A New Beginning

Chapter 49

Tessa's POV:

The rest of the day seemed far too long as I rode around on Aeria's shoulder. I was really looking forward to the day I could go on real patrols instead of just these training ones. It was a relief to see the main park in the distance.

When we reached the meadow where the handlers usually hung out, I was delighted to see Taureen and Soranto already there. Tran and Vick were talking with two other male Kymari.

I flew over to greet Soranto and landed on his shoulder pad as I chattered at him.

He chuckled and reached up to scratch my chin. "Hello to you, too."

Aeria nodded at the two strangers. "Drae and Sipar. Nice to see you. Am I safe in assuming that you are going to start joining our training sessions and outings from now on?"

One of the Kymari replied, "Yes. I hope you don't mind. We thought it was better for the fire lizards to get used to us before the real patrols begin."

"That's a good plan, Sipar," Aeria replied. "We don't mind. Dirk and Tessa are fairly outgoing, although it may be a while before any of the others approach you."

With an amused smile, he replied, "We brought bribery in the form of various fruits that aren't in season here."

The other guard remained silent, merely listening as Aeria and Sipar continued talking about ways to reassure the wild ones if they showed up for a treat from the handlers. He looked oddly familiar, although I was having a hard time remembering where I might have seen him.

His silence wasn't giving me any hints either. Then it clicked. My eyes went wide as I realized that Drae was the same silent Kymari I had dropped so many leaves and twigs near in an attempt to get him to talk! He was one of Soranto's new side guards? How?

Mom's voice interrupted my dumbfounded thoughts.

"Tessa? Could you please come here?" She included a mental image of a sandy beach beside the creek.

Shaking my head to refocus, I left Soranto to go to Mom. "Coming!"

It took me nearly ten minutes to get to the distant location even though I was flying fairly quickly. My wingbeats paused momentarily when I saw Mom, Dad, Drake, Dirk, Abby, and Glen all present.

"What's going on?" I asked as I landed beside them.

Abby excitedly replied, "They are going to teach us to breathe fire!"

"Well," Drake clarified, "we are going to try. You and Dirk may still be too young, although Abby and Glen should be able to figure it out with a bit of practice."

I trotted over quickly. "Really? Awesome!"

Drake sat down. "It isn't easy to explain, but I'll try. Your throat normally secretes a flammable mucus, and the gases from it are present in every breath you breathe. There is a small gland at the top of your throat that can release a second chemical. Learning to release it is the hard part. Once they mix, these two chemicals will ignite as soon as they reach air with higher levels of oxygen. When learning, it is easier if you inhale slowly."

"What about fireballs?" Dirk asked.

"Those are actually balls of the mucus that are basically coughed out. They brush against the gland in your throat as they go by. The two chemicals create a fair bit of pressure, so you don't even have to exhale hard to propel it forward. If you inhale while using the second gland, the pressure builds very quickly."

I wrinkled my nose at the description. Fireballs didn't sound like they were fun to make.

Dad inhaled slowly and turned his head sideways before exhaling harder than normal. A long stream of fire blazed from his jaws. When the flame disappeared, he turned his head back to us as he joined the lesson.