I remained in my corner for a while longer, still not ready to risk moving. My stomach growled loudly enough that they would have heard the quiet noise. I also knew that they would wait me out. Kymari were very patient when they wanted to be. It wouldn’t surprise me if they remained where they were for hours on end.

All I could think of was when my neighbor’s new dog had gotten into their garbage. They had put another bag out, and when the dog went after it, they punished it then so that it would connect its actions with the punishment.

Considering I was still alive, I hoped that my punishment wouldn’t be too bad. I slowly rose to my feet and carefully crept forward with my belly skimming the surface of the end table. It wasn’t that big of a table.

I hesitated as I got about halfway, and Taureen once more called softly, “Come on.”

I paused and looked him right in his eyes. I usually avoided direct eye contact with anyone since it was safer that way. He returned my gaze with a calm and relaxed one of his own. I took a deep breath and continued forward.

I was close enough to touch the child’s hand with my nose at this point, and I was quite unsettled by how close I was. I paused in my nervousness, and Soranto made a sound of agitation as he took a step forward. My head whipped around to face him as I hastily backed up several steps. He obviously didn’t like me near his daughter and my ability to breathe fire was probably at the front of his mind.

Taureen made a huffing sound of annoyance at him. Soranto shook his head in frustration before taking a seat in the furthest chair, clearly unhappy with Taureen’s plan. I watched him warily; he was the likeliest one to harm me since it was his daughter who was potentially at risk.

“Come. Come on.” Taureen’s voice was quiet, giving no indication that anything was out of the norm.

I turned my attention to Taureen and slowly re-gathered my courage before taking another step forward. As I got closer, I hesitated before slowly and carefully stretching out my neck, noticing that the child was holding her breath in excitement. I carefully picked up a berry before backing up a few steps to eat it.

I came back for six more berries before my nerves simply couldn’t handle it anymore. I retreated back under the heat lamp and curled up on the warm sand. The other two Kymari seemed to be more relaxed now, and Maria went back to her father as Tkael finally took a seat. Even though they were all sitting, I warily kept an eye on them.

Tkael tilted his head as watched me. “I fail to see how that creature attacked a sicora with no reservations and yet acts so skittish.”

Taureen shrugged. “I was there, and they showed no fear when attacking it. You saw the videos.”

“Yes. I also saw the fire that they were breathing. That detail still has the veterinarian teams scratching their heads. Have you seen any hint of her breathing fire yet?”

Taureen shook his head, “No. I had assumed that it was a last line of defense, but Maria just put that theory to flight.”

Tkael examined me for a few moments before quietly replying, “I didn’t realize that you had made so much progress with her. We only ever saw her hiss at us as soon as we entered the room.”

“She acts differently as soon as someone else enters the room. She is much more relaxed if it’s just the two of us. If she is hungry enough, she has no qualms about walking right up to me for a good treat. She gets more cautious the instant she is within arm’s reach, but that’s about it. At this point, she isn’t bothered if I move around the room.”

Tkael nodded thoughtfully. “You ought to start hand-feeding her all of her food. It will help develop a bond with her faster.”

Please no… Leave me some independence. I felt like slamming my face into the sand when I saw Taureen nodding in agreement. “That’s a good idea. She hasn’t eaten her supper yet, so we can start with that today.”

He got up and walked into the third room before coming out with a covered bowl. He took his seat and opened up the container. The recent scare had left me feeling drained, and I tiredly lifted my head as I sniffed the air. My nose told me that it wasn’t the usual bowl of mixed fruit, instead it was the types of fruit that I usually favored.

He picked up a piece of mango between his finger and thumb before holding it beside him. I made no move towards him, and after a while, he reached further out.

I regarded him cautiously as he brought his hand closer to me. I heard Soranto mutter, “If she slashes you, I’m going to laugh.”

Taureen did not react to his words as he kept slowly edging his hand closer and closer. He paused when he was close enough for me to grab it from where I was still curled up. I slowly leaned forward to grab the piece. He withdrew his hand once he felt me take it.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I finished the small piece in two bites. My stomach had stopped churning in stress and was now convinced it was starving. It growled as it demanded more food. I knew that I would be going hungry if I refused to take food from him. He was undoubtedly patient enough to wait me out, and he also certainly remembered the first time that he had offered me a sunburst berry.

My dragonet form was more driven by instinct than my human body had been. As a human, I could ignore hunger while studying for hours on end, but in this form, hunger was a driving force. If I got too hungry, it could make me do things that I would otherwise never do. I hoped that I never got that hungry while in the Kymari’s care.

Taureen held a raspberry near the edge of the end table and waited. After a few moments, my stomach growled again, and I got to my feet in resignation and cautiously walked over. I took it delicately from him and ate it. He held another piece of fruit just out of my reach, forcing me to take a small step closer to get it.

Seven pieces of fruit later, I was standing on his lap, waiting for the next piece of fruit. This is insulting and humiliating. I am so tempted to see if I can claw Tkael’s eyes out for that suggestion. Taureen didn’t seem surprised that I had given in so easily, although he had lured me into standing on his lap several times with sunburst berries in the past. The others were watching in curiosity.

I peeked over to see if I could get into the bowl, but Taureen had covered it with his other hand. It took much longer for Taureen to hand me each piece than it would have for me to clean the bowl on my own power.

The second the bowl was empty, I turned and left, shaking out my scales hard in disapproval of the whole matter.

Tkael commented, “I assume that was the sound you were talking about?”

“Yes. Whenever she shakes hard enough, her scales make that tinkling noise. No one else I have spoken to has ever heard it.”

Soranto snorted. “I doubt that anyone else has ever been close enough to hear it. From what those in the park are saying, it sounds like something really spooked the fire lizards recently as well. They take off the second they see anyone in the park. We have a few patrols scouring the area, but we haven’t seen any signs of another sicora.”

Tkael responded dryly, “We didn’t see any signs of the last two, and Vrae mentioned that he recently saw one a couple hours away from the city walls, so we know that there are more out there.”

Taureen made a frustrated sound. “I know. Alec can’t even get close to the wild ones any more. Even when he leaves sunburst berries or tries to watch them from a distance, they notice him and leave the area. He doesn’t have any more updates or observations, which is making my life harder. We still don’t know why they are only found in that one park.”

“It does seem odd that there aren’t any in the other parks in this city, especially after so many years.” Tkael gazed at the ceiling thoughtfully.

Taureen crossed his arms in a rare gesture of agitation. “The vets are positive that it must be due to a dietary requirement or something similar. There are four people out there cataloguing various plants in all of this city’s parks to see if they can find the odd one out, but there hasn’t been any luck so far. When she was so lethargic, we were fairly certain that she was lacking whatever is in that park. We were halfway ready to release her and stick close by to keep predators at bay until she located it herself.”

“That would eliminate the guessing game and give us the ability to keep them in captivity. But considering that she has recovered, it only leads to more questions.”

What? I had been so close to being freed, and I hadn’t even known about it? I wanted to kick myself, but, then again, with a broken wing, they would have no issue keeping up on foot until they found out which imaginary magical plant I apparently needed to survive. I knew that they wouldn’t leave me out there with my wing in a cast, so I would have been hauled right back here afterward.

“We aren’t even sure why she went downhill like that,” Taureen admitted. “We ran some tests, but she wasn’t technically sick. That morning in the window seems to have triggered something. We know that we’re missing a lot of essential puzzle pieces at the moment.”

Tkael nodded before starting to suggest various other ways to track and spy on the wild fire lizards. I kept an ear on the conversation as I tried to mindlink Drake once again. “You there?”

His response was cheerful. “Ah, Tasha. Glad you are still kicking. How is life going?”

“Considering they have recently decided that I’m not going to get fed unless I eat from their hands, I’m going to sidestep that response.”

“I have no idea how you are still standing…”

“Neither do I. Although, I do hear that you are giving your stalkers quite a run for their money. They are getting frustrated with your efforts. They didn’t get close enough to see anything the last three days.”

His voice held satisfaction. “Excellent. We’ve been trying to avoid them, so I’m glad that we’re confusing them.”

I sent my amusement down the mindlink. “They did a thorough check in every park in this city as well as in numerous other cities, but we are only found in the main park and it’s really confusing them. They’re convinced we need something in that park, and my release is almost guaranteed because of it.”

I felt his joy as he replied, “When are you coming back? Do you know?”

“I’m not sure. My wing still hasn’t healed. Oh, keep an eye out for more sicora-”

I felt Drake’s mental hiss at the very name of the creature. I continued, “They know that more are around, and someone saw one outside the city. At the very least, if you spot one, raise a fuss, and your stalkers can make themselves useful.”

He growled across the mindlink before saying, “We were wondering if there were more around. There have been more patrols lately.”

He was confused by my surge of amusement. My humor was clear in my mindvoice as I told him, “Drake, they increased the patrols because you guys started acting so skittish.”

“Oh…”

I snickered mentally at his reaction before proceeding to play the part of an informant as I relayed the plans that the three in the room were making to get close to my friends.