A New Beginning

Chapter 8

Tasha's POV:

I hid behind the side of the end table, waiting patiently in ambush. Tilting my head, I listened to the quiet sounds of dragonet footsteps approaching. I darted out, ricocheting off the chair as I darted past Dirk.

As I ran past him, I called out, "You missed me!"

He clumsily chased after me, still not used to how the short carpet seemed to occasionally grab his claws. Tessa shot out in front of me, more coordinated than her brother. I grinned as I leapt up high, bounding over her. She gaped after me before also giving chase.

I glanced around while trotting across the carpet, trying to figure out where Keegan had gotten to. When it came to hiding, that shy, silver dragonet held a gold medal shinier than my scales. If there was any possible hiding place, he would discover it almost instantly. It made him a serious foe when it came to games of ambush.

As a precaution, I halfway unfolded my wings, ready to dart away at a moment's notice. Taureen and Aeria were both sitting on the floor as the two whirling balls of blue and red scales were having a blast on the carpet. I trotted past Taureen and, in an unthinking reaction, threw myself into the air as a silver streak rocketed out of hiding.

I pushed for speed as Keegan gave chase through the air. This race was a foregone conclusion though; I was a bit larger than him, but Keegan was faster and more agile. A quick rollover and a shallow dive allowed me to gain some distance, but it was only moments before he was hot on my tail again.

There wasn't much room in here when flying at such speeds, and when I spread my wings wider to turn, he darted above me as he gently rapped his knuckles on my back - a motion that showed he had won this match. I warbled in amusement as I started gliding back down to the floor.

Both nestlings were staring with wide eyes, trying to comprehend what they had just seen. They were at least a year away from such high speed and agile aerial stunts, but it wasn't going to be too many more days before Taureen and Aeria were going to have to watch out for clumsy fledglings testing out their wings.

Aeria regarded the two sleeping nestlings. "The difference in their energy levels between yesterday and today is quite noticeable."

I was now fully convinced that seeing the sun had a profound effect on nestlings. Dirk had seen the sun this morning and had been far more energetic today. It had taken almost two solid hours of play on the floor to exhaust the youngsters.

"They grow extremely fast the first few weeks," I told them. "The first couple of days, they just focus on food and growth, but once they start moving, they simply build momentum."

Taureen commented, "You barely managed to contain Tessa in the nest last night when Tkael and Soranto visited. You won't be able to manage that tonight if either of them show a similar level of energy to what we just saw."

I pinned my ear tufts back at the memory. For some reason, Tessa seemed obsessed with the couch Taureen was sitting on and kept trying to sneak over while the two visitors were present. Dirk had been far more mellow and simply slept once he had a snack and bathroom break.

But Tessa... She hadn't been tired, and despite my best efforts, I knew that Tkael and Soranto had caught a few glimpses of her scarlet scales. And if she had even half of the energy tonight that she had shown just hours ago, I wasn't going to stand a chance of hiding her from their eyes. I was going to be lucky if I could keep the two nestlings on the end table.

I muttered lowly, "They had best keep their hands to themselves, or they could regret it..."

Taureen didn't respond, possibly because he already knew that neither of them would attempt to touch the youngsters - mostly due to my presence. Tonight was going to be hard for me. Other Kymari were finally going to get a good look at my children.