A New Beginning

Chapter 16

Keegan's POV:

I nuzzled Tasha's shoulder as she relaxed beneath the heat lamp.

"Why is it so hard to let kids choose their own path?" she asked tiredly.

"Probably because we think we know them better than they know themselves."

Despite her own opinions, she was trying to keep all of the possible doors open for our children without attempting to influence their choices. If they wanted to remain among the Kymari, that was a very easy path. Yet, if they decided to live wild, then that was an option as well.

But if they chose the first path and later regretted their decision, it would be very difficult for them to escape into the park. All captive dragonets had a nearly undetectable tracker bead somewhere under their scales.

The children didn't have one yet, but they would certainly get one if they chose a handler. The trackers were something the Elders wanted all bond animals to have, so it was practically protocol. If nothing else, it could come in handy if we needed our handler to find us in an emergency.

All of the dragonet handlers were aware of our intelligence, and they had offered to remove our tracker beads and claim we were kidnapped if we wanted to return to the park. But by the time most dragonets trusted their handlers enough to talk with them, the bonds of friendship and loyalty made separation... difficult.

As hard as it was to approach the Kymari at first, it was even harder to leave. Almost as if a switch had been flipped, causing us to crave the companionship of those we now called friends and family. It went beyond rational thought, nearly as deep as the desire to spread my wings in freefall.

I was a bit of an anomaly since Taureen and Aeria knew of my intelligence; they had never attempted any of the stronger 'taming' techniques that the others had encountered when first getting a Kymari handler. All of the other bonded dragonets had problems being apart from their handlers for more than a few hours.

I really missed Aeria when she left, but as long as Tasha or Taureen were around, it was manageable. The bond between Tasha and Taureen was incredibly strong, mostly because of how Taureen had cared for her when she was badly injured. I was somewhat jealous of how close they were, but it was different from the bond we shared. Theirs was more like father and daughter, or that of siblings.

I spread my wing over Tasha as I curled up around her, simply enjoying the closeness and contact. She moved her head so it rested on my arm as she cuddled closer. Closing my eyes, I leaned my head against hers.

"Dad, can you tell us some more stories?"

"Please!"

With a faint sigh, I opened my eyes to regard the scarlet and blue fledglings in front of us.

"Can you remind me why we decided to have kids?" I asked Tasha.

"You wanted them," she mumbled without opening her eyes.

I didn't bother telling her that we had both wanted them. Instead, I asked the children, "What kind of stories do you want to hear?"

"Old stories!" Dirk immediately answered. "About when you first became a dragonet!"

His sister sent her wordless agreement and excitement across the mindlink as well.

The days in the lab weren't something I particularly wanted to discuss, but the days afterwards would suffice as long as I edited them to fit the age of my audience.

"How about I tell you of the days when the aliens first arrived?"

"Yes!"

"Yes, please!"