A New Beginning: Tessa's Story

I sat alertly on Taureen's wrist as a dozen children listened avidly to his explanation about the various species of bond animal, what they did, why they were treated differently, and how to recognize them by the marks on their harnesses or collars.

He was just starting to talk about the fire lizards. "The fire lizards are a recent addition to the list of species deemed valuable enough to become bond animals. Does anyone know what the bonded fire lizards do?"

A boy raised his hand, and when Taureen nodded at him, he piped up, "They can smell sicora and crawlers."

"Exactly. Every galactic cycle, thousands of cities have to be quarantined inside powerful shields and burned down due to sicora and crawler outbreaks. The fire lizards are able to check all the spaceships and greatly reduce the risk of that happening on this planet."

A girl raised her hand, and when prompted, she asked, "Are the fire lizards only on this planet?"

"Yes, they're a native species that have only been found in this city so far. There are less than two hundred left after the Votaks infiltrated the star system and colonized the planet."

Taureen explained how the fire lizard handlers would walk through every incoming ship and frequently patrolled the city, then asked, "Are there any more questions before we give a small demonstration?"

He looked around, but none of the eager children raised their hands or asked questions. He pulled something out of his pocket and passed it to the teacher.

"There is a piece of crawler skin inside. I'll take Tasha and Tessa out of the room while you hide it. Just remove the lid and place the vial somewhere. Knock on the door when you want us to come back inside."

Taureen went into the hallway and closed the door behind us. I shifted my weight on Taureen's wrist, eager to go back inside. Finding the source of the smell was becoming more and more like a game all the time. One that I really loved.

It seemed to take forever before there was a knock at the door. Taureen went back inside. Tran and Vick were still standing along the wall, right where they had been the entire time. My ear tufts went back as I growled lowly. Mom also growled as she stood up and partially opened her wings in agitation.

If I hadn't known it was just a piece of skin in the vial, I would have thought there was one in the room. The scent was much stronger than it had been in the marketplace.

Taureen held his wrist up higher, bringing me closer to his face. "Tessa, go on. Find it."

I leapt into the air, eager to prove my skills. Besides, the sooner I found that vial, the sooner he'd put the lid on and contain the smell that made me want to scratch something. A quick circle of the room easily pinpointed the teacher's desk. I hovered above it with some difficulty as I pointedly stared.

"Tessa, to fist."

I flew back to land on his wrist, turning around to keep the desk in my sight, just like Mom had done in the marketplace this morning. He walked over and held me in front of each drawer. I hissed at the middle one. He opened it and held up the small vial for the class to see. He put the lid back on and twisted a dial on the airtight lid to firmly seal it.

After thanking the class and teacher for letting us visit, we left the school. I jumped onto his shoulder and lay down to relax and enjoy the sights. A small bird sang merrily in a tree above us.

"Hey, Mom. Can we join the wild flock for the Morning Song one day?"

"I don't see why not. The hardest part will be getting Dirk up."

"Don't worry. I can jump on him. If he wants to try and catch me, he'll have to get up."

I didn't even have to see her rolling her eyes since I could feel it through the mindlink as she said, "I'm sure that won't be necessary. If there's one thing he willingly gets up for, it's the Morning Song."