A New Beginning

Chapter 32

Tessa's POV:

I groaned and flopped onto the grass beside Abby.

She cracked an eye open to regard me sleepily. "Since when do you join the sunbathing group instead of trying to convince us to join a game?"

"It was a long day of training. Because of the guards, Aeria had to pretend to teach me everything step by step."

"Ready to join the wild flock yet?"

"Nope, but if I ever learn how to breathe fire, those ktari are first on my hit list."

She coughed a laugh. "It will be a few more months before we'll be able to manage that."

Rolling my eyes, I spread out my wings to catch the sun's warmth.

It didn't take me long to grow bored. Most of the flock's fledglings were on the far side of the park. Since it would take them over an hour to fly here, they were just enjoying themselves where they were. Abby was sleeping, so I decided to observe more Kymari. I quietly took to the air, leaving our sunbathing parents to keep watch.

My attempt to consider other Kymari as potential handlers quickly left me frustrated. Most were either just passing through for a walk or quietly enjoying the park on one of the many benches. Nothing that would help me determine their personality.

I flicked my tail in agitation, whacking a branch behind me. A flower came loose and floated down in a rather swirly spiral as it passed right in front of a Kymari's nose. He looked up and examined me in faint surprise.

Well, now that I had his attention, what was I supposed to do?

Suddenly somewhat shy, I tilted my head as I gazed down at him. My harness would immediately mark me as one of the bonded dragonets, so there was no way he could mistake me for a member of the wild flock. He remained sitting on the bench and watched me in silent curiosity.

I reached out to pull a leaf off a branch before dropping it down. The leaf took an even more erratic trip down than the flower had, not even ending up close to the bench. The Kymari blinked slowly, but didn't say anything.

I scratched a chunk of bark off the branch before dropping it. It landed near his feet, and he glanced at it before looking back up at me. Snagging another leaf, I let it fall. He didn't even bother watching where it went.

I tilted my head as I looked at him. Most Kymari would murmur or talk quietly to me if they noticed me watching them, but he still hadn't uttered a single word.

A few more leaves sailed towards the grass with no effect. Deciding to try a different route, I trilled at him with a questioning tone. He tilted his head slightly, but nothing more.

I was beginning to think that it was harder to get a Kymari to speak without asking a question than it was to balance a pineapple on top of a cantaloupe.

After dropping another leaf, two flowers, a twig, some bark, and a caterpillar on or near him with no reaction, I gave up with a gusty sigh. This guy clearly wasn't taking the hint. It never took this much effort to get Soranto or any of the guards to talk to me, even though they had no clue that I could understand them.

I glided away from the Kymari as I continued to search for more responsive people.

The other seven individuals I found behaved more predictably. I wasn't quite brave enough to go near them without Taureen or Aeria present, but if I dropped leaves or flowers to catch their attention, they spoke softly to me.

I occasionally whistled or trilled as they talked, trying to prompt them to keep going. Most of them tended to continue speaking if I 'talked' back. Their one-sided conversations were a bit odd, mostly revolving about how pretty I was or wondering where Taureen or Aeria were.