Upon Wings Of Change

Chapter 41

I reclined on Taureen's shoulder as he walked through another building. Our shift was almost over, and we had not found anything. I sniffed the air and looked at Taureen in surprise. He saw my look and chuckled as he walked down another hallway.

I sat up while glancing around in building excitement. Taureen stopped by a door and pressed the doorbell.

"Come in."

The door opened and Taureen walked in. Tran and Vick followed us inside. I stood up eagerly, glancing at Taureen for the okay to leave his shoulder. He held up his hand, and I jumped onto it. Alec spoke quietly, "Wait until they see her first, just in case they react poorly."

I reared up on my hind legs in excitement with my wings spread out for balance and let out a high-pitched whistle of greeting, "Serena, Tom, are you two going to ignore me or what?!"

They had been curled up in a corner together, pointedly ignoring whoever might have entered. Their heads whipped around so fast that I was surprised they didn't get whiplash. "Tasha!"

Tom jumped into the air with his own excited whistle of greeting. Taureen held out his hand. "Go on."

I jumped up to swirl in the air with Tom in a reunion dance. I dropped to the floor where Serena waited impatiently for her own greeting. Nose and wing bumps had to suffice. I glanced at the odd cast across her chest and light restraints on her wings. "They aren't letting you fly yet, I gather?"

She snorted faintly at the reminder. "No, but that might be for the best. You have no idea how happy I am to see you."

I chuckled and draped a wing companionably over her shoulder as she nuzzled my shoulder. I pulled my wing back and shook myself off before asking, "So, why do you two look like you are in time out in this corner?"

Serena shook herself as well, as if she couldn't figure out why I even had to ask. "We can't stand being near the Kymari."

I tilted my head and chirped inquiringly, "Aren't you cold? The heat lamp is on the main table."

Alec's apartment was set up in a similar fashion to Taureen's old one. Although there was a big heat lamp over a sand tray on the central table as opposed to on an end table. After walking around in buildings and ships all day, heat sounded really good to me.

Tom blinked as disbelief colored his voice. "It is on the table in front of them, how can you even think about going that close to them?"

I stretched my wings lazily and warbled my amusement. "I just rode around on the shoulders of one for seven hours. They are far enough from the table that their proximity won't bother me much."

Truth be told, the table had obviously been moved away from the chairs. The Kymari would have to get off of their seats to even reach the edge of the table. Tom shook himself off in dislike of that idea. "I have no idea how you can stand them touching you. What is up with all of the sound effects anyways?"

I turned and walked towards the table before jumping on it. I lay down on the hot sand and regarded the two wide-eyed dragonets in the corner who couldn't really believe that I was so close to the Kymari.

I said, "The extra sound effects were because they have the video recorder rolling, and we would have stood out otherwise."

I lowered my head to my hands and blinked slowly at them as I enjoyed the heat. "Besides, I don't let all of them touch me. You get to choose who you allow contact with. I chose Taureen since I didn't have much of a choice in the beginning, and we already got along well enough by the time I returned. No one else in this room will likely even try at this point since I hissed at them so much in the past."