Upon Wings Of Change

Chapter 30

I crawled under a bush and nibbled on a few sweet leaves before continuing on. As I suspected, my long exploration leash got hung up on something. Taureen freed it as he followed me. This particular leash was long enough for me to fly somewhat with it.

I scampered all over the park, making sure to nibble things here and there. Drake's plan seemed to be working well. They had noticed that the fire lizards seemed to be searching for something intensely the last week. They were trying to keep a close eye on the situation, but failing due to Drake's group playing shy.

I wondered if they realized that Drake had returned to the main park last night. I climbed up a tree with hundreds of small branches, thoroughly tangling the leash. Taureen never seemed to get exasperated as he untangled it, regardless of how often it got stuck, snagged, or tangled. He clipped a second leash onto my harness before he undid the first one and untangled it.

I thoroughly enjoyed the outings to this tiny park. It would be better without the harness and leash, but beggars couldn't be fussy. After several hours, Taureen placed me on his shoulder as he put the shorter leash on me.

I nuzzled his chin as a thank you for taking me to the park. He hummed lightly at my action. I was amused at his attempt to replicate the hum that the dragonets made when content. He walked slowly down the sidewalk.

I lifted my head and shifted my weight as I recognized the building we were approaching. We entered the veterinary building, and there were two people with animals walking through the main lobby. I wasn't sure what the one was; the creature resembled a small bear, although it was covered in feathers instead of fur.

The other animal was a large non-native bird that I knew very well from the park. It was a type that we often chased out of the main park. The Kymari had it on his wrist with ankle jesses. The bird saw me and flared its wings with a screech, obviously recognizing me for what I was. I wonder which dragonet chased this one?

I tilted my head innocently as I watched its negative reaction. Heads turned towards the hawk-like creature as it made its opinion of my presence known. It plainly did not want to be anywhere near me. Taureen moved to the side of the room, using his body to block the bird's view of me while its owner tried to calm it down and leave the room.

Taureen turned his head to examine me before glancing back at the still-panicking bird. It was pretty worked up, so it must have been chased several times by dragonets for such a reaction. He went down a hallway before meeting the vet who had taken the cast off my wing. She guided us into an examination room.

I gazed around uneasily, not entirely sure why I was here. Taureen got me to go onto his arm, before gently opening up my recovered wing. The lady came forward, and I pinned my ear tufts back but didn't growl or hiss. She gently touched and examined my wing as she said, "Looks like it has recovered fully, is she having any problems with it?"

Taureen shook his head. "Not that I can tell. It seems just as strong and flexible as her other wing at this point."

"Any other concerns?"

Taureen slowly nodded. "I had word not that long ago that the wild group left the other park last night and returned to the central park. Observers said that they looked like they were searching for something the last week with increasing activity. I am concerned that there may be a dietary requirement that we might not be meeting. She seems healthy as far as I can tell."

The vet said, "I will grab a blood sample and compare it to the one we took when we put her wing in a cast. If she is missing something, it will show up, and then we can locate whatever food has it in high concentrations."