A New Beginning: Tessa's Story

The rest of the day seemed far too long while I rode around on Aeria's shoulder. I wished I could go on real patrols instead of just training ones, and it was a relief when I finally saw the main park in the distance.

Taureen and Soranto were at the meadow, talking with Tran, Vick, and two other male Kymari in guard outfits. I flew over and landed on Soranto's shoulder pad as I chattered a greeting.

He chuckled and scratched my chin. "Hello to you too."

Aeria nodded at the two strangers. "Drae and Sipar, it's nice to see you. Are you ready to join our training sessions and outings?"

One of the Kymari replied, "That's what we were hoping for. We thought it was better for the fire lizards to get used to us before the real patrols begin."

"That's a good idea, Sipar," Aeria replied. "Dirk and Tessa are fairly outgoing, although it may be a while before the others approach you."

With an amused smile, Sipar replied, "We brought bribery in the form of out-of-season fruit."

The other guard listened to Aeria and Sipar talk about the wild fledglings. He looked oddly familiar, although I was having a hard time remembering where I might have seen him.

His silence wasn't giving me any hints either. Then it clicked. My eyes went wide as I realized Drae was the same silent Kymari I had dropped so many leaves and twigs near in an attempt to get him to talk! He was one of Soranto's new side guards? How?

Mom's voice interrupted my dumbfounded thoughts.

"Tessa? Could you please come here?" She included a mental image of a sandy beach beside the creek.

"Coming!"

It took me nearly ten minutes to get to the distant location. My wingbeats paused momentarily when I saw Mom, Dad, Drake, Dirk, Abby, and Glen all present.

"What's going on?" I asked as I landed beside them. Abby was practically dancing in place, so we weren't in trouble, but why were we all the way out here?

Abby excitedly replied, "They're going to teach us to breathe fire!"

"Well," Drake clarified, "we're going to try. You and Dirk are likely still too young. Abby and Glen should be able to figure it out with a bit of practice."

I trotted over. "Really? Awesome!"

Drake sat down. "It isn't easy to explain, but I'll try. Your throat normally secretes a flammable mucus, and the gases from it are present in every breath you breathe. There is a small gland at the top of your throat that can release a second chemical. Once they mix, these gases will ignite as soon as they reach air with higher levels of oxygen. Thankfully, even if they mix while inhaling, because the residual air in your lungs is depleted of oxygen, it won't light until it leaves your mouth."

"What about fireballs?" Dirk asked, his ear tufts lifting.

"You basically cough out a ball of mucus, which brushes against the gland on its way out. The two chemicals create a fair bit of pressure, so you don't even have to exhale hard to propel it forward. If you inhale while using the second gland, the pressure builds very quickly."

I wrinkled my nose at the description. Fireballs didn't sound like they were fun to make. Dad inhaled slowly and turned his head to the side before exhaling harder than normal. A long stream of fire blazed from his jaws.

Mom wrapped her tail around her feet as she said, "Closing your jaws will stop the fire. Inhale through your nose right after breathing fire to make sure the flames are out. There's a chance you'll reignite any lingering flames if you breathe through your mouth. Our lungs aren't nearly as fireproof as our scales are, and it's quite painful."

I tilted my head in confusion. If it was as simple as breathing, we should have figured this out a long time ago.

"How do we make that second gland work?" I asked.

"That's the hard part. Once you get the knack of it, it's fairly easy," Drake replied. "Let me share the memory with you."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. As he held it, he sent us a sensation of a tightening throat, followed by an unpleasant oily aftertaste at the back of his mouth, as if something was trying to drip down his throat. Heat and pressure quickly built as he lifted his head and exhaled. I could see the roiling gases explode outward and catch fire as they left his jaws in a plume of flame.

The memory of the oily musk made me shudder, even though it hadn't been my throat. Glen began inhaling slowly, eager to try.

"Make sure you face away from us," Drake gently cautioned him.

Glen obliged and exhaled hard—with no flames. I exchanged a look with Dirk; this wasn't going to be as fun to learn as we had imagined. Dutifully, I inhaled while trying to squeeze my throat and make this mysterious gland release the needed chemicals. It didn't feel like what Drake had shared, so I wasn't surprised when it didn't produce any fire. Abby, Dirk, Glen, and I continued trying.

When my throat grew sore, I lay down on the sand for a rest. It was kind of disappointing that none of us had managed so much as a flicker of fire. Suddenly, a short burst of flame erupted in front of Abby. She reared back, flaring her wings in surprise as the fire vanished, then began coughing in a way that sounded painful.

"Goodness, I didn't expect it to feel like that..." Abby mumbled, still coughing.

"Like what?" Glen asked.

"It was almost explosive, like it wanted to burst out of my mouth. I think I'll wait a bit before trying again."

"Take a break," Drake reassured her. "The first few times are the hardest."

Furrowing my brows, I turned to the Blood Memories. It had been a while since I had dug deep into them, and I could tell I was out of practice. Images of fireballs and plumes of flame appeared in my mind, as well as the theory behind how to control their heat, size, and duration.

I reached further, straining to find every scrap of information or details I could possibly locate. Few succeeded at our age. It was surprising Abby had managed it during her first practice. Why was Mom trying to teach us already? Was it because I had spent the night at Soranto's place?

Opening my eyes, I lifted my head and slowly inhaled once more. Constricting my throat, I attempted to exhale sharply. The result wasn't a spectacular plume of flame, but a monumental belch that smelled so bad it was almost visible.

Flopping down on the ground, I covered my face and muttered, "That's it. I quit for the day."

Mom was plainly trying to keep from laughing, although her mindvoice still rang with amusement. "Good try. We can practice later, but make sure you do it on sand or over the water."

Dirk wrinkled his nose. "You might also want to do that downwind of anything with a sense of smell."

I growled wordlessly at him and took to the air in search of peace, quiet, and clean air. My flight had no real destination; the Ply-Ball players were absent today, and my throat was sore enough that I didn't feel like eating or breathing hard.

I landed along a different part of the creek for a quick drink to ease my throat. The water helped, but I still didn't know what I wanted to do. The general mindlink was quiet, so there either weren't many dragonets in the area or they were napping.

My mind wandered back to Soranto. I hadn't seen him most of the day, and I kind of missed him. Opening my wings once more, I flew back to where the Kymari handlers waited for us. To my relief, Soranto was still there.

I landed on Soranto's shoulder and nuzzled his chin with a light hum. He leaned his head closer and returned the greeting, although his hum was much deeper. I chortled at his attempt and chattered a bit, leaning forward to nibble on his chin.

Flicking my wings, I tilted my head at his two guards, who were watching me with equal curiosity. I still wasn't sure what to make of them, but if they were accompanying us on patrols, I'd be seeing a lot of them in the days to come. I could torment them later.

I relaxed on Soranto's shoulder and enjoyed the sunshine.