A New Beginning

Chapter 20

Tessa's POV:

I held still as Aeria put my harness on, tentatively inquiring, "We aren't going back to the room with the sicora, are we?"

"No," she replied, "we are going to see some friends of your Mom and Dad. They have the morning off, so we're going now."

She could hear me if I tried to talk to her now. My attempts to warn her two days ago in the sicora room had worked, but she hadn't replied because there had been video cameras watching us.

I perked up my ear tufts in curiosity, wondering who these people were. Mom didn't really like any Kymari besides Taureen and Aeria.

It wasn't long before we were walking down the sidewalk. I was on Aeria's shoulder again, looking around in curiosity. There was so much to see along the street. Hover vehicles flew by quietly, other Kymari walked past, there were plants beside the sidewalk, and some buildings had interesting carvings on them while others had very smooth sides.

We left the sidewalk and approached a house. A big fully enclosed backyard was visible even as we walked up to the front door. Taureen touched his finger to an odd carving beside the door, and a doorbell inside chimed.

"Come in, Taureen, Aeria. We're in the living room."

Taureen opened the door for Aeria, letting her enter first. Mom sat up in excitement, and even Dad looked eager to go inside. We went down the hallway and entered a room. My jaw dropped in surprise when I saw two dragonets under a heat lamp on a central table.

One had red scales like me! The other dragonet was bright purple. Both of them were watching us as Aeria and Taureen sat down on a couch and unclipped our harnesses.

"Go on," Taureen told Mom at the same time that Aeria nodded at Dad.

Mom and Dad immediately flew towards the purple and red dragonets, who were also spreading their wings and taking off. I watched with wide eyes as they whirled and twirled around one another happily.

"About time you came to visit, Tasha! I have been waiting to see your children for weeks!" The woman's voice came from the red dragonet.

"Things only happen so fast," Mom replied. "Their first outing was only the other day."

"Let's land and see if we can coax the cuties closer."

All four of them landed on the central table, looking at Dirk and me.

"Dirk, Tessa, come meet Serena and Tom."

I was suddenly nervous – I had never met another dragonet before. Taureen and Aeria were relaxed, though. Somewhat shyly, I glided over and landed on the edge of the table close to Mom. Dirk landed beside me, also unsure of what to make of Mom's friends.

"Dirk, Tessa, this is Serena and Tom. Alec is their handler, and he is in the loop." As odd as her wording was, I knew that it meant he was one of the trusted ones.

I nodded a greeting at the dragonets and took a step closer. Serena took a few steps forward and happily bunted her nose against my shoulder in a greeting.

"It's good to see you. I've been waiting to meet you ever since your Mom told me that you two hatched."

I didn't know what to make of this very friendly lady, and I just blinked at her, unsure of how to respond.

She kept talking. "And you have red scales, too! I bet you know exactly how hard it is to play a fair game of hide and go seek."

That one made me grin. It was very hard to play hide and go seek when your scales stood out so much. She draped a wing over me as she grinned in return.