Tessa's POV:

It felt like forever before we finally arrived at the main park. We were a bit later than usual due to someone – possibly Banrai – locking the exit door and forcing us to go back the way we had come. Of course, this gave whoever was watching through the cameras the chance to trigger some of the remaining traps we had walked past the first time.

Soranto held his hand up to me, and I jumped on it in excitement. After stroking my neck and back a few times, he passed me another small slice of fruit. I happily ate the treat; it was a type that Taureen didn't buy that often.

Once I was done, he said, "Go on. Go have some fun."

With a happy trill, I took off. Mom was already heading towards the usual dragonet meeting place, so I followed her. With a glance back and a grin, she flipped upside down and swerved around a tree trunk.

I immediately gave chase as we darted through the forest. It was almost impossible to keep up, but I managed to keep her within my sights until we arrived at the clearing.

Dad flew up to greet us as a dozen others glanced at us. I whistled a greeting and let my wings barely brush against his in our flight. I circled the clearing, but didn't see Dirk or any of the other fledglings.

"Dirk is with Abby and Glen. They were heading to the fruit trees by the big, white stone," Dad told me, sharing an image of the exact area.

"Thanks!" I replied, veering off to fly in the correct direction.

I gained height and carefully flew through the thicker foliage in case Abby was planning some sort of revenge. Splashing and laughing whistles came from closer to the creek, so I changed direction.

Landing on a branch, I peered through the leaves to see Glen and four other fledglings playing in the water. Abby and Dirk weren't among them, though. Perhaps they were still eating.

Taking flight again, I continued towards the clearing with the white boulder. I kept my wingbeats silent in case they were just waiting for me to show up. I really didn't need to be the focus of any more ambushes today, although, to be fair, all of the ones in training had been aimed at Soranto, Taureen, or one of the guards.

The clearing was empty, so I decided to check the area since there were a number of fruit trees around here. I blinked and did a double-take when I spotted the green and blue dragonets curled up together in the grass.

I landed on a branch as I stared at the two cuddling. Well. This was not what I had expected. Looking around, no one else was in sight. I also didn't want them to know that I had seen them, mostly because Abby didn't need any more incentive in the revenge department.

Continuing to use the leaves for cover, I took to the air again. I could join the fledglings back at the creek. It would be a much safer place for them to eventually find me.

When I reached the creek, I was relieved to see the group still romping around in the water. Diving down, I changed my angle at the last moment as I skidded across the top of the water. As I had intended, the spray from my landing hit all of those within range.

A purple dragonet energetically splashed me back as I joined the water fight. We had a blast, although I had joined in near the end, so they were tired before I was. They rested on the sandy banks, spreading their wings to catch the sun.

I wasn't ready to relax just yet, but my options were rather limited. It was a pity that the Ply-Ball group wouldn't be back for two more days. There was no way I was going back to see if Dirk and Abby were done cuddling, and it really wasn't wise for me to annoy the adults after yesterday's stunt.

That basically left eating, sunbathing, flying aimlessly through the forest, or tormenting the Kymari. My choice was rather easy. With a grin, I took to the air to go in search of several particular items.

Kymari very rarely lost things, but it happened occasionally. Some of those things happened to be on this side of the park. The first thing I grabbed was a leather bag that was almost as big as me.

I flew to where I recalled a few of the Kymari's money coins had fallen to the ground. A pretty stone the size of my hand joined them in the bag. After asking another dragonet's permission, I tucked a few more oddities inside. He even gave me one of his shed scales. We rarely shed them unless they got damaged, so this might be something Soranto hadn't seen before.

I continued collecting strange or unusual things until the bag got very heavy. Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the edge of the battered sack in my hands and began the fairly long flight to where the handlers usually hung out.

My wings were sore by the time I got to the clearing. I didn't even bother looping around behind them to take them by surprise. Soranto was already extending his hands to take the sack as I started backwinging. I gladly let the heavy thing go, and gave an extra wingbeat so I could land on his shoulder instead.

I laid down and panted while I watched him open the sack and peer into it.

"What's inside?" Taureen inquired.

"That's a very good question," Soranto murmured as he stuck his hand inside and gently slid all of the contents out of the bag onto the bench beside him. The others gathered around in a loose circle for a better look. Soranto scattered the pile a bit and paused before picking up part of an eggshell.

"I've only seen a silver color like this on fire lizard eggs," Soranto said, examining the piece in his hand.

"It's the right size and color," Taureen confirmed. "There might be a nest nearby, although it doesn't look fresh. It could be several days old already."

"It's been over a month since the last two joined the main flock, and I don't think this is that old. If there is a nest around, they'll probably show up in a couple of days."

Taureen reached over and pushed a few sparkly pebbles aside to pick up the purple scale. "This is unusual. Look at the crack in this scale. The only time I've seen a scale with this much damage was when a tree fell on Serena."

"Since no dragonets are missing or notably injured, I won't worry too much," Soranto said. "Although it might be a good idea to scroll through the recordings and see when it occurred. We might have to keep an eye on it in case of complications. What else is in here..."

Soranto spread out the pile as he separated the flowers and pebbles from the coins and bits of lost Kymari things. I grinned as one of the two grasshoppers jumped onto Soranto's leg when it was uncovered. It had taken a lot of work to get them to stay inside that bag. He ignored them, much to my disappointment.

He wasn't so keen on the four caterpillars though. He let each one climb onto a flower before passing it to Vick to set in the grass. There wasn't much else. Just a few shiny seeds and a couple of strange leaves that even my Blood Memories couldn't identify.

Soranto picked up a round piece of glass with an elaborate black border along the edge. "Did someone try to set up video cameras in the forest?"

Aeria replied, "About a year ago, I think. Three cameras were set up, but the dragonets could smell where we left them and tended to avoid the area. Although they tend to migrate from one end of the park to other quite freely, so we only ever caught glimpses of them."

Taureen continued, "One camera had been placed close to one of their favored sunbathing locations, but the youngsters sniffed out the camera and managed to do some damage to it. Several pieces were missing when they recovered it after it stopped transmitting."

"Well, we can let them know that we found the primary lens," Soranto commented in amusement.

My eyes widened slightly in anticipation as I watched him reach for what looked like an unusual snail shell. As he picked it up, the seed pod gave a faint screech as it practically exploded, sending eight round seeds flying in all directions.

The Kymari jumped slightly, and I shook my head to keep from laughing. The other two had exploded during my flight here, but this one had been a bit greener and more tolerant of the ride.

With the bench now safe, I jumped down, fanning my wings to slow my fall. I grabbed a few of the tiniest pebbles in my mouth before jumping back up onto Soranto's shoulder. Taking one, I tried to jam it into the grooves on the back of his shoulder, but it kept rolling out.

I tried a different area, but had no better luck. Confused, I paused and tilted my head as I examined the overlapping sections of armor. His armor was different.

I had originally thought it was like Taureen's armor, and at first glance, they were very similar. There were subtle differences, though. Soranto's lacked the grooves where the sections overlapped – it was a lot like Tran's boots where the joints were so small that it wasn't possible to wedge anything between the pieces even though they could move.

Soranto chuckled as he watched my efforts. "It looks like the upgrade was worth it, although I was pretty sure it was going to be a good investment from how often she stuck rocks in other peoples' armor."

That party pooper! He wasn't supposed to take my fun away like that! With a snort, I decided to see if I could find any sort of weakness in it.

It took me more than a few minutes, but I eventually discovered that if I sat on the back of the bench and pushed up on his shoulder pad, I could wedge some stones under the edge. I managed to stuff six pebbles in the narrow gap before there was no more room.

Slight motion from the grass below caught my attention. With a grin, I swooped down and gently grabbed the wriggly caterpillar. Flying up and over the bench back, I landed on the seat beside him while keeping the bug hidden in my hand.

Snuffling his pockets like I was looking for a treat, I managed to stick the caterpillar into one before letting the flap firmly seal it closed. With that done, I hopped onto his lap and then innocently meandered over to the pile of stuff that had been in the bag.

I batted at the pouch with my hands a few times before reclaiming a few of the flowers and putting them back into it. Grabbing the edge with my teeth, I lifted it as high as I could – which barely got it completely off the bench – and walked the few steps over to Taureen.

In a flash of inspiration, I tried wedging the open end under the edge of his belt beside one of his belt pouches. Monkey see, monkey do? Or that was what I thought Abby told me a few times. It seemed like something a smart animal might try, at any rate.

I tossed the weird leaves off the bench and rolled some of the stones around before Soranto opened up a small container of fruit. With a happy trill, I jumped up to his wrist to enjoy the snack.

Even with the couple of ambushes that had made me jump during training, today had been fun. I couldn't wait until our next patrol together in three days.

I wondered how long it would take Soranto to find the caterpillar in his belt pouch.