Tasha's POV:

The very air seemed to shimmer as the Morning Song began. With a powerful jump, I launched myself into the air, a mere wingbeat behind Keegan. I spun around my silver mate with a warble as the fledglings below dug their claws into the wood for grip and flapped their wings, still too young to even try to fly with us.

The feelings coursing through me had no words. Joy, hope, love, happiness, elation – it was all of them, and yet, they combined into something that had no words. It was like every good emotion had been distilled into the few short minutes as the sun rose to welcome another day.

Keegan and I twirled and whirled around one another in an agile dance that mirrored the Song's call. Our voices filled the air while we sang as passionately as we flew.

Every sunrise was different, and thus, so was our dance and song. It was much more impressive with the wild flock since over a hundred and thirty individuals usually gathered together every morning.

The other eighteen dragonets in captivity often sang the Morning Song as we did, in their own fenced backyard. The size of the group didn't really matter, since we were so focused on the sun and its Song. Occasionally, we went to the park to sing with the wild flock, but that wouldn't be happening until the fledglings could fly much better.

I flipped upside-down midair, zipping under Keegan's wing even as he banked sharply to remain in the small column of air that was our dancefloor. Dirk and Tessa were still flapping hard, although they were panting heavily. The song was already beginning to fade; it felt like it had barely begun, and yet, the beginning of joyous celebration seemed a very long time ago.

The song trailed off, and I turned my barrel roll into a glide as I circled around towards the children. Dirk was sitting as he tried to catch his breath, but his sister flopped down with her wings spread out, too tired to move.

Keegan landed and nudged her with his nose. She flicked an ear tuft at him, but nothing more. Aeria got up from her chair against the house and came over, gently picking up the exhausted scarlet youngster in her hands.

"I think someone overdid it this morning," she mused aloud.

I bared my teeth in a grin. "I believe you are correct."

Aeria smiled in amusement as she went to sit back in her chair beside Taureen, settling Tessa in her lap as she pulled out the buffing pad to clean her scales. Keegan laid down beside Dirk, spreading his wings to sunbathe in the early morning light as he waited for his son to regain his energy.

Taking advantage of the situation, I flew over to Taureen to get my scales cleaned and oiled. As I relaxed, I examined the new hole in the grass and the pile of stones beside it. The shallow dip was long enough that a Kymari could lie down in it, but it wouldn't seem so large once Aeria and Taureen finished making the shallow pond and small waterfall appear natural.

It would be deep enough that I wouldn't be able to reach the bottom with my feet in the deep end, but the shallow area was quite large – perfect for playing, splashing, or teaching youngsters the vital skill of swimming.

I was really looking forward to playing in it once it was done.

 Tessa's POV:

The sun was nice and warm. It felt good. Almost like the heat lamp.

I still didn't feel like moving and closed my eyes as I rested on a small table beside Aeria. Dirk snored softly – he must have fallen asleep as Taureen oiled his scales.

The heat suddenly disappeared. I opened my eyes and looked up in confusion. A big fluffy thing had moved in front of the sun! A cloud. It looked soft, but I knew I couldn't fly that high. Somehow, I was also aware that it was bits of water hanging in the air, so I couldn't land on it even if I tried.

I folded my wings with a quiet snort, glad that the heat lamp inside didn't have clouds. With a big yawn, I stretched my legs and looked around.

There was a bowl of fruit beside me!

Just the sight of it gave me enough energy to get to my feet and go over. The small pieces of grape and other fruits weren't as good as cantaloupe, but it didn't stop me from completely emptying the bowl.

"Where did she manage to put all of that fruit?" Aeria murmured.

"I give her fifteen minutes until she's bouncing all over the place," Mom replied drowsily from where she had been napping in the sun.

I yawned again and stretched my wings, turning my attention to the area around us. Other than the stone floor around the house, the rest of the floor was green stringy stuff with bigger green and brown things. Grass, flowers, shrubs, trees, and other plants.

If I looked closely at them, I knew what most of them were called and if they had good fruit. The flowers had bright colors that reminded me of the sunrise. There were even some right beside the house.

I jumped down from the table and walked over to the nearest clump. Their bright yellow petals were a color I hadn't seen before. I leaned forward to peer at them more closely when I smelled something. It was a strange sweet scent.

The smell was coming from the flower. As soon as I realized that, the hidden memories told me that most flowers had pretty smells and each type was different.

My eyes moved to a white flower nearby, and I trotted over to sniff it as well. This one was faint, but nice in a different way. I lifted my head to see where the rest of the flowers were. I wanted to smell them all.

Most of the flowers were by the house, but a few shrubs and trees also had a couple on their branches. My feet carried me from one to another until I had smelled all of the flowers by the house.

That left the ones up high or the ones near the taller plants. I was reluctant to go near the shrubs. They were almost... creepy. Like something could be hiding in them. The tree branches were probably safer. Most creatures couldn't fly.

The branches were really far up, though. They were higher than the ceiling inside – I had never flown that high before! It was something I hadn't tried, but I wanted to.

A pale pink blossom above bobbed gently in the breeze. I really wanted to know what it smelled like. I crouched down before jumping into the air and beating my wings.

It was a long way up! I finally reached the branch and realized that it was much narrower than the wall perches inside. I had seen Mom and Dad land on similar branches though, so I knew it could be done.

As I started backwinging, I reached out with my hands and feet, clamping them around the branch. My claws clicked as they overlapped around the narrow object. I did it!

I folded my wings and stretched my neck out to smell the flower – and overbalanced. With a squawk, I flipped upside down, still hanging onto the branch. I curled my tail around the branch to help me hang on.

What was I supposed to do now?

With wide eyes, I looked over at Mom and Dad pleadingly. Mom simply blinked slowly, unsurprised by my predicament, nor worried about it. Dad stretched his wings before lazily flying up to me, landing easily on the branch without falling over.

He tilted his head as he gazed down at me. "Use your tail for balance next time and dig your claws into the bark."

"How do I get on top of the branch?"

"You'll have to spread your wings and let go. Once you are flying, you can try landing again."

I was beginning to think that flying involved a lot more falling than I had previously realized. With a resigned sigh, I spread my wings and examined the large airspace between me and the bushes below. I let go.

After this morning, I knew what to expect and managed to right myself without panicking. I banked as I beat my wings to get higher, aiming for the branch again.

Dad simply watched as I backwinged and managed to land on the branch again. Once my wings were folded, he curled his neck downward until he was inspecting the bottom of the branch.

The show-off!

"Your claws have a good grip. Take a look at them."

Was he trying to make me swing upside down again? I tilted my head as I examined him, looking at how his tail was further out and how he leaned back while his head was under the branch.

My claws gripped the bark more tightly as I carefully lowered my head. I wobbled a bit, but I managed to see the underside of the branch. The gentle breeze made the nearby leaves rustle and shift. Startled, my head jerked up – sending me upside down once more.

Perhaps this branch was defective.

The Blood Memories showed me glimpses of adult dragonets even climbing up tree trunks, so simply sitting in a tree should have been easy.

"How did you stay up?" I asked Dad, hoping to learn his secret.

"Practice and experience."

That was not helpful.

The flower above swayed gently in the breeze, beckoning me back. With a deep breath, I let go again. The breeze hadn't stopped, and it made flying harder. It kept wanting to catch my wings and send me further away.

I tried landing on the branch, but the wind pushed me too far, and I had to glide sideways and circle around again. I finally managed to land again.

This flower had better smell really good considering how much effort it took to even get close to it.

I leaned over and sniffed the blossom. It had a light sweet scent – not as strong as I would have thought. The trees were much bigger than the flowers by the house, shouldn't they have more smell?

"Follow me," Dad told me, dropping off the branch and gliding towards the couple of trees on the other side of the grassy open area.

I hesitated for a moment before following him. He flew between two of the tree trunks, and I could now see a tall weird thing that stopped us from going farther. A fence. We landed on a rock beside it.

"This netting encloses the entire backyard. You can explore this entire area as much as you want. Your Mom is leading Dirk to a different section – we are about to play tag. Last one to get caught wins."

I loved tag! But- "What about dangerous animals?" My mind could see flickers of dangerous creatures that liked to hide around trees and shrubs.

"This area is safe. Outside of it, you will have to stay close to us." With that, Dad jumped into the air and quickly disappeared among the leaves.

This was my head start. I had no chance against Mom or Dad when flying, so my best plan was to hide. Perhaps I could ambush Dirk.

With that thought in mind, I jumped down to the ground and scampered underneath a bush. My ears twitched as I tried to pick any sounds apart from the rustling leaves.

After carefully peeking out from under the bush, I quickly ran across the grass to hide under another. There weren't many places to hide. There were only four trees inside the fence; I would be able to see the house from almost every corner of the backyard.

My smaller size meant that I could hide in more places than Mom or Dad, but my scales were really bright, especially against the green leaves.

I scooted under a denser bush to lie in ambush.