Tessa’s POV:

  I grumbled and rearranged my wings as our shuttle left the cargo ship in the sky. It was the last one for our shift, and we hadn’t found anything. Again.

  Soranto glanced at me before commenting to Sipar, “Do you mind if we swing by the barracks and do a quick walk through the training rooms?”

  “We finished early, so we have plenty of time to spare.”

  “Am I missing something?” I asked Mom as Soranto changed the programmed destination. “It’s been three days, and I still haven’t found anything!”

  “It’s quite typical, actually. Crawlers may be unfortunately widespread and invasive, but the vermin aren’t that common. Daisy found one yesterday, but that was it. No one else has found anything in the last four days.”

  With a sigh, I laid down on Soranto’s shoulder, still disappointed that my biggest achievement on a real spaceship had been when I’d found that dead ktari.

  The shuttle landed outside the barracks, and as we entered the large building, a deep voice behind us murmured, “Banrai redid the primary rooms yesterday, so it may be a wise idea to stick with the secondary ones.”

  My head whipped around, trying to locate the speaker.

  “Thanks, Drae,” Soranto replied. “Let’s head to the secondary rooms. I have no desire to see what Banrai set up to celebrate my promotion.”

  My jaw almost dropped—had Drae just spoken? Despite being with us for several weeks while training and on our recent patrols, I had never heard him speak. At least, until now. It made me wonder just what Banrai had done to the training rooms this time if it made Drae break his silence.

  When we reached a set of airlock doors, I flicked an ear tuft, unimpressed that I had to come here to have a taste of hunting crawlers and sicora. The next hour proved that there was nothing wrong with my nose as I successfully located two crawlers and a tiny sicora—all of which were hides on mounts, of course. Perhaps I would find a live one tomorrow.

  We arrived at the main park a bit later than usual. At the tree line, Soranto held his hand to me, and I jumped onto the glove with my wings half-spread in anticipation.

  “Go on. Go have some fun.” His arm threw me skywards, and I whistled joyfully as I flew straight up without a single wingbeat propelling me.

  Once my momentum slowed, I spread my wings wider and flew toward the trees. I was tempted to go back for another toss into the air—a game Soranto and I had recently invented—but I only had so much time to spend with Abby and the other wild dragonets.

  “Where are you?” I asked Abby.

  She didn’t reply, although I knew she had heard me. That meant one of two things.

  “Is she trying to ambush me or cuddling with Dirk?” I asked Glen.

  He didn’t even ask who I was referring to. “Cuddling.”

  Change of plans, then. “What’s everyone else doing?”

  “Most are on the far side of the park. Some are sunbathing nearby. Three are playing chess. I don’t know if the Ply-Ball players are here yet. I checked a while ago, but the field was empty.”

  “I think I’ll check again, and if they aren’t there, then I may go torment the chess players with my terrible skills.”

  “Chess is boring. The sun is nice and warm, so I shall nap for a bit. Let me know if Abby shows up.”

  I snickered as I flew toward the clearing. Glen and Dad may both have silver scales, but they were complete opposites personality-wise. Dad loved chess; then again, so did Mom. It was a game that neither Abby nor Glen liked.

  My ear tufts drooped when I saw that the clearing was empty. Chess didn’t really appeal to me, and I didn’t come to the park to lounge in the sun.

  Landing on a branch, I wracked my brain for ideas. I didn’t come to the park to just lounge in the sun. Even doing patrols for three days with nothing but safe spaceships to show for it was better than being bored in the park.

  My eyes paused on a shrub; it was a common type, but its berries were terribly sour. On top of that, the leaves smelled bad if they were disturbed. My lips pulled up in a grin that would have worried anyone who knew me.

  I was sure to get an earful later tonight, but I’d be too far away for Abby to do anything about it. I swooped down to the bush to gather as many leaves and berries as I could carry. Once my arms were full, I took off in the direction of Abby’s burrow. The other night, she had mentioned finishing a private entrance so she didn’t have to use the main tunnels with the rest of her family, and she had been thoughtful enough to show me images of it, so I knew exactly where it was.

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  It was a fairly lengthy flight, although it wasn’t too hard to find the hidden entrance. I rolled the stone away from the entrance and began dragging my treasures into her room. It took a few trips to get it through the narrow tunnel. I didn’t want to annoy her whole family, so I pushed enough dirt into the joining tunnel to confine the smell to her room.

  There was still plenty of space when I finished, so I went in search of more of the bushes. I ferried more leaves and berries back to her room, snickering a good chunk of the time. Once I finished, I put the rock back and went to check if the Ply-Ball players had arrived.

  The clearing was as empty as it had been earlier, so I decided to go hang out with the Kymari handlers and pretend I was innocent. My saving grace was that Abby wouldn’t go back to her room until close to nightfall. I would be safe and sound in Soranto’s—and now my—home by then.

  Reaching the meadow, I flew over to Soranto and landed on his glove. I trilled and half-spread my wings, looking at him, then at the sky.

  With a chuckle, he threw his arm up. The ride into the sky was a thrill I never grew tired of. Once gravity reclaimed me, I glided down to land on his glove again. I gave another trill and looked up, asking to be tossed into the air.

  “Again?” Soranto asked, a grin growing on his face. “Sure. Here you go!” He tossed me into the air.

  After the fifth repetition, Sipar idly commented, “If you put some wrist weights on, that might classify as a workout after an hour or so.”

  “I’m hoping she tires of it before then,” Soranto replied, “although this is preferable to a lot of other things she could be doing.”

  “Like trying to stuff caterpillars into your armor?” Sadria asked dryly.

  “Exactly.”

  After a dozen more tosses, I landed on Soranto’s shoulder pad. I looked around for a bit before dropping onto his lap and digging through his larger belt pouch. Finding the container of fruit, I pulled it out and began trying to pry the lid off.

  “She certainly is a busy little girl,” Sadria said.

  “I am well aware of that. She stays on my shoulders during our patrols, so I have no problem with her burning energy at other times.”

  “I somehow doubt sugary fruit is going to help with that problem.”

  “It keeps things entertaining. I suspect her exuberant youthful energy will phase out over the next year, so I’m enjoying it while I can.”

  With a faint pop, the lid finally came loose, allowing me to push it to the side and start picking out pieces of fruit. Soranto was very good at selecting my snacks; there was lots of cantaloupe.

  Sipar leaned over and snagged the lid, turning it over. “I’m surprised she managed to get it off. This type of lid is notoriously hard for young children to open.”

  “That’s why I originally bought it. I tried a few other brands as well. The twist lock ones still keep her out, but she is very ingenious and persistent if there is something inside she wants.”

  “I presume you’re using good hiding places?”

  He nodded. “And airtight containers so she can’t pick up their scent.”

  Most of the Kymari were grinning or chuckling at this point. The “better treats” were certainly sunburst berries and possibly even shia fruit. I made a mental note to search for such hiding spots or catch them putting the treats away.

  When I finished my snack, Soranto stood up and asked Taureen, “Are you and Aeria still coming over later tonight to visit?”

  “Yes, for an hour or so.”

  “I’ll see you then.”

  Drae and Sipar came with us as we left the park, parting ways when we reached Soranto’s home. Soranto removed my harness and was just about to hang it up before he paused and brought it closer to his nose. “I’ll have to wash this. I’m not sure what you rolled in, but I hope it doesn’t become a habit.”

  I flew over to the heat lamp on the sandstone shelf, purposefully not looking back so he couldn’t see my huge grin. Curling up beneath the heat lamp, I settled down for a bit.

  Later in the afternoon, Adeline and Maria came home just before Taureen, Aeria, and my family arrived. It was a normal evening as we visited and ate dinner. After a while, my family went back home.

  I still hadn’t heard anything from Abby.

  It was getting late, and the sun was beginning to approach the horizon. As a precaution, I grabbed a few toys and flew up to my usual sleeping spot. If I laughed too hard, I could always toss one out the small opening and pretend I was just playing by myself. It wasn’t something I had done before, but it was the best excuse I could come up with. Not my shiny gem though. It might break or crack in a fall like that. Besides, it had only been in this house for a few days. It would be terrible to break it so soon.

  I had barely settled down when Abby’s mindvoice blasted through my head. “What in the hell did you do? How many freaking leaves and stinkin’ berries did you stuff in here?”

  I buried my face in a soft toy to muffle my laughter, although it would ring quite clearly across the mindlink. “A few.”

  I tossed a smaller toy out the opening, just to make sure that Soranto didn’t think the muffled noises meant I was in distress.

  “A few, my ass! The entire tunnel was packed full! And I’m still digging them out!”

  “I put a lot of effort into that, I’ll have you know.”

  “You are so lucky you’re not in the park. Or I would fly over there and drag you back to make you pull all this out!”

  “Soranto already proclaimed my harness stunk and washed it. That smell really lingers, but you’ll be happy to know that it doesn’t stick to your scales. Feel free to fly over at any point. There are plenty of sleeping places here, and I’m sure Soranto would let you in.”

  “He might let me in, but I doubt he would let me murder you.”

  “Very unlikely. He is my handler.”

  “Just wait until you come back to the park…”

  She fell silent, and I didn’t re-establish the connection since she had a lot to dig out before she could go to sleep. Perhaps it was a good thing that rain was forecasted for the next two afternoons. It might give her time to calm down. Maybe. Hopefully.