Tessa’s POV:

  My head jerked up as Soranto came down the hallway behind Tkael. He was wearing armor. Abandoning my wall perch, I flew over to land on his newly acquired shoulder pad. I sniffed it a few times and lifted my head to trill a question at him.

  Taureen chuckled. “Too bad I didn’t have the recorder running to catch her reaction.”

  “You might not have, but the camera on my armor was running since I had to test it out. I’ll turn it off until I leave.” Soranto pressed a few buttons on his wrist comm, likely turning off the camera, then reached up to gently scratch me behind my ear tuft.

  I leaned into the scratching while glancing down, although I didn’t see the camera he was referring to. In fact, Soranto’s new armor was very similar to what Taureen and Aeria wore when we went on patrols, as were his shoulder pads. He even had the same type of wrist guards that Taureen and Aeria wore. He looked like a fire lizard handler now

  Taureen tilted his head, gazing intently at his friend. “They added a camera to your armor?”

  “Mostly because I’m in training. The two accompanying guards will also have cameras, of course.”

  “If they try to stick a camera on you, I get the first crack at it,” Mom told Taureen ominously. “I doubt it will do any good, but then you can break it or at least disable the audio.”

  I blinked as I realized that a camera would prevent Taureen from talking to Mom during their patrols. Normally he couldn’t talk if Tran or Vick were around, but a camera would record his side of the conversation even if the guards were absent.

  Tkael inquired, “Have you decided on who you are choosing for side guards?”

  “I’m assigned to the same division Taureen is in. Drae is in that group, and we get along quite well. He was happy to accept when I asked. For the other person, I’m debating between Nikra, Soel, or Sipar.”

  “All three would be happy for the position. Their skills are about the same as well,” Tkael said.

  “It’ll probably be easier for me to mention those names to the Captain and let him choose. Fewer hard feelings that way.”

  Tkael nodded. “Very true.”

  Taureen glanced out the window, where rain drizzled out of the clouds. “Why don’t we walk over to the Aralias Gardens? This will be a good time to see if Tessa will sit on your shoulder without a leash. She will probably stay with you since she won’t want to get wet.”

  “Sure. I’ll pay our way in,” Soranto said.

  “Just give Aeria and me a few minutes to put our armor on, then we can truly call it a practice session.”

  It was a struggle to pretend I didn’t understand what I had just heard. Mom had told me about those gardens—huge areas that were enclosed in glass domes. Each one was like they had taken a piece of forest or land from somewhere else in the world and brought it here.

  Pets weren’t allowed inside, but bond animals were an exception. I couldn’t wait to see this place.

  As Taureen walked down the hallway to the room that stored their armor, he called back over his shoulder, “Tasha, Keegan, Tessa, Dirk. Get ready to go.”

  That was our cue to get ready. I left Soranto’s shoulder at the familiar command, heading over to the water bowl for a drink. Dirk grabbed a few mouthfuls of fruit while Dad flew into the bathroom.

  It didn’t take long for Taureen and Aeria to return in their usual patrolling gear. Soranto picked my harness off its hook and examined it for a moment.

  “Tessa, come over here. Let’s see if I can get this on you.”

  I flew over and landed on his outstretched wrist. When he lowered me to a nearby wall perch, I hopped off and turned around to face him. Surprisingly, he had almost no trouble putting the harness on me. He even knew to check each strap in case one was too tight.

  Soranto held his hand in front of my feet, and when I stepped onto his wrist, he lifted me to his shoulder.

  Aeria passed him my leash. “Here. Even bond animals have to be on leash in the gardens.”

  As she stepped back, I spread my wings as if about to fly to her like I normally did.

  She held up her hand. “No. Stay with Soranto.”

  I folded my wings, looking between her and Soranto. Pretending to have to be trained was an annoyance, but at least I could prove to be a fast learner.

  Soranto tucked the leash into a pouch as everyone gathered by the door. He wasn’t as practiced as Taureen or Aeria, but he managed to unclip his shoulder pads, slip on his coat, and clip them back on top. I dutifully remained on his shoulder pad.

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  The cool, damp air caressed my scales as we went outside, and I rustled my wings in disapproval. Luckily, Soranto’s umbrella kept all of the raindrops away from me. As we started walking, the ride was both familiar and different. The shoulder pad itself was the usual material and sturdiness, but Soranto’s stride was quite different.

  Because we sat on a Kymari’s shoulders, every step made us rise and fall. Taureen’s walk was powerful and smooth, while Aeria’s was more subtle and graceful. Soranto’s practically flowed, almost like he was dancing. It didn’t seem to be a conscious effort either.

  “His walk kind of flows,” I commented to Mom.

  “Both Soranto and Adeline come from very wealthy and powerful families. They likely had many classes on how to walk and dance since they were young. They managed to shake off most of their upbringing, but some things remain.”

  That explained the odd conversation around the center table. They must feel like their home would be on show if their relatives ever came for a visit.

  “What else do you know?”

  “Not much. Neither of them liked that lifestyle. Somehow, they eventually realized they were both putting on the act that their family expected. Knowing they could be themselves around each other, they hung out more. It didn’t take long before Soranto asked if he could court her instead.”

  “Considering they’re married, I’m going to assume she said yes.”

  Mom’s mindvoice rang with amusement. “Indeed. To make things better, their families viewed it as a powerful alliance and supported it. They eventually moved here since their relatives would likely never visit such a remote backwater planet.”

  So even if they came here, they wouldn’t stay for long, which was a relief since they seemed kind of stuck-up from the conversations I’d heard. Dragonets weren’t permitted off the planet, so it gave Soranto an excellent excuse to decline any invitations.

  The new information also gave me a lot to think about and explained a lot about the way Soranto and Adeline lived. They had managed to remain on good terms with their family while enjoying peace and quiet here. Even if someone ever came to visit, it would only take a few minutes of tidying to make their home and yard look more formal.

  I yawned and looped my tail around Soranto’s neck to steal some warmth. It was a long walk to our destination, but considering Mom and Dad were trying to hide their excitement, it was probably worth it.

  It was impossible to miss the large domed buildings, and our leashes were clipped on as we approached the doors. Once all of the dragonets had their leashes on, we went inside. Soranto paid our way in, and I looked around, wondering which hallway we would go down.

  The first dome we entered was humid and warm. Strange trees crowded each other as unusual flowers grew on their branches. Colorful noisy birds I had never seen before sang from above.

  “This is similar to the Amazon rainforest,” Dad told us as he looked around.

  The walkway was raised and allowed us to look down on various animals. My jaw dropped when I saw a bird twice my size with a huge orange beak. The beak was almost as long as the bird was tall! A toucan.

  I gawked at pink birds wading along a stream. They were almost half as tall as Aeria, although it was hard to tell since the flamingos kept leaning down to stick their weird beaks into the water.

  Swift movement made me turn my head to examine the golden-furred monkey in the trees above us. The red and blue macaws screeched at it before flying to another tree. My Blood Memories were clearly going to get a workout in this place.

  Even though the Kymari walked slowly along the walkway, I was sure that I hadn’t seen everything that lived in this dome. The next dome was very different; the air was chilly, but in a different fashion than I was used to.

  Most of the trees were oddly bare, and their brown leaves littered the forest floor. The spiny green conifer trees were unaffected by whatever was plaguing their neighbors. In many spots of the floor, there was odd, fluffy-looking white stuff. Snow. The birds here were different and much smaller.

  “What is that?” Dirk asked, craning his head to look at something on the ground.

  The chubby critter had grey fur with black patches over its eyes and a striped tail. My Blood Memories easily identified the raccoon, so Dirk clearly wasn’t trying very hard.

  “It’s a raccoon,” Mom said, “and the animal in the water is a beaver.”

  I tilted my head, trying to understand why an animal with fur would want to spend most of its life in the water and have a diet of tree bark. It made no sense. Its chipmunk cousins were clearly much smarter.

  I was getting cold by the time we left the dome, although the next place had me spreading my wings to catch the intense heat from above. Golden grass and tall spindly trees made it easy to see the animals.

  Black and white zebras contentedly grazed while a small group of meerkats stood guard. I tilted my head as I tried to figure out how the giraffes even got to their feet. Legs that long simply should not have been possible.

  Dome after dome, I saw biomes that were near perfect replicas of different places on Earth. My mind felt full and slow after everything I had seen, heard, smelled, and learned.

  As we went outside, the cloudy sky was darkening with the coming dusk, and the wind was beginning to stir. I folded my wings tighter against me and leaned against Soranto’s neck with a shiver.

  He held his umbrella to Tkael, quietly asking, “Can you hold this for a minute?”

  Tkael held the umbrella over us as Soranto opened the top of his coat a bit and picked me up. He slid me into his coat as his arm gave me support from below. I chirped happily as I got a bit comfier. It was much warmer inside his coat than on his shoulder. My head stuck out, but the rest of my body was sheltered from the damp air and cool wind.

  Soranto took the umbrella back from Tkael. “Thanks.”

  “Anytime.”

  I relaxed as I gazed ahead of us. This was much better than a long, cold walk. It was surprisingly comfortable to be curled up against his chest. No wonder Mom let Taureen hold her like this so often. I rested my chin on a fold of his coat and closed my eyes for a moment.

  The sound of a door closing jolted me awake, although I immediately recognized the wall perches in our hallway. I meeped my objections when Soranto took me out of his coat—I had been nice and warm in there!

  He chuckled as he set me beneath the heat lamp. Curling up on the hot sand, I chirped a sleepy good-night.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, little one.”

  With a quiet whistle, I stuck my head beneath my wing. Sleep returned very quickly.