Tessa's POV:

I flew silently up behind the Kymari, who were still sitting on the benches and visiting. Abby was right behind me, carrying a flower of her own.

"We can both fit on Sadria's shoulder."

"Sounds good to me. Which one is Sadria?"

I sent her the mental image, although considering I was aiming right for her, it wasn't much of a guess.

Just before we reached them, I trilled a greeting whistle so I didn't startle them too badly. They were fighters. They jumped slightly, but just glanced back at us.

I landed on Sadria's shoulder and promptly began stuffing the flower stem into a gap near the front of her neck. Abby touched down very nervously on the edge of her armor before tentatively tucking her flower into a joint along Sadria's shoulder blade.

"Well, this is unusual," Sadria commented calmly, not looking directly at us.

It took me only moments to have the flower securely in place where it pointed towards Sadria's face.

"Tessa, treat," Taureen quietly said.

My ear tufts perked up when I saw that he was holding two sunburst berries. I immediately flew over to land on his wrist guard.

"Abby! He has sunburst berries! Come get one!"

I gleefully began nibbling on mine, trying to make it last. The green fledgling was shaking as she landed beside me on Taureen's outstretched wrist to get the last berry. Her eyes were wide and her ear tufts were back as they quivered. I realized that she was much more scared of my friends than I was of the forest.

"Come on," I told her. "Let's go find a quiet place to eat these."

Her relief flooded the mindlink like a strong wave. Spreading my wings, I jumped up and flew towards the trees with a happy whistle. Just for fun, I did a barrel roll, although Abby quickly passed me as she took the lead, hurrying back to the concealing trees.

We found a big tree and landed there to leisurely nibble on the delicious berries.

"Where did he get them?" Abby asked. "Dad gave me and Glen one of these berries once."

I shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I usually get one every day."

Her longing and jealousy came through the mindlink.

"Mom and Dad will probably bring me back here another day, so we can always try it again."

"Maybe. Let's go find Glen and Dirk."

I nodded and dropped down from the branch as we went to locate the duo.

It wasn't hard to find them. They were still in the clearing with the adults.

"Hey, Glen," Abby began excitedly. "I just had a sunburst berry!"

His head whipped around to stare at us incredulously. "Where did you find one?"

"Tasha's handler had two, one for me and one for Tessa." Her excitement showed through clearly, but the nervousness she had felt landing on his wrist also came through.

Mia, the green dragonet who had been curious about my harness, sat up with her ears pinned back. "What? You went near the Kymari? They could have kidnapped you and put you in a cage!"

A rude snort sounded as Mom lifted her head. "That is a lie, Mia, and you know it. Unless she was seriously injured, they wouldn't even consider taking her from the park. Quit trying to scare them."

"You have always favored the Kymari," Mia retorted.

"And you have always favored the park. It's personal preference. Let them make their own choices."

Mia turned her gaze to me. "Do you plan to stay with the Kymari or enjoy freedom in the park?"

I wasn't entirely sure why it seemed like they were arguing, so I thought about how to reply before doing so. "I want to help the Kymari keep sicora and crawlers off this planet. Although I don't know what dragonets in the park do..."

The green dragonet winced slightly and turned her head away without replying. Mom smirked as a number of the dragonets looked uncomfortable. I looked around in confusion, still not understanding this conversation.

Drake shook out his wings, looking amused. "I concur that each dragonet gets to make the choice for themselves. While I greatly envy my friends who get to see sicora and crawlers killed on a weekly basis, I will admit that I am far too chicken to get that close to a Kymari."

An image of a fat, feathery bird appeared in my mind, thoroughly confusing me until the Blood Memories also provided the implication that being called a chicken meant he was scared. How were the Kymari scarier than the eagles and other dangers that lurked in the park? Such a thing puzzled me.

The dragonets went back to sunbathing now that the conversation was apparently settled.

I looked at Abby in confusion. "What do you want to do now?"

"Well, we can go swimming again, sunbathe, explore the nearby area, or find some more fruit trees."

"I don't feel like sunbathing right now. What kind of fruit trees are close by?"

"There isn't much near here, but there are some about a ten-minute flight away."

"Isn't it dangerous to go that far? What about eagles or other creatures?" I wanted to see the new types of fruit, but my close call with that eagle was at the forefront of my mind.

"There aren't many eagles around here, and most are scared of us. As long as we don't go near the ground, we won't have to worry about foxes or snakes."

This place was sounding more and more dangerous all the time.

I really wanted to go, but I also wanted to survive this visit. I glanced over. "Hey, Dad, can you come with us to find these fruit trees?"

"Sure," he replied, getting to his feet. "Dirk, Glen, do you two want to come as well?"

"Yes!" Glen replied.

"Okay," Dirk said, somewhat reluctantly.

The five of us flew through the forest as Dad led the way. The sheer number of trees was amazing. A game of hide and go seek could last forever out here!

As we flew over another pathway, several Kymari walking along it noticed us and commented on our harnesses. They were surprised to see Abby and Glen, while also wondering where Mom was. I hadn't been aware that a random Kymari in the park would know what color Mom's scales were.

Speaking only to Dad, I asked, "How did they know Mom was gold?"

"You and Dirk are the first dragonets to hatch with the Kymari. Quite a few of them are following Taureen's updates. They have very likely seen pictures of the four of us. Our harnesses are dead giveaways that we aren't part of the wild flock."

That made sense. "How do you know where these fruit trees are?"

"I lived in the park for over eight years, and we visit this area quite frequently."

"Why are the dragonets scared of the Kymari, but not of eagles and foxes?"

"It's what they know. The unknown scares them. Would you ever follow a fox alone deep into the forest?"

"No!"

"All they know is the forest, so leaving the park to follow a Kymari would be just as scary for them."

"How big is this park?"

"Very large. It would take several hours to fly across it, at the very least."

It must be huge. I wasn't even sure I could fly for an hour without stopping to rest.

We flew through the open space between the tree canopy and underbrush. This part of the forest was thicker, and not much of the forest floor could be seen due to the number of shrubs and bushes. It was very easy to imagine all sorts of creatures lurking within the concealing greenery.

My nostrils flared at the smell of fruit, some of it quite overripe. Not long after, Dad landed on the branch of an orange tree. Dirk happily began wrestling one of the big round objects onto a sturdier part of the branch.

"There are several varieties of fruit trees around here. I'll check the area quickly, but feel free to explore. Just don't go near the ground. I'm not sure which trees have ripe fruit at the moment, so you'll have to look around."

I immediately asked Abby, "Want to come with me?"

"Sure! Let's go check out the tree over there first."

I followed her while Dad began circling the area for any potential dangers. There were a lot more normal trees than fruit trees. Some of the trees were just flowers, lots had unripe fruit, but a few had things we could eat.

Much to my disappointment, none of the trees had cantaloupes.

"Have you ever found a cantaloupe tree?"

"A what?" She paused, before continuing, "No, I haven't. By the way, the Blood Memories say that they grow on vines, not trees. "

I would have to bring her a slice next time we came. I wondered if Taureen would let me plant one in the backyard.

We sampled most of the different kinds of ripe fruits we could find. A couple were good, although I made a mental note to never eat two of the bitter kinds again.

Once we had eaten our fill, we flew back to the others to sunbathe along the creek.