Mom replied. “They are in a different park.”

  I was disappointed, but also somewhat relieved. As much as I wanted to meet more dragonets, I had been nervous when meeting Serena, and the idea of meeting many at once scared me.

  Spotting a narrow twig, I carefully landed on a nearby branch and, with a bit of difficulty, snapped it off. With a grin, I swooped down and landed on Sadria’s shoulder before quickly stuffing one end into a joint in her armor.

  Rhay watched in amusement. “It’s about time she picked on you first.”

  I took off with a laughing whistle as Sadria pulled the twig out. It wasn’t the first object I had wedged between the overlapping sections of her armor, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.

  The guards seemed amused by my small mischiefs and let me torment them without a single complaint. Of course, everyone got a turn, although Taureen and Aeria had no qualms about picking me off their shoulders and gently tossing me into the sky.

  Grinning widely, I flew higher into the trees, where some of the leaves were bigger than my wing. I wondered how hard it would be to fly with a big leaf. There was only one way to find out.

  How I was going to stick it into Rhay’s armor without crumpling it would be another problem. He was a patient guy though, and he wouldn’t care if I sat on his shoulder as I tried to see which way worked best.

  I grabbed onto the leaf and hung upside down from it. Reaching up, I used a claw to cut through the stem. Just as the leaf started to fall, I noticed something diving toward me. It didn’t have scales, and it was much, much bigger than me.

  With a scream, I released the leaf and flew straight down as fast as I could, knowing the Kymari could stop the eagle. They were already turning toward me at the sound of my cry while drawing their weapons.

  Two screeching battle cries split the air behind me as Mom and Dad intercepted the eagle. My wing muscles strained from the speed as I banked around the Kymari, landing hard on the ground beside Taureen’s feet with an impact that made my joints ache and almost sent me tumbling forward.

  My eyes immediately went back to the eagle, which was already trying to flee. Mom breathed plumes of flame that singed its feathers. Dad blasted up from below, a silver streak whose claws shredded the bird’s wing feathers.

  He ignored Mom’s fire and was unharmed as some of it flowed over his scales. Feathers drifted down as the terrified eagle struggled to fly with less and less plumage. It disappeared into the thick canopy, trying to evade my wrathful parents.

  Aeria knelt down and picked me up, cradling my shaking body in her arms. “Easy. You’re safe now.”

  My heart was still beating far too fast. Dirk was on Taureen’s shoulder pad, where he had flattened himself against the leather, trusting Taureen and the others to keep the danger at bay despite the exposed location. His head slowly lifted as the now-distant screeches of Mom, Dad, and the eagle continued to fade.

  “That is likely why no large eagles nest in the main park,” Tran commented.

  “I didn’t even see that one coming,” Vick said unhappily, “and I was keeping an eye out for aerial predators.”

  Tran replied, “It had to dive from quite a height to hit that kind of speed with those wide wings. The leaves are blocking our view of the sky as well. We might have to borrow some scanners for the future.”

  “Smart girl,” Aeria whispered to me. “I’m glad you saw it in time.”

  I let her hold me as my heartbeat slowed down. The group kept walking, although they were more watchful now. After a few minutes, Mom and Dad returned, gracefully diving through the canopy and banking around the Kymari as they checked on Dirk and me.

  Taureen’s eyes followed Mom. “Is there anything left of that eagle?”

  Mom landed on his shoulder with something in her hands. Taureen reached up and gently eased it out from under her sharp claws. He held up the eagle’s talon as he inspected it. Bits of blood and ash clung to the base.

  “I’ll take that as a no,” Tran muttered.

  The group kept walking, and I eventually recovered enough to join Mom and Dad in the air again. This time, I kept a close eye on the sky.

  We didn’t see any more eagles, although Mom chased away a red furry creature called a fox. Tran and Vick idly began making bets on how many more things she was going to flame before our walk was over.

  “Tessa, Dirk, come.”

  I quickly dropped off the tree branch and swooped down to land on Taureen’s shoulder. Mom said it was called recall training, although Dad said that it was coming when we were called. Either way, I got a piece of fruit as a reward. The one time I hadn’t immediately come over, Taureen had given both pieces of fruit to Dirk.

  Once I finished the fruit, Taureen nodded. “Go on.”

  I flew off again, skimming the ground as I looked for small, round pebbles. They were much harder for the guards to pull out of their armor if I stuck them in the grooves behind their shoulders. Tran had helped Vick remove the last one I had wedged in since he couldn’t get a grip on it and hadn’t wanted to remove his vest.

  As we climbed the stairs to leave the park, Soranto and Tkael found us. I was surprised to see them. They rarely joined us on our walks since they normally worked at this time of the day.

  “How did the walk go?” Tkael asked.

  “An eagle tried going after Tessa,” Taureen replied, “but let’s just say that Tasha and Keegan were less than impressed.”

  Soranto winced. “In that case, I am going to assume the eagle didn’t survive the lesson.”

  “You are likely correct.” Taureen paused to look at everyone. “Are we still planning to visit the main park tomorrow?”

  The six Kymari nodded.

  “Bring your fireproof armor and energy shields. I’m not sure how the wild ones are going to react when they see us near two fledglings. Tasha and Keegan don’t consider us a threat, but the others might.”

  “Oh, lovely,” Soranto muttered.

  Tran just chuckled, not at all bothered by the thought of getting flamed by a dragonet.