A New Beginning

Chapter 42

Tessa's POV:

We were eating breakfast when the doorbell rang. My head lifted in confusion; no one ever came over in the morning.

To make things even stranger, Taureen just called out, "Come in."

Dirk smirked at me. "If you hadn't fallen asleep last night, you would know that Soranto is going with Aeria today."

I stood up straighter in excitement. Now that he mentioned it, I did kind of remember Soranto saying something like that last night. My stomach grumbled, recalling my attention to my food dish. Breakfast was the most important meal of the day.

"Good morning," Soranto's cheerful voice rang out from the hallway.

"Good morning to you, too," Taureen replied. "Ready for your first day?"

"Not particularly, but I'm willing to give it a try."

"They were oiled earlier and are just eating now, so we have a bit of time to get ready. Your next patrol with us is in three days, correct?"

"Yes."

"If it doesn't bother your family, then try coming over before the sun rises so you can see how our mornings usually go. You'll also get to see Tessa sing. It is much more interesting in person."

"I'm sure I can arrange that."

They continued discussing the usual patrol schedule while I focused on my rapidly emptying food bowl. I ate everything, even the two pieces of kiwi, but I was still hungry. It was very rare for me to manage to empty my bowl, let alone be looking for more.

Looking around, I decided to see if begging might yield some good results as opposed to waiting and seeing what the others didn't finish. I flew over to land on Taureen's shoulder and creeled a hunger cry.

He glanced at my empty bowl. "Looks like she's putting on another growth spurt. Here, why don't you take her into the kitchen and find her some more food while we get ready?" He reached out and tapped Soranto's shoulder pad. "Tessa, jump."

With a hop and wingbeat, I easily landed on Soranto's shoulder. He began walking towards the kitchen and looked at the fruit behind the glass. My mouth began watering as he picked out half of a cantaloupe and began cutting off a thick slice. I leaned forward eagerly, but remained on his shoulder.

He started dicing it up and offered a small piece to me. I happily took it. Piece by piece, the cantaloupe left the counter and magically disappeared into my mouth. I almost managed to eat the entire slice before I lay down on his shoulder and turned my head away from the next offered piece.

He put the rest of the fruit away and cleaned the knife and counter before heading back into the living room. Taureen and Aeria had their armor on and were just getting our harnesses. Taureen passed Soranto my harness.

"Stand up," Soranto coaxed me.

With a long-suffering sigh, I got to my feet. I failed to see why anyone would want to move after they ate. My best naps were done on a full stomach.

It was a bit awkward for him, but he managed to get my harness on while I stood on his shoulder. Once it was on and he finished checking it, I flopped down again. There was no point in going over to the heat lamp since we would be leaving shortly.

Eventually, everyone was ready, and we headed out the door. Our usual four guards were waiting for us. Aeria and her guards entered a shuttle and swiftly took off. Taureen and Soranto chose to walk while Tran and Vick accompanied us.

"We'll go over to the training rooms so you can see how they usually react to sicora and crawlers," Taureen informed Soranto. "This will be the basic area, not the rather unusual setup that Banrai managed to come up with."