Tessa's POV:

I eyed up the small piece of ribbon that Soranto was idly fiddling with in his hands. He was talking with Taureen, and, hopefully, had forgotten that I was on the wall perch above him.

Quietly, I leaned over the edge as I watched his hands. If it was wrapped around his fingers, I wouldn't be able to grab it. I would have to time this just right.

He stretched it between his hands, and I dropped off the perch to dive down. Opening my wings at the last second, I changed my direction as I shot in front of him and stole the ribbon. I trilled happily as I clutched the ribbon in my hand and flew to a wall perch on the other side of the room.

I turned around to smirk at him – but he had a ribbon in his hands! I gaped at it in astonishment before checking to make sure that the red ribbon was still in my claws. It was. Where had the other ribbon come from? He didn't even seem bothered that I had taken the first ribbon.

I draped my ribbon over the perch before flying to the perch above Soranto again. How many ribbons could he possibly have?

As the evening went by, that became a very good question. I kept stealing the ribbons in his hands, but another one always appeared. The wall perch was gaining quite a collection of different colored ribbons. Soon, there would be so many that they would start falling off.

Eventually, Tkael and Soranto stood up to leave. Like he had every day over the last two weeks, Soranto held up a sunburst berry. I glided down to land on his wrist and gently take it. He petted my back until I finished my treat.

As I shook myself off, my scales made the tiniest noise as they rubbed against one another. I glided over to the heat lamp where Dirk was already asleep, as he usually was at this time of night.

Taureen walked with his friends to the door, still discussing some sort of plans they had for tomorrow.

With a big yawn, I curled up under the heat lamp with Mom, Dad, and Dirk.

       I watched in curiosity as Taureen put some sort of cloth straps on Mom and Dad. Aeria held up a smaller set and let me sniff them.

"These harnesses should fit you, although you'll probably outgrow them in a week. Let's try them on."

I stood still as she smoothly put it on with the ease of practice. It felt strange. I had never worn things before. Tentatively, I spread my wings and stretched my arms and legs as much as I could. The harness didn't pull or even really bother me.

"We're going to go for a walk," Taureen said. "Remember that most Kymari don't know you can talk. We have to keep the leashes on you two during the first few times, but there are trackers in your harness in case you get lost."

Dirk and I both nodded since we still couldn't mindspeak him. Dad was already on Aeria's shoulder, so I flew up to her other one.

"Good job," Aeria said, reaching up to clip a leash onto my harness. "There we go."

Taureen clipped a leash onto Dirk and put him on his shoulder. Neither Mom nor Dad had a leash. Taureen and Aeria began walking towards the front door.

I raised my head in impatient excitement, eager to see what lay beyond the door. I had looked out the windows before, but I knew it would be different to actually go outside. As we exited the door, I took a deep breath, although the air smelled almost the same as in the backyard.

The road, street cleaning machines, and hover shuttles were interesting. It wasn't possible to see them from the backyard, and I watched them curiously. Other Kymari were also walking on the sidewalk. Many of them smiled when they saw us, although Mom pinned her ears back when we walked past them.

We left the sidewalk and went into a small clump of trees. A bench sat in front of a small pond with flowers scattered around the tiny clearing.

"Feel like exploring?" Taureen asked.

I chirped in excitement. Even just looking at the plants, I was getting small tidbits of information about them from the Blood Memories. I hadn't seen ones like this in the backyard.

Aeria raised her hand to me, and I climbed on. To my surprise, she lowered me to the ground instead of letting me fly from her wrist. I quickly scampered towards a bush and darted under it, waiting for Dirk to get close enough to pounce on.

He looked around the unfamiliar area uneasily before slowly walking around while avoiding any of the shrubs or larger plants. Since he wasn't about to come closer, I darted out towards him.

Suddenly, I was jerked backwards by my harness, squawked in alarm at the unanticipated stop. Glancing back, I could now see that my leash had gotten tangled around some of the branches.

Mom glided down from Taureen's shoulder as he walked towards the bush. He kneeled down and freed my leash before dropping it back down on the ground. I hopped over to the pond, but to my disappointment, it was colder than the one in the backyard.

I wanted to fly around the clearing to see everything in it. Gazing overhead, I spread my wings before pausing. What if my leash got caught in the tree branches? I would have to avoid them. I jumped into the air and beat my wings down hard.

Normally, such a wingbeat shot me towards the sky, but the leash was weighing me down. I struggled to fly, unaccustomed to the added weight. The leash was still dragging in the grass and making me work much harder to continue flying.

I didn't even manage a lap of the tiny clearing before I had to land. Flying with a leash was more tiring than the Morning Song. Since flying was so hard, I explored a bit on the ground, taking care around places I couldn't see in case another animal was hiding. I wasn't too worried since Mom and Dad had already checked most places and were sitting on branches above as they watched.

Dirk remained near Taureen and Aeria and refused to leave the small clearing or even go near the plants. The bushes weren't much bigger than the ones in the backyard, but I quickly learned to not drag my leash through them.

"We can try another park tomorrow," Aeria told me as she walked over. "There are a couple of other places we want to show you before we go home."

I flew up to her shoulder and managed to land without as much difficulty as I had feared. The muscles in my wings were feeling a bit sore from my flying attempts with the leash. Taureen picked up Dirk, and we returned to the sidewalk.

We walked for a while before we entered a building that a lot of other Kymari were going in and out of. My eyes widened when I saw rows upon rows of different kinds of fruit on one side of the massive room. Shelves and displays held other strange things that I needed the Blood Memories to even attempt to identify. Even the memories didn't know everything, though.

It was a store. I looked around as I tried to see everything at once. There was a lot of stuff in here! We walked closer to the area with the fruit, and I eagerly examined it. I recognized a few types, but most were ones I hadn't seen before.

"Let's see," Taureen said, scanning the shelves, "We can take one of these, a couple of these, and we haven't bought this one in a while."

We walked up and down a few aisles as both Taureen and Aeria put a few more things in their baskets. Other Kymari were also shopping and smiled when they saw us.

"Why do they keep smiling?" I asked Dad.

He flicked an ear tuft idly. "Probably because you two are quite cute with how you keep looking around. This is also the first time that they are seeing you. They don't react this way when it's just your Mom or me."

I wasn't sure how we counted as cute, but I didn't argue. It wouldn't change their smiles. At least they weren't upset to see us in the store.

Once the items were paid for, we walked down the sidewalk for a long distance. We approached another building with some Kymari visiting outside. Four of them began walking beside Taureen and Aeria as we went inside. I had never seen another Kymari come so close to us on our walk, and I watched them somewhat uneasily.

Mom didn't even hiss or growl at them, which I found very strange.

Taureen greeted the two men walking beside him, "Tran, Vick. Glad you could join us."

One of them replied, "It would have taken an emergency for us to miss this. Thanks for inviting us along."

The woman walking beside Aeria inquired, "How have the two little ones done so far today?"

"Quite well, Sadria," Aeria replied. "I'm happy that you and Rhay could also come. I assume Soranto and Tkael are already inside?"

"Yes, they arrived early and have the room completely set up."

The man walking beside Sadria commented, "This could get interesting. Tkael suggested keeping the parents on this side of the airlock for now. The medical team on shift is also aware of what we are trying."

"Thanks, Rhay."

I tilted my head as I examined their odd clothing and equipment. Armor and weapons. Some of the other Kymari in the hallway were similarly dressed.

We went around several corners, and the air began to have an unusually strong Kymari smell. Aeria and Taureen left their bags in some holes in the wall before we kept going. As we walked past one large room, I stared at the dozens of Kymari swinging weapons towards each other. They were fast. But no one was bleeding.

It almost reminded me of when I wrestled with Dirk. We would often bite or scratch one another, but we didn't bite hard enough to hurt, and we kept our claws sheathed. These people seemed much more serious, though.

Taureen and Aeria kept walking. They apparently knew where they were going, which was a good thing, because I was completely lost after turning so many corners.

My ear tufts perked up when I saw Soranto and Tkael in the hallway ahead of us. Taureen and Aeria headed towards them. Once we reached them, everyone went into a nearby room.

"Everything is ready to go," Tkael informed us.

"I'll go first," Aeria said and lifted her hand to Dad, who stepped onto her wrist guard.

She passed Dad to Taureen before she began walking towards another door. This time, no one went with us. I glanced back at Mom and Dad, wondering where Aeria was going. As she passed through a doorway, it closed behind us with a faint hiss.

"Your Dad and I will be raising our mind shields for a while, so you won't be able to hear us, and we won't be able to hear you," Mom told me calmly. "Have fun."

"Have fun with what?" My words echoed oddly, and I knew that they hadn't heard me.

That was not very reassuring.