Tessa’s POV:

  I stirred and curled up tighter, not quite ready to get up. The heavy scent of Kymari was very strong. Not exactly unpleasant, but noticeable even though I was still half-asleep.

  The feeling of cloth under me was another inconsistency. The deep, slow breathing close by was what finally made me open my eyes. Not that I could see anything in the pitch-black area.

  When I lifted my head, it brushed against the cloth hanging just above me. I set my head back down, realizing I must be under the blankets beside Soranto. It was nice and warm in here.

  I relaxed for a while longer, until I really had to visit the bathroom. In the darkness, I wasn’t sure which way was out. Following the smell of fresh air, I slinked through the tiny gap between Soranto and the blankets. If I guessed wrong, I could always tickle his feet. I didn’t even know if he was ticklish.

  The fabric brushed against my scales as my head poked out. Soranto remained laying on his side as he watched me slide out and shake myself off with a faint chiming of my scales.

  I yawned and stretched my wings. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning. Did you sleep well?”

  “Yes. How long have you been awake?”

  “Not long.”

  The truthfulness of that statement was up for debate, although what I may consider “not long” might be very different for a Kymari. I had other priorities though, and stood on my hind legs to locate the bathroom.

  “Is that the bathroom?” I asked, sending him an image of the half-open door. The other door was the one that led to the corridor.

  “Yes, it is.”

  “Thanks.”

  I stretched my wings a few times before flying over. The setup was exactly what I was used to seeing during our patrols. Once I washed my hands and feet, I flew back into the main room.

  Soranto was sitting on the edge of the bed as he rubbed some salve into the darkest bruises. I landed on the bed beside him, noticing most of the smaller ones had disappeared overnight. The rest were noticeably lighter.

  “Those are healing quite fast.”

  “The salve and healing accelerant pills work well for minor things like this. The cracked rib will take longer.”

  “And your ankle?”

  “I’m hoping the limp is gone, but it’ll probably take a few days for the pain to disappear.”

  He stood up and took a few steps to test it out. The limp wasn’t as noticeable, although it was still present. I sent him a mental image of it.

  He glanced back at me. “Do all fire lizards talk with their handlers?”

  “So far, yes. It took some a while to get to that point. Now that you know, all official handlers are in the loop.”

  “Am I supposed to be feeling bits of your emotions behind your words?”

  “This is about normal for a conversation. We can include images of things we’ve seen or we can send more emotion if we want.”

  He sat beside me. “It’s different, although I really like being able to talk with you. I hope I didn’t offend you at some point with how I treated you like an animal.”

  “You didn’t offend me. Besides, I am an animal—the only difference is that I can talk and think. So, other than you being able to explain what you want me to do, not much will change.”

  “Let me know if I do something that annoys you.”

  I snickered and rolled upside down. “No fear of that. Now that we can talk, your biggest challenge will be keeping me quiet.”

  “I look forward to it.”

  “Excellent. I shall have to ask Dirk for his best jokes and see if you can keep a straight face.”

  “Please take it easy on me in public. I don’t have Taureen’s level of composure.”

  “Maybe,” I conceded in a teasing voice.

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  He grinned and stretched with a wince. “Will you be okay out here if I go for a shower?”

  “Sure. I wouldn’t mind digging into that container of fruit while waiting.”

  “We can get fresh fruit when we go down for food.”

  “I know, but a few pieces won’t spoil my breakfast.”

  With a smile, he opened the container and placed it on the bed beside me. He hesitated for a moment, then stroked my back like he normally did. With a hum, I rubbed my head against his hand.

  Mom had warned me that he was going to be a bit off-balance and unsure of his limits now that he knew I was actually a person with scales. It was up to me to help him through this stage and keep him at ease with what was normal for us.

  Eventually, he went into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. He seemed more relaxed now, but I knew it would take a while for the easy flow to return. I investigated the fruit bowl and picked out my favorites.

  Once I had eaten enough to tide me over until breakfast, I curled up on his pillow and mindlinked Mom and Dad.

  “Good morning. Wait. Is it actually morning there?”

  “It’s almost time for lunch, actually,” Mom replied while Dad listened in. “How are you doing?”

  “Good. Soranto is taking the change better than I thought.”

  “The Kymari usually adapt quickly. It’ll still take a few days though. Taureen has been keeping us updated. You probably won’t be coming back until tomorrow at the earliest.”

  “We haven’t left the room yet, so I haven’t heard anything. Soranto wanted a shower first.”

  “Please let me know if you find out when you’re landing. Adeline is sending updates to Taureen and Aeria almost as fast as she hears things, but things might slip through the cracks. Oh, and mindlink Abby before she drives Dirk crazy.”

  “Okay, I will.”

  “Have fun.”

  I sent my agreement down the link even as I turned my mind to the green dragonet. “Hi, Abby.”

  “You’re alive! Why didn’t you call me earlier? I haven’t heard from you since you asked for tips on keeping warm in that cage. I’ve had to rely on Dirk for updates, and let me tell you, that was a painful experience! He never includes enough details.”

  “Sorry, I was a bit distracted.”

  “When are you coming back?”

  “I’m not sure. It might be a day or so.”

  “What exactly happened? I got a few details from Dirk, but storytelling is clearly not his forte.”

  With a faint sigh, I went over my entire adventure, even the gene mixing parts. She would sense any gaps in my story and pester me relentlessly until I told her. Besides, Mom was already telling the wild dragonets what we had discovered, so it wasn’t a secret. I just finished when Soranto came out of the bathroom in clean clothing.

  “I have to go, but I’ll call you later.”

  “You better. I have a lot of questions.”

  I trilled a greeting at Soranto. “Do you feel better now? Being dirty is rarely fun.”

  “It was more dust than anything else, but I needed to clean up. Do you want a cleaning and an oiling before we eat or after?”

  “It can wait until after. I know you didn’t eat anything last night.”

  “I had a meal sent up. It arrived while you were sleeping.”

  “Oh. We can still go find food first. What do we plan to do the rest of the day?”

  He checked his wrist comm. “All I have is a request to write up several reports of what I saw and did. I’ll also have to thank my relatives for their assistance. There isn’t anything we can help with on a warship like this, so we have the day pretty much to ourselves.”

  “I’ve already been talking to my friends and family. Reports don’t sound very fun. I’m glad that I don’t have to write one.”

  Soranto tilted his head. “Can fire lizards write?”

  “It’s possible, but it’s a different language from yours. Aeria tried to teach me your writing a few times, but I never figured it out.”

  The Blood Memories were what let us understand the Kymari and recall the written languages of our parents. Because we heard them speaking in “our language”, learning the Kymari alphabet was next to impossible since the sentence structure was different from what we “heard”.

  “Let’s go see what food they have. I assume you want fruit?”

  I flew up to his shoulder pad. “Please. I doubt they have cantaloupe, but if they do, I would love some.” I included an image of it just in case of any confusion, although our mindspeech seemed pretty good at translating our terms to the Kymari equivalent, if they had a common word for it.

  “They won’t have that one here. There should be a few different types you like though.”

  “That will work,” I replied happily.

  He picked up my harness and paused as he looked at it for a long moment. Realizing that he was feeling conflicted about putting it on me, I jumped down to his lap and partially spread my wings so he could put it on easily.

  “You don’t mind the harness or the leash?”

  “No. I know the leash is mostly for show. Besides, the harness lets other people know that I belong with you.”

  He slowly nodded, and with a thoughtful look on his face, put the harness on me. I jumped up to his shoulder so he could stand.

  “Oh, before I forget again. Why is Drae being so much more talkative? I think he spoke more in the first five minutes than he did for weeks back home.”

  Soranto chuckled. “The more people you get in an area, the less you’ll hear Drae speak. We’re actually good friends and went to the same hangouts for many years. Once he knows someone quite well, he talks more. But he still values silence and deep thought.”

  “Is it normal for Kymari to be so quiet?”

  “No. Drae is unusually silent. But when he speaks, it’s generally a wise idea to listen.”

  “I think I noticed that…” I said, trailing off.

  Soranto nodded and tucked a few items in his pockets as he went toward the door. When he opened it, Drae stood up from the chair beside the doorway.

  “You didn’t have to wait out here,” Soranto said. “I was coming to find you.”

  “That was more to keep the Officers from waking you to answer their questions,” Drae replied, putting the chair back in his room. “It worked.”

  “I see. You have my thanks once again.”

  Drae guided us toward the area where they served the food.