Tessa's POV:

I sat on Taureen's shoulder and looked around while he walked through the storage area. Tran and Vick flanked him as they matched his pace. Mom looked utterly bored.

Dad, Dirk, Aeria, and her two guards were somewhere else in the city as they patrolled a few buildings in the name of practice.

My nose was focused on the smells around us, but I didn't smell any sicora or crawlers. Which was probably a good thing. No one expected us to find anything in the city since the ships were always checked.

It was interesting, though. There were many things I had never seen before. My leash was more for show since Taureen knew I wouldn't leave his shoulder without permission.

As we continued, my ears perked up when I recognized a building we were approaching. It was the same training building we had visited on our first outing. We went inside and the smell of Kymari sweat made me wrinkle my nose.

I didn't remember exactly where the training room was, but many of the things we passed were familiar. When we reached the room with the airlock door, I had a hard time playing it cool since I had wanted to come back here for a long time.

Instead, I decided to watch Mom. If I hadn't known that she was paying attention, I wouldn't have guessed it. Taking a deep breath, I still didn't pick up the smell of either a crawler or the sicora.

Without pausing, Taureen and his two wingmen went through the airlock and down the hallway. The moment the second door opened, Mom hissed as she got to her feet. The smell of the sicora made me want to hiss as well, so I did.

Her wings half unfurled as she looked around. Vick and Tran drew their weapons as we walked towards the crates. My heartbeat sped up as I realized that the crates had been moved around. I no longer knew where the sicora was.

We passed two intersections among the towering crates before Mom jumped off Taureen's shoulder with a faint hiss. My jaw dropped – he hadn't told her she could go!

She flew in a tight circle around the junction before coming to a hover in front of one path.

"Tasha, shoulder."

Mom flew back to Taureen's shoulder, pointedly staring at the opening as a growl rumbled through her chest. Taureen clipped another leash on her and walked that way, letting Tran take the lead as Vick dropped behind us. My nostrils flared as the scent got stronger.

Realization dawned on me – Mom had shown them the way! That was what she had meant when she said that we guided them to the sicora!

I couldn't seem to stop growling now that I knew what the smell belonged to. We came to another intersection and paused as Taureen unclipped Mom's leash. She took it as her signal to fly around again. I leaned forward on the shoulder pad, longing to join her, but it wasn't possible with my leash.

Mom pointed the way by hovering, before Taureen called her back again before putting the leash back on. She remained standing, still hissing faintly.

At the next intersection, Taureen unclipped my leash and then Mom's. Mom left Taureen's shoulder and whistled at me. I immediately followed behind her as she circled in front of the possible paths. It amazed me just how much stronger the smell was in front of the right passageway.

I still couldn't hover, so I flew in small circles in front of the path while chittering. Apparently, I was going to have to work on my hovering skills...

"Tasha, Tessa, shoulder."

Mom headed back with another brief follow-me whistle, and my wings hurried to try and keep up. Once she landed, she stared in the right direction. I tried to copy her, frequently glancing at her to see when we were supposed to stop. Taureen clipped our leashes on as we began moving again.

"Even though she reacted to the sicora last time, she is definitely learning from her mother," Tran murmured as he took point again.

"She's learning quickly, too," Vick commented from behind. "It makes me wonder how much the wild ones are learning from these when they visit, and vice versa."

"It's hard to say," Taureen replied, "but you saw how that little green one copied Tessa with the flowers during the first two visits. The silver fledgling joined them the last time, too. When one of them learn a trick or do something, it isn't long before the others seem to know it."

They fell silent as they kept walking. Each time we reached an intersection, the Kymari paused as our leashes were unclipped, and Mom and I pointed out the right direction before we kept going.

I was seriously beginning to wonder how big this room was.

Mom pinned her ears back even further as she spat a fireball skyward. The flaming missile splattered against a black form wedged between two crates.

The sicora!

I rose up on my back legs and flared my wings with an alarm screech. The urge to flee and the desire to see it dead tore at me, leaving me deeply conflicted. Mom screamed a fierce battle cry, clearly ready to attack if her leash hadn't restrained her.

Two blasts of blue energy made me jump. They struck the sicora, which fell to the floor. The rigid shape reminded me that it wasn't alive, making its presence easier to bear.

Tran lunged forward with some sort of spear, using the sharp blade on the end to cut off its head. Mom spat another fireball at it, still hissing loudly.

Tran kicked the head away, keeping half an eye on Mom in case she sent more fire in his direction. Mom's hissing tapered off to a low growl before slowly fading into silence.

After a long moment of hard staring, she shook herself hard enough that her scales chimed. With a heavy exhale, she sat down as her tense muscles relaxed.

I failed to see how she could relax while the air still stunk like that creature. Then I realized that my own growling had disappeared, and I no longer had the urge to flee or fight.

Without any discussion, the Kymari kept walking. After a few minutes, Mom lay back down, although she kept raising her head and sniffing the air.

I wasn't sure whether to be happy or wary when we approached a second airlock door. The door opened as we entered air that wasn't sullied by the sicora. My muscles relaxed as the door slid shut behind us. I was finally able to sit down.

The hallway wasn't long; when we went through the next airlock door, I pinned my ear tufts back with a growl that Mom echoed. The smell of the crawler wasn't as bad as the sicora, but that wasn't saying much.

Last time, Aeria had passed straight through, but this group was determined to locate the creature. Like the last room, Mom and I had our leashes removed whenever there was more than one possible path.

The smell was growing stronger, and so were my growls. Suddenly, the smell began to fade. I snorted in confusion, although Mom turned around and faced the area behind us with a low growl. The Kymari stopped and began slowly backtracking.

We must have passed it, and I hadn't even noticed. Tran was going more slowly and checking the gaps between the crates. The smell faded once again, and this time, both Mom and I looked backwards.

Taureen pulled out a much longer leash and clipped it onto Mom's harness before holding his hand up to her. She stepped up on his wrist, and he held out his hand.

"Go on. Find it."

Mom immediately took to the air, although she glided slowly past the crates. Taureen's quick walk kept the leash from pulling on her as she attempted to track it while on wing.

With a faint snort, she doubled back and landed on the floor with tense muscles. She lowered her head closer to the floor, and it took me a moment to realize that there were gaps under the crates.

She quickly moved to the next crate, and I marvelled at her smooth, alert movements. It made her look like a predator on a hunt. Even Abby's memory of a hunting fox lacked her grace and focus.

Her ear tufts pinned back as she hissed at something I couldn't see under the crate. I almost fell off Taureen's shoulder as he bent over and scooped her up in a swift motion. As he backed up, Tran and Vick came forward.

Tran knelt down with his blaster in hand as he carefully looked under the crate. It took him only moments to spot whatever Mom had seen and fire his weapon. Using his spear, he fished it out from under the crate.

I stared at the eight-legged pest in a mixture of revulsion and disbelief. With its eight legs and black coloration, it vaguely reminded me of a spider. It was way bigger than a spider, though. It was even bigger than Mom. Sharp claws adorned its feet, and I could see the faint glint of two needle-like fangs from here.

The worst part was that I knew it could turn into a sicora. Well, at least if it wasn't dead.

The good news was that it was dead, although it hadn't been alive before. This was a test, after all. Now, we knew that it was really dead.

Mom sneezed. "Goodness. How many days has that thing been dead for? I thought it was bad before he disturbed the body..."

Taureen didn't even glance at her, pretending to be unable to hear her. I agreed with Mom, though. Now that it was out in the open air, it smelled like it was rotting. Judging by Vick's face, he felt the same way.

Tran got to his feet. "I say we leave this mess for the idiot trainee who was too lazy to skin the vermin. I didn't realize how fast these things rotted."

"Sounds good to me. I don't think any of us brought the disposal bags, anyway," Taureen said as he began walking again.

I was thankful when we left the room with the crates and continued down the corridors that smelled like Kymari. Not a whiff of sicora or crawler contaminated the air once Tran cleaned the gunk off his spear.

We rounded a corner, and I couldn't help but stare at a rather odd looking Kymari on a bench ahead of us. His skin had numerous grey streaks that made him look rather pale compared to the dark green I had seen on every other Kymari.

He rose to his feet more slowly than I had expected as he focused on us. A few wrinkles on his face and hands made me realize that he was old. Very old.

"Don't forget to act like an animal. Elders are sharp," Mom whispered quietly into my mind.

Taureen came to a stop as he inclined his head respectfully. "Elder Dairno, I'm surprised to see you here today."

"I haven't seen either of the fledglings in person yet," he replied amiably, "and they are fifty days old now. I happened to be here for other business and hung around to watch the video feed during today's training session."

"They are progressing by leaps and bounds," Taureen said. "This was their second session with a sicora and crawler."

"Yes, I found it interesting to watch the little scarlet learn."

He slowly reached up and brought his fingers close to me. I leaned forward to sniff them, before tentatively putting one hand on his thumb. I glanced back at Taureen, unsure if the Elder wanted me to step up or was just letting me sniff him.

Taureen reached up and unclipped my leash. "Go on."

Looking back at the Elder, I delicately stepped onto his hand while being careful with my claws. I wasn't sure if his greyish skin was more delicate, and I didn't want to hurt him.

He moved me closer to his face as he gazed at me. I tilted my head and trilled at him, trying to act cute. He smiled gently as one of the fingers his other hand gently stroked my back. I rubbed my head against his hand while humming.

"Her friendliness is something I am pleased to see. I hope it's something that she won't grow out of."

I sat down and gazed at the Elder as I tried to figure out how this guy managed to practically radiate a sense of calm. Just like the heat from the heat lamp, it wasn't something you could miss. He was focused on Taureen, although he still continued to pet me with slow movements.

"We are hopeful," Taureen replied, "although time will tell. She is more outgoing than her brother."

The Elder stopped stroking my back and gently opened up my wing. I spread it wider, letting him see its true shape. His finger traced along the leading edge of it before brushing over the scales.

He gently pushed my wing shut before holding me up to Taureen's shoulder pad. I jumped off and turned around to watch him.

"I am curious to see how they will continue to develop and learn. My duties will be taking me out of the city for several months and I may not be able to reply, but continue to send me updates."

"Certainly."

"Then I shall bid you a good day."

He turned and walked around the corner we had just come from. I blinked and tilted my head. That had been strangest Kymari I had met so far, and Taureen had introduced me to several dozen in the parks and along our walks.

"He really creeps me out," Mom admitted quietly. "Although I'm seriously glad that he has never stopped by the house for a visit."

Taureen and his friends continued through the hallway as I slowly laid down. I wanted to tell Mom about the earlier conversation I had overheard between Taureen and Alec about the Elders, but then they would know I had been listening. Perhaps Taureen had told Mom when I wasn't around.

I couldn't tell if the Elder knew or not. He hadn't acted any differently from the other Kymari I had met, but when we were around others, Taureen acted like this too.

Was it an act? Did the Elder know? If he did know, what would it change? I didn't have answers to any of these questions, and if what I had overheard was right, it wouldn't change much.

With a big yawn, I dismissed the questions as I scratched an ear tuft.