The sun was starting to rise, and we certainly weren’t about to miss it! Gathering my courage, I spread my wings as wide as possible and dropped off the end table. It slowed my fall a lot, and I landed on the carpet without any problems. Now that Dirk saw I had survived the landing, he jumped down in the same fashion.

We raced over to the windowsill. I jumped high and beat my wings as fast as I could. The first wingbeat was easy, but the second one was harder. I wasn’t sure I could manage the third one, but my wings almost seemed to come up on their own.

I made it up! All of my practicing last night had been worth it! Dirk whined below; he hadn’t used his wings at all while we were playing last night.

“I’m coming, Dirk,” Aeria said, coming out of the kitchen. “I didn’t expect you two to be up so early. The sun isn’t going to rise for at least five minutes. Even Tasha and Keegan just went outside.”

Aeria picked up my brother and set him on the windowsill beside me. We both stared at the spot where the sun would be appearing.

I stood up on my back legs and put my hands against the glass to help me balance. The extra height let me see a bit more of the backyard. Mom and Dad were waiting on a big piece of driftwood.

The faintest stirring of the sun’s call meant that the Morning Song was approaching. I unfolded my wings in growing excitement. I could hardly wait! Dirk also watched the horizon, shifting his weight restlessly.

The sun began to peek over the horizon, and I paced on the spot in anticipation as I felt the call building. The first sliver of light spilled over the horizon and shone on us, making the faint whisper rapidly intensify.

The time for the Morning Song had come!

Dirk was just as eager as me, and he began flapping his wings enthusiastically. I started singing as my wings tried to match the sun’s rhythm. My wingbeats didn’t seem to fit the smooth-flowing cues, but they were the best I could do.

Mom and Dad flew in complex patterns through the air, perfectly following the Morning Song’s guidance. I was envious, but it didn’t stop my attempts to dance and sing. Even if it wasn’t quite right, it was my contribution as I welcomed the sun.

Eventually, the song ended, and I slowly folded my wings. I was tired, but not as tired as I had been yesterday. Dirk had managed to beat his wings the entire time too, although he flopped down as soon as it ended, panting hard.

Outside, I saw Mom land on Taureen’s lap to get her scales oiled. Dad flew to the table near them and picked some fruit out of a bowl. I shook myself off and walked to the edge of the windowsill.

Now that I knew my wings could slow my fall, the height no longer bothered me. As Aeria got to her feet, I looked at the floor and the distance between me and the coffee table.

Three wingbeats had got me up here. How many would I need to make it to the coffee table?

I stretched my neck forward as I examined the distance. It was going to take a lot of wingbeats. I thought hard and decided to try. If I didn’t make it, I could just land on the carpet.

My head bobbed as I lined up my flight path. With a deep breath, I jumped high in the air and beat my wings down. Yesterday, I had practiced jumping up to the end table, so I knew how to lift my wings and get them ready for the next wingbeat. I just had to do it quickly enough, even when my wings got tired.

On my third wingbeat, I noticed I was getting too high. I struggled to fix my flight. Slowing my wingbeats made me come down faster. With a sudden inspiration, I spread my wings like I had done when jumping off the end table, only angling to reach the table instead of dropping straight down.

It worked! I was gliding!

But I was also falling faster since I stopped beating my wings. I beat them once more to make sure I was high enough to land on the coffee table. My ear tufts pinned back in growing alarm; the wingbeat gave me more height, but it also made me go faster. The speed was starting to scare me.

To my relief, the table was much closer now—I was almost there! I angled my flight downward and lowered my feet, still gliding fast.

Just before my feet touched the table, I realized I was moving forward and not down like I had always done before. I didn’t know how to land like this! My feet hit the table and simply skidded along the slippery wooden surface as I squealed in alarm, fanning my wings frantically.

I could hear Mom and Dad’s fierce screams in the background at my panicked cry. The wood grain patterns whizzed by me as I struggled to slow down. But it wasn’t enough. I slipped right off the end of the coffee table, barrelling toward the couch.

Aeria’s hand intercepted my collision course at the last second. Her hand came up under me and swung me up and over the couch seat. I clutched onto her fingers as she exhaled in relief.

A gold streak darted past us. “What happened? Are you okay?”

Aeria answered for me. “Her first flight came before her first landing, and I suspect backwinging is a trick the youngsters have to practice. She tried to land on the table, but just slid right off.”

I felt Mom’s relief over the mindlink, and she landed on Aeria’s shoulder pads as she gazed down at me.

“Next time you want to try flying, talk to us first,” she told me somewhat sternly. “I was planning on laying down the rules at breakfast, but that plan literally flew away.”

I ducked my head in embarrassment and whispered, “Okay.”

It hadn’t occurred to me to ask if I could try flapping to the coffee table. I hadn’t even realized that it was flying and not just a jump with lots of wing assists. No one had said anything when I jumped up to the end table several times yesterday.

And no one had told me that flying was much harder than it looked.

***

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“Can I jump from here?” I asked Dad, bobbing my head eagerly.

He nodded. “Yes, but land on the mat.”

“Yes!” I jumped off the couch and beat my wings down hard. I was getting better at this, and even one wingbeat sent me flying upward.

“Tessa…” The warning note in Dad’s voice told me that I really shouldn’t push the boundaries after my mistake this morning.

I spread my wings as I turned my flight into a glide, making sure I kept above the big soft mat that Taureen had brought in. It covered most of the floor, so it was easy to stay above it. I tilted one wing down and leaned to the side as I carefully made a mid-air turn, something that Dad called banking.

My wings were getting sore, and I was getting closer to the ground. Keeping in mind what Mom and Dad had shown us earlier, I angled up a bit while flapping my wings somewhat in front of me—backwinging—which slowed me to a stop and let me stretch my back legs down for a landing.

I sank up to my belly in the mat as it cushioned my fall. That landing was my best one so far! Most of my earlier ones had turned into somersaults.

The faint sounds of dragonet singing caught my attention, and I turned my head as I tried to locate the source. Taureen and Aeria sat side by side on the couch as they looked at a device in Taureen’s hands. My ear tufts perked up—that was my voice!

I scampered over and jumped up, needing two wingbeats to get onto the couch. Taureen let me climb onto his lap as I looked at the device. My eyes widened at the sight of myself and Dirk on the windowsill flapping our wings for the rising sun.

Taureen commented to Aeria, “Well, they were certainly enthusiastic.”

The video ended, and Taureen tapped the screen a few times. “It’s a pity you didn’t catch her first flight on video. I was hoping to see it.”

“I wasn’t expecting it. The moment I saw her in the air, I was already running to catch her.”

He nodded in understanding and pressed a few buttons. The screen went black. Shaking out my wings, I jumped off his knee once more.

My eyes widened as a blue dragonet came in from the side. I squeaked and banked to avoid him. I overbalanced and fell, crash-landing on the soft mats. After a few rolls, I came to a stop and shook my head.

After the room stopped spinning, I bounded across the mats—they were really hard to walk on—and jumped onto the chair to get more height. Flying was so much fun! I kept going until my wings were sore and my tummy grumbled.

I carefully banked toward the end table and even managed to land beside the fruit bowls. My ear tufts perked up. The dishes must have just been filled, and there were all sorts of yummy things inside them! I quickly picked the cantaloupe out of all the bowls.

Dirk continued practicing his turns while Mom glided beside him and gave him tips. “Use smaller wingbeats more frequently, particularly if you are just flying straight. You use less energy, and your flight is steadier. Yes, like that. Lean to the side and use your tail to turn. Your speed will do most of the work for you.”

I nibbled on a piece of fruit and watched. Dirk and speed never got along. Sure enough, his wings got a bit wobbly, and he flipped sideways. Mom dove alongside him as Taureen stood up and leaned over the end table.

“Spread your wings wide!” Mom told Dirk.

Dirk spread his wings just before Taureen caught him. My eyes followed Mom, who, with the slightest twist of her neck, tail, and wings, was suddenly gliding up without beating her wings. It took me a second to realize she was going fast enough that she didn’t need to beat her wings to stay aloft.

She landed neatly on Taureen’s shoulder, not exactly backwinging, but just spreading her wings, tilting up, and timing her stop perfectly. I memorized it. I’d have to try that later. But first I had to check if there was more cantaloupe in any of these bowls.

Dirk chirped his thanks to Taureen, and his ear tufts perked up when he saw the fresh fruit. He immediately glided over. I tossed an orange slice into another bowl to reach the last piece of cantaloupe. As I had expected, Dirk quickly claimed the orange fruit. He was in luck today, because there were a lot of orange slices.

The doorbell rang, followed by low growls from Mom and Dad, who were on the end table behind us. I looked over as Taureen went into the small hallway leading to the door. He came back with the two Kymari who visited every night.

I did one last check in the bowls in case I had missed a piece of cantaloupe. After settling for some berries and an apple slice, I stretched and debated if I was too full to fly properly. Well, flying was easy enough, but crash-landing on a full stomach didn’t sound very fun. I might have to wait a while to let my dinner settle.

Dirk must have had the same idea since he ambled under the heat lamp and curled up beside Mom. Taureen sat on the couch, and I trotted toward him, figuring I could jump off his leg onto the couch. It wasn’t high enough for a crash landing.

I was only halfway there when Dad crooned and mindlinked me and Dirk, “Who wants to hear some stories?”

“Me!” I promptly turned around, my ear tufts perking up. I loved story time!

Dirk raised his head. “I do!”

I bounded back and curled up beside Dirk, eagerly waiting.

“Then close your eyes and rest your head on your hands, and I’ll tell you why such an action is so important at this moment,” he said as Mom thrummed and half spread a wing over us.

I didn’t understand why we had to do that, but it must be a good story, so I did as I was asked.

“In the beginning, we were not as we are now. Things have changed greatly, leaving all the dragonets with three big secrets. The biggest one is that many of us were once human. None of the Kymari or any other race know about it.”

“So why do we have to close our eyes?” Dirk interrupted, asking the question I had been about to voice.

“Because most Kymari aren’t aware that we’re truly intelligent and can speak. That’s our second secret. Taureen and Aeria are two of the very few who know. The two across the room do not, so this allows them to mistake us for mere animals.”

“Why would we want them to think we’re animals?” Dirk sounded confused. I was already digging through the hidden memories, finding images of cages and humans in white coats. There was a lot of fear, so much that it made my stomach feel funny.

“Mostly because the other dragonets are scared,” Dad said softly. “The scientists from the lab may be long gone, but if they had they learned we weren’t animals, it would have been disastrous. So we only let our closest friends know.”

I guess that made sense. It also explained why Mom occasionally reminded us to never try mindspeaking other Kymari once we were old enough to mindlink someone besides our parents.

“What’s the third secret?” Dirk asked.

“It’s the hidden memories, isn’t it?” I guessed. Taureen and Aeria had never mentioned them, but considering how useful they were, it seemed like the only explanation.

Dad sent a wave of approval across the mindlink. “That’s correct. The Blood Memories appeared when we were turned into dragonets, and since they’re so closely connected, we’ve never told any Kymari.”

Pictures of humans floated through my mind. Had Dad looked like that? “Did you really have two legs? How could you turn fast without a tail?”

Dad sent an image of a human with black hair across the mindlink. He wore clothes kind of like the Kymari’s but different. “Yes, I had two legs, and they moved and bent very differently. Because I was tall, I could spin in one place easily, so I didn’t need a tail.”

“What did hair feel like?”

“Kind of like animal fur but coarser.” He sent a sensation of a scaleless soft hand running through thread-like stuff.

The hidden memories might contain general information, but it didn’t have detailed memories, nor were the sensations as clear. It was hard to keep my eyes closed when I wanted to bounce around with excitement.

“How did you climb trees without claws?” Dirk asked.

I had a dozen questions that I couldn’t wait to ask, but I listened as Dad told him how he used his hands to grab and his feet to push himself up. I really liked this story time.