It was a great dream. Amanda was scratching the extremely itchy spot where my wing connected to my back. I stretched out on my side and sleepily hummed in delight as I halfway kneaded the sand with my claws.

Something seemed odd, though. My sleepy mind couldn’t quite identify it through the thick haze of sleep. I blinked sleepily and froze as I noticed a large hand in my view. Taureen pulled his hand back slowly before resuming whatever he had been doing on the laptop.

I blinked in sleepy confusion; he had been scratching the itchy spots on my back. To the best of my knowledge, this was the first time that he had touched me since he had picked me up in the park. I wasn’t sure what to think.

I could feel the sun starting to rise though, and the pull of the Morning Song was greater than my confusion. I got up and shook myself off before heading over to the window. My voice once more rose in song despite the fact that the sun was hidden behind thick clouds. As always, Taureen recorded my singing during the Morning Song.

I knew when the sun had cleared the horizon even though I couldn’t see it. My song faded, and I went for a bath. He had gotten smarter, and a thick absorbent towel now resided on the table. After a few rotations in both the water and the sand bowl, I was fairly clean. I tried to ignore the fact that several spots along my back were still itchy.

With my wing still bound and somewhat painful, I couldn’t manage a thorough cleaning. Some spots on my back had always needed outside assistance to clean. Taureen had managed to find one of those while I was sleeping. I was still off balance regarding my wake-up call.

Breakfast was another hurdle. The last two days had been grueling; unless Taureen gave it to me, I didn’t get a single scrap of food. I had tried to resist yesterday but, as I had assumed, when it came to the waiting game, I lost by a landslide. Trying to starve myself to death was out of the question; my instincts were too strong to pull that one off.

Taureen was already holding a piece of fruit as he waited for me to come over. With a shake of annoyance, I jumped from the table to the couch beside him. For some reason, he tried to ensure that I spent most of the meal standing on his lap.

He wouldn’t be so thrilled if I dug my claws in, but it isn’t exactly the wisest to bite the hand that feeds you. Or in this case, scratch his legs to shreds. I would probably get my least favorite foods for a month… I liked my food too much to stir up trouble like that. I hadn’t been chosen by the mad scientists for my stupidity, and the moment I was in the park, I could avoid him all I liked.

I finished a piece of orange before twisting my head to try and nibble at an itchy spot just above my wing. My claws couldn’t get at it due to the way my wings were connected to my back. I gave up after a few moments and took the offered piece of watermelon.

I glanced back and gave a low growl as I noticed he was moving his other hand up behind me. I pinned my ear tufts down and pricked my claws lightly into his legs. Taureen ignored my warnings and reached over to gently scratch the itchy spot.

I was tense at first before relaxing somewhat. The relief of having the itch finally soothed after weeks was simply too great. I watched his hand carefully, but he just kept on lightly scratching with his nails. I could actually see the faint film of dirt coming off as he scratched.

I glanced ahead again as I saw some movement; his other hand held a sunburst berry. That was something I couldn’t refuse at breakfast. I gently took it and chewed it slowly, savoring the flavor. I never did tell anyone that I get several sunburst berries a day… They would be envious. Although they wouldn’t be envious of my situation.

I tensed again as I felt Taureen lightly brush his thumb across the spot he had been scratching. He pulled his hand back, resting it along his side as he usually did. I turned back to the raspberry he was offering. Trying to butter me up with my favorites, huh? Just wait until you release me. I’ll be making myself scarce as fast as I can.

I had observed the traffic along the street a lot lately, noting that there were certain hours of the night where almost no one stirred. I also understood the layout of the streets more from what I could see from the window. The day I got free, I would be heading to a different park and keeping out of sight.

Taureen and his friends had been so kind as to compare the various parks in my presence, and I had shamelessly eavesdropped on the numerous discussions revolving around which parks were larger and which had more fruit trees that we seemed to favor.

A couple dozen dragonets were also interested in my cross-city travel plan. There was a rather large park that surrounded a ravine near the city wall; we hadn’t been aware of this park and figured that it would be a good place to hide. It was right against the wall, so most who wanted a walk in nature simply went out the gate into the true wilderness where they didn’t have to deal with the steep slopes in the valley. Hopefully, we could keep our new location a secret once we got there.

When I had eaten my fill, I wandered back under the heat lamp. It was as close as I could get to sunbathing. In a way, it was even better; the heat lamp didn’t have clouds to block its heat or wind to skim over a scaled hide while stealing warmth.

I was half-asleep when I felt something touch my back; my eyes flew open as I stiffened. I growled deeply at Taureen while flexing my claws deep into the sand; it had taken a force of will to stop my instinctive slash. He once more ignored me while gently petting my back. I didn’t cease my growling, and my ear tufts flattened in my growing tension.

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Just before I hit my breaking point, he withdrew his hand. Seconds later, he held out a sunburst berry and slowly brought his hand within my reach. After a few moments, I reached out to take the delectable berry.

Taureen went out the main door, heading off to do whatever it was he did during the day. I snorted after he left; sometimes, his actions were quite annoying. I really wanted to get away as soon as possible, but my still-healing wing was my main obstacle.

The second problem was that I wasn’t entirely sure that I could even get out of here on my own. I had managed to get into the three back rooms, although Taureen wasn’t aware of this fact. I still hadn’t figured out how the front door operated, despite watching him go through it several times a day.

I wasn’t sure if the window was even capable of opening. In theory, I knew that all of their windows did, but I hadn’t figured it out. I didn’t try too hard though, just in case I couldn’t get it closed. Taureen’s apartment was three stories above ground and I needed both wings working to get out of here.

~

I squawked and managed to land a light scratch on Taureen’s hand. That guy was far too quick for his own good and had managed to evade the worst of my strike. I rolled around, trying to get the harness off of me with no success. I scratched and bit it, although it didn’t do any good. After trying for some time, I gave up momentarily and got to my feet while giving him a glare.

I knew he saw the glare, but he wasn’t worried about it anymore than he was bothered by the slight graze on his hand where a few tiny beads of blood beaded to the surface. He was already sitting in his seat and ignoring me.

I snorted and shook myself off, but alas, the action only reminded me of the harness. I had been sleeping under the heat lamp and hadn’t thought much of it when Taureen lightly petted my back. I had gotten accustomed to it over the last three days. By the time I realized what he was up to, he had carefully buckled a light harness onto me in two swift and smooth motions.

He definitely had a fighter’s reflexes and managed to mostly dodge my claws. I only had time for one attempt, but I guessed I should consider myself lucky that I had even connected at all. Normally, he managed to evade my strikes without too much apparent effort.

I hissed furiously at him from my position under the heat lamp. He didn’t even glance at me. A harness! Like a cat! The nerve of him! I twisted my head around to chew on the shoulder strap. I kept tugging and chewing, but despite the material looking and feeling like smooth leather, it didn’t seem to be leaving any marks.

The doorbell rang, and Taureen’s two friends entered. I pinned my ears back and hissed viciously at them. They looked at me in surprise; I usually didn’t react unless they got within arm’s reach of me.

Taureen looked up at his friends. “Don’t mind her; she is having a moment.”

A moment! Oh, I would like to give him a moment! With a growl, I bit the harness and chewed viciously on it. I knew the buckles were designed for Kymari nails and strength to open, not to mention that my talons likely wouldn’t be able to manage the release mechanism.

Tkael looked at me in amusement. “I have a feeling that she does not appreciate her new fashion accessory. How long has she had it on?”

“I managed to get it on her about thirty seconds ago,” he said, glancing towards me. “She let me know how much she appreciated it when she tried to claw me. Thankfully, she was half-asleep and slow.”

Tkael chuckled. “I bet she hasn’t had supper yet either. I guess we will see what wins in the end, her stomach or her dislike of the harness.”

I rolled onto my side as I chewed and pulled at the shoulder strap. I growled again as I saw the design of the harness – it was obviously made just for me. The material was feather-light and thin, although none of my efforts were doing any damage to the durable leather. The straps accommodated my wings and didn’t rub anywhere. My wings made it impossible for me to squeeze through it or back out of it.

Taureen nodded at Tkael’s comment. “Yes. She will give up to eat eventually. I won’t be able to get it off of her until she lets me get that close. By that time, she will have calmed down and mostly accepted it.”

He was devious and diabolical in his planning. I had no idea how he managed to get it the perfect size before sticking it on me either. There was a bit of room under each strap. None were too tight. Neither are any too loose though...

I let go of the strap and craned my neck as I examined the section where two straps joined just above my shoulder. All of my chewing and clawing hadn’t even left a mark on it. There is one more possibility. It’s a good thing that the sand I’m sitting on is fireproof.

I took a slow deep breath as I inhaled, building up the heat in the back of my throat to a high level. I opened up my jaws, releasing the fire.

Like hot steam trying to escape from a high-pressure kettle, flame erupted from my jaws and hit the shoulder strap full-force. Fire didn’t harm dragonets; I could feel the intense heat, but it didn’t hurt me. It would have caused serious burns on any other creature out there.

One, two, three, four, five... I closed my jaws and sealed my throat to stop the barrage of flame. I examined the shoulder strap, but other than a blackened section, there was no real damage.

Dead silence reigned around me, and I glanced up to see that all four were staring at me in surprise. I turned my attention back to the harness and tried to chew the spot that I had flamed, hoping that the heat had weakened or damaged the material somehow.

Taureen spoke quietly, “I’m rather glad I had that harness made from fireproof material.”

That traitor! At this point, I had more than a few bones to pick with him; he was simply lucky that he was so much larger and stronger than me. I growled in vexation as I chewed on another strap.

Tkael hadn’t looked away from me yet, and he idly commented, “Well, we have solid proof that they can spit flame when they choose. At this point, I am even more surprised that she hasn’t tried flaming any of us yet.”

I examined the strap once more, but it was completely undamaged. I growled under my breath; I would have to try the release catches later on when no one was around.

The Kymari began debating about what might cause to me breathe fire as well as how Taureen could handle a small house fire. It didn’t surprise me that this building was made of fireproof materials.

A few pieces of furniture and one of his rugs could potentially burn, but that was it. I had previously debated about using my fire to force Taureen to keep his distance, and in the end, there were a lot of reasons to avoid using my flame.

For starters, the only reason I was here was because my wing was healing. Causing serious damage would be a poor repayment for patching up an otherwise potentially-fatal injury. Secondly, if no dragonet flamed a Kymari, then they seemed content to let us dwell in the park unharmed. And third, Taureen and his friends had been discussing various release plans since no one had figured out why the dragonets were only in the one park.

I kept chewing various spots as well as attempting to cut the material with my sharp talons. Somehow, claws that could slice through sicora hide with ease couldn’t put a mark in whatever material this harness had been made from.

Bloody aliens and their advanced technology...